Verial and his estranged sister Maiwen have began to know each other for the first time. It was a most rocky start to say the least, and during the course of several months Verial's change of heart toward the sister he once thought of as being alien had become a personal mission to awaken Maiwen from her child-like denial and naivety to what he believes to be real life. In doing so, she learned truths she long sought after from her mother, and thanks for Verial's persistence encouragement his mother and sister finally had the confrontation needed to bring down the walls. As a young woman, Maiwen still has a lot of growing up to do, and Verial has made it his job to help train Maiwen's natural magical abilities and bring them out. By nature Verial is very adventurous, and has opened young Maiwen's eyes to the unknown that beckons him. Who knows that is in store for these two dragon spirited siblings.

Maiwen had not spoke to her eldest brother in quite some time. She wondered if everyone had forgotten about her here with her father. It began to shake her faith in things a little bit. She was still a very sensitive young woman and she was beginning to think she had been forgotten. Maybe her mother was upset at her for being gone so long. Maybe they were upset with her for not communicating properly, which she was guilty of actually. Her only excuse was that the days and weeks and months had flown by so fast she had barely noticed now much time had escaped her. Her mind, heart, soul, and body had been in a whole world all her own with her father even though they had not gone far.

This is why she woke up this day with the mind to write to Verial.


"My brother Very,

I miss you 'very' much, do you miss me? You would be so proud of me now brother. I want to thank you for the things you taught me and how much it means to me that you cared. I know at first we did not understand one another well, but that has all changed now. I am not quite the same sheltered girl you left me as. The time that I have spent with father has further opened my eyes to what you were trying to make me see I think. I know you wanted me to be safe. I am now.

Verial, you told that I had to leave Draco and that if I didn't plan on going back that I had to let him go. That it was only fair to let him move on. I have come to the realization and understanding that you are right. See, I told I've learned a lot. I'm not scared either. For the first time in my life I feel and see a world beyond Kerrindren and the flightless life I mean to leave behind me. It was never me Draco truly loved. It was mother. I feel guilty for leaving him, but I am young and he is old. Surely he would of expected me to do this some day. I must be true to what I am. I understand how you must of felt, to be abandoned by your wife so. I see where my child-like attitude about Draco would of hit a raw nerve in your own experiences. I do not want to hurt Draco over and over again.

My father explained to me that he was guilty of many things as well. He blames himself for everything that happened between our mother and he. He said that day, that you banished him from Oneiro. He has not said why, so I wish that you would tell me. I will not hate you. I just wish to know the truth. No one has ever told me about the war, but I know something bad happened to my family that I was spared from. I am ready to know. Please send everyone my love and kiss momma for me. I hope to hear from you soon brother.

Affectionately,

your sister Mai "



The letter was sealed and addressed to Lord Verial J. Akilara in her handwriting. After attempting to send the letter to his cottage, she learned that he had not been there in some time. Maiwen found this quite strange, but never the less when the letter was returned to her she had to try another means of getting the letter to him. Maiwen suddenly became very creative. Looking to the heavens above she put only the face of Verial in her mind's eye and called out his name.

"Brother who has the blood of our mother, my eldest sibling. He who has the spirit of dragon. Receive you this letter from your only sister by the magics of our dragon kin!"

Maiwen raised her hand up to let the wind catch the folded paper and violently carry it away upwards. As it ascended her eyes fixed to the sky so that she could watch it travel as far as her sight would allow. To her amazement a hole of light opened up and swallowed the letter with a flash and a twinkle. Maiwen stumbled back and tumbled to the ground upon her bottom as her eyes raced to and fro in search of where the letter went. At first she thought it was lightening, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky this day.

Something light and unsuspected floated down from the sky. Verial, who had been watching the ocean on the docks of Aleris, at first felt the folded parchment drift down onto his head. The letter fluttered forward with a gentle push of the wind, twirling once in mid air, and landed in his lap. Verial grabbed it before the next gust of wind could carry it away and held the letter in his hands.

