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| Back to the Tribal Listing Ryslen Flurry 2006-7 Some links won't work here | |
Starbright
Starbright Bonded to: (no bond yet) Age: 18 Sex: Female Skills: Scouting and hunting, works well with a strong bow but less so with a spear. She has a good eye for items that can be useful for shaping or crafting, and always is watching for anything she can aid with her magic. As a dragon-'master' of sorts, she is able to create a 'concert mind' of dragon flight, something which has saved the Holt a good amount of trouble when a human army approached on its way elsewhere... Of course, that happens in the distant future... History: .... yah, see prior page again! | |
She hadn't been named, yet, when she was brought to the Bald Mountain holt's upper aerie. She was warm and happy, bundled up nice with cloth and fur and surrounded by people she seemed to already know. None of them were her blood relatives, how could they be? But they would all be special to her forever. "Oh," said the pale-skinned and black-haired woman named Mirage - who had kept the soul of this child in her mind for a short time, and placed it with great care within the growing cells that Ainea then supported. Digging around in a satchel she'd brought that also had medical gear in it. "Someone bumped into me at Carramba when Adisath and Nivoan were picking us up, and gave me this. I don't know who they were, but they seemed quite pleased to hand it off. I don't think it's anything bad. But I do have the feeling that it's been somehow altered by all the travel we've been doing." She pulled out a brightly decorated egg, and at first everyone thought it must be hollow or plastic. But it became apparent that the gems and pearls were part of it, only the bright silver tinsel around it was something that might have been added. It was heavy, warm. Alive. "I think she should have it, whatever it becomes. It can't get that big, after all." Mirage smiled, and presented Ainea with the object, as they prepared to meet with the very people who would be the most important to this little child they delivered. | |
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Darkhanis and Mirage stood in front of Ainea, though it would be impossible to disguise the scent of a baby for long - to the elves here, they knew what it smelled like to have just born a child. Apogee and Squall were the first up to the aerie, of course, they lived nearest. Skyborne and others arrived shortly, some having flown down with their dragons as they played in the bright winter skies. The land was covered with snow, but it was not well packed, it would continue to snow for hands of days. It was bitter cold, though, up here in the windy aerie. The lakes had frozen over, and poor Apogee couldn't scare her tribemates with her daring dives into the chilly water any more. That suited Squall just fine, it was bad enough watching her sometimes leap from the back of her huge light-Aven dragon, to join her and Stallano in the water below... Little flurries of snowflakes followed any of the dragons as they landed on the ledge, but otherwise the day was clear already. "We don't often have human visitors," Apogee stated, looking the pair up and down, seeing Shy behind them and then Ainea. "Wait... wait I remember you, I have seen you before," she looked at Shy from around Darkhanis' bulky form. "You were - and you, at the school? At that festival. Is there going to be another?" Squall meanwhile was oddly silent, but curiously looking between Mirage and Darkhanis, at Ainea whose broad smile bore some worry too. Squall went up to Apogee and tugged gently on her elbow. "I think it's a little more than that, love," she stated, "And before you ask, yes, I did know, sort of - I didn't really know-know, but... Didn't you wonder why we dragged you around to that stupid booth? Everyone knows you can't sew!" Shy chuckled, and then the two Zekirans parted. Apogee's gaze went from them all the way down (to about their waists, at most) to where Ainea stood. She was bundled up like the others, but... She was carrying ... "Raosh," Apogee whispered, oddly. She didn't bother worrying about it - only a couple people would have heard, and only one or two would realize. That was her child. That was her child's soul name which escaped while Twin Peaks died. "Ho- How can this be?" She asked weakly. Squall stood close to her - it looked like Apogee was a bit weak in the knees. She continued to whisper, as Ainea was led closer. About this time, was when a number of people decided this moment was more intimate than they ought to be seeing. And, when the 40-turn old Soulbind, Apogee's other daughter, arrived. "Mother - that's... That's my sister, isn't it? I felt her." "Of course you would," Squall laughed a little, "There's a reason your name reflects your powers." It was true, the young elf had always been able to sense and see spirits more strongly than anyone else. It was natural that she knew right away who this was. Her face brightened, slowly. "Mother, mother, this is Tallow's daughter?" She was the first to fully approach Ainea, and the ice-shaper elf freely allowed the dark skinned elfess to take the baby. Her sister, after all. "But... how?" Apogee breathed. She was a clever elf, a very smart elf indeed, when it came to inventions and devices, and people. A little head-in-the-clouds sometimes, true, but she was usually able to look at things and see how they worked. This was not one of those times. A lot of time travel, and ... well, cheating. Ainea bespoke, and nudged at Darkhanis. He hem-ed and chuffled a bit, and then shapeshifted into the-- "You're that - you were the human!? All this time!?" Apogee squealed, and the baby let off a similar cry, only it ended in a brilliant laughing coo. Apogee turned and, hands shaking, took her child from the waiting arms of her - first born? Other daughter! It could not be said that Soulbind was her first child, really, but... Definitely the first she'd born! Apogee listened to Ainea's tale, as she related the first inklings of knowing the ghostly