Rafflesia

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Named for his plumage, he hoards Moonglow Foxtails for his wigs. His outfit is tailored for stealth and camouflage. He originates from the Starfall Isles, but before he had reached adulthood, his clan was raided, and he had to flee his home. He stumbled into the forests of the Scarred Wasteland, where he learned the best traditions of the flight: surviving. In the Cupid Clan he was the first teacher of the Cupid Combatants' School, and is now the head teacher. He does not know how this happened, and gets very angry if you bring it up. He specialises in physical combat with a sword, and stealth.

Rafflesia's oldest friend from his time as a scavenger. He and Hershel would bump into each other on hunting expeditions in the Scarred Wasteland, and despite their differences, Hershel made a friend out of him. He joined the Cupid Clan some time after Rafflesia.

Rafflesia's protégée and first friend in the Cupid Clan. She was a small hatchling when he came to the clan, but plucked up the courage to ask him to teach her to fight. Despite Tsukuyomi's general timidity, she has no fear whatsoever of Rafflesia, and is the only one who can calm him down when he is in a temper.

ooo ooo

The rains of the Windswept Plateau were not like the rains of other lands. At the Sea of a Thousand Currents, every rain was like a flood, but to feathered dragons like Coatls, the rain merely slid off, and they were kept warm and dry on the inside. On the Shifting Expanse, thunder crashed and lightning seared across the sky, but actual precipitation was little, and all a wise Coatl need do was seek shelter away from the lightning.

On the Windswept Plateau, though it did not rain heavily, the wind howled, ruffling fur and feathers alike, creeping underneath clothing, chilling every dragon unfortunate enough to be caught outside to the bone. The feathers down Rafflesia’s neck stood up in places and were flattened in others. He had already lost a few plumes from his mask, which annoyed him greatly.

All he had been tasked to do was find some crates in Bamboo Falls. This was his first time in the Windswept Plateau, and it was just his luck that it should turn out so disastrously.

Rafflesia looked around desperately as he wrapped his sword in his mantle to keep it as dry as possible. Shelter. There had been no heavy clouds in the sky over the Plateau when he had set out in the morning (admittedly, it was harder to tell this close to the Twisting Crescendo than it would have been in other regions), so the rain must settle down soon. Just let him find somewhere to rest for a few hours, and then he would leave.

Though he was on Reedcleft Ascent, an area supposedly populated by modest-sized lairs, he could see no dens or caves to speak of in his immediate line of sight. It was as well that there would be no need to seek aid from people who might expect something in return - or worse, act hospitable. There was a crevice of some kind on a cliff step above him. Too waterlogged to fly, he slithered up the cliff face, hauled his sword onto the step, and pulled himself up into the dry.

It was still extremely cold and windy, but at least it was dry - and deeper than he had realised, it turned out. He pressed inside and breathed a sigh of relief. This was good. As soon as his feathers dried and the rain eased, he would leave the Windswept Plateau and never come back. Nothing could induce him to return to this godsforsaken place. He took his sword out of its sheath and sat down to some quiet drying and polishing.

After a few minutes, Rafflesia realised that the crevice was warmer than he had initially realised. Much warmer than any cliff-face crevice had the right to be. He wondered how it could be so, when something else crept into the edge of his senses: a voice.

He drew his sword and leapt to his hind legs. Unfortunately, he was too late. No sooner had the shadow of another dragon appeared on the crevice wall, than the newcomer cried out in surprise at the sight of him, and whipped him around the head so hard that his mask came flying off. Dazed, Rafflesia fell to the ground, landed another blow on his head, and blacked out.

-

Rafflesia shifted, and cloth and leaves rustled underneath him. He felt as warm and comfortable as if he was curled up next to a roaring fire, but there was no sound of flames or smell of smoke. Lying on his front, his wings were loosely folded on his back - dry now, but caked stiff with mud. From the sound of breathing, he detected that another dragon was sitting near him, sitting still and saying nothing.

He opened his eyes, and met the golden gaze of a female Coatl at least twice his size.

They stared at each other for several seconds. Or, it would be more appropriate to say, Rafflesia stared, while the other Coatl hardly seemed to perceive his presence at all.

