Aoku

History: Aoku and Meysh knew that their chieftan was bitter and cold - like the ice they lived upon - but they had no idea just how bitter, or how cold. It became apparent when he had Ainea, an age-mate of sorts to Aoku, exiled for her 'crime' of ... of what, being terrified of the humans attacking them? some of the younger elves of the tribe secretly decided to just... keep an eye on him. Whether he'd gone bad after years of being in charge, or because of bad magic, or something else, didn't matter. He'd left the girl for dead, injured by his own hand, half-healed and all-wounded. This was long, long ago now, but sometimes... It came back in dreams.

When those dreams kicked in again it was around 80 turns of the seasons before now, when he was telling this story once more. Perhaps with this telling, they would finally rest and not return.

The chief was on a rampage. It was because they'd lost two hunters to a pit trap made by Trolls. Trolls, here - where he insisted they should not be! It was obvious to some, like Aoku, that the trap was ancient, abandoned, the sharpened wood spikes showed signs of many turns of ice and melt on them. But he wouldn't hear it - there were Trolls in 'his' territory, and they had to be found and erradicated.

On the surface that wasn't such a terrible idea. But it was when Aoku and his partner Meysh realized that the pair of hunters had a very young daughter that was now on her own, their hearts went out to her just as they had when Ainea was exiled. Surely it wouldn't be wrong to care for her properly as parents might, surely it would keep the tribe healthy.

And yet it sent their chief on a frothing and angry tirade - if she was to survive it would be on her own, and why would two male elves want to do this? She 'needed' a mother! Even the rest of the tribe had no idea why he'd begun this angry rant, because there had been couples all in their history who supported each other no matter their gender - it was all just flesh, and the spirit was what mattered, right?

So Aoku and Meysh took in Tabea anyway, very boldly turning their back on the chief. And thankfully, most of the tribe did so as well. Not all - a few grumpy sorts ran to him, complete with spears out against their own family. Baffled, disgusted, the tribe elected to exile the former chief and his hand of cohorts - they were not welcome among the Ice Gliders now.

It would have been good, it might have lasted, and the tribe might have been whole on their wide wanderings. But he came back, one last time, just two turns of the seasons later. Worse, he had found something that startled everyone: there indeed had been Trolls in the area long before, and they had been creating strange canisters that exploded on impact! One thing that the old chief had been good at, after all, was levitation, and he hefted these things with his power as though they were pinecones. They were not - and they damaged everything in their burst radius with sharp shards of metal, and burning, caustic smoke. Tabea was still young, not even two hands old in fact, when she lost her vision to this attack. Clinging to her adoptive parents they sped away.

While his voice failed, the group listening knew his mind rang with guilt. If only he'd been closer to her, he might have been able to push the metal away before it struck her.

Because of his connection to the animals and plants in the area, he knew that at some point during this strange battle against his own tribe-mates, the former chief had fallen to his own explosives. Or more accurately, one of them had dislodged a dead tree in a massive avalanche. It speared him even as he flew above the others, thinking he was safe. His magic couldn't save him from that, and no one has bothered removing his bones from that tree - still wedged upwards with big stones piled behind it, a lasting reminder of his folly and anger.

They hadn't returned to that spot, but everyone knew where it was. Out there in the frozen wastes. The trio had briefly become nine - and then two of the older Go-Backs that had come along with them made a sharp detour back into the Troll caverns, 'just to make sure', and never came back out. Seven then, arrived just close enough to Ainea's northerly den that her dragons perked up.

All these things were related to Ainea when she found the group, in careful thoughts and quiet words. After her exile, so much had happened, but now she knew she was safe, she knew that eventually she might be able to reunite with long-lost friends. She did remember Aoku, but barely, and had never met Meysh or their daughter. The tribe had been broken up; the noises and the avalanche stirring plenty of dangers that meant small groups like this family had to find other ways around... And they never quite had. The ground buckled, ice shards everywhere, and more than that, those explosives still littered the area untouched...

It was sad that they had to separate, but they were all relieved to be alive at all. They'd decided to continue wandering with what brief and distant mental contact could be made. And now... now Ainea and her found-tribe could begin uniting her own frozen home with Bald Mountain's locale in her own way! Her dragons had surprised the group, but they were friendly, beautiful, powerful. It was clear that Ainea was going to be good on her word - she'd look for those scattered Ice Gliders. Maybe offer them a new home.

By bringing the group she'd located first to Bald Mountain, and then off to another distant realm. This fascinated Aoku because his magic worked on other worlds - at all, let alone considerably better? How was that even possible? Was their world of two moons that restrictive? Perhaps the humans ancient tales were right, that the elves had to scrabble the ground because they could no longer fly to their stars...

But now they could fly - maybe to the stars too! On dragons!