Spirits of the Earth

"So show me the way, little bird," Hvit rumbled, and folded his wings against his ribs. The wing talons extended as he walked, though, and grabbed at little rocks and and the ground, a movement born from searching for handholds in mountain passes. Here it seemed a halfhearted attempt at using a third pair of legs.

"Let me see what about this little island you find such joy in," he chuckled, "And perhaps I can grow to do the same."

The smaller dragon almost seemed to glow at that, the red gem set into her brow flickering gently. She purred and nodded happily, springing easily down the side of the mountain in light, graceful bounds.

"Come on, then. I'll take you to the beach, it should be pretty deserted here."

The flicker in her brow caught Hvit's eye for the first time, and a hunger, a greed flickered in him. It was gone as soon as it had come, but the effect had been profound nonetheless. He had hesitated, and his somewhat merry mood became perturbed.

He opted to inquire, both to continue conversation, but also to distract himself from that which he considered unsettling.

"What is that gem, the one embedded on your crest?" He asked, and though he had no ill intent, his voice contained what could almost be described as hidden malice.

Melisma paused, something in his voice making her feathers ruffle almost nervously.

"I'm...not sure," she admitted after a moment. "I was hatched with it, I think. Papa- Raki said it started glowing when I first breathed fire, and I've heard others say it does it when I sing, too." She rolled her shoulders in a shrug, craning her neck back to look at him.

"Why? Is it another island peculiarity?" True, he had no such stone, but for all she knew that had something to do with age, or even because he was male, not necessarily where he came from.

"I have only ever seen such gems in the use of sorcerers or magicians," he said, craning down to better scrutinize the small stone, "A sort of channel for their magic. If it had not lit up just now, I'd think it ornamental, like the sparkling under-hides of young drakes who sleep on their hoards. But now... I am not so sure."

"But, it did... glitter..." he focused more on the stone and unknowingly a low, quiet rumble began in his chest. Something about this stone drew him to it, in a most unhealthy way. He had always adored blood gems, those of a crimson tint. This one had something else though, that he could not place... how very odd.

The dragoness blinked up at him, shuffling her wings a bit as he drew closer. "Oh, well..." She cleared her throat, a strangely musical sound. "It does that sometimes. If I'm excited, or happy- any particularly strong emotion, really."

She felt like she should move back, but for some reason found herself rather frozen to the spot, wide golden eyes blinking up at him.

Hvittraak was transfixed, staring in fascination at the gem. Something... something about it captured and held his attention. Dragon-sickness had not taken him thus for many years, but even in his stupor, he didn't think it that. There was some other force at work, something alien... something alluring. He snorted out hot air, and the spines in between his shoulders flexed up, then shuddered before relaxing again on his back.

He withdrew his head from hers, though his sight still saw only the glittering red of her brow. His rumbling stopped rather abruptly, and he said quickly, "Where is this beach? I should like a change of scenery... I think, yes." Despite his attempt to break away, he still very much had an eye only for the gem, and gazed at it when he spoke to Melly, not she herself.

"Oh. Ah- just this way, the bend of the forest between the mountain and the shore is thinnest here," she murmured, jerking her head in indication before she slowly started moving again.

She kept glancing back at Hvitt as she did, worried but not until sure if she was nervous for him or nervous of him.

Weaving through the relatively thinner part of the jungle was like second nature to her, and soon enough she felt her claw tips sink into sand instead of loamy soil. A soft chirp thrummed in her chest and she sprang out onto the beach, wings flared wide to catch the sunlight and for a moment her whole body lit up with color and warmth.

Hvit followed much more quietly than his bulk should have allowed, but his demeanour had changed as well. His easygoing walk had turned into a slithering prowl, his steps carefully but effortlessly chosen, and his wings tight to his sides, the meandering gripping all but abandoned.

While his gaze with the stone was broken he carried behind her in a sullen mood, but in the glances she gave him he saw it in flashes and became again lusting for it. His brow would grow unfurrowed, but his gaze would sharpen and his jaw would slacken ever so much, as if preparing to bite.

As soon as they hit the beach she leapt through the tree line, sending leaves rustling and falling to the ground, and a few branches whipping back at Hvit's face. He took no notice of them, all of his focus on the little dragonette in front of him. The light cascading across her shining feathers and the soft glow through the thin membrane of her wings caught his eye, and in the absence of the unhealthy desire for her brow-jewel, a very different kind of hunger panged behind his ribs. He stalked slowly out from the shadowed canopy, very much foreign to this colourful place, only the bleached sand reminiscent of his hide.

Melly turned to observe her guest, wondering how he would react to something that was so fundamentally different from his home, and suddenly paused when she immediately noted the predatory edge that seemed to have come over him.

She tilted her head, an instinct she didn't understand and couldn't name seeming to spark to life in her chest at the was he watched her, almost like he was hunting...

"H-Hvitt?" She cleared her throat and tried again. "Ah- if the sand is too warm for you, the water is usually very cool here..." She shuffled her front paws and spread her wings wide a moment before folding them back to her spine slowly, head cocked slightly to the side.

"The sand is fine," he said dismissively, but kept a stern eye on her, circling to his right, "The heat does not bother me so much as the wetness, little bird. Water and I have not had the best of histories."

His length was far greater than hers, and as tall as he was, he was thrice as long. He circled all around her, cutting her off from the water, but staying almost a cautious distance until naught but a three meter gap laid between his snout and tail-tip. His eyes switched undecidedly between the gem and Melisma, two competing wants battling in his mind while he tried to think. All rational thought left him as he slowly circled the Dragoness, and he did not see what he was doing, his mind somewhere else amidst the confusion.

"Do not birds also dislike the water?" He asked, the hidden malice creeping back into his tone, "For their feathers get wet, and they cannot fly. And a bird that cannot fly is a bird defenseless, no?"

She didn't notice she was trapped until it was too late to do anything about it. Melly felt her heart skip nervously and her eyes darted toward the trees, then the water.

"N-no," she murmured. Her feathered crest pressed back against her skull in an instinctive show of submission to the larger, older creature. "We can't fly if our wings are wet. Well- I can't. I st-still like the water though..."

She never had to worry about being defenseless before; her entire adult life, she'd been the biggest, most dangerous creature on her island.

Obviously that had changed.

She shuffled around a bit, attempting to keep her gaze on the other dragon's face. "Hvitt...what are you doing?"

He drew his great head up, as if she'd insulted him, and shot a hurt look her way. Until he asked himself the same question, that is, in which case his face became a grave one, one disturbed. His tail lashed outward, breaking the circle, and his wings flared.

"I do not entirely know..." he admitted, in a softer voice, "If I have scared you, little bird, I am sorry. I do not... feel like myself." With that he launched himself from the beach, sand erupting behind him. So fast was his ascent that his tail whistled behind him, and he flew quickly and with intent towards the same peak they had landed on, the highest on the island. He was greatly troubled, but most of all, he was confused. He had not been confused for a very, very long time. And that only confused and upset him more. Why now? What about this dragoness had caused this, and what was that gem? These questions racked his mind as he brooded on the mountain peak, pacing back and forth compulsively, all the while rumbling angrily.

"Oh!" Melly squeaked and ducked away from the sudden blast of air that was created by his takeoff. For a moment she was frozen, staring after him in shock.

Then she pulled herself together and launched herself into the air after him. Her flight wasn't as fast, so it took her a bit longer to touch down on the peak, making sure to give the other dragon a golod amount of space.

She blinked at him, head and tail lowered submissively and wings fluttering in a sort of nervous gesture. "Did- did I do something wrong?" she whispered.

