Inconceivable Inheritance (Matches and Orianna)

Matches, having just woken up from his first ever magical dream, throws on a shirt loose around his vest and fishes the note from Orianna out of his trousers pocket. He heads out of his room and moves straight over in the direction of Archelson Avenue, sharply tapping his knuckles on the purple door when he gets there.

There’s a long beat of silence. Then the muffled sound of cloven feet crossing tiled floors comes up to the door. There’s another pause and it is unlatched. Peering through the opening are a pair of reflective, glowing violet eyes in a curious face, framed by shimmering white hair.

“Hello? Who is- Oh!” Orianna stops, surprised. Then she smiles. “Matches. Good morning.”

Matches gives a curt nod to Orianna as she opens the door, taking a glance from side to side before offering a slight smile.

“Yeah, morning darling, you sleep alright? Hope I’m not intruding I just…” He waves the little note he was given by her yesterday.

“O-Of course. Please, come in.” She steps back pulling the door open wider to allow him to pass through. “Have you eaten? We were just about to have breakfast, you’re welcome to have some too.”

“I don’t normally do… breakfast. One of these normally sorts me out.” He pulls out a small box of cigars to make his point but puts them away again as he walks inside. He takes a moment to take in the decoration of the house, letting out a low whistle. “Quite the gaff you’ve got here. Is the decoration you or your partner’s doing?”

“It is a mix. We do our best to coordinate our collection of things as best we can.”
Orianna closes the door, latching it. She catches him staring at a chunk of simple white-ish rock on a small shelf. “That is from the moon. I can tell you about that story another time though, as I assume you are here to ask me about- well… everything?”

Matches manages a short chuckle and little smile before clearing his throat.
“Yeah that’s about right. I urm… Dunno if your, you know, big dragon does this, but mine talked to me in my dreams. And now this is happening.” He rolls back his sleeves and tugs at his vest to show the darkening of his scales. “He said a lot, but before I trust any of it I wanna know your side of things first.”

“Wow…” she breathes, leaning in to get a closer look. She takes his hand much like she did the day before, examining the change in his scales, marvelling at their new obsidian beauty. After a little bit she straightens up. “I’ve never seen scales change like that before but… yes. Of course. Let us speak.”

Orianna lets go, stepping around Matches and gestures to a small sitting room. Its rich green walls encase a space that contains numerous and various plants, books, maps, a sofa and a big wingback chair, complete with matching ottoman. On the opposite wall from the archway is a modest sized fireplace though its hearth is without wood or fire.

“Please, make yourself comfortable,” Orianna says. “Would you like something to drink? Perhaps some kaeth?”

“Oh would you please? That’d be spot on, actually.” His hostess nods and departs.

Matches settles himself onto the sofa, lifting one leg onto the other and resting his arm on the side. He spends the time while Orianna is out of the room looking down his arm. On a whim, he creates a small flame at the tip of his new obsidian claws, then remembers he is a guest in someone else’s home, and that there are plants and paper nearby, and shakes it out.
That is when he notices a particularly scrappy looking cat sitting on the armchair across from him, just staring at him. He looks at the cat, raises an eyebrow, and opens up his hands towards them. “I don’t have any treats, sorry bud.”

The cat doesn’t move. He just keeps staring, judgmentally.
Matches can hear the soft sounds of conversation further in the house, where he assumes Orianna is speaking to her partner and… someone else? He half turns to get a better angle to hear, and to look away from the cat that is just staring at him, when a creature of glittering crystal scales, with a lashing tail and flapping wings comes zooming into the room. Matches has a second where he sees claws and teeth before the thing tackles the cat on the armchair.
Except it misses. The cat, somehow anticipating this attack, deftly leaps off the chair, dashing underneath its legs as it dodges the sudden assault. Matches flinches as the pets tussle with each other. He casually shifts himself to the other end of the sofa so as to not get caught in any crossfire. The cat, clearly having the same thought, bolts from the room before the scaled creature can recover from the tumble it took from missing him.

“Valethra!” comes Orianna’s scolding voice. She rounds the corner, her expression stern in the way a mother might be to a child. She carries a tray with a beautiful brass coffee set but that is not what catches Matches’ attention. It is her speaking Draconic to the- baby dragon??
“We have a guest. It is not the time to play chase with Maurice. You know this.”

Now that the creature is still, Matches gets a good look at it- her. She is a wyrmling, specifically a baby crystal dragon. Her elongated neck slinks down as she bows her head, cawing something aloud that only Orianna seems to understand. Valethra is clearly only half remorseful because her tail still swishes back and forth.

“We will speak more about this later, young one,” she says to Valethra, who sulks a little. Orianna sighs, then turns towards him. “Apologies, Matches. I do hope the little one did not startle you?” she asks, placing the tray down on a table beside the armchair.

He gives a polite, small chuckle then reaches for his drink.
“Not a problem. Wasn’t expecting pets but I don’t have a problem with ’em. This one’s stunning, aren’t you?” He looks over Valethra, studying her body with curiosity before sipping his kaeth. He lets out a satisfied “ahh” after tasting it. “Thanks, that’s proper good that.”

