Rumours she had heard spoke of a dragon that used to live somewhere in the Highlands, one with grey scales, sometimes walked on two legs and sometimes was over forty feet tall on four legs. Whether they were the same dragon or not many didn’t know, but she did, oh she knew very well who that dragon would have been. So the half dragon had grabbed onto that lead and ran with it, or flew with it, as it were, making her way out to the Highlands.

Problem was that it was only rumours and nothing truly solid, but the numbers of rumours she had heard when she had started to ask around had been consistent. A huge dragon would sometimes be seen flying in and out the Highlands, making it a possibility that he had a home somewhere within the vast Highlands.

Sadly for Tourmaline she had been searching for three days and had found nothing, no sign to indicate where this dragon might have denned at. No sign of him flying over head at any time. She was about ready to give up and continue her search for the dragon in another location. ~One more night and day, I’ll give it that much. Then, I’ll move on, I can’t keep flying around.”~ She sighed to herself, coming down from the sky to a small clear spot below.

She created a small fire in order to cook herself some supper, the sun would be down in a few hours, giving her time to settle in and get comfortable. Being the gastronome that she was, Tourmaline was carrying, aside from her glaive, pretty much a full butchered deer, using her ice magic to keep it chilled and stop it from rotting while she travelled. She got to cooking it on her small fire, pulling some spices and herbs from her pack. Her gluttony did at least come in handy for something; she made a fairy good cook with the amount of practice she had. Her mother had given up on trying to cook enough each meal for her daughter, so she taught Tourmaline to cook for herself and gave her an allowance of money, until she could earn her own, to buy what food she wanted with.

But Tourmaline would go through that money in only two or three meals, so Tour had learned to hunt, as lazily as possible, from her father while he had been around. That meant a steady supply of venison, moose and bear, and Tour had started her own garden to keep up with what vegetables she wanted.

A little while later she had her first bit of food cooked to perfection and settled back to enjoy it, while keeping an eye on the second batch she had sizzling away in the fire.

It had been lonely for the dragon lately, no one had come to visit her, and no one had wondered into the area in sometime. So when she had seen the feather winged angel flying around the Highlands for the past three days she had gotten curious after seeing her again this morning. So Xyaban had decided to follow, from a distance and from the ground, the angelic being and see what she was up to. Mostly because Xyaban was utterly bored from being days alone, maybe it would be fun to meet, and maybe murder, someone new?

Since Hacesh’s death Xyaban had been on a bit of a frenzy, but that night she had captured Raith and Rei before Raith had become a God, had been a great stress release. Even if they had managed to get away it had been fun making them paranoid that she could be anywhere at anytime with her potions that let her change into anyone that she wanted to. Then she had heard that Raith had become a God, which was not fair! In Xy’s eyes he murdered her mate and their baby, how could Raith be allowed to become a Deity?!

So, being that she was crazy but not stupid, Xyaban had laid low and stayed away from anyone that might be associated with Raith. She had been happy to integrate herself into Serafina’s circle at least, and that was going well, at least in Xy’s eyes. If only she knew the truth of what Serafina thought of her, Xyaban would have really been at a loss on what to do with herself.

But now she had a new distraction, and as the night was coming the angel had landed somewhere ahead. Xyaban slipped through the terrain that she knew so well and caught the smell of the smoke in the air. Xyaban’s hoard cave was a couple of miles from here, hidden away for ages. More to the point, it had been Hacesh’s cave for centuries before Xyaban had moved her hoard to his and started using his cave.

Finding where the angelic female was cooking her meal Xyaban studied for a bit, watching her. She was extremely pretty, with large wings and her skin Xy could see had a slightly grey hue to it, and that didn’t click right away for Xyaban either. When the pretty angel woman started to eat Xyaban cleared her throat and stepped slowly from the trees, making noise enough to let the woman know where she was, Xyaban wasn’t trying to sneak up on her. ”Hello there.” Xyaban started with a small smile, her tail swaying back and forth behind her from under the robes she wore. ”I’m sorry to intrude upon you, but I couldn’t help but notice you flying around the Highlands for the last few days. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something you needed help looking for? I’m Xyaban by the way.” She smiled, showing her fangs, she was at least being pleasant right now.