Hvit stopped his pacing at the little dragon's voice; he hadn't noticed her descent. He looked at her, confused for a second, and said, "No. You've done nothing. I am truly sorry... perhaps I should not stay here, as I intended. It may be best for you. For your safety."

He spoke his thoughts aloud, both to Melly and to himself, and as he spoke he began to pace in circles again. He spared another glance back to the little dragoness, and caught the flash of the little jewel that laid in her brow. His pacing stopped abruptly and his eyes locked on the gem. For a second, he stood very still, then he shook his head angrily and turned away from his companion before laying down to face the ocean towards Adela.

"I do not know what has come over me, little bird, but I do not like it," he confided, still keeping his back to her, "Never have I felt such impulse without reason, save for my days as a hatchling perhaps. It is not that you have done anything, truly. Perhaps it is something about this place, or maybe it is just me, but it matters not what spurs me on. The result is one in which you may be injured, I think. I will not subject you to that if I have the opportunity to ensure your safety. However that may be achieved."

Melly's eyes widened as she listened to him. Carefully, she moved forward, still giving him room, and laid down beside him, glancing from his face tot he ocean and back.

"Maybe I can help?" she offered quietly. "You said...impulse. What do you mean by that?"

"Greed, Melly," he said, "An overwhelming desire. A desire not easily dissuaded, for that little thing that adorns your brow. It is dragon-sickness, so the bipeds call it. Gold-lust. But it is more than that, something else about it draws me to it, and that is the part that worries me. I cannot place why I desire it so, and that scares me, because I do not know what lengths I will go to, to retrieve this gem, if I am taken by my greed. Many dragons have died by the claws of their kin as a cost of gold-lust."

Her eyes blew wide. "O-oh."

Melly swallowed and looked out over the water again. "...Is it just the gem? If you could find something else, another treasure, would it...fill that desire?"

"Maybe. But that isn't the point. I don't think I should have to be... satiated so you can simply be around me!" He was angry, for he had grown to enjoy the company of the little dragoness much more than he'd anticipated. He decided not to reveal the other kind of lust he had felt earlier, because that was a much more complicated subject. And he didn't really feel ready to throw that into the mix of things he had to deal with right now.

Melisma was quiet a moment, then shuffled a little closer to him. She let her head come to rest on her front paws, looking up at him.

"But I wouldn't mind," she murmured. "I...I like being around you, Hvitt. And I've got lots of sparkly things back home, if having them would make you...feel better, I want to do that..."

"This is strange for me," he continued, "I am not normally so taken by... dragon-sickness. I've always liked things of great value, don't get me wrong, but the desire was never overpowering."

He adopted a position mirroring hers, although he gazed still out onto the horizon. Red and orange hues like fire were faint in the sky. The sun had begun to set, and as he sat on the blackened stone of the mountain peaks, surrounded by pale green shoots of grass and the salty, wet smell of the sea. The ocean, light blue on their journey had darkened, and the lush greens were tinted brown by the light of the sky.

"Would you show me your den, little bird?" He asked after a time, glancing back her way, "Would I even fit inside it?"

Her eyes took on a soft shimmer and she raised her head, nodding quickly. "I'd be happy to show you," she murmured, hesitating a moment before darting her head forward to nuzzle the lower side of his jaw briefly before getting to her feet.

A musical little chuckle bubbled up out of her chest. "You should fit fine, as long as you don't mind keeping your wings folded."

Hvittraak spared Melly a soft glance before hefting himself to his feet and flaring out his wings again. His mood from then on could be best described as a troubled thoughtfulness, and he seemed lost in thought more that he was in the present.

Still, he followed her, and kept up small talk, saying, "So, you know the people of this island well." It was a question, but his lack of genuine curiosity made it seem more of a statement.

"Yes." Melly spread her wings and ran a few paces before kicking off into the air. She circled above him, getting higher with each pass over his head. "They are fascinating, I find."

"How so?" He inquired, taking off in a single powerful beat of his wings. She still had the lead on him, in height, but he soon matched her with a few more well timed flaps, and soon was being circled by the dragoness in the air as they rose.

"Did you hide your den in the clouds little bird?" He asked amusedly, "if not, why do we climb so?"

The dragoness chuckled and evened out her flight, banking left to move toward the center of the island's jungle. "Not exactly. There's no way into the ruins from the ground though, so it's best to approach by air."

She guided them over the trees with the ease of long practice, until the rough, crumbling edges of what once might have been some sort of pyramid or tower came into view, poking out above the canopy. "Here."

She circled the ruins, a gentle sort of relief at homecoming settling into her bones, before flying out into the center of the sprawling, ancient stone and clasping her wings to her sides to drop down through the massive hole in the center of what had once been a ceiling.

Hvittraak tucked in his wings tightly to his sides, their leathery tips trailing alongside his tail as he squeezed into the already very large gap in the ceiling. He adopted a slithering kind of crawl, sliding his great scaled belly across the stone and into the ruined temple. The room in which they'd landed was just large enough to accommodate him, but even so he coiled more tightly than he needed to so that Melly could fit comfortably as well.

Odd, the shapes of dragons, one minute reminiscent of a gull on the wing or a panther in the jungle, and the next bearing a striking resemblance to a serpent under the rocks. And yet all of these things were not compared from the dragon, but to them, for not only were the sum of those parts great, but the drakes themselves were greater. Even while comparisons could be drawn, all in all, they always first and foremost evoked dragon.

"Oh." Melly chuckled a bit and shuffled back to give him more room. "Here, follow me- it might be a bit of a squeeze at first, but there's a bigger chamber further in."

She twisted to slip through what was- to her- a perfectly reasonably sized tunnel, that had perhaps once been a hallway of some kind. "There's holes in the ceiling through this place, but that one is the biggest, I figured it would be the easiest fit," she babbled as she crept along.

She glanced over her shoulder. "Y'know...you could take your human avatar- just until we get into the wider parts of the temple."

Hvit stopped for a second, and blinked. He'd been so entranced in his thoughts he'd forgotten about the obvious solution to this problem. Crawling backwards just to provide some wiggle room, he began the violent transformation, coming out much smaller and much more clothed.

He flared his tiny wings and flapped once or twice, landing in the hollow area of Melisma's neck, where a dragonrider's saddle would go. Shuffling to get comfortable, he folded his wings behind him, and said, "Let's be off then."

"Oof!" Melly started a bit- she'd never had someone ride her before. "Um...comfortable?" she asked over her shoulder as she started making her way down the hallway again.

The hall widened a bit after a few paces, several intersecting passageways- or rather the holes that remained- visible to either side.

"There are feathers in uncomfortable places, but yes," he replied, "I am comfortable."

"Oh- sorry." She shuffled her wings and tries to smooth all her feathers down properly.

A few more paces and the hall opened up into a soaring sort of antechamber, the ceiling far, far above their heads dotted with holes of varying sizes that allowed sunlight to stream down.

"This is one of the biggest rooms in the temple," she said, swishing her tail as she stepped into the space.

"Do you know of this place's origin, or perhaps its function before it fell to ruin?" He asked, his eyes darting to and fro as he examined the ancient stone. His mind had shifted yet again on their journey, new knowledge provoking the scribe-like aspect of his personality to show itself. He was the kind of dragon that hoarded knowledge as much as he did gems and precious metals, and as with them, he always thirsted for more. He could give a rather detailed description of the history of his own dwarven mine, down to who commissioned it and why, and which dwarven monarch ruled in the far lands away at the time. He could list the passages and their former uses, and the mechanisms and their functions, and though few others were ever privy to his slew of knowledge, the simple fact that he knew it was satisfaction enough to him.

