Silver stars rained from the heavens.

Their light illuminated her mythical kingdom in their bright, magical light. Every creature had put out the fires for this night, leaving nothing to disturb the majesty of the Night of Silver Starfall.

High Queen Eilwen turned her azurite-blue face to watch the comets again, her view much closer to the stars on the balcony of her castle than that of most of her subjects. Though she was distracted in noticing out of the corner of her eye how charming her king looked as he too stared up at the Starfall. His gentle emerald eyes and ocean-blue scales glistened under the silver glow.

Apparently he noticed her glance, and he turned his face towards her so that he could still see the falling stars. "What is it, my love?" he asked.

Eilwen smiled and gave a faint shake of her head. "Nothing, my dear," she answered, pulling her cloak around her more, for the night froze as it always did on the moonless night of Fimblewinter. "It's just so beautiful,"

She could make out his faint nod. "That it is," he agreed. "Out of all the holidays... All the... Phenomenon of our world... I believe this one is the most beautiful."

Eilwen was too absorbed in watching the Starfall to reply. Not a single of the seven moons interrupted the spectacular display, as thousands of platinum comets rained across the sky, strong and fiery.

Then a streak of blue charged alongside the comets, hurtling across the sky and... Falling out of it. Eilwen was so transfixed that she didn't realize until the king was tugging her aside that it was falling straight towards them.

Caderyn yanked her out of the way just in time for the cobalt comet to crash through the massive stained glass window behind them, leaving glass both shattered and melted in its wake.

Eilwen could feel her hearts pound in her chest and elsewhere. She took a few breaths, then detached herself from the protective grasp of the king, and cautiously, slowly, wandered over towards the large gaping hole in the glass.

Through the hole she could see in the dark the remains of the courtroom, the many sizes of seats completely blasted away or on fire, only a quarter of the long table remaining.

The Queen narrowed her eyes as she inspected the devastation, and her king now beside her spoke her thoughts aloud. "That was no ordinary comet," he murmured.

Eilwen only took a few steps further until her talons curled over the edge of the still-hot meteor hole. She peered down into the darkness, seeing that the comet had blown through every level of the castle, judging by the rings of blue fire left burning around each impact hole.

King Caderyn looked down as well. "Do you think-- could it have pierced Ragn-"

"Shhhhh..." The High Queen interrupted. The holes were easily large enough for a fully grown dragon to fly through... She tilted on her talons and fell into a swift dive... Down... Down...

She flung out her wings and caught herself before she fell into the crater of cobalt fire.

The Queen landed on the rim of the crater, and slowly began circling it, staring into raging flames, searching for the heart of the comet. A moment later, Caderyn came swooping in from the main gate, the silver and dark wood doors swinging open, the light from the Starfall outside illuminating the intricate silverwork designs over the doors.

As the king landed, he began tamping out stray flames as they started to leap and catch on the carpet, which was similarly designed to the doors with cobalt blue base and silver elegant designs. The shadows from the fire danced eerily over the carpet and on the blue-stone walls, their thrones glinting just barely off in the distance. There was no one inside but them, the population all outside for the display.

"Do you think this... This was an attack perhaps?" Caderyn considered, his brow creased in thought. "From the East?"

Eilwen shook her head. "No, this isn't their style. And this fire is clearly magical - Volcanics don't have enough magic to sustain something like this and by the Primordials- we know the Territe's don't," she pointed out.

"True, though a Royal might be able to do it..." he murmured. "Queen Assaria...."

"Queen Assaria is powerful," Eilwen mused. "She may even be capable of this. But I don't see why she would do it. We are at peace, and on the highest holiday on all of Anfeiddreidd... It just doesn't make sense."

The flickering flames slowly began to die down, and a sapphire shape soon became apparent in the center of the crater. "What is that do you think?" asked the queen.

The King was slowly backing away. "I should retrieve the guards-- this could be a trap."

"No need," the queen dismissed, stepping into the crater. The flames were little more than candlefires now, and did little to scorch her scales.

"Eilwen, please-- be careful." Caderyn warned from behind her, though after ten millennia he knew that there was little he could do to stop her.

