Avatar

This handsome rogue is a true immortal. Son of Iva and Tailin, grandson of Vanya and Iolen, Tandri and Tylee... He is just over thirty five years old.

Living wherever he wishes, at first places suggested by great-grandsire Etan, and later on his own just as a whim.

Why? Because he can.

Avatar is very tall, but slender, and much of his weight is in his muscular tail - his tail is fairly prehensile. His arms sport short, immobile spines, and his fingers as well as toes have long hard claws. He is quite able to defend himself both physically and mentally. His ability with emotion control is also an addiction to him, he can hardly go a day without needing to manipulate someone's mental state.

Avatar's voice is as smooth as his appearance. Dark, deep and silky like fine quality chocolate liquor.

His mental voice is sharper than you'd think, like a shard of ice surrounded by that same melted chocolate... Cold below a soft melty surface...

Scam

While Scam is no immortal, he expects to be given every opportunity to interact with the Rogues. His mother is Scandal, and father Schesh, grandparents Vanya, Shatter, and some unknown pair of 'Workers that Scandal didn't bother to locate.

Scam has very high pain tolerance, and that's a good thing especially around the Rogues. Plus, he can heal very quickly - and has had to use that power quite often. It's not much under his control, however, so even if he wanted to he couldn't keep a scar on his skin more than a day or two.

He has short, rounded and slightly mobile spines, plus short claws on fingers and toes. His highly expressive eyebrows are usually in motion, and usually expressing distaste or ire at something. Most often his mother or cousin causes this.

Scam is a Slave, Owned by his mother Scandal, and he is just happy with that. It gives him something to do. His education has been enjoyably better than most Slaves, since she expects him to help and participate in many activities, not the least of which is extensive socialization, exploration and information gathering.

Scam is completely loyal to his mother - he knows the story of his strange relative Simon, how he too had been Owned by his mother, but at the very least Scandal doesn't seem to want to damage everyone in her path the way Keenae did. Scam appreciates the lengths that his mother goes to include him in her daily schedule, and he acts as much as a bodyguard as a gopher or typical servant. He'd take a fatal blow for his mother - or even some of his other Rogue relatives.

Scam's voice is even, a little higher than baritone, and very expressive. His skin and hair coloration changes with his mood but it is always in control when he's at work.

The rogue sat on the edge of a table, perched inappropriately with his tail wrapped around the far leg of the heavy wooden workstation. With his head tilted, and his hands gripping the carved edge of the table, knees up around his shoulders, Avatar gazed at the Holder of the house where he'd decided to live.

The man was a burly woodworker, which Avatar could respect. Somewhere in his heritage there were woodworkers. Avatar's memory stealing power was working overtime, because this subject had just enough latent mental energy that he might have even been able to break through some of the mind-clouding power Avatar could have used.

The Land Master shrugged when he thought he felt something on his shoulder. Studiously avoiding the direct area where Avatar sat, he started working on a chair leg. While he did so, Avatar's attention was diverted away.

Some flitting energy on the edge of his mental perception caused the tailed man to leave his perch and move toward the window. Though he was not the most powerful of the Rogues in his group, his ability to discern when people were coming near seemed uncannily strong. And sure enough, this time he was not wrong. It was the dark-green skinned Scam.

"Hey sexy," Avatar called out, oblivious to the man working in the shop. Avatar went into the main house and gleefully opened the front door. Scam slunk in and looked around, a little hesitant.

"You've got company?" Scam asked. Avatar only laughed, deeply and musical. He guided his second-cousin/great-great-cousin (yes, both terms were correct, since they shared two sides of their family tree... It was best not to think about it) into the house.

"I haven't really settled yet. There is an awful lot of woodshavings and dust..." Avatar swept his arms free of the pale wood-dust, and saw that his feet had left tracks out from the work shop. "This just won't do..." He ticked his tongue at his own mistake. "Do you want to help me find a new place?"

