Siriol

" glances were exchanged but she couldn't distinguish their meaning. siriol felt unease as the dragons before her turned to face her, something in their posture giving away their exhaustion despite the act they were putting up. even though they were meant to be family, able to trust each other and share anything, the dragons she'd once thought she'd known were pretending that they weren't tired.
" "if you so badly wish to leave him alone," absentia's lips curled almost mockingly, standing in front of the other dragons, "then you can join him. how does that sound?"
" siriol's blood ran cold. she furrowed her brow but absentia only stepped forward, the dents and scars on their armet from years of their profession glinting in the light. she looked away, her nerves getting the better of her.
" the dragon before her stopped, their face only a few inches from hers. she kept her gaze away and after a moment absentia snickered in amusement before standing back again. the other dragons continued to stand quietly behind them, holding their ground and ultimately reinforcing their alliance to absentia. but as siriol's gaze travelled back upwards, the tiredness in their frames remained. they didn't want to be here anymore; they had to be. "

Siriol was orphaned at a young age as a result of abandonment, where she was left to fend for herself in the plaguelands. Either luckily or not so, she was rescued and taken in by the wings of a small clan, or group rather, lead by an imperial named Absentia. Absentia raised Siriol in the absence of her parents, their kind nature a much needed contrast from what she'd known.

As the group grew in numbers, Siriol noticed Absentia's growing desperation to be able to provide for them. Before she knew it, Siriol was becoming part of Absentia's ventures to track down wanted dragons for bounty. In this period of time she noticed her parent growing more and more distant. There was a rule in place; they would only bring captives back alive. It became such a common occurrence that they hardly had time to themselves to bask in whatever treasures they'd earned. Eventually she knew nothing else, only that without Absentia's clan she was alone in the harsh world that she'd known for a short period as a child.

Tragedy struck one day though- the growing clan was ambushed when they were supposed to be the ones doing the ambushing. Their new target actually had a clan to back them up, and blood was shed. The remaining members under Absentia's rule fled in terror, and not without their own vicious scars. To add upon their losses another clanmate died later on from their injuries. Their numbers diminished, the clan was in turmoil. Siriol noticed how deeply affected Absentia was by the loss, and as much as she wanted to provide them comfort they only pushed their clanmates away.

The turn started when Absentia provided the clan with armets and capes, as a uniform. "To make everyone less distinguishable from each other and disorient targets", was the reason. So their escapades were to continue, though their visciousness noticably grew. The rule of bringing targets back alive was disregarded as the morality of their ventures was taken into question. Siriol began to doubt her own loyalty as what had started as a job to be able to provide for a clan had become a group whose entire purpose was to track down fugitives regardless of their crimes for treasure. Grief had spiralled into greed.

Siriol found herself in the midst of a moral crisis after they took a pair of dragons away from their child. Not only that, but following the child back to his parents, which would have provided him a guilt Siriol could only imagine. The fate of the parents was sealed because of them, being executed in a grisly manner; Siriol argued with Absentia that night that what they were doing was wrong. She felt for the now orphaned dragon whose parents they had stolen from him, having lost her own parents in a different way. She left the argument with a stinging cut across her face.

More conflict occurred between Siriol and the dragon she still tried to regard as a parent when it was decided they would go after the one they had orphaned to finish the job. Absentia threatened to eject Siriol from the group, that it would make her nothing more than a murderer and she would face the same fate once she had become a fugitive herself because of it. This broke Siriol's heart; she wasn't Absentia's daughter anymore. She was only an asset. But she was scared of what fate would befell her if she were to leave, so she had no choice but to stay.

On the night they found the son, Siriol was reluctant to fight, as were her clanmates. They were all tired. But Absentia lead them to attack... only to be met with brute resilient force. The guardian focused all of his strength against Absentia, and the other dragons could only do as much as they could to try and tear him off of them. Their efforts proved futile and Absentia was slain, much to the grief of the group. Despite their character change, they had been their leader and their family. They fled before anyone else could face the same fate, and partly because they didn't want to fight any longer.

Though initially the dragons tried to elect a new leader, it didn't feel right. They were only a small group, and with their reputation it didn't seem likely that their numbers would grow anytime soon. With promises to see each other, the group disbanded to go their separate ways and begin anew.

The news of Absentia's death spread quickly, and even moreso did the news of their slayer. The group had been widely regarded as an unlawful force who only sought greed and not justice... which wasn't far from the truth. Siriol was lost in the world, unsure of where to turn to. Her talons lead her to Kraad, who recognised her. But as it turned out, they were both hurt and fragile souls, both uncertain as to what lay ahead of them. Kraad listened to her and in the end allowed her to stay with him for as long as she desired. She still felt out of place and especially was unsure of who she was without the group she'd known her whole life thus far, but she at least had new people in her life to help her find that.