Zetan:
This female dragon bears a black spine, marking her as Tal'Aldani. She is beige-grey with brilliant emerald eyes, mature but a bit on the small side for a dragon at only seven feet tall with a 14-foot wingspan. She has gold and medium-toned brown highlights and tan wing membranes.
Ashia:
Before you stands dark, yet colorful individual. Her species looks to be that of a dragon of Argalia, her onxy-black spines indicate she is of the Aldani sub-race. Her scales are a rich, dark indigo purple almost all over. Her wing membranes are a purple that reminds one of plums, her belly a lighter orchid purple. She stands before you a rather tall female for her race at a towering nine foot, two inches. Her frame is lean, but well muscled. Long, graceful legs move her about with the grace of a dancer, her tail flowing behind like a silk scarf. Her slender arms mover with the fluidity of a gentle breeze. Her clothes consist of thin robes of silver-grey, almost seethough, that drop down to her ankles with full sleeves that end just at the wrist. A new addition to Ashia's wardrobe is an odd one, a thin necklace-like collar made of an odd looking metal with an emerald set at just over her throat, the woman will say little to nothing about it, yet seems proud to wear it.. and upon closer inspection of both objects, it seems to resemble a certain male's armband.
Great Campsite - Southern Anacet Lakes
To one side (to the north, nearest the lake) of this huge open area are
tents, pavilions, cook fires, the signs of mass habitation. To the other
side (to the south, in the foothills of the mountains) is covered in piles
of rough woods, stone and the workers who are processing the materials into
usable materials for building.
The tents and pavilions are of every color possible, some simple, some more
elaborate. In the center of it all is the largest pavilion of them all,
colored in the Royal colors of blue and silver. Cirall's royal flags and
banners fly from poles and posts around it, signifying it as defenitely
hers. A pair of guards stand out front while others walk around it and the
rest of the campsite, keeping peace and order around here.
Aldani Dragons are coming and going, even the children are being busy
helping with little chores such as helping prepare foods, gathering small
suplies for hunters, bringing water to those who need it, etc. Most of the
adults are active over with the building materials, bringing them in from a
path that cuts deeply south into the mountains, working on them in the open
area somewhere, or taking finished materials back down the path to where
something big is being built. Materials, tools and workers are also coming
and going down the path to the main roads, probably to or from the other
cities and Forts of the Aldani. A large table setup between the living and
working areas is covered by dragons and mass paperwork, people overseeing
supplies to make sure they get done right and to where they need to go.
Draft animals pull the wagons of supplies around, their corral set up down
near the lake.
The different public-use tents are marked for what they're used as with
signs and banners hanging around and over the entrances. There's the main
Engineers' tent where the head engineers, Nigel and Kaymar, can be found at
some time or another, mulling over papers. The Healer's tent, run
efficiently by lady Kiira from Sithern, can see to almost any wound. The
Mess tent, where food can be found almost constantly, even throughout the
night for those dedicated to working on construction or general life here at
the Campsite. The Queen's personal tent can be found further into the 'sea
of tents', an open ring around it, guards on patrol constantly. The Supply
tent can be found next to the Engineers' tent, near the open area where the
wagon trains come rumbling in and out. Cargo from supply trains is brought
in and processed here as well as most of it stored until needed. A new tent
has been set up for the Temple folks since they have decided that they are
safer here than in Menari. It is between the Queen's tent and the lakeside.
Zetan looks rather lost ... more than that, dazed and a bit confused. She looks agape at the Aldani Dragons as though she has never seen one before.
Ashia is one of the few that dosn't seem to be all that busy... her duty here is often more consulting and observing than anything else. So she seems to be free to notice Zetan standing there, she watches her carefully, considering her approach.
Zetan takes a break from the scene she can't believe before her eyes to another scene she can't believe - herself! Covered in scales! She raises an arm and observes the talons at the end of her fingers disbelievingly. She testingly pokes herself with a claw, as though trying to determine if she's merely dreaming ...
Ashia hmmms softly, finally just walking up, "Excuse me?" she offers a small wave in greeting, "You're a new one, aren't you?"
