Kusil

Kusil

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Kusil has seen for himself how many Lightning dragons are consumed by an “all work and no play” mindset, and he is terrified of that same mindset consuming him, too. He has seen how many of his clanmates lack hobbies outside of their field, has seen how scarcely they look up from their work. And it frightens him. He doesn’t want to live that way.

Kusil’s initial response was to try and adopt the opposite mindset — “all play and no work”. He’s got plenty of hobbies to keep him busy. He likes to watch Sugarplum perform the ballet and have fun with his brother, Myar, and model for Amiri, and dance, and sing in the choir, and study the occult, and just plain have fun.

But unfortunately for him, Lightning dragons don’t tend to be too fond of the idea of all play and no work, and Screechfang and Skytail — mostly Skytail — quickly put an end to this. They reminded him that he is one of their children, and there is a certain type of example which he must set for the clan. Kusil protested, arguing that he was just trying to set the type of example which encouraged his clanmates to loosen up and have fun. But they put their foot down, and sent Kusil to work at his princely duties.

Such princely duties are mostly diplomatic in nature. He half-heartedly follows behind Suvi and Skytail on their diplomatic envoys to other clans, and grumbles silently about it. His mind wanders back to the ballet, and watching Sugarplum twirl and leap, and back to Serezha, summoning spirits, and his heart is weighed down by jealousy.

When they come back, Kusil is still free to do the things he loves, and these diplomatic missions are occasional enough that he’s got plenty of time to do them. But the idea of having to do them in the first place weighs him down, and he’s thrown himself even deeper into his hobbies to try and ignore the thoughts of work.

But little does Kusil know, this is for his own protection. Screechfang and Skytail already know that Cadfael hates them and their family. They know that he would only hate them more if they allowed their son to run around, carefree, not contributing to clan life. Putting Kusil to work prevents Cadfael from seeing him as a good-for-nothing, lazy lout, like he already sees Anasa, and sending him away on diplomatic missions puts distance between the two of them. They know Kusil isn’t ecstatic about this arrangement — but they thoroughly believe it’s the best possible way to protect him.

This arrangement has had some perks for Kusil, however, such as not one, but two mates. Kusil was sent on a diplomatic mission by himself for an arranged relationship with the daughter of another clan leader, but Screechfang forgot to clarify which dragon he was supposed to be entering a relationship with. By the time the confusion was cleared up, Kusil had already fallen in love with both Embrace, his intended target, as well as her best friend, Morgana, and took them both home with him.