Andarna

The small golden dragon first appears as a feathertail with reflective scales and horns, sharp teeth, quick darting movements, and a feathered tail. She is only a few feet taller than Violet and resembles a miniature dragon beside the larger dragons at Presentation.

During the attack in the clearing, Violet discovers that the golden feathertail has paws rather than claws.

After Resson, Andarna is physically changed but still herself; Xaden privately notes that she is now huge.

After Resson, Andarna has nearly doubled in size, with deeply black, almost purple-iridescent scales instead of her earlier gold coloring. Her rounded snout, spiral-twisted curled horns, and tucked sleeping posture are still recognizable, but her changed body is awkward, newly taloned, and not yet coordinated.

After the Dreamless Sleep, Andarna has grown to almost two-thirds of Sgaeyl’s size. She has black scales that reflect nearby colors, a scorpion tail, and a left wing that does not fully extend because a second set of wing muscles failed to form during her unpredictable growth.

Andarna is not a black dragon despite often appearing black. Her scales can shift from midnight black to deep purple and toward the gray of stone, and she admits she had wanted badly to be like Tairn.

Among the irids, Andarna shifts her scales from black to jungle green and then sky blue. She says black is an acceptable resting color in Navarre and explains that she chose her scorpiontail when she transitioned from juvenile to adolescent.

Andarna’s mental voice can carry bright, childlike enthusiasm, and Violet thinks of her as fearless.

Andarna resists leaving Violet when danger closes in, even after Violet orders her to hide or return to the Vale if venin approach. At Resson she comes near the battlefield because she senses suffering and insists Violet needs her.

After Resson, Andarna wakes irritable and argumentative, snapping at Tairn, rejecting the idea that she is still little, and resisting the harness needed to move her safely. Tairn describes adolescence as a dangerous age because dragons then lack patience for humans, elders, and logic.

Andarna’s adolescent boldness carries into Aretia. She threatens Ridoc, wants to taste gryphon, gives Violet violent advice during Cat’s challenge, and reacts with excitement when Violet’s squad discusses whether Cat should be killed, prompting Tairn to remind her that they do not eat allies.

The search for her kind is personally important to Andarna. She accepts a mission arrangement she does not fully control because she believes they have to go, and Tairn’s warning that a hidden den may not welcome her hurts her enough that she shuts the mental pathways.

After the irids reject her, Andarna withdraws but still responds when Violet tells her she can grieve. She points out that Violet and Tairn do not talk about their grief either, then shifts back toward her preferred purple-toned black.

Andarna speaks directly into Violet’s mind and names herself to her after Threshing. Her choice places Violet in the rare position of having both Andarna and Tairn as bonded dragons, and Andarna’s golden silhouette appears within Violet’s rider relic.

Andarna remains mentally present for Violet even when she is out of sight, telling Violet that she is always with her. Tairn implies that Andarna is usually protected in the Vale and avoids unnecessary public attention.

Andarna says she chose Violet because she believed Violet would not drain or exploit her gift. Violet answers by promising to try to be worthy of that trust.

Andarna’s parents died before she hatched, and she says she has many elders instead.

Andarna knows about Xaden’s dealings with the Poromish fliers before Violet does and withholds that truth alongside Tairn. When Violet calls the omission a lie, Andarna first argues that they only left things unsaid, then accepts Tairn’s correction that Violet is right.

During Andarna’s Dreamless Sleep, Varrish fixates on seeing and using the “little gold” dragon, turning her absence from maneuvers into pressure on Violet. Tairn speaks for Andarna while she sleeps, and Violet refuses to produce her because exposing her condition could endanger the feathertails in the Vale.

Codagh is the head of Andarna’s den. Tairn implies Codagh should have known better when Andarna asked the Empyrean to bond.

At Basgiath, Andarna refuses repeated orders to leave Violet before the battle. She promises to hide and keep watch, but she keeps answering that she will be where Violet needs her.

Andarna says she waited six hundred and fifty years to hatch and chose Violet after hearing elders speak of Lilith’s weak daughter. She wanted a rider with the mind of a scribe and the heart of a rider, and she tells Violet they are both unique and want the same things.

When the irids criticize her bond, Andarna defends Violet as her human and says Violet has never failed her. She says Violet is part of her as she is part of Violet.

The irids reject Andarna’s request for help and deny her acceptance among them after judging that human and dragonkind failed the test she was left to measure. Andarna tells them they are a disappointment to her, retreats into the jungle, and blocks Violet out.

Andarna says she cannot leave Violet because their lives, minds, and energy are intertwined through the bond, but Leothan says she can break it. Violet senses that Andarna wants to go, and after Violet tells her she wants her complete and alive even away from her, the bond disappears and Andarna leaves after Leothan.

Leothan is Andarna’s close family by irid standards, separated from her by many generations but sharing her bloodline. He says they would have belonged to the same den if she had been raised among irids and offers to take her home for years to learn their ways.

Before she is named, the golden feathertail appears unable to breathe fire and has no claw defense, leaving her vulnerable against armed cadets. She can still snap her jaws effectively enough to frighten Oren, and she proves she can fly by launching over the treetops after Tairn shelters her.

Andarna cannot bear Violet as a rider, so she does not need the same flight lessons Tairn gives Violet.

Andarna can briefly stop or pause time around Violet. The gift freezes attackers, shadows, sound, the clock, breathing, and movement while Violet can still act.

Andarna’s time-stopping is not Violet’s signet from Tairn. As a feathertail, Andarna is born with a special gift she can pass directly to Violet, but holding the effect drains her strength and could kill both dragon and rider if overused.

