Den of Seyahn (aka Sean)

Note 2023: Original page made long ago, also pages 2-10 included... so it's pretty long. Also all their kids are included. So Sapadt, and 4 or 6 kids...

Sean at age 15 or so in her humanoid phase

Training to be a healer, dragon healer or whatever else she can make herself useful around riders.

Born in Ablan - though the Pernese version not Zekiran - moved to Paniya, and finally moved to her real homeworld.

They almost threw the baby out with the bathwater! When the midwife and healer saw this child that had killed her mother in birth, they were both tempted to claim that she'd died along with Sayran. But her father Anyar couldn't help but hear her loud protests when she came into the world.

They blocked him from seeing her, until he pushed both the aged healer and the squat midwife aside. With shock registering on his face, they looked at each other from behind him, as if to claim 'I thought as much, he hates her'. But instead of refusing the child, the old Holder nodded deeply and gave a bit of a grunt.

"She's the oddest child I think I've ever seen. But then, perhaps her mother brought this on herself..." Anyar was old, and so was his consort Sayran. Almost past childbearing age-- perhaps that had killed her. They lived among the tall snow covered peaks some days travel away from Ablan's valley. The healers there would know what to do with such a child, and as the Holder raised his odd little girl to his head she let out quite a wailing.

With his eye winced shut -- and wishing that he could do the same for his ears -- Anyar nodded again. "We will deliver this child to the Healers at Ablan and let them keep her fostered. I ... am too old to do it, and ... Sayran is no longer with me to help. I think this is my last child, my friends..."

The girl struggled but finally accepted a swaddling bundle and curled her hand around her father's finger. So pale, her skin was! And her hair! But what amazed the group the most were the bright red marks over her eyes. As if two blood-soaked fingertips had brushed against her in the womb, against her snow-pale skin they were vibrant.

And when this child opened her eyes, they were a brilliant green, not the pale blue of her mother, nor even the darker hazel of her Holder father. But her wide, flat nose and the grip she had on her father's finger told him that this was indeed one of his. That, he chuckled while walking slowly around the cothold of his own birth, and her huge feet! They ran in his family and would continue to run in it so long as this last living daughter of his continued it.

***

As a young child, Seyahn terrorized her cothold. Every time she visited home, the maids and drudges ducked for cover and played whirlwind-tamers to her frantic examination of every single thing in the hold. The hillside which covered the cothold served her best though as a place to sit and listen to her father tell stories of her older siblings. She was never to meet any of them: more often than not the endings of their stories were sad ones. But he had sired a line of dragon riders, of crafters and most happily in his eyes, of healers and harpers. That his own parents came from small cotholds and mostly poor beginnings, Anyar did them proud before they themselves passed between.

"Why are the dragons here?" Seyahn asked her father, pointing.

"There are no dragons here, my child," the elderly Holder announced, but Seyahn tugged on his shoulder and pointed into the air. There in the cloudless but frigid mountain sky, were three dragons flying in a wing formation overhead. With surprise, Anyar tossled his daughter's white hair and chuckled. "Well, that's one bet I've lost, eh! You want to meet them, don't you."

"They're landing," she said, sure. The trio of dragons were far away, still, but they did appear to have slowed their progress through the sky. Anyar licked his lips, and hoped that his last daughter did not go the way of... He sighed. What could he do?

He hugged his daughter to him, and whispered into her ear, "when you fly, and go between, you will greet them. Do them honor, my daughter... Do them honor."

And though she did not understand at the time what he meant, she listened and kept those words with her forever.

The dragonriders landed in the wide hillside area near the cothold, and one of them got down from his brown dragon. He approached and was greeted cheerily by Seyahn and with a hesitant but respectful salute by the Holder.

While he and the Holder discussed something, Seyahn zoomed over to the dragons. There was a blue, green and brown in this small wing. They seemed quite different from one another, perhaps from different weyrs. The green rider laughed and told Seyahn to go ahead and scratch her dragon's eye ridge, and from that moment on, Seyahn could not think of anything else.

Her father did not speak about the search riders, after then, but wrote in his journal which she would find many years later. He told her of their insistance that even at a great distance, and even as a four-turn old child, this would be a great rider.

***

"Hand me that stitching box, quick!" Seyahn yelled and the nearest apprentice scurried to assist. A dragon had fallen over Ablan while Thread was coming down out of sequence. So isolated was this place that the dragon could never have flown back to his weyr, and the rider had too been scored deeply across the leg. He would be remaining in the healer's hall at Ablan for quite some time. The dragon, however, howled in pain.

"Please calm down... We know he's hurt, but you can't help him by bellowing so much!" Seyahn said, as she coated the blue's wounded shoulder with numbweed and began stitching together the flesh. Her training as a healer had prepared her for many things, but for some reason she simply knew what to do with this dragon, while the rest of the Ablanese healer hall folk stood by in awe. Most of them had never been this close to a dragon, before.

"Seyahn, the rider is resting. He's not come to his senses yet, though." One of the Journeymen told her, as she dropped tiredly to the ground.

"You see?" She looked up at the blue. His angry red eyes turned more orange and then finally to a more mellow shade of grey-green. He was worried, obviously, but he was no longer panicking. Seyahn patted his leg and told him to rest. Only then did she thank the Journeyman for telling her the news about the rider.

Later, when the rider had awoken and his leg was obviously healing, he called Seyahn into the small warm room.

"I've been told that you're the one who patched up Onronth. He's been blabbering about the 'white one' all sevenday. Thank you very much for keeping him from doing something ... bad."

"He was frightened for you," Seyahn said, almost off hand.

"You can hear him, can't you?" The rider asked, and she nodded.

"Yes, of course," she answered. "Why?"

The rider blinked. Surely she wasn't this innocent?

"Because ... well, only the riders usually hear their dragon. They don't go blabbering to everyone around them. And only certain human people can hear dragons at all, let alone... Anyone's dragon."

Seyahn jolted a bit. "You mean that's special? I thought..." She smiled to herself. "I thought everyone could. I had read my father's journals about my older siblings, and they were all quite special then. Many of the riders claimed they could hear more than just their own."

"I've heard that your father was a special man, himself," the rider said. "But... you should come to Istabitha's weyr when I'm healed. I've heard they have an opening for a very special hatching. I think..." he looked at her the way that said to her 'he's watching my skin again'. "That a special girl like you ought to attend."

She did so, and what she found.......

Seyahn wandered around Istabitha's weyr long enough to get stared at, watched and even curiously followed by some of the youngest weyrbrats. It was her unusual skin and hair, probably.

Doubtless.

She wandered down into the lowest section of the weyr, and then found herself in a huge cavern which at first looked like a hatching sands. But it was very cold. Almost frozen over! It was as if a snowdrift had replaced the sands which usually kept eggs warm and snug.

But what was this? She did see an egg! In fact, there was another nearby it. Only a couple of them, though. Mostly white eggs, snowy white like their surroundings. She dared to reach out and touch the one she'd first spied.

Curiosity thrilled her, the touch of the egg was warm! It wasn't frigid at all, it was almost as if it heated itself!

"Oh, I wonder what's in here..." She said, her voice echoing in the large, frozen cavern.  "It couldn't possibly be a dragon. It's much too cold in here. Maybe a tunnel snake. But... this egg is much too large for that." she sighed.

Sitting down, the cold never really bothered her, she watched the eggs for a long time. Then, to her amazement, the one she'd touched began to rock back and forth! A strange chiming song came through the chill air in the cavern, and she realized that it was a host of fire lizards which lined the tall walls! They sang, as if the hatching were really going to take place right here and now!

To her delight, the egg began rolling around on the snowy base. She had to dodge it lest it roll right over her!

Then suddenly, Seyahn had to cover her face, as the egg began to shatter down the middle! Pieces of it flew into the air and landed in the soft frost on the ground, and the inside of the egg seemed to steam! Then, out came...

...The white parts of the dragon were so bright, like her own skin. Seyahn looked on in amazement as the dragon that came from the egg looked around and chirped more like a fire lizard than anything else. Then, Seyahn noticed that the white dragon had a brilliant strip of green down her back, from nose to tail! And, that there were vibrant red tips on her wings, all along the edges. The same color as the birthmarks on Seyahn's forehead! She went to embrace this miracle, and was rewarded by the warm breath of the dragon chuffing out a laugh.

I am your Ajandeykth. Your gift in this season. I fear I will not be very big, nor very easy to explain... But I love you.

"Oh, Ajan! You're the best gift in the world!" Cried Seyahn, as she led the dragon away into warmer climes and to find some meat to feed her!

When Ajandeykth and Sean had grown a bit, they wandered around the weyrs of Pern during another Winter season. And when they found themselves at Cincanta Weyr, they located a stall selling very unusual Holiday filt eggs! After a heated barter session, Sean's egg was about to hatch!

Little green and red-brown ("wow, is it male or female?" asked Sean,) HollyLeaf came from the egg!

(( Had been page sean-2.htm))

Sean twiddled her thumbs, and thought about her life so far. She'd been a lot of places, really. She'd seen many things. But nothing like what she saw in her mind now.

Considering how her memories started out - she'd gone a long way since then. She could hardly believe that she once thought she'd only ever amount to a dragon healer. Now look at her.

The Kshau Protectorate's little move from the old world to the place called Alskyr almost caught her off guard. But she could hear dragons thoughts - and she knew something was about to happen. She prepared with Ajandeykth and then one day, abruptly, the place she'd been living wasn't where it used to be.

The sky was brighter, with no looming threat of a great seething red eyesore going through the air any more. The air was very crisp, sea-air. But while the Protectorate flipped through space and time, in the Nexus between worlds, Sean had seen something odd. Something which made her change.

Everything about her changed, in that Nexus moment. She caught a glimpse of her mother, who was not as she supposed, a frail old woman - but instead this was a woman of power, pride, and beauty. And - she was a rabbit.

Apparently, so was her father, but no one knew that. And still, back on the old world, no one would. Nor would they know that nearly a third of the Kshau riders and their kin had somehow gained fur, tails, feathers, horns... Where had these features come from? Why?

Ajandeykth looked on, curiously, as her rider flittered from one idea to the next.

There was a steady sound of her softly padded feet across wooden floor, as she paced.

"But if we were this way, why didn't anyone know? If we weren't, why these shapes? Hmn. And who can I ask? Everyone seems to think they're just fine the way they are. I like this," she examined her furry skin, brilliant white hair and red tipped ears. "A lot. But it's just weird."

Perhaps it is just the way you ought to have been all along. Like that Shard fellow - he's blue. No one cares, but he is. His dragon Jeremoth told me that he was quite nervous about whether people would still like him even though he was blue. I think he's fine.