Verial was not totally sure how the letter came to arrive there with him at the port. However, after turning it around in his palms, he found his name written in a feminine handwriting scratched across the letter in black ink. The cursive writing belonged to none other than his sister Maiwen. Verial could not imagine how she managed to successfully send the letter on its way to Aleris, but it had made it. He had not properly said good bye to Maiwen when he made his journey here; nor had she said good bye to him when he left with Geno.

Verial stood up on the edge of the dock and as he turned around, he unfolded the letter, reading the message that was inside. By the time Verial finished the letter, careful not to walk into anyone as his eyes were scanning the text, he was ready to send her some sort of response. Making his way back up to the room where he stayed, Verial gathered something to write with and a piece of parchment.

"Dearest Maiwen,

I have always been proud of you and you never needed to prove yourself to me at all. I think maybe it was I that had to do the proving; to show you that I was actually a somewhat decent brother. I am not sure if I succeeded, but if you were able to see the things I was doing for you and trying to teach you, then I suppose that is a start. However, in the end, I do not believe for a second that it was myself or even your father that opened your eyes to new things; it was most likely your own being, awakening to something you had never been connected with before.

Love is a truly strange thing and I will never quite understand it myself. I think what you're doing with Draco needs to be done for you to obtain sight of your true self. So, you should be pleased that you are able to accept the fact that you are moving on. It is very difficult to leave something that you have cherished for a good portion of your life, as we both know. I think after your discuss this with him, you may at first be afraid and feel like you need to go back. But Maiwen, I know you have the strength to follow through with this. I do not know Draco well, but if he is how you describe him, I am sure he will understand your need to move on... for the freedom and things in life that you have never been able to experience previously.

When our mother sent you away to him, I do not think she meant any ill about it. She was aware that Draco was in love with her and that he could never fully have her, for various reasons. Nevertheless, I don't think her suggestion to have you two wed was entirely a trade off. I think it was her way to protect you from herself. This is not to say our mother is dangerous at all or that you need to be worried about her. But at the time when you were uncast from stone, so many things were going on that she could not treat you as well as she wanted. Perhaps her intent was not necessarily to have you just sent off to Draco and have him as a husband, but as a sort of guardian. We were all going through many things at the time and she did not want to subject you to them, as I do not blame her.

This was one of the main reasons I sent your father away, Maiwen. But I will stress that I sent him away and never banished him. I have not banished anyone, not even Tehran. I am not trying to make excuses, but for the reasons your father chose to separate himself from our mother, I do not agree with and do not know if I could ever forgive. To see the look upon her face, you would have felt every ounce of sadness she had during those days. I understand Geno's need to serve his god Zero, but I do not think you should ever choose a god or goddess before those you love. This is what your father did. Our mother had her own duties to Selune as well, but she did not let them hold her back from those she cared for - ever. Seeing your father come back and forth into her life was a joke. I wanted him gone, but for nothing more than to protect her and let her be strong again. I knew what it was like seeing someone you love constantly disappear as I did with my own wife. Between that, being left to take care of Angelus, a kingdom, our mother and what I could of my own life... having your father's presence around was enough.

There are things no one has told you, because you are honestly better off not knowing. It's no reason to feel left out; even though most of the family has lived through those dreadful times in Oneiro when everything came crashing down. If I could have, I probably would have switched places with you in a heartbeat - to sit behind castle walls on a foreign land away from everything. Nevertheless, our mother and I had different obligations to attend to, ones that would bring Oneiro to the ruins it was today.

I'm hesitant to tell you what happened back then. For my own personal reason mostly; I do not think you would reject me for what happened, but I don't like reliving the moment either. But you deserve to know the truth, just as anyone who lived in Oneiro and saw the catastrophe back then does.

Selune's subconscious had been going through some changes. We've grown up as beings of dreams, able to see and communicate in ways others could not imagine. I am not entirely positive how it happened, but I think part of it was Selune's need for things beyond what she could dream. While Solarte, her beloved, ruled the hour of the day, she pined for him during the hour or the night. She could never reach him and so, her mind became plagued with nightmares. These nightmares, by blood relation, effected not only myself but our mother as well and other people in Oneiro. Those with worries, doubts and fears started to spawn creatures from the horrible depths of their mind; demons that would eventually wreck havoc on the land.