‘Who are you?’ he said.

‘I am the leader of this clan you stumbled into, I presume by mistake,’ she said. ‘My name is Lullaby.’

‘You need to mark your lair entrance more clearly,’ Rafflesia mumbled. He looked away, feeling embarrassed. He might be a ruthless freelance soldier, but he was no intruder.

‘It is not an entrance,’ Lullaby replied. ‘It is a back door. Here, in the Ascents, our openings must be tucked away and shielded from the wind.’

That made sense, which made Rafflesia feel even more awkward, and consequently irritated.

‘Whatever,’ he snorted. He stood up and shook out his feathers, which turned out to be a mistake. His head spun and he tottered on the stone floor.

‘Perhaps you should rest a little longer,’ Lullaby said pointedly.

‘Is it still raining?’

‘Yes.’

Then there was no point in trying to leave. He sighed and slumped on the lair floor.

Lullaby appeared unperturbed by his rudeness. In fact, she seemed much like a ghost, redirecting her gaze to nothing in particular when Rafflesia finished speaking with her, doing nothing and making no extraneous movements. Even her breathing was minute. It suited Rafflesia just fine.

The peace was not meant to last, however. Suddenly, and with no warning whatsoever, Lullaby ran her tail over a row of windchimes that hung on the wall, producing a cacophony of sound that whirled through the air and dispersed towards the back of the cave. It was only a moment before other dragons began to appear, summoned by the sound.

First appeared a stately midnight-black Nocturne, all bedecked in gold. If Lullaby had not introduced herself as the clan leader, Rafflesia would have guessed him to be the clan leader. Behind him, a couple of Coatl hatchlings bounded into the room. Their voices were high-pitched and excited, and Rafflesia wanted to bury his head under the nest of leaves and groan.

‘Oh, he’s awake!’ one of them, a small golden Coatl with pale markings all along her body, said in an exaggerated whisper, and shrunk behind the Nocturne. The other, a larger, brown-bodied Coatl with pink markings, scampered right up to him and looked him in the eye. Her Wind-green eyes were faceted.

‘What do you want?’ he snapped.

‘What’s your name?’ she said.

‘Rafflesia.’

She nodded, clearly satisfied, and turned away.

‘You should introduce yourself too,’ Lullaby said rebukingly. The young Coatl started. She looked around again.

‘My name is Caramel.’

‘I don’t care,’ Rafflesia said.

She giggled.

‘Is it time for dinner?’ Caramel said, going up to Lullaby.

‘Yes, it is. Let’s get ready.’

‘If you want dinner, you should help,’ Caramel said to Rafflesia.

In reply, Rafflesia drew his wing over his face.

But he was hungry, and eventually, begrudgingly, removed his wing. By then, more dragons had appeared, all of them Coatls. There were not many of them, perhaps less than a dozen in total. They bustled around with baskets of food in their arms, and more baskets laid out neatly on a low table.

As he looked, he caught the eye of a female adorned with so many flowers, she shed petals and leaves in her wake. She immediately turned to the male next to her and nudged his forearm with her tail. The male looked at her, and then around at Rafflesia with a distrusting look that Rafflesia wholeheartedly approved of, and returned with his own. The female whispered in his ear, and they approached him.

‘So you’re awake,’ the male said coldly.

Rafflesia, who would never take a challenge lying down, stood up, admittedly somewhat clumsily.

‘What do you want?’ he growled.

‘Only to apologise,’ the other Coatl said loftily. ‘I seem to have hurt you badly - although I do not see why I should apologise for defending my home from an intruder.’

‘I’m sure he didn’t mean to intrude,’ the female said severely. ‘He was probably only looking for a place to stay out of the rain.’

‘Then he could have come from the main entrance.’

This was totally unfair. It wasn’t as if Rafflesia had had any way to know he had walked into an occupied lair.

‘I suppose you will be staying for a while because of that head injury.’ The male resumed his haughty tone as he turned back to Rafflesia. ‘You may as well learn our names. I am Duskcloud, and this is my mate, Hildr. You have met our daughter, Caramel.’

