Finally reaching the den of the leaders, thanks to an obliging Light that offered to let you ride on her back in order to spare your feet - and so that you could manage to get there before both leaders retired for the night -, you walk through the huge doorway and glance around. The den, while larger and with more of the glowing crystals set into the walls, is not much different from any other den that you had poked your head into earlier.
Somehow... it's rather disappointing.
Two dragons laying side-by-side instantly catch your eye, the larger of the two, an Ice, with a wing thrown over the slightly smaller Spirit that's next to him. Both of them are focused on a creature that appears to be floating in the air in front of them, writing hurriedly as the Ice rumbles his decisions out. Occasionally, the Spirit will interrupt with her sweet, rather smooth voice, much to the apparent annoyance of the creature.
Listening with only half an ear, you glance around, wondering where the riders of these two dragons are. Surely the leaders of this place can't be the two dragons there! Only one other place that you've ever heard of had dragons as leaders, and those at least could shape-shift into human or humanoid forms. Maybe their riders gave them the job of coming up with a duty roster, and then went to go deal with something else.
"I want Nekeel and Tinorl as Left Wing guards for the last shift this cycle, with Nissae and Lirae as Right Wing guards. Vorex, Yanless, and Okairel can be the Tower guards." The male pauses for a second, allowing the creature to get everything written down.
During that pause, when the only sounds in the large den are the scritch of pen on paper, the faint rustle of the dragons shifting absently, and the faint whisk of cloth-on-cloth as you turn to leave the two dragons to their job and start searching for their riders, the female glances over at you, her deep blue eyes catching yours easily.
"Revent, we have a visitor," she smiles a draconic smile at you, careful to not bare any of her many sharp teeth, "Welcome, guest, to our den. It's not much, but it serves out purpose nicely."
Revent's head turns as well, his gold-silver eyes faintly cold, and you guess that he's annoyed at the interruption, even though his voice is unfailingly polite, "Welcome. I, as you already know, am Sorcerer Revent'akel, and this is my partner and mate, Summoner Yikaeri'akel."
You smile slightly in an attempt to appease the rather... large... dragon, before he decides he doesn't want to bother with interruptions, "Oh, I see." Your eyes dart around again, in a, vain, attempt to spot their riders, "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."
Yikaeri smiles again, noticing your distracted gaze, "Neither of us have riders, if you didn't know that, and both of us are a tad bit too old to bond to one. We Myrsilk have long managed without bonds to aid us."
You blink, having just been, rather politely, corrected in your thinking. Only now does it register in your mind that the room is almost completely empty of any furniture that a human or humanoid could easily use, with the only piece of human type furniture being a table that could easily seat eight that's set near the large doorway into the den from the corridors. Exactly eight chairs are pushed neatly under the table, as well. Besides that single piece of furniture, though, there's next to nothing beyond what is normally in the dens. A comfortable looking nest of blankets is arranged in one corner, easily large enough for both Revent and Yikaeri to sleep in at the same time. Shelves line a few of the walls, with a few various things placed upon them, from books to odd trinkets of some sort, all of them rather far beyond a human's reach.
"Doesn't that make it difficult to meet with other Nexus leaders? Since, you know, most of them are humanoid?"
"We will cross that hurdle when we reach it," Revent's voice, though unfailingly polite, makes you shiver slightly, and you could swear that the temperature in the den just dropped several degrees, "But I know that I, for one, refuse to allow a human that is not my or my mate's bond stand in for me in anything."
"Our seconds don't have bonds either," Yikaeri adds gently before you can say anything, "All four of us are from clans that never had many dragon-humanoid bonds. Even so, by the traditions of our kin, the only times that our seconds would go in our place was if we absolutely couldn't leave."
"Then why have you decided to open this place to bonders?"
Yikaeri and Revent share a glance and probably a bit of mental conversation, before Yikaeri answers you, "We have decided to open Clan Akelara up to bonders for various reasons. Mainly, its because that's the tradition in many of our clans, but also..." She smiles slightly, "Even able as we are to exist without bonds, many of us prefer the companionship of a bond, humanoid or otherwise."
You nod, "I see... I'll leave you to your work, then. Thanks for talking."
Revent merely rumbles a polite sounding noise, as he goes back to dictating a duty roster to the floating creature. Yikaeri, on the other hand, smiles and remarks as you're leaving, "A pleasure. Perhaps you should go and see if you'll be eligible to stand at a clutch."
You nod, intending to do just that.