The Grand Meeting (Open to all)

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Location: Muri Taka (Layrian Bay Island)

The morning air is crisp, with the sun having just began to rise over the horizon.  Today was the day that all the known tribes of the land met together, to interact, socialize, discuss, plan, whatever.  Some of the talks would be serious, some of them would just be friendly banter.  This was a time to get to learn who the other tribes leaders were, as well as their members. The smell of roasted fish and beef permeated the air, as some draconiforms came first, cooking food and preparing other various food items. Even some rogues, those that had the guts to show up, were coming. Everyone was allowed at this time.

Oculus maintained his position by Gemini, figuring that he should be around her to keep a presence of order around.  He watched as Ferrum came to them, noting the lack of a bow as he spoke to their leader.  Listening to Gemini's gruff response to Ferum, he just smiled lightly.  He'd discipline ferrum later, but not in front of everyone.  That would ruin the presence..or maybe make them seem like true militarists.  As fun as whipping soemone into shape was, Oculus would spare the embarrassment, and just nodded to Ferrum.  "Go socialize, learn who is who. Take your time, come back when you know most people here he said in xoyan to prevent others from understanding, and since it came easier to him.  Oculus followed Gemini as she approached the smaller dragoness, noticing Dellilah come too.  Like usual, her cold demenour was ever present.  He hoped she would keep it in check as he noticed her desire to do something.  Figuring the Lakara queen wouldn't understand xoyan, he didn't bother whispering. this is a social meeting.  Don't cause issues.  If you gotta kill something, kill some animal and bring to for the cooks to eat, or go and socialize....and by animal, I mean not a draconiform!. He knew she liked to wiggle around the rules, but he also knew she wouldn't do something stupid.  As long as her bloodlust was kept in check, he would be fine.  Switching to Universal, he gave a small bow, eyes open to Zolt.  Greetings Queen of the Sea, this here is Lady Gemini, Kommandant of the Xoya.. He smiled lightly as he stood up from his bow, wondering if Gemini was getting peeved with him following her, or the fact he called her Lady Gemini.  He smiled lightly, slightly behind Gemini again to remain as an imposing guard, but keeping a friendly demenour to hopefully balance Delillahs cold one.

"Yes, of course," Ferrum nodded to Oculus. Looking around, he didn't see many other draconiformes to talk to. He knew that there were more tribes than just the few that were there. He began to think, Where are the others? His vision was suffering due to the bright morning sun, but he could make out a few other forms that he didn't recognize. He began to approach and saw the faint outline of a silver dragoness talking to a desert dragon, most likely a Ki'Shan. Ferrum began to make out more of their facial features as he got closer and adjusted to the sunlight. One of them was Imperia, the leader of the Stormcallers. How strange for her to be so low in the atmosphere. Nodding to her as he approached, he greeted her, "Welcome, Imperia. How wonderful for you to come on this lovely day. Who is this with you?" He gestured to Acer, not knowing who he was.

Imperia eyes the Xoyan queen with mild distaste, their tribe was quite at odds with the Stormcaller way of life, which required a balanced power base in which they could operate, as well as being rather too fascist for Imperia's personal taste. Still the queen herself might be nice, and her rule over her tribe would be extremely strong, meaning that she was well worth that time it'd take to talk to her. However... one of her guards had detached himself from the group and was approaching Acer and herself.
The new dragon recognised her and immediately she gave him a bright smile. "Oh you know me! Have we met before? She appeared to be deeply in thought. "I'm so sorry, but your name escapes me..."
She looked apologetic for a moment, then laughed.
"This'll make introductions difficult! Awkward indeed."
She didn't sound awkward in the slightest. She just kept happily babbling at them.
"So you decided to leave your familiar old group and find out what else was going on? Good decision, I think, after all why come here if not to talk? This is Acer, he's here as a representative of the Ki'Sha. Acer, I'm afraid I can't introduce you to this drake, although I can tell you that he's an Xoyan, and that he might be a bit more relaxed then your typical member of that tribe, a lot of you guys can be a bit of a drag to chat too, no offence." She winked at Ferrum.

