Age: 15
Gender: Male
Species: Reptilos (reptile-shifter)
Subspecies: Las (lizard)
Height: 5'6"
Build: Slender
Hair: Red (crewcut, frizzy)
Skin: Very dark
Eye: Ice blue
Origin: Senaerra, Searched on Aranas
Status: Bonded at Darkling Dawn /General's son
Searcher: Nystoa, with purple Erkundenth
Card: 3 of Disks (work)
Element: Earth
Zodiac: Taurus
Personality: Stubborn to a point, he finds it easy to sway Kelby to do what he wants him to. Well-educated and usually well-behaved, he knows better than to break the rules. Unfortunately, caught up in the heat of the moment, he is known to do reckless or dangerous things. His father instilled the beliefs of dragon riders into his son and Leseto took to them well and was marked as a possible future rider for his father's Citadel. It was 'Seto's leadership skills which were most important and, it seems, the boy would be a perfect leader ... if a bit headstrong.
Description: His contrasting features are strange, but perhaps expected of any lizard-shifter. His build is slender, like his mother's, but he has his father's eyes and hair colour; he keeps the red hair kept short, as part of his training. Generally, Leseto wears the uniform of a cadet, but when in civilian clothing, he wears long-sleeved shirts with a vest and knicker-style pants.
Gender: Male
Colour: Green
Age: Adult
Size: Medium-Small
Dam: Green-Blue Careth
Sire: Andalusite-Celestial Krinoth
Clutch: #6
Origin: Darkling Dawn
Flights:
Personality: He's a tentative dragon, perhaps more influenced by his colour than even L'seto is. Terrified of being left behind and of being forgotten, he's constantly asking his rider questions, constantly demanding reassurances ... reassurances that L'seto is more than willing to give. Aside from his timid manner, Malachiteth is also pleasant and painfully polite, usually resorting to formal titles when talking with strangers and those of high rank.
Kelby sighed and frowned firmly, though his heart swelled with elation at the idea of riding on such a powerful creature. Still, he had to keep up appearances and, in his case, his appearance was one of perpetual grumpiness. He crossed his arms and stopped, tapping his foot.
"Come back now, Master Leseto. If you get hurt, your father will have my hide and you know it."
The lizard-shifter darted back up the corridor and rolled his eyes at his servant and guardian.
"Oh, come off it. We've done our chores for the day and you know Yidor-nika would love a good fly anyway. Father doesn't ever take him out any more for fun. He won't drop us or anything, either."
"But he's an *old* dragon, too. He doesn't fly that much or else your father would be out there patrolling the borders with all the other riders.", Kelby paused. "Where *is* Master Lystian, any way, Master Leseto?"
Leseto rolled his eyes again, stomping a foot petulantly. "What does it *matter* where my father is? Yidor-nika is the one who decides if he wants to fly or not. So, come on. We won't get in trouble, since we're all done with our chores."
Kelby bit his lip at that, his eyes narrowing briefly. Our chores? Kelby's chores, he meant, which included making sure Master Leseto got to his classes for the day and was dressed reasonably well. But, as per usual, he kept his mouth shut. The job was thankless enough ... he didn't need to ruin it any further by mouthing off to the son of one of the Generals.
"Fine. But I'll make a point of requesting a short flight, Master Leseto. You still have classes later today."
"I know, I know. A short flight."
Smiling, Leseto dashed down the corridor again and, this time, Kelby followed with a grin on his face.
***
Yidor-nika lifted his immense head when the two boys arrived, huffing and puffing and out of breath. The Gloryseeker dragon lifted his eyeridges with amusement at the very sight of the two.
"And what brings you here, to your father's quarters, 'Seto?", Yidor rumbled, his white and bronze tail flicking. Old as he was by human standards, by dragon standards, he was still a young hatchling. That didn't change the fact that arthritis -- an unusual ailment in dragons of his youth -- had settled heavily into his joints. Even the twitching of his tail hurt him.
"We want to get a ride, just around the air a bit, if that's okay.", Leseto beamed, looking up at the huge dragon as if he were simply another member of the family. No awe or terror gleamed in his eyes at all; Kelby, however, was a different story. Rarely had he even glimpsed Yidor-nika and now, seeing him in full, Kelby couldn't even stutter an amendment to Leseto's request. He was, quite simply, awestruck.