Though Selune was aware of what was happening, she was too late to stop it. She had sent Angelus down to Rotoria Desert to defend the attack there while I waited in StarFae, protecting the kingdom with the army. The creatures were said to have been making advancements towards the desert; we were all wrong.

Weeks before, strange white dragons had been appearing in the sky, but no one thought much of it until those final hours in Oneiro when they started hovering above the city. Sending Angelus and Selune to the desert was a diversion. The white dragons had sung out to the dragon inside me and possessed me to destroy Oneiro. I had every intent on defending the city, but I did exactly the opposite. I am pretty sure I killed Wish Star and many others as well. Those I did not kill on my own, I let the demons have them. I could not stop myself until I realized that everything had gone far. Most of us were lucky to escape (though I think some wished they would have died anyhow), but as for the end... both Selune and Solarte perished with the realm. What is left is a barren waste of what beauty it once was - monsters lurk in the shadows, sucking out whatever life may be left.

That is as much as I can tell you, Maiwen. Most of the fond memories we have had of Oneiro have all been replaced by ones of misery and destruction. I'm not sure if you are happy that you now know or not, but that is the history and why the city lies in ruins today.

As for sending everyone your love and kisses... well you may want to write them a letter yourself. I have left the Villa to pursue other things. I am far away from Mystra Amor in a place called Aleris. This is where you can find me if you need to send another letter. Hopefully, we will all find some answers we're seeking.

Good Luck As Always,

Verial"

Verial went to the window and open the glass shutters. For a moment, he poked his head out looking around the palace walls and breathing in the scent of Aleris' ocean air. A soft whistle sounded from his lips and moments later a raven came to perch thin legs on the window sill. Verial attached the note to the carrier and spoke to it, "Please take this to Maiwen Zai Zjin Draconian." At once, the bird flew off into the sky and Verial watched it until it was nothing but a faint black speck in the distance, disappearing behind the misty clouds.

She wanted the truth.....she can't handle the truth.

After reading Verial's letter, she came to the realization that love- in both forms seemed to have been the destroyer of all. She could hardly contain the truth's that her eldest brother shared with her. It was simply too much to take in at once, must less in increments. She could hardly believe some of the things she had read. Mai sat quietly, in silent tears reading Verial's words over and over again. She swallowed hard and it felt as though something became stuck in her throat.

It was the most sorrowful and unbelievable tale she had ever heard and was the huge pieces to the partial parts her parents had told her. There was one thing that Verial did not speak of, and that was her twin Sovereign. Though she did not know the whole story about Tehran, she knew that her brother had become obsessed with their older nephew which resulted Sov taking his own life. This was something that Mai had learned to live with, but all this....was more than she wanted to know.

To know how utterly miserable her mother had been for so long, lamenting over her father to such an extent began to fray the notions and understandings she had before. Suddenly she realized that Verial held contempt towards her father. This threatened to complicate her new life. How can this be?

The war in all its entirety was not something she could of ever imagined even in her wildest dreams. She began sobbing and stood to her feet with the pages of the letter in her hand flailing them wildly. She began to yell aloud, as if speaking to invisible beings.

"Why!? How can all these things be?!? My heart and mind cannot contain this! Why did these things have to happen??? All for LOVE? This is NOT Love...this was madness...and they have all suffered. Why was -I- spared. Better that I should of died with my brother. Better that I should of suffered at their sides where I belonged. Curse the Gods! Everyone of them! For they have done so my family! "

Maiwen's legs fell out from under her as she crumpled into a weeping heap clutching her brother's letter to her heart. She stopped yelling, suddenly becoming calmer. Her shoulders relaxed defeat.

"Mama, Father, Verial, Psalm.....So...Sov....Sovereign....I know now what it is in their eyes, in all of them the same. I feel it now" she whined.