He lay forward in his impromptu seat, fitting himself into the slope of Melly's now much larger neck. He found it oddly amusing that now she was the larger of their duo, and snorted to himself as he shelved that thought away for later. While he seemed relaxed, his eyes were still keenly categorizing and researching the environment around him, studying the symbols in the stones and noting the architecture in comparison to the many others that he'd seen through his centuries.

"How did you come to live in this place anyhow?" He inquired, a tad absentmindedly prattling off the question as his eyes and mind drifted elsewhere. He seemed distant, but even then a part of his mind was focused on Melly and her response even if he didn't seem so.

"I'm fairly sure the center of the floor here was some kind of sundial, once," the dragoness responded, evidently delighted to be able to answer a question for a change. "If you look up you can see the ceiling used to be far more open- I think there was some kind of collapse, and the jungle has rather overtaken it since then."

She rolled her shoulders in a small shrug, then remembered she had a passenger and froze, squeaking, "Oh, sorry!" She cleared her throat and added sheepishly, "I'm afraid all I know about this place is that it was once a temple. There are carvings, tablets, a few remnants of some ancient scrolls, but in almost a century that's all I've managed to translate from them."

She paused, then added slowly, "I think...my kind- our kind, I suppose- used to flock here in much greater numbers. I've seen paintings, carvings, and there used to be more open places in the temple where one could enter from the air."

She fluttered her wings in another shrug. "I just sort of...found this place after my Papa died. I've been here ever since."

"How did he die, if I may ask?" Hvitt inquired, leaning to get a better look at the hall in front of them, "Or was it simply a matter of incompatible lifespans?"

Melly sighed. "The latter. He was eighty, or nearly. He lived a good long life. Just...not as long as mine. Ours, I guess."

She gave another small sigh and came to a halt in the middle of the room. "Do you want to change back? Or you could get off and I could become human, so we're a bit more compatible."

"Not used to a rider?" Hvitt teased but nonetheless dismounted his companion. It was a sort of lazy flap-hop, and he landed more heavily than he'd anticipated, and grunted quietly. Humanoid shape was not a form he chose to assume often, "I think staying in my current shape would benefit both your safety and the architecture of this place. You do not have to change if you don't want to, though."

"Can't say I'm used to it, no," Melly chuckled musically. She refrained from laughing at his slightly awkward dismount.

"And I certainly don't mind joining you in shape," she added as she did so, the gem in her brow glowing slightly as her form blurred and shrank into a more humanoid shape.

"Ah." She rolled her shoulder and stretched her wings above her head, head tipping back so she could look up at the ceiling. "I love it here," she murmured, almost to herself.

The flash of her gem caught Hvitt's eye, and he flinched ever so slightly.

"I can see why. It is a fine place to live," he said, "but it troubles me that the halls are bare. They should be lined with treasure, filled to the brim with shining gold and sparkling diamond. Where is your hoard little bird?"

"Oh!" She smiled and fluttered her wings. "I mostly keep it all to one room. Come on, I'll show you."

She spread her wings and lofted gently into the air, circling the room to reach another hall and banking slightly to soar down it. This hall was strangely larger than most of the temple would lead one to expect- Melly could even fit down it in her natural form, if she had to.

She came to land at the entrance to another chamber, this one larger than the previous, but with no holes in the ceiling. However, the walls were essentially a series of massive columns leading out into the jungle, allowing green-tinged sunlight to bathe the carefully arranged collection that Melly had amassed.

"Very... outdoors," Hvit commented, "Do you not worry that some one could steal it?"

As they walked, his eyes fell on her form. He studied her movement, the subtle inconsistencies that made her gait unique. He followed the gentle sway of her hips, something he was always curious about in bipeds. Females had a definite sway, while males did not unless they consciously tried. An odd biological choice. He settled on a familiar feature, that of her wings, and considered the feathers. They were really what caught his attention, an oddity in normalcy. He'd seen them on dragons before, but her individual colours were something that caught his eye no matter how often he saw them.

"No, not really. No one comes this deep into the jungle, really, and even if they did..." She shrugged and turned to him with a smile. "Most Yoreiqi aren't all that concerned with worldly possessions."

She seemed to notice the way he was looking at her and tilted her head. "Um...is something wrong? Did I get some leaves caught in my feathers?" She spread her wings and turned, trying to see the backs of her wings- rather futilely, though it did have the effect of blurring the colors of her wings into a kaleidoscope for a brief moment.

"No," he assured her, "I was just... enjoying the view. You've been to my home. It is a very muted colour palette, to say the least."

The kaleidoscopic shimmer of her feathers was reminiscent of the iridescent coat of a magpie, but this time they shone with a full spectrum and glinted in the half light of the treasure trove.

"The drakes in my land are much less... extravagant," he said, a small grin pulling at his lips.

"Oh." She smiled and flushed a bit. "Well, I suppose I'll take that as a compliment." She glanced around, then offered slowly, "Would you...like a tour, of sorts? I'm afraid I don't exactly have many jewels or gold, but..."

She trailed off and looked up at him hopefully though her lashes.

"Gladly, I'd enjoy one," he said smiling, "Show me."

He felt a melancholy settle over him. This couldn't last. Her company he enjoyed, but he'd been thinking over his reactions to her. They did not bode well. As he followed her, his smile was tinged in a sadness of sorts. It was a sadness born of the knowledge that he should leave, but the deep reluctance to do so. It came down to whether or not he valued his own happiness or her safety. Even then, if he chose the greedy path, both her safety and consequently his happiness were at risk. The choice was obvious, but it was much harder to him.

Melly beamed and fluttered over to him in a half-leap. "Alright, come on then." She took his hand, marveling a moment at just how big it was compared to hers.

It suddenly struck her that he could probably crush her with little effort, like the bird he so often claimed her to be.

She shook the thought away and turned up the brightness of her smile a bit. "Here, this way," she chirped, tugging him after her toward her piles of treasure.

Well. It was treasure to her.

"Most of this...well, you probably won't like it much," she admitted with a small laugh. "But...you might like these." She led him toward her scattered pile of stained glass- a portion of it, at least, chipped pieces of colored glass in every color of the rainbow.

"Very colourful," he said, his smile widening. She was like a little child, amazed by the world and it's little wonders. It amused him but also pained him. He would miss this.

"Even if I wouldn't collect it, you did," he said, "Show me your treasures, whatever form they take."

Her smile widened. "Okay, you asked for it," she laughed brightly. She squeezed his hand gently and led him around the room, through meandering paths that wound around piles of ancient scrolls with beautiful works of illumination, musical instruments, paintings, carvings, written music, even tapestries and pieces of old mosaics.

And always, always the stained glass, scattered through and around the other piles in a seemingly haphazard manner. Melly's eyes kept darting toward the light that streamed in through the pillars, judging the time by the angle of the shadows.

She glanced up at Hvitt as she slowly came to a halt. "If you don't mind waiting...there's something I want you to see. It'll happen soon."

"Does the setting sun refract through the stained glass, causing the whole hoard to sparkle with the colours of the rainbow?" Hvit guessed, noticing the copious amounts of glass shards among the intellectual treasures gathered here. He was pleased, in a way, that this Little Bird was less concerned with treasures of the eye than those of the mind. It was promising, hopeful to the dragon she would grow into, given time.

Melisma beamed and nodded quickly. "Something like that. Come on, stand...right...here." she rocked onto her toes so she could take him by the shoulders and shuffle him over a few paces, then turn his body slightly.

