Ruko

"To answer the question you actually asked," he wrote, "Yes, I did borrow your sword, Rebi. It helped a lot while crossing the Scarred Wasteland, and I think it will be more helpful still in eliminating the target."

---

Ruko is a strange dragon; nobody is entirely sure whether he is actually a dragon or is a machine. Arthiun tried to ask once, but got sidetracked and completely forgot about it. The rest of the clan is either too nervous to ask, or don't care enough to find out.

However, Ruko does have a mission in the clan. He was hired by a rival shadow clan, who heard of Hugo's mission to break reality, to stop it by any means necessary. Fortunately for him, the rest of the clan is used to having dragons of random flights wander in and welcomed him with open arms. Being accepted by the clan has its downsides, mostly due to other dragons stopping him for a pleasant chat or asking for help moving things. He can't bring himself to refuse. He may be a mercenary, but he has standards, dang it! He's surprisingly good with hatchlings, and is usually the first to be chosen for babysitting.

One day Ruko might manage to stop Hugo's experiments, but the biggest obstacles are his inability to be mildly impolite and that strange broiler that follows him around and refuses to stay quiet (many an awkward situation were started because the broiler decided to mess up Ruko's carefully laid plans).