Leatherback

She came to this place with her mate, Sulcata, three years ago. He was her charge. Less than a week after they came into existence, love, and this home they built, he disappeared. Exalted, but unable to fight for their god's dominance, Sulcata remained trapped in limbo beyond the stones and stars. Already anxious and insecure by nature, losing her charge destroyed Old Leatherback's confidence and personal power.

For the past three years--eons, maybe, in dragons' abstract concept of time--she's been Old Leatherback: The Landlady. Whether the clan's been ruled by bloodthirsty racists or ragtag democracy, she's always found a passive role in lair maintenance. Most dragons have been able to tell through the years that the place is not her charge, though she clearly was compelled to stay. Lovers, neighbors, friends, and partners for Leatherback have come and gone--children, too. Even a regime rose and fell here.

Now, her fellow progenitor returns to his body and his old home. But it's not home anymore: in a rare moment of control over her lair, Old Leatherback converted to a new, more successful god. The whole hole, with all its homes for all her residents and guests, relocated--to a frozen wasteland. (Better than a desert wasteland, she thought). Her first fight with her ex-mate begins there--unless it begins with the nest she sat on with another dragon when he arrived. Or with the two sets of genes she's bought herself with her guests' rent. Let the squabbling begin...