Drown

There's a large pond on the outskirts of Synto, right on the edge of the bramble. It's serene. Dragons came there to get a quick drink.

That was before Drown was born. Tropic brought him to the river to fish with her, but he would always run off and stray into the dangerous Everdown Bramble alone. Many times, Tropic would soar into Synto and, slightly panicked, ask if anyone had seen her wandering son, only to find him submerged or playing in streams and puddles.

After a few months of this, the Historymakers grew to expect Tropic turning boulders upside down to search for her lost hatchling, and the few that weren't tired of leaving their jobs to look for Drown would help her search.

However, this time was different. Tropic couldn't find him. Tropic and the rest of her fishing party and all the hatchling caretakers couldn't find him. After two days of constant searching, Drown was nowhere to be found.

When Emotion ambled over to the pond and leaned his head down for a drink after plodding around Synto, checking in nooks and crannies for the lost hatchling, a head popped out of the water right under the pink gaoler's nose and snarled viciously at him. He reeled back as the missing son half of Synto had been looking for spat and flared his fins at him.

"Drown?" Emotion asked, dumbfounded.

Drown nodded, eyes narrow, azure scales dripping water.

"Have you been here this whole time?"

Another nod.

"Stay there," Emotion ordered as seriously as he could muster.

The guardian snorted. "Of course," he growled, small voice edged with determination.

Emotion hurriedly turned from the pond and galloped towards the Historymaker to find the hatchling's mother. When he looked back at it, Drown was gone, sunken back into the dark water.

---

Emotion, Tropic, and several other worried dragons arrived at the pond and Emotion prayed to the Shadowbinder that Drown had listened to him before taking a few shambling steps into the water. Immediately, Drown broke the surface with a splash and flared out his wings, diving for Emotion's paws. The gaoler reared backwards and Tropic threw her forelegs around her son. "Drown, why did you run off?" she asked, clutching her hatchling tightly, only to recoil when he snarled at her. He snapped at all of them until they were standing in a ring around the edge of the pond. Tropic stretched her long neck out towards her son, eyes filled with concern.

"I live here," declared Drown with finality.

"What?"

"MY POND," he barked. "I won't leave. Have to stay here." He bared his teeth at his mother, who suddenly sagged with relief, taking a long exhale.

"It's his charge," she told the others, folding her wings over her shell. "Is that why you were always running off, Drown? You were on your search."

Drown sunk into the water until only the top of his head was visible. He looked slightly puzzled, and replied with only "It's my pond."

"Okay. Yes. I'm glad we found you. I assume you're going to stay here?"

A nod.

---

And from that day, it was settled. Drown stayed in the pond as he grew until you could see his giant blue body at the bottom, tail swirling in the mud. Rarely, he would come to the surface and lounge at the bank of the water, but he never left it. Even if his whole body was laying on the ground, one leg or a wing or his tail would anchor him to his pond. It became useless as a place to drink, for if you tried, Drown would come sloshing up, droplets raining from his massive frame, to snarl at you, claws digging in the muck.

As long as you stayed away from the water, he would allow dragons to lay around the cool pond, but he would stay in the shallows and keep a close watch over them. Nudibranch had nearly gotten bowled over for stepping in mud, and hatchlings who didn't know better had been scared off by a great blue pond beast rising from the depths to rumble a warning at them. Sometimes mischievous dragons play a prank on newcomers, telling them to take a drink from the refreshing pond at the edge of the bramble, only to be faced with an angry blue guardian chasing them off.

The only dragon he doesn't scare off when they get too close is Dianne. The small black and white nocturne has never entered the water, but Drown doesn't growl when she leaves pawprints in the mud, and seems content to sleep when she relaxes nearby, apparently not feeling the need to watch her movements.


























guardian charge ideas:

deceased charge so now they're a gravesite protector
keeps charge a secret
a rock
the moon
ice
a color
a song
a dragon that doesn't like them (attacks them, they accidentally hurt them, etc)


by memoirs
I just came up with a concept of sun/moon Guardians. Each is the other's charge, except one is diurnal while the other is nocturnal. They are soulmates, deeply in love, but rarely communicate, as one is almost always asleep while the other is awake. They take turns protecting one another while they sleep. If something does happen that makes it necessary for both dragons to be awake at once, it's as monumentous an event as an eclipse, and whatever threatened them will definitely regret it.