The tiny hatching curled into her mother's side, sighing contentedly in the warmth that radiated both from her mother's body and from the floor of the lair. Surely this was the best life had to offer, she thought. Though many of her hatchling friends talked about how much they wanted to grow up, leave the hatchling nest and learn to fly, little Arante was content to stay nuzzled up with her mother's tail wrapped securely around her.

"Tell me again, mother, about where Elvie came from. Why doesn't she have a clutch mother to protect her?”

It puzzled the little pink dragon how anyone as young as Elvie could be considered Gifted. Yet all the other dragons had welcomed Elvie as though she were from a clutch of their own. In fact, soon after Elvie appeared at the portal gate, saying she'd come from a placed called Unity, Elvie had been given a lair all her own. Though Arante herself had no desire to leave the warmth of her mother's lair, she knew that many of the other hatchlings were angry at the elder's decision to let Elvie have her pick of the lair before any of them could choose one for themselves. Lairs were difficult to dig, and took a great deal of care and work to form each chamber just right so that the ones beside it and below would not collapse.

"Not now, my hatchie. You need your rest.” Her mother's tailtip tickled her earfin lightly, softening the reproach.

"But maaaaa... pleeease,” she pleaded, rubbing her head against her mother's rough scales to remove the itch. "Bal says that Elvie is an orphan. That her clutch mother kicked her out of the nest because she was mean. But I told him he was wrong. That Elvie was my friend, and I like her. Even if she did just appear at the portal one day with her strange story.”

Her mother lifted her head and looked back at Arante. The sadness in her mother's eyes made Arante stop her begging, but only for a moment. It seemed to Arante that there was something about the special dragons, and the naka too, who had been arriving in the world in small groups recently that made the elders both sad and happy. But the elders would only talk about the happy parts. Arante was a curious little dragon and wanted to know the sad part too.

"Alright, Arante. But just once. And no questions, do you understand?”

"But maaa... ,” she started to protest, but a light flick of her mother's tail on her snout silenced her.

"I mean it,” her mother snapped. "I will tell you Elvie's story, once, no questions or interruptions from you, but then you have to promise me that it's off to sleep with you.”

"Alright,” Arante replied, and settled her head onto her mother's side again, trying to hide her triumphant smile.

In a soft, low voice her mother began to speak...

"Elvie's story is not strange, as you called it. Nor is she truly an orphan. She did come from a land called Unity. And we are all very glad she did, and welcome her and others from this land to join us in the battle against the Aegis.

Once, many many years ago, when Istara and the gods created Istaria, they looked upon the land and all it's peoples and saw that the land which they made, abundant though it was, would be taxed over much by the presence of so many dragons and naka-duskael. And so, in her wisdom, Istara formed many worlds for her people.

One world she called Chaos, for that world and quickly filled with such a wide variety of dragons and naka that there were often conflicts even among the Gifted. Another she called Order, for here the people all agreed to follow a strict set of rules and guidelines of behavior, such that even when conflict did arise there, the rules which governed the people there allowed for faster resolution of conflict. A third land, called Unity, was a land set far away from either Chaos or Order. So far off, in fact, that Istara appointed some lesser gods to watch over her people there, for she knew that she could not fulfill her duties well to people so far from her.

And so it was that time passed. Those who had created Chaos and Order gave guidance to those appointed to watch over Unity. And those who lived and fought the Aegis in all three lands were content with their lives. But sadly, not long before you were born, those who lived in the land called Unity disappeared into a great abyss. Those appointed to watch over Unity grew silent, and none knew of the fate of our Unitarian brethren for many, many a long month.

But we remained hopeful, looking to the gods of our world for answers. And slowly, that ray of hope began to grow brighter. The Unitarians were not totally lost, though there world was shattered beyond repair. They were trapped, caught between worlds, because their souls were bound to a world that no longer existed.

But our gods are clever and resourceful, and soon word came that they had found a way to break the binding to the shattered world so that those from Unity could come to cross over. And we began to hear them crying out, calling from far off, asking our gods to bring their lost souls into our world. And so the gods did, my hatchling.

But the Unitarians lost much when their souls broke from Unity. They lost their homes, they lost possessions, and yes, they lost many whom they called family and friend. And so, in their wisdom, the elders of this community and many others, have chosen to give them a home here. To welcome them as brother and sister as though they had been born to our world.”

"But mother, Bal says he'll never get a lair of his own because dragons like Elvie will take all the good ones,” Arante blurted out, forgetting that she was not supposed to speak.

"Now, Arante, you and I both know that is not true.” Her mother's voice was firm, but did not sound angry. "It is important that we make Elvie feel welcome in our community. We need her, and those who come with her, in the war against the Aegis. The Aegis have been too quiet for too long, my hatchling. This peace will not last.

And you know as well as I that the elders have learned much about the shaping of lairs this past year. We may have to search far, and I cannot promise that the one we find will be as grand as this one is. But when the time is right, we will find a lair for you.  Remember, my hatchie, that we have learned to dig our lairs into the sides of hills and mountains we previously thought would not hold lairs.  If we don't find anything that already had an opening created, then we will simply find somewhere that a new one could be started.  We might have need to pray to the gods for their aid in forming such an opening, but there will be a lair for you.

Now, sleep. And dream of new friends, new adventures."

And that is exactly what Arante did.