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| - Rhiza awoke beneath a blanket of woven stars upon a bedding of velvet night. She understood that they were stars, though she did not know why. Then again, such a trivial thing like knowing hardly seemed to matter; they were pretty, they were endless, and she was blessed to look upon them. That she was conscious of her own thoughts was a footnote that only struck after the fact. Her name was Rhiza, that much she knew, and there was an unexpressed knowledge that she belonged to a race known as the Syladris, though she couldn't remember having met anyone like her before. In fact, she couldn't remember much of anything at all... which, Rhiza decided, was just fine; she had the stars, and they were happy to entertain her, and - for now - that was enough. Her body told her that it was cold, too, and that it was exceptionally quiet. Somewhere in the distance the whispering crumble of something falling down something else broke the silence, but the disturbance was fleeting and soon her world was once again nothing but perfect night and a canopy glittering stars. If her entire existence was based around starlight and its observation, then Rhiza decided it was a perseity that she would have little complaints about. That is, until she noticed the moons that stood as monsters next to her precious gemstones of spectral light. Those moons - two of them, on that night - watched her with a cold and emotionless gaze of color; their stare unrelenting, as if of a vast and unimaginable creature, waiting to devour her between jaws as yet unseen. That quickly taught her of the sensations of discontent and fear, and before she knew what she was doing she had left her beloved stars behind and fled the oppressive weight of that cruel glare, seeking the shelter of a nearby cave that she had found and slipped inside of before the process had even registered. Something within her core being told her that the moons were nothing to fear, but she dismissed such tales as madness. The rocks within the cave were as cold and hard as the ground had been that she awoke upon, and - peeking out of the mouth of the cave - she found she was in a valley of rock and stone of some kind. She had memories of such things, memories that told her of names and words, but if she tried to hold on to those mere ghosts they quickly escaped her, leaving her only with a sense of loss. Thus, hidden from the watching moons by the darkness of the cave she'd found, she came to the conclusion that trying to catch those specters of memory was not an enjoyable experience, and merely accepted the gifts of language that they granted her. To her delight, she also found that her stars lived inside the cave, too! Tiny flecks of starlight shone from the dark walls. She knew them to be diamonds, and that the duller, smoother ones were ores, though some other things escaped her knowledge entirely. Rhiza was done with things that evaded either her physical or proverbial capture for now, however, and decided that she would sit in the cave and watch the stars that shared it with her until the scrutinizing glare of the moons had gone away. Eventually, night became day, and the warmth of the emerging sun persuaded her to leave the night of the cave and bask in the glory of the day that was approching. The moons had driven away her stars, it seemed, but in their place had arrived fluffy clouds of various abstract shapes of white. Delighted by these new friends, she tried to reach for them, but found they were beyond the grasp of her hands. At this point, Rhiza discovered she had hands, and decided that they were wonderful. She discovered she had a voice, which - compared to the silence - was a noisy thing, but she was proud of the sound it made all the same. A state of pure felicity overcame her when she finally discovered her tail, too; for upon that long coil she found diamond-shaped stars all of her own that would follow her no matter where she went, cast in hues of sapphire and sunset orange. She also found she had a desire to travel to the west, although she did not know what she would find there, let alone where she even WAS to begin with. Still, after finding herself nothing better to do now that she had fully explored her own body and what it was capable of, she decided that 'going west' was as good a plan as any and decided to work towards that goal. For a while, Rhiza found that 'going west' was more difficult than it seemed, for the attempt was blocked by natural walls of rock that apparently housed grim-looking men cast in stone. She'd tried talking to them on a few occasions, but had quickly found that they weren't the most sociable of creatures, and weren't very forthcoming with answers when she asked them questions. Still, she reasoned, they likely didn't get many visitors and were properly just very sad, and decided that she would talk to them anyway as she explored the valley she