Kayori

This next portion is credit to Verdice, who wrote this piece on Nov 7th, 2016, for my 24th Birthday


Rounding a well-worn hill on the side of the great Behemoth, Sweetpea motioned to the small squad of dragons behind her to keep an eye out as they approached the clan of one of their closest allies. Within moments, the group could see the early-warning scouts in the trees, letting them pass onto clan territory once they saw their smiling familiar faces. In the distance they could see Inara training a new group of recruits for Lady Glade.

Treading lightly on familiar soil, Sweetpea and the others ambled up to Inara, waiting until the training group took a break to wave hello. The golden skydancer grinned, helping a few of the shaky-legged recruits up to catch their breath.

“Good eve Inara! How is Kayori? Have you peeps had a rocking party for her yet?”, Sweetpea laughed. Inara shook her head, sheathing her practice weapon.

“No, no party as of yet, I think some of the clan are planning one for her later? She is such a hard worker, getting her to agree to take a few minutes off to celebrate may be harder than usual”, she sighed. Sweetpea patted her shoulder, casting her eyes around to see if she could see the familiar stone shoulders of the clan matriarch.

Sure enough, across the clan drifted the typical yelling of Kayori, the exasperated snapper trying to herd her clanmates into a task like an unruly group of cats. Sweetpea could almost feel her sigh from across the lair, the bubbly tundra unable to contain herself as she flung across the lair.

“HI KAYORI!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU SILLY SNAP!”, Sweetpea all but shrieked as she ran towards the increasingly alarmed snapper. Turning away from who she was talking to, Kayori spun around just in time to get a faceful of bright green fur that slammed her into the flowerbed below.

“Oh, by our Lady, I was wondering if you had forgotten again”, Kayori laughed as she pushed them both up off the now-crushed flowers.

“As if I could forget your hatchday Kayori! I put so many reminders around the lair that one of them was bound to work”, Sweetpea said, smiling broadly. Kayori chuckled, butting the forgetful tundra’s head. Laying their heads on each other’s shoulders in the semblance of a hug, Kayori looked over Sweetpea’s shoulder and her eyes widened.

“What is that suspiciously tightly-closed box for Sweet? Do I even want to know what gift you got me for my birthday that needs that many protection runes?”, she asked slowly. Sweetpea stepped back and motioned for Akebia to step forward.

“Well… I know how much you like to collect all sorts of friends and Akebia has made some great strides in his necromancy...soooo….we brought you some new slightly-dead boney friends!”, she explained. Kayori just stared as Akebia began to remove the sigils and runes covering the box, the lid slowing creaking open as a thick layer of mist poured out of the box. Two shuffling collections of bones unfolded themselves from the box, swaying slightly in the breeze.

Everyone froze and Kayori took a deep breath before trotting up to the specters. They bowed before her, kneeling as best they could with their mismatched bones.

“Ma’am, we await your orders”, they rasped in unison. Kayori turned to Akebia, jerking her shoulders up in a question. He stared at her for a solid minute before Sweetpea rolled her eyes and knocked her shoulders into his, motioning to the two spirits impatiently.

“Oh, right, sorry, yes, they will obey any order that they can, as long as it was issued by you and only you. You can give them permission to listen to others of course, and also give them longer orders, like, if an order would take place over a month. If you ever want to change the magic embedded in them, just send us a message, I’ll be over in a jiff to tune them up the way you like”, he blurted out.

“Huh, neat! Alright bone boys, go patrol the edge of the clan with the scouts, and report back to me at the end of the day. Got it?”, Kayori commanded. They nodded and lumbered off under her watchful gaze.

“That’s not all either! We brought the result of our best clan alchemists”, Sweetpea called to Kayori. Turning back around, Kayori just raised an eyebrow at Sweetpea.

“You brought...what?”, Kayori asked.

“Actually, Starfruit worked together with Galao to create entirely new life patterned after Baldwin’s recent changes. Their mix may hold slightly more magic than usual, but they are certain you will like the little ones once these eggs hatch”, Sweetpea explained, smiling as she handed a fur-lined padded bag over to Kayori.

Kayori’s eyes widened as she gently opened the bag and peered inside. She slowly poked the slimy green shells, carefully examining the bogsneak hatchlings tucked within. The shells shuddered a bit under her tender claws.

“Sweet...thank you so much, it must have taken your clan a few days to create these little guys! Thank you, I will be forever grateful that our clans met on the battlefields. Will you and yours be staying for the party that I assume my clanmates have been planning behind my back?”, Kayori asked quietly. Sweetpea smiled wickedly.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world”