Scam grinned, "Actually I was hoping you and I could go into town and get me a new piercing."

Avatar glanced down. Scam was wearing one of his favored "belly" shirts, a nice clingy thing that cut off just around the ribcage and showed off his perfect slender waist. "I take it you mean your navel again? Why?"

"I know, it just keeps growing shut. I can't turn off that damnable power." Scam laughed.

"Where's your mother?"

"High Lady Scandal is indesposed at a race, and she sent me away because she wanted to seduce some poor jackass." He shrugged. "Go figure."

"Some people just don't know how to keep track of their Slaves, do they?" Avatar said, "She just lets you wander like that?"

"They let you wander, don't they?" Scam smirked right back. "And you aren't even a real breeder. You know that."

"Oh yes I am," Avatar said, suddenly offended. "I have sat in on the best classes. And my grandfather has always wanted me to use the Lab."

Scam rolled his eyes, shrugging, and they set off into town. In this case, 'town' was a small deeply hidden woodland village near Meht, in the northern forests of Imaa. Meht was down a road that had barely been paved in the last hundred years. They walked down this road the wrong way, hoping that they wouldn't have to dive for cover if a hover-vehicle were to come by. The thick woods to both sides of the road were heavy with thorn bushes.

"Why in the world would you select such an out of the way place to hole up, Avatar?" Scam asked, as they walked. It was a bright, sunny day, but the tree canopy towered overhead and obscured all but the smallest dappling of light. Even the road was covered far over their heads, and Scam obviously wanted to be where he could see the sky.

"Because there are people who are looking for me, in busier places, why else?" Avatar finally answered. "Say... you haven't been able to get near any of those aliens, have you?"

Scam shook his head. "No, but I heard they brought down three planes near here. I think that's part of why mother was here. Turns out that she couldn't live without bedding one of the Dragon Masters that took them out."

Avatar got a gleam in his narrow, very green eye. "Scam... They'd be keeping the planes near that Dragon Master's Hold, wouldn't you think?"

Again, Scam rolled his head and eyes, and said, "of course they are. I suppose that's where we're going, then..."

Cheerfully, Avatar smacked his cousin on the shoulder and subsequently draped his arm over those broad, round shoulders he loved so much. He ought: they looked just like his own. Together, they went north into the nearby clearing, and just over the ridge the Hold could be seen.

It was surrounded on all sides by the huge redwood and sun-gutter trees, but had been cleared enough to provide a large open glen. A big barn stood at one end of the property and lay baricaded. The house itself was where Scam said his mother was, probably having a great time.

And there were two huge dragons, the Forest kind, nesting in the thick branches of the nearest trees. Avatar was brought up short by that sight.

He stood blinking, half because the light finally struck the deep green grass very brightly, but also because... "They're beautiful," he breathed. Scam looked at his cousin and smiled to himself.

"Yes, they are. I didn't know you cared about dragons at all." Scam chuckled a little. "Here I thought you didn't get sentimental."

"You should talk," Avatar said, regaining some composure. "Y'geezer, you always get all uppity about stuff."

"Geezer!?" Scam laughed, making the feathered-serpent Dragons in the tree shift a little. He lowered his voice again. "I'm barely a hundred years older than you, squirt. And they're beautiful, any way you look at them." He indicated the brightly colored male Forest dragon, and his slightly drabber mate. "Hey, I wonder if they've got a nest?"

Avatar's face changed from a mask of boredom to a curious, almost bewildered state. "I don't know if I could steal an egg from one of those... My powers don't work that way..."

"I'm not talking about stealing it you idiot," Scam grunted, "just looking for one. Anyway, I don't think there is. They'd probably be all angry."

"And how do you know so much about dragons?" Avatar asked, and began heading toward the barn. His powers were working overtime because of all the servants and Bayaran around, who had probably seen them enter the glade. They did not see the pair of men walking near the downed alien planes.

