He had come with Icecap and Morning Glory, from Ryslen and back to Bald Mountain. Only they knew his secret for a little while, that he was a true shapeshifter. The elves apparently did not have this skill, at least in this tribe. He had heard rumors that old-old elves, those who the tribe referred to as 'high ones', had that skill but it was all but lost to the ages.

Irathe enjoyed going by his elf-name, Featherdragon. It suited him, it was what he was. He wasn't large, even in a dragon form. The smaller end of the dragons didn't dwarf him, but he would never be able to keep up with even the mid-sized ones in this holt. The Bald Mountain dragons went from gigantic to tiny, and with the exception of the Lians who had hatched at his home Ryslen as well as their other world, he was the smallest of them.

Featherdragon spent some years, turns of the seasons, with these elves learning their ways. Though truth be told, their ways had changed dramatically in the last few eights. They counted in eights, like he would - he had eight fingers and eight toes the same as they did.

He was a child for a short time, shorter perhaps than the elves themselves. They were known to grow quickly after a very long pregnancy, then settle into a long mature life. He felt that would work for him, too.

It was while he was spending time as a child, an elf-like child, that he discovered the beautiful shining polished stones at the bottom of the ponds where Apogee fished. Though she rarely took control of the tribe's activities, they all acknowledged that free spirit as their chieftess. But at the time, their chieftess was lounging with her leathers draped across herself, short hair dipped into the pool with her head lolling on the edge of the softly shaped pond rim.

"Apogee, do you think you could get something for me?" He asked. She stirred, barely.

"Of course, Featherdragon, what is it?"

"Those stones there, I cannot reach them." He pointed, the sun glinted off the water, and hurt his eyes. Apogee seemed not to notice that sort of thing, she was very much a 'warm weather' elf. He wasn't, Irathe was clearly a winter-type. Apogee's mate Squall on the other hand, a stormy Spring. Apogee slipped into the water, dunked down, and picked up a handful of the stones about where Featherdragon had asked.

"These?" She said, flinging water around when she got out.

"Oh yes, thank you!" Featherdragon said, he sped away with them into his private den. It was a place that only he could really reach, half from climbing and half flying. Even Icecap didn't come here often, keeping his bond's privacy was important to the elf.

There, in his den - even now as an 'adult' (or perhaps he was still considered a child, at two eights and a hand?) his den was lined with smooth stream-polished stones. There were others, he'd found that were hard edged and he had to wonder what they would ever look like, but he found that even though he knew he would live a long life? He wasn't interested in seeing how long it took to polish raw gems in a riverbed...

Perhaps if he could coerse Icecap to use his crystal shaping, or perhaps even his mother Ainea? They weren't really simple crystals, though. It would take too much effort. Or perhaps...

If he found someone else, outside of this place. He didn't have any wanderlust in him, not like Apogee or Squall did. Though all the elves in the holt had to move out for a time to find their dragon friends, few of them wanted to remain away from their home at Bald Mountain for any length of time. Irathe didn't want to go away forever, just... Maybe long enough ...

He saw how all the elves, or many of them, had paired off. Even Icecap's sire Shatter and Rasp were happy together though Shatter had Recognized Ainea instead of her. Then there were those other elves, wanderers who came from the south lands already paired up. Irathe wondered, would he find a love mate? A life mate?

Could he recognize? He knew Icecap's soul name but their bond was very different from the one which tied his parents together. He had found himself paired up with different partners during celebrations in the Holt, he knew what to do and where to do it, but...

He wasn't certain that the elves were really 'with' him. They lost themselves in lovemaking, even more so for the recognized couples. Perhaps he was missing something, maybe there was something he could find elsewhere.

A dragon like himself, perhaps. It was natural that he thought of heading out and finding a dragon, after all everyone in the Holt had a dragon - he was someone else's, admittedly, but that didn't bother Icecap any. Icecap seemed to like it on the ground anyway, and Irathe wasn't as big as the other dragons, it was slightly difficult to keep his feathered self up in the air with a big elf on his shoulders!

But... how many shapeshifting dragons were there out in the Nexus? Ainea showed him how to get from place to place, she'd been to many Nexus worlds, and in fact her second bond dragon Nivoan was happy to help when Icecap needed a lift and Irathe was too tired to fly him around.

So where? Featherdragon lifted his head, shapeshifting into his draconic form. The stone on his forehead could possibly guide him, much more than the decorative ones in his den could... Irathe Syaess took off but landed quickly enough, he went only as far as Icecap's work den.

"I am going to find... something," Irathe said. Icecap looked up from his shaping, and nodded.

"You'll be back when?"

"I will try and come back sooner than I would normally," Irathe said.

"Ah, so you're doing that thing, that they won't let us do together..." Icecap laughed. Timing it was something that neither had really tried, but Irathe knew he could do it, if only through the Nexus. He didn't dare try it on one world where things might get... weird should he meet himself!

