Greenskeeper’s Journey
@NetShy, @Neige, @DruidicMelody
@AdventureChaser (welcome to the pinglist, I'm glad you're enjoying it!)
Greenskeeper’s Gathering was of course the first festival anyone in the clan could remember, so they didn’t really know what to expect. Even Viviane hadn’t really been celebrating the festivals since, well, Before. She knew that Lightning dragons celebrated their festival with fireworks, because she could see the ones that lightning-hatched dragons in neighboring clans sent up that week; and she knew that Wind dragons flew fantastical kites and did – something – flying…races? Acrobatics contests?
“Watching spirals from across the bay, it’s hard to tell the difference,” she explained.
Everyone knew the real purpose of the festivals was to celebrate the different flights, but for clan Stoneguard, Greenskeeper’s was going to be forever linked in their minds with a celebration of growth – and not just because of Enigma.
The hatchling had grown up amazingly, of course. When they began the long journey to the northern edge of Light territory, Enigma had barely begun to use words. Viviane bundled her onto her back in a little ball of fur and hides, using the hides from the kite that Enigma had been sleeping in since she hatched, to teach her to associate their scents with family. Like all hatchlings, she soaked up words, ideas, and even habits from her mother at an astonishing rate. After days of travel, the hides were less a bundle and more a slightly smallish blanket for her, and she could speak well enough to give a cutely almost-correct greeting to their host clan’s mirror clan leader.
DarkRain and Anael, each in her own way, were quietly jealous of the huge and bustling clan. Over a hundred clan members! Of course, a number of them were actually trainees destined to serve the Lightweaver or other deities; some of the older clan members were already making plans to visit hatchlings and friends who had gone into the Gladekeeper’s service. Still, there were dozens and dozens of true clan members. There were people of every breed and element. There were hunters who never gathered plants, and gatherers who never hunted. There were parents and children and grandchildren and great-grand children and at least one bloodline even longer than that. When the parents wanted some time to themselves, there were hatchling minders aplenty to guide the smaller ones to child-safe activities and make sure nobody flew away chasing butterflies and got lost.
A green wildclaw elder with matching bright green eyes let the clan across the straits into nature territory, where they met up with his native clan and continued, old friends and new, to the festival. Viviane was familiar with the scents of a number of the older dragons, and happily filled time around the campfires as they travelled re-introducing herself. Enigma glued herself to her adopted mother’s side and watched, listened, and sniffed as Viviane reacquainted herself with the host clan – she mostly knew guardians and mirrors, and one proud and dangerous-looking ridgeback woman, and a few wildclaws. They smiled tolerantly and reminded her of their names and jobs, and told Viviane and her little clan stories from the last time they had been together.
Stoneguard was in the stories; he and Viviane had been planning to found a new clan together. Before, it seemed, they had visited the great libraries of Light to prepare themselves. Viviane looked thoughtful at this – was she prepared? Would she remember any of what they had studied here, when she needed it? Surely they had intended to get the clan going, growing, using their preparations before she could forget them. They would have turned into good habits and benefited the clan, instead of turning into unused Before memories and getting lost.
The festival itself was crowded and busy and amazing. There was so much to do! The three Stoneguard clan adults left Enigma with the other youths of the big clan, enjoying the safer and more contained festival attractions under the care of a wildclaw, a fae who claimed the wildclaw as her mother (adopted, DarkRain discovered, from a lost shadow egg like her own), and an imperial who called both wildclaw and fae “very-great-grandmothers” (it would take more than three “greats” to get it exactly right, he explained to Enigma, so they just abbreviated it all to “very great” and let the details go except for on the actual genealogy scrolls).
DarkRain discovered an event where clans competed in a guessing game for the privilege of adopting more orphaned eggs, and put a guess in on every egg she was allowed. Anael discovered a game where a water-hatched imperial ran a scrying pool and let players try to scry dragons that looked particularly like various jungle animals, and played several rounds just for the fun of using the scrying pool. Viviane got her fur died and scales painted, and flew about wearing garlands of fragrant jungle blooms. The three even ended up on an adventure to rescue some ferrets when they got lost on a little hunting expedition.
None of them worried about the Enigma, half-grown during the journey and safely under the care of the Brightwings hatchling minder. When they came back for her late in the festival, though, they found themselves wondering if they should have thought twice.
“A Light clan, Mama. A Light clan so big that they send away more hatchlings than they keep!” DarkRain wailed when Enigma had dashed off again to show something to one of her new friends. “Did you even think of what they would teach her? Because OF COURSE they were teaching her stuff because they’re LIGHT dragons!!”