Zetan is very startled at being addressed. "Uhhh..." she starts, but seems startled at the sound of her own voice and pauses before trying again, "I'm new here, yes..." she finally manages to get out.
Ashia bows her head, "I am High Priestess Ashia." she smiles and hesitantly pats your shoulder, "Do you have a name? I know some forget theirs."
Zetan's fear, at least, seems to melt at the warm greeting. "I am ..." he fumbled. What /was/ her name? Memories are ajumble and ablur ... she remembers himself (!) free solo climbing a formation, rounding the top and walking across the rockface toward the summit ... the trecherous edge of the crevass, the giving way of the rock and his fall ... but what name? "I ... I don't remember," she struggles to find more coherent memories of her identity.
Ashia nods lightly, "You will have one in time, then." she begins to draw away, "Walk with me?" she asks, hand gesturing for her to follow.
Zetan hesitates for only a moment, uncertain, but given she is uncertain anyway, at least she can be uncertain with a friendly voice to guide her. She steps in Ashia's direction to follow as she leads. "Wh ... where are we?" she asks.
Ashia mms softly, "You are in the campsite of the Aldani." she gestures about, eyes gazing across the tents, "In Argalia."
Zetan trails close behind Ashia, looking up at the dragon-filled sky and around, but trying to avoid distracting herself too much to lose sight of the friendly priestess. "Are there many like me ... who don't know how they got here?" she asks.
Ashia nods, "Yes, it happens often enough... There are teachers for you, to help learn things you'll need to know." she pauses, frowning as a messenger comes running up, "Take it to my consort, he'll know what to do with it. He should still be in the temple tent." she watches to messenger run off, and sighs. "If you wish, I can direct you to someone who knows more about the way you got here... My knowledge of it is minimal."
Zetan struggles to pull herself together. "Umm ... yeah ... errr ... how did ... errr, teachers ... yeah ... I could ... that sounds like a good idea," she concludes.
Ashia chuckles softly, and offers Zetan a smile, "It usually is." she shrugs, and spreads her arms, "I tend to other matters." she glances back at her guard, "For all that I am new to the job."
Zetan praises and manages to smile back, "You are ... friendly to a lost stranger ... thank you, Ashia."
Ashia smiles, chuckling, "I'd wish the same treatment for me, and I'd like for you to be happy. You've been traumatized enough." she bows again, "You're very welcome."
Zetan does her best to mimic the bow gesture. "I ... guess I should have a name ... if I can't remember my old one ..."
Ashia mms softly, "Thats for you to choose, I suppose."
Zetan nods and thinks about it, but doesn't even know what passes for a normal name here. She continues following close behind Ashia. "How far is it to this ... one ... who can tell me what's going on, how I got here...?" she asks.
Ashia hmms, "A ways away." she shrugs, "There's time. Is there anything you need? I can answer some things."
Zetan glances at the tents and the Aldani dragons about and notices the guards. "What is this camp for?" she asks. "Is there some kind of war or something?"
Ashia mms, "Not a war exactly, there was a treaty made, and it gave the Vehrakt, the other dragos, half of where we used to live. There's a new place being built now."
Zetan nods and listens. "Other dragons? 'Campsite of the Aldani' ... I am an Aldani dragon? Is ... are ... how many kinds of dragons are there? Just different flags or do Ve ... Verkat ... errr, Vehrakt ... do they look different?"
Ashia mms, "You seem to be Aldani." she points to your spines, "Aldani have black spines, Vehrakt have red ones."
Zetan notes Ashia's and the spines on the dragons around them, turns her head around back to look at her own spines as best she can. "Oh," she says, looking back to Ashia as she continues following her. "I guess I have a lot to learn." She notices some more dragons flying, studies them for a bit, then glances at her wings. "We can fly?" she asks.
Ashia nods, "Here we can, I've heard of other places where we can't fly." she fold her own wings forward, "I don't fly much, my consort is grounded.." she shrugs, "That and I'm usually needed locally... they tend to protest if I fly off somewhere."
Zetan, having been a rockclimber, doesn't have an excessive fear of heights, but ... "Errr, I'll probably need a teacher for that too, then. Your consort is ... grounded? By injury or something?" she asks, a bit curious.
