“He is not perfect, you know.” Her companion continued, as if they had not stopped for him to demolish half the tray. “He made Eyes that hear instead of see, and a Seeker who has not been able to sense even the mutts.”
Sidhu’s nose wrinkled. Less due to the burp, more due to his words. “I think he made a mistake with you.” Her words were pointed, but also confused. “Did he forget to program simple respect? Filial piety?” she did not understand how this man could be so- rude, so- disrespectful to Shy.
| Name Sidhu | |
| Age Young | |
| Appearance Sidhu is of average height and slender, with dusky skin and long curling dark hair that is worn most appropriately in a bun, covered by one of her long scarves. Her eyes when not distracted and flashing molten gold, are a clear and bright hazel hue. Sidhu enjoys ornate costumes and shiny things. She adores glass beads and sparkling precious stones, and can be usually found in slightly inappropriate formal wear in dreamscape. She has a tendency of mixing and matching clothing and jewelry from different worlds, and almost always has her head covered in heavily embroidered, jewelled scarves or head pieces. She has an odd assortment of what she claims are temporary henna tattoos on her body. That they seem to change from one moment to the next, she will say is due to very talented henna work. | |
| Personality Sidhu is down to earth and very clear about what she likes. Shiny things. Jewelled costumes. Listening to Shy. Her work. She is passionate, lives to laugh, and can be heard from the other end of the lab, laughing vivaciously at a harmless comment or two. She is happy, and no one is quite sure who Shy stole that particular genetic sample from. She is normally not very serious, and hardly every angry. But then again she is very clear about what she likes, and steers far, far away from what she doesn’t. If one was unkind, they may say she is a little bit of an airhead. To a certain extent there is a very short term light hearted bravado about her. But she is one of Shy’s creatures, and maybe he just wanted a little bit of a happy, light hearted project to distract himself with. | |
| Ability Sidhu has the ability to search dreams, and is unrestricted to which world she may be inhabiting. It is a useful skillset that has earned her the title as “Dreamcatcher”. Her mission is to find and locate through dreams, the original Vella Crean dragons. |
Sidhu kept dreaming of dragons
It was her mission, she knew, to track down a particular set of dragons. But the ones she kept dreaming of had curved horns that spiraled away from the face. Ran a size smaller than the ones she was on the look-out for.
So Sidhu continued to search, and kept this little dream to herself.
‘Find the dragons, and you’ll find home’
It was a repetitive mantra that she told herself. Because it was important, so important to Shy that they found ‘home’.
She was not from ‘home’. She had been born after the disappearance of the Vella Crean. But it was Important to Shy, and so, Important to her.
“You place him on a pedestal.” the husky voice held a tired note of disapproval.
“You would do better to mind your manners.” Sidhu poured rich black tea from a silver carafe into tiny ornate glasses. She handled them with care as she gently pushed one closer to her companion.
Who snorted, and gestured for the carafe instead. “That puddle would barely whet my thirst, you know this.”
Sidhu smiled- a small, tight smile as she handed her companion the carafe. There was gentle care to her motions as she gestured to a long dish holding an assortment of sweet and savory pastries.
“Please.”
Sidhu watched her companion swallow deeply from the carafe and reach for a savory tart. Her eyes glinted as he reached for another.
“He is not perfect, you know.” Her companion continued, as if they had not stopped for him to demolish half the tray. “He made Eyes that hear instead of see, and a Seeker who has not been able to sense even the mutts.” He snorted, took another swig from the carafe, and then let out a very indelicate burp.
Sidhu’s nose wrinkled. Less due to the burp, more due to his words. “I think he made a mistake with you.” Her words were pointed, but also confused. “Did he forget to program simple respect? Filial piety?” she did not understand how this man could be so- rude, so- disrespectful to Shy.
Her companion scowled, opened his mouth to answer and froze. Sidhu knew why. She felt a slow glow of happiness from behind her- something soft and gentle like a cool breeze in the evening, and she felt herself flush with joy.
“Ishaan is perfect the way he is, isn’t he?” Shy spoke from behind her and her smile that had been small and tight widened as she turned to watch the geneticist walk into the room. He was dressed perfectly as always, she thought, a simple gray cheongsam with delicate black and green beadwork along the shoulders.
