Zadeg, written around 2001

Zadeg is mysteriously one of Shard's older siblings. Not particularly happy that his younger sibling managed to take control of the Protectorate, but he is not one to be outdone.

However... With the bloodline now spread across different universes he is unsure of several things. Not the least of which is why he's not blue too. He started out that way, after all.

Zadeg stands more than 6'9" tall, taller with the points on his hair. He has four long bone spines off his arms, like his brothers, and only has three fingers and a thumb on each hand. Zadeg is normally a shade of vibrant blue, with two toned hair, however he as mentioned above is now seen to be a rich golden tan (and of course, like all his family members, he is rather impressed by himself).

Zadeg's typical day starts before the sun rises. With a series of rigorous exersizes, he strengthens his body and his will power. After a cleansing bath (he prefers a hot spring to a shower or bath, however) he meditates for more than an hour. With this clarity in his mind and strength in body, he then starts on whatever chores he has been set for the day.

Be it washing dishes or setting out to assassinate an errant politician (which he has done... but don't dare mention it to his family) he does the work with absolute ease.

When he is finished, he enjoys his down time by reading things approximating "The Art of War", and often meditates even more. He does enjoy a good game of ping pong.

An expert archer and hand to hand combat trainer, Zadeg could easily claim the title of "ninja" on his resume. He is a bit more out in the open about his ways to his younger brother Muszaki, but not his elders.

Zadeg is rarely taken off guard.

When he chooses to entertain his more base urges, his tastes run toward strong and hot-headed women. He's been known to start a relationship with a fight, as well as end it that way.

In many ways, he admires Shard for having done what he has with the Protectorate. However, he still feels his honor has been slighted by not having been given the chance to stand upon sands before now, and ride into his fate with a battle cry on his lips.

"You could try and get up and answer the door when someone knocks, you know..." Came a voice from the entrance to the dorm. Zadeg blinked his eyes open, and took the first deep breath he had done in more than half an hour.

"And you could try and remember that I am meditating when the sun rises. It is the only moment of clarity I may have in my day--"

"Yes yes," Muszaki waved his long-fingered hand at his brother, "yes of course. Your clarity mustn't be compromised. There is someone wanting to know where you were last night."

Zadeg blinked again, not having gotten up from his cross-legged pose on the middle of the dorm floor. "Why?"

"Because they think someone snuck out of the dorms and hurt someone else." His bespectacled brother hissed. "And you did, didn't you?"

Zadeg finally pushed with his fingers on the floor so he lifted himself bodily up off it, uncrossed his long legs, and planted his feet down beneath him after swinging into a crouch. "I shall not answer to any such accusations." He said, standing.

"I just wish you would put proper clothing on," Muszaki grumbled. "Everyone knows you, Zadeg, you're going to get caught."

Zadeg's nostrils flared a bit. "Brother, have you been talking to the wrong people again? Which 'everyone' are you referring to?"

The silvery-haired engineer swung in close to his brother's ear, and hissed harshly, "the everyone who knows where to find you when they need someone's leg broken as a lesson. The everyone who wants to find out what your price is, or how much the price on your two-toned head is. You do have one, you know."

Zadeg sneered a bit. "Only if you've placed one there, brother mine. My skills came from the best trainer one could ever have, and he has no such price upon his own head."

"Sk'y and his bunch at Blackstone have always been shady characters, Zadeg. And I have always wished you would stay away from them."

"They are kin, as well," Zadeg said, simply. "Shard should have taught you that. All of us are. Blackstones, Frosts, the whole lot. Some of us are ... more talented than others I suppose."

"More flagrant, you mean." Muszaki said. "They will come, and ask, and you will answer them."

Zadeg switched his eyebrows a bit, and then nodded. "Of course. Tell them I shall be ready to see them in a moment."

"I'm not your errand boy," Muszaki said, walking toward the door.

"You certainly jump when 'they' tell you to." Zadeg felt the temperature in the room rise, his brother never could control his temper. But he was not a trained fighter and he knew better than to physically challenge Zadeg -- his own short, curved spines were simply no match for the long, dangerously sharp tines upon Zadeg's arms. They had sparred as children. Zadeg had given his brother three long scars, and they never fought that way again.

Shortly, when Zadeg had donned his comfortable silken robe and loose cotton pants, the inquisitors arrived. Three of them, sensible considering the nature of the crime.

They explained carefully that there had been a rich land holder traveling through the area on his way to a resort of some kind. That he'd made it, but only barely, and with three broken ribs and his ankle twisted too badly to set.

Zadeg listened to these things, and then tilted his head. Quietly, he asked, "and you think that someone among the candidates has done this? Why?"

The trio looked nervously to one another. "We have it on good authority." Said the taller of the three, an older man. His female attendant and their younger boy scribe looked far less comfortable.

"Then your authority is attempting to undermine your hatching. By accusing innocent candidates of such things... It may take them off the sands, and by doing that, may deny a dragon their bond. I realize that all dragons may not choose a partner, but what if they would have, and the candidate was not on the sands? Then a perfect partnership is ruined."

"A fine argument, if we did not have an eye witness," boldly the woman spoke. Zadeg glanced his sapphire eyes to hers. She dropped her stare, quickly.

"Really. And this eye witness, they are quite reliable? They see well enough in darkness to identify someone?" Zadeg asked, listening carefully to the shifting of weight and the gurgling of the stomachs on these three. "And, they were not so tired from a day's work in the field or in the kitchens, or wherever they had been -- and they would be a good worker, if they are so reliable yes? -- so they could remember details?"

"We've obviously made a mistake, the witness could not have seen, you... you must be correct..." The woman said, nervous. Her partners looked harshly at her, but dared not disagree lest they seem anything less than united. Zadeg almost let a tiny smile cross his face, but instead narrowed his eyes and watched them closely.

"We will question him again. Perhaps he saw something else." The elder man said, rolling his jaw around. "But we will certainly be watching for ... an unscrupulous candidate or servant. The lord was certainly abused before he was set upon his way, the crime is still quite serious."

"Which lord would this be, by the way?" Zadeg cautiously asked.

"It was lord Farahat," said the scribe, overly helpful in his elders eyes.

"Farahat," pronounced Zadeg. "Ah. Yes, I do know of him. Never met him. I have heard that he was one of the lordlings who attempted to oust another family set upon by hard times, two years past. It did not work out, though. The land the lords owned turned out to have a beautiful diamond mine upon it, once they dug up the ruined crops. Their fortunes surely turned... It made the other lordlings look quite ... despicable. A shame that the others Farahat associated with are no longer... with him. To protect him."

The stress on the last words that Zadeg placed was absoultely precious. He watched the colors on the elders change, and the boy nearly lept out of the room. As a unit, though, they bowed and apologized with a mutter, that they would not bother him again with such things.

Zadeg watched them leave, and only after they were well down the hall, did he smile.