Twilight Mountain

Fae, the elf guardian of the Forest, raises her arms over head to create the gateway. The air shimmers, and then falls away like it is melting. Through the hole in the air, you can see a mountain, with a small, winding path leading up it's steep side. It was dark, as if it was night there, even though the field you stand in know is light by bright sun light. Fae lets you step through it, but does not follow.
"Just follow the path, and you will reach the top of the mountain, where the dragon's home is. Deborah, the dragon's bondmate, is there now. I am sure she will be happy to tell you about the dragon." Fae says, and then lets the gateway close.
You start up the mountain side, eager to see this new dragon that Fae was so excited about. The twisting path was steep and footing was bad, but you manage to work your way up the side of the mountain. After about half an hour, you see then end of the trail. The trail leads up to the top of the mountain, which was flat, as if the tip of the mountain had been cut away, leaving a large, flat area. You reach the top of the moutain, panting in the cool night air.
The flat mountain top is covered in a thick, green grass. You can see a nest, and off to one side of the nest, toys. Sitting next to the nest, are two humans and a dragon. Both humans look up at your call. One is wearing dark forest garb, and the other in a blue-green dress. The dragon is one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen. Her wings fade from sky blue to dark purple. Her body is a dark shade of blue, and her eyes are a startling yellow that seems to swirl and change shade at every turn. The girl is the forest clothing smiles, and then becons you over to sit with them. You gladly accept, and take a seat across from the two girls.
"Hello!" the girl in forest garb says, "My name is Deborah."
"And I am Alaska, the dragon's Keeper." the girl in the dress says. You give your name, and the two smile. The dragon gives her name as well.
"And I am Nightsong!" Deborah smiles at the dragon.
"Are you here to see the dragon?" Deborah asked."She is a midnight air dragon, one of the rarest. Would you like to hear her story?" you say that you would love to...

The snow fell heavly as Deborah walked home from school. It had been a hard day, and she was looking forward to going home, getting something to eat, and then take a quick trip to visit her bondmate dragons, and maybe a stop at Darkelf, to see how the adoptions were coming. Finally, she rushed inside her home, its warm air making her skin tingle with the return flow of blood. Deborah quickly pulled off her heavy overcoat and boots, laying them on the floor. In the kitchen she found a bag of chips and a candy bar. Good enough for now. She thought to herself.
Deborah hurried up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door. Her mother wouldn't be home for a few hours yet, but it never hurt to be carful. She worked her way over the cluttered mess on the floor, and carfully eased around a huge stack of books that she had set on her floor for later reading.
Deborah reached the far side of her wall, and puller her little trick box out of its spot, that she keept her most precious things in. She carfully placed her hands and fingers in the right spots on either side of the box, and pressed the catches in their special order. With a plesent snap the box opened, not from the top, but from the left side. Reaching inside, Deborah found a few unimportant items that she had put in there to make it look at if it was all unimportant, just in case anyone ever got in.
She carfully took out the dragon shaped amulet. It seemed to be made out of stone, but was much heaver. The dragon was small, about the size of her palm, and a dark shade of green and black. She carfully set it on the floor after pushing things out of the way, leaving enough room to walk a few paces around it. Deborah closed her eyes and carfully channled a bit of magic into the stone dragon. What the stone dragon did was when any magic was channled into it, it used it to creat a gateway to where you fixed your mind's eye on. The more you channled, the bigger the gateway. A small gateway, just big enough for her to step through, appeared. Scooping up the amulet, Deborah huried though, still putting magic into the dragon to keep the gateway open. When she was all the way in, she cut off the magic, and the gateway closed.
The girl looked around her, making sure she had come to the right place. She was in a forest that teemed with chirping birds and buzzing insects. Smiling to herself, she started to hum a catchy tune one of her dragons had taught her. Where he had learned it himself, the Light only knew.
Soon, Deborah reached the small half-way cabin. She slipped inside and quickly changed out of her clothes, and put on her forest garb. As she was walking out of the cabin, she slung her bow and quiver of arrows over her back, and straped her sword at her hip.
She was in the forest right out side of the Darkelf agency that she and Desiree ran. Deborah hurried along the well worn path leading to the building, which opened into a large meadow. In the air, Deborah could see dragons flying around, a few with their bondmates riding on their backs. A few of the flightless ones were walking in the green meadow, bondmates walking side by side. A smile slipped across her face as she saw so many happy bond pairs, visiting the dragon's birth home.
The agency itself was a huge building that had a kind and sunny look to it. Deborah trotted up the steps, giving short greetings to a few of the bondmates that she passes. Once she was inside of the building, she passed many of the doors that lead off to other parts of the agency. She slipped into the Santuary to check up on Lavithon, her newest bondmate, who now guarded the abandoned dragons, and found that he was enjoying his new home. A little farther down, she passes a large group of people, that were all whisper and chatting amounst themselves. Deborah fround, they were all gathered near the egg room, where all of the new eggs were kept on hot sands untill they were adopted. What the... She thought to herself. She hurred on untill she reached the office where Desiree and herself kept all of the dragon's records, stats, their bonds, mates, clutches, and many other improtant information. She opened the door to their office, and paused. Desiree was there already, her head bowed over a stack of records. Shutting the door quietly, Deborah leaned against the door. Whatever her friend was doing, she was very distracted.
"So, whats with that group of people out there at the egg room?" Deborah asked. Desiree's head snapped up, startled.
"Oh, Light, we have a big mess." Desiree said with a moan, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes. Deborah took the seat across from Desiree, and scooted close to the desk. "An egg has gone missing from Laurana and Salinka's clutch. No one saw anyone go in or out of the egg room last night or this morning. The dragon parents are frantic and have started searches in the surrounding forest. Their bondmate's are almost worse than their bonds! Somehow, every single person connected to Darkelf knows! I have been going over records trying to figure out how many eggs have been already adopted, but its way to much to handle!" Desiree nearly screemed in frustration. There was a loud knock on the door, and Desiree let out a moan, letting her head drop onto the papers. Deborah opened the door and found a young boy. He was grinning from ear to ear, and had a look about him that spoke of mischief.
"Hey, so I hear an egg is missing..." Deborah shut the door quickly with a grimace, not letting the boy finish.
"You see? Its been like that every few minuets! Everyone wants to know what happened to the missing egg!" Desiree said with an air of hoplessness.
"Come on, lets go. There isn't much we can do. I am going to visit my bonds, you should take some time off and visit yours too," Deborah suggested, and Desiree agreed.
After Desiree had opened a gateway with her own amulet and magic, and had left, Deborah went back into Darkelf. In the egg room, she found the clutch's mother, Laurana.
"Hello," Deborah said gently, "How are you holding up?" The mother looked up at her sadly.
"As good as can be expected. How about you? Those others arn't giving you to hard a time are they?" Laurana asked goodnaturedly. Deborah laughed.
"A bit, but thats ok, they are just cuirous..." she trailed off, hestating to ask the next question. "You... you didn't see anyone in here last night or this morning did you?" Laurana looked up, eyes full of pain.
"No, I never did. its as if it was taked away by magic..."

