Qodara stood watching the walls of Vella Crean grow thick with vines. This time at least, he was trying to do the trick, and succeeding. This place teemed with life, but not all of it was nice.

There was a guy, human mostly it seemed, that unnerved all of the people around him. He was tall and willowy and seemed rather like Dijo in that he was a foreigner to dirt and excess. But then again, Dijo was an expert with those beautiful swords of his, so this man must have had some quality which brought this urge to run upon Qodara.

He was there in the sands area when the call for the candidates was rung. He sat near Maramia and the other officials, and Qodara stayed clear of him. He rather liked the way the cream and chocolate point colored female feline looked at him - she wasn't Kin but he knew that she might be close enough to ...

The first pair to hatch were both red in color, with fine silvery wing sails. They weren't gigantic but they were good sized. Qodara watched the others, the eggs were still shaking.

But one of the reds came toward him, and then bumped himself up against Qodara's legs. He yelled out loud in a voice that was demanding but unsure. "YOU!"

Qodara looked down, feeling the presence of this beautiful male dragonet near him. "Me?" He couldn't help but purr at the thoughts that were racing through his mind. He'd bonded first here!

"Me Quedath, You, mine." The dragon stated simply.

"Oh, that's how it's going to be is it?"

The dragonet named Quedath said something more, but Qodara was busy proudly laughing about his bonding.

***

Quedath grumbled a bit. As usual, Qodara's skill with weeds and plants had come through for the dragonet. His adolescence would be marked by growing pains - his crest was coming in, and his wings were changing color to their more adult shades. But the biggest change of course, was his size.

Quedath had done nothing but grow since the day he was hatched. He was easily five times the size of his hatchling form, and not slowing down. As a red, he was expected to be of a middling-large size. He was going to reach that size soon enough.

Qodara searched about at the Vella Crean's gardens for what he needed. Rooting around, causing more than a little stir with the plant tenders there, he finally uprooted a smallish bush and took it with him to the den he shared with his dragonet.

"You.... you'll need a bucket with dirt, then," someone said and offered him those things. He dropped the bush into it, and flexed his powers.

Oddly enough, it seemed that the full strength of his powers had come back to him - from his childhood he could root things like this, innocent enough until someone else actually saw the plant growing before his eyes. The power had waned, but now it was back, strong as ever. He hoped that Quedath appreciated that.

Of course I do. Now bring that. My head hurts so much! And my neck itches right where I cannot scratch it! You have claws! And salve! I like the salve...

"Of course you do," Qodara laughed, as he came back into their den. He prepared the salve that he'd come up with, and massaged his dragon's neck crest with it and his own claws. It was a nice activity to break up the fighting training, and flight workouts (they hadn't flown yet. That would come soon), and endless education.

***

It was like a conspiracy. The dragons were talking to one another, of course. About what, Qodara couldn't guess. He was busy enough with the infirmary most of the time, helping them mix up herbal pastes. His ability with the plants had certainly been of note to the leadership here, so he was given more practical tasks than learning fighting formations.

The Tribe would have their own - especially since not one duplicate dragonnest was used when they went out to find their bonds.

It was faintly on that subject, then, that Coda came, grinning, up to Qodara.

"I think it's a great idea," she said, and he looked only faintly confused. "To come to your Plateau. I'd love to see it, you've spoken so highly of your friends..."

Ah - that was it. Something about the dragons talking behind his back. They wanted to party.

It wasn't hard for Qodara to convince himself that having not one, but FOUR feline additions even briefly to their Plateau tribe could really bolster their lives. Maybe they'd stay, maybe not... But they would be able to help out in ways that maybe the girls didn't know yet.

I think they know, Quedath purred, when he'd been talking to Coda's Yaoith.