Maiwen did not notice how her skin had completely scaled over until her voice became deeper and more hoarse. She was beginning to transmogrify into her dragon skin. She hardly cared as exhaustion overtook her. Maiwen would weep herself to sleep on her bedroom floor.

The truth in excess could be a terrible thing, and Verial had definitely taken it to the extreme with his dear sister, Maiwen. Perhaps he assumed too much, like that she could have handled the truth of it all at once. However, he was not going to sugarcoat it like so many others had for his sister. She wanted to grow up and holding her back from the truth that she wanted, that she sought so fervently, would only prevent her growth. Though Verial knew Maiwen wanted to be treated as an adult like so many others, his method of slamming the history of Oneiro's destruction all down onto her mind at once was definitely not the best decision he had ever made.

Oh, Maiwen would hate him for a while and he could feel it. In his room in the palace, Verial leaned over in the chair and hugged his sides for a moment. He let in a shaking breathing; somewhere far away the letter had reached Maiwen and his words had made an impact so great, that he felt them even through the distance between the siblings. It hurt, though not for very long... Verial had guessed she probably cried herself to sleep, feeling helpless and lost, though closer than she had ever felt before.

For a very long time, Verial had fought the truth of what had happened in Oneiro. Honestly, he had not known himself for a while that he was a part of the demise of Oneiro; the memories were lost for a few years. Many in his family who had been there in the final hours of Oneiro probably did not want to think back upon it, just as he did not. But living with the reality of the past and present was essential in life. There was no escaping what had happened and there was no hiding Maiwen any longer. His mother would be furious at him. Verial was sure of it. But in time, would both his mother and Maiwen forgive him for telling all that he knew?

There was no convincing Maiwen that Verial was lying. Verial was sure Maiwen would believe every word he said. Not just because he was her older brother, but because she had trusted him. And even though Verial had not lied to her once in the letter, he felt as if he had just as well betrayed her. In the palace of Aleris, Verial prayed wherever Maiwen was that she was not alone. He hoped that there was someone there with her so she would not torture herself for very long. All he could do from where he sat was apologize and imagine she would feel the small ounce of regret he poured from his being.

"I hope you can forgive me," Verial murmured.

There was not much else he could do right now.

Had she only known how much she sounded like her mother...once upon a long time ago. Had she only known how much she now had in common with her brother, for he had lost faith in the Gods of old and denied those of the here and now. She had, in those moment lost the sort of innocence that Draco had tried to keep in tact as if it were a virginity of sorts.

The mid morning light moved to just the right spot against her room, flooding through the window. The light penetrated closed eye lids and warmed her face, slowly waking her from what she would first think to be just nightmare. As her conscious lifted from sleep she felt the ache that had set into her body that was rigid and tense for hours before drifting to sleep. When her vision came into focus she saw something laying next to her. A letter, wrinkled with smudged ink where tears had soaked in.

"I hope you can forgive me."

She was sure she heard his voice but it sounded as if he were in the walls.

That is a silly thought, he isn't in the walls.

Taking up the letter in her hands she crawled up from the floor like a slug, feeling a bit like one too. On the edge of her bed, still in yesterday's clothes she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. From across the room she looked at herself in the mirror, and studied the blank expression in her eyes. She felt as if you could dance the tip of a bread knife across her skin and she wouldn't even feel it. Her shoulders looked shrunken, as if someone let the air out of her.

In the days to follow she began to block it all out. She pretended it had all been just a dream. But in her sleep it would all come back. Everything they all had told her. All the truths. Three days later, after dinner with her father. Maiwen set out to speak to her mother about leaving Draco. Her father bid her to give her mother a letter for him after telling her things that made her feel guilty around Bansca. That night her mother read the letter, Sorvynia left to see Maiwen's father- alone, leaving Maiwen to her own devices at the Villa. She entertained herself by reading her mother's private journal, that is until the sound of breaking glass and her mother's voice coming from the bedroom compelled her attention. Her mother's bedroom window had been busted out and her mother's wings were bleeding. That night her mother would forbid her from going back to her father, and there would be a bitter argument between mother and daughter.

