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Character: Tanarah
Stage: Apprentice
Luck: 6
Creature: Kiandri Dragon x 1, Adolescent Argaroo x 3, Young Argaroo x 3
Success Rate: 100* Roll Special, 71 - 100, 21 - 100

Win x 1: 25/2 = 13exp
Win x 3: 20 x 3 = 60/2 = 30exp
Win x 3: 10 x 3 = 30/2 = 15exp

Total: 58exp, levels to 13 with 10/13exp left over, +15 stat points to distribute, +7LUK, +1 Red Argaroo Feather, +1 Yellow Argaroo Feather, +1 Green Argaroo Feather, +1 Kiandri Dragon Orb

Word Count Required: 1,500+
Final Word Count: 2,921

Tanarah hoisted her travelling pack up and over, settling its weight comfortably before giving a last glance about her room.

Given that she now had her weapon, and her sister her clan, their fathers were giving them a little more leeway in terms of travel and permissible excursions. In this case, that meant a family trip up into the mountains of the Terra Expanse. It served several purposes: allowing them to get out of the most oppressive of Eowyn’s summer heat, some time away from home coupled with the chance to explore and see new sights, and an opportunity to not only keep up their training in new terrain, but learn a few practical tricks to taking care of oneself in the wilds, as opposed to near a home or town with all the amenities that came with that.

Tanarah appreciated all of the above. She had, of course, been into the great mountain range in the past on occasion, but that always came as part of an excursion to meet with their cousins and god-aunt and uncle, Araceli and Detraeus. This would be just the four of them and the open wild. Tana, for her part, hoped they encountered at least a few new beasts on the way — perhaps even something she could test her blades on.

Grinning, she started down the stairs.

Tanarah huffed and rolled her eyes, but the tilt to her lips spoke otherwise as she pinned her sister with a lopsided smile. “Yeah, uh-huh, sure. Says you—race you out!”

And, without any further ‘warning’ than that, Tanarah leapt off, past her sister as the words left her mouth, sweeping for the door, down the front steps of their porch and onto the sand, where their fathers stood, Papa already in his dragon form as their daddy loaded a last few things onto his back.

“I—claim Papa!” Tanarah declared, hop darting over as she did and moving to climb up the easiest access point onto her father’s back. “Can we do flips? I wanna do flips…”

“Nothing dangerous, Tana,” Lithian cautioned, arching his eyebrows and then glancing over for his other daughter. “There may well be plenty of excitement once we get out in the wild. We don’t need anyone getting hurt before we even arrive.”

Lithian raised an eyebrow, a smile shifting into place at her excitement in spite of himself. “Possibly,” he answered. “Though nothing too dangerous…”

“Dragonnns, ho!” Tanarah exclaimed from atop her father’s back. “Like kiandri—and firani!”

“Definitely not,” Lithian answered, adjusting to step into a clear space before shifting himself and settling down low to the earth to facilitate Tala climbing onto him more easily. “Some small forest creatures perhaps,” he rumbled, squinting with his dragon eyes as he nosed forward to loop the last several packs onto his own neck. The strange deepness that came with the ‘voice’ of his true form always sounded off to Lithian whenever he attempted to speak the Magescian common tongue while shaped. «An uruu, maybe,» he added. «Target practice without the teeth.»

Lithian chuckled, the sound coming out as a low rumble. «Olboro,» he agreed. «I am sure we could deal with that…»

So, despite the scowling from both daughters, they were off. When her father moved forward, perched, and then lifted off, Tanarah felt her heart lurch, and float a moment later, as though suspended as her father’s wings caught the wind and held them aloft. Seconds after, she threw her hands high, whooping into the open sky as she pinched her heels in.

“I don’t care who you are—I. Ride. Dragooonnnnnnssss!”

Beneath Tala, Lithian shut his eyes, feeling the wind rush over his scales and savoring the warm weight of his daughter’s body atop him. Though it was never the family he imagined, specifically, it was still more than he ever could have hoped for, in his younger years, and even as the world below grew ever more complicated, he could not help but be pleased with the lot he had been dealt.

Tanarah blinked at her father’s instruction, but obeyed, reaching around and clasping tight as she tucked closer against him. “Why am—?” But then, before she could finish the thought, the answer became obvious as her ‘ride’ swooped out and then up, up, and around. The air sailed past them as they went, rushing from every angle, and in the moment of interim as he made the loop and she hung, suspended, upside down hundreds of feet above the ground and sea below, her heart felt almost as though it, too, paused, stuttering and stilling on a beat.

Then, they were around again, and she could barely breathe but—

“Whooooo-oooooooooop!” she hollered out, conveying her victory to the skies and sea. “Again, again, agaaaiiinnn… that was perfect!”

Lithian, after having half-choked on his pulse in the moments the two made their loop, was slightly less enthused, and though he fully trusted his mate with their daughter’s safety, there was something undeniably petrifying about witnessing such a flip in action. The four of them made it, though, through the remainder of their flight that day without incident or injury, and at some point around midday, Lithian and Casseth settled on a clearing in the mountains wide enough to land and make a defensible camp. As they came to a land, Tana wasted no time in hopping immediately off and darting out to scope the area.

“Stay close,” Lithian cautioned all but the instant Tala made it securely to her feet so that he could shift to his natural shape. “We should set up first, before exploring too far out.”

Tanarah hummed, rocking her weight as she glanced about, then shot a grin in her sister’s direction. “One day,” she said. “Then we’ll be able to flip about as many times as we want.”

Deciding that, for the moment at least, aiding their father’s in unpacking would probably be best — they could always explore about more, once things were settled — she headed back to where their fathers were staking out their spot, and did just that. Fortunately, since they hadn’t brought much due to the limited carrying capacity of their travel method, it didn’t take long, and between the four of them, they were settled in time to set up for lunch.

“Do you suppose,” Tanarah mused aloud, “that when Tala and I get our dragon forms, we’ll look exactly the same? Or does it have to do with our magic then?”

“I won’t pick the same clan,” Tana said, reaching and nibbling as she was handed her portion of ‘lunch’: for the moment, for convenience’s sake, several handfuls of mixed dried fruits and nuts, and preserved, spiced and pre-cooked meat.

Though she wasn’t entirely certain yet what she wanted to pick, she knew it wouldn’t be kiandri. She liked her sister’s clan — it was exciting, fast, and powerful — but not her in the end. The other question, however, merited more thought. Did she care if she and her sister looked similar in shape and body in their dragon forms? At length, she shrugged, chewing at a piece of jerky to bide her more time before speaking up.

“It might be real strange if we looked a lot different…I’ve never looked different from her before, so I dunno what it’d be like. I think I like it enough as we are…we wouldn’t be the same kind of sisters if we weren’t. But maybe by the time we’re that old…it could be interesting, if our magic made our dragon shapes not alike. But if we were…” She shot her sister a pleased look, “…we’d be twin dragons. Not everybody gets to see that.”