Sidhu shifted, making room for her creator and patting the space next to her.
“He is rude, Shy. He is not good.”
Ishaan groaned. “It is worse when you are the one defending me, Shy.” He took a longer draw of the carafe, as if it held wine or beer rather than black tea.
Shy perched in the space Sidhu made for him, reaching out with delicately painted nails for a small pastry. “You wound me so.” He purred.
Sidhu laughed as she handed him the small ornate teacup. “He is just cranky, because you have not assigned him a role yet.” She caught the grimace and the distinct sulky set of Ishaan’s expression and laughed again. “See?”
“In due time.” The geneticist murmured, nibbling at the pastry and taking a small sip of the black tea. “I have a few ideas that should stop the grumbling.”
—
Sidhu laughed as she bounced through a field of soft white feathers. The ground was soft and fluffy, springy, allowing her to take high leaping jumps into the air. The sky was clear and bright and the air had a distinctly herbal tang- lavender maybe, Sidhu was not sure.
But it was wonderful.
She landed with a huff of breath and looked around- she was alone in the dream, or, her companion was still too shy to show themselves. But Sidhu did not mind. This was a wonderfully pleasant dream to be part of.
But no dragons.
‘Did you find anything?’ Ishaan’s voice which was husky when awake held a deeper, rougher texture in her mind when they were working. It rubbed against her skin like thick cotton or hemp: sturdy, practical, and very different from the disrespectfully sulky face she knew.
‘I CAN hear you, you know that, right?’
Sidhu smiled. A bright, distinctively satisfied smile. Of course she did. This was dreamscape- and here, she was in control.
Sidhu sat down on the soft and fluffy ground, crossing her leads and straightening her back, taking in a deep breath as she closed her eyes. Dragons. She slowly coaxed the image she needed, building it from reference photos and images she had seen in the labs. Large dragons with clean lines and sweeping horns, high crests and unmarked tails. The darker counterpart with their poison tipped tails and odd jagged bones on their chest. Shy’s neutral court with their muzzles and paws dipped in blood. Slowly, Sidhu built them in her mind until they were thickly textured and rich, vivid in hue and shape and-
There.
A small, thin tendril. A thin golden line as fine as silk from a cocoon gleamed in her minds eye, and she tugged, following it down, down towards the source.
‘Where are you? What is it?’ Ishaan’s voice was soft, excited, and she felt something grow in her also.
A clue.
Sidhu had not moved her body. She had not twitched or changed position, and yet when she opened her eyes she found herself blinking in moonlight. She looked up in the sky and saw two twin moons, one slightly larger than the other and foreign constellations in the sky.
‘I’m not sure’ she sent back, pushing herself off the ground. She looked down at her clothing- white and gossamer that had been appropriate for a field of feathers. She smoothed her hands down over the skirt and felt it shift to something thicker, richer. She shook her head and tugged at the scarf, felt the pause when soft gauzy silk transitioned to heavily embroidered brocade.
She tugged at the thick cloak that rested over her shoulders, pulling up the hood until she was covered.
Appropriately dressed she looked around. The moons were high in the sky and she stood shadowed in the trees, overlooking a cliff hanging of sorts. A young couple sat the cliffs, their backs towards her and their feet hanging over the edge. Light glinted off of a set of large black wings on the man. Not human then.
‘We can’t be so sure. Some realms of earth don’t have magic but they have a very strong myth and lore base’ Ishaan’s words were bright, curious in her mind, and loud. So loud that she almost missed the whisper of movement behind her.
A crack of a branch.
“That was the day before he went off to fight in the war.” A soft, wistful voice, almost as if the speaker was afraid to break the calm of the evening. “I saw them from a distance and didn’t want to interrupt.” A sigh. “I dream of this night more often now. The good times. The sweet times. But I’ve never dreamt of you.” The soft, wistful tone hardened. No- it grew stronger. “Who are you, child?”
Sidhu turned slowly to see a woman in her prime. She was dressed simply, traditionally so, with strength and charisma wrapped around her small frame like a literal cloak. Her blonde hair was loosely plaited down her back and an odd crested pin decorated the front of her dress. Her eyes though- they were old. They did not suit this young form, and Sidhu frowned.
