This one's a bit longer so the download is the whole thing but if you just want to read it on the site it'll be in 2 parts.

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It was about noon on the day before the Ball, Miranda was just walking out of the bathroom after a shower when she heard Burtrum call her name

“Yes Burtrum?” she responded

“I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you to stay in one of the elite guest rooms for the remainder of the day”

“I thought the ball didn’t start until tomorrow? And what do you mean elite guest room ?”

“It doesn’t but I won’t be able remove your scent from the cave by the time the ball starts tomorrow if your wandering around it. The elite guest rooms are larger than the one you typically stay in, the master though that since you’ll be stuck in a room for a day and a half you would prefer one with a bathroom.”

“I thought all the rooms were the same, why wasn't I in a bigger one from the beginning?”

“Apologies Ms. Lummi, I'm unsure of the masters reason for that but that was his order when you first came here”

She sighed in annoyance “Fine, but I want to stay in this bigger room from now on. I was hoping I would only be cooped up in there for a day but if it keeps the other dragons from finding me I guess it’s worth it.”

“I'll let the master know of your new room, and thank you for understanding Ms. Lummi” Burtrum said happily as he highlighted the blue crystal at the end of the hallway, as she walked into the ballroom she couldn’t help but appreciate the new tapestries lining the room, they were red like the last ones but they had the same symbol as the envelope Derrick received embroidered in gold on them. “If you get hungry or bored the master has authorized me to send food or some books from the library to your room” Burtrum stated as she entered another hallway “also the master has told me to give you viewing privileges”

Miranda had figured that this hallway would be like the others so she hadn’t explored it; the hallway was almost the same except for the fact that there were only half as many rooms, as she placed her hand on the door handle of the room at the end she asked “Why is he letting me use the library now?”

“Perhaps to compensate for having to confine you for the day?”

“I suppose that's nice of him; and what do you mean, viewing privileges?” she asked as she entered the room, It was about twice as large as the other room, with a large bed facing the door, the right wall of the room had a door which she guessed led to the bathroom, between the bed and the entrance door there was a large group of crystals coming out of the floor

“It means that through this crystal you’ll be able to view almost any other part of the cave the same way I can.”

“Wow” Miranda said, walking around the crystal “that’s amazing”

“Indeed” Burtrum said as the crystal began to glow, a few seconds later a small image that looked like the mountain appeared on one of its surfaces.

Miranda reached out hesitantly to try and touch the image, as she did the outer mountain disappeared to display a group of rectangles connected by a long cylinder; Miranda quickly realized that it was a model of the entire cave structure.

“By selecting any of the rooms you’ll be able to see all the crystals in that room, choose one and be able to see out of it” He explained as Miranda rotated the model slowly

“And this will work for any room in the cave?”

“Almost, The bedrooms, the washrooms, the horde room and the crystal store room are all restricted.”

“I can’t seem to catch a break with the horde or store room” she thought “I suppose our little, disagreement, didn’t exactly help” “So Burtrum what kind of books can I get from the library?”

…………………………………………………………

Miranda spent the rest of the day testing the capabilities of the viewing crystals and reading about how this “dragon social gathering” came about after the original council was formed to stop the warring between different houses and some of the more, uncivilized, traditions that used to be a regular part of these gatherings. In all honesty she was halfway between excited and scared to see how exactly this all worked.

*Knock knock*

Miranda looked up from the book she was reading “Who’s there?……….”Burtrum?”

The door handle began turned

“D-Derrick?” the door opened slowly revealing cold pitch blackness behind it “Wh-Whos there?” She stammered.

Slowly a clawed foot emerged from the darkness, followed closely by a matching body; It looked like Derrick, only bigger and red, wearing some tattered rags that were covered in stains, and brandishing a smile that would scare the fur of even the most battle hardened warrior, it was followed by another one that stood to the side of the first one, it was identical to the red one asides from it being blue then finally a third one emerged standing between the first two, it had the same color scales as Derrick

“Who, who are you” Miranda asked, just barely keeping herself from trembling in fear “What do you want?”

