NaTalia Owlbred of Domina, Labyrinth Traveler

Female, age 16

Hair - sunset feathers; Eyes - one blue, one green; Skin Tone - pale dusty white, feathery

Preferred Clothing - Whatever she can fit on her body, any clothing is quite uncomfortable over feathers. She has a tail, so it does get in the way. She'd rather be nude, but even in House Domina people are expected to wear something.

Specialties - Scrying, dream manipulation and energy orb creation. NaTalia is a rather pissed off young woman, and tends to throw those orbs at people.

Weaknesses - NaTalia is a halfbreed Human-Goblin/Owl Shifter, however she has lost her father's ability to shapeshift. She is permanently stuck in what she calls a dismal state of ugly - if she'd try smiling with that beak she'd probably be quite pretty.

Wand - NaTalia does not use a wand, instead she has a set of crystal balls of varying sizes and clarity, made from odd or exotic materials. No cheap glass.

Familiar - none yet...

Unusual Studies - If NaTalia has one wish, it is to become able to shapeshift. She is almost obsessed with those people who can do it easily (Lucas) and has a resentful streak when they can't help her learn how to control her own innate magic. She actually cannot - ever - turn more than she is now, either more human or more owl.

NaTalia paced around in her dorm, aware that the other two girls who shared it were blissfully asleep. With the arrival of more students at House Domina, they all were wondering when a new tower or something was going to be built to hold them all.

That wasn't what was on her mind, though. No. NaTalia had had a very bad day and stormed out of one of her classes. No one tried stopping her, no one ran after her to bring her back and show her that it was okay, she really could do this.

She really couldn't do it. Her friends were all experimenting with animagus and transmogrification and alterations, but she... Couldn't do it. She could make her feathers turn a bright blue, and once she even succeded in changing her tail into a long spaded thing instead of a bird tail. But that was as far as it went. She could not change human if she wanted to.

And she so desperately did want to.

When her one true friend, Lucas' son Svedok, came back to the House with a dragon by his side... She knew that she wanted to just forget about herself and concentrate on another creature. Maybe if she cared for a dragon, even a wild one, she might be able to relax and forget how hideous and nasty she looked.

With that thought, at least the first part, she discovered that she was immensely tired. She plopped down onto her bed, drew the curtains around it, and fell to sleep.

***

If NaTalia was miserable with transmogrification, she was exceptionally gifted in other ways. In their Divination class, she was the top student. Even when she wasn't concentrating or performing a spell, the scrying devices - of almost any type - started working. It became a running joke in the class that anyone who really wanted to do well in the class had to sit near her, because they were almost assured of seeing something in their forecasts.

They didn't mind sitting beside her anyway, but she always took it the wrong way when someone said it. That they wouldn't want to sit near her, unless they needed to pass an exam. But today she was in good enough spirits, she even helped pass notes around the class as the instructor talked about stars and birth-charts.

Her own birth chart was a mystery because, apparently, the same stars weren't visible from this place, as where she was born. As near as she could tell, she was a Leo, born just at the start of that sign's reign. Everyone agreed that she was a fire sign, but the instructor had other things to say about Leo's that didn't impress her at all. They were impulsive, demanding, thick headed, and suffered from heart attacks and stomach ailments.

Aside from the physical ailment thing, everyone also agreed about those things.

NaTalia went from the Divination classroom down to the dining hall, where she spotted the dragon riders - Lucas, his son Svedok, and his 'paladin' Iris. The three of them were special in many ways, not the least of which was Svedok's half-dragon appearance. They broke off their animated conversation when NaTalia approached.

"I'm sorry I was such a pisser yesterday, sir," she said. It had of course been Lucas' course that she was unable to finish.

"It's all right, NaTalia, but ... perhaps we should talk more seriously about replacing that class with another. You just are not suited to it." He said, and he looked a bit worried. After her performance yesterday he had good reason to worry. She'd almost broken a desk on her way out.

Though some bile found its way into the half-bird's throat, she nodded. "I guess you're right. I suppose that I could take that Ghost watching class..."

"Trudy is an excellent instructor," Iris said, smiling. "You'll like the class, she's always yelling about something. Usually at her ghost friends."

"And you have said that you can sometimes see things that are normally unseen," Svedok commented. "It'd be great to see the ghosts in here coming, before they slime you..."

That made NaTalia laugh, and reassured the pair of adults that she would be okay without the transformation classes after all.