presence of the child's spirit, on through the festival and ... aquiring some of the necessary ingredients. Mirage had already put blocks on the parts which Ainea and she had watched - those parts didn't get mentioned. Ainea bespoke to whoever would listen, broadly, because she knew perfectly well that by now, if Apogee was going to send her away or be angry the time was long past. Everyone would ask about how this all came to be, anyway, so best that it was known now instead. The golden eyes that Tallow had given his child were there - clear as the sun. Apogee cried, freely now, but clutched the bundled baby up to her chest and sank to her knees. "So I suppose you human-people do know some good things," Apogee said, muffled by her face being buried in the swaddling clothes. "We're not human," Mirage chuckled. "But close enough." *** The egg cracked a few days later, while Ainea was feeding Starbright. They'd named her well, she thought. Her soul was like a bright light in the darkness, she would be important perhaps. Or, more likely, she would be well-loved. The pinkish egg nudged itself open, and Ainea called Apogee in to bring something for it - maybe a bowl of water or something meaty to eat. She wasn't sure at all what to expect of it. Eventually she'd head back to Carramba to resume her teaching, and at that point she'd be able to relay to Darkhanis what had hatched. It was a strange little creature, all in the same colors as the brilliant gems on the shell. It seemed female, but as Mirage had warned, it didn't actually bear any much sign of being one or another gender. Best leave it at that, because of course it wouldn't have the chance to reproduce here anyway, unless someone - somehow - found out where it was from and brought another in a complimentary gender! Then again, Shy could.... The wet little creature had the start of what might be fins, some kind of faintly translucent gooey bits which didn't come off when it washed itself. A 'mane', a dorsal line, a tail fin. And wings? This little thing could fly? Well perhaps, someday. If it maintained its rolypoly shape from the egg, certainly not! It gave off hungry sounds, which were echoed, laughing, by Starbright. But it also crept up where things were warm, once it had sucked down water and found a few of the buzzing bugs over the meat they'd found to be more appealing. It curled up on Ainea's lap, sleeping. They remained close like that, with Starbright being put in her sling-shaped bed in the darker sleepden of the aerie, and the little creature curled beside her. "She'll have a good guardian," Ainea said, quietly. "She already does," Apogee sighed, "are you sure you're going to have to go back to the school and all that?" It is what I like to do, yes! It's fun, someday you should try it, some day you should come back. They have a swimming pool with a high-dive board... | |
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| "Come on, you can catch me from there!" Soulbind called down to her sister, who had grown as all elfin babes did, somewhat quickly and evening off to her young-adulthood. It was an hand-of-hands, sixteen years to the season, since she was born. To say that Soulbind was protective of her sister would be true, and also that she was highly impressed with her abilities. Not everyone in the Holt could feel the powers churning in an elf's aura, but Soulbind could of course. She and Summerrain both, and the near-high-ones but only Awlvon would be really interested in the ways of genetics and inheritances and powers. He had taken note, of course, because any child was a good child in his opinion. "Someone's ... done something," he suggested, and Ainea explained that most likely, Shy had taken some liberties with both Tallow's seed and Apogee's blood sample to get the cells to work right. Awlvon also went ahead and said, "whatever it was, it's certainly made her a powerful child. I wonder if we'll be able to train her when the time comes, to use any of the other powers she's got." Those powers manifested reasonably quickly - even as a baby she seemed to keep warmer than the surroundings when it was chilly. Not too hot, never burning up or having a hard time in the heat. But certainly a survival power which was somewhat similar to one of the burly Go-Backs that had come to the Holt in the years long before now. And her ability to pick out the colors of an elf's magic aura, only her sister could help there, and probably Kid in the long run but he was a bit weird even as an adult. So Soulbind helped with her sister almost every day - Apogee and Squall were happy about that, because truth be told neither of them relished yet another morning of changing messy cloth and tending to the chewing of food... But now those days of midnight feeding and learning to walk and talk were long past - Starbright had found that soul name which her mother and friends had largely forgotten themselves, and it served her better and better as she increased her telepathic sending range. Almost daily from when she could sense minds, to now, she practiced with her sister (who was also extraordinarily gifted in terms of thought-sending) and eventually she could be said to have a range on a par with very strong magic-users. It was the other powers which started showing up a little later, after she'd become more or less able to fend for herself. Animals came to her at her own bidding, not just because they liked her scent or she fed them. The elders in the tribe, those who hailed from Twin Peaks at least, knew that this power was still strong in their kind - Apogee had bonded a giant hawk, many of those who survived since the fall of the Peaks had been bonders before then. But this was special - she had a very strong attachment to the dragons. In other worlds, she'd have been praised as being able to 'hear' all the dragons nearby with her mind. Only once did she proclaim it was too 'busy' in the dragon-mind to remain there very long, and she refrained from explaining just what she meant by that, too. Almost all the dragons in the Holt would respond to her, if she needed help out in the