Notice: Neither the characters nor the lands they exist in belong to me, with the exception of Kae and
Marani, who exist only in the frightening abyss I call my memory. I don't own 'em and I'm not getting
paid for this fic, so don't sue me. With that said, all hail Patricia C. Wrede and her Enchanted Forest
Chronicles, and on to the story.
In Which a Dragonet Learns More Than She Should, and an Adventure Begins
The Mountains of Morning were perfectly normal mountains, tall and dangerous due to steep
heights and unadvised rockslides. There were mountain cats, snakes and everything else one would expect
to find in perfectly normal mountains, including dragons.
The dragons that lived in the Mountains of Morning were perfectly normal dragons, they fought
knights when they had to, they raided kingdoms when need be, and they were extremely allergic to
wizards. The King of the Dragons however was definitely not normal; she had had a princess volunteer to
work for her. Completely unheard of! Then she had taken a fire witch that couldn't control her powers in to
train, and set her up as her princess!
Despite all this, Kazul, the King of the Dragons, was a perfectly normal female dragon, yes
female… for Queen of the Dragons, as everyone who knows dragons knows, is a perfectly boring job, and
not one many dragons were currently interested in filling.
At the moment there was nothing to really hold the interest of the King of the Dragons either. The
Giants in the east weren't raiding, the trolls and other bothersome mountain life were not being at all
bothersome, and the wizards were still trying to get over their recent defeat at the Castle in the Enchanted
Forest some two or three years ago. Because there was nothing that needed her attention at the moment,
Kazul decided to journey to visit her grandchildren.
So on that perfectly normal and sunny day, Kazul, the King of the Dragons, set off for the
Northern End of the Mountains of Morning to visit her grandchildren.
The first of the grandchildren to see Kazul gliding in a lazy circle to land on the front cliff of their
cave system was a young dragon by the name of KaeLaeran.
"Mother! Grandma is here!" The young dragonet called over her shoulder, for though still quite
young by the reckoning of dragons, Kae had already decided that she wanted to be female, and three stubby
horns graced her head, one over each of her eye ridges and one on the end of her snout.
Kae then proceeded to run to the edge of the cliff and launch herself off of it. With a few flaps of
her membranous wings she rose up and headed toward the approaching green bulk of her grandmother.
"Hello Kae," Kazul smiled at her youngest grandchild's precocity, and with no little pride at how
well the young one managed to keep up with her as they met in mid air and then headed back toward the
cliff's edge.
"Hello Grandma," Kae answered, a little preoccupied with trying to remain in the air and with
Kazul as they circled down to land on the cliff where Kae's mother and the rest of her siblings had crowded
out to see Kazul.
The two, Kazul and Kae, could not have looked less alike. Kazul was very impressive in her green
scales and large bulk, Kae was small, not more than three feet tall and seven feet long, and instead of the
common green or brown shades among the dragons she was a rich sapphire blue, one of the most
uncommon colors.
"Hello Mother," Marani, Kae's mother addressed Kazul. "What brings you to this side of the
mountains? No trouble I hope?"
"No, no Marani, nothing like that," Kazul responded, smiling down at the assembled of her
grandchildren. "I merely came for a little visit.
At this the dragonets all broke into cheers, for they knew that their grandmother loved to spoil
them whenever she was there, and she told the best stories.
"Grandma! Could you tell us about the wizards?! And how you first met Cimorene? Please?
Please?"
"Kae, your Grandmother just got here, perhaps she would like to rest before you set on her like a
bunch of heathen scrubs." Marani reprimanded her daughter, glaring down at the sapphire-scaled body.
"And we have yet to speak of your most recent offense, you know full well I forbade you to fly on your
own."
With this parental disapproval lying on her head, Kae stared at the ground in front of her, wishing
she had managed to learn an invisibility spell, as one would come in handy right about now.
"Now, now, Marani," Kazul interrupted, "Kae wasn't alone, I was with her, so she wasn't
disobeying you. I would have been able to take care of her if anything had happened, and nothing happened
did it? Kae is a very good flyer."
Kae perked her head up a bit, but hid her smile of pleasure at her Grandmother's words, knowing
full well her mother would take it as being impertinent.
"True… but she was just showing off," Marani frowned on all such exhibits, not wanting any of
her children to act as if they were better than the others were. She knew it would cause trouble if the
youngest and smallest of them, who happened also to be the first to learn to fly, happened to show up the
older ones.
*************************************************************************
The visit turned out to be quite nice, Kazul and the children ate a lovely meal that had been
prepared by Marani's princess, and several of the princess's friends, after all, there were a lot of dragon's to
be fed. Kazul indulged the children in several tales from her past before Marani sent them off to bed, and
the two adults settled down to talk about current gossip and issues as adults have a tendancy to do.
Unknown to them, Kae had snuck out of bed after she had been put there, and she was sitting
behind the cavern wall listening to them.
A slight rustle of pebbles on the cliff alerted Kazul and Marani, and Kae, to the arrival of another
dragon at their cavern entrance.
"Kazul?" The low baritone voice of a male dragon drifted through the entrance to the dragons
inside.
"Marchak? What are you doing here? Come in, come in!" Kazul looked up, startled.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Kazul, I know you've been looking forward to this visit," Marchak said,
lowering his head and looking slightly embarrased. "But word has just come from the Enchanted Forest,
Cimorene has disappeared."