"Only a short one, I'm afraid.", Yidor-nika lowered his head, his voice ringing with lament. "My wings hurt, even now."
"Maybe it'll do you good to get in the air again. C'mon, even a short flight is good."
Yidor crouched, stretching out a foreleg of mottled white and liquid brown; bronze talons glimmered at the ends of his long fingers, freshly polished from the look of them. Leseto clambered nimbly up the leg and into a small niche formed by Yidor's neck and shoulder blades. Kelby, on the other hand, was a bit more hesitant, looking with wide and terrified eyes at the dragon. A dragon who, he reminded himself, could eat him in a gulp if he did anything wrong.
It finally took Leseto to pull Kelby on behind him, allowing his servant to clasp his arms around his waist, while he held onto one of Yidor's neck spines. The dragon swung his ponderous bulk around and out through a pair of immense double-doors, onto his personal ledge. With a flex of his body and two careful pumps of his vast wings, Yidor-nika was airborne, gliding easily over the thermals that all but covered the airspace of the dragon hold's courtyard.
Exhilarated by the rush of wind and the distant cries of birds, Leseto, in a moment of utter frivolity, stood, letting go of the neck spine he'd been clutching ... and just as quickly, was swept away in the air that rushed down Yidor's neck. Screaming in terror, he plummeted downward and all Kelby could do was watch in horror.
Something clicked within his brain, seconds before he plunged after Leseto, but he couldn't say what it was. Soul-felt devotion, perhaps, or a desire to be a hero for once ... he could not say. His fingers stretched and caught Leseto's and the two embraced each other while they fell, screaming, toward the ground.
In a fairy tale world, Yidor-nika would have ignored the pain in his body to sweep down and capture the two boys before they hit the ground. In a fairy tale world, the boys would have been severely shaken, but laughing, and punishments would have later been doled out and endured and life would have gone on.
This was not a fairy tale world.
Try as he might, Yidor's wings could not pull hard enough for him to bank and, instead, pain shot white-hot arrows through his body. A dive was out of the question; he would only push them down faster. And so, he called out to the other dragons ... but none could arrive in time. Circling slowly over where the boys fell, the dragons let up a mourning keen -- and Yidor called out to his rider, tears streaking down his glistening muzzle.
For the boys, their end was swift; instant death as they hit the solid stone of the courtyard. Fortunately, no one was anywhere nearby when they hit, but seconds afterward, healers and riders scurried to see what they could do. In the end, there wasn't much they could do.
It was said that their funeral was the most beautiful ever seen. A pity that the boys themselves could not have seen it.
***
They awoke, screaming, on the soft earth of a world that was utterly alien to them. Leseto's throat was raw, but he gave another scream, just to be safe. Kelby resisted an urge to cuff his charge, biting back his own screams.
"Where are we?", Leseto croaked, staring at the wild tangle of vegetation around them. "We're not dead, are we?"
"Well, we're not at home, that's for sure.", Kelby stood, dusting himself off. "Probably fell through a portal or something."
"That only happens in fairy tales, Kel. We had to have died.", Leseto's voice trembled despite his best efforts to remain strong. "We're dead."
"We are *not* dead!", Kelby's voice broke into a screech and, for the first time since his employment, swung a hand to slap Leseto across the face. As Leseto's fingers lifted to touch the reddening mark on his face, he stared at Kelby. Tears began to fall down the lizard-shifter's face as he looked at his guardian, his companion, someone he trusted utterly with his life ... and someone who had just slapped him. Hurt him. The pain didn't matter; it was the act which hurt him more deeply than anything Kelby had ever done.
Trembling with the sudden realization of what he had done, Kel sank back to the ground, sobbing his apologies. Leseto joined him, and the two boys held each other while they wept.
This was how two dragons found them, and their riders could only look at each other in amazement.
<< Wonder what happened to them. >>, the purple dragon commented, stretching her neck out to get a better look.
<< They must have been recent arrivals ... but not of their own accord, as we were. >>, the silver replied, settling on his haunches.
