~Natalie Shears~

-Before the Fateful Shipment-

The lean man set down the papers he was looking at and gave the round man sitting across from him behind a desk a even look. "Are you sure this is the best shipping company? I've never heard of them before and it's run by a woman." He said the last word with a note of distaste in his voice.

"Do not worry yourself - she's good, she's knows the business." The round man behind the desk drawled, "Her family has worked with mine for ages, you couldn't ask for a better, ahem, shipper of questionable goods." He leaned forward like he was about to give out a carefully guarded secret, "She runs a quality business."

"If you say so." the lean man said, standing up. "I thank you for your help in this matter, sir."

--

The carriage kicked up snow as it made it's way down the road to the docks, the woman inside idly watched the buildings pass, it was beginning to snow heavily now and she was heading down to the docks to oversee the loading of a delicate shipment and to met a perspective new client. She tucked a stray stand of brown hair behind one ear, even dressed as she was in a simple dress it was hard to tell whether she was a woman or not, she had been a tomboy all her life and she even looked the part - her dull brown hair and eyes were better suited to a boy at any rate.

The carriage pulled up to the docks. These docks in particular were where her ships made their home, where her men were busy unloading the newest shipment. Stepping out of the carriage a few of the men paused in their work to give her a greeting, then it was right back to work, she ran a tight ship around the docks. She stood and watched the group work for a while, her sharp eyes carefully analyzing their activities. "Careful!" she snapped when one of the newer hands nearly dropped a box that she knew for a fact contained priceless vases from China carefully wrapped in think clothe to keep them from rattling.

"Heya there, Miss Shears. How goes the business of shipping perfume and bath salts?" The woman turned to face one of the Dock Master's Seconds, she smiled politely.

"'Tis going alright, as you can see the latest shipment just came in." she said, batting her eyes and layering on an slow accent to give the Second the illusion that she was just a soft face running the family's business. All as well, as long as the Dock Master and his crew thought she was a simple girl running a trade in the finer things that was fine with her. Under the boxes of what perfumes and silks her boats did carry regularly was the hidden cargo of booze and illegally imported goods from across the sea. Sure those smugglers that shipped only booze made more money, but they also got caught more enough and most of the stuff they were carrying was no better then poison. She was careful with her dealings, it she was going to risk it all she would only take the best.

It wasn't long before the Second grew bored, finally wondering away down the docks. She watched him leave out of the corner of her eye to make sure he was really leaving. She may be carefully but the authorities were keeping a close eye on her just the same, she was a woman running a business after all.

Not much time later another carriage pulled up to the docks. A lean, well dressed man stepped out and looked around, appearing quite confused and a bit out of his element. When he spotted her he smiled and began walking towards her. "And you would be Natalie Shears I presume?" He asked gruffly. She nodded.

"I am sorry that I am late, Mrs. Shears...." He began.

"Miss, it is Miss Shears." She corrected him, inwardly sighing at the all to common a mistake.

"Miss Shears then. As I was saying I am sorry I am late, I was held up with a last minute emergency." He said, "I am Frank Lunder."

"Well it is good to meet you, Mr. Lunder." She said curtly, "I assume you have brought me a business that is worth standing out here in the snow for."

Frank nodded quickly, looking around he asked worriedly. "Is there a better place to talk? These goods aren't for idle ears." Natalie scowled, typical she thought as she suggested a nearby restaurant. He returned to his carriage and she joined him for the short ride up the street.

--

"So what is it that you would have me ship - bootleg? Arms? Imports you don't want inspected?" Natalie came right out and asked the opening question, catching Frank off guard. She was direct in her business, anything less was a waste of time to her.

"Well, actually it's, it's some artifacts from China and India that I'd rather did not be seen by prying eyes." He said, regaining his composure. The two of them were sitting at a table in a little restaurant, the owner knew Natalie by sight and was personally keeping the waitresses out of Natalie's way.

"Sounds interesting, what are the details? Where is it going? When does it need to be picked up?"

--

-The Blue Flyer-

"Are they screwy? Shipping just before Christmas day! Really!" Natalie muttered, sitting at her vanity combing out her hair before bed. Tomorrow morning she would be heading down to the docks to oversee the final loading of the cargo. With  a yawn she climbed into her bed and fell a sleep as the white snow fell beyond the window.

