An Unexpected Meeting [Private/Rihz, Imperia]

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The feeling of the surprisingly warm wind brushing past her brought a wide smile to her face, which broadened further as she anticipated the majesty of the library. Having grown bored of the books in the library closest to her home, she had decided to pay a visit to the library in the Twilight Palace, rumoured to be several storeys high and filled with books containing all types of books. Caramina had successfully emerged unharmed from the Tempest Ring - she did have her wind shields, but still, her heart kind of died each time she entered the Tempest Ring and braved its storms. Putting that behind her, she let anticipation wash over her the way the warm wind was currently doing, and hoped that the library wouldn't disappoint her.

A few minutes later, she was in the palace, feathered wings neatly folded by her side as she walked through brightly lit corridors, whose floors were tiled with simply decorated white marble tiles, gleaming brightly in the sunlight, which poured from the numerous windows dotting the cream-coloured wallpaper. It was obvious that this place was well-maintained, and Caramina's high hopes for the library rose even further. Eventually she came upon the library, her way blocked by a massive wooden door; like the floor, it gleamed, and Caramina was positive she could see a bit of her reflection in it. Shaking her head at the cleanliness of her surroundings, she pushed the door open, which swung away to reveal a massive room.

Caramina was not disappointed as she stared around at the shelves; the sight of row upon row of books of all shapes, sizes and colour, contained in tall, elegantly built shielves, awaited her, and she sucked in a gasp. Eventually her gaze, forcefully torn away from the beautiful sight of books, wandered over to the single occupant in the room - two, she corrected herself, as her gaze passed over to a dark lump in the corner. She'd greet him, or her, later -, sitting on a plush, mauve-coloured cushion, a worn book clutched in her hands. Imperia. Caramina made her way over, bowing her head in greetings. "Hello~" she greeted warmly, unable to resist adding,"This place is wonderful, it's like heaven to me. Do you come here often?"

Caramina managed to keep her cheeks clear of any red this time, and bent a small smile upon Imperia, thanking the latter quietly and wondering whether any more compliments would come her way. Then, to Rihzome, she nodded. "That's what they said about him; apparently he was completely different on and off the battlefield," she remembered, stiffening in surprise when Rihzome curled a tail around her. She quickly relaxed though, allowing a smile to slide into place, as she continued, "Have you fought beside him before?"

Her question trailed off into a soft gasp as the ball of shadows hit Imperia's face; for a moment she thought the ball would do something bad, perhaps, but all it did was to allow shadows to creep and latch onto Imperia's face, and she giggled again. But the 'attack' was familiar, and a memory tickled her brain. As hard as she tried to grab and pull it towards her, she failed, and the memory faded away. Huffing, she gave up and returned her attention back to Rihzome, grinning. "Nice."

Imperia panicked for the briefest of moments, as the shadow filled her mouth and nose. She breathed out as hard as she could, forcing the shadow out of her nose, until eventually it popped and allowed her to breathe.
She began to mumble grumpily at Rihzome, her mouth currently too full to speak.
Rihzome's comment about eating reminded her that she had a full plate of food that she could not currently have. She whined in disappointment, then remembered that if she didn't have shadow on her face she'd probably be talking instead of eating anyway.

To emphasise Imperia's plight, Rihzome reached out a talon and deftly cut a chunk of her beef off for himself, popping it into his maw. "I thought you would have been more hungry than this." He mused cheekily, a small smile on his maw. Letting her suffer for a few more minutes, as he knew how important speaking was to her, he reached forwards, the shadows leaping from her face to his paw, where they swirled for a few moments, before forming into a knife and fork, which he deftly set to using, carving up his beef in a more precise and refined fashion.

Taking a few small bites before opening his maw again, Rihzome looked up at Caramina. "I did, yes… But I left that life a long time ago. I don't know what's happened to him since I did leave." He answered simply and truthfully. "I know you want to ask questions… but may I simply ask that you try to keep away from the subject of war?" He asked her softly, seriously, his eyes locked with hers. "Please?"

Caramina rolled her eyes in mock exasperation, but an amused smile was fighting its way onto her face, hinting at what she was actually feeling. She clicked her tongue like a disapproving mother hen, pretending that the small smile was nonexistent as she waggled a talon at Imperia, who whined and made faces at Rihzome. She watched in amazement and curiosity as the shadows sticking to Imperia's graceful snout recede from her face like the tide from a beach, swirling around Rihzome and eventually taking the form of a fork and a knife.