"Are they ...", one girl began, but did not finish as she drew her cards from a bag hanging on the purple dragon's saddle. "Mmm.", she chewed on her lip, then looked at her purple dragon, a dragon named Erkundenth, with an intense gaze.
<< Nystoa, the boy with the welt on his face ... he is one. >>
"I know that now. He's on this card.", the girl Nystoa replied to the purple's comment.
The other girl, Eslai, was busy flipping through her own cards. "Ah! Erdbeereth, look!"
She flipped a card out, looking at the image on it, then at the other boy.
<< He is one, as well. >>, came Erd's droll reply. << We must calm them down before we can take them anywhere. >>
Calming people down is generally easier said than done, but Nystoa and Eslai took to the task readily. The purple-rider stretched and followed her silver-riding companion to where the boys lay, still sobbing. Whatever had happened to them must have been terrible. It took some time to pull the boys apart by whispering to them, murmuring that everything was going to be okay. A teary-eyed Kelby lifted his head, opening his mouth to ask something, but Eslai shook her head and smiled, pointing over to her dragon.
"Don't you worry. We'll take good care of you, we promise. Whatever happened to you ... you don't need to worry about that now.", Eslai considered for a moment, then added, " Erdbeereth there is saying that he trusts you and believes that you could ride a dragon."
But that only seemed to make the boys start their wailing anew. Frustrated, Nystoa finally snapped, "Whatever happened to you two? I mean, we watched your arrival to this world, offer you the greatest gift we can, and you *still* cry. What happened?"
Leseto wiped a hand across his streaming eyes, sniffling in a not-so-mighty fashion. "Yidor ... I fell off of Yidor-nika and we fell. He ... he couldn't ...", the boy trailed off, his sobbing re-kindled. He curled up against Nystoa and just trembled, leaving the purple-rider only able to look down on him in confusion.
***
It took almost a whole day to get the boys calmed down and when they finally did, it was time to set up camp. The Judges had allowed Nystoa and Eslai to stay temporarily and they took full advantage of the opportunity. Dinner consisted of vegetarian fare, while the dragons didn't seem too terribly hungry at all. While they ate, it was Kelby who finally recounted their tale.
"Yidor-nika, that's Master Leseto's father's dragon. He's a Gloryseeker, but he was old and I guess he must have the same problems old people have. He wasn't moving too well, but we wanted to ride on him. And ... well, Leseto stood up and let go and he fell and I fell after him. Yidor-nika couldn't catch up with us to save us.", Kelby stared down at the coals of the fire. "I guess we really are dead, in a way."
"That's no reason to be scared of dragons.", Nystoa commented, wiggling her leaf-wrapped roasted fruit at the boys. "You need to conquer your fear. See, even Erkundenth thinks you'd make a fine rider and she's usually really picky."
"And Erdbeereth sees something in you, too. If you live your life in fear of falling off a dragon again, or falling off of anything, then that's not much of a life, is it?"
"I suppose not.", Leseto hesitantly replied.
"I have an idea. We'll let you boys sleep on the idea and, in the morning, you give us your answers, okay? If you don't accept, we'll take you back home as you are ... but if you do, you'll be able to go back home on your own dragons." Both boys stared at Nystoa as if she were an insane sage. But they agreed willingly enough and, that night, everyone slept the sleep of the dead.
***
The next day, the boys finally gave an answer to the riders.
"I don't want to be afraid any more.", Kelby murmured, his eyes downcast. "I want to be strong, like Master Lystian, like you two. Take me with you."
"You can't just leave me!", Leseto cried, reaching out to shake Kelby. "You just can't!"
"I'm *not*. You just have to come with me. That's all.", a sly smile touched Kelby's lips, for once having the upper hand. "Just come along. Maybe we'll go to the same world and everything."
"It all depends on what the dragons want.", Eslai replied, shrugging. "But if you want to come along, we'll record you and take you to where you'll be best suited. That's a promise."
"And I'm proud of you both.", Nystoa added. "Keep being strong and you'll both make fine dragon riders. Someday, you'll be able to go home, too, and show everyone that you're really okay."
"Okay.", the boys said in unison.