At Imperia's words, Acer decided to relax a little. "Yeah, you're right, I guess." He looked at her. "There are other Stormcallers coming, right?" Acer wasn't sure if she heard his question - she was looking in the direction of the Xoyan group. One of them had decided to come over. Acer said nothing as the Xoyan greeted Imperia, and he wasn't surprised the drake didn't know him; the only famous Ki'Shan was probably Scortia or one of her daughters. He was a little surprised at Imperia's bubbly outburst. She could've just... asked him for his name and saved that entire paragraph of dialogue, which is probably what Acer would have done. "Right. Uh, okay." He looked at the Xoyan. "What's your name?"

The message had certainly been.... unexpected, to say the least.

After all, the Ki'sha had been more or less isolated from the rest of the tribes, due to their reclusive and violent tendencies, and the fact very few Ki'shans knew the Universal language. This meant negotiating with them was difficult. And whomever the messenger had been had found this out all too late, and now his head hung atop a large spear, stabbed into the heart of town. Many civilians were curious, of course, but no one dared to question where this mysterious dragon had come from. However, what he had brought with him had certainly made the Kuz'a raise an eyebrow.

"My Kuz'a, oh Great Savior! We discovered a stranger by our borders. As you have ordered of outsiders, they were slain and put on public display. However... the outsider came with some sort of note. I cannot read it, as it is written in Universal, no doubt, but I saw your name mentioned several times, so we believe it was directed for you," the guard said, dropping into a deep bow upon entering the throne room. Even though he was roughly 20 feet taller than the Great Kuz'a, she was much more intimidating than he was.

Atop the throne sat a majestic dragoness, an amphiptere. A pure blooded southern scorpion kind, the current Kuz'a of the great Linfae dynasty, which had prominently ruled the Ki'sha for 14,000 years. She was a great tan and copper color, with bright golden-hazel eyes, and a small frown written across her lips. Her name: Scortia. She was obvious displeased that one of her Aliugaans would barge in on her in such a manner. Nonetheless, she was curious. Ever so slightly.

"Oh Great Kuz'a, would you desire me to burn it? The outsiders are savages, beasts. They speak no common sense.." however, as the guard would speak, Scortia's eyes would narrow ever so slightly. Then, as if the gods had spoken themselves, she would raise her voice.

"Skaliur, leave it. While I will not tolerate intruders, and the draconiform's judgement was fair, this letter could be many things. A spy, perhaps, analyzing our ways and customs, in order to report back to our enemies, perhaps. I dismiss you now, Skaliur, and tell the rest of the Aliugaan to do a aerial border patrol. If you find any more, kill them on spot, and burn their bodies." the Kuz'a would order. Shaking, almost, soldier would do as he was ordered, and quickly rush off to tell the others.

Quietly, the 30 foot tall amphiptere would rise from her throne, her great wings folded by her sides, and allowing her to climb up and over to the letter dropped by the edge of her throne. Carefully, she would use her sharp claws to open it, pulled the piece of parchment from its containment, and quietly began to read to herself.

After about five minutes, she was quiet. Do they really have me taken for a fool? A peaceful meeting? They have not spoken with us in over 5,000 years! And all interactions have been nothing but violence and bloodshed! Scortia growled to herself. Those idiotic draconiformes, trying to trick her. Who did they think she was?

But even through all this distrust, there was something... odd. She knew this was a trap. But the Ki'sha had never been given a true excuse to announce war. If she sent an ambassador to scout the area this letter told of, then perhaps she could gain information on those devious tribes. And if they didn't return, it would be an act of war.

Oh, but who to send?

There was only one dragon she could think of.

Her mate.

Acer.

---

There was a loud beating of wings. At first, dragons would perk their ears, generally not paying much heed to the noise. However, when someone spotted the sandy wings and the great barbed tail heading their way, they yelped, and suddenly, draconiforms were backing up, making sure to stay well clear of the great amphiptere approaching, her eyes like daggers, her words almost as potent as her venom.

With a thump, the Kuz'a would land. She raised her head, scanning the area, searching for Acer. He had been sent ahead a couple of days, and had sent her a special, quick message, telling her everything was fine. So, she had decided to come to the meeting herself. She did, after all, enjoy the eyes of others, cowering to her in fear.