"Cool~" she said, beaming, and again felt a memory tickle her brain, but it slipped out of her reach when she tried to grab hold of it. She growled internally but showed no sign of her frustration on the outside when she responded to Rihzome, sounding apologetic: "Fine with me, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable..."

Imperia watched with horror as Rihzome stole some of her food. She gave an outraged gasp and took some of his food as well in revenge. She rubbed her nose gladly as the shadows dissipated off of it; then quickly wolfed down most of her food, sacrificing her normal polite way of eating for the sake of being able to talk more. Cutlery wasn't her style anyway.

While she was devouring the meat on her plate Imperia listened curiously to the other two dragons. "I'm expect we've all had unpleasant experiences in the past with war; but we're safe here and now."
Imperia gave Rihzome a comforting smile before looking back at Caramina. "So... tell us what you remember about your brother."

Shaking his head slowly, Rihzome huffed. "It's fine… I just… Don't like talking about it. I left that part of myself, and my past, behind long again and I don't like speaking about it… Even Imperia here knows very little." He muttered, the shadowy eating implements he had shuddering for a moment as they contorted and expanded to sets of shadow claws, before morphing back into utensils, so fast that even watching intently, it would be hard to say what really happened.

Turning his head to Imperia, he smiled, before turning his gaze back to Caramina. "Please, do. We might be able to help you find him, if he is still… Never mind. Even if he's not here, our diplomats should be able to catch wind of him somewhere." He told her with a smile.

A barely repressed shudder rolled through Caramina's body, and she set her lips in a thin line, her gaze hardening as a dark expression crossed her face. "War took my brother away from me," she said, her eyes still fixed on the table in front of her. However, when she looked up again, the brief moment of anger had faded away, and she flicked her gaze towards Rihzome, just in time to see shadows moving around his paw, but quickly melting back into the utensils he had been using for eating before she could actually tell what had happened.

"His name starts with a R, I think; I'm not so sure about that. He was a soldier. Missing in action, my parents said. I don't believe them. I don't quite remember how he looks like though - because they tried to wipe my memories - only that he had the western dragon genes of our dad. Sounds familiar...?" Hope flickered and quickly died in her eyes, squished down by herself, because she didn't really want to get her hopes up only for it to be shoved down.

Imperia missed the shadow flickering completely, but she knew Rihzome well enough to know how he felt without needing to look closely. She did her best to guide their conversation away from depressing matters.

"Now that you mention it, I know a few dragons who's names start with R. Most soldiers who go missing in action are deserters, although a soldier who deserts a bad cause certainly deserves no shame. Hopefully your brother is living peacefully somewhere."
Imperia tried to get them to make the same link that she had. And besides even if they weren't brother and sister they would still make a wonderful pair of adoptive siblings.

Reaching out, Rihzome lay one of his paws over Caramina’s, giving it a soft squeeze, having noticed the dark expression, and shudder. Not knowing what to say, he simply offered her some small comfort in his company, and the small act of support. “Not anyone specific, but I mean, there’s quite a number of Western dragons with a name starting with R… I’m sure we can find him.” He told her, the flicker and disappearance of hope in her eyes only urging him to help her more. Holding her paw, her looked her dead in the eye, and said it again, with more conviction. “We will find him.” He said simply, before turning his attention to Imperia, still holding her paw, finding it oddly… Comforting. And… old?

“More than likely.” Rihzome replied, flashing Caramina a smile, as Imperia spoke. “The Xoya have so very few deserters that they don’t really hunt after them. Once they get out of their territory, they are pretty much free. The others… Well. He obviously did get out. That’s all that matters.” He finished. “Imperia, are any of those dragons previous soldiers? I know it would be prying, but could you ask them? Or maybe give me their names so I can?”

Caramina smiled at her newfound friends, and squeezed back Rihzome's paw, which was comfortable and oddly familiar. Maybe it was because the gesture was so similar to her brother's; he'd held her paw a lot, whenever she was upset or distressed.
"Thank you for trying," she said softly. "I'll try to call up more details about him. I haven't thought of him in quite a while, actually; I was busy with other things." She chuckled at Rihzome's mention of Xoya. "Xoya? I know from my brother that the Xoyan commanders ensure that all their soldiers have this way of thinking: 'What I am doing is right, and deserting would be a dishonour and a show of how ungrateful I am. They will hunt me down if I do. And they will torture me.' My brother, however, was an exception." She said this a bit proudly, then flushed in embarrassment, muttering a 'sorry' for boasting.