was stuck within. Eventually, the grim-looking men cast in stone lead her to a rise in the land that vanished between tall structures that she knew to be trees, and Rhiza made sure to give one of the men a kiss upon his cold and emotionless face before leaving them behind. She had the suspicion that they all talked among themselves when no one else was around anyhow, so didn't feel too bad in abandoning them. Though her journey west was mostly uneventful, to Rhiza everything that filled every moment was fantastic, no matter how trivial it was. The grasslands she slithered over were an amazing shade of green, and the feel of the grasses against her scales was something to cherish. When it began to rain, she would take a break from her westward sojourn and happily dance in the downpour, laughing all the while as droplets cascaded down her body and clung heavy to her hair. The mountains were always to her right, and the grasslands always to her left, so she knew she was on the right path, though she didn't know where it would lead. There was also something about those snow-tipped ranges in the north that felt familiar but, though she longed to let her curiosity take her to them, she decided that the resolute course was to continue east and - besides which - the mountains weren't going to leave her like the stars had done. The animals that she had encountered in droves were also a thing of remarkable curiosity as well, and Rhiza often found herself forgetting about her personal quest to stroke the thin and bushy hair of a benevolent bison or to chase a flock of birds from the grasses within which they hid. The world, Rhiza thought, was a beautiful place filled with wonder and excitement, and she was more than happy to have been brought into it, even if she didn't understand how that had happened. Even the things that scared her with their snarling, or their growling, or their hissing, were things that she was glad to have found. Even the small slithering thing that tried to bite her - yet that looked something like her - was remarkable, and even though she had cried long into the night after the wild cat she had tried to pet had hissed and scratched her arm, drawing blood in the process - she never regretted the experience (even if that cat WAS mean and even if the blood WAS scary and even if it hurt and was no fun at all). In time, as day had turned to night and back into day numerous times, Rhiza finally found that which she was looking for: a bluff of rock near to a river, upon which life thrived. Her call of excitement as she dashed towards that place was answered by a collection of rangers who met her warmly as they in turn approached her - and creatures these, too, with their legs instead of tails and their lack of horns and their strange fur coats, were astonishing. The way the female ranger's hair was gold and short, rather than long and black, was quickly cause for fascination. The way the males blushed and looked away when they noticed her chest was insanely compelling. The way their voices all sounded different, and how they all spoke words in different tones and accents, was captivating. Rhiza decided that she was glad she had followed her quest to the end; after all, mountains were BORING compared to this cacophony of curiosity that she had discovered. In time, the rangers brought Rhiza back to their town of wood and smoke and introduced her to Tshepsi and her human who was called Soravyn. Tshepsi was a creature she instinctively knew by name, and she was surprised to find that Tshepsi knew her name in return. Tshepsi's gruff pet human in his shiny crimson fur, however, reminded her of the stone men she had met in the valley, and - after a while - she decided to ask him about it. She would ask him many questions in the months that would follow, and he would often sigh and complain a little, but tell his stories anyway, much to the delight of both Rhiza herself and Tshepsi. He would tell them the stories of this vast and romantic place he called Fastheld, filled with things called "Nobles" and "Freelanders" and "Cities" and "Houses" (which confused her because she thought people lived in houses), and the "Aegis" wall and the "Wildlings", and of things like "battle" and "love" and of "Emperors" and "Princes". The tales relating to this town she had learned to call "Crown's Refuge" with its complicated humans and their many different hopes and problems were the ones she loved the most. Stories of the Prince called Serath and his Duchess called Rowena; of the Ranger called Vhramis and the Emperor called Talus who came before them; of the battle against the Dark Wildlings who were like the Wildlings she had had seen around the town but mean; of the place upon the bluff called Crown's Refuge itself, and the people from Fastheld who had visited it; of Tshepsi and Soravyn meeting and their adventures across the Wildlands, just like hers! However, the first story she heard was that