#aered

[stelarisdragons]

Lore: Change and Fear

(I just realized I completely forgot to put the last two lores from the Games up here. *facepalms*)

“Clan Mother, I have… unfortunate news.” Aered looked up to see the tiny fae on her desk and carefully set down her scroll. “Marlais? What is it?” “It’s about the Games. Sussuri’s interest has waned,” the spy reported. The guardian frowned. “Surely this is a good thing,” she said. “Less death on our hands?” Marlais let out a long breath. “I wish I could be as certain as you are, Clan Mother, but with Sussuri, nothing is certain. Where one interest fades, another rises…” Aered’s eyes narrowed as she realized what Marlais was saying. Sussuri was most destructive in his boredom. “Keep an eye on him for me, Marlais. Make sure whatever he does will not come back on our heads.” “Yes, Clan Mother.” Marlais shifted as if to fly off, but hesitated, his frills flicking in an uncharacteristic display of uncertainty. He wouldn’t speak of what worried him, Aered knew. Her spy never spoke of his own troubles. But she could guess well enough. “You fear for your son, Marlais?” she asked. He went very still. “I pray for him, Clan Mother. Jheras has passed the point where I can only be afraid.”

[stelarisdragons]

Into the Arena

“You are… certain about this?” Aered asked, looking down at the skydancer in front of her. Silver was right; he did seem sick, though he hid it so well that she had to study him for several moments before finding even a hint. She managed to keep herself from flinching as his voice entered her mind. ‘I am certain.’ “You are aware of the risks of the arena?” Iah actually laughed, though like all things his laughter was silent, an open mouth and eyes sparkling with mirth. ‘Lady Aered, I spent my first days in the arena, dodging murderous hatchlings and surviving in whatever way I could.’ He spread his wings wide, displaying the scars. ‘I know its risks.’ It said a lot about how well Sussuri had taught his protégé when Aered couldn’t tell if he was amused or offended. “Very well. You are suitable for this week, in either case, from your name alone. …May I ask why, though?” For the first time since Aered had met him, Iah’s emotions slipped through his mask. ‘It is the only way I could think of. It’s the only way to bring Pa—Sussuri home. If he sees me out there…’. “You think he will come for you.” There was a questioning tone to her words, despite Aered’s efforts to stifle it. Iah’s expression gave her all the answer she needed. “Then by my power as reluctant Mistress of the Games, I accept you as the 32nd tribute.” ‘My thanks. …Lady Aered. I ask much, but… I have a request.’ Iah folded his wings in tight, trying to stiffen his body and resolve together. ‘If Sussuri does come, will you pardon him? He does not act in malice, only boredom and curiosity. If he is kept in punishment, he will turn to hate, but he has gifts. They could help you.’ His claws dug into the stone, but he met her gaze and did not look away. Aered exhaled slowly. He asked much, but at least he had the sense to know it. “Ask me after you return. I must think on this.” Iah stood. He could see her honesty, at least. ‘I thank you, Clan Mother.’ “Iah.” Her voice stopped him at the threshold. “Be careful. Lyra will grieve if you are hurt.”

He smiled, the gentlest expression she had ever seen on his normally unreadable face. ‘I know. She has already said as much.’ “Then I will add my support to hers. You are a member of this clan, Iah. You are one of us.” Aered tried not to cringe inside as she saw the surprise in his glance. Had no one ever told him that before? The guardian shook her head, then offered him an encouraging smile. “I have kept you long enough. Go on, then. Make all of us proud.”

[stelarisdragons]