A major use of Andarna’s gift leaves her sleeping for days, so Violet refuses to practice it casually. Violet manages the bond through a separate mental entrance for Andarna’s golden energy, distinct from Tairn’s channeling.

In War Games, Violet can draw Andarna’s golden power, direct the freeze away from herself and Tairn, and create a brief frozen sky long enough for Tairn to catch Liam.

Andarna can join long flights only with help. Xaden has a saddle-like contraption made so she can hook onto Tairn when she falls behind, and she uses it during the flight toward Athebyne.

At Resson, Andarna can still slow time with what strength she has left, but repeated use leaves her fading and unable to carry Violet safely after Violet falls from Tairn.

After Resson, Tairn tells Xaden that Andarna’s gift is gone.

Tairn explains that Andarna’s accelerated growth came from the energy she spent at Resson, especially from holding time too long. When she wakes, Andarna confirms she can no longer stop time and watches Violet carefully for disappointment.

Andarna’s damaged wing limits her flight after the Dreamless Sleep. She trains with the elders, progresses from almost extending the wing to extending it fully and flying for an hour, but Tairn still doubts she can handle longer missions, and Violet worries that too much height could make a wing failure catastrophic.

Andarna can fight with her teeth, claws, and scorpion tail despite her youth and size disadvantage. In the cave, she attacks Solas, distracts him by biting into the joint between his neck and shoulder, and kills him with the poisoned barb on her tail.

Andarna is fireproof. She protects Violet, Cat, Sloane, and Kiralair from Solas’s dragonfire by wrapping them in her wings and ordering them to hold their breath, and she survives the blast.

During the Basgiath battle, Andarna proves she can breathe fire. She lands in front of an advanced dark wielder, burns him, and bites off his head, then preens when Violet and Tairn acknowledge the new ability.

Andarna can conceal herself by shifting with her surroundings rather than merely hiding in shadow. At Basgiath she blends with darkness and cliff stone, then later reveals scales that shift from black toward purple and gray.

Andarna can supply the seventh dragonfire required for true wards. In the ward chamber, she agrees to breathe for the stone and shields the people in the tunnel while flame from six dragons above and her own fire flow into the chamber.

After leaving the Continent, Violet can still speak mentally with Andarna even when other riders and fliers lose their usual mental contact with their bonded creatures. The reason for that exception is not explained.

Violet had been using Andarna’s more delicate power threads for fine rune work before Andarna left. Without that source, she struggles to manage Tairn’s stronger power, but this loss does not restore Andarna’s original time-stopping gift.

At Draithus, Andarna returns inside Xaden’s darkness as an unseen barrier solid enough for Theophanie to slam into. Her scales shimmer to match Violet’s continuous silver-blue lightning while she stalks toward Theophanie.

Andarna’s irid egg shell becomes a diplomatic gift in Deverelli. She gives Violet permission to present it to Courtlyn, and Violet uses it to show that Andarna is the only irid on the Continent and that her kind are the seventh dragon breed the mission seeks.

During Threshing, Violet intervenes when Jack, Oren, and Tynan threaten the golden feathertail in the clearing. After Tairn arrives and shelters the dragon, the feathertail follows him and Violet to the training fields and gives Violet the name Andarnaurram.

Andarna consents to Violet using her gift to save Liam during War Games and is exhausted afterward. When Violet thanks her, Andarna says the cost was worth it and that she is proud Violet is hers.

Liam’s last unfinished or recently finished carving is a palm-sized figurine of Andarna. Xaden keeps it instead of burning it and gives it to Violet after Violet asks whether Liam is truly dead.

After Resson, Andarna’s accelerated growth forces her to return to the Vale and enter the Dreamless Sleep to finish growing. She is transported back to Basgiath harnessed against Tairn because the group has only a narrow window to move her without exposing her condition.

When the defecting riders leave Basgiath, Andarna is still asleep and hangs limp from Tairn during the flight to Aretia. After they reach Aretia, Violet hears Andarna’s voice again for the first time in months.

In the cave, Andarna saves Violet and the others from Solas’s fire and kills Solas in defense of herself and her rider. The elders judge her actions justifiable, but Tairn says slaying another dragon leaves a heavy burden even when the killing is defensive.

At Basgiath, Andarna provides the seventh fire for the wardstone while the other dragon breeds breathe from above. After the wards rise, she remains near the ward chamber, reports the sound of wyvern bodies falling, and shows visible strain from the battle and ward effort.

During the rescue mission, Theophanie identifies Andarna as an irid and appears to want her. Violet orders Andarna to fly for the wards, insisting everyone on the Continent needs her alive.

On the hidden volcanic isle, Andarna recounts her history to the irids and asks them to help with the Aretian wardstone, dark wielders, and the old war. They judge the world unready for her, refuse her request, and reject her as irid in scale and name only.

At Dunne’s temple, Andarna guards the site after following Aaric’s warning instead of going to the wardstone. She fires at Theophanie, but Theophanie remains untouched, and Feirge later knocks Andarna out of the path of a falling wyvern.

After Leothan arrives, Andarna protects him from Feirge and insists on hearing him privately. He offers her a place among her own bloodline, and she leaves with him after the bond with Violet disappears.

Andarna returns during Violet’s confrontation with Theophanie, first as an invisible wall inside Xaden’s darkness and then as a visible irid moving beside Violet’s lightning. Theophanie reaches toward her in reverent wonder and calls her “Irid.”