The Forest of Memory

Sara leads you down the path marked "The Forest of Memory." The trees tower above you, filtering the sun, so that only a little reaches the grass covered ground. The wind shifts the leaves as it drifts over head, causing the light to dance back and forth, sending light spots streaming across your face.
The soft breeze floats down into the wide path that Sara and yourself walk down. The breeze is cool and light, shifting past your face, and ruffling your hair. The breeze carries a fresh smell, and you close your eyes to let it drift around you.
Birds call out from their trees, their songs and calls filling the air with a soft murmer. The undergrowth that bunches around the trees occaisonally shifts as a small animal scurries along. This part of the forest is teeming with life.
After some walking, the path abruptly ends, and opens into a large clearing. The clearing's grass is grown a bit longer and fuller. The trees have been aloud to grow their branches out into the clearing so that the leaves of the outstreached branches provies cool shade from the warm sun.
Dozens of muliticolored pillows litter the ground. About half of the pillows are sized for a human, or an elf, and the other half are very large, you asume for a dragon to rest on. Each pillow is different. Some have decorative tassles, others have beads and secuens. Others still are strangly shaped. You can even see a dragon shaped one. The pillows are of all differnt colors. The colors range from red to green, and even gold and silver. Each pillow is very beautiful in its own way.
What draws your attention most is a pedistal. It is a little above waist hight. It seems to have been carved out of a gold colored marble. Veins of silver run through the gold color, giving it a rich look. The thing has been carved with a wide bottom that tappers as it rises, and then flattens widly at the top. Intrecet designs cover the bottom and top of the stand, but leave the middle free. Overall, the pedistal is a beautiful thing.
Resting closed on the top of the stand is a leather bound book. The leather is a dark brown, and has rich texture. On each corner is decoritive gold peices worked into spikes. A similar gold latch holds the book closed. The trees have been cut clear of the area around the book and stand so that the sun shines down, illuminating it in light.
You look to Sara for explination.
"That book holds all the records of the dragon. Deborah, the dragon's bondmate, comes and adds new things from time to time." You ask what she writes. "Well, anything really. What the dragon did one day, or how it grew. Anything at all." You ask if you can read it. "Oh of course! Please do. That is what it is here for, after all." You approch the stand, and carfully lift the book from it. It is heavy, weighed down by the many pages and gold fasnings, but not so heavy that you can't comftorbly carry it.
You chose one of the many pillows from the pile and settle down. Once you are seated, you set the book in your lap and open the cover. The first page has just one word written on the light grey page, written in a flowing script with a gold colored ink: "Kemberance." You turn the page and find that the next page is full of the gold writing. You begin to read...

Deborah was working on the dragon's home. Again. Fae had told her a thousand time that the home was fine, and that there really wasn't anything else that she could do to make it better. But each time that Deborah went back, she found yet another thing that she could make a smidge better.
She might not have been so fidgity, but her dragon bondmate, Raiden, was the father of this clutch, and as bondmate, she was aloud to keep one of the precious eggs. Raiden's mate, Allummina, and her bondmate, Lady Eternal Rose, were also aloud one egg. The others were set up for adoption at Keltic Isle.
Deborah was impacient, because Allummina was expecting to lay the eggs any day now. The mother was aloud a few days to recover, and to care for her clutch for herself before they were given to deserving homes. Deborah just had to remind herself that anyday, the eggs would come. Anyday.
On this particular day, the girl had gone to the Cliff. It was the longest from the Nexus, and she felt she needed to be away, alone with her thoughts. She sat, looking out at the great rent in the earth, wondering how Allummina was holding up. She always worried, but it was becuase she cared.
The sound of thundering footsteps shook her out of the mists of deep though. The girl rose, and turned, her heart beating rapidly. Sara, the elf girl who had been chosen to care for the dragon while Deborah was gone, came running up the path.
She was trying to speak, but her words were lost in the wind that always howls over the Cliff. Deborah ran the rest of the way to the elf.
"Its... Allumina..." she said between gasps for breath. "She's just layed... her clutch. Raiden left to go... see her. Everythings fine. There were eight eggs altogether, and everyone of them is helthy." Deborah let out a cheer of joy.

Sara looked up from her book to see Deborah walking through a shimmering gateway, waving goodbye to Fae. The girl came over to where the elf was sitting, and sat down next to her.
"So, how did it go?" Sara asked.
"Good. Allummina is doing great. It's been a few days, and the eggs have been offically anounced to be up for adoption."
"Thats wonderful!" Sara shouted, claping her hands thought.
"Yeah, I know! I already sibmitted my application to Keltic, so now we just have to wait for more people to apply, and then we get our eggs. I can't wait..."

