Argent

---

The Pearlcatcher wakes and unwinds from her pearl, stretching stiff limbs and extending starlit wings. As she settles in again for her moonlight watch, she admires the land of the earth-bound dragons below her. She sometimes wishes to be one of them again, but she knows she plays an important role. The other stars revolve slowly, just close enough for her to envy their more brilliant colors. She does not know how long she has been here; it seems an eternity, the unmarked days and nights blending into an endless watch.
But something is different this night.
Brilliant streaks of light are flying through the sky. She can see other stars flying to meet them, some absorbing them, others falling with them to the earth below.
A dark green streak flies past her, uninterrupted by the stars. She leaps from her pearl, spreading her wings wide and moving them faster, faster, until she's caught up to the light, absorbed it into herself -
Her light fades out, and darkness envelops her.


The dragon wakes up, head foggy, to find herself strapped to a table. The first thing she knows is that her pearl is missing. She looks around in a panic, straining against her bonds and letting out a wordless scream. A splitting headache strikes her, stabbing at her eyes, and she falls limp again, closing her eyes to ease the pain.
A Ridgeback rushes over, checking a monitor on her wrist. "It's alright, my friend," she soothes. "Just stay still for now. You'll do yourself more harm than good." Despite her calm tone, the dragon is clearly concerned about something. She turns from the Pearlcatcher, tapping on the tablet she holds.
Forcing herself to calm, the Pearlcatcher moves her head gently, taking in the room around her. Monitors beep and machines hum, forming a steady background of noise. A slightly eerie glow emanates from dozens of screens. Looking down, she sees dark green veins running across her scales, along with a metallic sheen. With a jolt, she realizes it's not just metallic, it is metal. Just as she's on the verge of panic, one of the monitors screams a high-pitched tone. The Ridgeback drops her tablet with a gasp, dashing back over and pressing a button. The Pearlcatcher sinks back into sleep.

Some time later, she awakes again. The bonds are gone, but her scales are still heavy and the green veins haven't disappeared. They are blurry, though, like her surroundings. A near-complete silence fills the room, and it takes her a moment to realize she must have been moved. The room she is now in is open, and beds are arranged in neat rows on most of the floor space. She only takes a second to identify this place: hospital. Most of the beds are occupied by dragons, each seeming to be peacefully asleep. Something is off, though. Her vision is still blurred, as though with sleep, and it refuses to clear despite her rapid blinking.
A door swings open nearby, and she hears a dragon walking through the rows, humming softly to himself. A golden shape stops beside her. She hears tapping as he scribbles something on a tablet beside her bed, then stands up to move on. He then notices she is awake.
"Good morning!" he says softly. "How are you feeling?"
She blinks, allowing the words to sink into her mind before she understands them. "I can't see," she says, then adds, "Where is my pearl?"
He ignores the last part, frowning and tapping the tablet again. "Don't worry, your sight should be back to normal soon. Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"I feel cold. And... empty. What did you do to me?" She tries to keep her fear out of her voice, but she can hear the slight quaver.
"It's just... something we had to do. Don't worry about it," he repeats. "You were badly injured when you came here. It was for your good." He seems to be trying to convince himself, and quickly moves on.

A few weeks later, she is let out of the hospital. Her metal limbs feel cold and heavy, but she is already growing used to them. Her eyes have not gotten much better; she can see only shapes and too much light makes her blind. However, her pearl has been returned to her. She keeps it closer now.
She has faint memories of being here before, and a space in between, but that is fading. The electricity of the Shifting Expanse, where she had been, makes her feel weirdly tingly inside. The nearby Ashfall Waste doesn't help; its warmth can overload her limbs, effectively paralyzing her. The few dragons she encounters are not friendly. Most see her only as a machine, incapable of feeling, and try to use her stronger limbs for their own purposes. She doesn't want to stay around dragons like these.
She dimly remembers a place she's heard of, a place far away from others who might wish to use her, a place that's certainly not warm, but not cold enough for her circuitry to fail. A place where dragons of all kinds are accepted, no matter what their background.

When she arrives at Sanctuary, she is greeted with open arms. Spirit, a small blue Fae, shows her around, giving her a den of her own. The Pearlcatcher's eyes are not yet healed, but she knows there are others like her here who might be able to help.. She is called Argent, for the silver in her scales. She still holds on to the last shreds of her memories; faded though they may be, they offer her the hope of something beyond her earthly life.
For now, she works hard alongside the dragons of Sanctuary.
But someday, she will return to the stars.