Twelve year old Kiara sat in her room, watching her closed window. Her father had always said that the rain matched her mood. Right down in was storming down in a cold fury, then the cold temperatures were freezing it into ice.

She was furious.

While she was out riding her horse, Eira, her father had signed a contract that stated that she was to marry the Prince of the Lands of Angra, Yorre, as a peace treaty. Her father had appologized many, many times, but she was still mad at him. What more, she was supposed to marry him on her fifteenth birthday, which was three years the following day.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Kiara?" the voice of her father said, as he pushed open the door a crack. Kiara didn't look towards him, just continued to glare out of her window. "Please Kiara... calm down? Your freezing everyone."

"I am not freezing anyone," Kiara snapped at him. "It's your own fault the gods have sent this weather down on us. It's your own fault that you cursed me with this fate. I don't -want- to marry Prince Yorre. What I -want- to do is marry for -love-, like the Blue Maiden and the good king."

"They were never married," her father reminded her, as he slipped into the room and walked towards where she sat on the edge of her bed. "They just loved each other, deeply... the good king was married before that though, and that marriage was an arranged one. He learned to love his wife very much."

"I don't want to -learn- to love!" Kiara refused to scream, but came very close to doing so. She turned to glare at her father, who started to shivver slightly. "I just want to fall in love! Why can't I have that freedom to do so, father? Why?"

"I am sorry child..." he sighed, and pulled her into a hug. She didn't hug him back, but did not push him away either. "I would love to let you run free and fall in love with whom you choose, but keep in mind that tomorrow is your first day that you shall ever be in public. The feast is being held in your name, and not only shall people adore you because you are my daughter, but because of your legended beauty that was thought only to be possessed by the Blue Maiden..."

"But I look like mother," Kiara pouted slightly, and her father smiled.

"Yes, yes you do," he agreed. "But even I cannot deny that you are even more pretty then your mother, and back then, your mother was the most stunning creature I had ever laid my eyes on." Kiara nodded a little; the temperature rose in the room, as it did outside, but it still rained.

"What has this to do with my betrothal?" she asked.

"Men everywhere shall search you out for your beauty," her father explained. "I should, in fact, have you married right away to prevent this, as if you are a married woman, no one shall try to take you from your husband, but I cannot. You are my child, and I want to give you as much freedom as time allows... on your wedding day, you shall be a stunning flower for all to gaze upon. Right now, you are a simple, yet utterly beautiful bud..."

"Charming, father," Kiara giggled, and the rain lessened to a small drizzle. She hugged him 'round the neck, closing her eyes. "Father?"

"Yes, my child?" he asked, kissing the top of his head. A little light from outside caught on the gold circlet around his head; it stated his importance to the land. It stated that he was king.

"Tell me a story..." she requested with a smile. "It's been a long time since you've told me a story!"

"Not since that day by the lake, if I remember correctly," the king nodded. "Very well, what story do you want to hear?"

"The one about the Blue Maiden!" Kiara giggled again.

"I think you've learned that one off by heart," the king pulled away from her a little, and kissed the tip of her nose. Her sapphire eyes danced with laughter, and she sat back down on her bed, looking up at him with a quiet admiration that only a child could have. "How 'bout... if I tell you one about the dragons?"

"The elements?" the girl asked hopefully.

"Not exactly," the king smiled. "But close... what if I told you about an Ice Lord and his Water Princess?" Kiara nodded eagarly. "Alright. Once upon a time, as all good stories start...

"There was an ice dragon so powerful, that with the simple bat of an eye, he could freeze anything within a mile. That included his mate, a water dragon equally as powerful. With a twitch of her tail she could sprout springs from the ground, and then make them go away.

"The ice dragon was born and raised in the Free Lands of Kusai, and found his beautiful mate in the mountain rivers. There he made himself a fortress forged of ice and stone, and kept his mate safe. All over the lands, he was feared, for if anyone came too close, they would be turned to ice. They called him the Ice Lord for this reason, and his mythical Water Princess was almost never seen by living eyes."

"He loved her?" Kiara asked with a smile. The king shook his head.

"No," he said sadly. "The Water Princess thought he loved her, and loved him with all her heart, but he never loved her..."

"Oh..." Kiara bit her lip. "That's..."

"Almost exactly what your going to go through on your 15th birthday?" her father supplied. Kiara nodded minutely, blushing. "Yes, I am sorry again child... but let me continue?" Kiara nodded. "Good... now the Ice Lord was not happy. He had his Princess of great beauty, but he still wanted others to mate with as well. He ruled the mountain reigons with an iron fist, but that only made him thirst for more power...

