Mara cannot remember much of her past. She knew there was darkness, and that she had roamed through multiple lairs, but before Abyss? It was getting harder and harder to remember. She had left her previous clan because she knew of her power, and it was unsafe to be around her. She never had any intention of remaining with that blasted Imperial, but her adoration grew, and then it was all but impossible to be separated from him. She calmed his rage. He brightened her darkness. It was a trade that she was willing to accept. This clan had taken to her, and before long, they were not cowering before Abyss or Mara, but rather embracing them.

They could not forget what Abyss had done to them, but they could forgive. It took time. It took effort. Mara helped. But they were not aware of How she helped... and she would keep it that way.

Before long, another had come into their Clan. The pull she felt from the very core of him rattled her. It was the same darkness as hers, the same ethereal quiver. She was drawn to him, and he confessed his draw to her.

Abyss had fought the concept of Mara, head of the Night-Star Clan, having two mates! It was absurd, and an usurper would not unthrone him! But... in time, and after several battles between Exodus and Abyss, the Guardian was allowed to stay. He was allowed to be her mate, though Abyss would not tolerate more than the occasional nest.

It was for the greater cause of Power. Darkness. Abyss could tolerate Exodus because of the Darkness that reigned within Mara's essence.

Mara had her true mate, Abyss. Mara had her Bloodline Guardian, Exodus.

She thought she was happy.

But could a Naomi descendant truly be happy? ------

((Story from the Halloween 2019 hatchling auction))

Time and time again, Mara rolled through the strange waters that pulled different hues into her scales. Each time the waters washed over her and slid down her body, a new colour was left behind, and she would look down at her reflection, wondering if this was the truth of her now. Was this who she was? So many blues, yellows, purples, and greens... why did none of them feel Right?

She laid in the water for a little while, wondering if these were the only colours she would be allowed to possess? Colours mostly darker, colours that reminded her of the darker nature of her birth...

Mara emerged at last from the strange waters, and looked at her reflection. Her dark eyes widened, and she stared at the strange, pinkish hue strewn across her scales. A low-toned, rolling laugh came from nearby, and she looked quickly behind her to see Abyss, the massive imperial that was her patron mate, giving her a wide, toothy smirk that was the only lighter colours besides his brilliant eyes against his obsidian scales.

"You look foolish." He said to her. "Like a real child of the Arcane."

Mara Was a child of the Arcane, though! Her ancestor, Naomi, was the root of it all, stemming from the Arcane itself. Though Mara's heart and eyes sang from the Plaguebringer, through her mother, the origin of her darkness was always Arcane. The Arcanist, the one that called down the Shade and shattered the pillar, was the truth of her real beginning.

"I do not look Foolish." Mara snapped at the larger dragon, then looked back at her reflection again. She was tired of being afraid of her own darkness. She angled her head, looking at the way the pinks and blues played over her scales, her fins, her wings... "I Do look like a Real Child of the Arcane. A Child of Naomi..."

Abyss moved closer to her, lowering his head to look at her with a familiar glint in his eyes.

"... your Plaguebringer's festival is upon us..." He said to her, looking at her directly, and then looking at her reflection so their eyes met.

Mara blinked at his reflection, then turned her head to look at him.

"... and the night of the Soul's Harvest is coming..."

Mara smirked, and hopped closer to his large head, reaching up to grab at his fur with her smaller claws.

"We should dress up." She said.

"And what would you be?" Abyss asked, lifting his head, and bringing the clinging Mara with him.

She scrabbled up through his fur to find a seat between his horns, her usual perch. The little fae thought about it. What would she be? Nestled on Abyss' head as he walked slowly back toward the den, Mara thought about it.

"A Queen." She finally said as they slipped into the dark entrance of their personal den. A slow smirk formed at her mouth. "A Queen that celebrates the Arcanist, and the Origin, Naomi."

Abyss was giving a mischievous expression of his own, even as his tail was the last thing to disappear into the darkness of the cave.

"Very well, your Majesty..."

Mara, in full royal regalia, crooned over her nest. This clutch she would not let slip away so easily. As the eggs cracked, and her hatchlings came forth, she grinned to herself over them, a dark glint in her eye.

These ones she would keep close in the beginning, teaching them about their origin, and everything that came Before. And then? Then, she would send them out into the world, her dark little messengers... But to whom shall she send them...? Which lairs would they best fit within...? Perhaps those that came Seeking the Darkness....? Those that offered Tribute to her, a Queen for a Day...

Hm... which ones.... ---- ----

((Continuing on: ))

Something on the wind, a whisper. Change was coming, she could tell, but why did she have this feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach...?

"I.. I want to gather the clan." Mara said in barely a whisper, her voice uncertain. She slid back a little into Abyss' mane, shrinking down a bit between his horns.

Abyss rolled his eyes upward, though he could not see the tiny, currently-pink fae.

"Whatever for?" The imperial's voice rumbled out, and he lifted his snout a little, as if that could somehow help him see her, even though they both knew he couldn't.

"... something is wrong..." Mara's crest lay flat, and she turned her head a little. There was something there, she was sure of it. Something low-toned, dangerous. But what was it?? "Please, just call them..."

Abyss regarded her with a flick of his tail, and then gave a heavy sigh.