In that case, there was no need for Rafflesia to introduce himself. He nodded curtly.

‘Come and have something to eat,’ Hildr said kindly, and she and Duskcloud walked away.

Rafflesia touched his head gingerly. It did feel somewhat tender, like a newborn hatchling’s skull. Was he really going to have to stay here for long? Now that he was more rested, he felt himself at leisure to look around properly, around the large cave, the ornaments made of bamboo and feathers hanging on the walls, and discern his things, propped against the wall some distance away. He went over - carefully, so as to not disturb his head overmuch - to inspect them.

His mantle had been washed, and was hanging on a rope strung along the wall. He picked up his sword and took it out of its sheath - thankfully dry and undamaged. The same couldn’t be said for his mask, however. It was broken clean in two. He held the pieces in his foreclaws and looked at them in dismay.

‘We’ll get you another one,’ said a voice, and Rafflesia looked down to see Caramel at his side, standing on her hind legs, using her tail to help her balance on her stubby limbs. ‘Father was acting all cross, but he feels really bad about it. We’ll give you a new one before you go.’

‘I certainly hope so,’ Rafflesia said frigidly.

‘Right!’ she said brightly. ‘Now let’s eat.’

Sighing, he followed her to the table.

-

The lair was a thoroughly planned out home. There were a couple of rooms constructed out of earth where fires burnt, and through a system of openings and air tunnels, warmed the whole lair. During warm days, the fires were put out, and doors on the ceilings were opened instead to ventilate the lair.

To a dragon who had always lived on his own wits, sometimes having to find shelter in the most hostile of environments, it was like heaven.

The room Rafflesia had originally been placed in was at the centre of the network of rooms and tunnels, and was where the clan gathered for mealtimes. After their dinner, Osiris, the sole Nocturne of the clan, lead him through the tunnels and showed him a room that he could use.

None of them asked Rafflesia who he was, where he was from, or why he was there.

At first, this suited Rafflesia just fine. He was not interested in engaging with a strange clan anyway. But after a few days, he began to find it unnerving. What kind of dragons simply accepted a dragon into their clan with no queries about his past or his occupation?

And they were such harmless dragons. None of them knew how to fight, not even to hold a knife in self-defense. True that they lived in a peaceful area, far away from the conflicts of the realm, but what would they do if a real intruder came upon them? And they did not know how to adventure into the wilder parts of the realm where monsters guarded their homes full of treasure and food. The clan were seldom hungry, but Rafflesia overheard and knew that they had been exerting themselves just to feed another dragon.

It was exasperating. They were a clan of Coatls, dragons with strongly innate magical abilities and a respectable body size - they were not small and frail Faes, for the Arcanist’s sake! Indeed, the shy golden Coatl he had seen on his first day was Tsukuyomi, an adept magic user, and should have the ability to smite monsters left and right. Her age was no deterrent in Rafflesia’s eyes - at her age, he had been living alone in the wastelands of the Scarred Wasteland, hunting for his own food and making his own living.

Rafflesia’s head felt much better after a week of rest, but having no pressing need to leave, he wanted to enjoy the warm lair and regular meals a little while longer yet. And while he was around, he might teach the other Coatls (and Osiris) a lesson or two. Consider it his payment.

The nearest hunting grounds were the (accursed) Bamboo Falls. It would not yield too much loot, nor would it prove any kind of challenge to his returning faculties, but it should help to show the clan what they could do. During a busy moment when dragons were bustling in and out of the lair to gather food, heading to the Marketplace, or tending to the hatchlings, Rafflesia slipped out unnoticed.

It was a blindingly brilliant day. The sun shone fiercely, but the wind was mercilessly cold. It got under Rafflesia’s feathers and almost lifted him into the air without him spreading his wings. Now, during the day, Rafflesia saw for the first time, the other residents of the Windswept Plateau ducking in and out of near-invisible holes in the ground and cliff sides. Far above in the sky, kites and platforms tied together by bridges floated in the air, although what purpose the bridges served was unfathomable to Rafflesia. The residents floated along them to visit their neighbours, or neglected them entirely, swooping and circling through the air as lightly as the breeze.