“heh heh heh” the three of them chuckled in unnerving unison as they began approaching her

“Stay back!” she yelled, they continued walking towards her, Miranda tried to dart for the wash room but was tugged back by her arm, she looked at her wrist to see an iron cuff that chained her to the bed, she tried to remove it but quickly found that her other wrist was restrained the same way, the three began laughing louder and more erratically as they approached her “Stay Back!” she yelled again “Stay away! STAY AWAY!!!”

*Thunk*

“Ahhh!” she yelled as she sat up quickly, breathing heavily, she looked around for a second in the slowly brightening room to see the dragons were nowhere to be found “Wha...What happened” she looked at her wrists, no cuffs, “Was, was it a dream?” she thought as she checked the rest of her person for anything unusual “must have been” she looked at the book lying beside her, it was open to a section describing a particularly gruesome practice that used to be commonplace at these events a hundred years ago “Probably not the best thing to read before sleeping” “B-Burtrum?” she asked, still a little shaken up from the nightmare

“Yes Ms. Lummi” responded the familiar voice

“What was that noise?”

“My apologies Ms. Lummi, I didn’t mean to wake you, because the first few guests will be here momentarily I took the liberty of locking your door to prevent any unwanted guests from accidentally entering”

“Oh, thanks. Wait, the first guests are already arriving, this early?”

“Indeed, because the journey between lairs takes such a long time most dragons arrive here in the morning, rest until the festivities start, and then leave after the ball.”

“And they're almost here?” Miranda asked with a mix of excitement and dread

“The first group should be arriving shortly”

Miranda scrambled out of the bed and over to the crystal in the middle of the room, quickly pulling up the model and selecting the landing platform. It was early morning so the sun was still rising on the horizon allowing her to see without too much difficulty, the platform was mostly empty asides from Derrick who was wearing the same attire she he was wearing when they first met with a black suit jacket , making her question if he actually owned more than one set of formal clothes, and a few small golems that were holding a large trough of water and some food trays.

Out of nowhere Miranda heard a loud roar through the projection and saw Derrick’s head snap up toward the sky, a few seconds later a large wyvren landed on the platform; it was smaller than Richards’s pack wyvren and had deep purple scales as well as what looked like a large saddle strapped to its back. In comparison to the pack wyvren that did little more than lumber about while they were on the platform this one was rather graceful in the way it landed and lowered itself to let its two passengers off.

Miranda changed crystals to get a better look at the figures that had just disembarked the wyvren; one was a male and about as tall as Derrick but a deep red color, had a narrower snout, yellow eyes, and horns that curved down behind his neck instead of going straight back like Derrick’s, he was wearing a suit similar to the one Derrick was wearing but a dark blue color; The second one was female, about half a head shorter than the male, a slightly lighter shade of brown than Derrick and a snout that was more broad like Derrick’s but still proportioned more effeminately, blue eyes, and horns that stuck straight backwards and curved up slightly at the end with two large gold rings slid onto either one, she was wearing a simple red dressed that matched the males scale color.

“Aunt Serena, Uncle Charles” Derrick said happily opening his arms “It’s so nice to see you”

The two dragons embraced Derrick in a hug “Oh it’s good to see you too dear” said Serena “are we the first ones here?”

“As usual how have you been, and how is your whelp?”

“We’ve been fine Derrick” responded Charles as he put his arm around Serena “The mines are just as profitable as they’ve always been, if not more so thanks to your mineral seeding idea and Sorin is doing well, he send his regards”

“How nice of him, how was your trip, I hope it wasn’t a bother coming here two years in a row”

“Not at all” Charles responded, blissfully unaware of Derrick’s implied meaning.

Serena sighed “We know it’s not ideal for you Derrick but considering how stunning the last ball was when it was suggested that the ball be hosted here again everyone thought it was a good idea, and it’s not like you were there to say you didn’t want to.”

