Ruby

A precious Stone
Ruby story

First there was light. Then slowly the light dimmed, casting a halo behind the dragon gazing adoringly at her, beautiful green eyes alight with a maternal love. Markings adorned this dragon's face giving her all to plain wings a touch of beauty. Ruby opened her eyes wide, taking her first look at the world. Her young mind did not notice the fae's plain wings- indeed Ruby thought the fae was beautiful. But all too soon, the fae's face was replaced by another, a look of mild disgust on his face. A few seconds later, he too proceeded out of view. The young hatchling's sensitive ears could hear the harsh resonant noises of arguing. At the time, Ruby could not understand them. She cringed back into the remains of her shell, wishing for the grating vibrations that assaulted her eardrums to end. And they did. Ruby was left in silence, all alone, a tiny hatchling in a big wide world. The female fae came back once, wings torn and a glazed look in her eyes, as if she were about to pass out from exhaustion. Wearily, she pressed a day old rabbit into her hatchling's trembling paws and bid her farewell. "Goodbye Ruby. Stay strong." It would have made a better scene if Ruby had actually understood her at the time. With that said, the fae took off, wings fluttering quickly but without energy. She was soon carried out of view of the cave, more of the winds doing than her own. That was the last Ruby saw of her mother.

For a time, Ruby traveled the borders of many territories. A young dragon in her element, wings full of life, prey abound, a spark of mischief in her eyes- and dragons good humored enough to let her get away with it- it was a time to be had. "Whoooo who!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs as she divedbombed into a narrow canyon, wings almost brushing the tips. Granted it wasn't a very loud yell- Ruby was a fae, and most larger dragon's didn't even notice her. Ruby was ok with that though. All her life she had been alone. No need to make that change now. Or so she thought.

Skimming through the canyon, a small droplet of water hit our young leader in the nose. Then another. And another. Soon, droplets of water were pelting Ruby like hail, torrents running off her sodden form. "Raining cats and dogs?" She thought Icily, "More like raining guardians and imperials." In minutes, the temperature had dropped over 20 degrees and Ruby's breath puffed out before her, clouding her vision almost as much as the surrounding rain. She could feel her wings beginning to get heavy, and her head crests started to sag, ice crusting her extremities like a suit of armor. Summer was over. Winter had come.

What can I say about Ruby? She was stubborn? Headstrong? Idiotic? Apparently all of those- but a young fae beat me to the chase on telling her that. "What in the Boss's fangs do you think you are doing?!" He screeched shrilly at the dripping wet dragon huddled at the fire in his form room. Chilled to the bone would be an understatement right now. Ruby was shivering uncontrollably, to miserable to return his scalding remarks with her usual sass. A few hours earlier he has found her crash landed- get this- on top of the statue of the storm catcher at the institute. Her bright red wings were spread out while her slim body was plastered around his neck. The effect gave the Boss the appearance of wearing a bright red bow. A dripping wet soggy red bow that was groaning softly. Needless to say, the fae had dragged her all the way up to his dorm, berating her all the way. After laughing his frills off about the boss wearing a bow of course. Unfortunately, all that humor was gone now, replaced by the stoic intensity that the storm catcher implanted in all his prodigies. And make no mistake- this fae was a prodigy. Only a meter tall, weighing next to nothing, he somehow managed to pack in more brainpower than half the school combined. Yes, Scarlet Rose was a name to be remembered. Not that Ruby wasn't smart. In fact she was quite intelligent- but in a different way. While Ruby was street smart, she had never studied from a book or had to take a pop quiz, or name all the different delicacies found in the woodland path. For Scarlet rose, it was just the opposite. He could name every single familiar in alphabetical order but show him a dead rat and he would faint. His willingness and unembarrassment when telling others this showed just how nonchalant his belief was about how common blood phobia was. "But how can you eat anything then?" Ruby asked in disbelief, forehead crinkled in bewilderment. Scarlet Rose made a face. "We COOK it of course. Good grief, we're not barbarians." Rose paused at this, holding back a fiery retort by bitting her tougue. Apparently she bit her tongue a little to hard because she could taste blood in her mouth. "Thump." A thud emitted from the floorboards around her. She glanced back. Scarlett Rose had fainted.

When he woke up, eyes blinking warily, she was already gone. She had left a note explaining that to him. What she didn't know, was the hundreds of twists and turns and trapdoors that led to the exit of the institute. Scarlet Rose stifled a snort of amusement, then a groan. Now he would have to find her and help her out. He glanced up at the clock. It looked to be a long day ahead of him.

