(Shard and Transfemme Zane, before.)
Shard was, in Zane's purely objective and not at all biased opinion, the most beautiful dragon in the world.
She was built lean, all hard-packed muscle and little fat despite the harsh winters she would endure and, ultimately, embody. Smaller than the other three creation dragons, she was no less fierce. They’d learned that quickly- four different beasts in the same territory always led to disputes, especially in the case of things as powerful and proud as dragons. Shard made it clear she was no easy target despite her size, leaving Flame, Wisp, and Rocky with her fair share of nips and scratches during their occasional obnoxious male posturing.
Her iridescent scales shone a multitude of color in the hot summer sun, flickering and shimmering as she stalks along the monastery courtyard. She twitches her skin as she paces, rolling wave-like patterns trickling down her sides as she raises her scales to aid with airflow. Her scales were weighted and hardy, thicker than even Rockys- made to trap heat. A great asset in the frozen tundra, a grave annoyance in the heavy humidity of Ninjago city. Occasionally she beats her wings, the gossamer thin webbing (more for show than actual flight, her ability to float through the clouds a mystery of ancient power) stretching thin and causing the light passing through to fractal in kaleidoscope patterns, stirring up dead leaves and dirt as she forces cool air through the thick fur along her underbelly.
For her babies, his mind supplies easily, as if she’d told him herself once she caught him watching her, the chill cannot reach them with her in the nest, curled around them soft and warm.
He could wax poetic about her for hours, really. The elegant curve of her horns. The thick navy fur along her jaw and her claws, insulation against frost in a way that was charming and fancy but also quite silly- her paws cartoonishly oversized. Her eyes, so intelligent, a brilliant ruby red that put Kai’s gi to shame.
“What’s his name?” Cole asks curiously, when there’s a moment of respite and they are all free to talk about such things. They all seemed to just… know these tidbits about their dragon. Wu had said something about bonds, deep connections through their element. Rocky chuffs impatiently when Cole pauses stroking that great earth shattering snout.
“Her name is Shard.” Zane informs him, passing a cool hand over the scale plating along the column of her throat.
“Wait, she’s a girl?” Jay crows, crass and stupid and with a nasal laugh that he cuts off when he catches Nya's glare.
Wu blinks, gazing at the beast before them all, “A girl?” He hums, and then looks at Zane in a way that makes him feel quite awkward and unsure as to what faux pas he has just accidentally committed. Was she… not supposed to be?
“Is that a bad thing, Master Wu?” He asks bluntly.
“No, no, Zane.” Wu smiles reassuringly, “I had just thought she was a boy.”
“Well, she is not.” He frowns hard and Shard presses against him in her own way of comforting the odd swell of distress he was feeling- for entirely no logical reason at all.
Later, in the library during a sleepless night, Zane reads up on their dragons.
Did you know that the gender of their elemental dragons always, always, always matched their master's gender? Without exception? Another quirk of that deep and ancient bond. Always.
Zane rolls the scroll back up, puts it away, and quietly goes to bed where she simply stares up at the ceiling and doesn’t sleep at all.
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