"It happens at dawn and dusk." Her smile didn't shrink at all as she plopped down onto the ground, legs crossed and palms planted behind her as she leaned back slightly, wings flared just a bit to the sides.

"Stand, or sit, little bird?" Hvit asked, an amused grin playing on his face. Nonetheless, he stood where she had directed him, and waited for the sun to set.

"How did you come by this glass, anyhow? The rest of these items I could see being traded, but pieces of glass?" His expression was inquisitive, but he still kept an eye on the view, not wanting to miss Melly's moment.

Melly chuckled, blushing a bit. "Well- stand or sit. Whichever you like."

She tipped her head back a bit to look up at the ceiling. "I did trade, for a lot of it. Sometimes traders make their way across the sea, but some of their goods are damaged in the crossing. They'll take food in exchange for that, and I don't mind hunting for them."

She shrugged, then her eyes flicked to the pillars. Her smile widened.

The chamber was very open, due to the nature of the bottom half of the walls, but the ceiling and the top half of each wall was mostly solid stone, save for the occasional small hole. Hvitt' guess had been mostly correct; as the sun set, the light spilled through the gaps in the pillars and reflected off the scattered bits of colored glass, bouncing from one pile to another in rays of rainbow light.

But it went further than that. Above their heads, Melisma had carefully placed the larger pieces of stained glass along the walls and ceilings, the light reflecting off her hoard bounced up to light those pieces in a soft glow, giving an appearance of a sky of multicolored stars.

The light of the sky, already a beautiful burnt orange and red, fading into a deep blue, bled through the pillars and caught inside the little shards of glass, infusing them with rich colours that they didn't have before, resting in their shadowed piles. The haphazard stacking of the shards caused the beams to refract this way and that, bouncing light all across the cavern, and not only did they reflect off of other glass, but they shone on the metallic trinkets, and together they matched any hoard of gems and gold, as twinkling and colourful as the dragoness who owned them.

Hvit looked up and saw that the ceiling too was decorated in sparkling glass, and against the cold black and blue of dark stone, the warm and bright colours contrasted like blood on snow. It was a sight indeed worth waiting for, and one he wouldn't soon forget.

"How long did it take you to make this?" he asked, studying the intricate hanging glass. It wasn't something he would have done, more for lack of the idea than anything else. He also couldn't figure out how she'd fastened them to the walls and ceiling. Full of little wonders was this hatchling.

Melly' smile was nearly as bright as the sparkling glass, genuine joy in his reaction shining in her face.

"A few months," she replied, bouncing to her feet. She suddenly turned a little shy, shuffling her wings and ducking her head slightly. The light all around them lit on her feathers, making them glow, and the gem in her brow glittered softly.

"You...you like it?"

He looked down at her, remarking to himself at how well her shimmering rainbow feathers matched the glittering expanse she had collected for herself.

"Yes, it is very beautiful," He said, glancing quickly at the gem set in her brow. A twinge deep in his chest caught him off guard, and he drew in a quick breath. He stared for a few seconds before he could shift his eyes back to her. He regained his thoughts and asked, "How did you think of it? I certainly have never seen the like."

Unnoticing of his apparent lapse of attention, Melly's smile widened again and she bounced a little on the balls of her feet.

"Sunlight off the water," she replied brightly. "I saw a refraction light up this festival some villagers were having, and I thought...well, of it worked in water, surely it would work on glass, yes?"

"Surely..." he said absentmindedly, trailing off as the gem took the forefront of his thoughts again. He cast them off much more easily this time, asking, "Is there a place I can rest? It has been a long journey, and I find that my mind wanders more than I like it to when I am tired."

"Oh, of course!" She practically bounced up against him and took his hand again. "Would you prefer to sleep in this form, or as a dragon? I think there is space for either..."

Her brow furrowed and she tilted her head, lips moving silently as she considered where she could put him.

"Would I even be able to take my own shape here?" He asked, "I was not exactly comfortable in the large entrance room, and you said that was one of the larger spaces here. I could fit in this room, I suppose, but at the expense of your treasures, so I think not. No, I shall stay in my smaller shape, little bird."

She smiled a little sheepishly. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Come on then, this way."

She took his hand again to lead him back down the hall. With the sun setting, the temple was cooling rather rapidly. She shivered a bit, unused to wearing her human shape at night. It probably didn't help that she'd never really bothered to find proper clothing for herself.

"Are you leading me through twisting tunnels and mysterious crypts?" Hvit asked in amusement, "Or are we to roost with the jungle birds high in the trees?"

Melisma laughed and glanced over her shoulder at him. "Sort of both. Come on, through here."

She led him down another hall and up a set of crumbling stairs, then through yet another long tunnel-hallway.

Eventually, they came to what might have once been some sort of personal chamber in the temple. Time had eroded the walls, the far one almost completely, so it formed almost a pocket balcony in the wall of the temple.

The jungle had grown in to claim the space, vines and flowers curling over the far edge of the floor and creeping in over the walls. Melly had arranged a pile of blankets and pillows in a near corner, the one most sheltered from the elements.

"Sometimes I like to sleep up here, if I'm human," she told Hvitt, moving toward the makeshift bed. "I can only fit here in this form, it's too small for a dragon.

"My abode doesn't have a human sized space," He explained, "I rarely need it and when I do, I take the huts of mountain men, as you well know."

Hvit followed her, and sat on the side of her bedding. He reclined onto the blankets and let his head fall back into the pillows with a groan.

"I do enjoy human comforts though."

"Right?" She smiled and flopped down beside him, cuddling into his side. "Humans certainly do make the best of what they've got."

Melly sighed and closed her eyes, folding her wings around her arms to create a kind of personal blanket. "To be honest, I'm beat," she murmured through a small yawn.

Hvit's eyes had already become heavy lidded, so when he drifted off moments later it came as no sudden occurrence. Before sleep consumed him, though, he stretched his wings from under the dragon-leather cape behind him, and let out a groan as the joints popped and cracked with the effort.

"Goodnight, little bird," he said groggily, and closed his eyes to welcome the sweet sinking of sleep.

"'Night, Hvitt." Melly yawned again and snuggled a little closer.

She may not have known it, but her kind were flock creatures. She vaguely remembered sleeping curled on Raki's chest as a hatchling, then sprawled out beside him on the bed when she got too big for that, but it had been over a century since she'd slept near another person.

It was nice. It fulfilled an instinctual desire for closeness that she hadn't even fully recognized she'd had. She drifted easily off to sleep, nuzzling into Hvitt's neck unconsciously as she did.

Where Melly may have been a flock creature, Hvit was not. His species were solitary hunters, and lonely tyrants. Sharing what was for many other creatures a very intimate space was even more so for them, and Hvit especially among them. Even by his kind's standards, he lived a life apart.

Even as she slept, and he drifted away, a twinge of pain in his chest kept him from sleeping easy. He knew it couldn't last, not the way he wanted it to. Not the way it should.

A soft beam of sunlight through the thick jungle canopy fell across Melly's eyelids and she stirred slightly, giving a sleepy groan.

"Mmm..."

She was warm. Unusually warm. What-? Her eyes blinked open.

Oh, right. Hvitt. She smiled and pushed herself up off the bed, arching her back and stretching her wings up above her head. "Hey. Morning."

Hvit was barely awake when she moved away from him, and all he registered at that moment was that the soft, warm thing cuddling with him was gone, but retrievable. So in his half asleep logic, he did the best possible thing at the time, and pulled Melly back down to him by the hips.

Now that his cuddly warmth was back, he embraced it like a child does a stuffed animal, and rolled onto his side, content with slipping back into a half finished dream.

