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 Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:25 pm
By all means, Aaliyah thought the human ought to be punished as well. But… well, maybe there was something else to be gained here. The idea of always fighting with humans didn’t appeal to her, not at all. It seemed… wasteful and messy. The humans would get more pissed off and then they would be more likely to seek out revenge and then more dragons would get hurt. Oddly enough, it reminded her a bit of her days at the hatching grounds, only with slightly fewer scales and no adults to really go complain to if someone was playing too roughly.
She looked down at her tail for a little while, wondering if the light blue youngling had a point. Killing the human might be best. Maybe his death---once news of it got out, of course---would serve as a valuable example to other humans…
Waitaminute… most precious?! Both Asariel and Aaliyah glared at the knight for those words. Most precious?! Asariel wasn’t quite sure what those eggs looked like, and neither was Aaliyah, for that matter (but she could put words together into pictures and imagine a winged egg), but they were BOTH insulted by the idea that they were somehow ‘less precious’ than some other egg simply because of the parents of said egg.
Asariel hissed at those words, not liking them at all. What a… a… a meanyface! Those eggs weren’t even babies yet! What had they done to make themselves ‘more precious’ than other eggs? What had the other eggs done to make themselves less precious, for that matter? As far as the blue youngling was concerned, eggs couldn’t do much else aside from… well… maybe roll around a bit, and occasionally wriggle. Surely rarity didn’t determine an individual’s worth… only actions could do that.
Aaliyah looked over at the assembled dragons, noting that there were far fewer Ascended and Fallen than other types. Still, as Asariel had already thought to himself, rarity didn’t determine ‘preciousness’. “How are they any more precious than any other dragon?” she asked, with a trace of bitterness on her tone.
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:49 pm
“They are precious because of the potential they represent,” Lierce replied, “Ascended and Fallen eggs are born like any other dragon save that they can fly from birth – a gift that was torn from us by the humans long ago.” He turned his head and nodded at the pillar behind him. “Many of us hope that because of the Ascended… and Fallen… we can regain the skies as we had them long ago.”
There was some hesitation before he voiced the name of the Fallen. He recovered his neutrality quickly again and continued on.
“We do not yet understand what gives a dragon their wings back or why some eggs from an Ascended or Fallen parent are gifted with wings while others aren’t. It is important to us to keep these eggs safe so that we can perhaps find what will give us our wings back.”
“And we cannot allow them to fall into human hands.” The voice came from the back. The dragons all turned to look as a pale blue dragon with magnificent feathered wings stood. Shadine, the Ascended. “All dragons are precious to our people but some dragons have the potential for good or ill in them. Even I cannot explain why some of us Ascend and some of us are born Ascended and others aren’t. But I can say that there is a power we do not understand that does this and these eggs are gifted with that power from birth. The humans used power to strip us of our wings once – I cannot imagine what they could do if they unlocked the secrets to whatever power restores our wings first. Perhaps it would be used for good. But because of the methods used to take these eggs from us I fear that the intent behind this would be for our detriment. The eggs need to be kept safe – keep them here with the Dragon-Bound Knights and let them grow up in Genyiel Circle as children of all dragons.”
She sat back down again.
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:50 am
Astalder listened carefully to what the people had to say about these supposedly special dragon eggs. He didn't really like the thought that these dragons who haven't even been born yet were already considered better than he or the rest of the young dragons in the room. But, he did think that those little hatchlings-to-be were very lucky to be born with wings, instead of these odd stubby little fins the rest seemed to have.
Which brought up a bit of a curious thought. The female dragon that had just spoke, as well as the male that had brought him and his human here, both had wings. Though, for some odd reason this female had feathers instead of a leather membrane.
... Are those hooves? he thought in mild bewilderment as he shifted his gaze from the pale blue dragon's wings to her feet. Almost immediately after seeing it, he glanced around at his own feet, as well as the feet of several dragons around him.
Weird..
Frowning slightly, Blade shook his head a little at what he had just heard. He could understand to some extent why these eggs needed a lot of protection, but he didn't really get why the rest of the dragon eggs couldn't have as much determination to be safeguarded.