"He has Chaos and possibly Shadow abilities, I'm not sure. That's all I remember..."

Imperia almost rolled her eyes in annoyance, but she controlled her expression; instead she raised an eyebrow at the two of them holding each others paws. "I feel like you two have got quite a strong connection. I'm almost jealous." She giggled.

"A few stormcallers are previous soldiers, although I haven't ever gone looking for former Xoyans in particular. We could check the records back in the library, although I get a strange feeling the answer might be closer than you think."

Even with all sadness and loss that was floating around their table, Rihzome couldn’t help but smile as Caramina squeezed his paw back, the gesture making him exceedingly happy for some reason, something his sister used to do… “It’s not exactly that, but what you said does sum it up quite well. I was training to be a Spion, so there was a little more… emphasis on the deserting part, and something about falling in duty rather than being taken as a prisoner… quite morbid, really…” He muttered, another, smaller smile breaking out on his maw. “He sounded smart then… It’s mostly just fear tactics, to ensure you don’t try and leave… unless you’re a fully fledged Spion or a Skygger.” He told her, not really paying any attention as a wing stretched out, wrapping around Caramina and pulling her softly closer. “Chaos and shadow abilities, huh? What a coincidence… I have that pairing as well… should be quite easy to find your brother then, it’s a rare combination.” He added, before pausing, and looking up at her, an eyebrow raised. “That would mean you probably have shadow or chaos abilities as well… while still being silver scaled. Just as rare…” he mused, smiling.

Turning his head to chuckle at Imperia’s words, Rihzome gave her a smile. “We’ve both Xoyan, both had things taken by war… We’re now both Stormcallers… Of course we share a connection.” He stated, as his wing pulled Cara a small bit closer. “Really? Then again, I guess it does make some sense… if he was to be hunted, or wanted to keep low, he would hide here, in the Twilight Palace… Probably something to do with the library or vaults. I’ll check around with the Librarians and check the Vault Keeper records.”

Caramina caught Imperia rolling her eyes and reached over, to grasp the silver dragoness's slim paws, grinning at her. It was a teasing one, but also sincere. "Don't worry, we're not going to leave you out. I've only met you two, like what? Two hours ago? And I already feel as if I've known you for ages," she confessed, and nodded, in response to Imperia's offer. "Alright; I hope he'll be found. I wonder whether he's changed," she said, her eyes taking on an unfocused look, which, however, didn't last long, quickly wiped away and replaced by her usual bright alertness. She turned her attention back to Rihzome, curiously regarding him with bright green eyes. He reminded her of her brother, she thought as he wrapped a wing around her. She didn't know why; he just did. Maybe it was because of their similar stories?

"I know I'm probably saying this for the hundredth time, but thank you." She chomped down the last of her food, then stood. "Um, could we start the search now? If you don't mind?" she asked, excitement and nervousness mixing in her voice.

"I swear on my queen... ness... that you two are the slowest dragons I've ever had the misfortune to meet!" Imperia huffed. She wasn't actually frustrated, and she certainly wasn't trying to insult them; but the sheer obviousness of what she thought was going on was incredible, and she could hardly believe the two of them were not seeing it. "Just look right next to you!"

She hesitated, putting a paw over her mouth. "Ahh... that is... I'm almost totally certain. I think. I might still be wrong, and I'm not going to literally swear my queenhood on it."
She glanced back and forth between them, blushing slightly.

Rihzome nodded to Caramina. They had eaten, and he truly had nothing else for the day… And… he did wish to help her. He knew what it was like to be without kin, alone… and he desperately didn't want her to feel such a thing, especially when he could help her out. "Of course we can start now." He told her softly, smiling, as he climbed to his feet and stretched offering a paw to her,  before stopping and staring at Imperia.

Blinking at his queen, Rihzome turned to scrutinize Caramina again, under a different light. She was the right age, the silver, flowing scales, the green mane… With a single wave of his paw, shadows started to conjure behind him, as they forged into what he remembered of his parents, creating an illusionary copy of both. Although they looked younger than Caramina would know them, and happier, it was undoubtedly them. "Are these your parents?" He asked simply, not allowing himself to get too excited… but the joy was already blossoming in his soul.