A little over a week passed, and still no egg. Deborah was her ususal self: impacient. On that day, Deborah had decied to stay in the Nexus and try to make it better. As she wandered around, she realized that Fae was right, there really wasn't anything more she could do.
Deborah found herself wandering over to where the nest was. The nest had been placed over to the left, in the shade and protection of the trees.
The nest itself was a strange and beautiful thing. Fae, Sara, and herself had worked for what seemed forever to gather up little scraps and shavings of gold. Every little sliver they had found had been heaped here in the Nexus. After they had gathered enough, they shaped the scraps and shavings into a nest to rival all others. It was here, next to the nest, when she got the news.
A tall figure walked into the Nexus, looking around. She spotted Deborah, and hurried over, bringing a large bag with her. Deborah stood up slowly, realizing who it was. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sara hurried over to where she stood, wondering who this stranger who approched was.
"Deborah, who is that?" Sara asked.
"That is Aurorastorm Valsharess, or as she is more commonly know: Keltic Spirit. She runs the Keltic Isle agency where Allummina and Raiden's clutch was being held." The lady stopped when she reached the two.
Deborah made a small bow to the lady, who reurned it with a nod, for she was burdened by the bag.
"Congratulations Deborah, on your Raiden's first clutch." Keltic said.
"Thank you very much. I am so proud of Allummina and Raiden." The lady nodded.
"I'm here to deliver your egg to you." She undid the latchings on the bag, and opened it up. Deborah could see the bag was lined with heavy padding for protection. Aurorastorm reached into the padding and brought out an encreadibly beautiful dragon egg. Keltic handed it to Deborah who took it with utmost care.
"Care and raise the child well." She said, folding the now empty bag. "I will be checking up soon to see how you are coming along."
"Thank you very much." Deborah said, awed by the egg. Keltic made a small bow, and then it was Deborah's turn to return it with a nod. Keltic turned and headed back the way she had come. Sara looked to the egg, then to Keltic's recieding back.
"Wait!" Sara cried out, running forward a few paces. "What color shall it hatch into?" Keltic turned around and smiled.
"You won't know that untill the day it hatches. A secreat, if you will." And with that she was gone.
Deborah turned her gaze to the egg. It was gold in color, a shimmering, beautiful gold. Little dark gold colors flecked it's surface. The light bounced off of the hard surface, to shimmer on their faces.
She moved slowly over to the nest of gold shavings, and lowered the sparkling egg into the depression, but left her hand on it's hard surface.
The egg was warm with a deep inner heat, just as all dragon eggs are. Deborah has several dragons of the Glenn variaty, but she had never felt any of their eggs like this before. The egg was extreamly warm. Deborah beconded with her hand to Sara, who moved over and felt the egg for herself.
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure. I have never felt an inner heat like this. The dragon must be very strong and livly to produce that much heat."
"What about the color? Why is it gold? I have only ever seen white dragon eggs. You told me that your crystal dragon bondmate, Kyrissean, hatched out of a crystal colored egg. What about this?" Deborah pasued for a moment, letting her knowledge of the dragons wash over her.
"I have never seen an egg like this before. It must be extreamly rare, for I have watched the growing of every clutch ever held at both Keltic Isle and Rose Caverns, and I have never seen an egg like this before. We shall know what it means when the child inside choses to grace us with it's presence." Sara nodded, and turned her gaze back to the egg...