It was only a few hours later that she awoke to a maid shaking her, "Miss? Miss! There's an emergency down at the docks, they be asking for you on the phone." Natalie was awake in an instant and had already begun dressing before the maid could say another word. Hurrying downstairs she snacked the phone out of the startled maid's hands.

"What is going on?" She demanded. She could hear arguing in the background as the overseer of her main ship began to explain that Frank Lunder's men had arrived early and were insisting on loading the cargo now. She told the Overseer that she would be right there to sort things out and she cursed under her breath as she hung up the phone.

--

Natalie stepped down out of the carriage into the snow that was quickly piling up. She frowned, weather like this was unusual in this area. Scanning the small crowd gathered on the docks she spotted Frank at once. She pushed her way through the crowd toward him. "I hope you have a good explanation for this, Mr. Lunder." she said dangerously, he turned to her with a innocent smile.

"I am dearly sorry, but I'm afraid there was a last minute change of plans and this cargo has got to get on this boat. Now." He said. Natalie huffed and placed her hands on her hips.

"The only way that cargo is going on that ship now is if you load it yourself, and then you might as well crew the ship yourself as well." she said, her men grumbled agreement. "That shipment goes out no earlier then it's original morning time."

Her gut feeling told her he was up to something, obeying it for once she wandered over to the cargo sitting on the dock waiting to be loaded into the ship. "Let's take a look at the cargo your so hot to load..." she said as she picked up the edge of a cloth covering one of the boxes. Behind her Frank cried out 'No!' just as something hidden in a box under the cloth rattled. Natalie frowned, as a rule she never shipped anything living. She gave the cloth a sharp tug and heard something click. Pulling back the cloth she saw an empty cage with the door standing wide open, apparently the cloth had caught on the latch of the cage. She whirled on Frank.

'You knew my shipping terms! Nothing living, be it human or beast!" She barked, Frank stared at her wide-eyed, he tried to hold up his hands in defense.

"But.. I... You don't understand!" He stuttered, "Wait until you see what it is! It's such an unreal creature you wouldn't believe it!" He suddenly yelped in pain, out of the corner of her eye Natalie saw a flash of bright blue darting behind a stack of boxes. Curious she moved toward the spot, peering behind the boxes something flashed out of the shadows, climbing up her arm and curling around her neck in an instant. It curled tightly around her neck but not tight enough to choke her. She pried the small creature off to get a better look at it. "Careful!" she sound Frank warn, the creature turned its head and hissed at him. It was small, smaller then a cat, and had bright blue scales that felt smooth to the touch. It looked up at her with glimmering eyes and it twitched its tail. Leathery wings that reminded her of a bat's were bound to its sides with thick ribbon so that it was unable to fly. Natalie set her jaw and looked up at Frank, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Whoa, Ms Shears, let me explain." Frank stuttered, "That's a flit, beautiful creature isn't it? A healthy blue male. I have a friend who knows how to get more, we were going to breed them, sell them as pets to the wealthy!" He took a step forward and held his hands open hopefully, "If you hand him over I'll let you in on a cut, you could become our partner, help us transport these beasts."

The little blue male hissed and swiped at Frank before retreating to curl around Natalie's neck. Slowly Natalie drew a pocket knife from her pocket, "Whoa, let's not do anything drastic here alright?" Frank said, holding up his hands and backing away. Natalie shot him a glare and the whole crowd watched as she cut the bindings on the blue flit's wings. The flit chirped happily and climbed out on her arm, which she held up for him as a falconer would for his hawk. The flit stretched his wings and flapped them a couple of times without leaving her arm, as she drew her arm back in she caught the flash of a metal tag hanging off a collar around the flit's neck, she slipped the collar of over the flit's head and held the tag up to the light of a street lamp to read. "Son-Lei' it said, and she realized that it must be the flit's name and to her mind it didn't fit the pretty little beast at all. "Miss. Shears,  please hand the flit over now and you'll be as rich as you could ever dream." Frank tried to bargain with her, for a moment she considered his offer. He was right, a creature like this one would sell at a high price to the wealthy and she would never have to worry about money again. The flit stood up on his back legs, balancing carefully on her arm and shoulder as he looked into her face. In an instant she knew she couldn't in good conscious do what Frank wanted her to do.