"But where?" Icecap said. "And you should talk to Apogee, because she'll want to know if you're gone."

He hadn't thought of that - but then remembered something odd. Apogee and Squall had gone for a time, and then come back frantically giggling and tittering to each other. Their dragons too seemed like they were hiding secrets, and for dragons to do that it was an accomplishment indeed.

Now it was time he found out what they were giggling about. And he had a feeling that he knew.

However there was something very strange about this all too. He could sense somehow, in Apogee's light-dragon the Askan Avengaean Eurani Promontores, that she was a shapeshifter too. Only he had never once seen her do this.

"Why do you not shift?" Asked Irathe rather bluntly of the dragoness as she sat on the ledge of their high Aerie. The other elves were not present, so Eurani turned to the little white feathered male.

"I do not know," she admitted. "I believe I've forgotten how. It was something we had learned but... I do not do it now."

"Then, what were you doing before, when you came back -" Irathe said, and Eurani snickered.

She forced herself to shapeshift, her form was taller than he by more than a head which was saying a lot, because Irathe was taller than most of the elves. She was more human too, but still exotic like a dragon. "I found a mate, it was for a project... A very interesting breeding project. You - you should go there! I know... I know something I probably should not."

Irathe's curiosity piqued, and the Light dragoness helped him find a place where he was apt to locate a good partner. That place would be where her own kits, liveborn young were waiting for their caretakers. "You should be there. I should have realized it was you I saw." She glanced away, shifted back to dragon form, and looked relieved to be on four feet again.

"So, wait," Irathe said, "you want me to go and find one of your offspring, which you've already seen off? You guys went off and timed it around and you had a clutch? And you didn't tell us?" He wasn't sure whether to be mad or what, since she was asking him to go there.

"I did not, nor did Stallano. We can tell them later, when you come back. Now, go. Let me show you where to go."

***

So it was fairly odd, that when Irathe came to the Star City ... ship thing, he met up with Eurani again but she seemed rather preoccupied and kept going on about her kits. Irathe realized: she barely recognized him in dragon form! They had flown around but briefly, even though he was well known among the elves the dragons were another matter. Not all of them were as smart as she, but not all of the Bald Mountain dragons were able to do magic or psionics or anything else that she might, either.

And he also realized: this was her past form, not her present. He had to shake that off, it was just weird.

But the kits, live birth like her kind usually had, were numerous and it was no wonder she blew people off to be with them. They were adorable, and beautiful.

Irathe was allowed, like the others present to find and take care of a kit, to come through and greet them. He was not certain if they would perform a bonding ceremony like that which bonded Eurani to Apogee, he rather doubted it in fact. Since these were not fully-blooded Avengaean.

There were several of the little dragonets that he spoke with, or tried to anyway - they were mostly quiet, they were mostly too young to really do much talking. He could hardly expect them to be speaking so soon after their birth, could he?

But one or two of them wound up listening to him, as he quietly spoke of his home. He wondered aloud if any of these lovely kits would come home with him, with their mother technically - though she would come alone somehow before he did...

Weird!

He and the other hopefuls waited, wondering if any of their discussions would yeild a friendship.

 

Irathe stood to watch as the younglings selected their choices for ... bonding? Just friends? He wasn't sure, but there was one who came to him almost straight away.

"I do not know if it will be all right to show my other form," Latodoba said, moving her furry wings around nervously. "After all, your friends, you said they were small like you, right?"

Stunned, Featherdragon chuckled. "Yes, that's right, I didn't ... I didn't think you could talk!"

"Of course we can talk," she said with a snort. "Is that all right?"

He reached out and patted her pale white neck, "of course it's all right. And we'll talk about your other form when we get home. But I bet you'd like a warm bath about now wouldn't you?"

"MmmHmm!!" The little dragonet nodded cheerfully.

 

When they came home to Bald Mountain, Eurani looked over her kitling with such beaming pride. "I knew there would be a good reason to go to that place."

Little Latodoba chuffled, flicked her ears, and shapeshifted. The three of them actually, all shifters in their own right, sat around in their humanoid form discussing what exactly to do. Because Eurani's humanoform was tall, human-sized actually, it could intimidate the elves who had run-ins with humanity. But they all knew Irathe wasn't really 'human', so... What about just letting Latodoba and Eurani show off in their own time.

In several years growth, Ladodoba learned much about how to fly, groom, hunt and speak. Her psionic mind was bright, cheerful, always wondering whether what she was doing was going to work with others. Also, unerringly supportive of whoever she was with.

She wasn't just Irathe's bond, she was a member of the tribe like the other dragons - and the other elves. So what if she was almost two heads taller than some? Ladodoba felt most at home when she was alone with Irathe, but of course that was rare, as he was also apt to hang out with Icecap and Morning Glory!

They understood that she was as much his lovemate as his bond - they could fly together, and one day ... they would probably mate and have... what, eggs? Kits? A baby? No one knew!