"I bet you do. And no, you and Jeremoth are not going to have a flight. Are you?" Sean sternly looked at the white and marked dragon.

No. Not yet. He is still rather taken with that green. It's all right. I have had my mates. I will have others. As will you.

At that, Sean blushed. But she continued to pace. "And I can feel something more about me, can you sense it?"

That you are meant for more than just healing? Yes, I can. It is a strong force in you. A force to attack, as well as defend. That is a good balance. She nodded, and looked out over her ledge. Do you want to stay here? I like it here, but you are restless. There are things you want to do.

"You know I do, I love it here. Mama Tani's cliffs are great for roosting. But..." Sean glanced at the sea from the dragon's ledge. "But there is more out there. And not on this world. It's somewhere else, where I need to be just now."

Then let us ride. I can take you where you want to be, remember? Even though I am not large, I am still your closest friend. And I can fly strongly. For hours or days. She stood up and opened her wings, fanning them to get herself ready for flight.

"Oh Aja..." Sean said. The mating flights she'd been in were quite fabulous, and it was true, Ajandeykth could go for hours! Her solid wings were quite sturdy and her small frame could handle long stints in the air. But this was to be different - the Nexus was a deeply cold and infinitely large place. "Let me get some things. I might need them."

***

When Sean had packed up a pair of travel bags with healing supplies, some clothing, and a few reminders of her life, she took a good look at the sky, sea and sun. On a thought, she scribbled a number on the wall beside the ledge: 23.

Why that number? Why not just 1?

"Because, that's the number of dragons that I've ... lost." Sean drew herself up, "no more. Not one more."

Ajandeykth felt the pride and the strength from her bond, and echoed it. We will fly into the Nexus, and come out where you want to be. I know we will do it right.

"Okay. Let's go, then." Sean said. She concentrated on that number, the crumble of the stone around the edge of their ledge, and the smell of the ocean. Then, blinking her huge green eyes, Sean mounted up and they took off.

The shimmer of sunlight over the ocean was dazzling, but was shortly replaced by the blackness of the Nexus. Since Sean was sensitive to such things, she could feel the minds and souls of many dragons and their riders. Drifting forever - these souls would never inhabit bodies again, some of them wanted to.

Some of them had been banished, some were injured beyond repair, and precious few of them grew old and passed on without a fuss. Very few of those. All of them seemed quite interested in Sean and her dragon. They felt a flight of dead dragons and riders, pressing around them.

That is an odd little dragon there. I have never seen its like.

It seems colorful. Why is it more than one color like that?

I think it is deformed. Look how small it is!

Oh shut up you. They are travelers. And they're going to be offended!

"We're not offended, it's nothing we haven't heard before," Sean said, oddly able to speak almost properly while in the Nexus. "I am looking for a place to ..."

You are looking for yourself, I think.

"Yes, that's it..." Sean was mystefied. This small pale blue seemed to know her thoughts. But then again, she knew many dragons thoughts, so they were even.

Then stop here for a minute, and you might find something of interest...

***

They flew over a half-barren landscape, after exiting the Nexus. It was a parched, arid land. There were trees, but they were tall and used to little water. Their tops fanned out and provided a bit of shelter from the bright sun. Off in the distance was a smallish gathering of huts and a larger brick and stone building. It didn't look much like anyone was there, when they flew over once.

Then, as they came around for another closer look, a blast of flame erupted from ...

"That - person just shot something at us!" Sean yelled, as though Ajandeykth wasn't aware of that fact herself. The dragon sharply turned, and Sean realized that she was very quick in the air. Almost enough to snap her neck.

That person is also a rabbit, like you! Ajandeykth bespoke, without astonishment or fear. Once she sees you, I think it will be all right.

"Then ... take us down, but outside their reach. I don't want to be burnt alive." Sean said. They came to a stall over a large stone formation, which Sean landed upon dismounting, and then she carefully lept to the ground below. Several people came running at her, from the village.

Sean wisely put her hands into the air, barely away from her huge mop of bright hair. When the group of people neared, she saw that indeed, they were all like herself: upright, big-haired rabbit folk.

Had she come home? Or was this just some strange trick?

The people there were just as stunned to see her. Wide-eyed, and approaching with caution, they came to within a few yards, and put their weapons down.

"You have a dragon," said one, the bushy-haired grisley-grey female, "we thought you were attacking us. I'm sorry I shot at you..."

There was a strange tone in her voice, when she added, "Sean Akegata, bringer of the dawn... you have come back to us." The woman lowered her head, and the others did likewise.

Sean blinked, wondering ... wondering how in the world they knew her name, and what was this dawn stuff about? She found herself waving her hand at them, "please don't do that... Why are you doing that?"

"Our land has been ravaged," said one tall lanky girl with black feet and hands, and her nose was similarly dark. "It's the demons - they seem to love killing our crops, our men..."

Just about then, Sean realized that not one of the people around her were male - every one of them was a female. One was extremely old, many were about middle aged, but had the look of weariness about them. Only a few were very young - they kept coming from the village buildings. All in all, around twenty or so young and old women arrived to see their 'savior'.

Sean was numb. This was where she wanted to be?

It is where you were needed, came a ghostly voice from the Nexus. Sean shot a glance vaguely up and to the right, where she almost felt the dragon's spirit floating.

"... Demons?" Sean finally caught up with the conversation. Several people tried to answer, but Sean waved her hands and looked back to the gristled older woman. "Could you and I please have a talk? I'm ... not really sure about why I'm here, but I will do what I can. I'm a healer after all."

That brought some strange looks and even a gasp or two from the group. Sean paused, but the older woman led her around to the far side of Ajandeykth's landing rock.

"Sean - that is your name, is it not?" She asked. Sean nodded, "good. There have been prophesies of your arrival for generations, and we were begining to lose hope that you'd come."

"But..." Sean started to say, and then Aja decided to butt in. You and I have traveled through time and infinite space, Sean. It is possible that we will tell them in the past, to expect us in the future.

Sean turned and looked at the striped-nose of her dragon. "You amaze me sometimes," she whispered and blue Aja a kiss. Then she turned her attention on the woman.

***

"So, if we get rid of the demons, we can try re-cultivating the crops. I mean," Sean looked at the dirt, "it's almost what I'd call a total loss. Why haven't you moved?"

"We were waiting for you," said someone. Sean grew gently embarrassed, but there was nothing she could do now. She was here and she would help.

"And your men are all pretty much fighting or captured..." Sean muttered, pacing around again like she had been in her den on Paniya. "Surely you know some kind of defenses, you've held out this long."

"We all have some kind of magic about us," said Haiiro, the older woman. "But you are meant to have the most. We ... did not know that you were a healer."

"I... I'm a healer by trade," she held up her hands. "But since the move from the old world, and my ... change," she glanced at herself, having explained briefly that all was not furry in her past, "I've been able to work healing directly, by concentrating on it. I can still sense people and dragons - and I guess animals or whatever."

It didn't seem like that would be enough. But Sean tried to maintain a cheerful, positive attitude. She was after all, the only one here who could really just up and leave.

But she wouldn't. Sean approached each member of their community (the adults, mostly) and asked them what their special talent for magic might be. They had a collection of pyrokinetics, some who could manipulate the air currents, one who had a bit of talent with plants, and some who could perform ritual spells that required words and motion.

Apparently that was the hard part, because learning which words were the right ones was hard to do - and quite expensive if one could even find a school. Their learning had come at quite a cost already. The demons would attack, take prisoners, and then leave carcasses or victims. If there was anything growing in the ground, they would char it into ash.

"I think the first thing to do is establish who is strongest in what field, and have them teach the others to use their power better." Sean said. By this time, four weeks into her stay, Sean had grown lean from a bit of hunger, and Aja was hunting farther away than she liked.

"I want to know these words and motions," Sean said. "Magic is hard to come by on my world, either of them. So I wonder if it'll be easier here."

Haiiro and her two close friends Nendai and Fuji would train Sean in their attack and defense spells. For another week or more of intense training, everyone began to come together. Their whole village was becoming stronger inside. The children were assigned the task of collecting food, under the watchful gaze of Ajandeykth who would protect them should danger come.

And danger did come. Three tall creatures with black skin and strange bones sticking out in odd places swooped down from the sky, and Sean swore she saw a blackness that resembled the Nexus around them when they did so. She barked out orders, this set of flame fighters let off a few blasts to make sure the demons knew they were spotted. That group of defensive mages laid out a net of shielding over the plots of land and their structures. Aja lay her broad wings flat over the children, they hadn't gotten the chance to come in under the protection spells.

Sean watched with a snarl on her face as the trio of demons dodged the worst of the blasts. But one of them was hit, and injured.

"Now," Sean said to her warriors. The six of them, including herself, let a barrage of power words come from their mouths and shattered the bones of one still in the air. It floated badly, tumbling down to the ground where it impacted with a dusty thud. The burnt one tried to collect him, but was chased off by another round of fire.

The third looked down on this with a great distaste visible on its face. It summoned its injured friend, and they left their third to die.

"And now we see what these things are really made of," Sean grimly said, as she approached the prone form of the black-skinned demonic creature.

***

It had come to only to find that it was surrounded by an unfriendly sisterhood. It confessed that it was merely playing in an area that they had been given by their lord. Their recreation was sanctioned by some king or other. These lands, they were meant to belong to a dead creature, one which hadn't stirred in generations.

"Hmn," Sean said, "kind of like how the prophesies of me coming here were generations ago."

It grunted before it died, trying to figure out why it had to be the one to get left in the dead lord's lands...

Sean paced. That night she determined to find out who this lord was, and who the king was who allowed his demonic watchdogs to play here. Somehow.

Maybe... maybe through the Nexus? Somehow she knew that it was a link. She remembered the dragons talking about a blue rider, T'shen, who could speak to the dead without being in the Nexus itself.

So if he could do it, and she was already hearing voices all her life, she thought ... why not?

She sat in a calm, relaxed pose. She tried to clear her mind of the voices, but there were still quite a few people around. When they had finally fallen asleep, she discovered that there were other, quieter voices here.

The voices of the dead. Soldiers, farmers, mages, kings. One king, she was interested in. One alone.The one whose lands this used to be, one who had some strange hesitation in his voice.

Sean closed her eyes, and thought she saw faces, as afterimages, dancing before her. There was only a flickering candle in the room with her, so she trusted her vision.

"Lord of these lands... I don't even know your name. But if you come near me, I can hear you better." She said. She wasn't sure if there was some formality she was forgetting, something that she ought to do to protect herself from spirits. But she had no such things, and she summoned him to her side anyway.