“Yeah I guess, well at least this means I won’t have to host it again for another cycle.”

“That’s the spirit” Serena replied; there was another roar from beyond the platform

“I guess we better move” Charles said “have the old Manor's stables been prepared?”

“Yes” Derrick responded with a bit of pride “I took you’re suggestions from last time into account so even that picky old wyrm of yours should find it most comfortable”

The large purple wyvren snorted as if it understood Derricks comment

“None of that” Charles said as he turned to face his wyvren “You know where the stables are right?”

The wyvren rolled its eyes and began running towards the end of the platform, opening its four large wings as it jumped of the end and began flying upward. ‘We’ll talk more when the ceremony starts” said Serena as she and Charles entered the lift.

Miranda was perplexed at how Derrick had responded to those two “I know he wasn't pleased about having to see the other dragons but he seemed genuinely happy to see them. I don't think I've ever seen him that relaxed.”

Almost immediately after the lift doors closed another wyvren landed and let off its passengers, this time there were three. The first two walked up to Derrick, the male was a dark green color, about a head shorter than Derrick, had a broad snout and green eyes, the two horns that came out of the back of his head curved down and forward making a sort of sideways u shape, he was wearing a dark brown suit that had a golden trim, also he was quiet portly in comparison to all the other dragons she had seen, which admittedly was only four, the female on the other hand was rather slender and about half a head taller than the male, other than that though the two’s scale color, snout, eyes and horn shape where the same, her horns had one golden ring each right at their base, she was wearing a simple dress that was the same color as the males suit.

“Ah Derrick my boy” the male said “How’s trade been?”

“Very well Lord Franklin” Derrick responded, very formally “How have you and Lady Charlotte been”

“Well enough” said the male, motioning for the dragon behind them to come forward “Our Daughter on the other hand has been positively dying to see you again, isn’t that right Aya?”

“It is father” said the third dragon, which was the same height as the mother and had the same scales, eyes and horns as her parents but with a slightly daintier snout, her horns had two jeweled rings each, the first one was at the base of the horn while the second one was on the middle of the lower half of her horn and was connected to the first one by a gold chain, she was wearing a jet black dress that had intricate patterns of gold around the bottom and a low cut chest “It is an honor and a pleasure to see you again Lord Derrick” she said as she bowed elegantly before him

“It is a pleasure to have you here as well” Derrick responded with very little emotion “I imagine your tiered after your trip, Burtrum will show you to your chambers” Derrick stepped to the side as the lift doors opened again.

*click* Miranda snapped her head toward the door, it was faint and sounded like the door at the end of the hallway, “Probably just the first couple that arrived” Miranda though, a brief flash of her nightmare went through her mind “Still wouldn’t hurt to check though” she shifted the image and selected the crystal that was at the end of the hallway, sure enough it was the couple from before

“Do you think it was a good idea to have the ball hosted here two years in a row dear” Charles asked as they walked down the hallway

“He’s cooped up in this cave all by himself almost constantly, it’s good for him to be thrown out of his comfort zone every now and then. You shouldn’t worry about his needs so much, he’s a tough kid; and besides, you have someone else's needs to worry about”

“Oh” Charles said coyly as they approached the door to one of the rooms “and who might that be?”

Serena wrapped her arms around his neck, put her snout next to the side of his head and gently whispered something as the door opened and they nearly fell into the room slamming the door behind them; Miranda blushed at the thought of what was probably happening in a room right next to hers.

Before she could think any further on that yet another arrival brought her attention back to the crystal, the dragon had already dismounted and it's wyvren was taking off from the platform as it walked forward. This one looked very similar to Derrick as far as height, color and horn shape went, there were probably a slew of differences between the two that Miranda couldn't grasp yet but the most obvious one was that the new arrival's snout was more pointed than Derrick's. The two of them were silent for a moment before they started walking towards each other, she kept expecting one to stop or say something but neither did. It looked like they were going to hug one another for a second as they raised their arms but they grabbed each others hands, spread their wings out as far as they could and then butted the tops of their heads together. They struggled against one another for a few moments before they both began beating their wings to try and gain even an inch.