A little over a week later, Deborah was napping under a tree by her golden egg. Deborah had been spending a lot of time with the egg, knowing that it's incubation period was almost over, and soon, it would be time for the egg to hatch.
The sun flitted through the leaves on the tree, dancing across her face and neck. In her half awake half asleep state, she could feel the spots of light move, drawing the warmth with them. A soft breeze whispered across her skin, smelling of fragrent flowers and grass.
A wookpecker tapped on the flesh of a tree. Tap, tap. Tap tap tap. Tap, tap. The noise became more insistant, and Deborah rolled over, trying to turn away from the sound. She opened her eyes when she realized that she had turned away from the egg. She rolled back over, not wanting it to be out of her site, and let out a gasp of suprise. The tapping noise was comming from the egg!
Deborah sprang up, looking wildly around for Sara, but she was no where in sight. The girl knelt back down next to the egg in it's nest. There wasn't anything she could do for it untill the egg was broken away. If she tried to break the egg, the hatchling inside would be harmed. Thankfully, Deborah didn't have to wait long.
Cracks and fisures begain to run along the egg. In a few moments, the cracks deepen, and begin to pull apart. With a sudden burst of energy, the egg explodes into a thousand parts that shower everywhere. Quickly, Deborah scooped up as much of the egg shell that she could and threw it behind her. The egg shell was very sharp, and soon she has a dozen or so small cuts across her hands. Better me than my littling.
The little hatchling stood where the egg had once rested. The dragon hatchling was dark gold in color, with a greenish-gold underbelly. Bright gold eyes gazed up at Deborah with deep curosity. A girl. A gold dragon. Deborah sighed in happiness a gold was just what she had been hoping for.
*Bondmate.* Deborah gasped as a girl's voice echoed in her mind. *You are my bondmate, Deborah.* Debora's eyes widened. Never before had a littling spoken to her in her mind at this age. All dragons could communicate with their bond's mind to mind, but not untill they were a bit older.
"You know my name.." Deborah said softly, tears welling up in her eyes.
*Of course I know your name! I touched your mind as soon as I was able. I also touched another. Sssara.* The little dragon hissed Sara's name in the girl's mind, unable to pronouce in quite right.
"Thats right, Sara. She is going to be your friend."
*Good* The little dragon looked up into Deborah's eyes.
"Do you have a name for yourself, littling?" Deborah asked, stroking the hatchling's soft scales.
*I don't.* The little dragon pauses. *I never really thought about a name for myself. Are you to give me one?*
"If you wish me to. You can chose your own name if you want." The dragon thought for a moment, and then looked back up to Deborah.
*I wish you to chose. I bet you have some wonderful names ready for me!* Deborah laughted.
"As a matter of fact, I do. I had several names for both a boy and a girl. Since you are a girl, I think we will eliminate the boy's." Deborah said with a wink. She paused for a moment, gazing down at the hatchling. She shifted, and lifter her head in a pose, making Deborah laugh. "Oh, I can't chose. Here, I will give you names, and you can chose which one you like best out of them. Ok?"
*Alright, sounds fair. Hit me.* Deborah laughed again.
"How about Prylla?"
*In the name of all that is good, no!* Deborah laughed.
"Alright, so scratch that one. Aria?" Laughter echoed across her mind. "Ok, no. Then maybe Vera?" More laughter. "Hehe. Ok, ok, thats a no. Maybe, Kemberance?" The laughter stoped.
*Kemberance...* Her voice echoed across her mind. *I like that. I like it a lot.* Deborah smiled warmly.
"Kemberance it is, my love."
*Kemberance...*

Later, Raiden and Allummina came to see their daughter. Also with them came Skysong, Raiden's father, Kami, Raiden's mother, Moonwind, Raiden's uncle, and Kyrissaean, the youngest of them all. They all stood around the littling, introducing themselves.
"Well Skysong, your a grandpa. That makes you really old!" Deborah said teasingly. He huffed.
"I'm not that old! I know dragons that have great-great grandchildren! We are very longlived you know! I'm still in my prime. Not too old to have another clutch of littlings." He leaned twords Kami, grinning.
"Alright, but you get to carry them this time! I want to see you go through the strains of birth." Everyone laughted. Kemberance, sitting next to her parents and bondmate smiled softly.
*My family. I have a family...*

A little over a week later, and Kemberance had grown quite a bit. She was getting larger and larger each day. Her little wings had grown quite a bit too. Her eyes had deepened to dark gold. Each day, she seemed to be more beautiful than the last. Soon, she had reached the age of dragonet.
On her second day of being a dragonet, she was aloud to go exploring on her own. Kemberance wandered about the Nexus, trying to decied what path to take. As she walked past one of the paths, she felt the softest of winds brush across her scales. She paused, and looked down the path. She was bursting with curiousity and started down the path with the joy of the young.
Rocks? She thought to herself when she came across stones scattered about the path. As she worked her way down the twisting path, more rocks began to appear, and soon, the whole ground was solid rock. Just as her curiosity was ebbing, that same breeze danced across her sink.
It promised excitment like never before known. It called out to her, called for her to dance with it. Another gust brushed up under her wings, and for a moment, she thought she was flying. But then the breeze danced on, leaving only the memory.
Kemberance streched her wings out to the sides so that she could inspect them. They looked much too puny to hold her up. Another gust brushed at her, calling her along the path. She broke into a run, eager to see what called out to her so.
As the path ended she rushed out of the forest. There, spralled before her was the most wonderful sight she had ever seen.
She was standing on a cliff.
The wind whipped through the cliff's drop. The wind soared upward, pulling at her wings and tail, beconing her to come, to play with them in the skys. So free, so wild, so exciting. Kemberance's eyes widened. She could hear the wind's wild song, calling her.
She moved to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the long drop. She raised her wings, prepairing to jump from the edge, to soar through the sky with the winds.
"Kemberance!" She spun around at the sound of Deborah's voice. "Littling! What are you doing?" Kemberance backed away from the cliff.
"Deborah. Hi." The dragon said a little sheepishly. Deborah reached her bondmate, and kneeled down next to her.
"Kemberance, what were you doing?" Deborah's voice was calm, not acusing, and Kemberance relaxed.
"Something... it was as if the wind was calling to me. It drew me to the edge of the cliff, and I wanted to fly with the wind." Deborah smiled.
"Its alright. I understand."
"You do!?"
"Yes. You are very close to growing into your element, or type. The elements are calling to you now. Don't worry dearling." She said, hugging the little dragon. "You will be able to fly soon enough." Kemberance's eyes widened in amazment and eagerness.
"Really? Ohh.." She breathed.
"But you must do me a favior."
*Anything my bond.* De borah smiled. It was near impossible to lie mind to mind, and Kemberance was willing to promise something mind to mind.
*Ah, I love you my littling. How good you are.*
*I won't be a littling for long though! And I love you too.* Deborah smiled.
*I know. I want you to promise me to not come to the cliff's alone again untill after you have grown. Ok?* Kemberance looked up thoughtfully,wondering why her bondmate would ask such a thing of her.
*I promise.*
"Thank you love. Thank you."