He appeared, tall and gaunt like the demons, but he had been handsome, and rather human. No long ears, no tail, and Sean doubted that his pale skin had ever sprouted fur. He had whisps of hair still on his head, and while she looked at him, he seemed to grow younger and fuller-fleshed. His grey-blue eyes danced over her, and his drawn face moved into a smile.

"You have come back," he said, "back to me at last. Are you teaching them yet?"

"How am I meant to teach these people anything? I don't even know their own spells!" Sean said, almost bursting into tears. It was like everyone - everyone! - expected her to be some kind of miracle worker. This man knew her, obviously she'd been to him - would go to him in her future... this past... It was so confusing.

He crouched, and Sean got the feeling that he really was there in the room with her. There was a chill, a very deep, bone-bending kind of cold, that came with him. The chill of almost one hundred years of death.

"Sean," he said, "you told me you would be able to help them."

"I did - we just fended off some demons, and I got the name of someone I'd like to ... well, someone I'd like to kill. I would give them a piece of my mind, but I don't think that would be enough."

"And if you kill this person, would the sisterhood there prosper?"

"... If someone else replaced him, they could be worse, you mean?" Sean asked, and the apparition nodded.

"But I have a better plan..." He said, and stood. "I will tell you where to go, and what you must find. If you bring me back to life, I will guarantee your sisterhood will prosper. They might even have some of their men back if they still live in the cities..."

Sean's markings puckered, as she furrowed her eyebrows. "... You want me to bring you back to life. Is that possible?"

He turned to look at her, and there was a bemused, almost soft expression on his gaunt face. "Sean, you almost did before. You will do this thing. I understand now, that you have not met me until this time. And when next, I will be the one who will require explanation."

He smiled - it was half terrifying, because he was still skeletal in form - but Sean understood at last. She got instructions, memorized them as only a dragon rider could do. She would go back into time, meet him again for the first time, gather the books and tools needed... Then come back here. It would leave him disappointed, but he knew that he would meet her again.

***

"I'm so never doing this again," Sean gasped, panting beside Ajandeykth. The dragon chuckled and folded her wing around her rider.

It is all right. You got everything. Now we must prepare to leave again.

Their mission had been successful, if a bit more dangerous than Sapadt had led her to believe. But then, in the hundred or so years he'd been dead, things had changed a bit. He sent her to a library first - one which was heavily guarded. She had to invent a kind of invisibility spell to protect herself there. She got a few books, then Sean got out of there. They were stashing these things in the future, but not the same location as the Sisterhood's village.

Then, a series of herbs and ointments had to be found. They were difficult, because Sean didn't know what any of them were, did, looked like or smelled of. But Sapadt's descriptions were adequate and she didn't make any mistakes. And lastly, a bunch of odd items like leather and bone, sinue, dried blood, that sort of thing.

It was a nasty business, this necromancy.

But Sean knew that there would be a point to it. Sapadt had assured her - he knew that it didn't seem like much, his word for it, but he would be indebted to her at least for this. He'd wanted revenge for so long, on the peoples who stole his land from him and turned it into a waste, that he would do anything to keep it now.

Sean clung on to Aja's neck and they flew back to their stash. She assembled it, and then brought it again, to the Sisterhood's village.

To them, only about a week had gone by. But what a week! They had continued to practice and work the soil more diligently now that they knew they would be hanging on to it. The sense of pride that came from defending their own territory made them stronger.

They had needed that strength too. For another venture of three demons flew in.

But this time, the Sisterhood had some help of their own. Okay - it made two of the children faint dead away, and caused one adult to puke her guts out. But Sapadt wanted to prove that he was a friend and not just some crazy dead spirit.

So he reanimated the long-dead creatures that had been resting under the dusty soils of the village. There were warriors, this had been a battlefield more than once. They took the demons more by surprise than anything else. That left them open to the Sisterhood's attacks.

Sean was proud of them. And, she was afraid. What if she didn't do this ritual right?

Her fears drifted away, she could sense Sapadt's presense nearby. To anyone else it would have been unnerving, but she would rather have him near to tell her that she was messing up, before she ruined everything for him.

It was a dark night, the world they were on had two moons, but neither was visible this night. Sean's vision was sharp, though, and the trio of candles that she had burning nearby lit the scene well enough. There were two large piles of stuff, about as wide apart as outstretched arms could reach. Between them, sinue and leather, shards of bone, and the dusty scrapings of the blood of ... well, it was Sapadt's blood. He'd been murdered in a palace room not frequented by many. But that was so long ago. No one had bothered to really scrub up the place, so when Sean got there she found his bones, his sinue.

One of the sisters came near the door of the low roofed hut, gently tapped the door with her fuzzy foot. "We'll be outside, and... if anything happens to go wrong, we'll be here. It's okay."

"Thanks," Sean said. "Now, I don't think anyone's supposed to disturb me for this..."

"Don't worry. I don't think there are any volunteers." She chuckled and Sean heard the soft sound of the young woman walking away.

Sean relaxed herself, rounded her shoulders, and began to chant.

***

The ancient words felt hard, stiff, almost like broken metal, as they came from Sean's mouth. But though they left her with the aftertaste of burning bone and rotten eggs, she continued. When she needed to cut her hand to enliven the blood on the floor, she did not hesitate. She'd seen so much blood and fixed so many wounds, it was nothing to her to see her own blood dripping down.

She halfway paused, when the first drop of her blood impacted the dust of Sapadt's. It plumed up, darkly, and lingered as a ribbon in the air, as though it were the smoke from incense.

Then, Sean continued. Long into the night, until almost day break, she chanted, moved things around, set things aflame, and put her own spit, blood and tears into the matter.

When she awoke, having been exhausted at what she hoped was the end of the ritual, she groggily saw a shape above her. She winced on waking, but it didn't attack. When she could focus, she did so and saw a slender, handsome human man with a smile lingering on his face, looking down at her.

His hair was a golden color, but it was hard to make out because the sun was hitting it. He really was there.

Crying, Sean reached up. Her arms were so tired, sore from lifting and balancing things, and her hands hurt from the many small incisions she'd made in them the night before. But she wrapped her arms around Sapadt tightly, and trembled when he embraced her back.

He whispered into her long ear, "you did it. Thank you."

He kissed her neck, and Sean took in a quick breath. "I -- is it, uh-" she stammered, and he stopped, with a smile on his face.

"I'll stop. Sorry. It has been a bit... lonely, being dead." He admitted. Sean laughed, nervous but relieved, and hugged him again.

"Then, don't stop, my pale man. Don't stop."

***

Sapadt could still control the dead. That much was obvious when yet another group of demons attacked at noon the day after his ressurection. It exhausted him, but dozens of skeletal creatures grabbed at the demons legs and tails, as they were brought low by the Sisterhood's now-expert attacks.

"The palace will be ours," Sapadt announced, as the last of the four creatures went down and were subsumed by the skeletons. "And you will have your lands back as they were before this war that brought me down."

Though they were certainly grateful, the women of the village didn't go near the man. He was human, for one thing, and humans meant danger or death to this group. Sean didn't realize that - she had after all been human, so she didn't know at all how many times they'd been forced out of their homes, or hurt, or raped, by them. But now, here was one who promised them the same things as their ancestors had. That Sean would deliver their land, and that they would become prosperous again.

Sean and Sapadt felt that the sisterhood could take care of themselves, by now, at least for the time being. They had to go to the city beyond the hills, to get into the palace and destroy the king.

That would be difficult, but not impossible. She'd gotten in once, and Sapadt knew entrances that might still be there, that none else alive had ever seen.

It was one of those that they used to get in. By the light of one mostly full moon, they crept through a corridor that lay behind the throne room and waited. They could see through grillwork that all they would have to do is break through it, and they'd be upon the king.

He arrived at dawn, smugly talking to himself and chuckling about his latest conquest of a little township that had been holding out on his tax-collectors. He plopped into the throne, heavy and full of himself.

Sean saw murder in Sapadt's eyes. Sapadt explained to her during their flight to the palace city, that this man was the young nephew of the one who'd replaced the man who had killed him. No one else was alive, that knew him then. It seemed a little distant, but then again, this king on his over-glitzed throne had ordered a dozen children killed because they were 'thieves and beggars' the day before.

Sean felt no hint of remorse when she helped Sapadt break the grille, nor when she kept the guards from entering the room as Sapadt smacked the king around. He liked his new body - he'd been killed in his prime, not as an old man or youth - and he was intent on using it properly.

Sapadt was strong, healthy, handsome. And in the end, this king of his was nothing but a fat angry usurper.

Who had an army of demons.

***

The first thing they had to do was dismiss those demons. It was hard work. They claimed they came with the territory, but Sapadt knew better. They were summoned by the man who'd killed him, and that was how he claimed any control over the city in those days. Now, they were just thugs. And, they didn't much like consorting with the dead, undead or these silly witches with the ears.

So they left.

Eventually, when the city stopped hyperventilating and worrying itself to pieces, Sapadt came to speak on the ledge of the palace that overlooked a wide square. No one had done that in decades - because they were afraid of being killed by something. Either the crowd by the guards, or the king from angry peasants...

Not so, Sapadt. His brilliant eyes matched his smile, as he looked down at the people of his city. Four generations separated them, but still, they knew their true lord when they saw him.

"The townships of Elpan, DeFarra, and the Usagi Shimai, are no longer under the control of the Gelgelan lordship," he announced, "but they will remain under my protection until they are again self-sufficient. Until such time as they are needed as tax providers, they will no longer be taxed." There was a pause, while the people of this city, Gelgela, realized what that meant. "I will want a full census of those living in the Gelgelan region, before any other decisions are made. I want to assure you all that the dark days of your former king are over and done with. No more demons to guard you against speaking, and no more theft of your goods claimed as 'taxation'."

A cheer began to spread. Sean watched as Sapadt basked in this. He loved it - it was what he had been born to, and she could see it. He turned to her, she'd been lurking in the corner of the ledge with some other officials (the commerce director, a pair of priests, that kind of thing). He held his hand out, and she finally took it.

This city was filled with humans, and the sight of the long-eared big-haired girl was enough to all but silence them. "This young girl, Sean Akegata of the Usagi Shimai, has made this all possible." He glanced at her, smiling. He was quite tall, her ears barely went over his head when they stood up. She moved them around, they betrayed more of her emotions than her face did. "And I would like you all to welcome her as my wife, if she would have herself by my side?"

