RP:The Gold Promise

Part of the An Ascending Dryad Arc

Druid's Eternal Tree

Madigan sat close to the water where the ethereal singing of the faeries would help soothe Ajani into sleep. He had too much energy and was wearing himself out. "Come here, Ajani," she calls softly. He runs a short distance away from her and stares at her with big, purple eyes and swishes his tail as if calling her to follow him. She shakes her head and pats the ground beside her. He jerks his head to the side as if refusing her offer making Madigan frown. "Here," she says, reaching into her bag and dropping a single spore on the ground to bloom and form a glowing mushroom. Instantly, he dashes toward the little mushroom and starts biting the treat. Knowing him, he'll get sleepy once he's had his fill.

It is Vaidhe's wont, on early mornings like this, to amble about various villages, finding quiet places where he can meditate on the universe and all things which dwell within it. He is doing so now, meandering rather randomly from room to room near the mighty druidic tree, when sounds catch his attention and break his reverential quiet. He recognizes that voice, though the recognition is little more than a faint tickle in the back of his mind. Turning, Vaidhe strides deeper into the building until he comes to the opening which gives on the clearing in which grows the near-sentient tree. There, his eyes fall upon a scene which stirs a complex brew of emotions into being within him. Here sits a dryad, and nearby rests an infant dragon of a colour and hue Vaidhe has only read of before. "You." His voice is declamatory, low and deadly. "I remember you. I caught you in a dragon's nest, then skulking about a pirate ship, and now here you are with a creature who by all rights should not be with you, but with its brood." Vaidhe folds his arms and remains still, neither directly challenging nor questioning the dryad before him. His heavy stare and disapproving face are clear enough signs of the gold's feelings.

Madigan turns her head to look at the intrusive voice she vaguely recognizes. A loud sigh of frustration when she spots the gold. "You," to replies in turn. "I remember you. You saved me from an angry white dragon and attacked me with floating objects, and now here you are with the same presumptuous attitude only a righteously arrogant creature would possess. He has no brood," she segues easily. "His parents were tortured to death and his siblings smashed against a wall until they were heaps of unformed dragon bodies - bloody, gooey, and miserable." She glances down at Ajani and rests her hand on his tiny back. She doesn't mention that she ended one of the tortured dragons to end his misery. "His mother managed to hide him from the attackers, whoever they are. He would've likely suffered a very similar fate as his siblings if he was found by anyone other than me. I saved him and so I will raise him." She looks up at the gold in that moment, her eyes filled with a mother's conviction. "He is safest with me and I will raise him to be strong and capable and no one will ever be able to put chains on him." The words come out quietly but firmly. She vowed this the moment she resurfaced from Craughmoyle's rocky depths.

Vaidhe regards the dryad while she speaks, contemplating her words and the resolve he sees in her demeanour. Though he takes offense at being called arrogant by this creature, he shows none of his annoyance, instead opting to remain still and quiet until she is finished speaking. "I will be watching," Vaidhe responds at last. "If you are fit, and the past of this youngling is as you say, then perhaps, in time, I will grow to accept you as what you wish to be. If harm comes to your charge, or if you continuously act against its best interests, I will know, and I promise you that he will be given a better rearing. I know of at least one dragon who could certainly do the job, but since you have begun it, I believe you deserve a fair chance to succeed or fail upon your own laurels." He sighs, a heavy, sad sound. "We are dying off, and too often our young are watched over by those who know of us only from books and hearsay. It saddens and worries me greatly. Please, do not make me regret."

For once, Madigan can understand this creature. In an odd way, she can appreciate his concern for her hatchling. "He's in good hands," she says with a soothing pat to the dozing-off whelp's belly. After eating the mushroom in its entirety, he rolled over to expose his belly to Madigan's affectionate petting. "He's not only being cared for by me but by The Eyrie, too. They've been caring for dragons for a very long time, I imagine, and both of us are protected by them. Wherever I fail to teach him for obvious reasons - like flying - they'll help him. I carry the biggest load of his young development, though. If I can help it, I won't fail him. And if I do, he'll go to The Eyrie where I can trust he's in good hands. You won't be deciding who takes care of him, stranger." After a silent pause, she adds, "His name is Ajani, by the way. 'One who survives the struggle'. Take that to bed with you."

Vaidhe nods his large head and makes ready to depart. "We all survive struggles, little one," he murmurs before turning away. "Every one of us that lives must struggle for life. You have my sufferance, if not my approval, but mark what I have said this day. I hope I never have to deliver upon the promise I have made here. Perhaps, in time, you will come to understand dragonkind, myself in particular, more than you do now; I cannot fault you long for your ignorance when the majority of the populace shares it. Be well, and may Ajani be well also." With that, the gold lumbers away, in search of another quiet bastion in which he might resume his solitary introspection.