Author's Note:
Sorry if this is progressing extremely fast. Not much happens, trust me. These dragons will be nearly four-hundred years old when the story ends - you honestly don't want me to detail every moment of it, do you? Right, then! The story will slow down once interesting things begin to happen, I promise.
Over the decades, Kali taught them many things about magic and the world around them. Willpower wasn't enough – she introduced them to the concept, but they weren't ready to put it into practice past simple telekinesis. She taught them levitation spells, invisibility spells, spells to communicate long distances, and enchant objects. Spells to change one thing to another, to manipulate their surroundings and even, their own bodies.
Kali had laughed when they first started to shape-shift into mortal bodies. The dragons were upset that Kali thought they looked awkward or disfigured, but she just shook her head and remarked that she had never seen a dragon look anything but stunningly gorgeous when they shape-shifted.
Some took this comment as a compliment, others as a challenge. Folhala and Ursanth, a pair of inseparable Greens, spent the next week transforming into the ugliest beings imaginable, much to Kali's amusement. She advised the young dragons that if they ever needed to walk among the mortals, that they should look as plain and unnoticeable as possible, or else they would attract too much attention and blow their cover.
The older dragons on the main Isles took notice of their offspring cavorting with the chromes. After many debates, it was eventually decided that it could do little harm in this time of peace – and perhaps, the chromes would learn something from the young metallics. They just hoped it wasn't the other way around.
The young dragons became closer and closer as the years went by. There were many differences between them, many strengths and weaknesses. The Blacks and Whites could breathe underwater, while no one else could, or figure out how to without magic or shape-shifting. The Golds, Reds and Greens were the most adept at magic, though the Reds and Silvers had the easiest time shape-shifting. The Coppers and Whites were the smallest and the fastest in the air, although the Whites were considerably dull in intelligence while the Coppers were extremely sharp. The Blacks and Bronzes tended to want to be left to their own devices, though the Bronzes were much friendlier than the grumpy Blacks. The Brasses, Blues and Silvers were generally extremely sociable, and the Greens were, too, if they saw some sort of advantage to it. The Bronzes shied away from confrontation, and had an eerie ability to almost read the minds of their friends, while the Coppers seemed ready to pick a fight with anyone about anything. The Bronzes were also the largest and strongest, quickly followed by the Reds, then Golds, then Silvers and Blues.
The Silvers also discovered that the Blues matched them in curiosity with the mortal world, and Valtrex was pleased to find, that Tyberis wanted to explore Krynn as much as he did. The Reds were fiercely protective of their own, and the Golds spoke words of wisdom only matched and exceeded by Kali. They all worked well together, and found that they could easily compensate for each other's weaknesses by working together as a team, instead of individuals, as their kin had done for generations before.
But their time of peace and gaiety wasn't to last – it never does, in these things. War had been escalating higher and higher between the mortal races on the main continent, and while that normally did not concern the dragons in their isolation, the situation had changed.
The Gods of Light and of Darkness had floundered for centuries before finding leaders again amongst them. What had been over two hundred and twenty years in Ansalon since the demise of Takhisis passed by in a flicker for the gods, who finally decided that Sargonnas should lead the Dark, and Kiri-Jolith the Light.
The age-old game was up again, and the two gods began to call upon the children of Takhisis and Paladine to join their war efforts. All across Krynn, the dragons could feel the divine call, and many answered it, glad to have a song in their hearts again. The Freed Ones felt it as well, the alien sensation of divine presence. Many followed their parents and siblings into a battle that hardly changed. The young dragons on Tayol Isle, however, balked at the change.
"It says, it says, that it will forgive us for the folly of our youth," trembled Santhis, a young White.
"But what is there to forgive?" asked Furor viciously. "We have done nothing wrong, nothing at all!"
"No, we haven't, sister," Tyberis responded.
"You must fight it – do not respond to Sargonnas's call," Kali advised. Upon watching the turmoil their friends were going through, the young metallics also resolved to not join their elders in the fight with Kiri-Jolith.
