Starcap

They had high expectations of their son, Moontwin and White Eyes gazed at him when he'd finally emerged into the world after the two-turn long gestation common to elves. They knew he had strong magic, they knew that he could be trained to do a great many things. And on seeing him for the first time, both of his proud parents nearly burst out into tears - of grief. What was wrong with him? He had painful looking deep red welts all over his skin! They were more than painful to look at. It became clear almost immediately that they did cause a great amount of irritation and pain - particularly when he was brought into any kind of light. They swelled up and became brighter, as if instantly burning in the sun.

"This ... this won't do," 'uncle' Awlvon said, darkly. He turned to Warmhand, the tribe's original healer, whose own scowl was only barely disguised. "Do you think we..."

"Please, please help our son," Moontwin breathed. She had barely recovered from the birth; it had been not quite an eight of days as they waited for the child's health to improve, and it had not. "He is in so much pain, even just... holding him." She was emotionally spent, her child was hungy and could hardly bear being pressed against the warmth of his mother's own body.

In the few years since they'd arrived to the Bald Mountain Holt, Awlvon was among the more popular of those near-High-Ones that were with him. Kolgar of course put himself into a position of some importance, as a rock shaper able to hollow out the mountain and reinforce the Aerie areas for those dragons... But Awlvon was a healer, and those were valuable to every tribe. His powers, however, also included the ability to mold flesh. He had used this ability sparingly, but now it seemed as though he had to do it if nothing else to spare the elf who he'd Recognized an eight of turns before seeing her new child in such agony.

"I can keep him stable," Warmhand said, the soft-voiced healer's brow knit hard together, "so you can... do your work." Awlvon nodded, that would be for the best. If he only had to concentrate on one type of magic instead of pain mitigation... "Here, I will hold him," Warmhand suggested to Moontwin, who nodded weakly.

It is probably for the best if someone mute her mind from... well, from bleeding emotions onto us while we work. Awlvon thought to White Eyes. His own skin was covered with such blotches, but he had no recollection of them being so aggressively painful! He knew that his boy would become far better at the powers that both Moontwin and he shared, but... only if he could make it into adulthood.

So Warmhand gently cradled the child, who wailed weakly now. The whole Holt had heard him screaming, these last couple of days, but because it was just non stop pain, hunger, and inability to even rest... he was growing too exhausted to put much energy into it. Those here in the den that was shared by Moontwin and White Eyes were watched by a foursome of small dragons - two Lians and two whose glowing helped light the area since it had been shuttered to natural light outside. Hwasal wanted to help with her healing magic, but it worked much better on dragons than elves.

With the gentle power coming from Warmhand to support the child's system, Awlvon let his own magic power feel around through his body. The skin was the worst problem, it was only going to get worse over time. The tall elf had heard about White Eyes' own issues as a child, his skin was still blotchy and uneven, burned at the touch of the sun - but not so badly that he couldn't function. Awlvon didn't need to worry when he started moving pigment cells around, normally that kind of thing would cause immense pain. But Warmhand's magic flowed softly, muting any further pain to the child.

"I can sense how to do this, but it might take... more than one session," Awlvon said, in a bit of a daze. Warmhand could feel his magic, it was almost as though fingers were reaching through the boy's skin and picking up each hard red marking and examining it. "But I think... I can at least restrict them from getting any worse over his life..."

"Please," Moontwin begged, "please, spare him that pain."

Awlvon's violet eyes met his former Recognized's, "I will, my friend."

***

Starcap always felt a strong kinship with the other boneshapers in the Holt, but also his half-sister's side of things. Well, not necessarily his lifemate Yasheel, but then even after they'd been in the Holt as long as they had, Yasheel was still a stand-offish arrogant plant shaper to the core. But Awlvon and his daughter Eclipse always supported Starcap and his father, as much as Moontwin. As a youth, Starcap was generally kept inside during the day, even if he was awake at that point. It was clear that many in the Holt would be up and about when the sun was up, but some still had overnight or twilight duties. On the times he did go out during the day, his parents insisted that he was covered head to foot with cloth that prevented the sun from hitting his skin.

But during the evenings and night? That was always a good time for him to sprint around the Aerie and caverns, as well as peer up at the endless starry skies over Bald Mountain. Sometimes, those stars would be obscured by the wings of their dragons, and he always smiled at the thought that perhaps some day he'd be the one obscuring them!