Anael fluttered her wings uncomfortably. “Shush, you’re making a scene. It’s not a bad thing that they taught her about exaltation – now we don’t have to do it. And there’s nothing wrong with teaching her about alchemy. She can take over dealing with Baldwin from you. Didn’t you want us to specialize?”
DarkRain glared at Anael. “What is this “us” business?” she demanded. “Until now it’s been ‘my friends’ and ‘my hosts’ but now that you want to tell me what to do suddenly it’s “us” that has to teach Enigma hard things and “us” I want to specialize?”
“Well…” Anael paused uncomfortably. Where was the “us” coming from? She probably needed to think about that one, but not in the middle of a fight in the middle of the festival. “Ok, but am I wrong though?
DarkRain flopped down and fumed, but Viviane put a comforting foreleg over her shoulders. “It’s all right, daughter. Anael can be our guest for just a season yet still care about the clan. The season she gives us enriches our clan even if she leaves again someday. The care she gives us helps us to grow, even if she doesn’t stay to see the flowers she planted come into bloom.” Vivian gestured to the flower garlands she wore. “Her scent will stay among us a year for every season of her presence, and she will carry our scent out into the wider world.”
DarkRain sighed. “All right, all right, I’m sorry. To Anael too. I’m just worried…it seems like just yesterday we were teaching baby Enigma how to say “flower” and now she’s talking about learning to fight, and catching animals to do alchemy with and her claws have a weird sheen on them and…I’m worried. I was hoping she would be the one to stay home and dig for ores and things, and guard the Statue back and, well… stay safe. One bad battle, and the clan could be ended! I can’t let that happen!”
Viviane looked over to where Enigma was coaxing a sparrow to perch on her horns. A Brightwings clan beastmaster was encouraging her, and she grinned at him when the little bird finally took the offered perch.
“It’ll be all right,” she told the others. “Learning to battle makes you strong. Being strong makes you safer. Learning to honor the deities and those who serve them grows your honor. Learning to brew alchemy opens up all kinds of possibilities. Did you see all the leaves the Brightwings alchemist had? It’s scary, but it’ll come out all right in the end.”
“Besides, Stoneguard is watching out for us isn’t he?”
DarkRain and Anael didn’t answer, but the three of them sat for a long time, watching Enigma learning to train her new familiar.
OOC: Festival activities are based on the clan's actual participation in Festival Events. The adults also leveled up to 6 with no particularly close calls, despite the in-story "close call" when they got lost and the ferret-protection group saved them.
@NetShy, @Neige, @DruidicMelody
@AdventureChaser (welcome to the pinglist, I'm glad you're enjoying it!)
Greenskeeper’s Gathering was of course the first festival anyone in the clan could remember, so they didn’t really know what to expect. Even Viviane hadn’t really been celebrating the festivals since, well, Before. She knew that Lightning dragons celebrated their festival with fireworks, because she could see the ones that lightning-hatched dragons in neighboring clans sent up that week; and she knew that Wind dragons flew fantastical kites and did – something – flying…races? Acrobatics contests?
“Watching spirals from across the bay, it’s hard to tell the difference,” she explained.
Everyone knew the real purpose of the festivals was to celebrate the different flights, but for clan Stoneguard, Greenskeeper’s was going to be forever linked in their minds with a celebration of growth – and not just because of Enigma.
The hatchling had grown up amazingly, of course. When they began the long journey to the northern edge of Light territory, Enigma had barely begun to use words. Viviane bundled her onto her back in a little ball of fur and hides, using the hides from the kite that Enigma had been sleeping in since she hatched, to teach her to associate their scents with family. Like all hatchlings, she soaked up words, ideas, and even habits from her mother at an astonishing rate. After days of travel, the hides were less a bundle and more a slightly smallish blanket for her, and she could speak well enough to give a cutely almost-correct greeting to their host clan’s mirror clan leader.
DarkRain and Anael, each in her own way, were quietly jealous of the huge and bustling clan. Over a hundred clan members! Of course, a number of them were actually trainees destined to serve the Lightweaver or other deities; some of the older clan members were already making plans to visit hatchlings and friends who had gone into the Gladekeeper’s service. Still, there were dozens and dozens of true clan members. There were people of every breed and element. There were hunters who never gathered plants, and gatherers who never hunted. There were parents and children and grandchildren and great-grand children and at least one bloodline even longer than that. When the parents wanted some time to themselves, there were hatchling minders aplenty to guide the smaller ones to child-safe activities and make sure nobody flew away chasing butterflies and got lost.
A green wildclaw elder with matching bright green eyes let the clan across the straits into nature territory, where they met up with his native clan and continued, old friends and new, to the festival. Viviane was familiar with the scents of a number of the older dragons, and happily filled time around the campfires as they travelled re-introducing herself. Enigma glued herself to her adopted mother’s side and watched, listened, and sniffed as Viviane reacquainted herself with the host clan – she mostly knew guardians and mirrors, and one proud and dangerous-looking ridgeback woman, and a few wildclaws. They smiled tolerantly and reminded her of their names and jobs, and told Viviane and her little clan stories from the last time they had been together.
