Sisi

Blood Red Wolf Cape

Apparel

A thick, warm wolf pelt red as blood, fashioned into a cape.

2000

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Flowering Vulpine Plushie

Trinkets

Store it between your favorite mammertee and deity.

27

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Soft Lightweaver Idol

Trinkets

A crudely-fashioned stuffed doll that resembles the Lightweaver. The stitching is finely threaded and the fabric is shiny silk.

1000

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Crumbling Relief

Trinkets

Illegible text is engraved across the surface of this broken tablet.

25

The Runaway

"The realm is embroiled in a perpetual conflict called Dominance... the superior flight is usually the one with the most exalted dragons... the dragons who receive such a high honor must leave their home lairs to forever serve under their elemental deity..."

That was how it was explained to the young mirror, as she watched one of her older clanmates ceremoniously mount the engraved marble pillar to say his goodbyes. This was one of her first and most important memories, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember the name or face of the guardian accompanying her to the ceremony. But she'd never forget the wistful tone in his voice as he said

"...the Lightweaver would be proud of him..."

And so, the seeds of a life-changing-ly terrible idea were sown.
From that day forward, Sisi vowed to achieve the high honor of exaltation. She watched every training session she could, practicing some of the moves with her fellow hatchlings, and even some unfortunate familiars. The adult members of her clan all thought this was adorable, of course, and praised her, saying she'd make them all proud someday. Sisi just couldn't wait for that day to come.
So, she didn't.
It was less than an hour until that day's exaltation ceremony would begin as she rifled through her clan's hoard to find something to disguise herself. If she tried to sneak out on her own, her bright blue coloring would be seen almost instantly. She knew there was something in here somewhere... perfect. A grayish brown wolf pelt cape. It fit more like a cloak over her tiny body, she could hide her wings under it and blend into the undergrowth perfectly.
The ceremony had started by then. Sisi slunk around behind her clanmates as the guardian on the pillar said her last farewell to the clan, positioning herself perfectly to follow her when the time was right. Finally, the cheers of the other dragons signaled that the dragon of honor was about to depart. As she stepped off the pillar and headed towards the intersection between the shadow and nature domains, Sisi silently followed her trail, excited to fight for her clan and blissfully unaware of the horrors these battles would entail.

- - - - - -

"I spy with my little eye... something... yellow."
"Oh! That wildclaw off in the distance! It's gotta be that guy."
Azimuth looked surprised for a moment, then smirked slightly, satisfied with finally achieving victory.
"Nope... It's the skydancer."
Dusa tilted her head, and gestured towards the yellow dragon slashing at the ground, about a mile away.
"...that one?"
"Yep, you got it on the second try. I still win though!"
"...Azzy, that's a wildclaw."
The imperial turned to glare at his companion, shifting his weight closer to the trunk of the large tree they were scouting from.
"No, that's a skydancer, you're just mad I'm finally winning."
"Hey, if you don't trust me, trust the spiral eyes."
She tapped the side of her head with the tip of her tail, grinning.
"Look again, he's standing up straight now. See? Wildclaw!"
Azimuth turned his attention to the battling dragon in the distance, and let out a quiet growl of disappointment as he realized that Dusa was right. The yellow dragon in question had finished their apparent attack on the ground, and had taken on a silhouette that much more accurately portrayed their species. His spiral clanmate had much better eyesight than he did, but on boring scout missions like this, games like these were the only way to stop her from tying herself into a knot.
"Fine... That wasn't fair at all though, what the hell was he even doing hunched over like that?"
"Hacking up a veilspun from the shadow domain."
"...oh."
The timid imperial had been a pacifist from birth, and though he understood the need of knowing how to fight, (the only reason he had ever let his childhood friend Shatter mentor him in the art,) but the brutal Dominance battle the two scouts had been tasked with monitoring just seemed so... unnecessary.
"Man, I really don't understand this whole Dominance thing..."
Dusa echoed his sentiments aloud, but Azimuth knew that unlike him, she was an avid warrior who had no qualms with fighting beastclans or dragons.
"You mean morally, or like, the rules?"
She looked up at him with a deadpan expression.
"Of course I understand the rules, moron, it's Dominance, not scrying the future."
"Hey, rules can change... Last I checked, you weren't allowed to bring your familiars into battle."
The coiled spiral looked confused.
"You're still not allowed to do that, where do you see a familiar?"
"Just by those guardians over there, someone brought their wolf."
He swished his tail in the direction of a particularly brutal skirmish between a pair of guardians, where what appeared to be a red wolf was trying to stumble away from the conflict. Dusa followed the gesture with her gaze, still confused, but nodded when she saw the small figure. She seemed about to say something, before her sinewy body suddenly went rigid.
"Azzy. Azzy that's a kid."
"What? No way, I know the rules better than that, exalted hatchlings are sent to be trained firs-"
"Forget the rules, I'm telling you, that's a kid!"
Azimuth would've sworn she was messing with him if she didn't look so disturbed, but upon closer inspection, he could see a tiny, tattered blue wing slip out from beneath the red wolf pelt as it collapsed. His jaw dropped slightly, as Dusa somehow prevented herself from tying her tail to the branch.
"...I'm grabbing 'em."
Azimuth didn't even get the chance to protest before she launched herself off the branch and towards the battlefield. No time to make an actual plan, apparently. He let out another growl, and followed to make sure his companion didn't get herself killed.
Dusa wove her way around trees and battling dragons, making a beeline for the little red figure, almost crashing into the ground before winding her way around the half-limp form. She didn't get a chance to give any words of comfort before a shadow loomed over them, and she looked up just in time to see the falling body of one of the titanic guardians about to crush them.
That is, until the screeching blue comet that was her imperial companion barreled into it, knocking both guardians to the ground with a crash. Grateful for the diversion, Dusa got a better grip on the hatchling, spread all six of her wings, and took off. Glancing back at her still-screaming companion who was currently perched on top of one of the guardians, she decided he could handle himself just fine, and focused on taking the bloody hatchling back to the lair.