of the old "Kings" in the valley in which she awoke, and the many stories - stories older than SORAVYN! - that were sung about them. In time, Rhiza also learned that she was capable of many things, and soon discovered clothes (which weren't fun), and modesty, and that while putting things in one hole in her body was okay, putting things into the other one was most certainly NOT okay, no matter how it made her feel. (Rhiza thought that it was fun, no matter what people said, but soon decided that being scolded was not fun at all, and that the fun wasn't worth the not fun). As the second Syladris to have ever happened upon Crown's Refuge, she was also witness to the rebirth of Crown's Refuge itself; a rebirth caused by the blessing of the White Dragon, she was told, in which Tshepsi called upon something called the Shadow (which was mean, she learned) to create a city from nothing, and in which Soravyn called upon the Light (which she DID know of!) to hold Tshepsi back from going 'too far' and to protect her from the depths of the darkness in which she swam. This penumbral combination created a city that had been forged of magic and memory, rather than by design and physical labor; a city that was not there one moment, and then there in all of its illustrious glory the next. Though Rhiza had no such connections to Light or Shadow, she was more than happy to explore this new play area, and quickly fell in love with the Snowfall Basin. As more humans came to the sanctuary that her friends had created, and as more Syladris found their way to Tshepsi in turn, Rhiza found herself stricken with wanderlust; she wanted to explore this place called "Fastheld" that Soravyn had told her and Tshepsi about, and to see all that it had to offer with her own eyes. Yet Soravyn had told her she could not, for those lived there would not understand what she was, and what she could be, and did not want to learn what she could teach them in turn. So, Rhiza decided that if she could not chase after the stories herself, she would let the stories come to her. With Tshepsi's help, she picked out a building in the area that had become known as "Wildcat Haven" and was certain that she wanted to turn it into a "Tavern" where people gathered; for where people gathered, people told stories, and stories were what Rhiza wanted to collect. Thus was the Golden Dragon established with its unlikely hostess and owner, and Rhiza quickly found her niche within the freehold of Crown's Refuge, giving people food for stories and tales, and filling them with drink as rewards for the songs they sung and the laughter they blessed her with. She even catered to the needs of the few "outsiders" who dared to venture into her tavern during the Siege of Crown's Refuge, when she was trapped inside while Soravyn was outside, trying to get back in. They told her tales, too; tales of Ebonhold, of the Drakeguard, and of the many mean people who wanted to rule Crown's Refuge. She learned of the Syladris who had turned against his people, and of the attack on Tshepsi which had left her friend without horns. She had offered her own horns to Tshepsi to make her happy again, but was sad to learn that she couldn't take them off to give as gifts, which had at least earned her a smile from her friend. In time, the Seige was ended by a dragon (who she knew as Val'sharax, though could not say why) and Rhiza got to meet some of the "Imperials" from Soravyn's home, and they, too, shared their stories with her (even if some of them WERE mean). She was sad when those Imperials went home again, and sadder still with Soravyn told her and Tshepsi that he had to leave "to go into the west", just like she had done, but Tshepsi told her that Soravyn would be fine, and would bring back many stories to share, and that cheered them both up. Rhiza has paid little attention to the 'politics' that came to Crown's Refuge after Soravyn left. The new Archons weren't Soravyn, so they weren't REALLY Archons at all, she decided - they were just pretending until Soravyn came back. She loves the tales that those who have come to Crown's Refuge from Fastheld from the Song Portal (which once held her enthralled by its swirling for a whole day), but wishes they wouldn't argue, which makes her sad. For now, Rhiza continues to keep the Golden Dragon active, spends as much time as she can swimming in the Snowfall Basin, and keeps Tshepsi company when the two are allowed to forget that one is an Archmage so they can just be friends and so silly and fun things together. She still hopes to explore Fastheld one day, but for now is content with her stories, and her tales, and her stars when they come out to see her. She doesn't mind the moons anymore, either, as they don't complain or blush when they look at her naked, and that's just fine by her as she giggles under beneath their eternally interested and dispassionate gaze.
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