Derrick was the first to falter and take a step backwards causing them both to stop and back up, looking each other dead in the eye. She feared what Derrick's loss meant before she noticed a smile creep onto both of their snouts fallowed by a loud bellowing laugh.

“I'm in the lead by two dear cousin” The new dragon boasted “Is having the ball here twice in a row throwing you off that much?”

“No, maybe, I don't know, it's my own fault so I can't complain” Derrick replied “So how've you been Durstin?”

“Well enough, shipping's going better since we got control of that scale-rot outbreak in the stables.”

“Thats good to hear, did the salve trick work or did you have to”

The two of them were cut off by another roar from the distance

“I suppose that's my cue, good luck Derrick” He said as he proceeded towards the lift like the others before him.

Miranda spent the rest of the morning watching all the new Dragons that arrived one after another, they were large, skinny, short, tall, some had a row of smaller spikes running from their heads down their backs, some had large frills that ran all the way to the tips of their tales, and others had either one, two, three or even four large horns sticking out of their heads. And the colors, they were almost every color she could imagine from snow white to pitch black, almost all of them also seemed to have a daughter that they immediately introduced. Derrick was serious and formal while addressing the other guests.

By a little after noon the stream of dragons had stopped and all the guests were either resting in their room, conversing on the ballroom floor or eating in the dining hall, however Derrick was still waiting on the platform tapping his foot impatiently “Burtrum” he said, sounding rather annoyed “Any sign of him yet?”

“Not yet master”

“And how are the guests doing?”

“Well master, they're resting and conversing comfortably”

“Good”

“Master, I have a visual on our late guest, and he’s coming in rather fast”

There was another roar, this one sounding almost sickly in comparison to the others, quickly after a slender red wyvrem landed on the platform. It looked thin, very thin, and it seemed to have a few patches of scales missing here and there. After a few steps it practically collapsed onto the ground, a small figure jumped off the saddle that was strapped to its neck quickly followed by two more who climbed down slower.

“Cousin Derrick” the first figure said loudly “I’m sorry for being so late but this stupid wyrm didn’t get the message when I told it to go faster, the breeder said he was one of the fastest he’s ever raised but I guess he was full of shit.”

The Dragon was about as tall as Derrick but was a bright red color, with a broad snout and a large frill sticking out of the back of his head, the suit he was wearing was black with a large golden wave on its back and on the sleeves, his hands were adorned with 3 large golden rings each

“Its fine cousin Darren” Derrick said calmly “Tell me, when was the last time you fed him?”

“I think the old man had one of the servants’ throw it a cow yesterday”

“How is your father doing by the way?”

“The old bastard is sick again” Darren responded looking at the ground “But he’ll pull through, he always does.”

“I’m sure he will” Derrick said, placing a hand on Darren's shoulder “Now tell me, who are your guests?”

Darren lifted his head up “I was wondering when you notice. Ladies, come and introduce your self’s”

The two began walking forward as Miranda shifted her attention to them, from what she could tell they were twins. Both were a head shorter than Darren and had deep blue scales that seemed to be polished to a high shine, eyes that were deep red and slender snouts, they both had two horns that came straight out of the back of their heads and had about four jeweled rings each, they were wearing simple black dresses that were low cut and had slits going from the calf down.

“We are honored to meat you lord Derrick” they said in unison as they stopped on either side of Darren “I am Sheila”

“And I am Kayla”

“These two” Darren explained as he wrapped his arms around their waists “are the most exquisite beauties in all of my father’s domain”

“Very well” Derrick replied as the lift doors opened “Burtrum will show you and your guests to your room”

“Thanks cousin, I’ll be looking forward to the ceremony”

The doors closed

Derrick sighed heavily, letting his shoulders slump; he turned towards the wyvren that was still breathing heavily. As Derrick began walking towards the sorry creature he motioned for the golems to fallow him.