"Oh!" The smaller dragon squeaked as he pulled her in closer, then smiled and shook her head at her bedmate.

"You're still asleep, aren't you?" she chuckled to herself. She let her wings resettle around her arms, partially wrapping over Hvitt as she did. "Hvitt. C'mon, we should get up."

Hvit was roused slightly at hearing her voice, but payed it no heed, and dug his face into the hollow of her neck. He mumbled something about dwarves and little hats before lowering his grip and arching his back, so that his hands rested on the slope of her behind, and his forearms braced her back.

His left wing twitched unexpectedly, flapping weakly in his sleep. The clawed tips of his fingers pricked her bare skin slightly, and against her smooth skin his subtly scaled hide was rough, but still somehow soft and pliant enough to betray the muscle underneath.

Melly felt a slow heat creep up her body, starting somewhere in her belly and climbing all the way to her face, coloring her coppery skin with a rosy tint.

She cleared her throat and swallowed thickly, confused and surprised by the reaction she was having to his touch. The prick of his claws against her skin made her heart leap, sparking a flight or fight reaction that she didn't entirely understand.

"Um, H-Hvitt?" She cleared her throat and tapped his shoulder lightly. What was she supposed to do with her hands? She let them rest against his back lightly, head tilted back a bit as she tried to figure out how to fit herself against him.

Heavy-lidded though his eyes were, and near dead with sleep, the tapping was new. He instinctively raised his head, retreating from her neck and straightening so that his nose was somewhere around her brow. He licked his lips, and cracked open his eyes just enough to see through them, giving off the impression that he was squinting despite the lack of sunlight on his face.

He'd been dreaming of wrestling with a cousin of his, a much smaller drake, albeit large in his own respect. He'd been winning, but now he awoke to see Melly's face not inches from his own.

"Yes, little bird?" He said sleepily, the deep bass of his voice vibrating into her chest. He didn't pay it attention, as the vibrations were commonplace for him, but they were in such close proximity that she would have felt every word as well as heard it.

A shiver rippled down Melly's spine and she blinked at him, lips slightly parted as she wracked her brain for something to say.

Why on earth couldn't she think of anything to say?!

"That feels nice." Her eyes widened as she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Her cheeks flushed scarlet and she tried to duck her head, but they were so close together that she only succeeded in burying her face against his chest.

She tried to jerk back, but there was really nowhere for he to go. "I- I mean- um...The- I don't..." She cleared her throat and groaned quietly, embarrassment making her trip of her own tongue.

"What?" Hvit asked, confusion furrowing his brow. He shifted slightly, causing everything to rub against everything. He moved his hands up to her lower back, a conscious decision after realizing how far south his sharp fingers had been going. Other than that, he found their position no different from any of the other times they'd shared a bed.

"What troubles you so?" He asked again, curiousity and confusion evident in his tone.

"I- I don't-"

Melly whimpered quietly and wriggled, not sure if she was trying to get some distance or recreate that tingling, heated sensation that had flashed through her by his little shift.

"I don't know," she whined, eyes wide as she stared at him. "I'm all...hot. I never get hot! but I keep feeling like I'm shivering, and- and-"

She swallowed and tried to organize her thoughts. "I, um...I think I like it."

Hvit's eyes narrowed, and he gave her a sideways look. He had a suspicion, but wanted to confirm it before taking any further action.

"What do you like... this?" As he spoke, he shifted down, so that his entire body slid downward an inch or two. It left his eyes just above hers, and his arms farther into her lower back. The claw tipped fingers drifted across the curve of her, low enough that the tips of his middle fingers almost slid down entirely to her thighs.

The entire time, he kept a cautious eye on her, his mind much more awake and analytical than it had been moments before. His movements were intentional, and if he was right in his assumption, then certain problems might arise.

Her breath hitched and her eyes widened. That tingling heat was back, and she swallowed a small sound that was some cross between a gasp and a whimper.

"Yes," she murmured shakily, meeting his eyes. "Yes, that. I- I liked that." Melly cleared her throat. She sort of wanted to look away, but found that she couldn't, her gaze captured by his.

She wasn't totally naive; the reactions she was having to him were new and confusing, but she was slowly starting to work out the origin of the feelings. Still, she had no idea where to go from there- she'd never before been in even a remotely similar situation.

Hvit was correct in his assumptions, although to be fair there was quite a bit of evidence beforehand. He had two options now, but neither were paths that he decided. As of now his only course of action was this; a question:

"What do you want now?"

It was simple. But the weight of her answer had implications. And even then, her answer would definitely change how he viewed this situation. One thing stood heavy handed in the forefront of his mind, and that was the double-edged blade of guilt and regret. And so he asked. And so he waited.

What did she want?

"I..." Melly took a shaking sort of breath and closed her eyes, trying to think. By now she'd figured out what her body wanted, but what did she want? It was entirely possible that some dormant mating instinct she hadn't known she possessed had just risen to the surface, and if that was all it was she didn't want to act on it.

But...what if it wasn't that? Or not just that?

She sighed and opened her eyes slowly. "You," she murmured simply, giving a little shrug. "I- I want to be...close to you, Hvitt. If you'll let me."

Hvit frowned, uncertainty and the smallest amount of fear stabbing into his resolve. That was the answer he had feared. The one he had simultaneously hoped for and prayed against. It signified something that he couldn't just fly away from when he was done with it. Something that could be far deeper than a surface attachment. And the nature of the person answering meant that it could very well follow him for the rest of his waking life.

Eventually, after a time of silence, he asked her another apprehensive question, "Close... how? What kind of close?"

She groaned and dropped her head forward, her forehead coming to rest against his clavicle. "I- I don't know!" she exclaimed, wings fluttering nervously. "I mean- okay, I do know, but..."

She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around his middle, loose enough that he could pull away easily but still an obvious gesture of seeking comfort. "I've never met anyone like me," she murmured. "I never thought...I didn't think this was even a possibility for me."

She shifted slightly, half-intentionally pressing her body closer to his with a soft, sighing hum. "I know I'm...young, and I-I talk too much, and I ask too many questions, but I-"

Gods, she was just so lonely. She just didn't want to feel like that anymore.

"I just don't want to be alone anymore," she whispered. "I just want to feel...connected." She turned her face into the curve of his neck and nuzzled against him almost unconsciously, tiny shivers wracking her frame.

Hvit found himself stretching his neck up, giving Melly more space as she sent a shiver down his spine and a shudder rippling through the rest of him. He pulled her tightly to him, now startlingly aware of the softer parts of her anatomy.

"Are you sure?" He asked between shudders, "About... this?"

He could feel the heat of her now, more intense than usual. And with hers, his temperature too began to rise. He spread his wings on the fabric of their bed, the lightweight bones and muscles straining against the cloth.

Melly's breath hitched with a soft almost mewing sound in the back of her throat. The strength with which he pulled her against him made her shiver a bit and she gave a shuddering sigh.

"...Yes."

She lifted her head to meet his eyes, and suddenly found herself captured by the way the early morning light glinted off them. "Yes, I'm sure."

Hvit rumbled low in his chest, and a deeply unsettling series of thoughts sprung to life in his mind. His gaze drifted away, studying the the room, and what he could see of the ones beyond it. Then they came full circle back to it's inhabitant. It may have been Hvit's troubled expression that gave it away early, but even if it did not, his next actions would.

"I am not."

As he spoke he gently lifted her from him, and the heat with in took a different form. It was now the heat of anger, slow and simmering, at how he could let himself be led this way. He was solitary for a reason. This entire journey had been rash and unfounded, and the consequences now were emotional casualties, probably on both sides, and a guilt that he could already feel sinking its hooks in his hide.