Behind her were two other draconiforms - a northern wyvern and a western dragon - both clad in heavy armor of bronze and silver, spears held in their mouths, eyes scanning the crowd. Scortia would glance around. She was not aware what the new leaders looked like, and din't like that awful smell of fish in the air. After all, Scortia was not yet aware of the formation of the Lakara, due to her isolation.

But sure enough, the leaders would notice the dragoness, as she was the only one there with fully armed guards, and herself wearing a strange necklace, and a light armor. Most had heard the legends of the violence of the Ki'sha, and no one had actually expected them to come to this meeting. After all, they had been more or less cut off from interactions between the tribes for 5,000 years.

Yet here they were, in all of their sandy, tan and golden glory.

"Oooh, here comes trouble." Imperia didn't look bothered, but she did look interested as a moderate sized amphiptere landed on the edge of the group. She had guards, and whils she looked intimidating she also looked cautious and frustrated, not likely to cause too much of a problem when so many other dragons were nearby. She pointed the new dragon out to Acer. "That wouldn't happen to be Scortia would it? I've heard bad things about the way she treats newcomers. Oh but to answer your question I don't expect any other Stormcallers to show up, still I have no control over weather they do or don't, we may get pleasantly surprised!."
Imperia looked thoughtful for a moment. Her gaze flicked back and forth between Acer, Scortia, and the Xoyan dragon who had not yet introduced himself.

"My name is Ferrum," Ferrum said, answering the Stormcaller leader.  As soon as he saw the Ki'Shan leader arrive, his eyes narrowed and a low growl escaped his throat.  He had never had pleasant encounters with the Ki'Shans in the past.  Turning to Imperia, he said quietly, "I should go and greet the newcomers.  Feel free to join me if you like, but beware of the Ki'Shans, they aren't always very warm and friendly."

Ferrum slowly approached the Ki'Shan queen and nodded his head in respect, hoping that she wouldn't do anything that she might regret later, such as attacking a Xoyan Spion.  "Welcome," he said, "It's a pleasure to see you here."

Gemini's eyes glanced down as Dellilah joined the ranks of flocking her with Oculus. They must have looked like quite a dangerous trio, towering over the other tribes. Although unclad in armor, they were still just as menacing. this is a social meeting. She ignored Oculus's comment to Delilah, and continued to eye Zolt.

"Don't you dare refer to me as lady again, Oculus," she growled darkly in Xoyan. Turning her attention back onto the Lakaran queen, she stared down at the much smaller dragon.

"Don't call me a queen. Xoya has no royalty. I am the Kommandant of Xoya. So you are the new queen of the Lakara tribe? I expected more. You are tinier than I imagined."

Gemini's eyes glanced up as she heard the thump of three new bodies. Sandy-colored. Wearing full body armor. Gemini's eyes narrowed. There was no doubt. They were of the Ki'Sha tribe. The one in front with the strange jewelry and the light armor must be their leader. An amphitpere. Her spion, Ferrum, had went up to seemingly greet the Kishan. Gemini really hoped he didn't land them all in deep ****. It would be troublesome to have a war waged against them, considering the Ki'Sha tribe's violent nature. Gemini stared at them hardly for a few more seconds, before swinging her head back to face the Lakara queen. She knew that the Ki'Sha leader would be able to recognize her as a leader rather quickly, and if not her, then it would be Oculus.

Susurro looked at the letter three more times in surprise, she didn't even consider herself as part of the Vuarsi tribe anymore, why did they send her the letter? She sighed, it was a kind act to invite her to the meeting but what good could she do? Watch? Susurro grabbed her sachel and put on her necklace of protection, just incase anything violent occured between the Ki'Sha and another tribe. After she covered up her home she flew to the area of the meeting, landing in the trees. She poked her head out, ducking back into the trees when she saw the Ki'Sha leader and two others land nearby. Her mind was screaming at her to leave, their was so many dragons gathered there."Come on Susurro, you can do this.." She encouraged herself quietly. Susurro let loose a heavy sigh, and after a little bit of self auguring, she convinced herself to exit the thick trees. She looked around trying to find a familiar face, it was hard trying to avoid dragons of other tribes. She flinched every time a dragon walked by her, she backed away from the crowd of dragons and bumped into something. She turned around and froze, the mighty and very frightening Ki'Sha leader was the one she had bumped into. "I...I-I," Susurro was shivering in fear, this was too much, too many dragons where close to her. "I-I...I'm sorry, I...I didn't mean t-to bump into you..."Susurro backed from the Ki'Sha, she tried to make herself look less like a frightened hatchling, but she couldn't control her shaking tail and wings. "Uhhh..I..."She was at a loss for words, she wasn't prepared to face the Ki'Sha leader.