But that wasn't why she wanted to see them, really. "I'd like to... find a dragon," she said with great hesitation.

The adults looked at each other, and Lucas nodded with a big grin. "I'm sure you will find one then."

"But how?" NaTalia asked. "I don't know how to apparate, of course, except if you count when I can move through my crystals..."

"That's a perfect way, then," Lucas said. "I can show you where to look, and you should be able to move yourself there easily."

Iris looked like she swallowed a gnat, at that. But she remained silent, as Lucas explained that he and his own dragon bond from Avengaea, the fire colored Audeo, had been known to flit about other worlds than her homeworld. He seemed to know of a place that would suit her, or so he said.

"Holic," he said, and Iris almost said 'bless you'...

He neglected to mention the clutch he was thinking of, but it had parents that were feathery and blustery and emotiona. But he figured privately that she'd fit right in. Her father after all was a faintly evil, definitely feathery, and rather amazingly chaotic man himself. Yes - Lucas had met the goblin king. No, they weren't necessarily on speaking terms. Though Lucas wished it... Maybe if he got the girl a dragon... Plus he would certainly be an interesting addition to the instructors should he feel like coming around more often than midnight-thirty after a girl's private wish...

***

NaTalia packed a cloak and some of her magical tools. The half dozen crystal balls she took would have to do, they were somewhat heavy and only floated around her when she was actively scrying through them.

"Don't give my bed away to someone," she warned. The girls in the dorm enthusiastically replied that they'd have the room to themselves, until she got back - they hardly wanted to give that up. It would be out of their hands, but they doubted that Zora would actually stuff someone else in there when she knew that NaTalia would return sometime shortly.

"Most other schools would have a difficult time sending a student away and bringing them back," Zora said, almost a lecture. She was going to have to do this again a couple more times before the school term was up. "But we're going to expect to have you back, and then Lucas and Iris will test you on your abilities with your dragon. Cooperative flight, I know you can fly, girl, I've seen you do it; camoflage and scouting, that kind of thing."

"And in the meantime," Lucas said, "we will be setting up a new den for your dragon, when you get home."

"You seem unusually confident that she'll bond, Lucas," Iris said quietly. She usually noted that he was reserved and always added 'if' you bond, instead of 'when'. But this time? No - it was almost like a sure thing.

"I'm just... fairly certain that a dragon will choose her. Call it a hunch."

"Call it dragon's intuition," Lumiere, his daughter, said. She herself was trying to locate a good place to bond, so she knew that others would follow. "I think he's right."

With that bolstering her own confidence, NaTalia put herself to the task of locating this place, Planet Holic. She did so shortly, and Lucas helped her prepare the spell to move through the crystals. It was a pretty affair, an array of marble-sized crystal balls that floated in a circle, then descended down over NaTalia. She vanished, arriving at Holic shortly.

***

She was a bit bewildered, upon arriving, to discover that there were already 'hatchlings' wobbling about. Even more so when she felt the strangest urge in her mind to look down, upon which she heard an adorable voice cry out, "NaTalia! You came!"

"No need to be so sour you know. I know I'm not exactly dragon-y looking, buuut I can do things some other dragons can't! Well, not yet... but I'll be able to," he assured her quickly.

She gave her own equivalent of a small smile, crouching down and rubbing her hand through his thick mane, "I'm sure."

"Well?" Eve asked, "What's it's name?"

"HIS name is Jamalyn Ferricate," NaTalia said, showing teeth in her beak.

They were ready to leave, but something nagged at NaTalia. She didn't want to spend much time in a foreign place, but with Jamalyn by her side (eagerly trying to defend her from imagined threats) she felt much more comfortable. There was something so familiar about Jamalyn's presence - perhaps his empathic powers were already strong. But what also nagged her was that there was no one else, well one person showed up a while later...

And that was it. No one else to pick up these adorable kits? In the meantime she learned a little more about the place and its peoples, but was always very distracted. There they were, a handfull of younglings...

NaTalia had never been a 'motherly' type, before now, but that wasn't a surprise to anyone. Now however she did feel compelled to help out with the little ones' care. Jamalyn enjoyed the continued contact with his siblings, and the others... Well, NaTalia didn't exactly soften up much, but she was efficient at helping clean and chop meats, and her magic worked just fine here - well, her crystal-based magics. She still couldn't manage to budge even a feather out of place, magically.

Yet, she remained. Maybe one of the unbonded kits might enjoy a trip back to House Domina.