“I was afraid this would happen, Darren’s never had much skill at caring for things”

The weary wyvren looked up just as Derrick was approaching, it looked almost scared as it shut its eyes and lowered its head back to the ground

“You don’t have to worry” Derrick said in a soothing tone as he placed his hand on its head and rubbed gently “I’m not going to hurt you”

The wyvren opened its eyes cautiously and looked up at him; Derrick stood to the side as the golems put the trough and plates of food in front it.

“Eat and rest as much as you like, when you feel ready you can fly up to the roost in the old manor above us, there’s a stable waiting for you that you’ll find comfortable; I’ll try to have a word with Darren about your care” The wyvren had what looked like an expression of relief on its face as it cautiously opened its jaw to take a drink of water.

One of the golems that was holding a tray approached Derrick, he took the lid off to reveal a small bucket with a cloth draped over the side and a bottle filled with an amber liquid, Derrick took the bucket and moved around to the dragons side, sliding his hand across the wyvren's hide until he got to a patch of missing scales; gently he began rubbing the cloth over the raw flesh, the wyvren winced a little

“Sorry, but I have to do this if these scales are to heal properly” the wyvren began eating from the trays as Derrick continued cleaning the wound. When Derrick was done he put the towel back in the bucket and picked up the bottle and spread the amber liquid inside over his hands; he began rubbing the liquid over the exposed flesh “This should keep you from chewing at this spot anymore, at least until everything grows back the right way”

The wyvren growled slightly in acknowledgment.

Miranda watched Derrick as he continued to clean the missing patches of scales; she was surprised to see how gentle he could be

“Master Derrick” Burtrum said from one of the crystals

“Yes Burtrum.” Derrick responded as he finished rubbing the liquid on the last patch of missing scales

“We have a situation”

*Thunk*

Miranda looked up quickly

*Thunk thunk*

“Oh no” she thought quickly, “someone’s trying to open the door” she scrambled to change the viewing crystal to one in the hallway; she gasped as she saw that it was Darren and his two, guests, at the door.

“Hey, who’s in there?” Darren said angrily “I reserved this room as soon as I got the invitation”

Miranda took a few steps backwards “What do I do, what do I do?” she thought “If I ask Burtrum for help he could hear me and then, I don’t know what would happen then but I’m sure it wouldn’t be good.”

“Whoever you are hurry up, me and my friends here have some urgent, Business, to attend to.”

Miranda froze, after her nightmare last night three dragons barging into her room was the last things she wanted to think about led alone have to re-live.

“This is your last warning before I break the door down”

“If he comes in I’ll tell him that I’m Derrick’s guest or captive or something, hopefully that will be good enough”

“Fine” he growled “if you won’t come out then I’ll come”

She saw him back up from the door to get a running start as she looked back and forth from the door to the projection

“Darren!” shouted another voice, making him stumble

Miranda quickly looked back to the projection, it was Derrick

“I was trying to get into my room, but its locked and I think someone’s in there”

“There’s no one in there Darren there was an accident with one of the golems in there it's currently under renovation, Burtrum was going to lead you to your new room but you completely ignored his directions”

“Oh really? Are you sure you’re not trying to make yourself look good by putting a baron who registered late in my room and shoving me into a smaller room?”

“Of course not, if anything your getting an upgrade”

There was a short pause “What kind of upgrade?”

“For the duration of your stay here you, and your guests, will be staying in the master bedroom” Derrick said “I’ll be busy tending to the rest of the guests so I won’t be using it”

“Master Bedroom? What’s it like? I don't think I've ever been up there”

“It is easily the most luxurious bedroom in the entire cave.”

“Reeelllllllly, that’s rather kind of you Derrick.”

“I am the host” Derrick said flatly “it is my responsibility to make sure all of my guests needs are meet, now if you would please fallow Burtrum he’ll lead you to your room.”