As he grew up, so did his magical abilities. At first it was just little bits of bone that one of his relatives would toss to him - remnants of their own magic still upon them, to make it easier for his own to latch on to. Soon enough though, by the time he was two hands of turns old (that's 8) he would dig through the cast-off bits from hunts himself, sifting through the carcasses and coming up with more fresh bone to work on. He favored birds for their hollow bones for some things like flutes or needles, but the nice solid hooves and antlers, teeth or heavy skulls of boars, deer, and goats for more sturdy items. It was Rib who was there to aid him in dragging back large bones, or cutting away joints from them if all they needed was a portion of something the dragons were apt to eat. It was also Rib who challenged her grandson to create interesting and useful items, offering her own as demonstration.

Moontwin was very proud of her son, at least as proud as she'd been of Eclipse when she learned how to manipulate the difficult parts of an animal. She wasn't certain if Starcap would be willing or able to shape living bone, but he definitely seemed to prefer 'freshly dead' ones... Though Moontwin was never 'distant' to Starcap, he always sensed that anxiety from her, something that went back into his infancy, and that thankfully he didn't remember consciously. White Eyes eagerly joined in, and always seemed to like answering the boy's constant stream of questions.

That said, Starcap would walk through the quiet Whitecold hillsides near the Holt, his sensitive skin able to discern the prints of deer or boar through the snow or forest litter. By the time he was three hands old, he'd decided on creating a sort of basket made of fish and bird bones woven together, for fishing. It would float on one side in order to be seen or picked up, but had longer tines to dip into a stream or pond that would capture fish too big to swim through the holes. The other fishers in the Holt were impressed with this: most fish would try and escape but their frantic slapping of the device caused it to turn with them, as well as bobbing energetically on the surface to alert its user.

Soon enough there were a dozen of those on any given body of water, just as a rabbit warren would be riddled with traps. It was also soon, when Starcap was two eights old, that the tribe's 'elders' called him up into the Aerie. They weren't 'old' elders, that was reserved for his sister's sire and his group, but those responsible for creating this dragon-riding Holt. There were a small number of elves sitting in comfortable fur-covered stump chairs, in addition to the leadership.

Apogee stood smiling, "I know that there are new people in the Holt, now, but they need to get settled a little... You, though," she looked at the spot-skinned boy, "it's time for you to go looking for something more important than more bones to shape."

His heart skipped a beat, "I... you mean a dragon, don't you!" He lit up, all but brightening the dimly lit Aerie chamber with his own energy. "I would love that, but where do I look for them? I've only ever seen them here on the Mountain."

"Oh," Squall, her lifemate, said with her own lopsided grin. "You won't find them even if you walked the entire world."

He looked confused, but then one of the dangling crystal bulbs along a wall glimmered with a delicate golden glow. "What's that?" He asked. He'd never seen that happen before. There were many hands worth of these things in this chamber, sometimes they would catch light if there was sun- or moonlight coming into the place from the many small windows or broad dragon balconies. But all of those were closed just now, so where was the glow coming from? Magic?

"Oh I know which one that is," Warmhand said with a broad smile. "I wonder... how things have gone there all these years?"

"Well we're about to find out," Squall said to the healer, as she turned to face Starcap. "Child, this is the light indicating a specific dragon site. It... responds to you, since you're the only one without a dragon here just now. That is complicated magic, indeed."

Slightly confused, Starcap blinked and just stared at the glimmering crystal. It did seem to be the only one that lit up, and it got brighter when he approached it. They all dangled just out of head-height for the tallest among them, even the near-High-Ones were able to stand without bumping them. It didn't burn his eyes, but it did glow stronger than any candle, brighter than the moons.

"We will take you," Heartshy said, her smile broad. "I think... I think Shivay wants to return home to where she hatched."

"... Wait, oh," Starcap finally got it: "this crystal goes there?"

"Well," Apogee said, gazing at it herself, "it tells us where to go. I think there are some ways to create openings to those worlds, but we don't have that kind of magic." Then she nodded toward Heartshy. "If your Shivay is big enough for the two of you. Did you need help?"