Zolt noticed as another Xoyan walked up to them, introducing her as Lady Gemini. At least now Zolt knew a name, and that he was less -only slightly- terrifying then Gemini. When the queen spoke again she addressed the dragon, now known as Oculus, before harshly speaking to her. Zolt flinched only slightly, but it was enough for a dragon to notice. She bit her tongue to stop herself from growling or saying anything stupid. The metallic taste of blood ran over her tastebuds, but she ignored it.

Behind the 'Kommandant' a new dragon landed, having everyone seem to stop in their tracks. Zolt didn't know what was so special about it but soon guessed it was because she was another queen or Kommandant of some sort. Although Gemini's actions after its landing made her question her judgment on the case. Looking Kommandant Gemini back in the very high up eye she said, "I'm not going to be the one to start anything here, but if you want to be the one to ruin this 'peaceful' meeting with your comments, then go ahead." Whisking herself away she called for her head guard to follow her in Aquatic, walking in no particular direction.

That is until she found herself by the Xoyan who had greeted the new arrival.

Oculus just smiled like nothing was going on to not let the Lakaran Queen know that he was messing with Gemini.  The Lakaran queen, however, seemed to have taken offense by what Gemini had said.  Seems that they got attitude to make up for their size, Lady Gemini, he spoke in Xoyan, watching her storm off with what appeared to be one of her guards.  Oculus had also noticed that Gemini was not too pleased with the new arrival, and had a look of...concern?  This was interesting.  What would be so concerning about armored dragons?  They were heavier and easier to dodge.  He actually found it somewhat amusing that she would be nervous over them.  Maybe it was the fact that the Spion was talking to her, along with a rogue.  Or maybe it was because the Lakaran Queen was walking towards them.  Leaning towards Delillah, he whispered "make sure the spion doesn't cause a scene.  I hear the desert tribe, Kishulu or something are a hostile bunch.".  Looking back towards his Kommondant, he gave her a bow, closing his eyes as he did so, something he only did to those of esteemed worth.  He decided to speak in Universal, so any eaves droppers would know what he was saying.  "What would you like me to do, Kommandant?"  Oculus saw a few issues.  One was the arrival of the barbaric tribe, the other was that the Lakara just walked off on his Kommadant, and the third was not everyone acknowledged Gemini's presence yet.  He would let her decide the priority of the situation, and execute a plan as needed.

The small posse would slowly walk forward, cautious, but with their heads raised proudly. Scortia would scan over the ground once more, trying to locate figures of authority, which wasn't hard, as she soon spotted a large, great dragoness, and perked her ears. Hmm. Who was the current Xoyan leader, she wondered absently to herself. Last she had heard, the leader was some fool, who barely knew how to train a puppy, let alone an army. Azer, was it? Azel? Axel? Whatever it was, she knew he was a beast not to be trusted. But her sources could be wrong, due to the distance of the Xoya compared to the Ki'sha, and their own reclusive behaviors.

As the dragoness walked, glaring at anyone who would dare to step near her, she realized she had no idea who she was suppose to talk to. Regrettably, that is what a lack of information would do to you. She looked around, ready to find a lesser being to ask whom their leader was. It wasn't long before one approached her, and began to welcome them.

At first, when they walked up, her two aliugaans would growl, threateningly stepping forward, in between the strange draconiform and Scortia. Her guards did not know universal, so they didn't know what Ferrum had said. Luckily, she did. Or most of it. She had never considered it a particularly useful skill to understand, since she rarely had encounters with draconiforms who didn't speak Kishan. She would roughly growl at the guards, and they quickly pulled away, both submissive to their Kuz'a.