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:41 pm
Viscal snorted at the arival of his noisy sibbling, but he quickly turned his attention back to Master Leirce. He didn't at all like the human. He hoped it got a sevear punishment. He didn't like most humans. How would they feel if we stole one of their Hatchlings? Something else was bothering Viscal too. Even though some dragons have flight, does that really make them so much better than the rest? He didn't think so. They shouldn't be that specail. If a normal egg were to have gone missing, would they have called a meeting for that? It enraged him. Everyone else seemed fine about it though.
Grishmak, despite his normal insane like self and a normal side, and that normal side saw that his brother was angry. The white dragon could understand, but only a bit. He, unlike Viscal, felt sorry for the human, and wished he could help, but he also found it unfair that other dragons were better that others just because they could fly from birth.
"What makes Ascended and Fallen so specail?" He spat out, "So what if they can fly from hatching. We all get the chance to fly!"
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:10 pm
There was a bit of movement from behind the cluster of younglings and a few minutes after Grishmak spoke a human hopped down onto the step with the rest of the young dragons.
“Shhh,” she said, kneeling at the rear of the group, “Let it go. This is just how things are and too many of us believe those eggs are precious to change it right now. Talk about it later.”
She settled herself on the ledge with the rest. An older woman, probably in her mid-forties, with plain brown hair and a pale blue bond mark on her cheek.
“’sides, if Master Lierce says they’re special they are!” the nearby Lierce-worshipper youngling from earlier piped up. He received a stern glance from the woman and shrank back and was quiet.
“For once I agree with the Ascended,” a voice said from among the Fallen. It was smooth like silk and seemed to purr across the room. The dragons, who had been murmuring quietly, fell dead silent as soon as she spoke up. The other Fallen shrank back as she stood so she could be clearly seen. A mostly brown dragon with white and black markings, a dagger hung around her neck. Lania. “Those eggs do need to be protected. Can anyone here remember a time when eggs were stolen in such a calculated manner? When it wasn’t just the work of an individual thief? No? Give the Fallen egg to us, I do not care what happens with the Ascended one, and force that wretched human to tell us who hired him and how we can find them. Then we hunt down and destroy whoever has the audacity to infiltrate our lands and organize this theft. Because until we root it out and kill those responsible there will be more agents like this one sent to rob us of our children.”
“That’s Lania, the leader of the Fallen. She’s brutal,” the woman told the younglings, “She wouldn’t just kill those involved in the theft but raze every town that sheltered them at some point – to ‘teach a lesson.’”
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:29 pm
Grishmak glared at everyone. For the moment he would let it go, but it still didn't seem fair. He snorted at the woman, wishing she would go away, and somewhat also wanting to know whom the human was.
Viscal glared at the human had come to talk to them. He didn't apprecaite her presance. As noted before, he really did not like them, and she was no diffrent. He didn't agree with the fact she had shushed Grishmak either. He had half a mind to storm off and leave the meeting place. The again...what if he ran into a fallen.
Viscal jumped with surprise when a brown Fallen started to speak. Its voice was very diffrent then what he thought it would sound like. It was so smooth. He listened closely, and tried to figure out who it was, and ignored the human who was watching over them.
Grishmak was glaring at the Fallen, he wanted it to be quiet, and go away. Its intentions seemed mean and cruel. Not all humans were bad. He listened instead to the human watching over them. He was surprised to find out she was the leader, and was horrified at how much killing she would do to get revange on the stolen eggs. No one should be that cruel.
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:40 pm
Oh… well, that made some sense to Aaliyah. A little, anyway… it wasn’t that the individual was special, but it’s abilities were special. If some dragons were born able to fly, it would be useful to know why. Perhaps it would someday be possible for ALL dragons born with flight. Once they found out why, that is. She didn’t like the idea that they got special treatment for it, though. It was an accident of birth! She hissed at the human, feeling rather irritable at the idea of being worth less than someone else just for being born not-different.
Asariel turned the idea over in his mind for a time before discarding it. Sure, he was a little offended at the idea of being thought of as less, but did that really matter? He had the distinct feeling that there was something else, something that was far more important at the heart of this thing. The eggs had been stolen. And they had been regained. And the human would be sentenced…
That still didn’t sound like something that the entire clan needed to be gathered for. He thought about this for a long while before he got bored and played with his tail, wondering where Zera was.
Both of the younglings shivered slightly at the idea of killing all those people. That was just wrong… sure, one person had stolen the egg---and, Aaliyah realized, others had been involved---but entire towns? Their ideas of what a ‘town’ was was just a little… different. Much smaller for one thing, but it still seemed terrible in their minds.
