The Dionadairean

I’ve overheard it said that a dragon could smell a witch with a Blue Diamond ring from miles away. That the very sight of the rings—worn by the members of The Guild—caused us to involuntarily snort out fire, after what they did to us.
Few know that long before that, we dragons had worked with the Guild. And the fairies. And together created the most powerful collaboration ever known.

It was shortly after the Curse of Avalon got activated, causing mages to lose dominion of the Earth to humans.
The Guild, then known as the Order of the First Shrine, split in two. Many wanted to reverse the Curse. But some wouldn’t give up the life-changing magical bond between a mage and a human that the Curse had created. We dragons sided with those, for one of them had once created us.

I remember the day when we welcomed mages and fairies to our home by Loch Ness, to create a new alliance against those who wanted to reverse the Curse. Now known as the Dìonadairean. I stood by our leader and the clan.

Fairies arrived first—traveling with fairy magic. Suddenly, they appeared: 5 leaders of their largest tribe. Their queen, Morgan La Fay, stepped forward silently. She’d covered her body with a fine silk gown and her fairy skin glowed at first—though nothing in comparison with the shine of even a newborn dragon.
The mages were close too. These normally chose more sturdy fabrics with which to clad their form. I could sense them walking through the dense foliage. Nobody flew in—none had wings, or our strength of body. They also lacked fire, poor cold beings.
“Almost here, bairns,” I turned to a group of toddler dragons who got excited: mages meant cookies—if you could find one willing to conjure them. “Haud yer wheesht”.

The mages emerged from between the trees to the east. Their leader stopped before Morgan and nodded his head in respect.
I watched her hesitate. There was tension between mages and fairies since the Curse. Fairies had been less affected by it, so some mages spread rumors that it was their plotting that created it. Even though a tyrant mage-king had orchestrated it. Members of her tribe had been ambushed and killed by mages.
Still, they chose to unite with mages now.
I tried to break the ice. “Keep yer heids,” I told all of them. “Cannae let the scunners pick ye off yin by yin.”
“I agree,” said the mage. “I have saved my wife’s life twice now, through the new bond’s magic, and I will fight with you to defend this new ability.”
Morgan observed him as he held out his hand to her.
“It is a tragedy—what happened to your people—together, we can protect everyone.” Beside him, the mages nodded.
I felt a change in the air. Morgan looked him in the eye now. In her silence was a power that no words could give, when she put her hand in his. And shook it.
Finally, the seed of peace-however small-was planted.
For millennia, fairies collaborated with like-minded mages to stop attempts at reversing the Curse. We dragons no longer meddled, but the organization we’d helped create—the Dìonadairean—was the one place where fairies and mages trusted each other with their lives.