Exploring beneath the Earth(Laraine)

[Scythe-Nova]

It was a normal day and for once Hari'lah had decided to go away from the colony for some time, It would be good to get away from the other dragons especially Methusela as the little dragon was a delight to be with sometimes one needed a break from him. So Hari had decided to search for cave entrances that could lead to volcanic streams, And that was something Hari really wanted to explore.

-"...Though it's really hard to spot caves from this high up..."

She mumbled to herself as she began descending towards the ground, She could feel the wind at her four wings as she closed in towards the ground. She looked around for an open clearing to land in and once she found one she landed there on the soft grass, Looking around she saw that there had been some animals here just now before she arrived.

-"Well... lets see if we can find a cave now."

She said to herself as she folded her wings neatly against her body and bega to walk through the forest in search for caves, She did not want to disturb the forests inhabitants too much so she did not go around toppling trees or making much of a ruckus at all in fact she were quite silent despite her large stature.

[Laraine]

Star had been wandering for days. She couldn't seem to find any sign of human life so far and in some ways that made her feel relieved. It had been..how long? A year? Since she had been wandering with Midnight at her side.

Running away from the Church, and trying to find the last living relative to take her in, maybe even protect her from the darkness that followed her. But as of yet, she couldn't find a safe haven to at least rest.

She had been walking for days. Not used to living on her own, it was hard...she was hungry and thirsty. Her water supply was running low and it didn't seem to be any water anywhere close. Midnight had kept her alive until now. He was her only light within this darkness.

"Middy.." Star started, the cat sighed.

"Circe...how many times have I asked you not to call me that?" The feline huffed a bit, twitching his nose and smelling around.

"And how many times have I asked you not to call me Circe?" She shot back with a small smile. Reaching down, she pet her feline friend and glanced around. "I'm..not sure where to go from here."

Midnight paused in his walk as well, smelling the air and trying to get a grasp at everything around him. "I think...this is dragon territory...we best be careful. You and I are no match for them if we come across them. Let us go through here quickly."

Star sighed, seemingly depressed at this news. Brushing a hand through her long blonde locks, her crimson tinted eyes studied around her, trying to decide what to do.

"But Middy...without water we won't last much longer....we need to find a place to rest.. it will be dark soon and I don't want to be trapped here after it.."

"Circe.." Midnight looked at his mistress and then sighed. "Fine, let's find a cave.. I believe there is one to the west of here. Although we might want to be careful, Volcanos are active here. We need one that is cool enough. If that cave isn't cool we will move on."

So they started to make their way in the forest towards the cave Midnight had spotted. After a little bit they finally came across it and Star seemed rather relieved. But upon closer inspection, the cave was warm and Midnight shook his head. "We should move on.."

Star sighed, glancing at the cave once more. "What do we do now?" 

[Scythe-Nova]

There certainly were a lot of caves around the area but not that many that had a stream of lava going through them, After going down some caves Hari'lah had almost given up of finding a stream when she felt the tinge of sulphur creep into her nose.

-"Oh lucky"

She said to herself as she began to follow the smell of sulphur but she kept on being as quiet she could be, But she got more and more excited about finding a stream of lava and that she did not look before she walked through the dense foliage that lead to the clearing before the cave. When she opened her eyes to look for the cave she immediately stopped in her tracks as she noticed that there were two other creatures in the clearing.

-"...Uh.."

Hari'lah was at a loss of words as she looked the creatures over seing that one seemed to be human or something of the sorts and the other looked like some little animal that Hari'lah had seen only hastily once before when she flew over a village once before.

[Laraine]

At first, Star and Midnight didn't seem to notice anyone else nearby. They just continued to talk and plan what to do next. Midnight didn't like this place at all and wondered if they should go back into the forest and just find a place to sleep there.

Star was hesitant, worrying about wild animals and what would happen if the volcano erupted while they slept. Obviously they wouldn't get away in time if the lava came.

But before Star could say anything else, she spotted something in the corner of her eye and turned, long blonde hair flowing gently with the breeze. "Who..Who's there?"

Instantly Midnight was on alert and hissed at the figure nearby. "What do you want?"

[Scythe-Nova]

When the two creatures in the clearing spoke to her she shook off her confusion and turned fully towards the two others, She looked them both over with her deep red eyes before tilting her head when she remembered that this area was not that hospitable towards humans and thus wondered what a human was doing around these parts.

-"I Apologize if i startled you, I were only a bit supprised to see a human in these parts"

She explained as she looked over to the smaller creature besides the human wondering about what it was, She remembered that her mother once told her it was rude to simply stare at others so she straightened herself and her scales shivered slightly making for quite the sight as the light shimmered across her scales.

-"May i ask what you are doing in these parts?"

She said looking at both of the others waiting for a response.

[Laraine]

Star was surprised. This strange creature before her appeared and she quickly took a step back unsure.

Midnight bristled at the creature and he swallowed a bit. But when it seemed to speak, it startled both of them as well.

"I must say I'm surprised myself..." Star confessed. "I didn't think anyone was around here but us as well."

Midnight huffed, but still eyed the other wearily.

"Were sorry to disturb you at all. Really, were just looking for a place to stay for the night." Star stated.