He pushed himself from the blankets and began stalking away when his shape changed. It wasn't a dragon whose form he took, but neither was it his humanoid shape. It was an amalgamation of them both, somewhere in between. Still on the smaller side, thank the gods for that, but he was tall. He had grown perhaps three or four more feet, now a towering behemoth, and his wings had grown larger. The skin that had been dusted with near invisible scales became harder and milky white where the scales had been predominant, his ribs, back, throat, forearms and shins. The pricked fingertips became true claws, and he grew small horns from the stubs on his scalp, horns that twisted and stabbed into the air, giving his height an extra foot-long boost. The skirt was now more a loincloth, and the cape no longer went to the floor. Strangest of all, a tail has sprouted, thin but long, and now snaked anxiously around his heels.

"I am not."

Again he said it, but this time he punctuated it by leaving, going down the path back through the treasure hoards.

The dragoness stared, her breath stopped in her chest. The sudden chill, the absence of another's warmth, seemed to sink into her very bones as she found herself sitting alone on the makeshift bed.

"Oh..."

Her heart ached. That was a new sensation too- she'd experienced grief, but this was...different. A little sharper than the grief she was used to, and it seemed to reside in her chest rather than her belly.

Melisma sniffed and curled in on herself, watching him go. Half of her wanted to follow him, but the other half- well, he'd made it very clear that he didn't desire her company just now, hadn't he?

Something Melly hadn't felt in a long time burned behind her eyes and she dropped her head, burying her face in her hands as she tried to breath around the sob caught in her throat. No. No, she wouldn't do this. She wouldn't cry for this.

She wasn't really sure how long she sat there, breathing shallowly and just trying to work through the dozens of thoughts that spiraled through her head without bursting into tears. Finally, she seemed to have a hold of herself and stood, a little shakily, and made her way back into the temple.

She made her way back to the chamber that housed her hoard, approaching her guest cautiously.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, eyes on her bare feet. Her voice was softer than normal, less chiming. "I shouldn't have- that was...very forward of me. I'm sorry if I offended you." She was rather proud of herself; her voice only shook once, and she managed to get through that without stammering or bursting into tears.

Hvit was sitting among the broken glass, wings wrapped around him like a shell, leaving only the pale white hair and spiral horned head poking up. The bone white of his skin stood out against the colourful shards and dull glint of metal.

His spine, facing her, had also grown small spines under the skin stretching the ridges high, looking almost contorted. He had been wearing a scowl, one she couldn't see, and at the sound of her it deepened. Not because she was here, apologizing, but because of why. He had been just a present in that situation, just as forward. The only difference was his final choice.

"I share just as much responsibility as you do," he said, but his tone was biting, "And for that I am sorry. I have tempted you with something I will not give."

Melly felt her heart lurch again. She swallowed, cleared her throat, and murmured, "I...understand."

She didn't, really. She didn't know what had happened, why he'd suddenly pushed her away, what she'd done wrong. She didn't understand any of it.

But she forced a smile, small and wan though it was, and stepped a little closer. "We, um- we don't have to talk about it anymore. I promise I won't...overstep my bounds again."

She cleared her throat again and offered quietly into the silence, "Would you like to hunt? We took a long flight yesterday, you might be hungry..."

She didn't know what else to do. All her enthusiasm had been replaced with awkward fumbling and furtive little glances.

"Do you really?" He asked, "Understand? Because I don't really understand myself at this point, and if that's how I'm feeling, I can't even imagine how confusing this must be to you."

He became silent again, but rose from his seat. He stretched his wings, flaring them wide, and extended his arms out to match. His fists were balled the entire time, though.

"If you want to hunt, hunt. I will refrain. Currently I feel as though if I go hunting, I will raze this place to the ground," he shot her a look, "But you like this island, and so I will not."

He turned to look at her fully, "You have only the bounds you set for yourself, but remember where you should put those. And get some clothes, they'll do you good."

He began walking through the rest of the hoard, fully intent on losing himself inside it. Perhaps he would visit the caverns of this temple while she was hunting.

"I-"

Melisma blinked, eyes wide. "I don't understand," she whispered as he began to walk away. "But I wish I did."

She sighed and turned to move back down the hall that led to her entrance chamber. "I'll...find something while I'm out, maybe," she murmured.

The hall was wide enough that she could take her natural form- she did so, wings kept tight to her side as she padded back through the twisting halls of the temple to launch herself into the sky, banking away over the jungle canopy.

Hvit had found an empty room, large enough to accommodate his draconic form, and had transformed into his more familiar reptilian skin. The cave was dank, but his internal heat, now magnified by his great size was more than efficient to lightly dry the place.

There he lay, curled in on himself like a giant cat lounging in a box, and fell into a dreamless sleep, the only indicator that he was alive being the everpresent tendrils of smoke lazily drifting through the air.

Melly was gone some hours, not hunting so much as foraging. Seeing as her guest hadn't wanted food, she stuck to her preferred diet of fruits and flowers gathered from the jungle. It was certainly longer than hunting an animal or two, but she honestly preferred the sweetness of plants to meat.

Not to mention it kept her out of the temple for a while longer. She wasn't sure she was ready to go back and face Hvitt quite yet.

Eventually though, she knew she had to return. With a heavy sigh, she spread her wings and once again took to the air. Her flight was languid, almost lazy- she was in no rush. When she did finally reach her ruin home, she simply had to follow the smoke to find Hvitt's chosen resting place.

It was quite cramped with two dragons in the space. Another sighed breath and Melly took her human shape to give him more space.

She had followed his advice- her transformation revealed a loose sarong skirt and breastband, common fashion among Yoreiqi women. She'd managed to dig the fabric out of her hoard and fashion the clothes before coming to find him.

"Hvitt?"

Hvit's eyes lazily slid open, in that same squinting style he so favoured. He searched for the origin of the noise, and finally came to rest on the tiny woman before him.

"Yes?" He asked, swinging his giant head slowly over to her, so that he had one giant glassy orb on her. His eye was almost as large as she was. His milky white pupil focused on her, and he blinked once.

The younger dragon swallowed and had to resist the urge to take a step back. "I, um..."

She cleared her throat and tried again. "I just...thought I'd let you know I'm back. Did you...sleep well?" Damnit, when had conversation become so awkward?!

"I napped." He answered bluntly, "I see you took my advice on clothing."

Her choice of wardrobe wasn't too concealing, but it was skimpy either. He'd have chosen something for the cold rather than anything else, but her choices were her own.

"What did you gather?" He asked lazily, if just to keep the conversation from falling into an awkward lilt.

Melly tried for a smile. "Oranges, mostly. There's a grove not too far from here. Oh, and there's this kind of tree scattered through it that grows the sweetest nuts, but they're covered in a spiky sort of skin that kind of scratches at your throat if you don't shell them-"

She realized she was babbling and clamped her mouth shut. She coughed a little awkwardly. "Um...would you like to...go out? There's still some daylight, and the beach isn't far..."

He turned so the he could see her with both eyes, and said, "Tell me more of these scratchy tree nuts. And of your travel on the island. Detail the day. I am curious."

In all honesty, he didn't particularly care, but if she felt comfortable talking about it and it returned her somewhat to the bubbly little bird that he enjoy the company of so much, he would listen.

"Oh. Well..."

Head tilted thoughtfully, she sat on the stone floor, crossing her legs. "The nuts are actually quite worth the effort it takes to get at them- my claws are a little big for it, but it's nearly impossible as a human, so-" She shrugged, smiling a bit.