Darren, accompanied closely by his guests, followed the marked crystals out of the hallway; as the door closed Miranda saw Derrick make a quick check of the hallway and knock lightly on the door “Ms. Lummi” he said softly “Are you alright?”

Miranda walked over to the door while taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves before leaning up against it to hear through it “Yeah I’m fine”

“Sorry about that, Darren can be, hard to deal with at times, he’s...very prideful.”

“Thanks for stopping him” Miranda said

“You're welcome”

There was another awkward pause, this being the most they've said to each other since their fight

“So are your guests always this...energetic?”

“They can be, sorry, I forgot to warn you about that part, now if you’ll excuse me I have to tend to the guests before they come to find me.”

As the evening progressed Miranda occupied herself by watching Derrick entertain the many dragons that had gathered; as he moved from group to group she began to notice a pattern. For the first few minutes Derrick and whatever dragon he was talking to would discuss business or current events, after that the dragon’s daughter, or in some cases the older female, would begin to compliment him and pry about Derricks personal life. Asking him things like how he could stand to be all alone in such a big cave, how he liked the dress they were wearing and whether or not he has found a mate yet. All the while they would do their best to bat their eyes and get as close as possible to him; then after answering their questions in the same steady tone he usually used he would proceed to the next group to start the process over again.

Miranda wasn't sure what she expected but she was struck by how similar to the few upper class event's she had attended this all was.

As the crystals began to grow orange more dragons began coming out of their rooms and joining in conversations with either Derrick or each other; by the time the crystals were pure orange the ballroom was completely filled with dragons.

“Friends, Family, Lend me your ears” Boomed Derrick who was standing at the end of the room near the large doors. “For hundreds of years Dragons have gathered gold, silver, jewels, any form of treasure we could get or claws on, and horded it. This practice has led to countless adventurers to come and seek our fortune, either for their own gain or to keep us from getting anymore; so to keep them from ever getting to our hordes the noble families came together and decided to cut most of our connections with the world. And whiles our existence may have faded into the legends of those that once feared us our culture, our kind, our hordes have only become stronger. Now once every year we gather to see evidence of this growth, so, without further ado, may I present the horde of the family SkyBlaze”

Derrick bowed forward and stretched his wings upward, making them look like the wings on the tapestries, the doors behind him shook for a second and then slowly started opening, as they did a bright light shown through them, Miranda had to wince for a second at the intensity of it, when she looked back she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, behind the doors was a large room, filled with mountains of treasure. There were gold coins piled higher than some houses, enough Gems and jewels to decorate a dozen royal caravans, suits of armors that would defeat armies with the glare coming of them alone, crowns, and scepters, robes and tapestries, every piece of treasure you could imagine and then some

“Dear gods” Miranda thought “If I got even a few seconds in their I’d be able to by my temples land easily” She looked over the rest of the dragons, they were all entranced by it as she was, but it was more than that, the looks on their faces was one of almost half consciousness, it was like they had become drunk from the mere site of the treasure.

“Their hordes are more than a preoccupation” said Burtrum, answering a question before Miranda could even ask it “Quite literally dragons get a form of physical pleasure from the sight of a horde the size of master Derricks”

“Oh” Miranda responded softly, not really sure of what to think about that as she looked back at the projection. The doors began to close as the dragons had began to snap out of their daze at that point, first the older dragons fallowed by the younger ones; as the last of them awoke Derrick spoke

“I take your treasure dazes as a great compliment. Now that the main event is out of the way I think it best that we begin the feast”

The doors of the dining room flung themselves open as at least two dozen golems holding platters walked out in two single file lines down the stairs and proceeded to disperse themselves among the crowd.