"Don't tell it everything!" Midnight grumbled.

"Middy! I'm sorry about him...Middy is a good friend. He's just... overprotective.." she pet the other on the top of his head and smiled gently down at him. Glancing back up, she made eye contact and gave a soft smile. "My name is Star. Who are you?"

[Scythe-Nova]

Hari'lah tilted her head slightly and listened to what they had to say before sitting down and lowering her head slightly, this was a common thing for proper dragons when greeting others.

-"I am graced to meet you Star, I am Hari'lah daughter of Ten'ou the Great Storm"

She lifted her head and looked down at Star and her friend, Her tail restlessly sweeped slowly back and forth behind her.

-"Do not worry about distrubing me here, This area is not my territory i am simply looking for volcanic caves to explore the streams beneath the earth"

She said and made an expression that looked somewhat like a calm smile, She remembered that humans often were afraid of dragons and thus looked at the smaller creature besides Star that she had called middy.

-"There are not many human settlements around here the nearest one is at least two days away by flight, How did you two end up this far away from human lands?"

[Laraine]

Star leaned down and pet Midnight gently, wishing her feline companion would relax for once. But Midnight was one that rarely relaxed. Especially since he was the caretaker of sorts for Star.

Star opened her mouth to respond but Midnight once again spoke before her.

"Look, the reason we are here isn't really important right now." He eyed Star, who looked away. "Anyway, we were just looking for a place to spend the night. Well probably leave by morning. We are heading south." He stated and glanced at Star once more.

"Midnight its okay...Well find a place.."

[Scythe-Nova]

-"A place to spend the night? well there's a lot of empty caves around here"

She said not even considering that most if not all caves around here were way to hazardous for humans to be in. She rose and walked a little closer to Star and Midnight before sitting down again and looking at them curiously and taking a sniff in the air and looked at Star.

-"Hmmmmm you smell of Magic... Say are you perhaps a mage?"

[Laraine]

Star turned back to the dragon and smiled a bit when she asked if she was a mage. " Ah well, I suppose I am. Most say I am from a Witch's bloodline." She chuckled a little. "But I am still getting used to my powers. They aren't very strong." She hummed and pulled out a worn and old looking book. "This is my spell book of sorts...there's much I haven't tried yet."

[Scythe-Nova]

-"There are more than one type of Mages among humans?"

She asked curiously as she laid down on her side and crossed her front legs in front of herself to make herself more comfortable, When being so close Star and Midnight would be able to feel that Hari'lah emitted heat like a large campfire. To Hari'lah Humans were a mystery and a constant source of questions for her since she had never had much contact with humans, And finding one who did not run away at the sight of Hari'lah was a nice change of pace to her.

[Laraine]

Star blinked at the other and thought about the question for a moment. "I guess, there's many different types...some can control elements, others use potions and spells...there's many different types." She chuckled and glanced behind her briefly before turning back.

"Anything else you'd like to know?"

[Scythe-Nova]

-"Hmmm? Oh sorry i must have sounded like i wanted to question you, I appologize for that i am like you humans say abysmally bad at smalltalk"

Hari said with something akin to a blush upon her muzzle, She had just wanted to initiate a discussion with Star but it seems that Humans are still hard for her to interact with.

-"I must be honest and say that you are one of three humans i have ever interacted with... then again i am only five years old.."

She said with a formal tone as she looked up into the sky only to see the dark clouds gathering slowly on the sky, Hari had spent enough time in the sky with her mother to predict the weather somewhat and it looked like there was going to be a heavy storm coming along. Even Hari'Lah would not be able to fly in such weather it worried her slightly, She looked back at Star and tilted her head and took note of the clothes that she wore.

-"Maybe you have some questions for me instead?"

She asked with a smile thining that Star might be better at small talk than her, She glanced back to the sky for a moment taking note on how long it would take for the rain to come.

[Laraine]

Star hummed a bit thinking of what to ask her. After all, Star herself wasn't that great at small talk either. She had been trapped in a convent all her life and didn't really have much in social skills. " I guess I am curious about your species I guess. Like....How does your species....well how were you born? from a egg? Or like humans? Do you have parents?"

"Star!" Midnight hissed. "It's inappropriate to ask so bluntly about a personal topic!"

"Oh.. I'm sorry!" Star looked sad and turned away a bit. "I'm sorry.. I'm curious I guess....I mean I never had parents myself so I don't understand what it's like." She laughed a bit nervously. "You... don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

[Scythe-Nova]

-"It's no trouble, To answer your fist question Dragons are born from eggs and we have parents"

Hari said with a smile and shifted her body around a little and looked off into the distance like she were remembering her first years.

-"My egg was found by another dragon whom i now call mother, My true parents were gone since long ago..."

She looked a little troubled as she said "True Parents" as if the word itself made her feel bad or uneasy, She looked back at Star with a slight smile.

-"I guess saying true parents is somewhat of an insult to Ten'ou who raised me as her own child, i look at her as my mother even if she did not bear me as an egg..."

She said with a slight chuckle as she sat up straight and looked at Middy before looking back at Star.

-"So if its not rude of  me to aks, What are you?"

She asked and she focused her curious gaze towards Midnight.