CASIMIRA
dragon-shifting daughter of ashhal and ryatah
She has never been alone, from before she ever even took her first breath. All of her living memories were of him next to her, and because of that, it is a wonder that she didn’t feel him leave her side, as they had laid curled in a deep sleep — or at least, she had been in a deep sleep. The summer sun was already high in the Tephra sky by the time she was stirred awake, both by the heat washing across her black fur, but also because she was hungry. Their mother had been gone for what felt like forever, and she was beginning to lose faith in Evenstar everytime she promised that she would be home soon.
As she sleepily blinked her crystal blue eyes open, it only took her a few moments to realize that everyone was gone. Cassian was gone. Evenstar was gone. Even that green man that stares at them from a distance wasn’t hanging around. She tried not to panic as she gathered her too-long legs beneath her, shaking dirt and loose grass from her small body. She wasn’t terribly concerned about her older sister, but she couldn’t believe her twin had the nerve to go somewhere without her. Twin Rule Number One: Always Stick Together. Was it because he was like three minutes older he thought he could do whatever he wanted?
Not on her watch.
Immediately, she launches herself towards the forest that bordered Tephra, immersing herself in the protection of the trees of Taiga, away from prying eyes. Perhaps she was a little bit of a hypocrite for being mad at Cas for disappearing, because she sort of did it almost every night. Not for long, however. Just long enough to practice her shifting. It had been awkward at first, a strange and alien process, to go from equine to dragon. She didn’t want anyone to know until she was actually good at it, and there was also a part of her that thought her family would think she was a freak. No one else had it. She supposed maybe Cas could be hiding it from her, too, but it didn’t explain why she had almost draconic blue eyes, and he didn’t.
But the last few nights it had gotten easier, and this time, it is almost seamless when her body shifts and mutates, her velvety black fur molding into hard, oil-black scales, and leathery wings erupting from her shoulders. By the time her wings have lifted her above the tree tops, the transformation is complete, and her slit-like pupils watch the ground as she flies. She scans over the remainder of Taiga, and then Loess, and parts of Sylva. She was just beginning to get more annoyed than she already was when she decides to do another pass over the forest, and with a blink of her blue eyes, her vision shifts, and begins to search for heat. Ignoring anything that seemed too small or too large, she finally finds something that seems like it could be him.
Circling back, she dips down through the canopy of the trees, doing her best to land as softly as possible so as not to attract any attention to herself. Her shift back into her equine form is not as smooth as the first time, and she stumbles forward as her wings disappear, her clawed-feet once more becoming hooves attached to gangly legs that scramble to keep her upright. Straightening with a huff, and reminding herself that this is exactly why she’s never told anyone, she immediately scurries forward, bursting through the thick brush to pounce behind her twin brother.
”Cas! What do you think you’re doing? You left and you didn’t even — oh my god what is in your hair!?” She reaches out to touch the prickly burrs and the sticky sap, and almost immediately she is overcome by uncontrollable laughter, before finally managing to choke out, “Mom is going to kill you.”