To be continued, not sure when, but hopefully soon if I get some good comments on this part.
Marani, who exist only in the frightening abyss I call my memory. I don't own 'em and I'm not getting
paid for this fic, so don't sue me. With that said, all hail Patricia C. Wrede and her Enchanted Forest
Chronicles, and on to the story.
In Which a Dragonet Learns More Than She Should, and an Adventure Begins
The Mountains of Morning were perfectly normal mountains, tall and dangerous due to steep
heights and unadvised rockslides. There were mountain cats, snakes and everything else one would expect
to find in perfectly normal mountains, including dragons.
The dragons that lived in the Mountains of Morning were perfectly normal dragons, they fought
knights when they had to, they raided kingdoms when need be, and they were extremely allergic to
wizards. The King of the Dragons however was definitely not normal; she had had a princess volunteer to
work for her. Completely unheard of! Then she had taken a fire witch that couldn't control her powers in to
train, and set her up as her princess!
Despite all this, Kazul, the King of the Dragons, was a perfectly normal female dragon, yes
female… for Queen of the Dragons, as everyone who knows dragons knows, is a perfectly boring job, and
not one many dragons were currently interested in filling.
At the moment there was nothing to really hold the interest of the King of the Dragons either. The
Giants in the east weren't raiding, the trolls and other bothersome mountain life were not being at all
bothersome, and the wizards were still trying to get over their recent defeat at the Castle in the Enchanted
Forest some two or three years ago. Because there was nothing that needed her attention at the moment,
Kazul decided to journey to visit her grandchildren.
So on that perfectly normal and sunny day, Kazul, the King of the Dragons, set off for the
Northern End of the Mountains of Morning to visit her grandchildren.
The first of the grandchildren to see Kazul gliding in a lazy circle to land on the front cliff of their
cave system was a young dragon by the name of KaeLaeran.
"Mother! Grandma is here!" The young dragonet called over her shoulder, for though still quite
young by the reckoning of dragons, Kae had already decided that she wanted to be female, and three stubby
horns graced her head, one over each of her eye ridges and one on the end of her snout.
Kae then proceeded to run to the edge of the cliff and launch herself off of it. With a few flaps of
her membranous wings she rose up and headed toward the approaching green bulk of her grandmother.
"Hello Kae," Kazul smiled at her youngest grandchild's precocity, and with no little pride at how
well the young one managed to keep up with her as they met in mid air and then headed back toward the
cliff's edge.
"Hello Grandma," Kae answered, a little preoccupied with trying to remain in the air and with
Kazul as they circled down to land on the cliff where Kae's mother and the rest of her siblings had crowded
out to see Kazul.
The two, Kazul and Kae, could not have looked less alike. Kazul was very impressive in her green
scales and large bulk, Kae was small, not more than three feet tall and seven feet long, and instead of the
common green or brown shades among the dragons she was a rich sapphire blue, one of the most
uncommon colors.
"Hello Mother," Marani, Kae's mother addressed Kazul. "What brings you to this side of the
mountains? No trouble I hope?"
"No, no Marani, nothing like that," Kazul responded, smiling down at the assembled of her
grandchildren. "I merely came for a little visit.
At this the dragonets all broke into cheers, for they knew that their grandmother loved to spoil
them whenever she was there, and she told the best stories.
"Grandma! Could you tell us about the wizards?! And how you first met Cimorene? Please?
Please?"
"Kae, your Grandmother just got here, perhaps she would like to rest before you set on her like a
bunch of heathen scrubs." Marani reprimanded her daughter, glaring down at the sapphire-scaled body.
"And we have yet to speak of your most recent offense, you know full well I forbade you to fly on your
own."
With this parental disapproval lying on her head, Kae stared at the ground in front of her, wishing
she had managed to learn an invisibility spell, as one would come in handy right about now.
"Now, now, Marani," Kazul interrupted, "Kae wasn't alone, I was with her, so she wasn't
disobeying you. I would have been able to take care of her if anything had happened, and nothing happened
did it? Kae is a very good flyer."
Kae perked her head up a bit, but hid her smile of pleasure at her Grandmother's words, knowing
full well her mother would take it as being impertinent.
"True… but she was just showing off," Marani frowned on all such exhibits, not wanting any of
her children to act as if they were better than the others were. She knew it would cause trouble if the
youngest and smallest of them, who happened also to be the first to learn to fly, happened to show up the
older ones.
*************************************************************************
The visit turned out to be quite nice, Kazul and the children ate a lovely meal that had been
prepared by Marani's princess, and several of the princess's friends, after all, there were a lot of dragon's to
be fed. Kazul indulged the children in several tales from her past before Marani sent them off to bed, and
the two adults settled down to talk about current gossip and issues as adults have a tendancy to do.
Unknown to them, Kae had snuck out of bed after she had been put there, and she was sitting
behind the cavern wall listening to them.
A slight rustle of pebbles on the cliff alerted Kazul and Marani, and Kae, to the arrival of another
dragon at their cavern entrance.
"Kazul?" The low baritone voice of a male dragon drifted through the entrance to the dragons
inside.
"Marchak? What are you doing here? Come in, come in!" Kazul looked up, startled.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Kazul, I know you've been looking forward to this visit," Marchak said,
lowering his head and looking slightly embarrased. "But word has just come from the Enchanted Forest,
Cimorene has disappeared."
To be continued, not sure when, but hopefully soon if I get some good comments on this part.