Sean's heart skipped a beat. She blinked, and while some of the people assembled below threw curses at the long-eared inhuman witch, most of them decided that their king ought to have a queen - and why not one like her?

"Well the decision is in," Sean whispered, indicating the crowd's reaction. "I ... I'm all for it, I think."

Sapadt smiled fiercely, but not in a way that made her worry. It wasn't a conquest, but it was a victory none the less, for him.

***

"Do you think you'll ever want to visit Alskyr with me?" Sean asked, "I mean, it's really pretty."

Sapadt tilted his head, and looked at Ajandeykth. "Well, I'd say yes, but your poor dragon has had enough of me for a while."

I'll say! Aja trumpeted a bit. He weighs a ton!

"I do not weigh a ton," Sapadt muttered with a grin. "Now, you take good care of her. I know you will."

"I'll be back before you know it," Sean said. "I just want to collect some things, and I'll be here for good."

King and queen, Sapadt and Sean embraced. He looked at her seriously, though, and kissed her fuzzy nose. "You'll still want to travel. I think there is something left in you that wants to."

"I'll still come back here," she said.

They flew up, over the palace which had been opened up a bit in the last year. There were markets with banners to see from the air, happier people than the place had seen in years. Then Sean and Ajandeykth went back to Paniya.

The visit only lasted for less than a week, as Sean explained to everyone she knew what had happened. Mama Tani was overjoyed - she'd had gold riders born to her, and fostered many leaders of wings, but ... never a queen, really.

Sean packed up her remaining things - and on her way out saw the scribble of her last visit - 23.

It would be there, still... If she needed to come back. She'd know how long to wait, so that the people here weren't confused by her arrival again and again.

Then, they went back to Gelgela.

It was short work to get all of Sean's things into her spacious quarters. While she was setting up, and deciding that she wanted to run a healer's shop in addition to whatever strange work being a queen could be, it also came into her head that ... she ought to take Sapadt out on one of her jaunts. He would be able to come back without ever really having left so far as anyone else knew.

Over the next few months, then, Sean convinced him to come along on one more flight. She goaded him by telling him she thought he was afraid of heights, that's why he didn't want to fly.

"It's that Aja is not really... big!" He swore up and down. "But ... if you say you want to take me somewhere, all right, let's go. I think I can trust you." He smiled again, that beautiful kingly smile of his. "But where are we going?"

"What king shouldn't be aided by dragons?" Sean said, as she felt him slide up close to her on Aja's neck. He suddenly went all stiff on her.

"W... what?" He stammered. "I can't do that! I don't have -"

"I have time, you have time. And besides, if Aja is going to be here I don't want her to be alone. Don't you think it'd be best to have at least a companion for her?"

"You want to use me to get a dragon?" Sapadt said, unsure. He was going to add something more, when Aja took off and headed through the Nexus.

Sean felt Sapadt go quite cold, when they were there. "Worried?" She asked, and he hugged on to her closely.

"It's ... not a place I want to keep visiting. I'm never sure how the dead I manipulate feel about it, and I'm not keen to find out."

"Don't worry about them. Concentrate on where we land." Sean assured him.

When they came out from the Nexus, it was over a brilliantly lit glade, surrounded by green hills and a sea that went on forever.

"You see how pretty it is?" Sean said. "It's called Lantessama. I heard of it through the Nexus dragons. I want to look around a bit. Okay?"

"While I do exactly what?" Sapadt asked, as they landed. "I mean, I hardly know my way around this place."

"There is the person you want to talk to," she indicated someone who approached at a quick clip. "Tell her who you are, and that I brought you! I want to look at these... oh, they're so pretty..." Sean said, of a huge patch of flowers.

Sean found herself wandering about, admiring the strange dragons they had here, and checking out the local food. When she passed by a little stall in one market, a dark skinned woman in a turban beckoned her close.

"You have the look about you of a special occasion..." She said, strangely touching Sean's face and shoulders. Her eyes (well, her eye - one seemed to be glossed over with a cataract) drifted down to her midsection. "And, there is why. You be careful with your work, girl - you don't want to lose this gift of yours..."

Her gnarled hands hovered over Sean's belly. "... I'm - I'm," she said.

"Of course. And I won't even make a silly joke about you bein' a rabbit or anything either." She winked, and sent Sean on her way.

Her way turned into a steep walk, until she got to a garden. There, she saw a bit of a dark nook, and walked through it. The air was cool and dry, and she walked down the corridor for quite a ways before it opened up again into a large cavern.

There were pastel colored eggs, on a pile of sand. "Eggs. Hmn -" she said. "I wonder whose these are!" Then she giggled. "One of them might be for your daddy," she said to her stomach. Her tummy wasn't any bigger than it had been before, but ... somehow she knew.

"Would you like to ... oh - say, you should come right over here and sign up, miss," said a young man. "The Easter eggs are here and well, you're just right for them."

Sean's red eyebrow lifted up, and she faintly wondered what Easter was. And, why she'd be perfect for it. She signed up, and then wandered away. What had she gotten herself into now?

"They've said I'm to stand, there is a clutch," Sapadt said, when she ran into him in the hallways of the cavernous place. He sounded both confused and excited. "And where have you been?"

"I've... I've been to another nest, I think I'm going to be getting a dragon as well..." She waved off Aja's annoyed muttering in her mind.

"Then we're both going to be here a while. This will be... interesting..." Sapadt said, "and they've given us quarters, if we need them. We do need them, right?"

Sean nodded.

"Sean, what's the matter? You were so keen to be here a while ago. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, my love. Just a little something that you've done is all." She said, looking away. She couldn't hide her grin, though.

"Wha- what is it? I'll fix it, what can I -"

"We're going to have a baby, Sapadt, you and I!" She giggled. She all but lept into his arms, and so they celebrated in their quarters until late in the evening.

Aja snuck into their place - she was small enough to reach it through the exterior corridors. She merely wanted to be with her rider. They would be a bigger family than they had been before, once they left Lantessama!

(Originally page sean-3.htm)

Sean tapped her fingers against her teeth. This waiting was not going to make her nervous. Really. Her husband was off in another part of the Isle, checking out the riding gear or something. But there was something about this easter egg thing that was putting Sean on edge.

She wasn't sure what exactly it was.

It is just you being nervous, Ajandeykth commented, and rolled into the sun that streamed down onto her ledge.

"Oh, hush up." Sean said.

Eventually, after a couple days of this, Sean and Sapadt went to sleep and Sean's dreams were very queer indeed. She thought there were things slipping beside her, then running away, hiding.

When they were awakened Aja gave off a little trumpet. Today is the day the eggs will hatch!

"That's right!" Sean said, excitedly. Lucas, the guy in charge of having created these Easter eggs in the first place, agreed.

He paced around because the eggs were missing from their sandy nest - but Sean thought that might not be so out of the ordinary. After all she'd read up on the tradition, and someone must have hidden the eggs.

"So let's go find those eggs!" Lucas yelled and everyone was off in their own direction looking.

Sean found one after using her keen eyesight and spotting it among the grasses on the little isle in the lake. But how would she get there? She knew no one else had seen it, yet at least.

"Aja!" She called out, and the little Christmas dragon flew to her side. Perhaps others might think she was cheating, but someone else was using her flitter to search so this couldn't be out of the ordinary. "I need to get to the island in the middle of the lake!"

She climbed onto Aja's small shoulders, and they flew over the lake. There, Aja's small size came in handy as she delicately landed and Sean picked the egg up. But what next?

Sean was pleased when the egg broke in half, to reveal a cute red colored bunny-dragon! She was little, and Aja nuzzled her new friend.

I'm Sundai! The dragonet said, obviously female, and obviously pretty pleased about herself.

"Can you fly, Sundai?" Sean asked, but then realized that she didn't have wings.

Oh well. Nothing for it, but to swim across and hope that the bunnydragon could cross with her. Aja wondered why she didn't just have her pick the delicate hatchling up. But then both their worries were solved. Sean felt a zipping of motion beside her, and as she looked back, she didn't see Sundai at all - she only saw a blur. On the other side of the lake, back on the mainland, Sundai perched herself proudly and said, I can't fly, but I can bolt!

Sean continued to swim, getting her fur all soppy wet. Aja laughed, as she came across the lake as well.

I wonder what your husband will think of this development...

"I hope that he isn't bothered by me being one-up on him for dragons," Sean laughed, hugging the little red bunnydragon.

(originally sean-4.htm)

Featuring: Sapadt

(.... yeah this guy was some kinda hot porn dude in the 80s lol sorry, he has his own image below somewhere now)

When Sean and Aja had the time, they went back to visit Sapadt in the barracks. Little Sundai was growing rapidly, but the clutch at the normal sands at Lantessama had yet to hatch. Until ...

Sundai wants to see the hatching, Aja said.

I can speak for myself you know! Sundai stuck her tongue out at the delicate christmas colored dragon.

"Well we can all go, then," Sean laughed. Sapadt bolted out, and Aja followed peacefully after.

"Did you see that?" people said, murmuring at the speed of the bunny dragon. Sean sat up where she could get a good view of the candidates. There were bunches of them, mostly human, but a couple elves and others. And the eggs were shaking pretty well.

The lump in Sapadt's throat that had gathered felt so odd to him. He hadn't felt this way for... well, centuries. The excitement of the hatching was getting to him.

As the eggs started to hatch, he looked not at them, but up at the stands for Sean and her distinctive ears. He found them, alongside the red ones of her little bunnydragon.

Smiling, then he got back to watching. Several dragonets had hatched and bonded, but none had bothered to come to him yet. Then...

Two coppers broke from one egg, which made the hatchlings and eggs match the number of people waiting. The first of the coppers walked directly to Sapadt. He flaired his wings, flapping them hard enough to blow sand at the man's eyes.

"My name is Birth," he said, and then half-distracted, he added, "where are my playmates?"

This took Sapadt by surprise. He had long been a master of the undead, lord over skeletal things and the like... But ... he'd never been a father - not until now, with Sean's pregnancy begining to show. And he'd have to figure out how to play.

Birth would help, that was certain!

"Let's go find them," he said, with confidence. They left the sands, and Sean met them with a big grin on her wide muzzle.

"He's beautiful!" She said, throwing her arms around him. "And you looked so nervous! Now you know what it's like!"

"I know a lot, now," he said, "such as, Birth here is very hungry..."

"That's why they have these," Sean held up a bowl with chunks of hatchling-handy meat.

"Then let's find those others," Sapadt promised the copper who seemed very eager indeed to finish and play.

Sundai, Aja, Sean and many others watched as copper Birth drew his wings wide and flew for the first time. He was powerful, but a bit wobbly in the air.

