I was supposed to be planting mushrooms today but I got distracted and accidentally wrote a nearly 1600 word short story about flight cultural differences and the stories dragons tell to explain the game mechanics. No content warnings apply, no editing (beyond slight copyediting) we die like men
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"Hey Mom? Why does Glacee look different from me?"
Rimaye looked over at her two children, who were huddled together over a book on the floor while she and the older dragons of the clan prepared dinner. Tyndale was staring up at her, four eyes wide with curiosity.
"Glacee's a Tundra dragon like your father," Rimaye said absently. "You and I are Mirrors."
"Yes, but look." Tyndale held up the book, shoving it towards her. Rimaye recognized it as a book on animal babies; her mate's father had given it to them when Glacee and Tyndale had hatched. It was opened to a page showing a litter of owlcat kits. "Baby owlcats are all the same." He flipped through the pages, showing her the illustrations. "And baby chipskinks. And baby miths. And baby foxrats. And baby--"
"Alright, I get it," Rimaye said, laughing. "Why can dragons have two breeds in the same clutch when other creatures can't, is that what you're asking?"
Tyndale nodded emphatically.
"Well, it's a long story," Rimaye said.
"Tell us!" Glacee crowed. "Please?"
Rimaye took a deep breath and began.
"In the earliest days of the Fourth Age, before Mirrors or Tundras, before Nocturnes or Coatls or Pearlcatchers, the gods created dragons to breed true to their kind like any other creature.
"The Gaolers, the Banescales, the Veilspun, the Imperials…all the dragons who lived then could only have children with their own breed and of their own breed. A Spiral could only have Spiral children with a Spiral mate. A Fae could only have children with a Fae.
"Now, Sornieth back then was a war-torn place. The children of the Icewarden and the Flamecaller were always at each other's throats, and borders between flights had not yet solidified. In these days there lived a white-feathered Skydancer, and her name was Brightness.
Brightness had once lived in a thriving clan, but now she traveled alone. Her clan had been wiped out in an attack by Lightning Flight, leaving her to wander without friends or family. She spent many lonely years soaring from village to village, until one day, she met Breeze.
Breeze was a Guardian Searching for his charge, and when he met Brightness, he knew he'd found it. Breeze and Brightness quickly fell in love, and they decided to travel together instead of alone.
The two roamed together for many years, um, through the fall of the Banescales and the retreat of the Gaolers and the Veilspun. They had many adventures which are sung in other tales, but none we have time to share here until one day, Brightness turned to her mate and said, 'I think I would like to have children.'
'That's impossible,' Breeze replied. 'Only dragons of the same breed can have children.'
'I know,' said Brightness, 'but I would like to try anyway.' So the two of them flew to a nearby town where a respected alchemist was said to live, and they asked him if he could make it so they could have children together.
This was in the days before alchemists had discovered even how to change a dragon's patterns, let alone their nature. 'Alas,' the alchemist said. 'Alchemy is powerful, but not as powerful as that. A change like that is something only the gods can bring about.'
Breeze was resigned then to go childless, but Brightness was a stubborn dragon. When she wanted something as badly as she wanted children, there was no end she wouldn't go to to get it. 'The gods, hmm?' And before Breeze could protest they were flying off towards the World Pillar.
Once they arrived at the Pillar, it was short work to find the God of Stone and tell him their tale. 'The mortal dragons of Sornieth cannot solve our problem, but you are a god. Perhaps you could help us?'
The Earthshaker regarded the pair with his ancient, weary eyes, and then shook his massive head. "My magic shapes things in slow, broad changes like a stone smoothed by the river over time. I could set these changes in motion, but they would not come to pass until generations after the earth reclaimed your bones. If you are determined, seek out the Lightweaver. She works faster than I.'
So Breeze and Brightness continued onward, towards the Sunbeam Ruins. After long travel they reached the Beacon of the Radiant Eye and requested an audience with the Shining Goddess.
To their dismay, the attendants at the Beacon told them, 'The Lightweaver is not here right now. If you wait until her return, she may be able to see you.'