Aaliyah continued along her line of thought. So… humans were working together to steal dragon eggs? Special dragon eggs? She shifted uneasily, not liking this. The older dragons were right to be concerned, but were they concerned about the right thing? They were talking about punishment and the fate of the eggs, but… there was something deeper.
“Why are the humans suddenly after Ascended and Fallen eggs? Sure, they’re special and all, but… it’s a lot of effort for just a few eggs… there must be some specific purpose,” Aaliyah asked eventually, trying to figure this out herself.
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:11 pm
“The Fallen egg should be kept away from your kind,” a dragon from one side of the room roared after Lania finished speaking, “So it doesn’t turn out like your murderous brethren!”
Master Lierce closed his eyes in dismay as the room exploded into shouts and threats. Then one of the knights glanced at Aaliyah in surprise and leaned up to whisper in his ear. The dragon’s eyes snapped open and he smiled down at the youngling, nodding his head at her. Then he drew in a deep breath and roared.
“SILENCE!”
The commotion stopped. Master Lierce gazed from one side of the room to the other.
“The youngling here wants to know why the humans are after the Ascended and Fallen eggs. What the specific purpose is that they would put so much effort into obtaining them.”
He surveyed the room and awaited a response. None came and after a few moments the assembled dragons realized that Master Lierce wasn’t going to give them one either, for he didn’t know the answer as well. So they shifted their attention to Shadine, who remained silent in thought, and then to the human at the bottom of the dais.
“I-I was never told the purpose,” he said weakly.
“Then we need to find out,” Lierce said, “Unless you want to keep arguing about the eggs, of course.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:22 pm
Both Blade and Astalder jumped slightly when Master Lierce suddenly shouted for everyone to be silent. All this talk about eggs and what use they may be, as well as why humans may try to steal them sprung about a few curious thoughts within both their minds.
This meeting dealt with the Fallen and Ascended eggs, and yet that one large purple dragon seemed to be avoiding it to some extent. And by now, the human had been able to figure out that the dragon was one of the Fallen.
Thinking for some time, he soon leaned over to the youngling to whisper a few things. Astalder gazed at him momentarily before blinking and shrugging slightly. And it was now that he decided to throw in a question of his own, hoping it wouldn't really arise much suspicion of anything that had happened earlier.
"Other than the humans... are there any other groups that might be after them..?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:32 pm
Viscal watched the meeting with intense intrest. He did agree that the Fallen egg should be kept away from the rest of the Fallen, but he did wonder if it would make any diffrence. Maybe, even an Inoccent hatchling could be evil. He shook his head, he shouldn't think things like that. He glared up at the human. He had to agree with the white youngling. She was right. Why had the humans taken a specail intrest in those paticular eggs. They were specail and all, but if certain dragons are born good, and others bad, taking a Fallen didn't seem like a smart choice. Unless...He shivered at his next thought. It seemed wrong, but maybe...he made his voice louder.
"I-I'm wondering could the humans b-be trying to steal the dragons wings? M-maybe they know about the dragon flight thing in their soul." Viscal knew it was unlikely. How ould the humans get the wings on to their backs, but still, he felt like he had to voice his thoughts, plus who knew what human Mages could do.
Grishmak glanced around him, losing intrest in the meeting, nothing much seemed to be happening, atleast to his mind that was so very easly distracted. He looked over to Aaliyah and Asariel. The white dragon kept asking interesting things. The two of them were interesting. There was the youngling who aksed about...hatchlings. Grishmak laughed a bit at the thought, and the youngling with all the smart questions.
Grishmak watched Asariel, who seemed to be deep in thought, then the blue dragon had started to look bored. Grishmak, despite the fact it was disrespectful, manged to walk silently over to the blue dragon. "Whats the matter?" He asked, in tune with the younglings emotions.
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:15 pm
It didn't matter. The preciousness of the eggs only amplified the fact that the thief should die. And the point made by the blue dragon to his left only seemed to make it worse; what if they planned to scalp the dragons of the wings they had barely regained? "I still think he should die," Ithiel said to himself, but he was still quiet.
"A Dragon-Bound might have told their families, and word could have spread to someone with money and time." He was being quiet; mostly, he was only talking so he'd remember his own thoughts for when he had a chance.