Birth settled on the ground, and Sapadt lept from his broad shoulders. "That was fantastic," he breathed.

"Great, great," Sean said, there was an odd look on her face just then, pained and concerned.

"Sean, are you -" Sapadt started to say, but one of the nearby healers rushed forward to help.

"She's in labor - we should go up to the infirmary," he said.

"What is labor?" Birth asked, tilting his head.

"It's... um," Sapadt said, not quite knowing what to do. He wanted to answer his dragon, but he also wanted to tend to his wife. His queen - Sean was going to be showing the world that they could in fact have human and kin children.

"I will wait until it's over," Birth said, "Ajan is going to tell me what is happening. Aren't you?"

Of course I am, Aja told him. She butted Sapadt's shoulder, Go on. Be with her. This is her first time, too you know. Go.

The copper was easily twice the size of any given rare dragon, and he was remarkably protective of Sean's baby in addition to his own rider and their other companions. Birth barely let anyone else near Sean when she had brought her baby out the first time.

"You've got to let her out sometimes," Sapadt grumbled. "And we've got to get flying. Now come on. The castle will be waiting."

"I am glad that you have a plan to keep them safe." Birth said. "Otherwise I would have to keep you both away from the masses."

"The masses will have to see the baby too, Birth," Sapadt told his dragon, sternly.

"But -" The dragon started to protest, but Sean herself strode up to the big copper.

"Look, Birth, I'm fine. The baby's fine. See?" She held up the little boy. He had a fine coat of her white fur, soft, with yellow markings in the same place as his mother - but in the blond-color that his father's hair gave him. At barely six months old, he still had bright blue eyes, but neither parent knew how long they would remain that way.

"We're going to the castle now," Sapadt announced to anyone who would listen, they had packed up already and half the Lantessama staff wondered why they were taking so long. Obviously, the protective dragon was part of the reason!

***

When the pair of oddly mismatched riders got home, it was barely a few weeks after they had left. They knew that leaving and coming back immediately would be confusing to people - so they claimed they were on a trip. That trip turned rather interesting.

When not just one white marked dragon came flying back - but three, people below in the city Gelgela almost panicked. But all the dragons - including the little red one which lept deftly from rooftop to rooftop - were eventually welcomed warmly.

First the castle buzzed. Was that a baby in Sean's arms? How in the world could that have happened with those ... creatures? The Usagi Shimai and humans could breed?

Sapadt announced their child had been born while on their trip, a triumph for everyone in the area. He truly wanted to have this event bring together the Usagi and human kind. But obviously there was still a bit of hesitation on everyone's part.

Sean wasn't 'really' one of the Sisterhood, was she? She looked it, but they hardly knew where she really came from. The younger of the Shimai thought the idea was great - they had lost almost all their men - those who were alive and in hiding had come back to the villages after Sapadt reclaimed his throne. But they were mostly middle aged, those who had been younger were uniformly killed or sold as slaves to far off lands. They would probably never be rescued.

So that left the human men. Sean promised the girls that in fact, some of the humans were quite good at being civil. And it would just depend on who they found.

"Besides, if they give you any trouble, you're battle mages. Just kick their butts!" She added.

"Saichu agrees," Sapadt said, as his pale-furred and chunky-eared son grasped on to his nose and pulled. "He wants his mother."

"He wants to learn how to summon the undead," Sean laughed.

(originally sean-6.htm)

Sean turned the pages of the newspaper she found at her door, absently wondering where it had come from. It wasn't from Gelgela, it was written in weyr-script so it had to have come either from Alskyr or the Nexus worlds. But it gave a clever update for those like herself who found themselves off standard worlds.

"What's that, momma?" Asked the yellow-headed six year old at her side.

"This, Saichu, is called a news paper. See how it has all these words?" She patiently showed the boy the columns and information.

"Where'd it come from?" Saichu asked.

"I'm not sure honey, I think a dragon might have brought it, and left before we saw them."

"Where'd Saijitsu come from?" He asked, innocently, of his three-year-old sister.

"Um." Sean blinked. "Ask your father."

"He told me to ask you."

Sean blinked again and she was certain that she heard Aja and Sundai laughing.

***

"Sweet," Sean said to her husband the king, "someone delivered this to me, did you see anyone come in?" She waved the newspaper at him, and he looked up from a pile of treaties and documents and grunted.

"Nope," he said, "sorry. Did Saichu ask about-"

"Yes, he did," Sean said with a giggle. "And he'll have to ask again soon."

Sapadt's eyebrow lifted, and even though he was buried elbow deep in paperwork his smile seemed to brighten the room. "You know what they say about bunnies."

"I have learned what 'they' say about Usagi," Sean said. "What is it they say about randy kings who come home after long journeys to distant lands?"

"I am not randy. If I were randy," he said, leaning over the stack of papers to kiss Sean's velvet nose, "there would be a trail of children from here to Devparil."

"Well thank goodness for that," Sean said, "because I don't think this planet could support that many necromancers."

She turned to leave him to his work, but then remembered what she'd come in for in the first place. "Oh - sorry to disturb you my king," she said, and though she grinned it was an honest apology as he did really have a lot to do, "but there was an announcement in this paper about a 'run' at Lantessama - they're going to have the bunnydragons back."

Sapadt tilted his head, and thought a moment, "they're going to allow those little zappers to breed?"

"At long last, apparently," Sean laughed. "Either that or the person who gave me this waited a while before informing me, give us a little private time."

"Time travel. Feh - you're good at it, I'm not so much." Sapadt admitted. "It bothers me going through the Nexus like that for an extended time."

"I know, my king. I know." Sean said. "But I'm going to bring Saichu, if you don't mind? Saijitsu should stay, she's a bit young."

"I won't mind taking care of her a while. Are you going now?"

"Yes, and I'll be back shortly, you know me." She grinned, bearing her broad white teeth.

"I do. Well, have fun and tell Sundai good luck from me."

I want to go, Sapadt heard from his own copper dragon Birth.

"Then go, everybody leaves me. Fine." He pretended to sulk. Sean wriggled her fingers through his untamed blond hair, and giggled on her way out.

***

Ajandeykth was just the right size for one small boy-bunny to ride. Saichu was able to cling on to her narrow neck and balance himself - proportionately he was about in the same position as Sean on her husband's copper dragon. The bunny dragon Sundai bolted up to Saichu's side, and clung on gently herself.

I like how we can ride together!

I think you should remember who does all the work! Aja complained gently. She didn't mind the child, but since she also had to play host to the other dragon? She got to complain. Birth kept his mouth shut, wisely. Sean would chastise her two girls by the time they got to Lantessama.

"I remember the way," Birth said, "It was where I hatched. We will be there in just a moment."

And it was, just a moment - for Sean and the dragons. For Saichu? It was different.

The young half-rabbit, or ningenUsagi as the Sisters called Sean's children, kept his eyes and mind open. Ever since he was able to walk, which was only about 18 months of age, he was also able to notice things around him that the adults didn't seem to see.

The dead spirits that his father commanded - well, not the spirits, the bodies were under the controld of Sapadt. The spirits themselves, were what Saichu could detect. There were ... untold millions of them here in the Nexus. Spirits of people, dragons, creatures, gods and demons... Many things. Floating around unattended.

They congregated around him, quickly. But they did not harrass the boy - he had his father's innate power to control and command the dead, and they respected that. They were silent around him in the Nexus, unlike the local castle ghosts which chattered on and on. He liked the silence of the Nexus - even with the staring, sightless eyes of the dead upon him.

When they emerged from the Nexus over Lantessama Saichu's eyes contracted to pinpoints of pupil on his sea-bluegreen iris. The place didn't have many dead - but it did have some odd spirits which immediately came up to greet the pair of dragons and their cargo.

They landed, and Sean greeted the inhabitants - they remembered her, how could they forget?

"I'm here with Sundai, for the Run!" She told them, "and I've brought my son, Saichu - he was born here, do you remember?"

Saichu grinned widely. His slightly flatter face would be quite handsome when he was an adult, but for now it bore the distinct large eyes of a child, and the floppy ears of his mother's kind. He looked around - and distant memories came back. He was still toddling when they left Lantessama, but he had taken his first steps here too.

"I remember," he said. "I haffa go bathroom," he added a moment later.

"Me too," Sean said, "oh -" she turned to one of the medics who had happened to be nearby when they landed, "I'm pregnant again, so I'll want to keep up a bit of a bed with you just in case?"

"You? Pregnant again?" He said, "what a surprise."

"There's another you didn't meet," she said with a faint smirk. "What a surprise."

She went off to sign up Sundai to the Run, while a pair of nannies escorted Saichu to their quarters and the restroom he so wanted to use.

The trio of dragons rested up on the roosts, Sundai gazing at the island off the coast where the Run would be held. This would truly be a good event. She deserved this. It would be a blast. Maybe they'd pick up another couple friends here while they waited...

(originally sean-7.htm)

Saichu

Nothing could stop Saichu from watching the sands at Lantessama. Since his mother was there for the duration, and the dragons were happily attending their eggs for the Run, there was not a terrible lot of things to do but wait for eggs to hatch.

It was quite late at night when the Halloween party had been rolling - in the other large caverns and rooms, there were celebrations going on all the time. But this one was special, because there was the clutch. Sean had been sitting with her son watching the hatching, offering her remarks when he asked, but largely remaining quiet. The entrance to the big dark spooky cavern was where they had remained.

"I've got to speak to those riders." She said, "now, don't go anywhere. Don't talk to strangers."

Saichu nodded, his ears bouncing a bit. The moment she left his side, he wove his way into the crowded lower viewing area. When she hadn't come back in a few minutes, during several bondings and egg-hatchings, Saichu crept closer to the sands.

He wasn't sure why, but the batch of people he'd been moving through had parted to let him by. He meant to thank them - when he looked up to see a pair of darkish dragons.

Though he only came up to the waists of those around him (including his ears) he stood straighter just like a rider should.

Saichu, said the male dragonet, Me and my sister have been waiting for you.

"You have?" Saichu asked, eyes wide and ears tilting forward.

We have. My name is Sha'Liz, and my sister is Lisz'Ha.

The dragon moved aside and showed off his tattery winged sibling. They must have come from the same egg.

"You're so beautiful!" He said, and embraced them both. It was hard, because they were almost the same size as he.

More - we are hungry. Can you spot us a spirit to feed on?

Saichu glanced around, and saw a couple. But they were either attached to another dragon or lingering around for the festivities. There was one - the spirit of a rider who'd outlived his dragon. He was unhappy.