She was nearing the center of the crater, where a fire still burned tall like a bonfire around some remaining fuel.

With a wave of her broad wing, she extinguished the remaining fire.

And a sapphire figure was left in its place. She stared studyingly down at it as she called: "Eryn, come here..."

"What is it? Is it a message?" he asked as he carefully made his way down into the crater and towards her.

"I don't know."

When Cadeyrn finally was at her side and saw what lay before them, all he could muster was an "Oh."

For laying before them, was a dragoness.

Suddenly the merwyn's flanks rose in breath.

And slowly, she began to lift her head, sapphire scales glistening in the last of the azure firelight.

And she opened her eyes, her irises as beautiful as a dying blue star.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cold winds drifted over the desert, stirring the golden sands. The moons arched over the sky, looking down at them with pale blue faces, illuminating the chilled night. The streets were littered with the shadows of the once-glorious sandstone buildings that housed the rich and powerful. Dwarfing them all stood the obsidian castle, towering over the city from its perch on the volcano. Usually the castle burned with the light of lava channels running over the walls, but it had been centuries since Ragnarok was last active.

Curse that volcano. It was as cursed as she was. But she could not share her pain with the mountain. It would not offer her any sympathy for their kinship in bad luck. It had fallen ill just when she had, and the people favored the mountain more.

Cast out the sickness, and the mountain will recover. Such a poetic lie her mycht had told. Appealing to the religious and his own desires in one fell blow. Such a perfect way to be rid of a queen who was no longer beautiful. Who's shimmering scarlet scales had gone dull.

But even as she turned her back on the mountain and started down the sandstone steps, her two dragonets following at her heels, the mountain did not regain its glow. Its sickness had nothing to do with hers. But she could care less. The mountain had turned its back on her long ago. It was about time she did the same.

"Mother," her youngest chirped, "where are we going? Why are we going out this late in the night?"

His amber eyes glowed with curiosity. His scarlet scales took after her own. She couldn't help but smile at how well he was at words for his age. Hardly a century, and he was already fond of formal language. He could hold up in a debate just as well as his elder brother.

The eldest snorted. "Don't you see, moron? We're outcasts now."

Assaria shot him a glare. Byrnthos only huffed and straightened the leather satchel slung around his thick, golden neck. She returned her attention to her youngest. "We won't be living in the castle anymore, my sweet. We've been set up with a nice little house on the outskirts of the city. We'll–"

"What can we do?"

The suddenness of the question wasn't what gave her pause. It was how he saw right through her deception and without a moment of hesitation was getting right to the point. Her youngest always skipped what wasn't important. He didn't ask questions he already knew the answer to. He knew that outcast meant hunger, and suffering, and pain. He didn't need to hear it sugarcoated. He only wanted to know what he could do about it.

And he had only learned to talk a few decades ago.

She hated being unable to answer his question. "I don't know," she admitted. It went against all of her instincts to say so, but her son was smart. Lying would do no good. He was the most likely one of them all to think of something that could help. "We have no money. The king wants us to stay low and be forgotten– he will make sure any good jobs in Amon-Ra will be unavailable to us. But we will not be allowed to leave the city. It will not be easy to get by."

Byrnthos flexed his bone-white claws. "Father wants us gone but not dead. He wants a new mycht without creating a political uproar." His powerful tail flicked in annoyance. "I would slaughter him with my own claws if I had the chance."

"Byrn, that is not a solution," Assaria asserted. While at heart she would tend to agree, even after all the king had done, she didn't want them plot against their father. They still had legal rights to the throne. Maintaining their heads would be necessary for ever attaining it. Besides, her little son...

Indeed, he was little. Almost half the size of when Byrnthos was his age. Of course, as a territe, Byrn was naturally larger than all other races. Not yet a third to maturity and he was already nearly her height. But that only sharpened the contrast to her youngest's scant size. It worried her that hunger might further stunt his growth.

But what pained her the most was that there was almost nothing she'd be able to do about it.

She watched his calculating eyes as they glowed amber into the night. "I have a plan," he said. "First we find where we are to live. I will fill you in from there."