She slowly lowered the hood of her cloak, and Sidhu knew in the moonlight her eyes gleamed molten gold.
A swift intake of breath, and wonder lit the blue eyes in front of her.
“Is he still looking for us?” Sidhu was not sure if it was moonlight, or just the texture of blue- but she thought they glistened for a moment.
The woman in front of her did not give Sidhu much time to respond. She unfasted the crested pin from her bodice and held it out, pressing it into Sidhu’s open palms. She felt a small pinprick of heat.
“Tell him we are almost ready. But tell him- he will need dragons.”
The heat that bloomed in her hands flared, and Sidhu felt more than heard Ishaan’s sharp cry of warning before the moonlight brightened. It grew in one breath too bright for her to see the woman in front of her.
“Now get out.”
—
Sidhu had witnessed many moods of Shy. The sulky, petulant one whenever his favorite Sanger did not have time for him. The self satisfied one who enjoyed sneaking into worlds he was now barred from. The proud one, whenever one of his projects evolved and were gifted a rank and a title.
But this Shy, Sidhu had not seen before.
The man who perched, curled, and rested but did not sit on a chair, sat on a chair, hands trembling and face devoid of emotion as he stared at the pin in his palms.
A crest that held small, diminutive details. A dragon, a sword, and fire.
“Show me again what she looked like.”
Sidhu sighed, gesturing to the Mirror. The Mirror’s face was an exact replica of the blond woman she had seen in the dreamscape. The Mirror had even captured the confidence and power somehow, almost if they were physical rather than intangible characteristics.
“Are you sure?” Shy’s voice which could purr and cajole and simper trembled.
Sidhu nodded.
“Can you find her again?”
Sidhu hesitated.
The strength, the fire that had pushed her out of the dreamscape had been new. It was some type of magic that Sidhu had not come across yet. Dreamscape did not kick her out- it was up to her to decide which clue to follow, which dream to witness.
“Not alone.” Ishaan’s voice was weary. The man sat slumped across sofa and yawned. “The barrier is too strong to be penetrated by a single mind. I can’t spot for her either- we don’t have enough of a telepathic link.”
Shy’s hands stopped trembling at that, and his green eyes grew focused as he looked at the other man. “Ishaan?” he prompted.
Ishaan yawned again- a jaw cracking yawn as he straightened, sitting up. “It is a strong barrier- not magic. No. Sorry. Not a spell. No.” Ishaan scowled as he shook his head, rubbing his hand through his hair. “Sidhu, you know better. I don’t know what I’m saying. It was like a-“
“A hive mind, of sorts.” Sidhu continued. She reached out and clasped her hands over Shy’s, felt them warm and steady. The shaking and trembling had seemed to stop now that they had a specific question and purpose. “It wasn’t her mind only that pushed me out.” She had experienced that before. A strong mental ability that could try to shove her out- but the dreamscape belonged to her, and like a spider in a sticky web she could always cling to the fringes. “It was many. Two?” she looked over at Ishaan for confirmation.
He shook his head. “Not quite. Another main one, her counterpart. But many. Shy, it is like a hive mind. They pushed us out and for us to push back in it will take more than just my strength and Sidhu’s.” he splayed his arms out as he gestured. “We will need many- and this, this isn’t my strength or my talent.”
“Dragons.” Sidhu murmured. “She had said we would need dragons.”
Shy’s green eyes glinted, and she could almost see the Shy she knew, calm, collected, and slightly magnificent take over as if he discarded the quite and trembling man like old skin. “I can get you dragons.”
—
Sidhu was overjoyed, but tired.
The past week had been spent following tendrils with no avail back to the Vella Crean- sorting through the sudden onslaught of projects and ‘candidates’ to match them to worlds and dragons through dreams.
Ishaan had come into his own title and rank. Searchrider- although he continued to be dragonless. (What was he riding, then? Sidhu did not understand). He had an odd affinity for understanding and pinpointing exactly where each candidate and project was supposed to go, and understanding those who were not ready.
Sidhu was overjoyed because Shy had been given a clue and purpose, directly as to how to find the Vella Crean.
But she was tired. So tired of dreams.
Of dragons.
So she escaped, ironically, into her secret dream of dragons.
‘You are back’.