Lore: Shadows and Butterflies

(I was a bit late starting the game on Sunday so I made a lore excuse ^.^;;) --

“Have you found him?” The council hall was in uproar, quiet uproar, of the sort that said its participants knew better than to let it get out. Marlais crouched, panting, in front of Aered, trying to gather the breath to speak. “No, Clan Mother,” he said at last. “I have searched everywhere in the lair. Ran is looking outside still. We have seen no sign of him. Even his cats are gone.” Aered exhaled slowly, trying not to let her emotions show. “I see. Farran. Do your visions tell you anything?” The seer shook his head. “I see only flickering shadow and butterflies. They linger even when I redirect my gaze. Nothing has ever been able to interfere like this before.” “He has grown powerful,” Laellar said softly. The Clan Mother nodded. She could not let the others see her fear. Fear for herself, perhaps, as the one who had punished him, but even more so fear for her clan. “What of his family?” “Greldort has been with Lyra today. They claim to know nothing, and I could see no falsehood,” Silver said. His voice was still hoarse and his plumage dull, though he was far better off than he had been just a few days ago. “Winter has detained Iah, but he does not have any answers for us, and trying to read him is like reading the whole clan at once...” The boy had shown all the signs of overload and, more concerning still, of a deeper sort of illness than the one Silver himself was still recovering from, but the older skydancer knew better than to voice his concerns now. There would be no sympathetic ears in this council. Aered dug her claws into the rock. “Do the other clans know?” Elestin shook her head. “As far as I can tell, no one has realized it yet. The delay in the start of the Games may have raised suspicions… but—” The rest of her words were drowned out by a huge rumbling. Dragons scrambled to their feet, only to be knocked off them as the earth shook beneath them. As soon as her claws found purchase on the tilting ground, Aered shouted, “Elestin! Find Sombra and Aya, and head to the arena! Farran, get Basah. Go!” -- Sussuri curled happily in a tree as he watched vast rifts open in the arena. His cats curled beside him, the orange one swatting at a butterfly as it returned with news. It was unfortunate, on one hand, because such a violent event meant the guards would no doubt be coming to investigate, but such a surprising and spectacular sight… The spiral’s grin widened. He had missed this.

[stelarisdragons]

2, 45, 46?

Thanks! Alright, let’s see…

2. Who’s in charge of food? Do you have dragons in charge of the different factions?

As head chef, Raza is in charge of food preparation and of making sure her supplies don’t get too low. Vale also takes an interest in this since she runs the tavern. Leon and Jheras tend to be on insect catching duty a lot, since Jheras is quite quick and Leon is always with him anyways. Saoirse is always out finding new varieties of blackberry, so she often gets delegated the task of foraging. Naoise is usually able to snag some fish or meat while they’re out. If they’re occupied (usually because Saoirse found shiny things), Osen can handle fishing in between nautical wanderings and Tykva recruits a bunch of hatchlings to help her catch lizards.

45. Which dragon is most-likely elected to do the heavy lifting?

Sombra and Winter, hands down. Technically Kaissetha or Eyvindr could do it, too, but Kai’s often busy with his duties as general and Eyvin is most often in charge of training potential exaltees.

46. Which dragon is responsible for redecorating?

Hm. This assumes we have any sort of coherent decoration in the first place… Aered would be most likely to organize such efforts, if she deemed organization necessary. Otherwise, Iris and Calypso, with occasional input from Rhodas on the rare occasion they pry her away from her research. Noel is also surprisingly adept at interior design. Sorin tries, but it doesn’t always work.

[stelarisdragons]

Lore: An Outing

Sussuri growled in quiet frustration as his pets relayed their findings. Not a single scrying crystal in all the lair! And Gyrain was locked in his workshop yet again (something about a mechanical Arcanist?), so there was no chance of pestering him for that augmentation device they had discussed… That left him with just one option.

-

“Clan Mother?”

Aered looked up at the unexpected voice to see a black spiral perched on a low boulder. His nervousness was betrayed only by his twitching tail. There was an orange cat swiping at it. “Sussuri. I did not have any tasks for you today,” she said, turning to face him properly. He’d been well-behaved lately, but she still didn’t like turning her back on him. “What brings you here?”

Sussuri scooped up the cat right before it could bite him. “No chores to do, a game today, my progeny to see… I wondered if you might relent and lend this day to me?”

Aered blinked. Sussuri only slipped back into rhyme when he was either very excited or very nervous. She wasn’t quite sure which one it was this time. Perhaps a bit of both. “Your progeny…? Ah, your son is among the contestants today.” She remembered seeing the name Celio on the list Marlais had brought her. The matriarch sighed. Clan leader or not, she was a parent too. She knew how it went. Though Sussuri was the last dragon she would have expected to be capable of fatherly love, she couldn’t quite bring herself to deny him this. 