She then stepped forward, eyeing the stranger, "Aru Euthica. Greetings, dragon. Tell me, who leads you. Are you of Xoyan descent?" she questioned, eyes darting to other dragons. Unfortunately, her focus was diverted towards the stranger, she was not able to detect the small lindwurm that was approaching her, and neither did her heavily armored guards, as their attention was focused on the larger dragons surrounding them, as well as the the dragon currently talking with their Kuz'a.

Feeling something bump into her leg, Scortia's eyes would go shot, as she leaped up, hissing loudly, her large wing almost smacking Ferrum in the face, as she whipped around to see what had touched her. Looking down her snout, she saw what appeared to be a worm with arms and wings. Her eyes narrowed.

"Kush'ra! Filth! Scva'mi A'lur dac-in! How allowed this beast to get so close to me?" she snarled. The guards immediately perked their ears, and glanced down at the small lindwurm, growling. One guard would step forward, towering over the lindwurm, while the other would glare angrily at Ferrum, hissing angry words in Kishan.

Scortia whirled around once more, this time almost smacking her guard with her wings, and hissed. "Aru'gama! Explain, heathen! What is this worm doing here? Does she have no manners?' the angry amphiptere would growl. Yes the Ki'sha had lindwurms, but normally most dragons knew better than to approach the Kuz'a, let alone touch her. and normally they weren't so small.

Due to the current unfolded events, Scortia didn't notice that the Lakara queen, Zoltypoo, was approaching.

"I am Ferrum.  My Kommandant, Gemini is over there," he said in Universal, motioning to where Gemini was.  Suddenly, a wing flew past, inches from his face.  He stumbled backward a few steps and nearly tripped over a rock jutting out of the ground.  As soon as he caught his balance, he looked over to Gemini, hoping that she didn't think that he had caused Scortia's outburst.  If Gemini did think that, Ferrum would be in for a world of hurt.  As he looked around Scortia, he saw the guard hissing at him.  Going into a defensive stance, he stared deep into the guard's eyes, hoping to intimidate him.  Remembering what his superiors had told him about causing trouble, he stood up straight and broke eye contact with the guard, wishing that the guard wouldn't take it as a challenge.  He slowly approached the Ki'Shan Kuz'a, trying to explain through body posture that he meant no harm to the leader.  "Are you alright?" he asked calmly, "Is this who startled you?" he looked at the small lindwurm and smiled warmly, trying to convey that he wouldn't attack.

Susurro screeched in fear and took off backwards with a burst of small flames from Scortia and the guard who towered over her, she didn't really take off to well so she ended up flipping over and falling flat on her back. She squealed and covered up her eyes in fear of Scortia, small licks of smoke were visible through her left claw/hand, she had accidentally used her fire magic and she hoped that the Ki'shan Kuz'a wouldn't take that as a attack. She was terrified, and if she didn't get a hold of herself soon she could accidentally set fire to the surrounding forest, she had almost no control of her magic when she was scared. Trying to distract the furious Ki'sha, Susurro made a sudden gust of wind and then tried to scramble away, she skidded to a halt before she collided with Ferrum. She rushed behind him and hid behind him, shaking in fear. She froze in terror as she saw dragons begin to look over at them, this only panicked Susurro further and she screeched and hid underneath Ferrum, leaving a slight trail of smoke that rose from the ground at her increasing body heat. She screeched at Scortia "D-Dont hurt me, please!!" She curled up in a defensive position under Ferrum, ready to leap away at any second.

"Poor girl..." Imperia said sympathetically, observing the minor disturbance that the small grey lindwurm had created. She rapidly floated up to stand beside Ferrum, facing the leader of the Ki'sha. She knew the very basics of their language, enough to hopefully get the attention of the angry dragoness.
"Kuz'a, this behaviour is unbecoming of your position. This is a place for talking. The meaning of a snarl may be clear, but diplomacy does not involve such threats."
She switched back to the common language as she looked at the lindwurm.
"Are you alright, dear?"