forest or at the lake. Bonded or not, those dragons would treat her like royalty. Obviously, at some point she'd have to find her own dragon to bond with. Soon, likely. It was to that end, however, that Soulbind was teaching her on her own dragon (*who has not actually been found yet in real life lol*) how to ride. There were bigger dragons in the Holt, there were plenty smaller ones too. But this was just about right - and Soulbind wanted Starbright to come along and reach for her hand. From the edge of the highest ledge in the whole Mountain. "Come on! You can do it, I've seen you leap farther than that!" Soulbind called from her dragoness who circled overhead. She leaned down again, brushing the ledge with her wingtip. This time, Starbright didn't hesitate. She lept out, like she'd seen her mother do many times off that high platform on the pond nearby - she caught Soulbind's hand, and wrapped her leg around the neck of the dragon. The dragoness dipped down a bit, with the weight, but then swooped back up into the air to circle more widely. "See! That wasn't hard, we'll keep doing this until you can jump yourself." Soulbind said. "Mother jumps herself crazy!" Starbright laughed. "Did you see what she did that one time!" "Squall never stops talking about it!" Soulbind chuckled, and they flew over the pond. Their mother was not present, she was out probably fetching more of the Humans' goods for trade. "So you think you're going to be out this next Winter? To find a dragon?" Starbright nodded. "I think I'm ready, but I don't know where! Or... or when." That was a significant thing to say, because it was known that a few of the dragons around had the talent to send themselves back and forth in time. Their mother's did it at least a few times, Ainea's was always bipping in here and there and they could never tell if it was from the future, past or today. "Well it's kind of traditional that at least someone go to a Flurry this time of year," Soulbind said, more thoughtfully. "But I haven't heard about it yet." She paused, and looked over her shoulder at her sister. "But ... there is a way..." *** "At least I don't really have to pack all those heavy furs," Starbright commented, as she did put away a few things into a travel pack. "But I want to work on these," she held up a couple metal bands. "If I can get this one to glow all the time that'll be fantastic." "I don't know if that'll really work," Soulbind said, but not harshly. "I'm just not sure if you can give it power all the time." It was the last of her weirder powers to surface: the first thing she did when Apogee showed off her father's large white candle of the flying eagle with the two tall spiraled bits with wicks... She lit the candles and the candles never melted. In fact, the candles light whenever she comes around. Perhaps proof that her father's soul rests where it will be loved the most. Now she was trying to imbue these shaped-metal rings (well, one was simple stone, another a gem from Jade's stock, and the third was pure metal from Kolgar's workshop) with certain things. The stone one already was taking a shine to being unbreakable; the metal one had so far eluded any kind of magical tuning; and the gemstone was the one she intended to glimmer full time with a diamond-sparkle. It was almost a cursory meeting with the elders, to say only that "it's her turn to Bond, wish her luck!" and then the pair vanished into Soulbind's aerie. Soulbind wanted to work quickly, because what she had in mind wasn't just a trip through the Healing Den and onto some world with sands. It was to the Flurry - a particular one. There had been plenty of them, but one stood in her mind for some reason. The Go-Backs Udli and Nyidar commented about it, frequently, as their dragons had come from it. But they couldn't really pin down what they wanted to say: there were other elves there, sure, but apparently they didn't think much about it until questioned. It was no big deal, but now it was the thing that Soulbind wanted to see about getting her sister to. But she'd have to travel back almost sixty years to do it! Twenty of those before she herself had been born! But she was confident. They'd be able to get there fine. Especially if... Go ask their dragons for an image of their birthhome, Soulbind sent to her sister. She knew that there would be a bit of confusion about it, but Starbright asked anyway. They replied with a nice shot of a red-sanded big cavern - filled with dragons and people and probably snow outside since it was relentlessly winter. That thought, Starbright sent directly to Soulbind's dragon - upon which when they were ready to take flight - she left Abode and headed to Ryslen. *** It took them several tries. Once they almost thought they had it, but for whatever reason there was nothing but the remnants of a hatching - and then, they found it. Ryslen's Flurry was a popular place. Starbright looked around from the Novo's staging area and spotted ... "Look, it's Udli and Nyidar," Starbright said, "but they already have dragons to me and you... How very odd." "Let's not think about that, and don't talk about it to them if you run into them here!" Soulbind said, urgently. "They didn't remember much about the other elves at this hatching, they're us! So... just..." "I'll avoid talking to them. They look just as happy as can be - it's nice and cold, huh!" Starbright giggled a little. Soulbind grinned but shivered and headed up to the other dragon-housing, where visitors would stay for the duration. Starbright began the process of becoming an official 'Novo' or candidate for the Flurry, and she was so excited she could hardly contain herself! She tried that night, and succeeded in making the tiger's eye gemstone ring glow from within - it was a more yellowy shade than she expected but it was still glimmery and pretty. The ring of course would only fit on fingers of an elf or a human child's size - she couldn't sell it at the gather outside, nor to someone here. Maybe if they brought her things they'd made... | |
| Originally sent but not bonded at Flurry 2007, resent 2021 | |