“I suppose it’s only reasonable to be worried,” she said slowly. “And you have been remarkably efficient and skilled with your tasks lately… I did promise you a reduced sentence in exchange for good behavior, didn’t I? Just this once, then. You will be guarded, but you may visit the arena.”

Sussuri could barely restrain himself as he gabbled a quick thanks and shot off through the halls to his den. “Iah! Lyra! Grab some snacks, will you, and get ready to leave! The matriarch has heard my plea so now you two should come with me. Oh what mysteries we’ll see! Heeheehee!”

Iah helped his surrogate father untangle himself (thankfully he’d only gotten as far as half hitch this time) as Lyra went to collect her soul-shard jars and a few pots of salve. She’d learned well that Sussuri’s ideas often led to trouble. True, it was interesting trouble… And she’d gotten so much better at finding and gathering the soul fragments since she met him. But it never hurt to be prepared.

[stelarisdragons]

Lore: From Ash

Aered shook the dust from her wings as she climbed out of the crater and surveyed the damage. Meteorites had gouged massive holes in the ground. Wild magic still crackled and arced from stone to stone. Strange carcasses, like nothing she’d ever seen on Sornieth, lay scattered here and there among the smoldering wreckage. She could see Basah trying to disenchant the statue that had been Rhiangar, Aya tending Sombra’s wounds, Lyra crouched beside the all-too-still form of Iah. Vija flitted from tribute to fallen tribute while Rhodas worked her healing magic on the victorious Tameka and tried to repair the barriers overhead. Meteors still roared past them, crashing down with bone-shaking explosions all across the Starfall Isles. The guardian knew she should be horrified, frightened, but all she could think was It could have been worse. It could have been so much worse.

[stelarisdragons]

Lore: Falling Stars

So apparently Arcanist is making a mess (again) this week, and this time it had quite the effect on our Games! Aered really wishes she could have one “normal” game, just one...

“Are the trainees all gathered?” Aered asked. She still disliked using the word tributes, though this week it was very accurate. With Starfall coming up so soon, the Arcanist was going to need all hands on deck. The best way her clan could contribute was to offer practical experience to the potential Exaltees, and the Games were well suited to that. “Looks like it,” Laellar reported cheerfully. “I sent Emerantha and Leroy out about an hour ago to do a headcount.” “Leroy, really?” Aered chuckled. “I’m surprised you managed to drag him out of his workshop. Ran too, for that matter. She’s been terribly busy with something lately. And the other preparations?” “Silver, Ves, and Rhiangar have been making sure everyone’s healthy enough for this, and treating any sparring injuries,” the little fae said. “I swear these younglings don’t know their own strength. Aya, Sombra, and Eyvindr were helping with last-minute training when last I checked.” Aered nodded, forgetting Laellar was sitting on her head. “Ah, sorry about that,” she said when she felt him tighten his grip on her horns. “What about the arena?” That was what worried her most. She didn’t know precisely what had happened during the week of rest, only that Leon and that new lightning fae, Lyra, had come back with the enchanter at Death’s door and reports that Treesnek’s shadow was gone from the arena for good. But Jheras was still too weak to leave the infirmary, so the old arena was out of the question. His connection to it was too strong. A Game there would only make matters worse. But they couldn’t postpone the Games again… not right before Starfall. “Relax, love, we still have our other mages,” Laellar said soothingly. “The Focal Point is a good place for an arena, full of power. Rhodas told me it was going far better than expected. Basah was working with Lyra and Iah on the finishing touches as I came in here.” The guardian’s eyes narrowed. “Iah?” Laellar shrugged. “I was a bit worried too, at first. Sussuri’s son, even if not by blood… but he doesn’t have Sussuri’s voice. He doesn’t have any voice. It’s hard to use the whispers if you can’t speak.” “I am more worried about him spying,” Aered said, “but I suppose there is only so much you can do with information alone. Just… keep an eye on them.” She felt guilty for suspecting the tattered grey skydancer; as far as she could tell, he was a willing accomplice, but not a malicious one. And he looked so broken, so harmless… but Treesnek had taught her far too well not to rely on appearances. Before they could discuss matters further, something… shifted. Both of them felt it, but neither one knew what it was. Then the whole room shook; bits of dust and scattered trinkets tumbled off their shelves. Voices of panicked dragons echoed through the building. There was a sound of claws scrabbling for purchase outside the room and running feet. A few moments later, Farran shot inside and skidded to a halt, panting hard, his Gloomwillow Guide whirling frantically around his head. “Clan Mother! The gods, a mistake… The Arcanist has done something, I don’t know what. I saw the gods turned to stone, the sky falling down!” “Farran, what—” Aered began. Then the first meteor roared past.