While others continued to hatch and mill around, Saichu called the spirit to his side. The ghost had no choice but to obey. After all, the son of a powerful necromancer like Sapadt could do no less.

"You're not doing any good here," he said. "Do you want to serve a dragon again?"

The ghost nodded.

"Good - how about two?"

The ghost's pale eyes widened, and with a bit of a screech, the pair of dragons lept upon him. As soon as Lisz'Ha's sharp talons drew into the spirit, she felt a rush of fulfilment. Her brother sank his teeth into it, shredding it to bits before he 'swallowed'.

"Happy now?"

"SAICHU!" Sean yelled, as she approached.

Saichu rolled his eyes. "Great. She's not gonna be happy..."

But we are here to protect you, Sha'Liz announced, and stpped between his bond and Sean. She pulled up short, and looked frantic the way a mother would.

But she calmed down soon enough.

"They're really pretty," Saichu said.

"They just ate a spirit. What will you do to feed them at home?"

"There are tons of ghosts there!" Saichu whined.

"But many of them work for your daddy."

"Then I'll keep the good ghosts away from the bad ones." Saichu said, "and they'll learn the difference, just like I did."

Sean wondered at that, of course, but she didn't want to ask. When he'd learned the difference between a 'good' ghost and a 'bad' one? Had Sapadt been training him early? Well. They'd just have to see about that!

***

They would not be huge, this pair of raggedy dragons, but they were dramatic enough that when Saichu came onto a scene he was definitely the center of attention with them. Sha'liz and Lisz'Ha prowled the stone halls of the castle, they were small enough to fit into the larger of the corridors.

While the 'good' spirits were herded around, the 'bad' ones were in fact lunch. But there came a time when the twins had to confide in their rider, that they were getting hungrier.

"We need to go out and find a better place for you to eat, then," Saichu said, and he grinned widely. "I know good places. Graveyards and battlefields. Daddy showed me where they were."

At the time of course, Sapadt didn't realise that he would be helping his son's dragons appetites. He just wanted to show the boy a little bit of the magic that he could control. Sapadt also hadn't truly realized that his son would far surpass both his parents in terms of power. He was a bit concentrated, though. Saichu didn't show much interest in protective spells or making up potions.

It was while they were traveling around looking for ingredients for something odd that Sean wanted to create, that they happened upon another traveling dragon rider. A tall good looking man and a beautiful furry fire dragoness. Faintly familiar to Sean, the man told her that she would have a decent job if she wanted - at a school for magic, in another universe.

So Sean asked her husband about it - and then set about finding this school...

(originally sean-8.htm)

Bases from Miniature Reality , MoonAlley, and EQPixelArmy

With Saichu growing up quickly, and Saijitsu acting kind of strange, and... The Twins... Life at the castle was getting a bit hectic. Sapadt had to deal with an uprising in the north lands, a neighboring country that had sustained a considerable loss during a flood was now attempting to steal what it could not barter for.

"Sweetie, I think... You're better at this than I am," Sean said. Sapadt drew his fingers through his hair and nodded.

"I think you are right, but I wish that there were easier ways to put down things like this, than imprisoning poor people who haven't the means to help themselves."

"If they came to work, wouldn't it be better for everyone? The flooding wasn't nearly as bad here in Gelgela, but there is still work to be done fixing things, right?" Sean asked, and rubbed her husband's shoulders. He continued to nod, thinking on her wisdom.

"That's what I have to propose then," he said. "But that will take a while to arrange. I don't know if the farmers and villagers they've already hurt in the process will be completely amenable to it."

"You'll convince them," Sean said softly. "... There is something I've been meaning to talk about, though."

"Well since my matters of state are going to have to wait," he pushed the paperwork and maps out of his way, "what is it, my lovely wife?"

"I met a dragon rider, not so long ago," she started. "And he told me that I should teach magic, at the school where he does."

Sapadt tilted his head, "that's a good idea," he paused, "where is this school?"

"It's in another dimension," she muttered.

"That's never been a problem for you, Sean," Sapadt chided her. She breathed out, relieved.

"So I will be able to come and go as always, but I'll be working at this school. He called it House Domina, I guess it's a smaller magic institute. It sounded fun."

"Wish I could go," Sapadt grumbled, flicking the map's ragged corner. "Perhaps I will vacation there, with Birth."

"Speaking of birth," Sean said, and watched her husband's eyes broaden.

"Not again!" He laughed.

"Not this time, sweet," Sean giggled and kissed him before leaving the office. She knew he loved their children, but four was probably enough, right? At least, for the time being. If it turned out they were both of the legendary-long-lived types, perhaps they would have more later on, when the others were grown?

Was that all she ever thought about? Of course not! Sean packed away her things and watched as her two older children stared at her. With three years separating them, and another two between them and the twins, she knew that they would all probably have to come along. Sapadt didn't have time to take care of the children, especially if he was to be taking care of rebels and uprisings and rebuilding.

"Why are you packing, mother?" Saichu asked.

"She's going away," Saijitsu said.

"She's coming back," Saichu shot. Sean intervened.

"I'm going to investigate something, a place that might have a good job for me. If I get the job, I'm going to come back and help you pack - your father will be very busy with the warring people north of here, so we will be out of his hair for a while."

Instead of crying or being obstinate, both children nodded, and went off to tend to their younger siblings. Saichu was nine, by this time, and his dragons were grown. Saijitsu was asking about finding her own, but the twins were still too young to really know. They were old enough to be terrors, however.

***

Zora was a pleasant, if odd woman, to have an interview with. She was the mistress of House Domina, her own magic school. The climate was a little colder, but the area a little less craggy than Gelgela. The little keep where the school resided would be just great for the family - and their dragons - to live.

"We've needed a more consistant Necromancy and Dark Arts instructor for a while. I keep losing the Dark Arts people to the Aurors, and Trudy isn't sure if she wants to do more than the Haunting and Spooking classes she's working with."

"So I would just be doing the same thing as I did before," Sean laughed, "only without raising my husband."

"That's it!" Zora laughed with her. They arranged to transport the young children in, and it seemed that every time someone turned around in House Domina, the place was a bit bigger. From the outside of course it was still just a slightly run down castle with a courtyard and some buildings in the back. From the inside...

"Mommy, there are ghosts everywhere here." Saichu said. "Lisz'Ha and Sha'Liz are going to be fat!"

"They are not going to eat our ghosts," Zora said, sternly. "We have other ways of getting spiritual sustanance for them."

"I'll tell them, then," Saichu said, and ran off to make sure that the pair of dragons hadn't yet gobbled anyone important.

The twins ran around Zora and grasped at her dress's many snapping ends. She had it animated so that it would interact with them. She was remarkable with children, even though it didn't much seem she wanted them herself.

Sean decided that she could learn a lot here too - she would trade secrets of ritual magic for charms and quick spells. This would be a greatly beneficial job indeed!

"Where is Lucas, anyway? I wanted to thank him for showing me this place," Sean said.

"He's off finding something," Zora said, a bit guarded. Sean knew that tone so she just didn't ask. A little later, when they'd had dinner and were unpacking in their quarters, Saijitsu pulled her mother aside.

"He is off finding a lost part of his soul, mother. He will be all right. It will take him a while. But he has friends to help him do it. I would like to meet them when they come back."

"You've never even met Lucas," Sean said, a bit mystefied. "How would you even know who I'm talking about?"

Saijitsu only grinned widely.

SAIJITSU

Saijitsu would prowl around House Domina with her big blue eyes catching everything. Her long floppy pink-tipped ears also caught a lot. Including some interesting bits about those who lived here, and why they'd left their original schools. She ran into a very interesting necromancer in training, Bhaktar, and assisted him packing when he went off to find a dragon.

By the time Saijitsu was able to claim being "six and a half" it was clear that not only did she really want a dragon friend of her own, but she was going to be set as the local divination instructor if she wasn't careful.

"One thing at a time," she said to Zora, who was about to ask her to join the staff in a cup of tea and discussing things about the school. "I've a dragon to find." She turned to her mother, and simply said, "there are bunnies. I will come back with one. Don't worry about me."

And then she vanished.

She went of course, to Lantessama, where Sundai and the other bunny-dragons had run to mate not long before. Time would be doing some strange things, once she bonded one of those creatures. Saijitsu introduced herself, though everyone at Lantessama knew who she was. Every time her mother came to the place, she apparently became pregnant again.

"I will not do that, just yet," the little girl promised. "Someday maybe, when I am older. I already know who I will be marrying, and we will have strong children." Wisely, no one asked about Bhaktar...

Saijitsu hemmed and hawed, picking her way through the woods at Lantessama. The Bunny Run eggs had been laid quite a while back, and were all getting ready to hatch, or so she'd heard. It appeared to be true, since many others were heading back and forth from their starting place - often with another young hatchling bunny dragon in their arms.

But Saijitsu felt so lonely as she walked along. She peered under leaves, in bushes, under fallen logs. She went along the shore of the lake, didn't find anything to her liking. She even climbed several trees and tried to use her strong vision to spot a bunnydragon for her. But nothing appeared to be on the way.

The day was all but over. A small rainstorm had dampened some spirits, and matted her hair down. She slogged through the muddy trail for a long time, heading finally back toward the starting place. It just wasn't going to work out, was it. She was just not looking in the right place. Or this place just wasn't right. How could she be wrong? Usually her instincts were quite strong in this department. She knew where to look for just about anything! But not this time...

"I suggest you look to your right." a silver sounding voice, feminine with just a hint of secrecy, said.
"No! No!" A white feminine voice, playful and childish, called, "Look left!"
Not seeing anything Saijitsu wondered if hearing voices was a sign of insanity.
"Just turn around." a male gold voice said, "Mystik and Onschuld won't stop until you do. My name is Hanon."
Saijitsu turned and saw a three-headed bunny dragon. One head was white, the other silver and the middle one was gold. The male gold who had spoken to her, nodded and gently nudged the white to stop trying to go forward in a dash when the other two wanted to walk.

Elated, Saijitsu could hardly contain herself. She hugged each head - they were so distinct, they'd surely be competing for her attention anyway and she didn't want to play favorites. "I'm so glad you found me. I was just about to give up!"

"You can't do that!" Mystik said.

"Never give up!" Onschuld added. Hanon remained silent, proud that he'd been the one to get her to turn around and find them.

**

Onschuld butted her head against Mystik's and woker her up.  The golden male between them still slumbered, but they'd have to wake him up before moving around. Whenever they tried to run or hop without him, he always complained they got him trampled. And he had horns, so they were polite enough to him.

