There were times when even the shyest of dragons could tire of being alone.

Laeolyja had hatched at the third of Nidus Ryslen's annual Flurries, and fled the sands as soon as he was free of his egg. He had felt no desire to bond, then. All he'd known was that he was hemmed in, surrounded by alien minds on all sides, watched by too many staring eyes, and he'd been terrified by it. Too many people, too much noise.

He'd hidden in what shadows he could find until things had died down and the frosted sands were empty of all but eggshells and footprints in the snow, and then snuck out to the remains of the feeding tables to scrounge something for his horribly empty belly. It was there that he'd finally been found, caught, and ushered into the care of a sponsor, since he hadn't bonded. Too terrified to protest, and only wanting to be left alone again, Laeolyja had let himself be shepherded along.

That was how he'd come to this place in the heavens called Star City. Raised in the draconic equivalent of an orphanage until he was old enough to fend for himself, he'd then been moved to a private draconic apartment and put on a monthly stipend with which to eke out his own life.

And his life, as it was, was very dull. Even though, in adulthood, he was on the larger end of the draconic size-spectrum, he was still afraid of people, especially crowds. Since the streets of Star City were rarely un-crowded, he spent most of his time hiding in his little home, away from the noise and bustle and people. He had his food delivered, so the only reasons he ever had to leave his home were to visit a bathhouse or get some exercise on the flight deck, and these were tasks he always did late in the night-cycle, while most people were asleep.

Laeolyja tried, sometimes, to get used to people, but every time he worked up enough courage to go out during the day-cycle, he always wound up back in his room in the space of an hour, quivering and panting from the strain of trying to be social.

It was a sad and sorry existence, Laeolyja knew, but he just didn't know how to change it.

He was lonely, too, and had begun to feel the ache of an unfulfilled bond soon after he'd become an adult. The problem was, he was terrified of bonding. He didn't want to bond a human or other biped--even if children were the few that didn't scare him, children always grew up. He didn't want to bond another dragon, either--a hatchling, too, would grow up in time, and perhaps even wind up larger than he.

But oh, he wanted a bond so badly... he could live with being afraid, but he was tired of being alone. But how did one bond when one was terrified of all creatures suitable for bonding to?

Finally, one night-cycle, Laeolyja dared slink down to the city's Hatchings Registration office, to nose around those advertisements for on-station and off-world clutches, both. Maybe, somewhere, there'd be someclutch where very small dragons would hatch: dragons who could grow up, but still look like children, so he wouldn't have to fear them.

There turned out to be one local clutch that would have filled Laeolyja's desires, that of the human-sized dragoness Melapha, but its sign-up roster was already full and had no room for him. The others available simply wouldn't do: Narafth's and Daellanth's were too big, Irua's was too strange, and Vyly's required candidates to actually go and be interviewed by the father! No, that wasn't a length Laeolyja was willing to go to at all...

He was soon lost trying to nose through the off-world advertisements, however. There were so many! How could he ever find what he was looking for in a selection numbering in the dozens?

"Can I help you, sir?" a merry voice chirruped from below.

Laeolyja jumped, nearly knocking over the little mouse-lady that had come to stand beside his forepaw.

::Oh g-g-geez, I'm... s-sorry, I d-d-d-didn't hear you c-c-come up,:: he rumbled in embarrassment, hiding his head behind a half-unfurled wing.

"Oh that's all right, no harm done, I shouldn't have crept up on you like that," the rodent anthropomorph smiled. "What can I say, I'm just quiet as a mouse, after all!"

Laeolyja tried to muster a polite grin for her humour, but failed miserably. Mercifully, the mouse-lady seemed to take note.

"My name's Emma. Is there anything I can help you with?"

::W-well, I...:: Laeolyja shuffled his feet and slowly tucked his wing back in place. ::I'm l-looking for s-s-s-something... s-s-small...::

"Small, hmm? Well let's see what we can come up with."

Emma walked over to control panel of the large, holographic screen Laeolyja had been using, and started pressing the tiny panels of light that rose under her dainty fingertips. She hummed pleasantly to herself as she worked, and Laeolyja struggled to keep from bolting. This late in the night-cycle, he and Emma were the only ones in the office, and one-on-one interactions were just as bad as being caught in a crowd!

Finally a new set of images blinked onto the large screen he had been using.

"Here we are!" Emma announced. "These are called fedra; what do you think?"

Curiously, Laeolyja looked over the hologram now walking in place in the air before him. It looked something like a bird, having a pair of feathered wings and walking on a single pair of legs. Its face, however, was long-eared and draconic, and its tail was long and snake-like.

Most importantly, though, the so-called fedra was, according to the scale-marker beside it, a mere six feet long. That put it as even smaller than the expected offspring from Melapha's clutch. The fedra was also furry, and overall looked like a cuddly little animal--a harmless, unthreatening little animal. But nevertheless, it was as intelligent as any dragon, according to the text beside the image.

The current advertisement on the fedra was calling for candidates for a winter clutch, and had a note that all the eggs had odd snowflake markings on them.

Laeolyja turned his head to look at the black fin that ran down his back. As a hatchling, his fin had been more of a magenta shade, and marked plainly in purple with the snowflakes of all Ryslen Flurry dragons. As he'd grown, however, his fins had darkened to black. Now he could only see his snowflakes when he looked in a mirror, and squinted at the crown of his head where his fins had remained a very dark purple, and a careful eye could see black snowflakes upon it.

A wintry fedra clutch. Laeolyja didn't believe in signs or omens, but it did seem somehow proper for a bondless Flurry dragon to stand at a clutch of similar winter theme.

::Y-yes, I like those v-v-very much,:: he nodded faintly. ::I c-c-can s-s-ssssign up, h-here, r-r-right?::

"Of course," Emma smiled. "Just come with me over to my desk, and I'll help you fill out an application form and you can buy your off-world transfer ticket right here."

Laeolyja nodded and let the mouse-lady lead him to the back of the room, and within ten minutes he had his very own transfer-ticket held carefully in one forepaw.

And just like that, he was off to a place called Fukeru Ukuure.