School the next day was no more than a distraction to Deborah. Her mind was worring about the egg, and how she was going to handle the curious Darkelf population. All of her bonds had promised to do a little scouting and see if they could find anything. Their homes were not too far from Darkelf, so it was easy for them to just fly over and take a quick look around.
The day was just as, if not more, bitterly cold than the last day. Snow was piled in places knee deep, and thick enough that it wet you to the bone when you steped into it, but not thick enough to hold a person's weight.
Her shoes crunched along the snow covered path that lead down to where the busses pick up the students. Her bus was almost alwasy last. Spotting Desiree, she hurried over to where the other girl stood.
"Any news?" Deborah asked, not caring if anyone overherd. Besides, no one would understand anyways. Desiree shook her head, and sighed. This was going to be harder than she had thought...

As Deborah walked from her bus stop to her home, snow began to fall again. Shivering, Deborah hurried through the uneaven clumps of snow. Her mind wandered from consentrating on where she was going, to the egg again. There were so many places that it could be. The entire world of dragons might have to be searched, and they would never find it if that was the case. Suddenly, Deborah felt her body lurch forward twords the ground. With a squeek, she fell over a hard lump of something, and landed face first in the freezing snow.
Cursing herself, Deborah pushed away from the ground and turned to look at the huge lump sticking above the ground. Grumbling, she pushed her gloved hand against the side of it, trying to make it lay flat. Snow fell off the top of the mound, and whatever was under it rolled. Deborah brushed snow off of the thing, trying to get a good look at it.
Burring her hands under it, she lifted, and found it fairly heavy. Snow fell away, and Deborah gasp and nearly dropped the now precious thing. Light above! It can't be... she though weakly.
It was a Darkelf dragon egg.
Deborah's mind began to race. What was it doing here. How did it get here. And more importantly, how did it cross the barrier from the magic world to the human one. Deborah hugged the thing to her chest, and hurried to her home. One thought overwhelmed her mind: She had to get it back to the magic world, back to Darkelf and Laurana.

