In any case, I figured I may as well use this dusty blog to put up bits and pieces as I write.
Twin Exiles
Prologue
There are few highlights in the growth
of a young dragon more dramatic than the first time it's allowed to
fly beyond the bounds of the Eyrie. Yet, it's an intensely private
moment as well. Maybe it was because there were so few young
dragons. There was a natural temptation to make that first flight a
community event, a kind of “coming out party” for the new flier.
However, the traditions of the Eyrie were clear. The young dragon
would be allowed to choose its own path. The parents may want to
fuss and fly protective circles, but not even they were allowed to
interfere in the first flight.
Arsiana stood alone at the edge of
the cliff, her shoulder length hair whipping in the wind. She looked
like many other ten year old girls, except for that hair. Her raven
black hair had a slight metallic sheen to it, a color you would not
find in humans. It contrasted with her pale skin, but matched her
deep black eyes.
Arsiana took another look over the
cliff, at the ground far below her. She didn't feel a single bit of
fear, but instead she was filled with excitement. She was going to
soar into those clouds, and see a world that she'd never seen with
her own eyes.
She smiled and concentrated slightly,
placing her hands together in front of her, palm to palm. She was
quickly surrounded by an inky black cloud, and within that cloud, she
began to grow and change. Where there had been a little girl, there
now stood a dragon. She wasn't an especially large dragon to be
sure, only about ten foot from nose to tail, but she was still young,
and had many years left to grow. She was covered in metallic black
scales, and a hint of her black hair remained as a mane on the back
of her head.
She extended her black wings and
jumped off the cliff, catching herself in the winds which swirled
about the high mountain of the Eyrie. She'd been told that the wings
couldn't truly carry her, they were too small, too weak to carry her
weight. However, the wings were a part of the magic of dragonflight.
Dragons who'd lost their wings in a fight or an accident found
themselves unable to fly ever again. Arsiana's wings did not fail
her. She soared across the sky, exulting in the pure joy of her very
first flight.
She looked down at the ground far
below her. She was flying above a forest which ran on both sides of
a small river. There was a small clearing in the woods, and she
could make out the buildings far below her which marked it as a town
of some kind. She no sooner saw that town, and an irresistable urge
came over her. She needed to go down to that town and look at it.
The need to see this town cried out in her mind.
She angled her flight down, and
started to descend to the town far below her. Slowly but surly, the
details of the town filled her vision. She knew it wasn't one of the
great cities of the humans, she'd been told that none of them were
close enough to the Eyrie for her to reach in the short time she'd
been flying.
What was she looking for? She really
had no idea. It was something important, but she had no idea what.
She landed in the courtyard of the town, not really noticing the
surprised reactions of the townspeople. If she'd been looking
closely, she might have noticed that many of them seemed nervous, and
a couple of them looked to where they kept their weapons.
Arsiana never noticed these things,
because she was focused on a single house in town. It wasn't a large
or grand house, but it was somehow important to her. Slowly, the
head of a young girl appeared in one of the windows. She looked to
be a little younger than Arsiana did when she was in her human form.
Is this what she was looking for? Arsiana looked again, and the girl
looked back at her. Their eyes met, and in that moment, Arsiana
knew: this wasn't the one. This isn't what was calling her, but
somehow, some way, she was connected to it.
After a few moments, Arisiana decided
that her parents were likely getting a bit nervous about where she
was. She jumped into the air, and began the long, slow climb back to
the Eyrie. Mother had promised that they'd have all of her favorites
for dinner tonight, and she could almost smell the roast mutton
already.
++
A young girl watched the black dragon
ascend into the sky. “Mother? Why did that black dragon come here?
Why was it looking at Cerena's house?”
The queen knelt down next to her
daughter “I don't know Alelneia, it seemed to be looking for
something.”
++
Nerlana, High Queen of the Dragons
watched as the young black dragon flew up over the edge of the
launching cliff. “The poor dear, she looks tired. She must have
flown all the way to the ground.”
She watched as Arsiana turned back
into her human form, and ran into the arms of her proud mother.
“It's been a good day. It's been too long since we've had a first
flight,” she thought. “I just hope that the rest of her days are
filled with joy, instead of something worse...”
Even as that thought entered her mind,
she noticed something. She looked closely at the young girl with her
ancient gold eyes. The child had returned bearing the mark of fate.
Only the eyes of a gold dragon could see that cursed mark, but it
made clear that this young girl's life would be marked with triumph
and joy, and difficulty and sorrow. She could only hope that she
Arsiana would see more joy than sorrow.
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