She smiles, delighted. “My father enjoys adding spices to enhance the flavour. I figured you might enjoy it too.”

Orianna sits down in the armchair and the baby dragon instantly leaps into her lap. “You mentioned having a dream where you spoke to Vulcanax.” She picks up her cup of kaeth. “How was it?”

Matches pinches the bridge of his nose as he recalls the details and retroactively gets annoyed again. “Difficult. He started off with trying to freak me out, all sorts of visions of destruction and whatnot, his sort of thing. Then after messing me around for a while he actually wanted a chat, started asking me what it was that I wanted? Which seemed silly to me, he was the one invading my dreams. Then criticised me when I told him all I wanted was a decent, easy life. The nerve of him, honest.” He groans and sips more kaeth.

Orianna’s violet gaze roams over him. “You told him you wanted an easy life yet you are here…” She sips her kaeth. “Did he say anything else? About your ancestors or… or anything?”

“I asked him what he wanted, you know, what he was doing there. He told me he wanted two things, for me to get stronger, and for me to either…” He looks over to meet Orianna’s gaze. “Either help you, or stay out of your way. He said you’ve got some big stuff coming up. Quite the fate laid out.”

“Hmm, I suppose…” Her brow pinches together, gaze falling down to rest on Valethra. There’s a pause as she seems to think, then Orianna takes a deep breath.
“I am glad Vulcanax was, for all intents and purposes, honest with you,” she continues, picking up the antique looking brass pot, beginning to refill both cups. “I was not sure what to make of him. Such a drastic show of power can be misleading, sometimes…” She finishes pouring and sets the pot back down.

“Yeah, something tells me big man just wanted a big show of power when he woke up. He still seems to be on your dragon’s side, he’s just got a bit of an ego on him.”

“I suppose this is the part where you would like me to explain everything I know so you can decide if you will help me or ‘stay out of my way’ as he put it, yes?” she asks.

Matches then eyes Orianna up and down before shrugging, sipping at more of his drink. “Yeah, something like that. I like to know what mess I’m getting myself into. We only met yesterday after all.”

“Of course, yes,” Orianna says, flushing. It doesn’t take much for Matches to tell that young tiefling is just as overwhelmed by all this as he himself is. The only difference is she has information he doesn’t.
“Well, I suppose I should start with what happened three ten-days ago…”


Matches listens intently to everything Orianna says. She does not hold anything back, so far as he is aware, but even he can tell there is a lot. He nods slowly at everything, staying mostly silent, taking in all the information with a furrowed brow.

“Okay… So to sum it up in terms that I can wrap my head around… The primordials and these Archwyrms are real old. They fought ages ago and the dragons won, now the primordials might come back with their biggest baddest versions of themselves and that would be bad? So you’re trying to stop ’em from doing that and helping out the dragons?”

Orianna tilts her head back and forth. “More or less, yes.” She looks like she is about to say more but holds herself back at the last second. Valethra, who had fallen asleep in her lap during the retelling, opens one eye and gives a tonal wine. Orianna hums as she distracts the baby dragon with pets, muttering in Draconic, “It is fine, it can wait…”

“And, excuse my being blunt, why are you getting involved? You said your dad passed up on being a Herald, so it’s not mandatory, you chose to help out this cause. Why?” Matches tilts his head to the side and looks to gauge Orianna’s reaction and response.

“I do not know why my dad refused to be the Herald of Stellarum and I cannot ask him. He-…” She suddenly looks away, eyes filling with tears, genuine worry and hurt twisting her beautiful face into one of pain. “Apologies, it’s just-… He is being held prisoner by the Paraelemental Primorials. They intend to make use of him and then, in all likelihood… kill him.”

Matches frowns at this, avoiding eye contact by looking into his drink and sighing. “I’m sorry darling you don’t have to tell me any more than that, didn’t mean to remind you of the stuff you’ve got on your plate.”

She shakes her head. “It is fine. You want to know why I’m involving myself, that is one reason. But it is not the only one, or even the original one.” Orianna strokes Valethra’s back, the motions steadying her.
“Where I am from, I have been taught the importance of keeping the Balance between the Spheres. Things from Beyond have a penchant for trying to come here, across the planes, and it always ends in disaster. For everyone. When I met Magdara I was… confused. The elements are part of what I can do. They are neither good or evil, they just are. I have met one of her kin — the First Flame, Asteros. They were pleasant, not violent… They did not try to kill me upon meeting me.” Her hand comes up to absently rub at her throat. “‘I can’t wait to break this line myself,’” she quotes, her voice low and quiet. Orianna closes her eyes. Her hand drops back down to Valethra’s back. The baby dragon lifts her head and looks up to the tiefling. After a beat, she opens her eyes and they look directly into Matches’ fiery red ones.

“If I do nothing, Magdara and the other Paraelemental Primordial Incarnates will continue to harm my friends as they search for the Keys, tearing apart the Realms. I may be safe, but what about those I care about?” She leans forward. “Who would that make me if I did not stand with them?”

Matches once again listens silently and patiently, when Orianna looks into his eyes he returns the stare. He pauses for a few moments, before leaning back and sighing.

