Do you want to hear my story? Or tell yours, perhaps, or maybe hear some of the stories I have heard during my listening? The world is full of stories, and each being has a different story to tell. Each story brings life and understanding to the world around us, and each one we hear and appreciate will cause our knowledge to grow.

The stories I could tell.....But you came here to hear my story, no doubt, else you would not have spent the effort finding my small home.

Well, then.....

Once upon a time, there was a mated pair living in a forest weyr. They were young, full of life. They had visions of a family, with many hatchlings, all happily living together, away from all disturbances. They were Forest Dragons, Mkeyran and Listhfae, my parents, happily living in their rocky outcropping in the middle of a highlands oak forest. They were the protectors of the trees, keeping them from those who did not appreciate them. Forest Dragons have deeper ties than most with the Earth and Water, and they have slightly less strong ties to air and fire, the more natural elements of Draconity, because of this stronger connection to the sources of the Trees' life. Forest Dragons have the ability to hide in any natural terrain, and to create large fields of mist and confusion. It is hard to enter a Forest Dragon's realm, for the mist contains phantoms and tricks, rather like that of the Fair Folk, the elves. The Forest Dragons spent their time nurturing and protecting the woods, and if you can picture it, it was not uncommon to see a Forest Dragon carefully planting a tiny sapling, and hovering over it protectively.

Yes, my parents were Forest Dragons, one of the more peaceful occupations a dragon may have. They took all they needed from the forest in return for the protection they provided, because, after all, what fool human would bother messing with a 100 ft tall dragon? My parents lived many years together, enjoying each other and the woods, and eventually, my mother laid a clutch of six eggs. These are my older brothers and sisters (R'hin, Calyyse, Snow, Xthen, Pepyr, and Isa), and they grew up as proper Forest Dragons do, full of love for the Earth and love of Trees. Then, my parents decided to do a bit of experimenting. Their next clutch was a clutch of Fire Dragons, more allied to Fire and Air than Water and Earth. I was of this clutch. My clutch-sibs (Finlon, Whisper, Aethnu, and Vivran), were gorgeous colors of red and orange and yellow, except for me, the runt. I was of the same colors as my parents, greens and browns, although I did retain the breath weapon of fire that so matched my clutch-sibs colors. The last clutch my parents hatched was unlike either of those before. The last clutch (Nrrak, Evana, and Lygth), was strongly gifted in magics, elemental, weather, and the higher magics. These were natural to them, and they were practicing these abilities from the moment they were allowed out of the lair. Together we romped the forest and the lands around, testing our wings, testing our abilities, testing our parent's patience.......

Then, of course, fate took away our happiness. Humans came, and they came with a vengence. They brought chemical weapons, magical and horrible machines. There was a war, it seems, and our lovely forest was in its path, but we knew this not. All we knew was that our lives and our love, the forest, everything we knew, was vanishing around us. My parents wished to flee, for they knew there were other forests else where, and they felt there was no need to die for nothing against a foe to strong for us to fight. However, the Trees still wished for protection, and wished for some of us to stay, for the trees could not flee with us. My parents were faced with the decision, flee and save their children, all 14 of us, or stay, and risk loosing us all. They compromised. My father stayed, with any of the oldest clutch (who were almost adults at this time), and my mother would leave with us youngsters, to find a new home to the North, where Humans were not yet living in large numbers.

I fled with my mother, leaving four of the first clutch behind with my father. I never saw them again.

Mkeyran, father, how I miss your laugh. R'hin, the streams lament for your love of fishing. Calyyse, the stars call to be watched by you again. Snow, the wildflowers whipser your name on the breeze, waiting for your morning romp. Isa, each bird that sings recalls your sweet songs to my mind.

They died with the forest, fighting the humans' encroachment.

We who decided to go North were: Pepyr and Xthen from the first clutch, Listhfae my mother, me, Finlon, Whisper, Aethnu, and Vivran of the second clutch, and Nrrak, Evana, and Lygth from the third clutch.

My mother took us North, back to her homeland, to the cold mountains and pine wilderness of her youth, and quickly located an old, abandoned cave-lair. It was cramped for us, 11 in all, 5 half-grown, 3 still young, and my grieving mother. Food was less plentiful in the North, and the forest less friendly. We could no longer play carefree in the woods. The winters were cold, colder than we had ever experienced, and of longer duration. But the family lived on. Eventually my clutch grew to be adult size, and three went adventuring, searching for our father and other Fire Dragons they could learn from. My siblings of the older clutch had since departed to find other forests, for food was scarce for such a large family. I and my one sister were left of the middle clutch, and all of the younger clutch still remained.

Xthen had gone farther North, into the tundra and ice, towards the mountain ranges and evergreen forests even more barren than ours. Pepyr had gone SouthEast, hoping to find a home in forests near the distant ocean. Finlon, Aethnu, and Vivran had set out South, to search for other dragons for news, of wars, and fathers, for we had heard nothing of our home for all the years in the Northlands. Whisper and I had begun taking care of our younger siblings; Mother was ailing, from what I did not know, but now, I would say she was exhausted from the loss of so much she loved, and the rigors of keeping a family which was, at first, in no way suited for the harsher Nothern life. We got along well, my younger sibs were now easily capable of hunting for themselves. But this maturity also caused problems. Lygth, wishing for some snow in the middle of our short, bug-infested summer, managed to magic up a blizzard that lasted for a week. Nrrak and Evana, not to be outdone (and a bit hungry after the shortage of food caused by the blizzard), then conjured a adult-dragon-sized pile of food. Needless to say, the local predators soon knew where the only reliable food source in the area was located, and caused us trouble.