Heartshy got that weird look on her face - Starcap knew 'sending', between elfin minds, could look like that. But this was not to an elf, it was to Heartshy's lovely black dragoness. "No, I think we'll be all right. But I will want to stay, I did miss that place when we came home."

"I heard you got into plenty of trouble," Squall laughed. Starcap had to wonder what exactly they meant.

***

The place was so completely different than Bald Mountain! For one thing they needed to put him into his protective gear much more often, as he was expected to be awake during the day a bit more. But at least they had packed him enough to make sure he was both comfortable and safe. Plus, the locals had their own goods to share or trade. Heartshy had brought some of her own, and encouraged Starcap to continue looking for bones and other such bits to shape and trade.

It was magic that allowed them to communicate with the locals. There were all manner of people there, but most of them were much bigger than the elfin pair. Humans? Well, them, but other life forms, some that were a little like those Preservers tiny with wings. And.

And the dragons. The pair guarding eggs on the 'sands' (he had to learn so many new terms, it would be a while before they all sunk in) were brilliantly colored, blue and brown, greens of leaf and pine. They contrasted strongly with the sleek midnight black Shivay, in both coloration and physical shapes. But then Starcap did know about the tribe's various dragon types - he just had never really... paid much attention to it until now. So dedicated to his tasks of finding bones and shaping them had he been, that their anatomy was merely 'legs, wings, neck, tail'. These? They had big tail spades, big feet, strong wing fingers. They would be healthy fliers, he could tell even just by how their bones 'felt'.

That would help him learn in the classes required of all the potential dragon bonders. They had distinct anatomy, unlike anything that he'd ever seen at home.

And how odd it was, how easy it came to him, that words like 'at home' and 'between' were in use and he understood them. Almost like traveling between those worlds infused him with knowledge. He had much more to learn, too... What a 'world' was, what the stars could do to help navigate between them. How to properly straddle a dragon's shoulders, check their hide or wings for parasites, make sure that their food was being properly digested. It was certainly more work than tending goats or birds! But... But infinitely more rewarding. Because in the long run, these dragons became lifelong friends, partners, helpers, defenders.

What would come of him standing at this nest? Only time would tell.

*** (from hatching, which I didn't actually know happened? sorry trix! I didn't even realize it had gone this long!!) ***

Next the largest egg of the clutch broke in half and a mass of white-silver limbs and some Tiger's Eye brown wings fell to the ground. It looked like another duotone dragonet which got the crowd roaring. But as the dust cleared and the dragonet got up, the crowd got even more excited. There were two dragons there, twins! The largest of the two who was normal-sized had the white hide from a Quartz dragon but the soft brown of a Tiger's Eye. The second was a lot smaller, and looked like it would only be about pony-sized when adult. She too had a Quartz-white hide but her wings were the silvery-blue of a Moonstone. Though she was small, the Moonquartz let herself be heard as she made a straight line toward the smallest candidate around.
" Starcap " , she crooned, "I want to meet the other elves and see their magic."
"You'll like them Nibora." the elf nodded eagerly.

