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STATS
Name: Merel
Gender: Female
Species: Bird-Cat Dragon
Description: Merel looks like a bird and cat mixed together. She has white fur covering her entire body and deep blue feathers where her ears would be, at her shoulders and at the base of her tail. Merel has a strong grey beak and keen green eyes. Though she may look pretty and soft to the touch, Merel isn't easy to get close to. She dislikes getting her feathers ruffled and thus keeps her distance from those she knows won't be able to resist. Other than that she is a stubborn type of dragon that's just a tad impatient.
Place of Origin: Winter 2004 Xmas Exchange
Bond: Blood Court Green Eguth (f) from the The Empyrean Stair (Court Clutch)

STORY
Merel looked up at the pale yellow Muttutu dragon Amaria and was both surprised and pleased by the ffort the stunted neutered dragon was putting into her studies. Though she'd been destinied to a life of servitude and undergrowth, to be no more than a pet or guard, the Muttutu was intent on being much more. As she served the goddess Aruru, her priorities lay on nurturing. Amaria had been born female until the luck of the draw had made her what she was today. 
"Aren't you getting tired?" Merel asked.
The white-grey feathered and furred brid-cat dragon wasn't all that eager to socialise but there was something endearing about Amaria that not even she could withstand. Merel was a winter-born creature which meant she was only starting to feel comfortable now that summer was at it's end. 
"I need to be able to teleport." Amaria grunted.
"Not all dragons can do that, you know." Merel replied.
"If I want to protect those in my care than I should be able to do it. It's the safest way of getting out of harm's way."
Well there was logic in that. 
"I can help you. Teach you." Merel said solemnly.
Amaria looked up at the larger white-grey dragon and thought she really couldn't be choosy. Most of the other dragons were training for bigger things. So what if her teacher looked a bit wishy-washy, she was a teacher. Secretly, Amaria wanted to be a parent. But she'd never have her own eggs. So looking after the children of others seemed like the closest she'd ever come. But before she attempted to be a nanny, she really needed to be perfect. 
"Thank you. Can you show me how you do it?" Amaria asked carefully.
She saw Merel wink out and back in a few feet away.
"Not to brag but I'm really good at teleporting. I'm sure I'll be able to teach you if you're meant to be able to do it."
"I should. I AM a dragon." Amaria said, feeling a twinge of frustration.
Merel nodded and placed a paw on Amaria's. 
"Feel how I do it. I'll take us to that tree over there."
Amaria nodded and felt as pinpricks of cold briefly touched her extremities only to vanish when they returned under the tree. 
"I don't think I really got it." she admitted.
"You have to visualise where you want to go. Make the image crystal clear in your head. And then you just let go. Try it, at worst we'll stay right here."
Amaria thought that didn't seem very helpful. But she closed her eyes and envisioned the place they'd come from. Crystal-clear, Merel had said, like the jewels in a necklace or crown. She sighed when she thought of the pretty stones some humans wore... and then they were gone.

Continues here

HATCHING
The candidates were led into the Sands. Dragons and humans numbered about equal portions but the dragons seemed to be clustered together. Rumours were that it was to buffer members of a death court. Merel steered clear of the lot, they seemed pretty political and preechy and it seemed like a lot of work. Work she wasn't planning on doing.  
Eggs were clustered around their mothers and a foster mother called Brigid. While the eggs that Brigid had coiled herself around seemed unmoving - or perhaps...contemplative - those natural-born alongside their mothers seemed to grow more eager, and thus, were the first to start shaking. A strange, momentary sensation washed over the sands, like listening. Watching. Clearly coming from the unmoving eggs - as they seemed to observe what their clutchmates would do on instinct alone, before they applied their own knowledge. After all, experiencing a thing was different from observing a thing.
“Your feathers are lovely.” A Blood Court green came to sit a close-but-proper distance from Merel. She was one of the parented hatchlings and sensed a bond with the grumpy cat-dragon. 
“That’s not the only reason why I like you, but I thought a compliment might be appropriate. I can’t wait to see what happens next, and I’d like to be with you when it does - I am called Eguth.”

Name: Eguth
Court: Blood
Gender: Female
Coloration: Green
Mother: Blood Court Gold Muhoth
Father: Light Court Bronze Razmoth
Personality: Lofty, Ambitious
Abilities: 
   *Telepathy
   *Teleportation
   *Verbal Speech
   *Blood-Activated Elemental Magic

ADULTS
(Read a bit of plotting that went before here)
Eguth preened and tended to her claws. They looked quite sharp and daunting coming from her red-tinged paws. Her red-tinted muzzle contrasted wonderfully with her green hide and though some dragons asked her year-round whether she liked Christmas, most knew that they'd better not antagonise her. 
She'd returned to Lantessama Isle with Merel, Amaria and her brother Komenth. The humans that had been brought to the Empyrean Stair by Merel and Amaria had returned to their home planet, although one of them travelled between nexus planets now. Since the young queen Régalle had a special connection to Amaria, they sometimes saw each other. It was nice to occasionally see your siblings...
"Eguth!" Komenth called.
The blood Court Green sighed, having one living right next to you was a bit too much, especially when he was such a confident individual with no sense of borders. 
"What is it now, Komenth?" she asked.
"I need to ask a favour."
"I'll get nothing for free." she said up front.
"I know. But listen!" Komenth said and told her of his quest to bring Amaria children. 
"And you want me to carry them? What's in it for me?"
"You could be the mother of an entirely new court." Komenth said, knowing full well that his sister had lofty ambitions. 
"Imagine your name going down in history."
"But they wouldn't be mine exactly." Eguth told him, "You would erase me from the eggs."
Komenth fell quiet. Eguth was right. What could he offer her then to make Amaria's dream come true?
"Listen. Ask those Aelith if they can insert DNA from me and Merel in these egg too and then I'll comply."
Eguth felt giddy. She'd spend such a long time with her bondmate, but both of them were female and could never produce children together. Now if those Aelith could do it once, then maybe they could do it more. Maybe she should thank Komenth for helping her find out about this possibility. But well, her clutch-sibling was already far too confident. She'd better keep her thanks to herself.
"Come on! Hurry!" she urged Komenth and the sparkly blue court dragon set off running once more.

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