At nights, Tren would play his flute and Aki, Tren's twin, would tell stories of times long ago. Sandrylene, a dark-haired woman with eyes green as Nabel's piloted the vessel and enjoyed most of the work, simply because she enjoyed it. Clarinet and Annabel patiently taught Kipfel Basic, though Annabel was markedly better at the teaching him, because they knew the same words as it was. Vaguely, Kipfel understood the language of his kind that he had so long ago forgotten. Everything within him was repressed, mashed down deep within his mind from hate, bitterness, and desolation.

Annabel watched him quietly as he pretended not to understand nor care what was happening as he lay on the deck of the ship in the shade. His shoulders had become sore from long-term exposure to the sun, and they burned constantly. Annabel could feel his irritation every time he moved, and she often suggested he stay down below and out of the sun. He stubbornly refused.

Still, she could feel Kipfel listening intently as Aki related the story of how he had managed to reunite them. After he and Tren parted ways, he had quickly made his way to the beach. He had known the Majestic from the dreams he had sent to Tren months ago. It had taken much searching, but he had been patient. He had known Tren would wait for as long as was possible.

He had found the ship after three months' time and Sandrylene had given him a hard time boarding. Eventually he had convinced her of his identity and told her where Tren was. Navigation had been difficult because Aki had traveled as the fish swims, and he had not been too certain how to return to the area.

They had found Tren, however, and many others as well. And that led them back to now. Annabel was privately amused as Kipfel caught most of the story, even though he acted as though he didn't care. After it was over, he rose and walked the deck in silence.

He hated the ship. He hardly made it secret, but he did. He felt the traces of battle all over the ship. Had it not been that long here since his egg was laid? He wondered.

It was midnight when Kipfel, growling, stalked out from below the deck. The others had retired there hours ago, and he had begun to find it too warm, too stuffy. His eyes flashed in the darkness as he saw Clarinet's long, snakelike form wrapped around one of the masts of the ship. He gingerly sidestepped her form as he made his way to the upper deck, where he could pace without fear of waking anyone.

Clarinet had told him, privately, about her decision to send his egg away. She could not resist the visions, she said, but she was sorry, truly deeply, sorry, for the pain he had to suffer. That was hours ago. Why was it upsetting him still now?

He paced and stalked about in the shadows, his eyes narrowing as he glared up at the moon. The moons, the water, his mother's elements. The darkness, the cold, his elements. He had slowly learned how to block out that horrible salty smell the cold breeze carried all the time. He hated the ocean.

He hated her for sending him away to do some ridiculous trial because of prophesy. If it had been for any reason besides, had she tried to save him -- and he knew she could have if she wanted to -- rather than given up on him, he would not be angry. But no. No. She had to influence her line. She had no willpower when it came to the visions. She saw it as fate, and if she did not embrace it, it would happen anyway. Or something worse would happen.

Scheiß he thought sharply, thinking of his mother's powers. He was careful to guard his thoughts with so many people around, and as a double precaution, he ensured that he very rarely thought in Basic.

Did it for me my ass, he continued to think, sighing and lying down to watch the stars. He hated the stars, too, but it could not be avoided. If he wanted to watch the blissful, black emptiness of space, he would have to watch a few stars, too.

He turned his head sharply to stare away from the glowing orbs of the moons. He my have to watch a few stars, but there was no way he had to watch a few moons. They were too bright for his taste, anyway.

There was a storm a few leagues away when land finally began to come into view. They were about two days' sail away from the Obsidian Sea of the Creature Refuge, especially if Sandry and Tren could get the sails tacked properly. The wind was a little rougher than usual, and there was definitely rainfall, but the weather was not nearly as rough as it could have been. Sandrylene had explained that that was how it was ever since Clarinet hatched. Evidently the moonstones had an awful lot of luck when it came to granting safe sea passage.

The water, though, was what Kipfel was most concerned about. Before now, he had no fears of the ship suddenly giving way under the weight of the water and sinking to the bottom, he and Annabel trapped and drowning because they were the only ones who could not swim. He had braced his legs against the rocking of the ship on the choppy sea when the storm had first begun, and he had received for his pains a nice-sized splinter embedded sharply in his paw.