***

Back to the 2nd Generation White Eyes and Moontwin Lantessama Weyr Image: City of Heroes
Starcap Bonded to: Moonstone Winged Quartz Nibora (f) Age: young adult (born year 180) Sex: male Soul Name: Known By: Mate Status/Sex Preference: single/hetero Children: none yet Parents/Relatives: Mother Moontwin, Father White Eyes, Grandmother Rib, half-sister Eclipse (living, dragonriders) Height: 3'11" Build: skinny, kind of bony Hair Color, Length, Style: white, fluffy and thick, cut to high back Eye Color, Size, Shape: silver, narrow Skin Tone: fair with spot markings on head, shoulders and back, and thighs, burns very easily Voice Quality: a bit squeaky, high, quiet Clothing -- Summer: loose leather pants and jacket in brown, cloth shirt in grey Clothing -- Winter:* often adds a hat and shoes Jewlery Worn, Made: none, he's a bit squeamish about getting pierced Tatoos/Markings/Scars: his 'markings' are the result of Awlvon's shaping to make the otherwise nasty blotches on his body look better and stop being so painful; however they were shaped, they will still inherit in any children he sires, unless they find a significantly powerful method to remove this from his line Pets/Animals Kept:* follows deer around for their antlers Notable Posessions: carving tools Holt Function: item crafter - not usually weapons, but instruments, other tools and such Magic? How Powerful? Sending 8/10, Magic Feeling 1/10, Boneshape 9/10 Climate/Locations Preferred: light woods in winter, snowfall, twilight and dawn General Likes: music, carving, artistry General Dislikes: fire, broad daylight, bare rock and sharp rocks Fears/Worries: if he flies, he may fall Special Strange Info: enjoys the company of his grandmother Rib quite a lot, he's learned much from her, rather than Moontwin since she already had her hands full with Eclipse when he was born Basic Personality: likable, a little silly in the head but always coming up with a clever plan How they feel about Humans: I don't even want to meet the ones down below the Holt, they're big and dangerous no matter what Apogee says Elves -- herders: the Gobacks did it, keeping deer is excellent Elves -- magic users: it's almost impossible to think what life is like for humans without magic Elves -- bond-riders: they're so brave! Trolls, etc: the sending-memories shared say only that they're even worse than any Humans Bond: Quartz Nibora From: Lantessama clutch 23, Foliage ( Jade ) Huavith and Brown -striped Blue ( Tiger's Eye - Sapphire ) Gwyveth Starcap (m) and Moonstone winged Quartz Nibora (f) omg 2022 I am SO SORRY I didn't even realize that this clutch had hatched?! Plus it was a toyhouse link so I didn't even get this there...
.
They had high expectations of their son, Moontwin and White Eyes gazed at him when he'd finally emerged into the world after the two-turn long gestation common to elves. They knew he had strong magic, they knew that he could be trained to do a great many things. And on seeing him for the first time, both of his proud parents nearly burst out into tears - of grief. What was wrong with him? He had painful looking deep red welts all over his skin! They were more than painful to look at. It became clear almost immediately that they did cause a great amount of irritation and pain - particularly when he was brought into any kind of light. They swelled up and became brighter, as if instantly burning in the sun. "This ... this won't do," 'uncle' Awlvon said, darkly. He turned to Warmhand, the tribe's original healer, whose own scowl was only barely disguised. "Do you think we..." "Please, please help our son," Moontwin breathed. She had barely recovered from the birth; it had been not quite an eight of days as they waited for the child's health to improve, and it had not. "He is in so much pain, even just... holding him." She was emotionally spent, her child was hungy and could hardly bear being pressed against the warmth of his mother's own body. In the few years since they'd arrived to the Bald Mountain Holt, Awlvon was among the more popular of those near-High-Ones that were with him. Kolgar of course put himself into a position of some importance, as a rock shaper able to hollow out the mountain and reinforce the Aerie areas for those dragons... But Awlvon was a healer, and those were valuable to every tribe. His powers, however, also included the ability to mold flesh. He had used this ability sparingly, but now it seemed as though he had to do it if nothing else to spare the elf who he'd Recognized an eight of turns before seeing her new child in such agony. "I can keep him stable," Warmhand said, the soft-voiced healer's brow knit hard together, "so you can... do your work." Awlvon nodded, that would be for the best. If he only had to concentrate on one type of magic instead of pain mitigation... "Here, I will hold him," Warmhand suggested to Moontwin, who nodded weakly. *It is probably for the best if someone mute her mind from... well, from bleeding emotions onto us while we work.