Finally he found her, after hours of fruitless searching, talking to another one of the students at the institute. Ruby looked furious, wings blurring she was chattering away in a close to hysterical voice, hovering right above head of a massive ridgeback. Her feet curled and uncurled reflexively, as if not quite daring to perch on the ridgeback's massive nose. Scarlet rose had gotten that urge a himself a few times. As the only female fae at the institute, and with bright orange eyes to match, she was quite a sight for the average lightning member. But this ridgeback was nothing if not the average lightning flight member- having originated from a different flight herself. Indeed, amusement tinged Hallow's eyes. "What have you got here Scarlet Rose?" She purred, voice oddly smooth for coming from such a large menacing dragon. She raised her "eyebrows" (the dragon equivalent anyways) and said, "cute little thing." The statement had Scarlet blushing and Rose had finally shut her mouth. For a second anyways. "Hey. HEY!" She she shouted, puffing up her neck frills indignantly. Sadly, to Hallow all it sounded like was a squeaky "heeeeyy" followed by a bunch of annoyed chirping noises. She got that much at least. Ruby then spun around to glare at Scarlet. "Scarlet Rose?!" She shrieked, high pitched voice echoing and amplifying off the metal halls of the institute. "Well if that won't wake everyone up with a headache, nothing will." Scarlet thought idly. "What sort of half wit name is that?!" Ruby raged on. "I can't call you scarlet rose. Its UNACCEPTABLE." With a huff she muttered, "scarlet rose... Scarlet. Scar." Then louder, "I'm calling you scar, no buts about it." An indignant cough sent Ruby spinning back into the air. She had subconsciously landed on Hallow's nose during her tirade and had been squeezing it mercilessly in her anger. With bright red wings flapping like a hummingbird, and an annoyed look in her eyes Ruby opened her mouth once more. "What was that suppose to be? A throat clearing? More like an earthquake!" She huffed, half teasing. Scar had to bury his frilled head in his wing as a small snort escaped him at Ruby's youthful antics. Luckily, hallow was to busy staring at Ruby to notice. Or he would never have lived THAT down. "You know," she said slowly. "You have the exact same colors as the Flamecaller." For once, Ruby was speechless. Her wingbeats slowed but you could practically hear the gears whirring away in her brain. "To build a robot capable of emotion..." Scar wondered, tail tapping the floor with a soft "thump thwap. Was the ridgeback insulting her? Or was it a compliment? Did she want to be the same colors as the Flamecaller? All these thoughts and more sped through Ruby's head in a few seconds- in one ear and out the other as they say. Tentatively, Ruby smiled, the expression strange on her face after so many years of solitude. No one had told her how she looked before- no one had cared how she looked. Hallow answered her smile with one of her own and Ruby's grin grew. Scar glanced up, head still full of idle calculations and ideas. "Why's everyone smiling? Did I miss something? What did I miss?" He cried, dropping his pencil that he usually kept tucked behind one frill. Hallow burst out laughing, Ruby following suit. Their laughs rebound through the institute, one high pitched and seemingly in fast forward and one loud and deep. Soon, all three of them were laughing, clutching each other for support. They'd stop, glance at each other, and start laughing again. From that moment on they were inseparable friends.

I am going to try to wrap this story up as efficiently as possible, since the adventures of Scar and Ruby could last a lifetime.
They became mates. Probably the one of the oddest pairs you will ever see personality wise, yet they loved each other dearly. (Not dearly enough to stop Ruby from hiding a dead mouse in Scar's nest anyways. He was out cold all that night.)
They moved into the ash fall waste, where Ruby could be free- having been miserable in the Storm catcher's lands. And then there was the fact that all the other prodigies were all too happy to see her go. "Did I paint the Boss pink one too many times?" She asked Scar, spotted crimson frills perked up in amusement. He just grinned up at her, before replying invasively, "I think you know the answer to that Ruby." But that was Scar. Her brilliant, shy, well spoken Scarlet Rose.
The three of them (hallow had tagged along for the journey.) met a small clan of friendly dragons- a petite black and violet mirror known as MidnightFury; a tough Grey, black, and orange male called Ash; a kind motherly orangey hued guardian with eyespots who had the bearing of a queen and referred to herself as Embyrlost; and a rather shy basic male Guardian named FallenRust who dotted on Embyrlost hand and foot. It was with these four that the clan of Embyrs was founded, (for Embyrs sounded way cooler than embers- at least to them.)
Hallow found a mate- two actually. They were going to have hatchlings born in Halloween. Had plans to build a nest overlooking a bright river of lava. Would have many clutches of hatchlings to spoil. It never happened. Hallow met the Flamecaller long before her time. Her mate left the clan, devastated, unable to look Ruby and Scar in the eye without breaking down crying. A few weeks later, FallenRust, Embyrlost, and Ash joined Hallow in the sky. The clan was devastated. Almost all their leaders had passed away in one short month. It was true that Embyrlost and FallenRust had been old, it wasn't unexpected- but still it hurt. Ruby and Scar took over the ragged remains of the clan, trying to patch it back together.

Overtime, everything settled down. Time has a way of doing that. Things that seemed so sharp and bitter not long before are now nothing but faded memories of things long past. Ruby and Scar grew into two strong devoted leaders. They watched many a hatchling leave the nest, and venture into the great big world. It took until almost number 200 until Ruby stopped crying over every single one. Instead, she turned it into a celebration- a means to which made it equivalent to a sweet 16 or a Barmisfa today. She and her mate remain one of the three oldest dragons in my lair, and one of the only three that are not triple gened. I found Ruby for 1 treasure in the AH, abandoned during a dominance push. I snatched her up (my first double gened dragon at the time.) I went into a bidding war for her mate Scar, who I first named scarlet rose mistaking him for a girl. They were my first official gened pair in my hatchery. In flight rising terms Ruby is exalt folder, in my mind, she is priceless.