MountainValley

MountainValley

Praemia virtutis honores.
Honours are the rewards of virtue.






MountainValley is the clan's sentinel, a guard who takes up his position on the very outskirts of their territory. He watches their borders and keeps an eye on the territories beyond them, looking for danger that might make its way in. He is the clan's very first warning, and their first line of defense against such danger. Although it is a lonely job, and takes him away from the lair sometimes for long stretches of time, he wouldn't dream of giving it up. He came to the clan from the aftermath of a battle, and although he can't remember it, he can still look at the scars it left on his body and know the terrible cost of it. It's something he would protect his clan from no matter what, and it makes his long, solitary hours as a guard worthwhile when he can return to them and see them safe and sound.

Rather large even for an imperial, MountainValley is an imposing sight. He keeps himself in fighting fit at all times, and he bears the scars of past battle. He's often seen in full armor, and even when he removes it inside the lair, he still has the air of a competent fighter, However, he does his best to be kind and gentle, especially around the young, small, and shy members of his clan. Although he won't hesitate to throw a good scare into anyone he thinks is a threat to the lair, baring his teeth and loosing a snarl like thunder, he is remarkably careful around his clanmates. He doesn't ever want them to look at him with fear in their eyes, or wonder if he might be dangerous to them. His mate, Corazon, is his role model in that, and he tries to imitate her careful mannerisms and soothing demeanor.

Although it's clear that he used to be a skilled warrior, MountainValley doesn't remember much of that. He was found by the clan badly wounded, having dragged himself away from, as the clear trail he'd left revealed, the wreckage of a battlefield. They would later realize that the ugly head wound he'd survived had left him with a case of amnesia. He was discovered by Corazon, a kind-hearted adviser and part time healer of the clan, who called others to come and help her bring him back to their lair. All he knew was that he woke up, aching but alive, to the sight of the most beautiful dragon, with the kindest eyes, he had ever seen.

Slowly, over the course of his recovery, he began to piece together a few bits of his old life. Corazon, the dragon who had nursed him, told him about how they had found him, and a day later came to him with a pile of armor she said he had been wearing, but they'd had to remove because it was too heavy to carry back along with him at the time. His few memories, the fragments that turned up when he came across something unexpectedly familiar or that materialized in his dreams, mostly involved other fights. With all the memories came the sense that he fought not out of loyalty or idealism, but for profit, as a hired warrior, and he did not like what he saw himself fighting for in some of the memories. He wondered if he had questioned his morals before the loss of his memory too, or if he'd been left a completely different dragon by their loss.

Corazon was a bright spot in his life. He worried that his moral sense was skewed, that the fighter who lacked honor in his scattered memories would creep up on him until he woke up one day and realized that was who he once again was. But there was something about her that radiated empathy and compassion, and he couldn't help but believe that whatever actions she took must be the right one. If he couldn't trust himself, he was sure he could trust her. He even confided in her, asking her advice and telling him about some of what worried him. Not all, of course. He was sure that if she knew what he had really been like, what he perhaps still really was, she would be disgusted.

He set about repairing the battered and dented set of armor that she said had belonged to him, at first simply to have something to do. But as he worked, it became a goal. When he'd gotten it back to usable condition, then he would have to leave them. He could take it and perhaps find some honorable work for a warrior, and work on becoming someone who was better than he had been. Much as he was growing attached to the peaceful clan, and the lovely dragoness he was spending more and more time with, he couldn't stay. How could they want someone like him, in a clan that offered only kindness and friendship? And yet, somehow the task kept getting put off. Corazon would invite him to come help her as she tended to the wounded familiars she healed and cared for, letting him carry food and water, and occasionally asking him to hold down the larger ones when she had to do something painful like set a broken bone, and couldn't afford to have them thrashing around. As he recovered his strength, the clan's own warriors invited him to spar with them, gently pulling him in when he would have refused by saying that he would be doing them a favor, evening up a group where one dragon was left without a partner.

More and more often, he found himself called away from his task by some new friend in the clan, or Corazon herself. Whenever he thought it was finally all repaired, he found one little thing he had missed before. Although he knew he had to leave, he found himself delaying, wanting to stay, selfish as it might have been. He knew someone like him didn't belong in a clan like this, but some part of him still hoped that he would be proved wrong. It was Corazon, frequent counselor and confidante, who saw him searching for a reason and gave it to him, confessing her feelings for him and telling him how she hoped he would stay, and continue adding to the new life he had built here. It was all he had needed to hear, and he happily settled there for good, to begin a new chapter of his life by her side.