The Clan Matriarch

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Xenodice never found herself in a tricky position. Ever. Not when her siblings got in trouble, nor when she secretly snuck out at night to visit her friends in the neighboring clan. Her life was a smooth road from start... to the end?

...was what she told herself when her world came falling apart. Panic, the frantic flapping of wings and the smoke and the ashes of what remained of her only home was left to ruins under her soft talons. The distressed movement of the adults blocked her sight as she wandered around the ruined den in search of her mother.

Cold talons grasped at her sooty wings. She gasped softly and staggered backward.

"Shh..." the figure said, clutching her tightly. Xenodice looked up. Mother?

The silence was suffocating, not a single movement except for her uncomfortable movements as she adjusted herself in the tight hold of her mother. She could feel something warm and moist on her talons, clinging to her like an unwanted parasite. She held up her talons, painted red. She could feel the lump rising in her throat, but she dared not to make the slightest noise in the deafening silence of the night.

When she finally heard, it wasn't a song that greeted her, but a rough voice that expressed nothing but pain. "Xenodice," her mother whispered, "I love you, you know that?"

Xenodice nodded.

"When I let you go, you're going to run. Fly. Swim. Do anything you can to get as far away from here as you can."

This time she didn't nod. Why would she do that? Would her mother follow too?

She spoke again, this time more urgently. "I'll be right behind you. Run and don't look back."

Xenodice could hear it again, the unfamiliar screeches in the distance and the growing footsteps that seemed to shake her whole body. She nodded.

When she was free, she ran. She tore through the bushes, thorns scraping at every scale and talon, fresh drops of blood tainting the fair leaves. But that was the least of her concern. She didn't hear anything but the sound of her own footsteps, no crunching in the leaves behind her, but she dared not to look back. She was certain, but she wouldn't accept it. Seeing with her own eyes will break her. She knew that, knew that so well, that she couldn't bare to look back.

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For weeks, she wandered around, starving and in need of a home. She knew there was no place to go back to, nobody she could rely on. The only thing that got her tired feet moving was the hope of seeing her mother again. She would go up there if she had to.

After countless days of eating the few edible plants she could find, she stumbled upon a dragon, who seemed to be in a hurry. Her isolation and loneliness instinctively drove herself toward the unfamiliar dragon. She took a step, another, then another step. As she was about to call out, the dragon suddenly reared up, looked around, and trotted along a pathway through the forest that Xenodice hadn't noticed before.

Her weak body struggled to keep up with the dragon, stumbling into a bush or a pile of leaves before she even knew it. At this point, the dragon was out of sight. She could still see the recent marks of the footprints left behind, carefully tracing the trail. After what felt like an eternity of walking, she walked out into a clearing. The full extent of the sun shone down on her face for the first time since her escape. The thick leaves of the forest treetop had blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving her in a dark and gloomy forest.

She almost flinched at the sudden exposure, and was still for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the change in brightness. The moment her sight was restored, she could see a vast marketplace, filled with the chattering of dragons. Many of them wore clothes, accessories and different riches she had never experienced before. For the first time, she could forget the dull ache of hunger and look around in excitement.

Necklaces, pendants, cloaks... everything seemed to be for sale here. Brightly colored tents allured dragons of all sizes to come and check out their goods, so bright it almost hurt her eyes.

As much as she wanted to wander around in the market, she felt exposed. All the dragons here were clean, shiny, and boasted their metallic sheens. In comparison, she was a dirty stray hatchling that wasn't where she belonged. While walking the aisles, she was pushed around by adult dragons that didn't give her a second look.

Until she was grabbed by an unfamiliar dragon, straight into the nearest alleyway.

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"Wh-"

"Shh, It's alright! I just saw that you were struggling a bit, little girl," the stranger said, still clutching her in their grasp. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Xenodice?" Countless weeks of solitude had Xenodice trying to familiarize her own name. Her own name felt unfamiliar and distant on her tongue.

"Haha, you don't sound too sure."

Xenodice peered to get a better look at the dragon. She wore a hood, but she could see the obsidian hue of her face and the bright green eyes that seemed to pierce straight through her.

"I'm Windway. Follow me now, don't get lost!"

She followed Windway through the alleyways created by the dark spaces in-between the tents. Windway's dark figure seemed to slip through the shadows. She could still hear her voice clearly, sometimes caught by surprise at the sudden sound of another being.

"So... Dice? You have parents? Where'dya come from?"

"...I don't know. I'm trying to find mother. And my clan was destroyed. I-I don't know where I am or what to do."

That was the most she'd spoken in the last few weeks. Her mouth felt dry and coarse. She was ashamed of herself for not knowing anything. Windway would probably leave her too, now that she admitted of having absolutely no use of herself.

"So I'm guessing you need a bath?"

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Looking back at that, it had been a long ride. Windway had taken her to her lair, in a town close in proximity to the marketplace. The town was controlled by an old clan by the name of Windlace'nt. All the Apparently they were an ancient clan that consists of only wind elementals, and she had been lucky to be a wind descent. Windway turned out to be a wildclaw, a species she had never seen before in her previous clan.

After giving her a proper cleanup and a soft pink silk scarf to wear, Windway officially joined her to the clan. The scarf would be the only thing left to remind her of Windway, who became a second mother to Xenodice. She was even given a familiar of her own, a mistwatch shellion who matched her colors. She would end up naming it Wayward, derived from the name Windway. After a few years of staying, she had reached the age of release.
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She felt the presence of another in her room. She yawned. It was morning and the birds were chirping. "Windway?" she called out, half asleep.

"It's me." Windway replied, but she sounded dull. Her lively presence was gone, and what seemed to remain was a husk of what she used to be.

Xenodice looked up from her bed, tightly woven with soft leaves and petal. She raised a glance at her. "What's wrong?"

Windway sighed. "They're releasing you tomorrow."

Xenodice jumped up from the bed.

"WHAT?!" she screeched, dazed at the sudden announcement. "I-, I thought I had more time!"

"They've decided to release the Commons earlier. Uncommons are up next. Rares and higher can choose to stay."

"Ugh..." Xenodice clasped her talons to her face. "I can't leave you just yet-"

Windway looked down at the floor. "Listen, Dicey. I've been like a parent to you ever since I found you in the market. And it gave me the best daughter I could ever have. I'm infertile and you gave me the chance to experience something that I shouldn't have been able to. Now I'm going to give you that same gift you gave me. I'm letting you go. Start your own clan, your own family, Dice. There's a whole world out there to live for, to experience! You can't be stuck here forever to die old like me. Now continue your lineage and make me and your parents proud."

Xenodice lowered her head. "Windway... I love you, but I have nowhere else to call home."

"Then make your own home. Hell, share it with whoever you want, have the joy of giving others a home. Just like how I rescued you, you should help others in need." Windway said, giving Xenodice a tight hug.

She smiled, hugging her back. "Then I'll go and make you proud, mother."

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