* Awlvon thought to White Eyes. His own skin was covered with such blotches, but he had no recollection of them being so aggressively painful! He knew that his boy would become far better at the powers that both Moontwin and he shared, but... only if he could make it into adulthood. So Warmhand gently cradled the child, who wailed weakly now. The whole Holt had heard him screaming, these last couple of days, but because it was just non stop pain, hunger, and inability to even rest... he was growing too exhausted to put much energy into it. Those here in the den that was shared by Moontwin and White Eyes were watched by a foursome of small dragons - two Lians and two whose glowing helped light the area since it had been shuttered to natural light outside. Hwasal wanted to help with her healing magic, but it worked much better on dragons than elves. With the gentle power coming from Warmhand to support the child's system, Awlvon let his own magic power feel around through his body. The skin was the worst problem, it was only going to get worse over time. The tall elf had heard about White Eyes' own issues as a child, his skin was still blotchy and uneven, burned at the touch of the sun - but not so badly that he couldn't function. Awlvon didn't need to worry when he started moving pigment cells around, normally that kind of thing would cause immense pain. But Warmhand's magic flowed softly, muting any further pain to the child. "I can sense how to do this, but it might take... more than one session," Awlvon said, in a bit of a daze. Warmhand could feel his magic, it was almost as though fingers were reaching through the boy's skin and picking up each hard red marking and examining it. "But I think... I can at least restrict them from getting any worse over his life..." "Please," Moontwin begged, "please, spare him that pain." Awlvon's violet eyes met his former Recognized's, "I will, my friend." * Starcap always felt a strong kinship with the other boneshapers in the Holt, but also his half-sister's side of things. Well, not necessarily his lifemate Yasheel, but then even after they'd been in the Holt as long as they had, Yasheel was still a stand-offish arrogant plant shaper to the core. But Awlvon and his daughter Eclipse always supported Starcap and his father, as much as Moontwin. As a youth, Starcap was generally kept inside during the day, even if he was awake at that point. It was clear that many in the Holt would be up and about when the sun was up, but some still had overnight or twilight duties. On the times he did go out during the day, his parents insisted that he was covered head to foot with cloth that prevented the sun from hitting his skin. But during the evenings and night? That was always a good time for him to sprint around the Aerie and caverns, as well as peer up at the endless starry skies over Bald Mountain. Sometimes, those stars would be obscured by the wings of their dragons, and he always smiled at the thought that perhaps some day he'd be the one obscuring them! As he grew up, so did his magical abilities. At first it was just little bits of bone that one of his relatives would toss to him - remnants of their own magic still upon them, to make it easier for his own to latch on to. Soon enough though, by the time he was two hands of turns old (that's 8) he would dig through the cast-off bits from hunts himself, sifting through the carcasses and coming up with more fresh bone to work on. He favored birds for their hollow bones for some things like flutes or needles, but the nice solid hooves and antlers, teeth or heavy skulls of boars, deer, and goats for more sturdy items. It was Rib who was there to aid him in dragging back large bones, or cutting away joints from them if all they needed was a portion of something the dragons were apt to eat. It was also Rib who challenged her grandson to create interesting and useful items, offering her own as demonstration. Moontwin was very proud of her son, at least as proud as she'd been of Eclipse when she learned how to manipulate the difficult parts of an animal. She wasn't certain if Starcap would be willing or able to shape living bone, but he definitely seemed to prefer 'freshly dead' ones... Though Moontwin was never 'distant' to Starcap, he always sensed that anxiety from her, something that went back into his infancy, and that thankfully he didn't remember consciously. White Eyes eagerly joined in, and always seemed to like answering the boy's constant stream of questions. That said, Starcap would walk through the quiet Whitecold hillsides near the Holt, his sensitive skin able to discern the prints of deer or boar through the snow or forest litter. By the time he was three hands old, he'd decided on creating a sort of basket made of fish and bird bones woven together, for fishing. It would float on one side in order to be seen or picked up, but had longer tines to dip into a stream or pond that would capture fish too big to swim through the holes. The other fishers in the Holt were impressed with this: most fish would try and escape but their frantic slapping of the device caused it to turn with them, as well as bobbing energetically on the surface to alert its user. Soon enough there were a dozen of those on any given body of water, just as a rabbit warren would be riddled with traps. It was also soon, when Starcap was two eights old, that the tribe's 'elders' called him up into the Aerie. They weren't 'old' elders, that was reserved for his sister's sire and his group, but those responsible for creating this dragon-riding Holt. There were a small number of elves sitting in comfortable fur-covered stump chairs, in addition to the leadership. Apogee stood smiling, "I know that there are new people in the Holt, now, but they need to get settled a little... You, though," she looked at the spot-skinned boy, "it's time for you to go looking for something more important than more bones to shape." His heart skipped a beat, "I... you mean a dragon, don't you!" He lit up, all but brightening the dimly lit Aerie chamber with his own energy. "I would love that, but where do I