[stelarisdragons]

Lore: Judgement

“Sussuri.” Aered sat in the chamber of the Cornerstones, her magenta eyes staring fixedly at the four great crystals instead of the fidgeting spiral in front of her. Laellar curled beside her; it still hurt him to fly, but he had insisted on being present. Several dragons stood behind them: Eyvindr, his new scars stark white against his hide, the seer Farran sitting between his massive foreclaws. Farran’s sightless eyes were staring past the spiral in the center; Aered didn’t need to ask what he saw. Iris sat a little ways to their left, with her mate Silver and his serthis familiar. Vija curled beside Ves; a strange understanding had formed between those four ever since Silver brought Iris home after Thundercrack Carnivale. Seneiti curled around a column a decent distance away, acting as scribe and avoiding Vija’s eyes. Somewhere above them, Marlais was probably watching the whole thing. Emerantha was still trying to find Sunil after he disappeared last week. Kaissetha stood alone on Aered’s right. He had commanded Rhiangar to stay behind and look after Kriyei and her new mate. Aered didn’t like superstition and distrust based on heritage alone, but it would only hurt the proceedings if a child of the cunning and infamous Treesnek was openly on her side. Dara had understood without complaint. Aered was grateful for that. Across from her was the whispering spiral himself, Sussuri, whose very name invoked secrets. Beside him, standing stiffly as if he didn’t know what do with his limbs, was a grey skydancer Aered barely recognized as the guardian Iah that Sussuri had brought home weeks before. It hurt her heart to see his eyes now, dead and empty. What happened to him? Perched on Iah’s back was an unfamiliar female fae; tiny blue lights flickered under her tattered robe. She had not spoken a word since the gathering began. It was wrong to call it a trial. Trials only happened when there was doubt that the accused was guilty. The matriarch stood up. “I had thought,” she said, “that when I declared an end to the Games, that would be the end of it. I suppose it was a foolish thing. I saw the evidence of that in my General’s anger, anger that you took advantage of, but still, I had hoped… You know why you are here,” she declared, her strong voice utterly devoid of any anger, any disappointment. “By all rights, I should cast you out now for your treachery, Sussuri. We took you in and gave you a home, tried to help you feel that this was home, and you betrayed us. You turned your own clan against itself. I know that scolding you is of no use. Even now, your only regret is that you got caught.” “Not completely true, Matriarch,” Sussuri replied. “I do regret trusting the necromantress. She has proved a very fickle friend.” Vija hissed with fury. “You got my mother killed, you—” Ves reached up and touched her snout. “Hush. Let Clan Mother speak.” Aered shut her eyes, deep in thought. “And yet… Casting you out will only free you to cause more harm. Sussuri, you loathe boredom, do you not? So I will reward you. I will put you to work here, strengthening and repairing the lair, so that you won’t have time to be bored. You will not leave for any reason. You will not even pass within sight of the sky. If you behave, your time will be comparatively short. Disobey, and you will never see the night again. Do you understand, Whisperer?” Sussuri wilted. “I… understand, Matriarch,” he murmured. Laellar leaned against his massive companion. “So that settles it, then?” he asked. “I’m sorry, love. My idea turned out to be the wrong one.” Aered gently nuzzled him. “Don’t apologize. You meant well. And it did unify the clans around us in the end… even if they unified against us. So you were half right. But it is not yet settled. We need to decide what to do about these Games.”