Nephthys

Nephthys missed her home in the Shadow Flight. Even though she was only there for a few short days, being thrown out of her home hurt her in more ways than one. She could hardly remember how she had managed to arrive at the Crystalspine Reaches. All she remembered was a face - the face of a Pearlcatcher, and that she collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. When she came to, she saw the worried face of a Guardian peering over her.

"Are you feeling okay, little one?"

She didn't reply. His eyes were violet - as violet as the sky she would used to see in Wispwillow Grove, and already, the hatchling missed it too much. Though she was young, she was not blind; her mother had taught her about all the Flights, and she knew that Arcane Dragons did not have the same shade of eyes as the sky she used to see at night. Being utterly alone tampered with her, and everything she thought she knew.

"Could you tell me your name?"
The Guardian sensed her misery, his voice being more gentle the second time. The Skydancer obliged to giving him an answer, if only to get him off her back.

"Nephthys. My name is Nephthys."

After that, Nephthys was unofficially part of a clan in the Arcane Flight. At first, she was unhappy and awfully sarcastic for such a little one, tending to revert to her old Flight's trickery as much as she could. The more she grew, however, the more she began to appreciate her clan and open up. They were always behind her back if she needed it, and by the Shadowbinder - what would have Liviel done without her? However, Nephthys would still make secret excursions to the Tangled Woods, trying to remember more about the little she knew of her heritage. It was there that she would see a face - a face that she barely remembered, like a fragment of a dream - and then it came to her. The Pearlcatcher. The Pearlcatcher that she had seen before, a long time ago, when she had only just been kicked from her Clan. Interest overtook her, no matter how dangerous it was. The Skydancer made the bold choice to talk to him, but for a moment, nothing came out. She was staring straight into his blue eyes, her tail twitching in a clumsy embarrassment. It was a strange feeling - not one she had ever experienced, anyway.

His name was Amarinth, as she would eventually learn, and they had met a long time ago, when they were hatchlings. Their first meeting was strange, leaving a prickling feeling all over her feathers, but nonetheless, it was interesting. When dawn arrived, Nephthys was forced to return to her clan, lest Eytha find out she had been sneaking out at nighttime. This, however, was not their last meeting - rather, it was only the beginning.

She would encounter him over and over again, but eventually, she was coming less to see the Tangled Woods, but more to see Amarinth. Her life was splitting into two. One was with her clan, as she started to gain a notable amount of respect from her lairmates, even as a youngster. The other part of her life was drastically different, spent away in the depths of the Tangled Wood, sneaking through the Shadowbinder's lands to meet with a certain Pearlcatcher.

Eventually, Nephthys grew up, her wings matching the color of the sky that she would blend with each and every time she took flight back home after a long night in Shadow Flight territory. To her clan, Her intellect was enough to keep everything running smoothly, even when they had too many hatchlings to feed, and too little adults. Soon enough, she would realize that she was the one everyone looked up to as a leader. To this day, though none of her clanmates know why she disappears at night, she remains a proud Arcane dragon. No matter what struggles she or her clan go through in the day, Nephthys always knows that Amarinth will be waiting for her.

----

She had to go to him. The things she had heard were too much to leave him alone there anymore. The others didn't know. Not yet, anyway, she kept her lips closed just the way she did when she had brought Tanith and the others home; this time claiming that the move was for the best. She told them their clan had to do what it had to do - take the long journey across the sea to reach the kingdom the Lightweaver had crafted for herself. It would be better there - food had already grown scarce where they lived, and their new home would ensure it was in abundance. She had fooled everyone - young and old, even her own children - Tiamat in particular taking on this new journey in stride. But no matter how much she spoke, Eytha would quietly eye the Skydancer down, doubt glittering behind magenta eyes. She knew. But when the day came to move, Nephthys ignored that gaze and spread her wings across the ocean, leaving everything she knew behind for a second time.

For Amarinth.