So the two dragons waited, discovering as they did that the goddess was out fighting an Emperor that had arisen. Eventually, the Lightweaver returned to her tower, having destroyed the monstrosity. 'Great Lightweaver,' they beseeched, 'we come to you seeking a way that dragons of different breeds can have children together. Mortal alchemists don't have the power for this, and the Earthshaker says he works too slowly. Can you help us?'
The Lightweaver heaved a world-weary sigh. 'My claws are unskilled in the shaping of dragons. The children of my efforts are cursed. Would you be cursed too, little ones?' Seeing their disappointment, she said, 'Fine. If you are determined, seek out the Arcanist. He is more skilled than I.'
So Brightness and Breeze set out across the continent towards the soaring spires of the Crystalspine Reaches. It took weeks of flight, but finally the two reached the Observatory and gained audience with the Starry Wyrm. They repeated their tale, saying, 'Mortal alchemists could not help us, and the Lightweaver and Earthshaker would not. Please, Great One, is there any way that we might have children together?'
The Arcanist took a feather from Brightness and a scale from Breeze. 'Return in five days' time,' he said. 'I will have a solution for you then.'
So the two dragons waited the five days, and then returned to the Arcanist. 'Ah, good, you're back,' he said, and led them to a room wallpapered with complex calculations. 'I've prepared a spell that will accomplish your desires. Two versions, actually. One will only change the two of you--that was the original plan, of course, but I finished that two days early, and it was only a wingbeat's flight from there to a bigger version that would change every dragon on Sornieth. What do you think?'
'Give it to everyone,' Breeze said. 'Let dragons suffer as we have no longer.'
"So the Arcanist cast his spell, and dragons across Sornieth fell into a deep slumber. The Arcanist worked his magic while they slept, and when they awoke, any dragon could have children with any other dragon.
"Brightness laid two eggs soon after, and when they hatched, they were two breeds: a Guardian daughter, and a Skydancer son. Breeze and Brightness and their children were invited to stay at the Observatory, where they were happy and watched the stars forever after. The end."
"That's not how it goes," Diamond said.
"What do you mean?" Rimaye asked, frowning at the glimmering Fae.
"They went to the Gladekeeper, not the Lightweaver."
"Yeah, that's right," said Specter, green eyes glimmering. "And she told them--"
"That changing dragons in that way would be a corruption of nature."
"What? No."
"And so they went to the Scarred Wasteland," Diamond continued, ignoring Specter's protest, "and sought out the Plaguebringer. 'I'm the last of my clan,' Brightness told her, 'and my bloodline will not survive if I cannot have children with this dragon.' So the Mother of Infection brewed a concoction in her tainted cauldron and gave it to Breeze and Brightness.
"'Drink this,' the Plaguebringer said, 'and if you survive you will have what you desire.' So the two dragons drank her concoction, and for three days they were wracked with horrible fevers. But when the fourth day dawned the fever broke, and they got back to their feet. The Plaguebringer told them that they could now have children together, and any dragon they touched would catch the same fever that had given them this ability. And so it spread across Sornieth, and dragons slowly discovered that they could have children together. And Brightness and Breeze hatched their eggs, and they survived as long as any mortal dragon ever could. The end."
"That's creepy," Specter said.
"Of course the Nature dragon thinks it's creepy."
Specter opened her mouth to respond and Rimaye cut her off. "You're all Arcane dragons now, in case you've forgotten. Specter, how do they tell it in Nature Flight?"
"It's a plant, of course. The Gladekeeper grows a great flower, and its pollen blows across Sornieth for months after. Any dragon who breathes it in can have kids with the other breeds."
"Huh." Rimaye turned over to Sunrise, who was quietly deboning fish in the corner. "You want to tell us how the story goes in Light Flight?" Sunrise quickly shook her head, which wasn't a surprise to Rimaye. The young Imperial didn't like to talk much. "Alright then." She looked back at her kids, who were watching the grown dragons bicker in fascination. "I guess the point is, it wasn't always like this, and somehow the gods changed it. I guess every flight tells it differently."
Maybe she could write a paper on that. Had anyone done studies on the differences between the folk stories flights told? Perhaps Rimaye could be the first.