"The grove is beautiful. All sorts of animals flock there, and one of the meltwater streams coming down from the mountain flows right through it. It smells like citrus and hibiscus- oh, that's a kind of flower. They're quite lovely."

Her cheeks suddenly colored and she smiled a little sheepishly. "You're...not really interested in this, are you? Me prattling on about flowers. I'm afraid my life here isn't quite as fascinating as yours is, back in your home."

No. No, he really wasn't. But he would be damned if he told her that.

"Melisma, my life largely consists of snow, ash, and an old mine. This, however, is new, and therefore a welcome change," he said softly, "Continue."

Her smile softened a bit at the edges. "Alright then."

Slowly, the little dragoness started to talk about her island. The trees she loved, the little places tucked away in the jungle that could only be reached through careful steps, the hundreds of types of birds and animals that were nearly as colorful as she was herself, the way the sun glinting off the sand made the beach look like it consisted of diamonds, all of it, anything that popped into her head.

Gradually, she started to relax, becoming a bit more like the chattering youngling he'd first met when he rescued her from that storm.

"The mountain can actually get pretty cold," she was chirping, leaning back on her hands and head tilted back just slightly. "Nothing like your home, but we get snow sometimes. Then when it melts it creates these clusters of waterfalls- oh!"

She blinked, then suddenly smiled wide and sat up straight. "Could I...take you somewhere. There's something you might like, a little further into the jungle."

Hvit shifted out of his larger form, returning to the more familiar non horned version of himself. Now that he was smaller, he could leave the cave, and extended a hand towards the exit.

"Lead the way," he said, and ruffled his wings under the cloak.

Melly bounced to her feet with a smile. "Oh good! This way-"

She reached for his hand automatically, as she had done multiple times before, then suddenly paused. She let her hand fall back to her side and her smile turned a little strained.

"Um, right. Just...follow me, then." She turned and made her way back through the tunnels to the chamber with the wide open ceiling- her entryway.

"Alright. I'll take off first, to give you room," she chirped, though her voice was just a bit less bright than usual. With a few steps, her human form blurred and stretched into her draconic one. She bounded forward and flared her wings, jumping into the air in a corkscrew spin so she could spiral up and out through the hole in the ceiling.

He leapt after her, waiting until he was clear of the building to transform. When he did, it was less stretching, more like he exploded into a much larger form, his limbs elongating so quickly that it almost looked painful.

Now in his monumentous size, he followed her at a much more leisurely pace. The canopy below was quite a different colour palette, and the sun hung low in the sky, maybe three more hours if daylight left to them.

Melly paused long enough to make sure he was on her tail, then curved her flight to lead them out over the depths of the jungle. The already thick canopy grew denser, and trees reaching heights that defied imagination.

She flew in quiet, content for once to just let the wind and jungle provide sound in the background.

After several minutes, she twisted her head slightly to call back over her shoulder, "See that break in the trees, close to the base of the mountain? We're landing there."

Hvit banked right, turning slowly but also dropping in altittude towards the little grove she had pointed out. He dropped low over the canopy, disturbing the trees with his drafts, and flared his wings wide, performing wha was essentially an air brake. Here he waited, above the opening in the trees, flapping stationary, for his companion.

With a chiming call, Melly soared out over the clearing, then folded her wings to her side and dropped into a steep dive, straight toward the lake that glittered between the walls of trees.

The water spanned at least twice the length of her ruined temple home, and the clear water belied its depth; one could see straight through to the bottom, despite the fact that at it's deepest point the water was probably deep enough to even fully cover Hvitt.

A wall of black and auburn stone and clay bordered one side of the lake, the "foothills" of her island's mountain, and from it streamed a cascade of waterfalls, stretching at least twice Melly's body length west and east, and tiered like a pyramid, smaller waterfalls leading into the massive ones that fed the lake.

A moment before she hit the water, the dragoness flared her wings wide and skimmed across the surface, dragging her toes just into the water. She banked left and swooped in an arch to come to a landing on the shore of the lake that led directly into jungle.

Aside from the occasional frozen lake, water in the Thunderblacks was primarily present in the snow variety. This mountainous lake wasn't entirely new to him, having seen the like before, but with the addition of a jungle backdrop, and the cascading waterfalls, it was still a majestic display of nature.

As he flew across the water, much like the trees the water below him rippled with the force of his flaps, despite him never touching the surface of the lake itself.

He alighted next to Melly, landing with a few well timed flaps and a dull thud as his great weight struck the earth.

"Is there more you wish me to see?" He asked, in reference to the path towards the jungle.

Her crest arched up in a draconic smile and she fluffed her feathers a bit. "Not especially. There's some caves behind the falls, if you want to check them out."

She padded toward the edge of the water and bent to take a quick drink. The lake water was actually colder than the nearby sea, fed as it was by meltwater streams

"Shall we?" He asked, not caring for a drink himself. He began to walk beside the lake, refraining from swimming as long as he had to. Climbing, flying, tunnelling even, were things he was built for. Swimming was something only his hydrophilic kin enjoyed, so he found.

"Sure!" Melly chirped happily and bounded along beside him, jumping in and out of the shallow water at the shore and flicking her feathered tail back and forth like a hunting cat.

She led him around the edge of the lake, closer to the vine and shrub covered walls of stone and clay. Eventually though, they reached a point where the shore was simply too narrow for such large creatures to walk, the trees crowding in from one side and the water from the other.

Melly paused and suggested, "We could take biped form and keep walking, maybe climb the rocks into the caves. Or we could just swim."

"Biped form it is," He muttered, and shifted again. All this shifting was tiring him. We wasn't used to changing his form so often, and he hadn't eaten at all since the flight.

The beach felt different under his humanoid feet, but he also felt more light-footed, now not sinking in to the soft earth, but rather just treading upon it.

"Alright." Her draconic smile became a human one in the space of a few seconds, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet and smiling a bit to herself as her toes sunk into the soft earth. She practically skipped ahead, gesturing for him to follow.

It was only a few more yards before they came up against a rocky wall. Melly bit her lip and started climbing, curling her bare toes over the best footholds she could find as she edged out over the lake.

"Whoof." She twisted her body to look back at Hvitt with a half smile. "Y'know, swimming is much easier than all this."

"It's also far more wet," he replied dryly. After she turned back to her climb he edged just under her, and looked up. Sure enough, she hadn't selected any undergarments. Hvit let a small, immature smile grow on his face.

He spread his wings and flapped up the wall, stopping beside Melly and saying, "You do remember that you can still fly, yes?"

"Well...yes."

Her cheeks flushed as she realized that really was the easiest course of action. She huffed and pushed away from the rock, flapping twice to get herself properly airborne.

"My wings are normally all wet when I visit here," she muttered by way of defense. "I suppose it just...didn't cross my mind."

She gave her head a quick shake and fluttered out over the water. "Alright. See that fall, the one that comes down between those two flowering trees?" She pointed. "The largest cave is behind it- we can just zip through the water and ta-da!"

"And I suppose your wings don't work when wet," he said, "A downside of feathers. I can still fly from the water, in the occasion that I do get wet."

He followed her, but when she mentioned going through the waterfall, he said, "Is that the only way in? I will do it if I must, but... I don't like water."

Melly stalled just beyond the reach of the waterfall's spray and tilted her head at him. "Well...I mean, you could try to slip through by climbing sideways along the rocks, but you'd still probably get wet..."

She frowned, considering. "Hm. If I changed forms and you rode me through, I could sort of fold my wings around you to keep you dry?" she offered after a few moments.