As Sisi slowly regained consciousness, her first thought was that maybe, just maybe, the horrible events of yesterday had been nothing more than a bad dream. When she shifted, however, the pain that shot through her body disproved that theory very quickly. She squeezed her eyes shut a little tighter, and let out a whimper.
"Hey, hey, don't try to get up yet, uh... Thyme? Azzy? The kid's awake!"
The voice was unfamiliar, everything was unfamiliar. The ground felt too squishy, the den smelled too much like plants. This wasn't her home.
"I'll be right there, is she alright?"
"I, uh... I think?"
Another voice, also feminine, but softer. Sisi forced herself to open her front set of eyes to look around. The heat signature of the spiral dragon near her was easiest to make out, but the approaching shape of the tundra was what caught her attention. Cautiously, she opened her primary set of eyes to meet the newcomer's milky gaze.
"Hi there... are you feeling any better?"
She was silent for a moment, before shakily asking
"...wh-where am I...?"
"You're in my den, in a safe little part of the Viridian Labyrinth we call the Haven... Do you think I could change those bandages on your wing?"
The hatchling hesitantly nodded, and stretched out her injured wing. After a moment, Dusa interjected
"...that's a yes, Thyme"
The blind tundra nodded, and gently sat down to start checking the injuries.
"What's your name, sweetheart?
"...Sisi"
"It's wonderful to meet you, Sisi. My name's Thyme, and that over there is Dusa."
Thyme gestured in her general direction, and she smiled. The hatchling didn't respond. Nervous, she glanced out the den entrance where Azimuth was silently watching, sporting a few bandages himself. He gestured with his head towards the reddened wolf cape, long since dry. Dusa gave him a grateful nod and moved to grab the cape, offering it to Sisi.
"I believe this is yours? We did our best to wash it, but..."
Her eyes widened, and she snatched the cape and hugged it tightly. It was a thing from home. The spiral tilted her head, concerned, and held out a small stuffed myosotis fox.
"...I found this awhile ago, dug it outta my hoard for you... You like dogs, or was that cape just the first thing you found?"
Sisi took the fox, and gingerly shrugged, stroking its green fabric.
"Just needed a disguise, so I could sneak out..."
"You snuck out, to join Dominance battles?"
Dusa looked almost surprised; the idiocy of hatchlings never ceased to amaze her. Sisi just looked down at her fox, and didn't respond. Worried she might have upset the kid, Dusa wrapped her tail around her, careful not to disturb Thyme's work on her wing.
"...you did great out there."
Still no response.
"Seriously... most dragons who try to fight guardians that size just get squished."
Still nothing. Gods, she was bad with kids.
"...I'm sure your clan would be very proud of you... I sure am"
Sisi stiffened for a moment, and just when Dusa thought she'd screwed up, the hatchling buried her face into her. Thyme sighed a little as her bandages fell to the ground, but sensed she probably shouldn't get back to work immediately. Dusa looked back out the entrance of the den for help, only to see Azzy grinning, mouthing the words "You'd make a great mom". She just stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to Sisi. She couldn't think of what else to say, but eventually the little mirror mumbled
"...thank you."