Maiwen suddenly found herself with no where to go with the wanting to leave her mother's house. She was furious with her mother, scared of her father, and did not want to go back to Kerrindren. Maiwen could take no more. She felt herself backed in a corner. So what do flightless dragon's do when backed into the side of a mountain? They bust through the damn things and set the world on fire.


"I hope you can forgive me."


He is in my head....

Still.

Consulting her reflection in the mirror once again; she contorted the expression of her face, as if it would make her become someone else by wishing it to be.

"Get out of my head!" she roared. The mirror broke just as if she had slammed her fist into it. Startled, she cringed and flinched as she shielded her face. The glass cracked in the middle and then huge chunks of it began to just fall down onto the wood grain dresser beneath. She began to pant, her heart pounding. She hadn't meant to do that. She didn't mean it. She woke this day with something new inside of her. It was anger. Something her big brother Verial was very familiar with.

He had shared his with her most generously. His memories, his chaos, his evil. Its true when you hear someone say you can never go back. The girl took it all so very personally. She, for but a few moments put herself there with her family. But it was not good enough.

Maiwen sprang up from the bed and folded the letter, tucking it into her shirt pocket. Her azure eyes scanned for an appropriately shaped shard of glass. Upon finding one she furiously began to hack away at her long beautiful blue mane, giving herself a most crude and uneven hack job one ever could imagine. By the time she was through, her hair was as short as a boys. She went into Joshua's room and snatched a few of his pants and cut the lengths to fit her properly. When she saw her distorted reflection in the mirror, for a few minutes she almost saw her dead brother. Almost.

She had never felt hate before, but there was something about the feeling of hatred that was instinctive known. Maiwen could only believe that it was hatred that she had been feeling. Hot tears spilled out of her eyes. She felt no better today than she had the night before. It felt as if something heavy had dropped down upon her body, or as if weights had been tethered to her.

She was going to go somewhere...away...the hell away.

Out of all the things he had done in his life, both terrible and great, Verial did not want to turn her sister into the monster she was about to become.

Somewhere in the morning, in the chair that Verial had been sitting in, the echoes haunting Maiwen's head broke away when the glass shattered in the Villa. Verial's skin was a lot colder than in the last few hours as if some part of him had died. Though it was awkward having that connection severed with Maiwen, part of him was relieved. It wasn't as if he had tried to hold onto her mind or drive her into madness, but between the letter and his thoughts, it was too much for his fragile sister to handle. He needed to let her go for now.

There was a time when Verial was younger where he was hesitant to be a proper brother to Maiwen. He wanted her gone. He wanted her to disappear. The fact that she was related to Geno threatened him and made him double over with sickness in his stomach. The way she looked at him with those adoring eyes, even when he pushed her away, only aggravated him more. And now... he felt something was off and knew he had done something terrible to the only sister he had to protect.

Verial was beyond stopping Maiwen from the path she was on, from the road he had placed her on with own hands. However, perhaps somewhere in time, Verial could meet her again at the end of it.


When the glass shattered in the otherwise peace of the Villa, a flock of ravens flew from the shade of a nearby tree, rustling all the leaves and branches that came from the strong trunk. Maiwen had seemingly transformed into something unmentionable - her deceased twin brother, Sovereign. The ravens' cawing echoed throughout the serenity of the Villa's small space and as the birds flew away frantically searching for an undisturbed space, another figure approach the Villa.

The figure that had been previously stalking the Villa waited for the opportune moment and stood idly by - until now. The Villa was quiet this day besides the eruption of ravens and everyone seemed to be out doing whatever it was they did, except for Maiwen. She remained at the Villa on her own, succumbing herself to a darkness she was unaware of. It was this advantage that the figure under the shade finally grasped and stepped forward out into the sunlight that filtered through the thick, canopied trees.

