Ondine's Return

Ondine stirs in the early morning dark, and smiles to herself. Her arrival was gentle and without incident. A few warm greetings and welcome back from friends.
She sleepily scans her cave and is satisfied that no one has disturbed her secret horde and thinks to herself:

The mystery of the dark has seized my heart. All my wandering and secret studies have not stirred me so deeply. When I stood on the decks of that ancient noble ship that met its demise so long ago, and when I listened to listened to the strange tales and adventures of my dead father's spirit,, I was dizzy with wonder as he showed me visions across the sky:
Vineyards between the twin hills,
groves of trees that crowned
the slopes near the dark caves of reason and finally the furthest depths of the seas...
He bellowed the echoed voices of the ancient past that spoke to him as well in his new beginnings so long ago.
From him no secrets were concealed. It was my own ignorance and youth that could not see clearly. But he reassured me that I would remember when my own vessel grew to hold its frail cargo.

In spite of his massive form that blocked the moon and stars with his shadow, I no longer feared his presence as I did upon our first meeting. With fangs the size of the queen’s castle and scales like dark doors to the underworld, His breathy voice reminded me of the delicate scent of unicorns: That cinnamon of graceful creatures that wander both dawns and sunsets alike. A curious paradox for such a laviathon of the deepest parts of our world. I would have expected the rot of kelp and fish from the last resting place of all things that die.
This made me smile again in wonder at the " unexpected."

For years I have tempered my mind with the divine arts of alchemy, bathed in the mystical teachings of The Emerald Tablet, probed the secrets of Kabalistic doctrine,
And sojourned with the anchorites of Scete.
But now I have met the living dead face to face, our true immortality, and I am undone; for nothing could have prepared me for the fiery touch of His wondrous mind.

In his presence, I was willing and trusting, moving with his strange words and stranger visions, I was filled with both sweetness and terror at the knowledge of times so remote as to be beyond reckoning.
Finally I could contain no more, and his presence began to burn too brightly. I was overcome... and this creature, my Father, wisely withdrew with whispers of our future meetings and vanished from sight as quickly as he arrived.
His time in this world has passed and his words ….his words fill me.

I lifted to face the East and return to my home in Sylvhara. Content that the realm draws mefinally like Home.

Ondine saunters to the opening of the cave and roars loudly toward the rising sun, with a wide grin ,knowing the fae will fall out of their nests at the sound…..then with the same grin looks back toward the dark corners of her cave, satisfied, knowing the secrets it holds.

The New Regent

Before her quest, Malakyte chose a Second to take her place until she returns. His name is Powers Constantine.

He is the one to go to for membership into the dragons, for information regarding the dragon quests, and he will be the one leading the dragon hunts and trainings.