The increased magical activity of my younger brothers and sister also began to draw unwanted attention. At first, the local elven enclave, with whom we were cautious friends, simply sent word through a tree nymph that the youngster's activity should be sheilded to prevent possible discovery of our presence, and in their eyes, needless disclosure of another secret stronghold of the elvenkind to the world. But, without instruction, Nrrak, Evana, and Lygth were unable to sheild their magics. The area surrounding our forest was the farthest reaches of human-settled area, populated by a number of tribes-humans who set up semi-permanent villages which were used as general meeting areas, as base for their roaming, and as winter quarters. They traded with the farming villages a days' long flight to the south. Their leaders were often gifted with a peculiar combination of ForeSeeing and DistanceSeeing that was nesseccary to feed the tribes in the whimsical North. Sometimes magicians and students of magic from the southern kingdoms would travel North to learn the Northern nomad's magic. It was of these that the elves were concerned.

Finally, the elven watchers amongst the nomads realized my sibs' magical play was being noticed by the tribes. With great reluctance at bending their traditions, the elves sent one of their magic-teachers to teach Nrrak, Evana, and Lygth the ways of magic. They sent us a dry, rigid, and close-mouthed elder mage at first, hoping he would shame the "unruly dragon-children" into a more peaceful existance. However, neither the mage, nor my unruly sibs co-operated. After a week of general irritation, the mage declared he had more important things to do than teach his neighbors to shield, and the elven council was forced to choose another teacher. This time they chose wisely, sending a young mage-fighter. Merisel was a rebel, in many ways. Trained to be a mage from a young age, she stubbornly halted her training to be taught the warrior skills, then restarted magery, while keeping her knowledge of physical combat honed and ready. Instead of becoming a guards-mage, or defender of the clan's inner and most secret secrets, as the others expected and tradition demanded all of the strongest mages and fighters do, she became a guard, a Watcher, on the borders of the elven realm. She taught my younger siblings sheilding, and then also the magics of the elves, such as could be used by dragons.

Merisel taught, and taught well, for soon all three dragon-mages were well into learning such magics that could not be shielded, or were so difficult to shield that it was useless to do so. Meanwhile, my Mother had decided myself and Whisper, my clutch-sister, should learn the ways of Forest Dragons. Whisper had little use for most of the teachings, as her beautiful orange-red and gold coloration testified. She was a Fire Dragons, through and through, but she respected the trees, and she had one skill inherited from our parents that was of pure Forest heritage. She could AllWhisper, a rare but useful skill. AllWhispering is the ability to influence any being of nature with soft-spoken suggestions, in the language of the being. She had often used the talent in happier times, to smooth her way to a treat or encourage one of her brothers or sisters into giving in to her in a game. Our parents caught on to her fast, because of her usual flamboyant personality changed to shy and modest when she was Whispering. I was a different matter. In love with forests, I eagerly soaked up the ways of a Forest Dragon, and soon my main skill was found: I was a Listener. Not an uncommon, but often an overlooked ability amonst the more trainable Healing or Growing or Sculpting talents, Listening is an instinctive ability to listen to one's surroundings and discern the details and subtleties of those surroundings. With a bit of practice, the instinctive skill can also be applied to other beings. These were the abilities Listhfae, my Mother, concentrated on. And then, my Mother asked Merisel for help in teaching her childern to fight.

Dragons battling,even in play, is not an easy thing to conceal from an elven Watcher, and we did not even attempt such a concealment. Thus, when word of the new lessons reached elven leaders, they  changed their decision to allow Merisel to train their dragon neighbors, and ordered her to report back for her Watcher duties, which she had only been pursuing part time as she trained us.

Merisel was not in agreement with the council's wishes. She had made a tentative plan, with us, to include us as a formidable addition to the clan's defenses. She saw that one young Fire Dragon's might (Whisper), one older Forest Dragon's wise stealth (Listhfae), three dragon-mages' abilities (Nrrak, Evana, and Lygth), and one Forest-loving Fire Dragon's spying ability (myself), would be a valuable and unexpected surprise to any attacker of the elven stronghold, while it would assure a friendly alliance between two uncomfortable neighbors would strengthen both's hold on their lands.

Even my Mother, with her disgust at politics, attempted to persuade the elves of the feasibility and sense of the plan, but eventually, and with other reasons weighing at her heart, Merisel broke with the clan. She spent two years, a short time, training us as best she could, and then set off for other lands, with the simple purpose of taking a look at the world. Merisel was a spark in our lives, a new hope amongst the sorrows, and a caring friend. We all were sad to see her leave our lives. With most of the learning accomplished, my Mother began again to slip into the melancholy that threatened her before my sibs' skills manifested so strongly, and we first noticed her new decline just as we celebrated Nrrak, Evana, and Lygth reaching adulthood.

Continued......