Gyo

"But mom, i found it first!" His sibling whined, slapping her tail impatiently.

"oh, shush. your brother was the one who actually wanted to keep it, you cant complain about it now."

Faith, his mother, cooed at her daughter, while Gyo stuck his tongue out.

"see? its mine now."

Gyo always had a habit of collecting anything with even a minor shine, maybe due to being a pearlcatcher, or maybe because his wings and body held a sparkle that his mother always praised him for. either way, he loved shiny things. he hadnt made his pearl yet, but all his siblings did, making him envy them. not long after he ate his shell, he had made himself sick on purpose to try and hack his pearl up, but all it did was put him in pain.

despite his not-that-good relation with the rest of his brood, he was still sad to see many of them venture off into different lands once they were of age. the dusk sanctum was both a nightmare and a haven to him, because everything was dusty and dark, but the glowing flora gave him peace among the shadows.

"Gyo, dear, could you help me for a moment?" his mother called. she was getting older now, and often needed his help with tasks. not many of his siblings stayed in the shadowbinder's territory, but the ones that did were too busy protecting and cleaning their pearls to really help their mother.

"coming," he said, trotting over to where his mother was perched on a dead log, glancing down at the dark earth below.

Gyo's head tilted to the side, voice taking on a hint of curiosity. "...what is it?"

"look, there." his mother said, nodding her head down into one of the depressions in the ground, filled with murky water. Gyo followed her gaze, stopping when he saw the slight shine of something just under the dirt at the bottom of the pool.

Gyo looked at his mother, silently begging for permission to dig it up. his mother chuckled, and nodded, and Gyo bounded into the dirty murk, disregarding that he may loose the shine on his wings and body for a while. he scratched at the dirt, churning it until he could surface what had been underneath. he had gotten his body drenched in the process, staining his one bright gold scales a darker colour, like marble. when he returned to his other, he held a dirty, wet pearl. his mother looked at him expectantly, not commenting on how he was dirty, and Gyo spoke proudly.

"...can i keep it?" he asked, a hopeful grin on his face. His mothers smile grew fond, and she gave a nod. "yes, you can."

he ran off, pearl in claw, and did his best to wash the grime off. he managed to clean his wings, but his body was still stained from the dark waters. the pearl, once cleaned, was shinier and glimmered more than any of his siblings pearls, and he felt a wave of pride wash over him.

A diamond in the rough, literally.