"As his hunger for power grew greater and greater, he came across an old text, deep in the caves of the elders that had long past. It told stories of Legendary Double Dragons, with two elemental powers instead of the ordinary one. This intrigued the Ice Lord... if only he could get a Double Dragon of his own, but not one of full age. He would have to watch for the signs and catch the dragon while it was still young, and train it to be under his command...

"The very same night, the Water Princess came to him with news; she was with child. Now... Dragons can have their children two ways. They can take a human form, and raise the child as a human infant until they are old enough to change into dragons themselves, or they can hatch them from an egg, where they shall stay in dragon form until they learn to turn into a mortal one. The Water Princess, who was rather fond of humans and regularily left Kusai to visit the markets of Angra and Long, choose to birth her child as a human. The Ice Lord waited, reading texts old and new.

"He found that if there was a child born, he could force the child to take on another element, or he could force the child to show if it could use more then one element. Since forcing the child to take another element could end up with the child's death, he choose to practise the ritual to force the child to use some of it's power early. It could result in pain, and wild amounts of untrained power surging everywhere, but he was powerful enough to stop the ice, and his mate was powerful enough to stop the water... that was, if the child was of ice and water. He had no idea if the child would take the elements of it's mother and it's father, as there have been known cases where a child born of two elements, say of fire and ice, took not one of those elements, but another one completey, like wind..."

"Was the child a Double Dragon?" Kiara asked. Ever since she was an enfant she had been facinated about dragons, and this was no different.

"Don't be so impatient," her father teased. "Let me continue...

"The Ice Lord practised in a cavern deep below the ground, that not even his mate knew of, and when it was time for the baby to be born, he was ready. They birthed a beautiful baby girl, with the most dazzeling blue eyes. It was evident that she would look like her mother, though thought that she would share her father's hair. The Water Princess, for the first while, would not let the child out of her sight; the girl was her precious jewel to love forever and longer... so when she asked him to look after the baby girl while she bathed in the rivers, he took that oppertunity and snuck off to the underground caverns...

"The Water Princess went above ground, shed her clothing, and allowed herself to wash clean in the depths of the river. When she saw a woodland creature drinking just down stream, she called to it. The creature looked at her, then turned to run away. She called to it again, confused. Nervously, the animal came to her, and she asked it why it feared her.

"The Water Princess was not fluent in all the languages of the animals. She knew bits and pieces of each, but it was the Ice Lord that new all the tongues perfectly. But even if she did not understand what the woodland creature said, she understood enough... the creature was afraid of being frozen. The creature was afraid of the trechory of the Ice Lord...

"Enraged and confused, the Water Princess rushed to find her Ice Lord, forgetting her clothing and travelling on wing instead. It took her some time to find him, but when she did, she witnissed her child, her beautiful baby girl, screaming at the top of her lungs, making icicles drop from the roof and water flood from the floors. With a flick of her tail she made the water disappear, and rushed forwards to comfort her child.

"The Ice Lord laughed, and with the bat of an eye, all the ice had gone. The Child was calming down slowly, and cooed in the mother's embrace. The Water Princess sniffed her and checked her all over to make sure she was perfectly fine before glaring at her mate.

"'What did you do!' She demanded of him. 'I simple found us the perfect tool to make the perfect kingdom,' the Ice Lord answered gleefully. With a mighty roar of frustration, the Water Princess tried to drown -him- with her waters. He simply freezed her feeble attempts, and sneering at her, tried to take back the Child, but of course, she wouldn't let him near her...

"This erupted in an all out battle. The Princess used her water as much as she could, but the Ice Lord could freeze it before she had even conjoured it up. He even caused several shards of ice to fall down upon her, many of them cutting into her... but with this commotion, dust rose and fell from the stones, until it hung around them in a thick cloud. The Water Princess took her chance, and fleed with her child. She left the mountain rivers that she had called her home for so long, and even left the Free Lands of Kusai, and was never seen by anyone there ever again..."

"Is the Ice Lord still out there?" Kiara asked.

"Maybe," the king smiled mysteriously. "He could very well be out there, looking for another double dragon, or maybe just looking for his daughter... if he is alive though, know that you are safe from him. You are always safe, dear heart..."

"I know father," Kiara smiled; the rain, though it didn't stop, was now a warm sprinkle. Kiara fingered the teardrop necklace around her neck. "I know..."