Deborah slammed the door behind her, and droped all of her school things. She walked through the kitched on her way to her room. The girl froze next to the frigerator, egg in arms, at a sound coming from the door. It sounded like a key turning in the lock. Her mind froze. Her mother shouldn't be home now! Not now! She had just gotten home from school a few minuets ago!
The door opened slowly. Deborah began to search franticly around for some place to hid the egg.
"Dear...?" Her mother called. Throwing open the freezer door, Deborah stuffed the egg in, and slamed it shut. Darkelf dragon eggs are tough, it will be fine. Besides, I did find it in the snow. She told herself. "Ah! There you are honey!" Her mother said cheerfully.
"Mom, hi. Home so eairly?" Deborah said, putting on her best smile.
"Well, there is a storm coming in, and I wanted to get home before it hit too hard. How was your day, dear?"
"Oh, well, you know, the usual. I do have a lot of homework though. I just got home and was going to start on it." Her mother nodded approvingly.
"Good. I will leave you to it," suddenly, her mother gasped, and then groned. "Oh no! I forgot to fill up the car. I need to go back out and do that before tomorow's drive to work. I'll be back soon, dear. Make sure you do your homework! I won't disturb you." Her mother rushed back out the door. Deborah nearly cried with relief. Grabbing the egg out of the freezer, she rushed up stairs and shut her door. She set the egg down on her bed, covering it with her blankets. She grabed the phone, and punched in numbers.
"Hello? Desiree, I found the egg!"

Desiree met her at Darkelf, eager to see the egg. It was a weekday, so many of the bondpairs that hung out around the forest about Darkelf were off at their own homes. Deborah had her Darkelf dragon bondmate, Sasha, help her carry the big egg. They rushed it back into the egg room. Laurana stood at the door of the egg room, bouncing from foot to foot, eager to see her child. Sasha moved eaisly down the large hall ways, and desposded the egg at Laurana's feet. The mother dragon scooped the egg into her big claws, and cradled it. Laurana turned and went back into the egg room, where Deborah could see sat the father.
"It is too bad that the adoptions are over," Desiree said with a sigh.
"What?! Their over?" Deborah asked, suprised.
"Yes. All of the eggs went out yesterday. I wasn't going to hold up the new bondmates. We might have never found it again."
"I suppose that we can hold a sepreat adoption for the little egg. Most people won't be around, so, it might be hard to find the little one a home."
"Exactly," Salinka, the father said, coming out of the egg room, his mate came out after him. "We are worried that no one will be able to adopt the last little one. Almost everyone who wanted an egg were granted one."
"Thats why," his mate said, "We would like you to care for it Deborah. If you are willing. of course." Deborah's mouth droped open.
"Re... really?" she stammered. The mates nodded.
"Of course," Laurana added, "You found the egg and rushed it over here so that we would know it safe. I would be very glad to have you care for one of my children." Deborah reached out and carfully took the egg up in her arms, holding the warm egg to her.
"I... I thank you," Deborah said softly. Then she shifted the egg under one arm, and hugged each parent with her free arm. "Thank you so much! I am going to put it in a home at my Forest right now!!" Deborah gave each of the parents one last hug and then scampered out the door, Sasha giggling at her heals.
Once Deborah and Sasha were outside, the girl quickly climed onto Sasha's back, and placed the egg in her lap. With a few mighty wing beats, the big green dragon soared into the air.