Voices always seemed to take on texture in her dreams, and this one was smoot and strong, like a nice heated rock in the sun.
“I needed a break.” She said out loud, looking over her surroundings.
She was in the sky, flying- good thing, Sidhu considered, that she was wearing trousers and a fitted head set that did not fly against her face. The wind was cool and crisp on her skin and the sun warm against her back. She turned slowly, watching the purple dragon with the spiraling horns execute a sharp dip.
“Flying again?” she asked. She did not mind- she could not fly awake, and it was a spectacular feeling.
‘I am egg heavy’ the dragon groused. ‘It gets harder each day to do this’ she executed a sharp dive, and a lazy somersault in the air. ‘or this’.
Sidhu felt some of the tension and exhaustion melt as she laughed. “That is beautiful!” she watched the dragon preen at her words and complete a lazy flip in the air.
‘My rider asked about you’ the words sounded pleased, and a little puzzled. ‘She has not seen someone who matches your description at the Caer’
Caer. She knew that word. She had wondered, from the markings on the dragon and the color- but there were so many worlds out there now, so many odd dragons.
“Where are you?”
‘Caer Paniya- you should visit us, I think’.
Sidhu smiled.
—
It was with much formality and some ostentatiousness (because would Shy’s project be complete without the same flair?) that Sidhu arrived the next week at Caer Paniya.
Dressed in full formal regalia with trunks of clothing and glittering jewelry that she gave out like flowers, she found this old world of Alskyr exciting. Dated perhaps, compared to Shy’s lab. But holding curiosities that delighted her.
Ishaan was a little smug when Sidhu called to tell him of the clutch on the sands. A little ‘I told you so’ when she mentioned being a potential bonder- a candidate.
“Dever” Sidhu informed him, amused. “Found it highly unusual that I visited her dragon in dreams. Maybe dragons don’t dream?”
Ishaan scoffed at the idea. “An idea for Shy to follow, maybe.” His smile softened. “Are you going to stay for the clutch?”
Sidhu nodded. Maybe that was why she had had so many dreams of this place.
His smile looked pleased- definitely a lot smug as he nodded his head. “I had a feeling about that place.”
It was Sidhu’s turn to scoff. “Searchrider- without a dragon, yes?” she asked pointedly.
He shrugged. “Things will change, soon. I have a feeling about it.”
From the hatching
One… unobvious nonhuman was Sidhu, who swayed into the dunes cavern with style and grace well beyond anyone else. Her broad smile was always visible against her dark skin, currently behind a transparent veil of deep red and gold. She had already endeared herself to the dragoness on the sands, somehow, Qalam didn’t know how deep that impression had gone. The dreams of dragons were not ones he was privy to, after all. But the candidate was also apt to hand out gifts of shiny jewels and shimmering silks such as the ones she wore, so no one thought twice about how odd she actually was.
Before the purple queen however, there were two eggs left: perhaps why she hadn’t been irate when the other queen showed up on the sands, there were only six in her clutch rather than seven or eight as she’d been hinting at. One of those two eggs cracked, kept cracking, with the lines expanding against the creamy-white shell. Finally it was merely a network of dark lines and bright shell, which then were brushed off by Ksotsik’s careful tail.
And then Ksotsik looked at her own tail as though she’d never even seen it before, “I did not do that,” she muttered verbally. It became apparent pretty quickly that the dragonet herself had commanded it, a remarkable power to have fresh out of the shell. The dragon was incredibly dark, as dark as the first to hatch’s wingsails, but of an even tone all across her body and limbs. Her wings, crest, and tail spade were pale, almost lavender in its hue.
“You must be more polite to your mother,” Sidhu scolded very gently, “but I will admit that was impressive.”
“Of course it’s hers,” Qalam whispered to his daughter, who looked away while spinning her finger through the silk wrap that the candidate had given her, one which almost matched that same dragon’s deep colored skin. They both listened attentively when Sidhu announced that the dragon’s name was Vaekhelik, pronouncing it with the raspy sound in the middle, almost a draconic sound itself.
pl 78;
6 verbal speech, command other dragons
5 communicate with other minds, sense animals
(3 all else)
parents Purple Ksotsik and Black Farabak
Caer Paniya clutch 2
Additional Cameo Appearances