look for them? I've only ever seen them here on the Mountain." "Oh," Squall, her lifemate, said with her own lopsided grin. "You won't find them even if you walked the entire world." He looked confused, but then one of the dangling crystal bulbs along a wall glimmered with a delicate golden glow. "What's that?" He asked. He'd never seen that happen before. There were many hands worth of these things in this chamber, sometimes they would catch light if there was sun- or moonlight coming into the place from the many small windows or broad dragon balconies. But all of those were closed just now, so where was the glow coming from? Magic? "Oh I know which one that is," Warmhand said with a broad smile. "I wonder... how things have gone there all these years?" "Well we're about to find out," Squall said to the healer, as she turned to face Starcap. "Child, this is the light indicating a specific dragon site. It... responds to you, since you're the only one without a dragon here just now. That is complicated magic, indeed." Slightly confused, Starcap blinked and just stared at the glimmering crystal. It did seem to be the only one that lit up, and it got brighter when he approached it. They all dangled just out of head-height for the tallest among them, even the near-High-Ones were able to stand without bumping them. It didn't burn his eyes, but it did glow stronger than any candle, brighter than the moons. "We will take you," Heartshy said, her smile broad. "I think... I think Shivay wants to return home to where she hatched." "... Wait, oh," Starcap finally got it: "this crystal goes there?" "Well," Apogee said, gazing at it herself, "it tells us where to go. I think there are some ways to create openings to those worlds, but we don't have that kind of magic." Then she nodded toward Heartshy. "If your Shivay is big enough for the two of you. Did you need help?" Heartshy got that weird look on her face - Starcap knew 'sending', between elfin minds, could look like that. But this was not to an elf, it was to Heartshy's lovely black dragoness. "No, I think we'll be all right. But I will want to stay, I did miss that place when we came home." "I heard you got into plenty of trouble," Squall laughed. Starcap had to wonder what exactly they meant. * The place was so completely different than Bald Mountain! For one thing they needed to put him into his protective gear much more often, as he was expected to be awake during the day a bit more. But at least they had packed him enough to make sure he was both comfortable and safe. Plus, the locals had their own goods to share or trade. Heartshy had brought some of her own, and encouraged Starcap to continue looking for bones and other such bits to shape and trade. It was magic that allowed them to communicate with the locals. There were all manner of people there, but most of them were much bigger than the elfin pair. Humans? Well, them, but other life forms, some that were a little like those Preservers tiny with wings. And. And the dragons. The pair guarding eggs on the 'sands' (he had to learn so many new terms, it would be a while before they all sunk in) were brilliantly colored, blue and brown, greens of leaf and pine. They contrasted strongly with the sleek midnight black Shivay, in both coloration and physical shapes. But then Starcap did know about the tribe's various dragon types - he just had never really... paid much attention to it until now. So dedicated to his tasks of finding bones and shaping them had he been, that their anatomy was merely 'legs, wings, neck, tail'. These? They had big tail spades, big feet, strong wing fingers. They would be healthy fliers, he could tell even just by how their bones 'felt'. That would help him learn in the classes required of all the potential dragon bonders. They had distinct anatomy, unlike anything that he'd ever seen at home. And how odd it was, how easy it came to him, that words like 'at home' and 'between' were in use and he understood them. Almost like traveling between those worlds infused him with knowledge. He had much more to learn, too... What a 'world' was, what the stars could do to help navigate between them. How to properly straddle a dragon's shoulders, check their hide or wings for parasites, make sure that their food was being properly digested. It was certainly more work than tending goats or birds! But... But infinitely more rewarding. Because in the long run, these dragons became lifelong friends, partners, helpers, defenders. What would come of him standing at this nest? Only time would tell. * (from hatching, which I didn't actually know happened? sorry trix! I didn't even realize it had gone this long!!) * Next the largest egg of the clutch broke in half and a mass of white-silver limbs and some Tiger's Eye brown wings fell to the ground. It looked like another duotone dragonet which got the crowd roaring. But as the dust cleared and the dragonet got up, the crowd got even more excited. There were two dragons there, twins! The largest of the two who was normal-sized had the white hide from a Quartz dragon but the soft brown of a Tiger's Eye. The second was a lot smaller, and looked like it would only be about pony-sized when adult. She too had a Quartz-white hide but her wings were the silvery-blue of a Moonstone. Though she was small, the Moonquartz let herself be heard as she made a straight line toward the smallest candidate around. " Starcap* "* , she crooned, "I want to meet the other elves and see their magic." "You'll like them Nibora." the elf nodded eagerly. *** * *