Ashia mms, "A teacher is best..." she agrees, already frowning at the next question, "Its a long story, really.. but yes, by injury. I was grounded too, for a time... but his might be more permanent.
Zetan nods and senses it might be rude to ask too much more. "I certainly hope he heals, you are so helpful ... he's a lucky fellow. I haven't known many priests as kind as you," she smiles.
Ashia shrugs, "I do too." she gestures vaugely, and grins, "Well, I'm new to being a priestess."
Zetan smiles, "As I am to Aldani ... I used to be something else, not a dragon at all ... not this tall ... I remember a little ..."
Ashia mms, and nods, "Well, we've something in common. Both new to our situations."
Zetan looks at Ashia. "You've never been a priestess at all before? Are high priestesses usually new priestesses?" she asks, a little confused by the title.
Ashia says, "I was a Priestess, but its very different to be a high priestess, though... I have a guard, and things suddenly I'm suposed to decide."
Zetan nods. "Well, I don't know anything about here, but I doubt you were bestowed such a position unless your peers felt you were the right pers ... err, dragon for the job. Its easy to feel intimidated ... and believe me, I feel ... very intimidated ... by ... by ... by everything, really ... I can't imagine a bigger change will ever strike me as this one ... but I will get through it ... and I'm sure there are others who can help you get through it. You know how to be a priestess, then ... just as I need to learn the basics of being a dragon from those who already know, maybe you could draw some wisdom from those who have gone before you as High Priestess," he offers as thoughtfully as possible. "All of them, I'm sure, had to start out like you ... new to the job at some point ... unless we dragons are immortal..."
Ashia shrugs, nodding, "Well I wasn't the first choice.. and I'm only acting High Priestess. The one who came before me is on a quest... only the queen knows where she is."
Zetan says, "Is there a concept of fate or destiny among us Aldani?"
Ashia mms, "Yeah, there are."
Zetan says, "Then if the other's fate was to perform a quest for the queen, yours was to become high priestess, if only for awhile. Your commitment to your position and the confidence others expressed in you enough for you to have this position ... if only for awhile ... should be all the tools you need to excell. Unless your kindness and patience with me is uncommon for our kind, I don't think others expect you to start out having the same feel for your position as would someone who has been high priestess for ... err ... a good portion of their life. I must learn from those who have been here before me, what was learned about any like me that just dropped in here not knowing what is going on ... I am sure there was a first that was as much a surprise for Aldani already here as it was for the poor soul ... and you can learn from those who came before you. Fate put you as high priestess, just as it put me here."
Ashia mms, "I don't think it was a quest for the queen." she shrugs. "I stepped into a position as a child... running away from the sacred guard, more than once.. to persue love. I gained what I sought... and lost my innocence for it." she sighs, shaking her head, "I no longer shirk my duty."
Zetan smiles. "Well, I don't know about here ... but I know I was never perfect ... the being I was before couldn't fly. I can't remember my name still, but I know I was an outcast to my society. Nobody's perfect there, not even close ... I would definitely feel inadequate if there were perfect beings, at least mortal ones, here."
Ashia says, "Well, in my couple hundred years, I havn't heard of a perfect being... besides the gods."
Zetan nearly chokes ... couple hundred years? "You were born ... or ... hatched? here?" she asks.
Ashia nods, "I know I'm a bit young..."
Zetan repeats the question, "You were hatched here? How many Aldani are native here, how many came from elsewhere like me?"
Ashia blinks, nodding, "Most Aldani are born here, there are a few that arrive like you.."
Zetan shakes her head. "I hope not too many ... I am like a child, an extra burden for the society, whatever I do remember from growing up as the being I was about the world around me ... is worthless," she sighs.
Zetan asks, "Are we near the teacher you mentioned?"
Ashia shakes her head, "Not really, it'll find its uses." then she nods and points to a yellow tent, "Go in there, tell her you're a new one, and that Ashia sent you. They'll tell you what you need to learn. I must return to my duties."
Zetan looks to the tent, taking a step in its direction, then turns back to Ashia. "My best wishes and blessings, Ashia, I am sure you will do well. I realize your position is demanding, but I hope fate allows me more chances to benefit from your company again in the future."
Zetan heads toward the tent.