At the sound of the cleared throat Tourmaline stopped mid bite and turned in the direction she had heard the sound come from. From the trees stepped a… female… something, Tourmaline actually had no idea what the hell she was looking at. At least not right away, the long light brown hair, golden skin, scales and the tail, it clicked in the half dragon’s mind as the other female spoke that she was herself some kind of dragon. Half dragon maybe like Tourmaline was? Or some kind of full dragon that Tour hadn’t encountered before.

Either way she was rather pretty in her own right and she seemed pleasant enough so far, introducing herself as Xyaban. If she had seen Tour flying around the Highlands for the last few days did that mean she lived here? Or was THIS the dragon that she had heard the rumours about and it wasn’t the one she was looking for? No, Xyaban was way too short to be him, even the rumours said that he walked taller on two legs that Xy was.

As Xyaban had spoke Tour finished what she had been chewing on before she spoke, a small smile on her own face. ”Hello, Xyaban, I am Tourmaline.” The half dragon started. ”In fact maybe you can help me look for someone that I heard rumours of living out here. I am looking for a dragon named Hacesh, he’s got grey scales and skin and…” Tour stopped when she saw the look on Xyaban’s face. ”Oh, so you know my father then? Xy nodded slowly. ”Can you tell me where he is? I’ve been looking for him for months now.” Tour smiled, finally, she could see her father again if Xyaban could point her in the right direction. It had been surprisingly hard to find a forty foot dragon.

However, as Tour waited for Xy’s reply she noticed that the look of shock on Xy’s face turned into sadness. Tour frowned. ”What is it, Xyaban?”

Tourmaline, that was a pretty name! Xyaban thought to herself as the angelic woman continued to speak. She was looking for a dragon that lived out here? Even before Tour said his name Xyaban was scared that she would be looking for Hacesh. Xy knew he at least another twenty kids out in the world, when you lived as long as he had and was as open with sex as he had been that tended to happen. So when Tourmaline did said say Hacesh Xy couldn’t help but have a look on her face, a look that Tour caught onto to.

She was one of Hacesh’s daughters then, and she had no idea that her father was dead. Xyaban nodded when asked directly if she knew Hacesh and stepped around the fire and a little closer to Tourmaline. Now with the smoke out of her nose she could better small Tour, and Xy’s sharp sense of smell did tell her that, yes, Tour was one of Hacesh’s children. The poor girl had been looking for months for him, only to now find Xyaban to tell her that he was dead, murdered.

Xyaban frowned and stepped closer to Tourmaline and settled down on her nears in front of, what Xy thought of, as her stepdaughter. With one inhale Xyaban told the truth of what happened to Hacesh, or at least the truth from her perspective. ”I’m so sorry, Tourmaline, but your father is dead.” She watched the tears well up in Tour’s eyes as she processed the news.

Tour dropped what she had been eating and placed her face in her hands and sobbed. Without really thinking about it Xyaban moved to sit next to Tourmaline and placed a hand on Tour’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. After a few moments Tour collected herself enough to speak, the whole time Xy had said nothing more, and she asked what had happened to her father and how Xy and him knew each other. ”I met your father a little more than a year and a half ago, and after getting to know each other we became mates, we even merged our hoards together.” Which for dragons was a serious thing. ”I became pregnant and laid an egg and we had a baby boy together.” At that Tour looked at Xy as if to ask where the child was if he wasn’t with Xy at that moment, but Xy’s own eyes had begun to water and she pushed forward.

”One day we were going to a spring to have some family time, Hacesh went ahead with Kirin and I was going to join them a bit later. In only those couple of hours he ran into a man named Raith. I’m not sure why, but Raith murdered Hacesh and Kirin.” Partially true, Raith had killed Hacesh, but Kirin had been a doll and Raith was doing a brainwashed Hacesh a favour by killing him. ”I found them dead but Raith was gone, but I picked up his sent and eventually I did run into him.” Xy sighed. ”I tracked him for a while and learned that he had a lover named Ria. I tried to get justice for your father and Kirin’s murders, but I failed and Raith and Ria got away. Sadly, now Raith had risen to become a God so I can’t touch him, and I know he wants to kill me so I have been keeping a low profile since I learned of his ascension.”

