NightShade
Chiaroscuro
The Bold Light within the Consuming Shadow
HeartOfDragon Clan
Some would say that NightShade is a curiosity, an anomaly to her flight and a shame to her birthright. I say those some are fools who don’t know who she really is. In truth, she is a loving and curious young guardian that swims comfortably between the shadow and the light. She is an avid protector, a loving friend, a clever genius, and a brilliant ambassador. And I, for one, am proud to be her familiar. But I digress; this story is about how she came to be that way, so let us start where all good stories start. At the beginning.
NightShade was born to a predominate clan in the
Driftwood Drag along the border of the
Tangle Wood. It was almost immediately obvious that she was different from her nest mates, for she was by far more curious then any of the others and she took no pleasure in the arts of trickery or stealth. Instead, young NightShade preferred her reading and experimenting. More often than not the nest guardians would find her piecing together some strange construct or mixing odd color goo together in her drink dishes.
As NightShade entered the young adult stage of her life her desire to learn only intensified and would not diminish no matter how hard her clan discouraged it. At any given time she would be found deep within the clan’s small library surrounded by stacks of old dusty tomes or tucked away in a small room with her experiments. The verbal dissuasion eventually turned to strict restriction after parts of the clan’s home caught fire, or exploded, or (in one room’s case) just up and disappear. The clan would no longer tolerate her odd, and apparently dangerous, behavior and she was sealed out of the library and was forbidden from experimenting.
In addition to being restricted from her studies, NightShade discovered herself ostracized. Indeed most of the clan and her own family held her in contempt and it became clear they only begrudgingly allowed her to live among them. The resulting loneliness, and the fear she would be exiled from the only home she knew, made her focus on trying to regain favor. She pushed her curiosity as far back as she could in a desperate attempt to fit in. Though no matter how she tried, no one found her attempts worthy of redemption.
This rejection caused her to withdraw from those of her clan and from herself. Soon she started to question who she was and if she was ever really one of the Shadow Flight. Her only escape from the agony of her confused thoughts was to wander the
Tangle Wood, but even her long treks couldn’t clear up the chaos warring in her mind. With each day she pushed herself further and further away from her home, oblivious to the fact she was drifting towards enemy territory. Until, finally, she found herself on the edge of
The Mirrorlight Promenade.
Now it’s a well known fact that the Shadow clans and the Light clans have a particular loathing for one another. Some clans take this dislike to the extreme. NightShade’s is one such clan. If they found her near the border of the enemy’s territory surly they would do more than just exile her. But even with this fact swimming in her mind, and my own warning in her ears, she still crept ever closer towards the light. For it was there, you see, she found something that sparked her dormant curiosity.
A few feet away, past the border of the shadows, were a few Light Flight youths lounging about in the sun. It wasn’t the youths that caught NightShade’s attention however; it was their activity that fascinated her. The group was reading lore to one another and with each tale they would tell the constructs and the fights, the heroes and the enemies, would grow more grandiose. NightShade was consumed almost instantly by the stories and so settled herself just out of sight to listen. It was night fall when the readings finally ceased and NightShade started home. Her mind was once again full of ideas and wonder and by the time she reached home she had already resolved to see if they would be reading the next day.
Indeed they were and every day after that one for two weeks. NightShade quietly attended with them, reading from her own special tomes, and drawing diagrams in the dirt. She would fanaticize about the constructs and the magic in the stories. For two weeks she attended this until someone caught the intrusion. An astute Imperial male heard some of NightShade’s excited giggles and called her out. Now, at this point, she could have just disappeared back into the shadows and no one would have been the wiser. This is not what she did, however. NightShade lifted herself up and walked boldly before the group. Needless to say, the Light Flight was very alarmed to find a Shadow standing before them.
One of the elders came closer and asked what her purpose was and NightShade meekly responded with the truth. Her answer was met with silence at first, and then laughter broke out among those that thought it was a joke. The mocking caused NightShade to withdraw back into herself. Shamed once again, she attempted to slink back into the shadows. Only she was stopped before she could retreat. “Oh please wait,” a Pearlcatcher female called after her. She slowly approached with one long finger pointing to the open pouch hanging from NightShade’s side. She had noticed her special tome and the fact it was an ancient book that many had only heard off. She asked if she could see it and in exchange offered NightShade one of her books.
The others closed in to see for themselves, sparking an in depth discussion on how she came into possession of the book. Their discussion consumed them until the Elder shooed them all away from the border of the shadow lands. NightShade was included in the Elder’s intentions and so she was moved onto the Promenade to sit and read with the others; who took to her very quickly. Why the Elders and guardians had allowed this, and encouraged it, is still a mystery. Whatever the reason, from that day on she was welcome in the light.
For four solid months she studied with her new friends and in that time the life returned to NightShade. Little by little she pulled herself out of her shell, no longer afraid of being who she was. She had become more confident than she ever could have while cloistered within her clan. It would be this new, bold confidence that saved her from what came next.
It was early morning when it happened. NightShade had just settled on the Promenade with her friends, a new tome in hand, when out from the shadows her father appeared. The rest of the clan’s warriors stood behind him. When the Light Guardians noticed they were quick to take up defense, but her clan never moved to fight. They didn’t even make a single noise. It was her father that finally broke the silence. He called her out and NightShade, understanding what was going on, walked right up to him with confidence in her step and defiance in her eyes. As expected, her father went on to disown her and mark her as an exile from the clan. The elders then proclaimed her a traitor to the Shadow Flight and exiled her from the
Tangled Wood entirely. Once all was said and done her former clan turned around and walked back into the shadows. She was left abandoned, with nothing but her favorite book and me. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, however. This incident did indeed mark the end of one life, but also the beginning of a wonderful new one.