Rafflesia regarded them somewhat critically. He had not lived amongst other dragons much, but something about the happy, carefree dragons in the sky was alien to him. How could there be any dragons that lived so easily and comfortably? He had lived on his wits all his life and could imagine nothing else. Or was this what it was like to live knowing one could depend on friends and family for support?

Was that what it was like to have a clan?

He shook the thoughts away and took off into the sky.

Despite his dim view of the challenges the Bamboo Falls had to offer him, an hour of cutting down monsters and vegetation in his path left him feeling wonderfully refreshed. Breathing in the fresh air, filling up the basket that hung on his side with food and loot, he began to feel himself a fool for hanging around a warm lair and a welcoming clan for so long. He had always been alone, and that was how he liked it.

He could leave, right now. The Coatls would not come looking for him, and if they did, he could easily make it so that they could never find him.

But he was no ungrateful wretch who ate food and took shelter from other dragons without giving thanks. Besides, the feeling that he owed something to others was highly unpleasant. Better he pay his debt before he left. Besides, what was he afraid of? That they would stop him? They couldn’t.

As he flew back to the lair, he chided himself for even asking what he could be afraid of.

By now, Rafflesia knew where the main entrance was, and he strolled in during the evening, an hour before sunset. The lair was quiet at that time. When he walked into the centre chamber, it was to what appeared to be a gathering of the whole clan, save for the hatchlings.

‘Hey. Is it dinnertime?’ Rafflesia said blithely, knowing full well that it wasn’t. He slung off his basket and dropped it on the floor. ‘I picked up some stuff. Thought I’d show you lot how it’s done.’

His tone was smug, but as he spoke, he realised that something was off. The clan were staring at him as one, as if they had never seen him before, and he felt discomfited.

‘What?’ he growled.

Hildr came to her senses first, but Rafflesia got the sense that what she said did not line up with the thoughts in her mind.

‘Did you really go scavenging for us?’ she said. ‘That’s so kind of you!’

‘I didn’t do it out of kindness,’ Rafflesia snapped, fur bristling. ‘It’s my payment for letting me stay here.’

‘The members of our clan do not need to earn or pay for their place,’ Lullaby said. ‘You must not think of that. Thank you, Rafflesia.’

‘Stuff it!’ Rafflesia batted at the basket with his tail, sliding it across the floor in their direction. He turned around and stalked out of the room.

In the tunnel outside was Tsukuyomi. She flattened herself against the wall when he appeared, eyes wide with terror. Rafflesia gave her a cold look.

‘Um,’ she said.

Her Shadow-dark eyes were so full of fear, they glistened with what might have been tears. Feeling guilty for taking his anger out on her, he gruffly said, ‘What?’

‘You w-w-went to the B-B-Bamboo F-Falls to hunt,’ she squeaked. ‘Um, you - you said, before, that I - I - I could do that t-too … if I learnt h-how …’

‘Yeah? And?’

Shrinking against the cave wall even further, if that was even possible, her gaze darted around the corridor as she whispered, ‘Will y-you teach me?’

‘What?’ he snapped. Tsukuyomi flinched and trembled. ‘I can’t! I don’t know magic!’

‘I do,’ she said. Suddenly, her voice was brave. ‘I already know magic, but I don’t know how to use it to hunt. That’s - that’s what I really want to learn to do. Please - if it won’t be too much trouble - please t-teach me.’

This clan was too strange and too alien. They accepted strangers, they didn’t ask questions about his past, and they thanked a magic-less Arcanite like him for doing the only thing he could do. And now this little girl was asking for his help as if there was no one else she could ask it from.

Just as he thought, being in a clan was no good at all.

But if he didn’t teach the girl the most basic method of hunting, the clan would go to ruins if something unexpected were to happen to them.

‘Fine, fine,’ he said vexedly. ‘I’ll take you next time. Just make sure you’re not a burden.’

‘Thank you!’ Tsukuyomi’s face split into a smile. It was like the sun bursting out of the clouds after a storm.

He could leave at any time at all. For now, he would just enjoy the warm shelter and regular meals. Just for a little longer.