"Your not going to have him, what you plan to do with him is cruel and I cannot aid in it." she said, reaching up with her free hand to stroke the creatures neck. "And I'm keeping the flit, as is my right as a cheated shipper."

"No!" Frank roared, leaping forward and grabbing at the flit, who startled, jumped into the air. "That beast is mine!"

The force of his leap forward knocked Natalie back, she grabbed whatever she could reach to stop her fall be to no avail. Her men within the crowd rushed forward to deal with Frank as she pulled herself to her feet. Looking around she saw the blue flit dig at one of the boxes. Ignoring Frank, for at the moment the crowd was taking care of him, she walked over to the box the flit was so interested in. Picking up a stray crowbar she pried open the nailed down top of the box, while setting the top of the box to one side she saw the words 'Fragile' on the side of the box. Shifting around some of the packing material within she came across what looked like an old Asian mirror that was made of polished bronze. The blue flit landed on her shoulder, cocking his head to one side in interest at the mirror. She waved over two strong men and had them carefully lift the mirror out of the box. A piece of paper fluttered to the ground, it  read 'Mirror of the Spirit Crossroads'. Puzzled she began to inspect the mirror and found it to be an ordinary mirror. Over head the clouds parted and allowed the light of the full moon to shine through, Natalie stepped back and smiled as the light of the moon reflected off the mirror, it was a beautiful sight.

A shout came from behind her, she half turned in time to see Frank charging toward her. He hit her in her midsection, throwing her back toward the mirror. The flit on her shoulder squawked and held on tightly as they both crashed into the mirror, and fell threw it.
 

--

-On the Other Side-

A faint tingling sensation covered Natalie's entire body as she fell throw the mirror, faintly she could hear voices as she fell. When the floor came it came hard and abruptly, she hit the stone floor with a smack. Slowly and with a groan she sat up and looked around, instead of being on the docks or in her own home she was somewhere she had never been before. She stared open mouthed at this strange new place, carefully standing up she felt something shift off her back. Turning to look she saw that the little blue flit had come with her to... Wherever it was that she was now.

Turning around slowly she searched for an answer, a door, a sign of what had happened. She went over the last few things she remembered, one of which was falling into the mirror....

She stopped, the note had called it the 'Mirror of the Spirit Crossroads', perhaps that meant something more then an impressive name. It sunk in, she wasn't even in her own world anymore, somehow she must have fallen through the mirror to another place.

She picked up the blue flit and began petting him. "Looks like it's just you and me here for the moment." she said, "Son-Lei doesn't fit you quite right... perhaps Joshua is a better name, what do you say?" The flit made a sound of approval in his throat. Turning once again she took in the dim corridor. "I suppose that I'll never find out where I am if I don't go looking for someone to answer my questions." She said, Joshua chirped happily. She chose a direction at random and started walking, unknowing moving  into the main corridors of Ryslan...

--

-Wondering Ryslan-

It didn't take Natalie long to find someone in the twisting corridors. Soon enough she found herself seated at a table with food and drink set before her with someone who's name she didn't catch explaining to her where she was and why she might be here. When they finally noticed Joshua, who had been hiding in her clothes, they suggested they she might want to stand at a clutch for a chance to bond a dragon.

--

-The Hatching-

A more spherical egg rolled over and cracked into pieces. The hatchling let out an indignant cheep. She was a creamy color, and her wings were the nearly-naked arms of a featherwinged dragon. In addition, she sported silver Hathian eyepieces and what would become a split horn with a gem like her father Rindel-Syaess sported. She rose from the sand and snapped at the novos who tried to help her. She was already showing signs of her fierce independence.
"Tamrai." Natalie admonished instinctively. The Alter-Earth businesswoman never had a second thought. Her blue firelizard chirruped pleasantly at the newborn dragon.
The scribe noted it down - Cream Tamrai Syaess & Natalie Shears.