The silver metal devices looked harmless enough while on the ground, but in a way they were also quite sinister. There were gun pods, missile launchers, and other items which had been used at least on one of the three jets. The other two were too far into the barn and neither man wanted to hazard there being more than a simple tape barricade.

"We could stop these things," Avatar said, "the Rogues and I. You could help."

"Oh dear, could I?" Scam hit a falsetto note and blinked his eyes rapidly, clutching his hands to his chest. "We'd have to hunt them in the skies," he added, with a bit of resignation. "But we're not even Tuned, animal or dragon. I know you're not."

"Who says?" Avatar said, waving his tail about.

"Mother does," Scam said, and Avatar gave up that argument quickly.

"But don't you think it would be grand?" Avatar pried. He was certainly on this dragon thing.

"I would have put you on a desert dragon, myself," Scam announced, looking his cousin up and down.

"Why, because I've got a tail? Get real. Those slithery things would have to get a lot bigger to impress me."

"... Well, there are bigger ones, with wings," Scam said, leaning agains the inside wall of the barn. "You've seen them. Amaranth and them have come back with them from another planet."

Now it was Avatar's turn to roll his eyes and slump. "And... any thoughts as to how to get to another planet? Wishing real hard? Praying to the ancestors?"

"How about asking a rider?" Someone else's voice piped in. The two turned to see a compact but handsome man standing in the doorway of the barn. He would have looked quite dashing except that his otherwise perfect hair was a bit mussed up from having been played with - by Scandal who was standing next to him.

"This is Talori," Scandal said, and glanced at Avatar. "Don't mess with his mind, boy," she warned. Avatar didn't much like being ordered around like a Slave, but he obeyed anyway - she was much his elder and she was family, and she did mean business.

"My dragons are but one kind," Talori said, waving his hand at the pair who chirped and gave off pleasant sounds from their nest. "And the ones you're thinking of are on a world named Ryslen."

"That's the name," Scam said, "I was trying to remember it. But where is it? How do you get there?"

"On another dragon," Talori said, and turned. He led the pair into his house, which was nicely appointed and quite slick in terms of glossy colors and shining floors. "I can make sure that they know where to look for you, if you want to try bonding. We dragon breeders must keep up contacts with whomever offers their services, and Ryslen has done this world a great service already..."

Shortly, and with Scam wondering what his mother would be doing without him, the pair were in contact with a rider.

And much much quicker than they expected, that rider showed up on the back of their dragon. A white-skinned green-haired man with tall green horns on his forehead appeared, on the back of a dramatic brown dragon. This dragon had a high neck ridge, big curving wings, and long legs. All hide, no feathers or fur, this dragon gazed at the pair of men.

I think so. They would do at the current sands, or perhaps later. So we shall take them. The dragon spoke directly to his rider, but also to the pair and the others present for their edification.

"Wimkukith says you're good to go, then you're coming to Ryslen. I don't know how I got saddled into doing transport..." Osh grumbled. "I was supposed to be on my way to a party!"

"Ooh," Scandal giggled, "which one? I'll crash it for you. You've got important things to do. Bring my son back with his own dragon, for one."

"If he does," Osh said, carefully and while watching her face, "he'll be raised. Dragon Masters get that bonus, you know."

"I know. Won't it be fine to have a dragon master in the house?" She laughed, and traipsed back into the private areas of Talori's house.

Outside, then, Scam and Avatar were set up to fly. They were given just enough information to keep them from panicking on the ride there, since it was a bit of a jump, but they were also both well-suited to the duties of work and devotion that would be required.

"You know," Scam said as they took off, "Avatar, you won't be allowed to slack off and pretend you've done chores or something, you'll actually have to work for your dragon's benefit."

"I know," Avatar said, a broad smile on his dark face, "I've been looking forward to this for years..."

They went through the Nexus, and landed ... the sands were filled with beautiful eggs from three equally beautiful dragons. None knew which of the clutches would supply a bond to the men, but they were hopeful that they'd both bond.

What comes NEXT?