With that, he started again down the sandy street, scarlet scales glistening in the moonlight.

"You moron, you don't even know where you're going!" Byrnthos called ahead.

The scarlet dragonet glanced over his thin shoulder. "The warrens, correct? If father wants us to disappear, that's the place he'd send us." Without checking for confirmation from either of them, he continued along into the darkness.

Her eldest's eyes burned gold with fury. "You can't possibly–"

"He is clever, Byrnthos. We shall give him a chance."

"He's an absolute moron."

"Quite the opposite," she said as she started after her little dragonet. "Morrodor is quite possibly the smartest dragon I've ever known." She cracked a grin. "And he, I'm sure, could think of more than one word with which to describe those he dislikes."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kaela was very familiar with bones.

Being a vampiric, it was only natural. She'd drained thousands of bodies in her time. She'd be willing to bet that she could tell a naturae femur apart from a volcanic one. A territe collarbone apart from a prinuae's. When life revolved around the dying, one became very familiar with bones.

Which was how she knew that the bones scattered about the forest floor were her mycht's.

She could recognize the twist of his dark horns anywhere. The subtle kink in a tail bone from an old fight. The powerful jawbone that had clamped down and sucked the life away from so many souls. The proportions of the bones all matched her memory of him. There was no doubt.

It was him. One of the last vampiric lords. Dead.

"Show yourself!" she growled into the trees. "You left me a note saying you would return my mycht to me in exchange for information. If you are going to break your word, at least have the courage to face me!"

Her ears flicked towards the rustling brush at her side. An emerald forest naturae slipped through the foliage, proudly presenting herself. The rustling of trees and bushes in the surrounding clearing told her that this merwyss had backup. "You broke your deal," Kaela snarled.

The naturae flattened her ears. "You savages lost the right to a fair deal long ago. This isn't deceit. This is justice."

Kaela sank her claws into the damp earth. "And when cabbages rise up in rebellion, will you see it as justice when they slaughter everyone you care about?"

The naturae watched her with a flat glare. "Cabbages aren't dragons."

"No, but who are you to decide if they have feelings?"

"You do realize you're a complete hypocrite?"

Kaela lashed her tail. "It is survival to us."

The emerald merwyss narrowed her eyes. "When your survival depends on our death, exactly what sort of conclusion do you expect us to reach?"

For a moment, Kaela let her stance relax. "That would depend on if you'd give us an honest hearing."

The chocolate eyes of the naturae hardened. "Your race has far too many crimes to be dealt with in a court."

Kaela resisted another snort. "We could say the same of yours."

The naturae threw out her wings in exasperation. "I've had enough of this." She turned to the bushes, where a cobalt water naturae emerged. The new arwyn whispered to the merwyss, bringing a smile to her narrow lips. "And you would best come quietly now."

Kaela's wings tensed. "For what reason?"

The forest naturae stepped towards her with a new power. A superior sort of power. The sort of way a poacher approaches a master predator, with that gleam in her eyes that she has outwitted the beast and is coming in for the kill. "For the best interest of your dragonet."

Her blood ran cold. "No."

"Yes." The merwyss advanced. "While we've been chatting, my team found your trail and followed it back to your den. I hear he's been a squirmy little fellow. Very feisty. Very much like you. It would be such a shame if he... got himself hurt."

Kaela whirled. "No– no!" She launched into a run, only to feel talons close around her wings and heels and tail. The dragons from the brush had emerged, an entire team forcing her to the ground. The harder she fought, the more they seemed to multiply. But she couldn't bring herself to stop. She couldn't believe she had been this stupid. But that didn't matter now.

She needed to free her dragonet.

But right now, she couldn't even free herself.

"No! No!" She roared as the cold burn of chains closed around her ankles. She snapped and twisted, but claws dragged her towards the earth. A talon smashed her face into the ground, and the world began to blur. "No..." still she fought against them, to no avail. Cold seared through her face as a steel muzzle was slipped over her snout.

Rag... my son...

I will find you... and free you...

My dear son... Ragadar.