"We cannot abandon our friends," Gwennilyth, a Silver, sighed. "But it is not easy to disobey our elders."
"We have to make a choice, then," said Kaylindor, another Silver. "I, for one, will stay with the chromes. We have lived this long without any god; we shall continue to do so."
One by one, the other dragons agreed to this declaration.
Their elders were incised at the young dragons' choice. They blamed the chromes, they blamed Kali, and they blamed themselves. But they knew they could not force their children to battle, so instead, they shunned them, and finally, they exiled the chromes and the human.
They did not expect the young metallics to declare that they would join their friends in exile. They ranted and raved at their offspring, but it was of no use. The Freed Ones were immune to the call of Kiri-Jolith, and knew nothing of the true dragons of Takhisis, despite the warnings. Their choice had been made, and if it meant leaving everything they had ever known, they would do so.
Kali was gathering her possessions into her bags, muttering to herself. She knew it couldn't have lasted, but still, she dreamt at one point.
"Need any help?" a familiar voice spoke from behind her, and Kali turned to see the wearied face of her old friend smiling in the doorway.
"Would it be beneath an elf to help a human by shrinking those books over there?" she pointed to the large stack.
"Not at all, not at all," Valthonis chuckled, and muttered the words of a shrinking spell, gathering the small books into a leather pouch and securing the clasp.
"I had hoped that it would never come to this – I knew by teaching them, I was taking a risk. I had thought, at first, that I could train them, you know?" she was rambling, but she didn't care. He had always been a good listener. "Train them, impress their young minds, grow my own army of dragons."
"Didn't expect to fall in love with them, did you?" the elf grinned at her, and Kali shook her head ruefully.
"Caught me completely off-guard. Who had thought a black dragon could be so loveable?" she smirked.
"Stole my design, she did," the elf rumbled, and Kali knew immediately who "she" was. "The dragons are all inherently the same, she just added her own modifications to the design, and taught them from well before birth to be the way they are. Without her presence, though, the Freed Ones reverted back to their true form. Well, mostly."
Kali nodded. Valthonis often talked about Takhisis when he visited with her – she always suspected it was rather like an old man reminiscing, but sometimes, she wondered. "Miss her, do you?"
The elf look startled for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Back before this whole business ever started, she was right fun, do you know? Everyone thinks we were enemies from the start – but no, we were marvelous friends. She was, after all, my sister. It was great conversation," the elf smiled in remembrance, but then frowned. "When this whole world thing came about, it started as a competition. But it quickly got out of control. And too bad, too."
"Any regrets?" she asked.
"Oh, many, many, but not about that. Never about that. This world is my greatest joy, and it continues to be so. I could never tell how serious she was about it – I never thought she hated me, no, except for at the end there. Even then, I wonder if she did. Oh, she made a right fuss about hating me here and there. But she still dropped by, occasionally, and we'd chat about this and that."
Kali could hardly believe that the Dark Queen, who had once whispered the darkest of desires and the most horrific of acts into her ear, could ever chit chat. Tempting her with power, she remembered, always tempting, of many things Kali had followed through with, much to her regret.
"Do you know, she had the most awful addiction to old Otik's potatoes?" Valthonis said suddenly.
"Oh, you're kidding me!" Kali laughed.
"Oh no, no, cross my heart. She'd take a mortal body all the time, go on down to Solace, and just stuff herself with them. That's when she first noticed Kitiara and Raistlin, actually," the elf sobered suddenly in reflection, and then a quick mischievous grin spread across his face. "She had the poor old soul trapped in the Abyss after he passed, cooking potatoes for her, before I finally got in and rescued him. Oh, she was right mad at me for that, but she knew she couldn't keep him. Good soul, Otik."
"Indeed he was. Good times, those were," Kali agreed.
"Yes," the elf sighed, and continued to shrink various objects around her home for her.
"Are you afraid?" Kali asked, suddenly. "Of death?"
"You know, it's funny. You'd think I wouldn't be, after guiding so many souls on to their next journey for so long. But you know something? I haven't the faintest where they go, or what will happen to me once Mishakal finally lets me pass through. It's a big mystery to even the gods, even though we had a clue more than most, I'd wager."
