#shes also got a big chip in her beak because she was nutrient deprived and it got brittle

[dragonflyght-rising]

@directorate-fr here. Could you tell me about Starswallow please? 👉🏼👈🏼💓

yes yes! she's one of my very favorites.

Starswallow was born under a different name to parents on the western Arcane/Plague border. she had three other siblings, and was the runt of the litter. her parents abandoned her there, hoping she'd either vanish or be taken in by someone else. against all odds, she survived!

not knowing who her parents were, and having nobody trustworthy in her life, she turned to the Arcanist. when praying for help, a family, friends- even just some kind of sign, didn't work? she became bitter. she felt that, if nothing else, she deserved to know why he abandoned her.

she was 9 by this point, and spent the next 3 years doing as much research and magic practice as she could. she was quite competent, if narrowly focused on combat. her delusions of grandeur began at this time, and she started to believe that more than deserving answers from the Arcanist, she deserved to *be* him.

a bit after she turned twelve, she began her journey to the Observatory. getting there was anything but easy, but she didn't realize it'd pale in comparison to the next day or so. alternating climbing and flying got her up the first half, until footholds became scare, and her wings were all she had to rely on. updrafts were inviting and easy, and they brought her up faster than she would have ever expected.

missing the first window seemed like an easy mistake, but once she realized the wind had taken her tiny body too high to come back from, panic set in. folding her wings did nothing but get her off-balance, and as she was whipped around, she could see the Observatory getting further and further away. the air started getting thin, and her vision swam. she was aware, faintly, of how much brighter, and *hotter* the stars felt.

flecks of stars were embedded into her skin, burning out the patterns of the cosmos, almost as a record of her hubris. she didn't know how long she floated in that aether before realizing she was plummeting. the instinct to put out her wings and break her fall was a foolish one. she was severely burned but managed to survive, barely making it to the ground. she was tossed all the way into the soft red sands of Plague.

unconsciousness took her for days as her body tried to mend itself. eventually, a wandering tundra happened by her, and took her back to the doctors in his own clan. her wounds were treated, and she woke up. many of the events of the past week had been lost to her for the time being, and she lacked even a name- the tiny sparks floating around her earned her the name Starswallow.

the tundra- who named himself as Mothra- began to take care of her. she was flighty, restless, anxiety-ridden, and deeply traumatized, but his slow approach wore her down. several years and many, many tears later, she's grown into a much happier, healthier young lady, and resides in the new clan with her adoptive father and several cousins, whom she gets along with swimmingly.

she's gotten mobility aids to prevent her from dropping out of the sky while gliding, and is quick on her feet now, preferring to run wherever she needs to, or catch a ride on a larger dragon if need be. her antennae will never grow back, unfortunately, but she doesn't miss them too bad. she does wonder, sometimes, what her life would have been like with caring birth parents... but really, she can't imagine a better life than she has now.