A few hours later, Deborah and Sasha landed just outside of the magic boundry that lay around the entire Forest. They waited for a few moments, and then without warning, the air infront of them began to shimmer. The air that shimmered was in the shape of a very large cave mouth. The air seemed to waver and then, as if it was melting, slid down and fell away to reavle a forested area. Fae, an elf from Chibi Ningyo, was standing just outside of the gateway. When she saw them, she smiled, and widened the gateway even further to allow Sasha to walk in. Deborah could see Skysong, one of the other dragons, look out of the gateway. When he saw them, he waved furiously, and then leaped over Fae to greet Deborah, who had dismounted from Sasha.
"Good to see you Skysong!" the girl said, hugging him with one arm, the other still caring the egg. Skysong turned to Sasha.
"Hello Sasha! Good day?" he asked cheerfully.
"Oh yes! We had a very good day." Sasha smiled, and then nodded twords the egg tucked under their bondmate's arm. Skysong noticed the large egg and sniffed it gently.
"Whats this? A Darkelf egg?" Skysong's big green face looked up into hers. Deborah nodded.
"Yes, this is the egg that I told you about, the one from Darkelf that dissapered. I found it in the non-magic world on my way home from school. The parents asked that I keep it."
"Wow! Thats great!!" Skysong said. "Where are you keeping it?"
"Well, I was thinking about that new place, the mountain, that doesn't have a dragon living there yet. There is a Keeper all ready, but just no dragon yet." Skysong nodded.
"Yeah, I know the place. I think its called the Twilight Mountain." Deborah nodded, conferming that it was the correct name.
"Fae, you think you could open a gateway for Sasha, so that she can go back to her home and get a little rest? And then, after that, if you don't mind, one for me too? To the Twilight Mountain." Fae nodded, and then raised her arms, weaving the strong magic to bridge the distance to Sasha's home. Deborah gave the earth Darkelf dragon a quick hug, and then bid her goodnight.
Fae then opened another gateway, this one to the Twilight Mountain. After wishing Skysong and his Keeper Fae a good night, she stepped through.
The air dropped in tempeture as she stepped through the gateway. Deborah found herself on the side of the mountain. A small, twisted path rose before her, which would lead her to the flat mountain top. Deborah grumbled as she began the climbe. Fae always made gateways for those who visited her dragons somewhere on the path up to where the dragon lived. That way there was no chance of the dragon, or it's Keeper, becoming frightened and hurting the unsuspecting person. Well, thought Deborah Now I know what the visitors feel like. It took a little under a candlemark to reach the top of the moutain. The path leveled out, and opened into the flat mountain top. The edges of the area were slightly raised to prevent someone from falling over the edge of the mountain.
In the center of the mountain top, lay a large nest made of leaves, twigs, moss, and other soft things. To one side of the nest lay a little pile of toys for the dragon to play with. The entire area was covered in a thick, soft grass.
The mountain lay in a state of darkness. The place had a strong spell over it that maintained night all the time. The only source of light was the encredibly bright moon and stars, but that was more than enough to light the area.
Alaska, the sorceress chosen to be the Keeper for whatever dragon that was chosen to live here, looked up from her reading. She jumped up when she saw the girl.
"Deborh!! It is good to see you!" the sorceress said, running to meet her. Her long blue hair flowed out behind her, and her ice blue eyes sparkled in the light. She wore a long blue-green dress cinched at the waist with a grey belt. The dress had a long slit up one leg that made activity much eaiser. Deborah shook her head, she had always found dresses way to hard to run and move in. And they made it impossible to ride her dragon bondmates.
Alaska had a few little talents that had made her a great choice for a Keeper to an egg. She knew many little spells, like heat spells; coldfire, which was a little ball of power that gave off light; chill spells; and a few others little things.
Alaska froze when she saw the large egg tucked carfully under her arm. "Is.... is that..." her ice blue eyes were wide.
"Yes. Its the egg you and I will be caring for. Somehow, it was taken from the egg room at Darkelf, and I found it in the non-magic world today. The parents asked that I keep the egg." Alaska grinned wildly. "Well, shall we get things ready around here?" Alaska nodded eagerly, and then gently held one of the ends of the egg, and the two carried the Darkelf egg over to the nest. They laied their precious bundle down in the soft leaves and covered it up to keep it warm in the chilly night air.
"When will it hatch?" Alaska asked, running a hand over the smooth, glossy surface.
"Hmm..." Deborah pondered, "Well, the eggs were all adopted about a day ago, and this one was the only one without a home. I would say... about a week. Give or take a few days. Of course, we can not know for sure. The mother will have some idea of when they are to hatch, but even she could be off a few days." Alaska nodded.
"We will be ready for the hatching, won't we?" Alaska said fearcly. Deborah nodded in agreement.