It irritated him, knowing that time and again this ship would be his bane. It also irritated him how far he and Nabel seemed to have drifted. Every time he wanted to talk to her alone, she was either busy learning Basic or talking in broken tongues with Aki and Clarinet. She no longer had any time for him.

He was not above admitting his jealousy. She was, after all, his bondmate first. These others were intruding on what was his rightful claim, and it angered him.

Annabel would tell him he was being silly and laugh. He missed her laughter. The laughter she had just for him. Sometimes she used something that sounded like that special laughter for Tren. He knew better than to think she would be so cruel as to do that.

His mind rushing with angry thoughts and jealousy, Kipfel lay in a corner, trying to worry the splinter out of his paw. It wasn't fair! Why did all of this have to happen to him? He snarled as he worked at his injured paw with his other one, using the talons delicately to work the wood free. There was a little bit of blood, as the wood had gone in deep, but it had not fragmented at all.

"Kip?" Annabel's voice called, and the black terran jumped, losing all his concentration and only managing to bring out half the splinter, the other half fracturing beneath his skin.

Kipfel looked up sharply, very angry that now he would have to find the intrusive object again. *What.* It was less of a question than a cold, broken statement.

"You've been avoiding me lately. Is something wrong?"

She crouched down next to him and patted his forehead, running her hand between his horns and down his neck to his shoulders, where he winced at her touch. Clarinet had told him the heat in his shoulders was sunburn. He told her it was just another reason to hate traveling.

"Kip?" she asked again.

He looked up at her calmly, though he worried that his dull black eyes would betray his anger. *Wrong?* he asked calmly. *What makes you think anything would be wrong?*

She sighed and shook her head a little. "All right, Kip. But if you want to talk to me..." She trailed off and rose, turning to leave.

Kipfel found himself standing in order to stop her. He did want to talk, but it was difficult for him to find the words. Before he could say anything, however, the ship lurched violently on a wave. Annabel caught herself on a beam above her stooped head, but Kipfel could not react quickly enough and fell. He ducked into a roll and came out on his feet, though he stood putting all his weight on the paw with the splinter in it.

He must have winced visibly, because Annabel was quickly next to him demanding, "What's the matter?" in a worried tone.

*It's nothing!* Kipfel growled, trying to yank his paw from Annabel's searching hands.

"Stop that!" she snapped, and he stopped resisting. Her gentle but thorough hands felt around his paw before finding the source of his pain. "What happened to your paw, Kip?" she asked, examining the leathery pad that was developing there and the small scratches in it.

*I got a splinter in it, all right?* he asked, not wanting her to laugh.

Annabel sounded, thankfully, more exasperated than amused. Her ginger fingers found the wound and pulled the offending particle free. "Better?" she asked, letting go of his paw.

Kipfel nodded silently and returned to his corner. *Yes,* he reaffirmed.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to me?"

Kipfel nodded again. *Yes.* He watched Annabel sigh and leave before curling up to try sleeping despite the motion. She would just laugh at him if he talked to her, and he wasn't in the mood for that.

Kipfel was very glad when the Majestic pulled into port near the Obsidian Sea. He was even more glad when he at last had solid land beneath his paws that was not readily swaying and dipping in accordance to the tides. He was not glad at all when he was informed he was meeting his entire family in a few hours' time.

Angrily, he followed everyone else towards a rounded valley, the Shantel Bowl, hidden within some of the woods of the Creature Refuge. He stopped dead as the path they were following opened out into the Bowl. There were shrapes, as Clarinet had called the uninitiated dragons, fluttering and romping everywhere. He probably could handle dealing with all the noise, confusion, and chaos, but he didn't want to.

He turned when he felt gentle pressure on his side. *Go on in, Kipfel,* Clarinet instructed, her voice full of jubilant tones. *There's nothing to be scared of.*

She smiled at him, and he turned to glare. Scared indeed, he thought. I am the eldest. Silently he followed Annabel. She was his today. No one could take her from him.

An energetic cry of *Clarinet!* was followed shortly by a red terran dragon who touched his snout briefly to Clarinet's. So, Kipfel thought, that's the famous Pierre everyone was on about. They talked for just a moment before he rushed off, followed closely by Clarinet.