Yet again, Kemberance grew. And, as Deborah has susspected, into an air type. Her wings grew much larger than ever before. Her tail also grew, wich would help her keep her balance in flight. Deborah flung her arms around her now not so small bondmate.
"Congrats Kem!" She cheered. "Remember how I told you not to go near the cliff untill you got older?" Kemberance nodded. "Well, you can go now. By yourself, with me, whenever you wish." The dragon cheered.
"Can we go right now? I want to take my first flight!"
"Of course! But, I think we should get everyone together. I bet they would love to see your flight." Kemberance nodded, and Deborah set about the task of calling all the dragons to the cliff, for everyone of them would love to see this, she just knew. Soon, they had all gathered at the cliff, waiting for Kem to take her first flight.
Skysong and Kami, Kem's grandparents; Raiden and Allummina, her parents; Moonwind and Hira, her uncle and aunt; Kyrissaean, who had no blood relation to her, but was more like a sister. They all stood in silence, a respectful distance.
Kemberance closed her eyes, and reached out to the wind the rushed about the cliff. It called out to her, embraced her, call out to join them, to sence the elation. Then, she dove into the wind. It whipped around her tight closed wings. She gasped at the senation of unrestraioned falling. Then, she stapped her wings open. The wind rose and filled her wings, and lifted her upward. It was all so wonderful, she didn't want to stop. It was the most amazing thing she had ever expereanced.
The dragons on the ground trumpeted their joy at her coming of age. Kemberance trumpeted back. Their voices filled the air in a soaring melody.

Yet another week passed, and this one brought Kemberances trasition into adulthood. She was now offically an adult. The first thing she had done was to go to the Elder dragons and sign up for training in a breath weapon. She was given a choice as to what breathweapon she wanted, and she chose Halo of Light. Everyone was so proud.
Kemberance loved her life. There was never a lack of things to do. She had more freedom than ever before. She was aloud to go where she wanted, when she wanted. But every now and then, espically when she was alone, or at night when she tried to sleep, Kemberance was overcome by sorrow. She had no logical explination for it. She had a wonderful bondmate who loved her unconditionally, parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, who were just the same. She couldn't reason with it.
Finally, she approached Kyrissaean about it. Kyriss was just enough older thank Kem, and she trusted Kyriss. She explained everything to the little crystal water dragon, and when she had finished, Kryiss laughed. Kemberance liffted her spinal crest, angry and frusterated at Kyrissaean for laughing. Kyrissaean waved a hand to forstall any comments.
"I know just whats wrong with you."
"You do!?" Kemberance squeeked. She knew, just like that? Kyrissaean nodded.
"Yep!" she said cheerfully, "You need a mate." Kemberance gaped at her friend
"A mate? A mate? How is that possilbe? I have never needed one before, why should I need one now?"
"We are very social creatures, every dragon, from the meanest red and black, to the kindest purple and blue begin to desire a mate at some point in their lives. My desire came quite a while after I reached adulthood, and I found one." The crystal smiled fondly at the thought of her mate. "But the point is, you need a mate. Simple as that. Ask Deborah if you don't belive me. And you will find yourself looking, weither you want to or not." She smiled. "Now go. Go talk to Deborah, she needs to know. She will help you. I promise."
So Kemberance went back to Deborah, and told her everything, including the conversation with Kryissaean. Deborah nodded.
"Yes, Kyriss is right. You need a mate." When she looked a little downfallen, the girl added: "Oh now cheer up! Having a mate will be wonderful. You'll love it!"
"Huh. How do you know? You've never had one!" Deborah blushed.
"That has nothing to do with this!" Kem smirked michevously. "Now, to go about finding you a mate, we will need to start looking at all of the records at Rose Caverns and Keltic Isle."Kem nodded.
"Then lets get started..."

Back...

You turn the page and find the next one empty. You look up at Sara in question.
"That is what has happened so far. When Kemberance gets her mate, you can come and read about that." You nod, and rise to put the book back. Once in it's proper place, you hurry after Sara to return to the Nexus..