Ryslen was a place of many wonders, most Kuuki only came to know after spending almost a month there. So many fascinating worlds this place was in contact with! Dragons of every shape, size, and color flew here and there, conversed with each other and the humans. Such a peace that settled over this place...it was almost bliss for one who had only known - and in fact been created for - war.

In time she came to know those with whom she waited for a clutch to hatch. They were so young, so innocent sometimes...she couldn't help but marvel at them all. "Oh, if only I could forget Aether, Atrox and the rest. But, no...they depend on me. I have a duty to protect them and one to my brothers and sisters to help. I must return." A heaviness settled in her heart at this thought. After having known this paradise of peace and civility, Kuuki had to return to a world filled with darkness. She despised it all.

Wasn't it unfair? She'd already saved Aether once with her friends, why must they be forced to do so again? Because it is your duty, your purpose! a tiny voice shouted from the back of her head. "When will it be my turn at peace?" At least she had known it once, in the event she did not survive this last battle. It was a memory she would carry with her as long as she lived...

Anticipation grew as the clutches, both on the larger dragon sands and what had come to be called the "mini sands" where the two male Lians lovingly tended their tiny clutch, hardened ever more rapidly. Kuuki's dark thoughts were obscured by the growing anxiety over bonding. Thoughts she figured must be normal for every first-time candidate kept flitting across her mind at inopportune times, causing her to freeze in place briefly as cold fear took residence in her gut.

What if one doesn't choose me? What if the dragons won't let their children bond off to battle? What if, what if...

On hatching day these thoughts became a constant buzz in the back of her mind as she and the other candidates for all of the clutches on the sands were led. She was stuck standing between the Lian clutch and that of the three huge dragon mothers, unsure which to stand closest to. Finally, in a vain attempt to assuage the nerves she felt ringing through her every cell, she stood firmly between the Lians and the dragon eggs. "If one comes my way, I will be right here for it it see." she muttered shakily, eyes dancing from the huge dragon eggs and the tiny Lians as they were arranged next to them.

As it turned out, they were also the first to hatch, for as soon as the bond of the two male Lians tending the clutch set down the last of the eggs, it shuddered and broke. Out spilled a brilliant, gleaming, tiny hatchling. The color of it's hide nearly rivaled that of the firey Ignis. At that thought, Kuuki's heart was pulled back to her brothers and sisters, all scattered to different worlds. Her resolve cemented then, she knew she had to go back and help them. They would return as well, loyal to each other to their last breath and drop of blood.

Time seemed to pass more quickly as the air mage was absorbed in her thoughts, she hardly noticed when the second and third Lians shattered their way into life. When that fourth egg trembled, however, all of her attention suddenly snapped to it's every move, like a searchlight trained on that one tiny orb. It teetered, it tottered, then finally tipped cracked neatly. Out fell a shimmering silver Lian that stood with a sleepy sort of grace and wandered almost absently to Kuuki's side. It reminded the air mage of the silver spirit mage Mayoke and her dreamy persona.

She knelt to scoop up the drowzy hatchling and laid her across her shoulders, murmuring affectionately, "You'll not be able to do this much if you grow as fast as the big dragons." The fact that her silver-white beauty did not name herself was of no concern to Kuuki, she only cared that her new bondmate knew she loved her already. Shaking her tiny head blearily and nuzzling at the back of Kuuki's neck, the Lian replied, Okay.

Kuuki would have been perfectly content if her little Lian was the only bond she made that day, but it seemed the dragons had more in store for her. As soon as the lian eggs had finished their hatching, the white mother Golyrith alerted to the beginning of her own children's birth. She hummed happily as her small clutch of four began to twitch and rock almost in sync with one another.

The first dragonet to wrestle through his shell. What surprised most was that the little male was a plain, even shade of stormy gray. Quite bland! He approched one of the candidates and chose, though, unlike the Lians, he announced his name for the man to hear.

Still wrapped up in her little silver-white, Kuuki paid no attention as a second and third egg hatched, spilling two more flat gray hatchlings into the world. Yet again, it was that fourth egg that suddenly twitched in a new way that caught every bit of Kuuki's attention. She couldn't even dream that not one but two dragons would see her fit to bond on the very same day. The unnamed Lian lifted her head in sudden interest as well as the egg abruptly shattered and scattered, like leaves tossed in a whirlwind.

It yeilded yet another gray dragonet, but this little female had a lighter stripe of gray running from her two-horned nosetip to the end of her spadeless tail. She stood smoothly and approched a completely nonplussed Kuuki. It's not everyone who bonds twice on the same day... Especially at Ryslen. Kuuki's second bondmate of the day purred, eyes spinning a rainbow of colors.

Hi Laradanri! the unnamed Lian said brightly to the dragonet. The air mage took the gray dragonet's head in her hands, cupping it's jaw and willing her heart to stop hammering against her ribs. "Laradanri? You're mine?" she asked, as if any other answer but yes would come from the dragonet. Indeed, Kuuki. We three will fly together. Laradanri responded with a hint of laughter in her voice and sparkling in her eyes. Surges of deep, never-ending love filled Kuuki's heart as she gathered the hatchling from the hot sands and carried her off, also feeling the intense hunger aching in her stomach.

As she fed both Laradanri and the Lian, Kuuki watched the pair in wonder. Hers, all hers! Someone who would never leave her and always love her, no matter what happened in the future.