@
ratdealer
(Welp. I hope you don't mind long replies, I may have gone slightly overboard. ^^; )
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Rhapsody
he/him
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Elegy
she/her
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With a cameo from...
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Rixa
she/her
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Rhapsody suddenly lifted his head to the wind, his fans splaying to their fullest.
Rixa instinctively took a step back. The banescale was
tall, a fact she often forgot with all the slouching he did. She hoped he didn't notice the movement.
Elegy, who was sitting beside him. had also lifted her head. Her eyes were closed as though she was listening closely.
Rixa's eyes darted from one to the other and back again. "Rhap? El? You ok?"
Rhapsody held up a wing as if asking her to be silent. Rixa opened her mouth to reply, paused, and then sat back with an indignant huff.
She'd been swapping stories with the two banescale, hoping to add a few tales to her collection. For two very young dragons, they had a lot of interesting things to say. And Rhap had just stopped mid sentence! At a
really good part!
It took a moment more, but eventually the two banescale dropped to rest on their wrists again and exchanged a knowing look. Rhapsody sighed. "Lady Rixa, I'm afraid we have to cut this meeting short."
Rixa squinted. "Is something wrong? You reacted too, Rhap, so that wasn't just El's thing. And I thought I told you to stop with the titles."
"A conductor calls for news." Elegy's voice was low, hesitant. "It would... be rude to ignore them, especially with the meeting happening so close by."
The mirror gave the two of them her best stern mother glare. "It would also be rude to leave me on a cliffhanger, y'know."
Rhapsody chuckled, a deep, rumbling noise that Rixa could feel in her chest. "A story can be told anytime. A meeting of banescale cannot be rescheduled." He dipped his head in a casual bow and then raised his wings in preparation of takeoff. "Until next time!"
He jumped up and shot into the sky, the gust from his wings nearly blowing off Rixa's hat. Elegy followed a moment after, and her gust actually did send the hat flying.
Rixa stood and flared her wings like she wanted to follow. "WAIT! What about the eldaaand they're gone." Her wings dropped to the ground. The sky above was already clear. Banescale were ridiculously fast in the air.
Rixa took a deep breath, and let out a long, heavy sigh. The audacity of those young punks.
Ah well. She could just go bother
Cadence, see if
she knew the next part of the story.
The flight had been long, and for the most part silent. "Close by" was perhaps an understatement; Elegy had mostly meant "within the Windswept Plateau".
Elegy spoke quietly into the wind. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Rhapsody turned his head to look at her. Of course that was her fear. "There are banescale of all elements now, even ice. They won't think anything of it."
"Yes, but..." She trailed off, and visibly swallowed.
"I know." His voice was gentle and impossibly soft. "We don't have to talk about the hatching. They're asking for news, not origins."
Elegy nodded. Rhapsody turned his head back to the wind. For a time, the only sound was the rush of wind in their wings.
"And you. What about you?" Elegy was louder this time. She turned to look at him and tilted her head. "Except for Rixa's choir, everyone we meet--"
"I
know." Rhapsody snapped. His eyes flared, and then he closed them, momentarily snuffing out the flame, and knotted his brows. "I know, El." His voice was quiet again, and apologetic. "I'm hoping our own kind are not so... so judgemental."
Elegy stared at him, and past him, into the empty sky beyond. And then she abruptly turned to look at the ground ahead. "We're here."
The two of them descended in a lazy spiral toward the small group. Others had already arrived, and were walking about chatting amicably. There were even a few dragons of other species about; which was odd for a Chorus gathering, but there was probably good reason for their being here.
Rhapsody touched down first, and then Elegy, and they quickly dropped to rest on their wrists. They walked into the gathering on all fours. Elegy stuck close to Rhapsody's side, and despite his first instinct, he held his head a touch higher than usual.
A turquoise, heavily quilled bane was greeting new arrivals, as was a yellow bane with an instrument round their neck. Rhapsody smiled as he approached the duo, and squinted to temper his fiery eyes in a way he hoped didn't look too intentional.
"Well met! I'm assuming it was you who called the meeting?" He lowered his head in a polite bow. "I am Rhapsody, and this is my sister Elegy. We're staying with a nearby clan on the edge of the Reedcleft Ascent. They are... an odd bunch, but hospitable. How are you faring?"
Elegy stood quiet beside him, staring at the ground.
.-:*