A little more than a week passed by. Deborah and Alaska had been working hard to make sure that everything was in order for the little one's hatching. Alaska and Deborah were lying back on the ground, gazing at the stars and moon. Both had started to drift off to sleep, when Deborah sat up suddenly. Alaska opened one of her eyes to see what was wrong with her friend.
"What?" Alaska asked. Deborah didn't reply, but looked out over to where the egg rested on a soft nest. Alaska sat up too, and listened. After a few moments, she heard a soft tapping noise. Deborah must have heard it too, for she jumped up with a squeel, and ran to the egg, with Alaska right behind her. "Whats going on?" Deborah bent over the egg and put her hand on it. After a moment, she giggled, and ran to where they had stored blankets for the dragon.
"It's hatching!" Deborah shouted as she ran back to where the egg lay. In one quick motion, she scooped the egg into a bundle of blankets, and then moved over to a soft spot on the ground. She moved the blankets away so that the egg lay on top of them. The tapping and scraping noises had been getting louder and louder. "Look." Deborah pointed to the egg, it's surface was screaked with hair thin cracks. Alaska shook her head, she would have never seen them if Deborah hadn't pointed them out.
Suddenly, a little black snout broke through the egg with a snap. It retreated, and then a pair of claws reached out and began to break the shell away. In a sudden burst of power, the egg shattered down the cracks. Before the hatchling colud move, Deborah had scooped out the egg shell from under the dragon so it wouldn't harm itself. Using a clean towel, the girl dried the baby off, and then rapped it in another clean towel to keep it warm.
"A girl," Deborah said, looking up at Alaska, "She's a girl!" Deborah laughed and huged the little creature. The hatchling turned it's eye upon Deborah, and then chirped, recongnizing her as its bondmate. The hatchling's eyes were a dark teal color, her body a dark blue. The strangest thing about the little one was it's wings. The hatchling's wings were different colors. At the top, they started blue, but then worked down into purple, and then back to blue, then purple again.
"What kind is it?" Alaska asked. She had never seen such a dragon.
"A midnight! She's a midnight!" Deborah turned to the sorceress. "They are so rare! I wonder if someone knew the egg to be rare, and then stole it for themselves?" Alaska shrugged, not knowing. Deborah turned her eyes back to the baby. "You are so beautiful, little one." Alaska giggled.
"She really is. But we can't just call her 'little one' now can we?" Deborah nodded.
"Right. You need a proper name, little o..." Deborah trailed off, laughing. "How about, Nightsong?" The hatchling cocked her head to one side, as if testing the name, then chirped. Deborah laughed. "Nightsong it is then!" Alaska moved down next to Deborah, and they held the hatchling untill she slept.

A week's time passed, and it found Deborah and Alaska discussing the hatchling's growing.
"So, when do you think it will happen?" Deborah looked up from the repair of one of Nightsong's toys.
"Today, tomorow. Any time really. Every dragon is different. Siblings have a natural tendency to all hatch and grow at the same time, but every now and then there is a dragon who is a little off. Since Nightsong was seprated from her brothers and sisters for a long time, she may be a little off." Alaska nodded, keeping her eyes on Nightsong, who was frolicking a ways off.
Suddenly, the dragon stoped where she stood, frozen. Deborah froze as well.
"Nightsong... Nightsong! What's wrong?" There was no response from the hatchling, who had beung to shake. Deborah jumped to her feet and ran to the hatchling, kneeling next to her. Alaska was right behind hte dragon's bondmate. After a moment, Deborah jumped up, grabed Alaska's arm and began to drag her away. Alaska struggled, wanting to comfort the hatchling, but the other girl was suprisingly strong.
"Whats happening? Whats wrong?" Alaska demanded.
"She is growing, and she is going to get big. We don't want to be in her way while she is growing." Deborah said, finally stopping about ten feet away from the dragon. Alaska squirmed uncomftorbly. In seconds, the hatchling's body, tail, and wings had expanded, growing longer and wider. When it stoped a few moments later, Deborah and Alaska now saw a beautiful teen dragon.
"The growing was succesful...."

A week later, Nightsong grew again, and her type was determinded. She became and air, as Deborah had expected. The dragon's bondmate had an idea for the dragon.
"Nightsong, I have an idea."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, well, Sasha has been complaining that she is getting too old to be carrying around eggs to be delivered to the new parents, and she is looking for someone to replace her. After a bit of training first though, of course." Deborah said, glancing out of the corners of her eyes. Nightsong gasped.
"No way! Do you think that... that maybe... she could train me?" Nightsong asked, jumping up in excitement.
"I think she would love to! I'll call Fae and have her bring Sasha over so we can start right away." Nightsong's yellow eyes glimmered with happiness...

"So, what do you think? It is a pretty intresting story, isn't it?" Deborah asks you. You agree, telling the bondmate that it was very intresting. Nightsong, grins widly, pleased at having the story all about her.
"I hope you will come and visit me again." You promise the dragon that you will, and then take your leave from the mountain...

Name: Nightsong
Gender: Female
Age: Adult
Color: Midnight
Type: Air
Mate: Akumu
Adoption Date: 2/17/02
Birth Date: 2/27/02
Parents: Laurana and Salinka
Adopted From: Darkelf Dragons

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