Thankfully, NightShade was quickly taken in by the Light Flight where she spent her remaining youthful years learning and experimenting to her heart’s content, or almost to her heart’s content. There were rules she had to abide by that greatly restricted how she experimented. The constriction on her studies never felt right, but she had no desire to lose another home, besides she really liked the drakes she came to live with. They felt more like family then her true family ever did and she respected that.
Yet still, even among drakes she loved and care for, something wasn’t right. She was still held back and as much as she didn’t wish to think it, her new family was doing it. She needed a place she could be free, where no one would mind her blowing up a room every now and again. How else was she going to really learn and create? This is why, once she reached adulthood, she decided to set out in search of that place. She said farewell to her adoptive family and set off with me, a few coins, and her best books.
NightShade’s travels took her everywhere from
Dragonhome to
The Windswept Plateau and everywhere in between (with the exception of the
Tangle Wood naturally). Unfortunately, she found nothing and no one in those regions that fit her. Her hope was fading when finally she stumbled upon a very hyper Spiral that pointed her in the direction of a clan located in the
Starfall Isles. If the Spiral was right, then this clan would have been NightShade’s chance to find like minded drakes.
NightShade made her way into the edge of the
Crystalspine Reaches where this clan was to be found. She had been searching for days and was beginning to give up hope when she stumbled upon an argument about the effects of an alchemical experiment. Of course, NightShade’s curiosity moved her towards the voices until she came upon a small clearing. There she found a very strange construct consisting of glass tubes, wood plates, and beakers full of colorful liquids. The argument, she realized, was between an older Snapper male and an annoyed Spiral female. Behind them sat a snow white Mirror male, who patiently watched over the two. NightShade entered the clearing to get closer, curious as she was to see what the two worked on. No one seemed to notice her, so she attempted to greet them, but they wouldn’t settle enough to hear it.
“Fine, I’ll show you it won’t work then!” the Spiral barked at the Snapper. With a snort and a sharp nod of her head, the Spiral jerked around and set the experiment into action. NightShade’s attention locked onto the elaborate construct when it started to bubble and hiss, easing closer to it to watch it better. “Oh dear, you are quite in the way,” the Snapper said. NightShade looked up just in time to see the Spiral and the Mirror both moved towards her, but they wouldn’t reach her before the explosion happened. There was a bright flash of light, followed quickly by a wave of energy that tossed NightShade into a nearby tree. She hit her head and was knocked cold.
When NightShade finally woke up it was on a soft bed in a cozy little room. To her left was an orange tiger striped Wildclaw. She had no idea where she was, so it was only reasonable that she would want to leave. NightShade eased off of the bed as quietly as she could and carefully attempted to exit the room without detection. She was unable to get completely away from the bed before the Wildclaw whipped around. “No,” she said, wagging one sharp talon back and forth, “you are not clear yet.” What happened next was a whirlwind of annoyed comments and NightShade being placed back on the bed. The Wildclaw continued talking as she looked NightShade over. Once finished, she snorted and stormed from the room complaining about obstinate patients. It went quiet and NightShade decided to tested her luck and attempted to leave again. This time she made it outside and into a large central chamber. There she found herself before a large group of drakes that all stopped what they were doing to stare at her.
“I’m glad to see you’re up,” a soft female voice said. NightShade turned her attention to the three drakes standing at her side. One was the Wildclaw from earlier, another was the white Mirror, and the other was a large guardian female that wore an interesting brace on her wing. It was the guardian that had spoken to her. She introduced herself as Tanre, leader of the clan, and went on to explain that they brought her here after the botched experiment to tend to her. NightShade offered thanks for the tender care and dismissed any worries about her being upset for the incident. Once the formalities were finished she brought up questions about the experiment, which started an in depth discussion about what went wrong. NightShade bore an excited smiled the entire time.
The discussion lasted for quite a while, until the white Mirror, Zythance co-leader of the clan, halted the conversation and instead invited her to tell her story over supper. She explained everything from how she was exiled to why she left her family in the
Sunbeam Ruins. Surprisingly, they found her restriction horrific and after they ate they insisted she stay with them, if for nothing else then to finish her experiments. Tanre happily encouraged her to stay for as long as she liked and offered her a room. NightShade took her up on the offer and would for the next six months. In that time she came to care for the clan dearly. Unlike all the others before them, they didn’t restrict her. In fact, they encourage her to push herself to her limit, so what if something exploded they could fix it. For the first time in her life she finally felt like she truly fit in.
One day Tanre took her to the side with a proposition. She offered her a permanent home with the clan as well as an ambassadorial job. The clan was trying to expand its allies and she had wanted to befriend some of the Light clans to secure much needed resources. NightShade didn’t hesitate to accept and today she is a proud member of the
HeartofDragon clan, where she serves as ambassador to the Light Clans.
Some people think NightShade is a shame, an oddity to be avoided. But to me and the clan, she is an avid protector, a loving friend, a clever genius, and a brilliant ambassador. To us she’s Chiaroscuro: The Bold Light within the Consuming Shadow.
-Lore By Azurenight