Miranda gulped a little when she saw what was on the platters, while the most of the kinds in her village were unicorns there were a few carnivores there so she was no stranger to seeing meat eaten but she had never seen anything quite this, whole, served before; the plates had entire roasted ferals on them, there were boars, calves, goats, every large bird you could imagine, she was sure she could see some of the dragons drooling at the dishes

“Now before there’s a repeat of last year” Derrick said just as it looked like the dragons were about to pounce on the meals “I would like to remind all of you that there is more food and a place to sit in the dinning hall” the rest of the dragons looked up, some chuckled lightly at the frenzy that almost occurred, most stayed in the ballroom but some began pouring into the dining room.

Miranda changed crystals again so she could get a view of the dining hall, “Derrick wasn’t kidding” she thought the table was covered, end to end, in dishes like the ones that were brought out, and a few that dwarfed those, like a huge tray that had an entire roasted bull on it. Miranda looked away from the projection just as the dragons began tearing the food apart, she may have been comfortable enough around Derrick when he would eat a steak but seeing a feral bull or boar torn apart was still a little much for her.

“Ms. Lummi?” Burtrum asked

“Oh, Burtrum, I thought you left”

“My apologies Ms. Lummi I’ve been tending to the needs of the guests all day long, the master’s address and the feast are the only brakes I get for the night”

“Taking care of a party full of dragons does sound tiring, wait, can you even get tired?

“As unfortunate as it is even I have my limits”

“I see, is there anything I could help you with?”

“Nothing for the moment, I just wanted to let you know that with the rest of the guests occupied with their feast I should be able to send over some food if you're feeling hungry”

Miranda’s stomach growled at the thought of food “Yeah, I guess I did skip breakfast, what do you have?”

Miranda turned the projection back on after she had eaten the food that was delivered to her room, the dragons were mostly finished with their meal, some were still eating the parts they had ripped off the whole while others were sitting back with a satisfied look on their faces. Derrick was sitting at the head of the table, Charles and Serena were sitting on the right side of the table next to him while Durstin, Darren and his guests sat on the left.

“I’ve got to tell you about this raid I did on this one farm the other day” Darren said as he finished swallowing a chunk of meat, interrupting Derrick’s conversation “so I was out riding one of my wyvren's at night, you know scaring ground folk with ominous shadows. When all of a sudden I see this light of in the distance, turns out a bunch of kinds were having a huge bonfire near a barn, they were all dancing and jumping around, so I decided to have a little fun. I started making passes just on the outskirts of the light from the fire so they could hear us swooping down but they couldn’t see us, eventually they got so scared they all ran into the barn thinking it was safe so I had the wyvren land right outside the barn while I climbed into the loft, I made a few hissing noises to creep em out before I snuck up behind and let out a roar” he was struggling not to laugh at this point “Two of em passed out right there while the others ran outside where the wyvren was waiting, and I swear to the gods every single one of em passed out on the spot” he began laughing hysterically

“It sounds like you certainly had fun” Derrick responded halfheartedly

“Your damn straight I had fun, the looks on their faces and knowing that I was so in control, you should really try harassing the ground folk some time cousin.”

“You know how the houses feel about unnecessary contact with the other kinds”

“Yeah yeah, I didn't hurt any of them, and besides, we gotta keep the legend of the terrible dragons alive at least a little don't we? You've got your own valley full of skittish gullible kinds right at your door step, you should cut loose every now and then, let em know to avoid your mountain.”

“Yes well, not everyone needs the felling of power or control as much as you dear cousin”

“Needs?” Darren said as he stood up slowly “You think I need a sense of power and control!” the other conversations in the room stopped “you think I don't know I'm strong!? You think I’m weak!?”

Miranda could practically hear the rest of the room roll their eyes

“No dear cousin” Derrick said trying to calm him down “That’s not what I meant at all, please do not let a few misspoken words ruin the evening.”

“Oh I won’t let it ruin my evening because I’m going to get retribution for my honor which you have insulted”

“Oh dear” Burtrum said as the crystal he was inhabiting turned from green back to orange

“Derrick SkyBlaze, I challenge you to a duel!”

Derrick sighed “I accept”