Stoneguard was in the stories; he and Viviane had been planning to found a new clan together. Before, it seemed, they had visited the great libraries of Light to prepare themselves. Viviane looked thoughtful at this – was she prepared? Would she remember any of what they had studied here, when she needed it? Surely they had intended to get the clan going, growing, using their preparations before she could forget them. They would have turned into good habits and benefited the clan, instead of turning into unused Before memories and getting lost.
The festival itself was crowded and busy and amazing. There was so much to do! The three Stoneguard clan adults left Enigma with the other youths of the big clan, enjoying the safer and more contained festival attractions under the care of a wildclaw, a fae who claimed the wildclaw as her mother (adopted, DarkRain discovered, from a lost shadow egg like her own), and an imperial who called both wildclaw and fae “very-great-grandmothers” (it would take more than three “greats” to get it exactly right, he explained to Enigma, so they just abbreviated it all to “very great” and let the details go except for on the actual genealogy scrolls).
DarkRain discovered an event where clans competed in a guessing game for the privilege of adopting more orphaned eggs, and put a guess in on every egg she was allowed. Anael discovered a game where a water-hatched imperial ran a scrying pool and let players try to scry dragons that looked particularly like various jungle animals, and played several rounds just for the fun of using the scrying pool. Viviane got her fur died and scales painted, and flew about wearing garlands of fragrant jungle blooms. The three even ended up on an adventure to rescue some ferrets when they got lost on a little hunting expedition.
None of them worried about the Enigma, half-grown during the journey and safely under the care of the Brightwings hatchling minder. When they came back for her late in the festival, though, they found themselves wondering if they should have thought twice.
“A Light clan, Mama. A Light clan so big that they send away more hatchlings than they keep!” DarkRain wailed when Enigma had dashed off again to show something to one of her new friends. “Did you even think of what they would teach her? Because OF COURSE they were teaching her stuff because they’re LIGHT dragons!!”
Anael fluttered her wings uncomfortably. “Shush, you’re making a scene. It’s not a bad thing that they taught her about exaltation – now we don’t have to do it. And there’s nothing wrong with teaching her about alchemy. She can take over dealing with Baldwin from you. Didn’t you want us to specialize?”
DarkRain glared at Anael. “What is this “us” business?” she demanded. “Until now it’s been ‘my friends’ and ‘my hosts’ but now that you want to tell me what to do suddenly it’s “us” that has to teach Enigma hard things and “us” I want to specialize?”
“Well…” Anael paused uncomfortably. Where was the “us” coming from? She probably needed to think about that one, but not in the middle of a fight in the middle of the festival. “Ok, but am I wrong though?
DarkRain flopped down and fumed, but Viviane put a comforting foreleg over her shoulders. “It’s all right, daughter. Anael can be our guest for just a season yet still care about the clan. The season she gives us enriches our clan even if she leaves again someday. The care she gives us helps us to grow, even if she doesn’t stay to see the flowers she planted come into bloom.” Vivian gestured to the flower garlands she wore. “Her scent will stay among us a year for every season of her presence, and she will carry our scent out into the wider world.”
DarkRain sighed. “All right, all right, I’m sorry. To Anael too. I’m just worried…it seems like just yesterday we were teaching baby Enigma how to say “flower” and now she’s talking about learning to fight, and catching animals to do alchemy with and her claws have a weird sheen on them and…I’m worried. I was hoping she would be the one to stay home and dig for ores and things, and guard the Statue back and, well… stay safe. One bad battle, and the clan could be ended! I can’t let that happen!”
Viviane looked over to where Enigma was coaxing a sparrow to perch on her horns. A Brightwings clan beastmaster was encouraging her, and she grinned at him when the little bird finally took the offered perch.
“It’ll be all right,” she told the others. “Learning to battle makes you strong. Being strong makes you safer. Learning to honor the deities and those who serve them grows your honor. Learning to brew alchemy opens up all kinds of possibilities. Did you see all the leaves the Brightwings alchemist had? It’s scary, but it’ll come out all right in the end.”
“Besides, Stoneguard is watching out for us isn’t he?”
DarkRain and Anael didn’t answer, but the three of them sat for a long time, watching Enigma learning to train her new familiar.
OOC: Festival activities are based on the clan's actual participation in Festival Events. The adults also leveled up to 6 with no particularly close calls, despite the in-story "close call" when they got lost and the ferret-protection group saved them.
Guardian