Saijitsu woke with them, and knew that today was the day they'd be going back to House Domina.

"Do you think we'll get lost?" Asked Mystik, with Hanon adding, "she knows the way, we can follow her."

"That's right, I do know the way. I know almost every way." She was just past seven years old, now, and while she remained a small bunny-child on the outside, her mind had grown swiftly. The hybunny with her snuggled up to her, it was just the right size for her to ride. She would be able to do that, while many others couldn't because they outgrew their bunny-dragons.

With her two bags packed, Saijitsu went out to greet the laeders - bid them farewell and told one of them, "don't worry, it's just a boil, it won't spread."

Her power to move through universes was innate, and strong. Strong enough certainly to take Onschuld/Hanon/Mystik to House Domina and greet her family. With a kind of 'poof' noise, they went from one world to the next. It was easy - she did it instantaneously, not even spending time in the Nexus. Whenever she did that, she was annoyed by all the other travelers. She thought it was much easier to just be there than be going there.

"I like it!" "Of course you do, we all like it." "I think it needs some color," Hanon glanced around. His 'companions' ears bounced in his way, and he shook his head a little to warn them. Mystik grumbled, but Onschuld nipped at him.

Their eyes all came onto the pure white and blood red of Saijitsu's mother, Sean, and they bowed in unison.

"Mother, this is Mystik," Saijitsu said and the silver head bobbed.  "Onschuld," the white gave a floppy-eared salute. "And Hanon." The gold trumpeted a little. "They are my bunny dragon."

Sean just stood there. "And.... how do you address ... them as a whole?"

"You don't," Saijitsu said with a smile. "They don't answer as one unless they all want to say something at once. It's always something different. They never agree completely. It's okay. And they're just about done growing, too."

"That's a relief," Sean said, glancing down the hall at the students who all had gathered wide-eyed by the class room door. "Have ... them ... chase away some of the mice from the larder, will you?"

"I do not like mice!" Mystik complained. "They're too small!"

"They're okay, they crunch." Hanon announced. Onschuld said nothing, she'd already caught one.

(originally sean-9.htm)

Saichu brooded for a while. His sister Saijitsu had gone off and bonded to a great three-headed bunnydragon, but the blond-haired and furred half-usagi was feeling some strange things from his dragons. They'd been growing along with him, though at an accellerated pace because they were like that. Saichu still had a lot of his boyish charm but he was a young teen now. Worried that he'd never be taken seriously because he was so 'cute'. So perhaps if he went off and did something new, he'd be taken seriously all right.

"I think you should just listen to your dragons," Saijitsu commented, while she was making one of her mysterious runs between realities. The girl had some kind of portal power, Saichu knew it, but then he had dragons who could teleport. And he could magic himself out anywhere now, learning to apparate from those cool folks at House Domina.

(he was going to participate in a flight but the flight's been cancelled so...)

**

Saijitsu never gloated, at least not in front of her parents, about her bonding of such an interesting dragonet. The three heads and three personalities were all quite distinctive, and it never took long for anyone to catch on to that fact.

While Sean was teaching at House Domina, the children of this royal family were involved in studies there and at home in Gelgela with their Usagi kin. Sean had one of the crafters in the House devise a portal which would make the trip much easier - though the dragons still had to use their own abilities to get there and back, as the mirror-stepping object wasn't big enough for even the smallest of the bunch. (And yes, the three headed dragon tried, on several occasions, to follow Saijitsu through it...)

By this time, Saijitsu was old enough to start causing her mother a bit of worry (not the normal, child-terrorist types that she herself was known for as a young kitling, but the oh-no-she's-going-to-mature-quickly type). She'd already made it clear that she knew who her future husband was going to be, a young man by the name of Bhaktar. He was a necromancer, a good one, dragon rider and sponsor - both, not just a bonder. Both of those things said he would be a fine man to pair up with the girl.

When she was ready.

Well, by the time she was fourteen, Saijitsu felt herself ready. Bhaktar had graduated and was helping out still around House Domina, but also was looking at aiding the other students Calebrindra and Zeramar in creating a whole new, slightly less squeaky-clean, school.

But they'd need a place to do that, too. It was Saijitsu who decided it ought to cross world barriers, into her world. She conferred with Zeramar, who thought the idea had merit. But it would be years, possibly even decades, before they'd be ready to take such a step. In the meantime, the dragon-group got to know one another better, enjoying each other's company or fighting or bragging.

Saijitsu blinked, tilted her head, and put her drink down on the huge wooden table nearby.

"I'll be right back," she said, and vanished abruptly. Though she wasn't truly 'apparating' per se, she teleported or moved through time-space somehow, much more quickly and easily than any bunny-girl should.

She found herself at a place dark and dim, but to her far from dismal. Mindspace was a place she'd been to on the sly several times, and now it called her more strongly than ever. In an underground place, filled with sounds no one else could hear and scents that would drive any animal insane, Saijitsu boldly walked around until she found who she was looking for.

It turned out to be a 'what' rather than a conventional 'who'.

She stepped up with a distinct lack of hesitation, to a long, brightly glowing if very low-to-the-ground creature of the Styx type. "Hello there, I'm Saijitsu, and you're Tempat Teduh, I think that's a nice name."

"Why thank you," the creature said. She was rather longer than she was tall, clearly built for low surfaces and caverns of sorts. No wings, it seemed that Saijitsu would choose only dragons without them. "You know what it means, then?"

Saijitsu grinned and looked at the Styxbeast with her ears coyly down, "it means Shady Place, do you know what my name means?"

The beast chuckled, put her own long ears up and said, "festival - you're so bright, like me."

Saijitsu and Tempat made whatever formal announcement they needed to, for her leaving Mindspace. She would return, most likely, as many creatures did to their place of birth. But for now, this shadow-magic weilding rather bright creature adjusted the floating, slowly twirling mirrorshards above her back, and when they came into allignment - both she and her newfound Usagi friend vanished back to House Domina.

(originally sean-10.htm)

RYOKAI, male / RYOSHIN, female

meanings - Understanding / Family-Conscience

Ryokai seemed so much opposite from the others in the family. His magic it turned out, was very life-oriented instead of death. He was no necromancer - instead, he was a brilliant healer. The touch of his warm, furry fingers gave joy in addition to health. However, his stare with those sky blue eyes told anyone that he was more than just that. He was quite smart, as intelligent as his father and that's saying a lot. He would hang out with his father king Sapadt when they were allowed (the war to the north had taken much longer to quell than expected, and for years the family remained fairly split between House Domina and Gelgela) watching him read over maps and tactical charts.

Ryoshin on the other hand, seemed to take her name seriously. She played with dolls (and the occasional necromantic animation of a dead creature, that was within her abilities even from a young age) and cared for those around her with a passion. If someone had fallen she would first try to help them - and if they needed more than she could give she immediately summoned her brother to the scene.

Summoned: as in, brought him there, whatever he was doing. It was clear that Ryoshin would be popular with males of many species, and that she would blossom into womanhood even younger than her sister Saijitsu. Though neither of the twins would be as tall as their father, they were never going to need to look up at too many people. One quite noticible trait that they had was the lack of any facial markings like their Usagi kin. Their mother's bright blood-red markings were expected somewhere, Saichu had them in vivid yellow on his forehead, while Iji's were more of a blotch in pinkish red under her hairline. The twins carried whatever markings inside, on the ends of their hair, but not on their faces.

It was obvious that they were close, they didn't fight nor complain about each other - they did tear through the place and make mock war but by the end of any given day the two of them retired in a sleepy pile with smiles on their faces.

They were so very different from their new, younger sibling...

But that's his story. This is theirs.

At age 11, even though they were more mature than others that age due to their half-human half-usagi blood, they were tested for true magic. Not that they hadn't already been well known as lifegivers and protectors as well as knowledgeable in many other pursuits. But it was official: if they'd been fully human they would have easily been accepted to a Magic school and sent off for 9 months out of the year. Britain was a horrible place that way - who would want to be apart from their family that long?

Even Sapadt could visit House Domina whenever he liked (which on occasion meant several times a week when he had a particularly bad day) and the parents made a very devoted effort to keep their family from being too distant.

So they decided to formally start their real magical education. Both were brought to a village where wands and supplies were sold, and both bought up whatever they required. Robes, hats (which didn't suit them very well, what with their ears), cauldrons and potion bottles, books and scrolls to write spells into, and an assortment of books which would make or break their school careers.

Sean loved seeing them in their robes - the other kids at House Domina were mostly human but they had a bunch of dragon kin, demons, vampires and gryphon-shifters, all manner of weirdlings that attended. It was apparently against the law to educate several of those species. But Zora didn't care, and her feelings were echoed strongly in her staff.

The fact that they had non earthly dragons living in the hills and in a large stone keep nearby was what kept any legal hassles at bay. If they had a bunch of local dragons, the magical ministry would have been on the place in a moment. Zora Domina and her staff were resolute in keeping themselves both above and outside the laws of that land.

After all they had ties to other dimensions - dozens of them - and were a part of something much bigger. The petty arguments of some wizards in distant cities didn't make a blip on their scrying glass.

The first year they were fully attending the classes, it became obvious who would excell in what subjects. Ryokai was great at arithmancy and astrology, as well as hex and hexbreaking spells. Ryoshin on the other hand was quite handy with charms, herbs and potions as well as flight.

She took on the post of Chaser in the non-dragon-riding Broomball team, which actually only got to play some of the local teams because they were never invited to other schools' contests. The rest of the team would split up and play short games without Beaters, since eventually it was assumed that they would be on the big team - the Dragon Broomball team.

Ryukai chuckled at his sister when she came down from the air, bunching her hair back from her face with a spell bound to a string. It hopelessly fluttered around trying to get at a loose patch that kept wandering over her eyes.

"Well, you almost had the win," he said.

"Yes, but I'm still not quite as fast as Nyli and his broom's all expensive anyway." She fluttered her fingers, the Seeker for the team would always have the advantage of a quick broom.

"You put in a good show, that's what counts. I have a question," Kai asked, "about this."

He held up a limp plant, it had been uprooted and was clearly not doing so well. Shin gasped and put her hands out. "My weeping pea! You found it!"

"It was sulking around in the dark, silly emo thing. Maybe you should put a cage over it." Kai laughed. They both instinctually ducked when a dark shadow came over head, but it was merely one of the local instructors returning on their dragon.

"Let's see who that is," Shin suggested. "After I put you back in your bed," she scolded the weeping pea, who sulked.

