C~ H~ A~ P~ T~ E~ R~~~ 1~
ENTRY 1
01 - 01 - 17
RUN!
How had everything changed so much in such a little time? This had been her favorite season - When the orbit of Sornieth twisted away from the [skystar] and gave more power to the Icewarden. Driving away the heat that made younger dragonkin lurk in the shade for fear of getting [starburn] on their fragile wings.
The light of the skystar was just overhead now, and it was nearly middle-day. It had already been almost a whole day, and Petite wasn't even outside of her clan’s regular gathering fields and now forced to land. She had flown the whole way thus far, but the air pressure had dropped, and now there was no wind to carry her along. The skystar had barely burned off the morning fog, and there was no heat stored up in the ground yet for her to hover on either, the air had become stagnant. She would need to strum her wings continuously just to keep herself airborne, and that would only succeed in wearing her out quickly, something she didn’t need right now, she was a fugitive now after all. She knew she would have to make it to the forest by
[eveningfall]. By now the hunting parties would have already started to comb the mountains looking for her.
Abandoning one's clan was terrible, it was wrong and highly frowned upon, usually, when leaving to start anew, there was a huge send-off and well wishes.
But there was no one to send her off, or to wish her well. The idea of taking things from other clans was by its very nature wrong, but many dragons still did it, hoarding trophies and making games out of others misfortune. To steal an egg, however, was a crime far worse than just the petty thievery common of dragons, it was a crime punishable by no less than death.
Still, she could not bring herself to return to them to
"that clan!"
New memories replaced everything she used to be; "Memories" of things, of feelings she would never forget. They would continue to haunt her, tear her apart from the inside out, break her down. They shredded all her hopes and dreams, every bit of the future she had always dreamed of with her was gone now.
“Time fixed nothing!” she vowed remorsefully and pressed on, leery of every shadow moving near her and taking the longest route to avoid any other clans in the area which might give away her position. That, of course, had been easy with flying, she could easily see all the under-skilled magelets of other clans practicing and working on building up their lairs just below, blissfully unaware of her flying overhead. On the ground she had little to no sight and walking around any bend could expose her to some new and unknown encampment.
Each clan had a goal: to nurture their skills so that they may one day join the Arcanist at the Observatory on the highest point in Arcane territory. But Petite’s destination was far from the dreams of twenty thousand dragon clans. She was not sure if it had been a good idea to leave at all, but she knew one thing for certain she could not go back now. Not after everything.
Her head began to swim dizzyingly fast again, and she felt queasy. It seemed as if her mind would never know peace again, that the thoughts in her head would always be an unforgiving tornado. Petite forced herself to breathe slow, calming breaths, looking around her and trying to find stable things to steady her grip on the reality of the world in front of her. The spinning began to slow and her headache dulled into something bearable.
Petite sat for a moment. every second she stayed still meant another second closer to being found by Anonymity but she couldn't move, she could barely keep herself from crying let alone walking forward. She swung her tail and sent a small rock sailing away.
“Why had this happened, Why couldn't things go back to the way they were! Why did she have to do this, to be this dragon, this was wrong! Her life was wrong, what they did to Leslie... was wrong!” Her breath caught in her throat and she could taste the saltiness of the tears that adorned her cheek.
It was true that none of this was fair, but sitting around waiting for... what? There was nothing left of what her life had been. And with the small egg protected by her coat, all she could do was to move forward. Her story now had a purpose, reason; the memories etched in her mind would always exist, and they would always hurt like a dagger to the heart. But this baby, it's story was unwritten, and Petite would fight for that, fight for the happiness of this egg. It was all she could do. Slowly she slowly stood up and began to walk deeper into the grove and towards the Starwood Strand.
Petite felt the change in the air, as the light of the skystar began to wane. It would still be another day and a half before she made it within seeing distance of the Strand. She stretched her long, graceful wings eager to leave behind the mountainside - it had been excruciatingly painful to navigate the mountain on foot. She had almost crashed into two newly formed clans in just the last hour.
Now it was almost eveningfall of the second day, every hour that passed made her feel safe like they would never find her. But she still had to be cautious. Avoiding obvious flight paths, and trails. Making even the slightest error in direction could mean certain death, the farther away she got, the less she knew about the terrain. One of the great things about being an imperial was that she had some of the biggest wings in her clan.
"No they were not hers anymore,” she frowned at that thought. Sure, she hated them for what they did, but now had no home to go back too: she was a renegade, a fugitive. She shook the idea of forgiving them from her mind; it had always been in her kind-hearted nature to forgive, regardless of circumstance.
“All it took to start a clan was two dragons, And the egg she had found with Leslie would make a fine companion. This time she would not forgive. Nor would she forget!”
The warm wind pulled against the leaves that refused to settle on the ground, sending them up in playful spirals, the crystalline waters a great aqua candy backdrop to their mischief. She laid out in the sun excited for her friend Leslie’s return. Today was her first day in the defense fliers. Petite smiled and gazed up at the skystar, holding one clawed palm to measure the distance between now and eveningfall.
They should be returning any minute, she jumped to her feet and flew over to her nest; it was closer to the outside of the larger magical sap bubbles where the clan leaders lived, for some reason, she had always preferred the quiet, to the hustle and hum of "The First" bubbles. Faes, for the most part, used vibrations to speak to one another and only used magic casting to talk to dragons who didn't know the language or rather lacking the crest of frills which the fae species used to communicate. After a while hearing so much babble you couldn't understand, gave one a headache.
She landed beside the familiar nest; Petite had never been one for decorations, the clan that had raised her hadn’t been fond of all the clutter everything had a system, and there wasn’t time for decoration. Most of those born to her birth home left when they were very young to help new clans grow in strength. Petite was just that, a helpful dragon for hunting and gathering. She would often lie in her den wondering what her parents were like, or rather what of her personality she had taken from them.
She smiled at all the flowers Leslie had twisted around in the magically cured sap in the doorway, her nest was certainly brighter with her wildclaw touch. Even tho she had been born a fierce dragon by nature Leslie was nothing more than a big softy, she’d rather paint her claws than use them in a fight. On more than one occasion she had shown Petite her book of Fae spells.
She moved apparel aside looking for the present she meticulously hid from the raptor-ish dragon. With the slightest tug she pulled out the jacket, it had taken two months of selling her food rations to afford it. It was just the right shade of leather with golden filigree, way too much for her sense of style, but it would look perfect on her friend. She looked at the egg floating in the corner and smiled.
Flying directly over the center circle where they sorted the food into
[coffers] to protect the daily reaping from spoiling. Petite heard the whistle that the hunting parties had returned, she couldn't have timed it any more perfect. But when she made it to the clearing she stopped dead in her tracks.
Links:
Glossary
- The Great Skystar: (Object) The Sun.
- Starburn: (Afliction) Sunburn
- Eveningfall: (Time Of Day) The Eve of Night; The Moment Between Dusk and Nighttime.
- Coffers: (Object) A Place To Store Food So That It Doesn't Spoil. Food Inside Of Coffers Cannot Be Sold. ~A.k.a Converted Food Points~