“Well that’s fair enough innit? Right, I mean I’ve only really got a few destructive spells, but if what Vulcanax was spouting is true I should be getting more power in that regard. And I suppose I can keep you updated on any other information he decides he wants to share.” He speaks quickly and off to the side, as if to brush over the fact that he is agreeing to help quickly.

“So… you wish to help?” Orianna asks, trying to catch Matches’ eye.

The glance is caught momentarily, he then rolls his eyes and looks at her straight again. “Well, Vulcanax said he’d have my head if anything happened to the whatchamacallit we nearly died for yesterday so… sounds like we have common interests at the moment.”

“He spoke about what the artefact can do?”

“Oh yes, he decided right at the end of our lovely conversation to inform me that the thing apparently doesn’t predict natural disasters, it causes them.”

Orianna nearly drops her cup of kaeth. “What? Oh gosh. Um,” she looks around, “Please, wait here.” She gets up, putting Valethra on the chair, and dashes out of the room.

The moment she is out of the room Valethra jumps down from the wingback chair, walks across to the sofa, and leaps up to sit down beside Matches. Her tongue flicks out as if tasting the air and her head tilts to the side as she looks at him.

Matches looks at Valethra and sighs. “Be honest, I’m in a right pickle here aren’t I girl?”

Valethra perks up. Then Matches feels a tonal ringing in his mind. Part of him recognizes this feeling. It’s like the dream he had but weaker. Probably due to Valethra’s age. The sound changes to an image, projected into his mind.
She shows him a depiction of a cartoonishly small volcano alone in a desert. Sands swell and churn in a storm that is impossible to see beyond. Then a constellation appears nearby having moved or drifted through the sandstorm. It’s a nonsensical collection of stars from what Matches can tell, but he knows that to Valethra this is meant to be Orianna. Which means he is the volcano. An arm — or maybe it’s a branch — of three stars reaches out towards the smoke billowing out of the volcano’s mouth. There’s a moment where nothing happens. The volcano continues to smoulder and sputter smoke, whilst the sandstorm gets stronger, trying to push these two depictions apart. But then a small tendril of smoke reaches towards the arm/branch tentatively, almost like it’s scared to do so. When it connects to the constellation, the storm is pushed back and everything around them gets a little quieter, a little less chaotic and uncertain.

Matches blinks a couple of times, bewildered by the completely unexpected imagery shown by the little wyrmling. When he returns to his senses, he stares down at the creature before sighing.
“Yeah, I know,” he says, quiet and matter of factly.

Valethra gives a chirp of satisfaction. Then she plops her bum down next to Matches, beginning to preen her scales. Matches glances at the baby dragon, giving her some scratches idly.
A minute or so later, Orianna returns. Matches stops the pets, feigning by scratching his own chin. Orianna doesn’t seem to notice.

“Apologies for that,” she says. “I thought it best to speak with my father now rather than wait. The scholars at the Academy are smart, but they will need his help, sooner rather than later.” She notices Valethra sitting next to Matches and smiles. “But we are in no rush if there’s anything else you wish to speak about.”

“I suppose I should thank you. You’re a good kid, it’s good to have a person to talk to and not just a dragon in my dreams.”

“I know what you mean,” Orianna’s smile turns wistful as she sits back down. “Speaking with Stellarum can be… well, sometimes her answers are not always clear. Must be an Archwyrm thing.” She glances at Valethra and chuckles. “And you do not need to thank me. It can be a lonely road when you wake up one day and discover your world is changing without you understanding why. I might not have all the answers but I hope what I shared helped you some.”

“At least your dragon is nice from the sound of things, mine’s such a piece of work, I mean we watched him incinerate a valley and then he wants to have a sit down and chin wag with me? Absolute joke, how am I supposed to figure that out?” Matches manages to chuckle despite himself, having his first genuine smile of the day.

“They are very old beings. Enigmatic is part of their make up at this point, I think,” Orianna says, giggling. “Oh, before I forget! The friends helping me figure out this puzzle meet every seven days or so, here. We talk about anything we have found or new developments, or even just to see each other. Would you like to come to the next one? It is the day after tomorrow…”

“Oh bloody hell, I’ve gotta join a club now?” Matches groans a bit, but grins eventually. “Right, yeah, fair enough, makes sense. I’ll be there. And I’ll bring breakfast next time, so I don’t owe you. Or drink? What time of day do we have to meet up?”

“Around lunch,” she says. “So if you normally don’t wake up early from strange dreams with dragons you can enjoy your morning in peace.”

“Sounds perfect to me, I won’t take up anymore of your morning. I’ll see you there, Cousin.” Matches clears his throat and stands up out of the sofa, and walks towards Orianna, but seems unsure whether to go for a handshake, or a hug or what would be appropriate. So he ends up just standing waiting with his hands on his hips.

There’s an awkward moment where Orianna blinks up at Matches, just as confused. Then the silliness of the moment hits her and she laughs, stands, and goes in for a hug.

“I will see you then, Cousin.”

Matches is thrown off guard by the bright and warm hug, his arms remain in the air for a bit before he slowly brings them down to pat Orianna on the shoulders and upper back.