----
Chrest sighed, feeling put-upon. His red-headed sister was trailing after him, incessantly babbling about what he was sure was nothing.
"-an' she was pretty sorta like the dragon nec'ace tha' Mama has from great-granpa Freddie ga'e her, and I like her hairs, they was almost the same's yours, Chresto! 'cept longer, an' withou' th'dirt." Her little white wimple fluttered behind her in the wind as she skipped through the crowd. Occasionally, someone would go "awwwww" at her and she would give them a big, bright smile.
"Shhhh, shut up," he hissed, tugging her close by the hand he was holding. "Seriously. That lady's bad luck, so you can't talk about her. It might attract attention we don't want!"
Alter sulked, but shut up about the pretty lady.
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:18 pm
Aaliyah’s mind had traveled along the same path as Viscal’s and she nodded at his question. It was a good one to ask, an important one. The dark youngling who she didn’t recognize had a good question too. There were other groups in the world besides just dragons. Not to mention, the Fallen seemed pretty keen to get their claws on those eggs. But, really, it would have been stupid! The Fallen could lay their own eggs and they would likely be Fallen as well. Going through all the trouble of stealing what was already theirs didn’t make sense.
Inwardly, she was pleased that Lierce had smiled at her; she wasn't given to hero worship unlike some younglings, but she still felt oddly favored.
“They know that we need a soul to bind in order to fly…” she said carefully. “But Fallen and Ascended don’t need that…” Oh, yes, the blue youngling had a very good point with that. Could their flight be taken? What would happen then? The way the adults talked about it, it was important that the Ascended and… and the Fallen stay in the air. They gave them hope.
Asariel blorted quietly in surprise as another youngling spoke to him. He hadn’t expected that… warily, he examined the other youngling. He was white, like Aaliyah, but unlike her, this one didn’t seem all that concerned about cleanliness. Asariel was reminded a bit of that time when he and Zera had eaten a pair of raw rabbits; the blood had gotten everywhere… had this youngling just been eating raw meat too? Certainly looked like it.
But, Asariel realized as he sniffed the air, it didn’t smell like it. Must just be the scale colors, he decided, slowly relaxing once more. “One of my friends isn’t here… do you know Zera?” he asked, suddenly hopeful that, perhaps, she was here and he merely hadn’t seen her. “She’s a youngling like us and she’s black with pretty red swirls.”
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Kiddo Seanchain Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:44 pm
The last few sentences of the boy landed on the ears of just such ‘attention we don’t want.’ For a second he hesitated, pondering if he was reading too much into things but then decided that really, his goal for being out here was to ask questions. And even if they turned out to be dead ends it was still worth a try. The man stopped and turned, following the two. It was easy to catch up and he put a hand on the Chrest’s shoulder to stop them.
“Pardon my intrusion,” he said quietly, “I don’t want to take up your time, but may I ask you a question? I happen to be looking for a woman named Avalene… have you heard of her?”
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:03 pm
"No-" Chresto started to say, but Alter's mouth ran away with her.
"Does she 'ave pretty brown hairs and a scarfy-thing and a- a staff? E'eryone was stayin' away like she was- was bad like, like, like ol'ander but I dun see why 'cause she's pretty!" She smiled brightly up at the man, while her older brother placed his hands on his temple. He tried to pull her away and melt into the crowd, but she didn't move. "Buh my brother says, dun't talk 'bout her, 'cause she attra-att-attracts... som'thin' we dun't want."
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:46 am
Grishmak looked at Asariel for a moment longer before replying. The name he spoke sound familar, but he was sure he had never heard or seen a black dragon with red swirls, or any dragon with the name Zera for that matter. Yet, the name seemed so familar to him. He wish he knew why.
"I don't," He whispered carefully, all traces of his normally playfulness gone, "but, we can look for her later, if you like"
The youngling didn't really like seeing anyone being sad, it made him sad too. He wondered who Zera was, and why he was familar with her name. He streched, and wondered what was happening with the meeting. He was slighly aware that more questions had been asked, but he wasn't sure of their answers.
Viscal, at first had worrid for his sibling. Grishmak had just gotten up and left him. He'd watched him for a moment, so he wouldn't get into trouble, but the youngling had just gone to sit with an unknown youngling to him. Viscal snorted when they started talking, disrespectful, but he turned his attention back to the meeting.
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