Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Dwayne

While she waited for Pannu to return, she idly wondered if Dwayne had also grown, as she and Trey had. She poked at the lump in her mind that felt foreign, but didn't "look" tired. She couldn't really describe the sensation, but she had taught herself how to wall them off into separate parts of her brain, so she could think independent thoughts again. It had taken the entire previous day to do it, but well worth the effort. Trey had done the same, and she assumed that Dwayne had, as well, since she didn't hear either dragon's thoughts anymore.
   :Hey, Dwayne?:
   The mental equivalent of a grumble rippled across the wall she'd put around the section of her mind she'd assigned his... beacon? Connection?
   :When you got all sparkly, did you also get bigger?:
   :Yes, and it was bloody inconvenient, let me tell you! We had to move three Holds over! Look, I know our world isn't as populated as yours, but it's not exactly easy to uproot I-don't-know-how-many people and move house. Would you two please refrain from future growth spurts?:
   She stifled a laugh that was also a blush. Feeling puckish, she said :Well, he started it. I didn't even know what was gonna happen.:

   :I thought you had kids.:

   :Dwayne Undying, you know very well that wasn't what I meant! I meant I didn't know he was going to start that sort of thing, else I'd have stayed firmly on land!:
   A chuckle wobbled the wall in her mind. :Are you so sure about that? I didn't get roped in 'til after, but you two felt very... chummy. I think you enjoyed it more than you're letting on.:

   Her teeth ground together. :I already have a mate. One that I told nothing would happen. Trey said all we'd do is talk, maybe about that stuff. Didn't say a blasted thing about actually doing anything. So yeah, I'd have kept my happy ass on terra firma... or forta firma? What would be Latin for a Fortnight World?:

   He laughed again. :Not a clue, but I like 'forta firma', for the record.:
   :So, what, the worlds are just called "forta"? How do we tell one forta from another?"
   :Ach! I'll leave naming things to you. I've never been big on thinking, more on doing. Not that I'm dumb or anything, just... If I can fix a thing with my hands, why talk about it? My dragonkith says I have a high Wisdom score, average Intelligence. Whatever that means.:

   She smiled at nothing anyone could see. :I played Dungeons and Dragons, too. Mine might be the other way round: high int and average wis. Didn't stay invested, but it does help define the world around me sometimes, to break it down like that.:

   He grunted. :Yeah, I can see Bim being a nerd on Erdewaz.:

   :I'm guessing Bim is your dragonkith?:

   :Yeh, Bim Dee. Short for dragonkith, but also my name, he said. I don't wanna tell him how silly it sounds. We've got some odd names round here.:

   :Here too, if that helps. But hey, He did say nothing was the same, so why should names be any different? If anything, the normal names are the odd ones, by that logic. Okay, my head hurts. Wait, how do you know the word "dragonkith"?:

   :Bim uses it. Says it's like a D&D thing, on account of he looks a bit like me.:

   :That tracks, 'cause that's where I got it from, too.

   :By the way, what do you actually look like? I mean, the eyes are a dead giveaway, but I'd kinda like to know what to look for, if you come calling.:

   There was a long silence. :I am bound to my world as surely as you are to yours. Only difference is, you can move to a new one, once the kids fly the nest. I'm not sure I can.:

   She thought for a while. :Might be some sort of compensation for living darned near forever. If we can try out a new world from time to time, maybe it'll take longer to go mad? I just don't know. Maybe I have to wait for the kids to get independent, maybe you wait for your mate to die, who can say? We're all just muddling through as best we can, with what information we have. And honestly, I couldn't live like Trey does. I like standing still and feeling the suns on my face. Moved too much on Erdewaz to enjoy doing it here.:

   :Mmf. Well, as to looks, I can't rightly say. We haven't got mirrors, and the water nearby isn't still enough for clear reflections. Bim says I've got a head like a triceratops had a baby with a rottweiler, if that helps. I can see that I'm a sorta bronzey color--with metal flecks in it now, no thanks to you two. Big, strong hands, if ya get the reference.:

   She did indeed, and it gave her a laugh. :If they're closer to paws than hands, it would seem that Pannu is the oddity, as far as male dragons go. Steel and Trey have paw-hands, too. The girls and I all have longer digits that work basically like hands. Pannu probably has finger-like talons because he plays stringed instruments.:

   :You guys have instruments already? We've got some drums, but nobody's managed to make strings that'll hold up to anything for long.:

   :Have you tried gut string? That's what the craftskin in the mountains use.:

   :Crafts... kin. Why didn't we think of that? I tell ya, your world's export might be words, at this point, heh. And ideas. I don't think we'd tried gut string yet. Is that, like, actual guts?:

   And so the transfer of ideas from Onnu's world to Dwayne's world began.