A little girl appearing no older than eleven years of age stepped fourth into the clearing of the Villa. Her hair was long and white, reaching down to her waist, and parts of her skin had lines of shimmering, pearl like scales on them; lines under each eye, over her forearms, and two criss-crossing under her neck. The girl turned her sharp features and looked up at one of Maiwen's bedroom windows with curious crimson eyes. From inside the room, Maiwen would hear a soft tapping against her window, as if a bird were pecking along the windowsill searching for the remains of leftover seeds.

"Maiwen," the young voice cooed from outside. "It's time to go home..."

The tapping at her window caused her to turn those brilliant azure eyes, the hue in them fading sometimes lighter or darker as if with the very pulse of her heart beat. Short hair was strange to her, fingers pulled at the short crudely chopped blue strands. If it had not been for such a pretty face she'd of pulled off looking like a young boy. She was considerably thin and more fragile looking than the rest of her family, perhaps even a bit under developed.

Maiwen uncrossed her legs from an Indian style position and slid off her bed to investigate. At first glance, nothing seemed to be there at the window. Only the bodiless sound of maybe a birds pecking, the tap of an intrusive tree branch. But it was neither. She stood there before the glass...the image of her mother's own busted out window came forward to her memory but was pushed back by a mix of guilt for lying and anger for having been lied to. Not being told something seemed to always feel the same as being lied to. A betrayed feeling.

When she could finally see beyond her own senses and feelings, she took notice of the ground below and beheld in her sight a stranger. Now it wasn't an unusual thing for strangers to come and go from her mother's home, even though the nearest neighbor for miles was just a grumpy Cyclops. Her mother seemed to know people from many places in this world and beyond. The occasional stranger or messenger was no surprise either. Maiwen's intuition still lacked the sensitivity she needed to survive independently like her older brothers could, but of course she wasn't 'aware' of this fact.

Maiwen raised a hesitant hand as if to wave, just the tips of her fingers moving though. She couldn't help but stare...for where she was above the person seemed to be a cold winter-like looking creature. So white and lovely. Small..like a child maybe. Or not. Long hair and size didn't always mean someone was a female or a child. But the person seemed to shimmer as the light caught, as if reflecting from scales. That to Maiwen was beautiful..and could not be mistaken. For a few moments it was as if her questioning gaze and that of the winter stranger embraced...lingered. Maiwen's hand dropped down to the window ledge as she should ever so still and smiled.

Where was home for the young dragoness? The answer could not be sought from Maiwen's usual sources. She could not rely on her mother, father, or even her own brother - Maiwen was utterly alone and seeking shelter from other means. Running away from it all seemed top priority and the young girl looking up at Maiwen's window took advantage of this vulnerability. For Maiwen, should she choose to follow the feather light footsteps of the girl, she would find her way home but not welcomed by the same people she remembered. There would be other open arms waiting to surround her in Oneiro, ones that were much too happy to use Maiwen's fragile state.

It was all so easy and as Maiwen and the white haired girl locked eyes, there was nothing in the seemingly ethereal being that would make Maiwen's thoughts suggest evil was running through the pale girl's soul. The girl's scarlet eyes seemed to sparkle at Maiwen with equal curiosity. It was with a beckoning hand, small fingers curling, that she called out again, "I can take you home, Maiwen..."

Then, the girl circled on bare feet and moved back towards the clearing from whence she came. Ringlets of white hair flipped over her shoulders as she disappeared beyond the trees and foliage that surrounded the Villa. It would ultimately be Maiwen's decision to follow; however, the young girl did not doubt success. Luring the young dragoness was the least of her worries. After all, who would think not to trust a small child, one that had the appearance of a porcelain doll?

Through the forest Maiwen would be led by her childlike guide, away from the Villa. Leaving it all behind would be enticing to Maiwen and the girl was Maiwen's perfect excuse to escape. As the Villa was left far beyond and the ruined land of Oneiro started to come fourth, would Maiwen turn back? Would she be frightened of the ruins blooming before her, or would she embrace a new destiny?

"My brother is especially anxious to meet you," the little girl began. "We are all so pleased to be with you both, Maiwen and Sovereign."