Kipfel sat next to Annabel, who was trying to convince him to 'go and play' with the other shrapes. He stubbornly remained silent, glaring at any who dared approach. One bright yellow dragon, the fabled sunshine variation, blatantly ignored his signs of isolation. Kipfel reacted the first way he thought of -- by taking a swipe with his clawed talon and growling deeply. The sunshine, surprisingly, was not as stupid as he looked and took off to harass someone else.

Moments later, the noise level was beginning to rise to deafining decibles. Suddenly, however, a very sharp, piercing howl sent all of them into silence and every one of the bystanders turned to the elder dragons. Looking smug was a dark red, armored terran-arboreal hybrid. Kipfel watched him with guarded awe while others panicked until they were instructed to line up before a rock.

Slowly, Kipfel slinked away from Annabel. "Viel Glück," she whispered before going to join the crew of the ship.

He took his place in line, flanked on either side by a red arboreal female and the obnoxious sunshine from before. Quietly he waited as an old red arboreal, scarred from battle and other occaisions no doubt, landed on the rock in front of them. Kipfel sat, listening with patience and quiet as the Kailan, as he understood this individual to be, made a speech.

*Greetings to everyone,* he said, staring around at the massive crowd. *Today, young shrapes, you will receive your magical objects and become full Bishen of the Machesri Clan. As always, this group is varied and talented, and each of you possesses your own strengths and virtues. Long have you waited and toiled, and today you shall be rewarded.*

He called the sunshines forward first.

Kipfel waited patiently as one by one, his brothers and sisters, whom he neither met nor intended to meet more than this brief passing, received their gifts. He had caught, while eavesdropping earlier, that only three of the dragons being admitted into the clan were not the children of Clarinet or Pierre.

The two sunshines and the white female were all from wild parents, and they had been competed for during a festival to celebrate the spring and the resiliance of the Clan. He watched as his siblings, only one possessing his mother's coloring, received their gifts. The Kailan seemed to know each of them very well, and Kipfel wondered how. Was this some gift only he had, to know all the lives of all the dragons in his clan?

The white female was called forward. Mentally, Kipfel ticked the dragons off a running list. He was the only one remaining. He watched the white. She was timid yet graceful, things he would never be. She was treasured, he could feel, by most of the rest of the realm, but she had seemed nervous earlier, hiding under a wheelbarrow. He had immediately pegged her previously as his opposite in many ways, but he was wrong. She and he were very similar.

She returned to the line with a white crystal and Kipfel looked up at the Kailan, meeting the old red's gaze. He waited for the words to come to him. He was, mostly, patient, after all.

*Kipfel, come forward.* Ah, there they were.

Kipfel paused to glare at the sunshine next to him before stalking quietly to the Kailan. He looked up at him, a rare degree of respect even he could notice filling him. He felt eyes on him and his gaze wandered for a moment to the strange dark red dragon beside the Kailan. The dragon was watching him with equal interest.

Kipfel's attention, however, was not easily divided from the task at hand. He turned his eyes back to the Kailan and waited again.

*Kipfel,* the Kailan finally began, *you were once thought lost to us forever, but through the will of the Fates, you have returned home to your Clan.* Kipfel repressed rage at the mention of the fates and listened carefully to the elder dragon as he continued. *You have faced more challenges than dragons twice your age, and you may face more in the future. To you I give this Negatius Fragment. With it, you can create the Black Vortex attack, which will banish any who are evil of heart into the depths of the underworld, and confuse all other enemies to an unconscious state. It also gives you the gift of energy absorption, allowing you to pull energy from the sun, fire, electricity, or another living being. Use this gift with caution and restraint.*

The Kailan presented him with a black stone with a purple tint to it. Taking the oddly-shaped rock carefully between his jaws, Kipfel returned to the line. Caution... and restraint... Kipfel thought brokenly as the Kailan broke up the ceremony with wishes of prosperity. Why trust me with something so powerful? He did not have time to wonder, however, because Clarinet and Pierre were upon the group moments later followed closely by bondmates and friends.

Kipfel answered only questions directed totally to him, and otherwise searched for a chance to slink away.

He wanted to see how normal dragons lived, after all.