#I fualkdflkajf posted this to my main blog twice before I noticed wtffff

[drakengaze]

The Rise of Gatlefain

                 -Makotoila-

“You’re telling me she’s a spell, Toriya?” The low hiss from the advisor of the clan, Makotoila, spoke over the Chief and the babe she cradled close upon her chest. His golden dreads fell down his ebony back, the beads in them rattling as he anxiously swayed his weight from hindheel to padded toe..

“She is, yes. An alliance between Drakengaze and the Dawn Seat. Caran lent his prowess in weaving the magic I exhausted. She is a bloodless child.” The deep blue gaze of the proud Chief slid to study her Advisor, curious of his concerns. Or challenging them by her stiff gaze. “She will be called Gatlefain, and we will raise her among our people as a leader.”

There was a deep pause in the pale yellow eyes of the Advisor. He had made many hard choices working with his Chief, and he was highly regarded within the elders of Drakengaze. He knew that Toriya had ruled by the sheer strength of her Authority over the others in the clan, her spark of wisdom and her brute strength lending her a unique charm over her assortment of warriors and wandering feral half-gods and witches. He had never seen her make such a gamble in his decades at her side, never witnessed another dragonblooded creature sacrifice all of their own magic to create a progeny. But after her time in the ice and the decimation of the old clan, he couldn’t call himself surprised that she would want to relieve herself of leadership over the new. “She will be called Gatlefain, my Lady. I will announce her birth to the clans.”

And with that he left the Lady and her daughter in their quarters, walking swiftly on his claw ended feet and swaying his tufted tail in aggravation behind him. How would he announce the daughter? What could he call such an abomination of creation? The Chief had created a life, a child, both with and without her womb. He knew the dark nature of the magic that had brought the Gatlefain to their world, knew that few among the clans were old enough to even know what the word meant. He knew the nature of the gamble, and he knew that Toriya wouldn’t have made such a bet if the Council of Magi, the Dawn Seat, had not grown so corrupt and powerful under her waning ability to lead. The ice had taxed Toriya beyond the limits of her fortitudes, and though they had brought her body back from the eternal blizzard it had been clear to him and the other elders that much of her mind had remained behind. Even so, they’d done their best to structure and reign over the people that relied on their land to live. 

“You’re so deep in thought, Mako.” A flicker of flame whispered past his ear, and the heavily robed Seer Tenphris padded up to his side, her short frame always so subtle and quiet he hadn’t noticed her to greet amidst his worrying. “Guide me to the Maker’s Guild, will you? We can talk along the way.”

“I know you hardly need my help, Lady Tenphris.” His voice came out lighter than usual, as always for her. He saw how her attendant, the Scholar Tetai, bristled quietly at her flank for the tone. But that, as usual, didn’t deter him from gently taking the Lady’s hand over his palm and falling into step with her. 

Her shawl covered her sightless eyes, but the grin that teased on her lips was visible to Mako as they walked the grassy path away from the Grand House Drakengaze, bearing toward the marketplace. “Perhaps I do not, but you seem troubled my friend. Tell me what irks you?”

“Toriya has made a choice, as usual. It will affect all of the clans, and all of our lives. I’m not yet certain how.” He worded it so carefully, mindful not to enact treason in the company of Tetai. “I’m uncertain, Lady Tenphris, what is coming.”

“A new age, a new way. Our society is going to reshape itself under this choice. We will be little more than leaves on this wind of change.” She spoke gently, though Makotoila knew the tone in her voice was fearful. She saw what was coming, and his own hesitations confirmed something she didn’t like either. His posture was tighter as they walked on quietly for a few steps, the hardiest of the head Clan, they both were. But they felt fear deep and dire in their bones. 

“Yes, that is what I feel too, Lady Seer. We have been made quite strangely powerless, and we must see the shape that makes of our lives. The beginning is now, I must announce the nature of the choice to the others.” Trepidation working through his tone, he hated having to speak in codes with Tenphris, but they both knew Tetai’s nature. Anything that could be perceived as weakness or doubt in the Elders of Drakengaze would find its way to the Dawn Seat through his mouth. Though Tenphris was an invaluable asset within the Dawn Seat herself; keeping Drakengaze from falling utterly into upheaval with her intuitive codes; the council had appointed her a ‘Knight’ to insure she didn’t speak too openly about their inner workings. It only helped that Tetai and Makotoila both dearly loved Tenphris. Though she made virtuously clear which of them she cared for with little regard the bristling and jealousy of the opposite. 

“We will see the end of this change, Lord Advisor. And we will see peace in the conclusions that come.” The Seer assured her Clanmate softly, ever so gently touching her palm to his as they came to the entrance of the Marketplace. “Here we must part, I have scrolls to purchase before I announce your appointment with the Dawn Seat for this evening. May your announcements go well. Come, Tetai, I require your eyes.”

The Lord advisor closed his fingers around his palm, watching the Seer and her Attendant part from him with as impartial an expression as he could muster. When they were vanished into the bustling crowd of visitors he turned his focus away from the main Market, treading on toward the Guildmaster’s hut. A brief knock before he strolled in, inserting himself into an argument between the Elder hunters Rhianyd and Enef at the desk.