"Funny, that you, a god, will know that, when I shall never," Kali sighed, suddenly feeling very old, and very tired.
"Oh, being immortal isn't so bad, I should know," Valthonis's eyes twinkled, although he understood the pain Kali was going through.
"I'm just so tired, Paladine. I enjoy this world, I do. I enjoy teaching the young ones – gods know, I would've never imagined that a few hundred years back, but I do. But without my magic, it's so depressing, it always has been. I suppose I deserve it, though, for my arrogance."
"Eh, if it's any consolation, I lost a bet to Hiddukel once, too," the elf grinned and nudged her with his elbow. "Where else do you think sea dragons came from?"
Kali laughed, thinking of the half-dragon, half-frog creatures that were obsessed with treasure more than any Red and had a horrible disposition to rival a Black, "Oh, that's awful! I don't want to know the particulars of that wager."
"Yes, yes. Some tales are better left not told, I imagine," Valthonis mused. He spoke quietly, "I know about your plan."
Kali froze – she had not told anyone of her plan, and though he was no longer a god, the old paladin seemed to know what was on people's minds well enough. "Do you disapprove?" she whispered.
"No, it's probably for the best. Fresh start, wherever you end up at. Oh, don't look at me like that, I'm not quite so omnipotent anymore. Zivilyn popped by the other day, and in-between the vague questions and fluttering about, I got the general gist of what he was trying to tell me about. Told me you might need a few things, as well."
"Oh?" Kali was intrigued as to what the God of Wisdom had to impart on her.
"Yes, yes," Valthonis pulled out three singularly odd objects out of seemingly no where. One was a large branch that glimmered with a strangely in the light of the other two objects, a pair of crystal vials. One glowed blue, the other a scintillating silver.
"Is that…" Kali began to ask, astounded.
"Yes, a branch from the Tree of Life. Haven't the faintest what you'd need it for, but Zivilyn pretty much insisted on it. You should feel lucky – he doesn't intervene often."
"I do, I do, I'm honoured – and what are those?" she squinted at the two vials, peering at the contents inside, "Are those…hairs?"
"Yes. One is Mishakal's, and the other is one of my old hairs from…before," Valthonis seemed uncomfortable.
"What could I possibly need these for?"
"As I said, I haven't any clue, but then again, you never do know with Zivilyn," he chuckled.
"I'm…honoured, I really am," she whispered, watching him shrink the objects and put them into another bag for her. "Where…?"
"Would you believe that I used to groom myself a lot? Mishakal still complains that she finds hairs all over the vanity," Valthonis grumbled.
Kali just laughed at the domesticity of it all. She hardly believed what he said to be taken literally – no, he was twinkling way too much to be telling the truth. But she wasn't going to press the issue, and was instead glad for his help. She said a quick thank-you to Mishakal and Zivilyn, as well.
She looked around to find all her possessions – that she was taking, anyway – packed into a few bags. This was it, she surmised.
"I'm never going to see you again, am I?" she asked quietly. Valthonis nodded in confirmation, and there was an awkward silence before Kali suddenly threw her arms around the old elf in a hug.
"I'm going to miss you, you old dragon," she sniffed. Some part of her was recoiling in disgust at her actions, but another part of her told her to stuff it.
"Oh, perhaps we'll meet again, someday, in the great Beyond," he smiled. "Farewell is hardly ever forever, my dear."
"Perhaps," she smiled, gathering her bags and walking out her front door, grinning when she saw Valtrex waiting impatiently for her. The half-grown Silver peered curiously at the elf that came out with Kali, but something inside of him made him not ask his normally incessant questions about the elf's presence. He could tell Kali was sad about something.
"Goodbye, Valthonis," Kali called as she strapped the bags around Valtrex's neck, and climbed onto his back.
"Goodbye," the old elf responded, and as Valtrex flapped his wings and took off, he imagined he heard the elf call Kali by some other name.
But it was probably just his imagination.