Tour looked devastated by this news, but she was holding herself together well for now. ”However, I know the Goddess of Death, Serafina, and she has a way that you can see your father one last time, Tourmaline.” Xyaban managed a small smile, at least she could give Tour a little bit of good news. ”If you go to her place in Vilpamolan, the Second Circle, ask to see her, tell her I sent you and that you’re Hacesh daughter she should be able to help you see him again.” Xyaban explained.

Her dad was dead?! Tourmaline could feel tears in her right before Xy had even finished her sentence. She dropped what she was eating and put her face into her hands and sobbed, wings going limp behind her as she cried. She hadn’t cried in ages, not since, well, in fact the last time Tour had cried was when Hacesh had left and hadn’t come back, leaving her mom and her alone. Now he was gone for good and she wouldn’t see him again. Sure he had left them, but Hacesh had stuck around for over one hundred years to be with his youngest daughter, and he had been a fantastic father in those years.

She felt Xy’s hand on her shoulder but didn’t comment or think too much of it, she didn’t know Xyaban, which would be a problem, enough to take any comfort from her. Eventually Tour got her crying under control and asked Xyaban what happened to her father, how he had died. She listened as Xyaban explained everything, having no idea that most of what Xyaban was saying was falsehoods created in Xy’s mind to make everything connect properly.

Xy and Hacesh had became mates and had had a baby together, another half-sibling for Tour then. She looked to Xy when the child was mentioned, wondering where said child was before the look that came over Xy’s face told her everything before Xy explained further. Murdered, both Hacesh and the baby. What kind of monster would kill a baby dragon and the father?! Tour knew her father, he was a peaceful dragon, he didn’t like to fight, but he would if he was pushed into it. So how strong was this Raith person to have taken down such an old dragon like Hacesh? Or was it more that Hacesh was fighting at a disadvantage because he was also protecting Kirin at the same time and that was taken advantage of by Raith? But now Raith was a God, untouchable and beyond being brought to justice of any kind.

Tour wiped more tears from her eyes even as Xyaban continued, explaining that she knew the Goddess of Death and there was a way for Tour to see her father again. That was at least good news, at least then Tourmaline could say a proper good bye to her father and get some kind of closure. ”Th, thank you for telling me, Xyaban, and I am sorry for your loss as well.” Tour reached over and pulled the smaller dragoness into a tight hug, having no idea what kind of danger she was actually flirting with at the moment.

When Tourmaline pulled her in for the hug Xyaban gladly accepted it and hug Tour back tightly in return. ”I’m just happy we found each other, at least we can work through this together.” Xyaban replied wiping some tears from her own eyes, she was no threat to Tourmaline now, knowing that she was Hacesh’s daughter and, therefore in Xy’s mind, her stepdaughter, was enough to keep her safe. That was unless Tourmaline gave Xy a reason to distrust her, then all bets were off.

”Tour, if you like, and if it’s not too weird, you can come and stay with me at your father’s old hoard cave. It’s not too far from here either. We can have something to eat and talk and get to know each other better.” She grinned. ”If that’s ok of course, sorry, I don’t mean to come of as strange, I just haven’t talked to many people since…” She trailed off, and she hadn’t, she had talked to very people since Hacesh was killed, and the few she had talked to weren’t capable of talking anymore either.

Tour agreed to that idea and started to pack her things to follow Xyaban to the cave. The saving grace for Tourmaline here, however, was that, for all her faults, Xyaban kept her hoard cave clean. Hacesh had done a good job with his far larger cave, but Xyaban had gone into much more detail in her own cleaning and upkeep.

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Over the course of a day and a bit the two chatted, Xyaban telling Tourmaline more about what kind of dragon Xy was and her abilities and such. In turn Tourmaline told Xyaban a bit more about her childhood with Hacesh around and the silliness the big dragon could end up doing. But also have how good a father he was and how good he was to Tour’s angel mother, before he had moved on.

Tourmaline left the second evening, saying she would go and see Serafina in the coming days. Xyaban offered to join her, but Tour had politely declined, wanting to see her father alone since it had been well over one hundred years since she had seen him last. Xyaban had accepted that and watched her stepdaughter leave.

Alone once more, the dragoness shut herself back into her home and curled up on her bed, depression taking over her mind again.