((ahh i forgot to check back after MAGEND had been posted - hopefully it's not too late to finish up? ))
[MAGDEN3]
"Oh, gosh... Really?" Caspia looked somewhat downtrodden. She scuffed her tail on the floor despondently. "And here I was so sure..."
She sighed, before shaking herself. "Well, what's done is done. Either way, I'm glad I was able to help! And it
is starting to get kind of late..."
She leant her long neck out of the tent opening, gazing up at the darkening sky for a moment. "I'll go find some place to spend the night, then." Turning back to the other Imperial, she gave a cheerful thumbs-up. "I'll be back tomorrow if you need anything else fetching, haha!"
With that she turned and headed off along the beach, low sun casting a long shadow on the sand behind her.
> [ENDGAME]
It was a hobby of Caspia's to get up and watch the sun rise every morning. She didn't need a huge amount of sleep; so the dawn found her watching the sun creep above the horizon with bright, shining eyes. This was going to be a good day, she decided. She could
feel it.
The messenger from security interrupted her reverie. They tapped her brusquely on the shoulder and delivered their summons in an urgent tone. Caspia frowned at the ominous news. "A meeting at headquarters? Well... well, yes, I suppose I'd better come along, then. Lead on."
She listened raptly to the Guardian's speech, occasionally turning to whisper in awe to their neighbours (
saboteurs? goodness me - I didn't think there was anything like that
going on). She cheered with the rest at the good news, flushing proudly - even if she'd only been fetching and carrying, she was glad to have helped. But the mood was quickly soured. She was far more sombre when the Guardian finished his speech and approached her.
"I'll do whatever I can to help, of course!", she said, swatting her tail for emphasis. Then she did a double-take. "Wait, did you say
eggs? Not...
missing eggs?! Oh, the poor darlings!"
Her mind made up, she turned and galloped towards the shoreline, crashing into the water with single-minded determination (and only pausing to assure that, yes, the bauble allowing her to breathe underwater was still attached to her mantle). Nobody was going to make off with dragon eggs on
her watch!
> [EGGS]
"I'm here to help!", she called, swimming down to the stall. It was a centre of tumultuous activity, not that Caspia was surprised - missing eggs were a serious thing, after all. She listened raptly to the explanation, though she felt herself begin to quake when the mention of Relic Eels and the like came up. She was a scholar, after all, not a fighter - but she swallowed the feelings of unease. She'd do this for the hatchlings!
Though no native water dragon, she was a practised swimmer after all her time spent at the beach back home; so she followed the groups into the caves with relative ease, casting her eyes about for any clue of the missing eggs. Light from the entrance scattered from her mane and cast a sprinkling of dots on the walls; but the further they swam, the darker it became, and Caspia found herself squinting to try and make out the vague shapes that loomed before her. Boulder - boulder - wait a second...
She dove down in a swirl of bubbles, before her head snapped back up excitedly. "Here! There's one here, everyone!" She lifted the egg diligently, cradling it in her arms as if it was extremely delicate while a few of her fellow dragons swam over. "There, there," she cooed, stroking its rough shell, "it's all right now. Oh, you poor darling."
Over the next few hours, the remaining eggs were recovered - all, but one. The sun was high in the sky, casting shimmering white patterns on the ocean's surface, when Caspia surfaced for a break. She sat on the sand, drying her wings with a downtrodden expression. What if they never found the missing egg? What if it just remained lost, in a dark cave, forever? What if it had already been snatched up and taken far away? What if something even
worse had happened to it? She suddenly found herself imagining the inside of an unhatched egg, and promptly shooed the mental image away, wringing her tail out to distract herself. No - they'd definitely find it, they
had to. There had to be a way to help, though - something to make it easier... A way to find lost things...
It hit her like a breaking wave. Eyes widening, she jumped to her feet, still dripping seawater as she rushed across the beach, back to the fortune-telling stall that she'd visited in the very beginning. If there was anything to help recover a lost egg, this would be it.
She was submerged again as the team rallied to do another sweep. Moods were low, and as she followed one dragon through a tight (to an Imperial, anyway) opening in a cave, Caspia could hardly blame them. She, however, was feeling a little more optimistic. Reaching the middle of an open cave, she steadied herself, before reaching round to her mantle and fussing with a piece of the net. Her actions became clear when she pulled a length of cord loose to reveal what she'd had tied into it; one of the other dragons gave her an odd look, and Caspia proudly held it forward.
"It's a dowsing rod!" she exclaimed happily, cheery voice echoing oddly in the underwater space. "The dragons at the stall said I could borrow it, since it was an emergency and all. I thought, what better way to find a lost egg? Right, here's hoping..."
She held the rod out expectantly, and waited. At first, nothing happened. Caspia's face fell as nothing continued to happen for several long, short moments. She jiggled the rod slightly in her hands. "Maybe... maybe I'm holding it wrong -"
Then she stopped, and her eyes lit up. The rod, however faint, had given a definite tug.
She swam in the direction indicated, using her long body and tail to propel her through the water while her claws clasped the dowsing rod. It gave another tug, urging her through a passage in the rock she hadn't noticed before. "It's working! It's picking something up!"
She wriggled through the passage with care, nearly snagging her mantle on a rough outcrop of rock. It seemed to go on forever, and got narrower as she swam; but still, the dowsing rod pulled her forward. She swam slower still, twisting her body through a particularly narrow gap, before suddenly stopping short. Her mantle of shells had gotten caught again - this time, for good. The ring of shells simply wouldn't fit any further.
She paused, trying not to let claustrophobia sink in, and took several long, deep breaths. She could almost make out something up ahead - was that light? The dowsing rod was shaking stronger than ever in her claws. She had to be close. Maybe if...
She took another deep breath, and then freed the mantle - and the water-breathing bauble attached to it - from around her neck. Suddenly she was free, and could again swim forward; but now the weight of the water seemed to be bearing in from all sides. She held her breath desperately, surging forward through the narrow passage. Nearly there... she had to be nearly there...
The crevice opened out into a small chamber. Light was filtering down from above through a small hole in the cragged ceiling, just big enough for a harpy to fit through; and there, lying innocently in a clump of weed, was the last egg. Caspia almost dropped the dowsing rod in glee, darting forward to gently pick up the little one. She opened her mouth to speak to it, issuing a cloud of bubbles - and clamped it shut again in shock. Right, the bauble.
Crossing her arms so that both rod and egg were carefully pressed against her chest, she turned around carefully in the small space, before heading back down the passage. The glint of her seashell mantle was a welcome sight; she squeezed her body back through the narrow opening, slinging the mantle loosely around her neck and taking a deep breath in relief. Then she turned to the egg in her arms. "Right, then. Let's get you home."
> [PARTY]
The day seemed like it had only just begun, but already the sun was setting in the sky as Caspia relaxed on the beach, swirling a drink in her hand. When the groups had all returned, she'd thrown herself into the festivities, dancing and laughing and singing her throat sore. She'd filled a small pouch with gifts and trinkets from the bazaar, and when she happened to bump into Mureido passing through the market she'd pointed him in Fred's direction with a wink and a nudge, leaving the two of them to talk "business" together. The sky over the sea was huge and clear, lit up in vibrant hues; Caspia didn't need a prophecy to know that tomorrow was going to be another beautiful day.
There was a sharp crack, and a firework went up; the crowd cheered, and Caspia gasped, watching in awe as it burst and filled the sky with burning stars. Another soon followed it, and then a third, and then the darkening sky was alive with crackling, dancing light. She smiled, and leaned back, watching the fireworks reflected in the wide sea. Not a bad show, if she did say so herself.
[THE END]