***

It turned out to be Lucas and his shapeshifter dragon companion Audeo, with whom Kai was more than a little enfatuated. The dragoness smiled kindly at them but indicated that it was best they left her bond alone. But on an impulse - and one rarely did such things around the man - Ryokai reached out to touch the tall dark-skinned man's elbow.

Immediately there was an exchange of magic so intense that it left Ryukai sitting on his bottom, almost literally blown across the hall by the force of his own magic, and Lucas standing leaning a little on the opposite wall with a shocked, tired expression.

"You... didn't need to do that," he said, "but... thank you. Perhaps some day it will help."

Audeo took her bond and mate down the hall toward their own wing of the House, she occasionally looking back curiously at the pair of usagi.

"What was that?" Ryoshin asked. Her brother was able to stand shakily a moment later.

"He's... broken, like bad, like what happens when you break a teacup, and try to put the pieces back together."

"He will be all right," said their sister Saijitsu who had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere (she did that a lot around them, keeping tabs), "you should leave him be. Audeo and Iris will take care of him."

"He took all the healing I could give," Ryokai breathed, "how can someone be that hurt, and still alive?"

Iji shrugged, "his will. Now, aren't you late to class?"

"Aren't you late too?" Ryoshin stuck her tongue out and they bolted away to their classrooms, as Iji did the same.

But that event stuck with the boy, and he became even more serious about learning protective spells and hexes to overcome curses. Ryoshin saw how hard he was working, and thought the better of dousing him with a bucket of popcorn, instead she continued her own studying.

***

It was when they were back at Gelgela's comfortable keep, when the twins started taking note of the other kids their age, around them. During a holiday break from House Domina, they ran around the courtyard under the castle and bought pastries, found a flower for Shin's hair, Kai got it into his head he needed a new mug or goblet for himself.

They both noticed how there were some folks that just outright stared at them, while they sped around the market, but they blew it off to simply being surprised to see the royal children out and about.

Eventually though, the one burlier half-Usagi boy came up, and wouldn't let them pass.

"Oi, why haven't you been in school wif' us?" He asked, tilting his head and making his long ears flop over. Shin almost giggled, but he was much too intimidating to do that just now.

"Because we attend school elsewhere," Kai assured him. "It's a special school for mages."

"Yer too young t'be a mage," the big Usagi boy said, "no one's a mage until they're older. Me da' says so."

"Well," Shin commented, "your father might be right for some people, but we're definitely mages already, anyone could be if they practiced early enough."

"You don' know what'cher sayin, I bet you have a special school a'cus you're stoopid." He even said it that way too, st-oopid. This of course brought ire to Kai's fists. He balled them up, but it was Shin who stopped him from outright punching the much bigger boy.

"Perhaps we could go there, and show you," Shin suggested. "We don't have our own dragons yet, but--"

"Oh an' now yer' on dragons!" The boy bellowed.

***

Up above, in the nearby castle's low balcony, Sean and Sapadt watched. Carefully, without being seen, they listened in with the wind favoring the conversation below.

"Do you think we--" Sean started, but her husband rested his furless hand on hers.

"No, let them sort this out. If they have to call our dragons in, they should do it themselves. I'm curious as to how this will play out, actually. That boy's needed a bit of taking-down."

"Obviously," Sean muttered. She leaned down again, and listened with her long red-tipped ears.

***

There were three other kids nearby. One was human in appearance, while the other two were clearly more Usagi than anything else. It didn't surprise either of the twins that the other three didn't interfere with their big friend's bullying, they could just as easily be on the receiving end of it too. But the foursome had cornered the twins, who were still maintaining a steady, sensible course of action.

Shin looked up, and gave a weird whistle. Kai rolled his eyes. "Aw you didn't need to do that yet," he muttered.

Shin glanced at him, "oh, yes, I did. I'm tired of this," she looked up at the other four. "Now, I'd like you to come along. We're going back to House Domina, and I'll show you what being a mage is all about."

The biggest of them didn't see it until the shadow fell over the courtyard. But lots of other people had, and had parted to let the huge copper colored dragon flew overhead and landed. He barely fit in the courtyard, in fact he didn't fit, but his lifted tail and high-held wings kept him from crushing anything.

Finally, the group of bullies turned around, stammering in awe.

"That's the King's dragon! Everyone knows that! What's he doing here!" Yelled one.

"It's our father's dragon, yes," Shin said very casually, and her brother chuckled a little. "What would you expect? I said we had no dragons of our own yet. I don't think my father will mind if we borrow Birth a moment or two."

"...." the bully stammered, lost for words. Shin and Kai strode up to the dragon petting his long nose and scratching what they could reach of his leg. Finally, the dragon took it upon himself to simply take the four others into his great paw, and with some difficulty put them on his long, smooth back.

His huge head-crest helped move some of the wind away from the kids, as he took off. They clung to his back, to each other, to anything to avoid being blown off.

And then, he teleported to the Nexus.

***

"Well that's going to wind up being fun," Sapadt chuckled. "Now... where were we before this?"

"We were chasing Shukuzu out of the summoning den," Sean reminded him, she didn't seem all that interested in getting back to that task, either. "But I'd much rather just stay out here. The air is fresh, the sky's clear..."

"Shukuzu can take care of whatever it is he's summoning," Sapadt replied. They both knew that the little demon child they'd last born could possibly be far more powerful than the two of them combined. There would be no point in stopping him from doing whatever it was.

So they went back to the higher tower they called their private den, and did what bunnies and handsome immortal necromancers did best.

***

Ryoshin and Ryokai instructed Birth to land in the Broom pitch, because it was empty. It was still a holiday, however there were always plenty of people still hanging out at House Domina.

"Hey teach," Shin called out to one of the adults, who waved and shouted out a question, "showing some friends around! We won't break anything much."

That seemed to satisfy the older woman, and the group went inside. It was clear that the Usagi and their human companion were in awe of the setting. It wasn't as big as the castle, but it was certainly bigger on the inside than the outside. What magical keep wasn't?

"And here is where the Animagus practice is," Kai said, helping guide their little tour. He peeked inside, but Lucas wasn't in just now. He was still bound and determined to help out however he could, but just now it would wait.

"What's ani-majis?" Asked one of the Usagi.

"Oh, it's the ability to shapeshift," said Shin. "Neither of us is in there, though, that kind of magic really doesn't seem to run in our lines."

After a moment, the only girl of the foursome meekly said, "it does in mine," and then nearly dove behind something when they looked at her in surprise.

"Really? Have you ever done it?" Shin asked. She peered around the big guy, and the lilac-colored ears of the girl were pinned back a little by her fear. "Don't worry, we've got lots of wizards and witches around here, nothing could go wrong, that couldn't be undone!"

That encouraged the girl enough to come out from around the big boy.

The girl was small, not tiny, and had faintly pinkish fur with soft lilac tips to her ears. Her face held a marking of what looked to be blush - but in that lilac they all knew it was a marking. Her hair was trimmed nicely, pulled back in a straight tail, and while it too had the faint lilac marks on the tips, it was a dark indigo shade. Her big eyes were red. She gave a weak smile.

"I tried one time, my mother and her mother both do it, I think I was too little." She gave a little effort, and almost surprising herself in the process, she turned from a Usagi girl into a pink and lilac-colored porcupine!

Shin and Kai clapped excitedly, while her friends stood in awe.

"But... I'thou'..."

"Your father was mistaken, or perhaps he didn't get the chance to go out and do his own magic. All of us, all our kind, have magic." Kai asserted. "Some of us show it earlier than others. Our little brother is.... well... dangerous with it."

"And I'm glad he's at the castle and we're here," Shin giggled.

"Well well, who have we here?" Said a man's voice, and they all jumped. Kai turned with a smile on his face, just the man he'd wanted to see earlier.

"Professor Kalkin, hi! We're... we're showing our friends around the school." Kai said, he avoided the 'against their will' or 'to show them up' part. It was pretty easily seen that Lucas knew those things just by looking at them.

"And your little friend here, she's a shifter?" He asked, gently picking up the porcupine and balancing her on his long hands. She was indeed small enough that she fit, she would be a petite woman when she grew up.

"She is Usagi," Shin said, "The magic is a little different for us, I think."

"Ah yes, yes," Lucas said. "Well, the question is, will she stay this way or introduce herself as a porcupine?"

He set her back down, and within moments she'd returned to her original shape. She was breathless, smiling. "I've never done it! I've never done it before!" Her friends were in shock, still, but she jumped up and down. "You teach here?" She asked Lucas, who nodded. "Can I go here?"

That surprised even the twins. "Well," Lucas said, "there's more to it than just that... Though we do have some other unusual students." He glanced at the group. "So... Are you planning on introducing us all or..." He gazed at Shin and Kai, who suddenly realized that they didn't even know these kids names!

***

Read about the group of "Critters"

***

Ryoshin and Ryokai returned to the castle, Birth enjoying his time flying around with the hooting and hollering of the other kids. If there was one thing that dragon enjoyed more than fighting a good bold battle on a mountainside, it was the sound of children's laughter.

Sapadt and Sean stood waiting for the twins, who bolted over to them once they'd set their new friends down in the courtyard. "We made friends with them," Kai breathed, "it didn't look like we were going to but... I like them. They're fun."

"So, what did Domina think of them?" Asked Sean. After all, if they were to head to the school at all, she'd have to be the one to take them, as she was employed there.

"Well Zora wasn't there, but we talked to Professor Kalkin about them. Two of em are shapeshifters!" Shin said.

"Two?" Sean said, "that's unusual in such a small group, I wonder how common that magic really is."

"Not very, and it turns out..." Kai blurted out all manner of things - the group's story, Ui's weird abilities, everything. They gathered in the dining hall, where their big family was for once going to have a full sit-down meal together.

There was plenty to discuss, including one thing that Sean had learned about, a few weeks before. She'd managed to keep it from the twins, because neither of them did have shifting magic. However, both of them - and their friends - were Usagi. You couldn't get more bunny than that, really.

"There is a place, Darkling Dawn," Sean said, and the group at the table knew she was talking about a dragonry. "It's got a very unusual bunch of dragons hatching there. Zora did tell me about it, she's visiting while some other students are waiting for dragons."

"Oh - oh wait, Professor Kalkin said something about critter-dragons!" Kai said. "I didn't realize what he was talking about, is that it?"

"It is indeed," Sean said. "I think ... I should like to take you and the others there. Just to see what might come of it all. Two shapeshifters!" She repeated, still surprised.

They gathered up a few days later, knowing that their holiday could last as long as it needed to. Travel between worlds like that hardly ever resulted in anyone being late for class.

** 2023 I'm trying to get a family tree going and realized that the twins nor their younger sibling ever got dragons... **