"No," he said, dissuading her, "I'll just go through."

He shook his head, and braced himself, before corkscrewing through the waterfall, trying to use his wings almost like a capsule around him. He hated the feeling, but better only the outside of his wings than his whole body.

He flared his wings on the other side, and alit on the dark stone, waiting for Melly.

The younger dragon shrugged to herself, then folded her wings tight to her back and fell through the sheet of water.

She snapped her wings open at the last moment, and though they were now thoroughly wet she managed to keep herself from careening into the stone. She ran a few paces, dripping wings dragging behind her, then came to a stop and turned to face Hvitt.

"Well, here we are," she chirped.

The cave was quite large, perhaps large enough to house a middling sized dragon, and the faint light that shimmered through the curtain of water revealed twisting veins of quartz in the dark rock.

"How well can you fly when your wings are wet, anyway?" Hvit asked, "They're not entire feathered, so it's logical to assume you can do something, yes?"

As he asked, he began to run a hand against the quartz veins, tracing their patterns. If dwarves had lived here, this place would have been stripped years ago, if the quality of these deposits were what Hvit thought they were worth.

She nodded. "I can glide, if I catch a good wind, and if I really work at it I could probably get some height with a lot of flapping."

She shrugged and watched his hand trace over the stone. "It's possible, but it tires me out so quickly it's not really worth it, you know? Easier to just dry off before I try. The real problem is how much weight the water adds- feathers are surprisingly absorbent." Her chuckle echoed off the rocks.

She was quiet a few moments, eyes flicking from his hand on the stone to his face and back. "Hvitt..." She drew her lip between her teeth. No, Melly. Bad idea. Just let it go.

"C-can I ask...what I did?" She winced, instantly regretting the words as they left her mouth.

Hvit stopped, and let his hand fall from the vein. He sighed, hoping he wouldn't have had to explain himself, but here they were. No escaping now.

"You did nothing. Nothing wrong anyway. This was me, and my unwillingness..." he turned to her, a pained expression in his eyes, and began, "I have lived far longer than you. That much has already been said. But I don't know if that has really sunken in. It didn't for me, until recently. Sure, you may be sexually mature, but it isn't really the same. I've been thinking about pursuing a relationship for longer than you've been alive! Isn't that weird?! It definitely made me uncomfortable! What would've happened if I'd fucked you? I already have a hard time not viewing you as a hatchling, but you've been forced to mature faster than others. Still, the mentality exists. The fact that I even considered it was wrong! And it has nothing to do with you, not personally."

He turned away, and ran his hands through his hair, "It's just so... weird, I don't think you can even understand it from your position. You're just too young, and I haven't had a decent relationship with anyone in a very long time. This was the perfect combination of all the wrong things."

Melly winced as though he'd struck her with those words, unused to such language, and the ferocity with which it was delivered, even if she knew he wasn't exactly mad at her.

But didn't that rather prove his point? Didn't that make her just a scared little hatchling, bowing under the weight of an older dragon's words?

She swallowed thickly and dropped her eyes, and all she could manage to get out was, "Oh..."

For a few moments she was silent, just staring at her bare feet on the damp stone. Then she took a shaking breath and whispered, "I- I understand that. Thank you for...telling me."

She meant that, in a way. At least having a concrete answer was better than tiptoeing around what she said, afraid it was some aspect of her personality that he found abhorrent. But- gods, she almost wished it was something like that. Something she could work at, could change. This...

How could she add years she didn't have, experiences she hadn't yet lived through?

Her chest ached and she blinked rapidly. It was so silly- there was no need to be so upset, he'd told her the problem flat out, and she mostly agreed with him. It was weird, to think about being with him that way knowing that he was many times her age.

But that didn't change the fact that she wanted it.

"I, um-" She cleared her throat and looked away, trying to subtly wipe at her eyes. "Wh-why don't I head back? I can try to make some space for you to sleep as a dragon, if you like. Just...give me an hour or so before you follow."

Hvit didn't say anything. He retreated to farther within the cave, but said, quietly, so that it was almost obscured by the waterfall, "I understand."

He kept walking, anfolkowed the veins into their shadow, until he could no longer see the glint of light on them. Still he walked, until he hit the wall, and sat down on his knees. There he sat, and would wait.

Melly hesitated a moment, then turned her back and leaped through the waterfall, taking her dragon shape as she did.

Her wings now thoroughly soaked, she had to strain just to keep herself airborne, and it was hardly the most graceful flight. She managed to get herself away from the lake and out over the canopy, then allowed herself to fall gradually, until she broke through the treetops and landed on the floor of the jungle, slipping and stumbling as she did.

Dragons didn't cry, but the soft keening sound that was coming from her throat was close to it. Melisma sniffed and shook her head, trying to force the heavy, painful ache in her chest away.

She walked as she did, determined to keep moving. That was all she had to do, just keep moving and get back home-

The treeline broke and she realized she'd unintentionally been walking toward the beach, which was usually a place of comfort and serenity. She sighed and stopped in her tracks, letting her head lower.

Her wings were still wet. She may as well let them dry in the sun before she tried to go home, right? On soft paws, she padded out onto the sand and lowered herself to lay down, staring out over the ocean with her wings spread wide so they could dry faster.

This wasn't working. She still ached, and gods she just wanted the feeling to go away! A part of her wished she'd never left her island.

But the world is so much bigger than this, and you know it.

With yet another sigh, the dragoness let her head come to rest on her paws and closed her eyes.

---------------------------

The people of Yoreiq were hunters and gatherers, but only for their own survival. There were no trophies mounted above fireplaces, no glory other than food and warmth associated with a good catch. But in the last few decades Yoreiqis were not the only humans on the islands.

And mainlanders had different values.

So when a party of traders who fancied themselves adventurers, out to claim exotic beasts to take back to their home, came upon a sleeping dragon that shimmered with every color of the rainbow, they couldn't believe their luck. And it wasn't even all that big! Furred instead of scaled, it didn't seem to be a creature of battle, as the dragons they knew were.

A plan was quickly formed. They had come prepared, hoping to take back some exotic creature as a trophy, and so the net they planned to cast over their prey was woven with a strong enchantment that made the rope chord as strong as steel.

Of course, once the net had been thrown they knew they would have to act fast. The leader would use his javelin, spearing the creature but not killing it, just wounding it enough to make it too weak to fight. Then would come arrows as the rest tied down the net, then a spell to make it sleep. Easy as winking.

"Go!"

The shout brought Melly awake with a start, her head flying up. An unfamiliar scent hit her nose and she snorted, moving to get to her feet-

The net fell over her like an iron cage and she squawked, thrashing in surprise, but her struggle only wrapped it tighter.

Then pain exploded in her side and her eyes widened. She threw back her head and shrieked, stumbling and flaming wilding, beating her wings that were still too damp to fly, even if she'd been able to. Panting raggedly, the world spinning around her, she tried to claw the spear-thing that had lodged against her ribs out, screaming with the pain.

He may have been humanoid, but he was still a dragon, and so Hvit could hear everything. He heard her leave, and he heard her mournful call fade into silence. He had strained to hear it, and was still straining, waiting, when the cry hit his ears. Louder than he'd been expecting, it made him jump, and he twisted almost clumsily around, his eyes searching the exit of the cave. The waterfall had muffled the noise very slightly, but he had definitely heard it.

He waited though, thinking it maybe a roar of anger or pain, such as the ones he had often let out in times of overwhelming emotion. Then the second cry came, a sound of urgency laced in panic. And a third after that, immediately after. He leapt to his feet, and sprinted for the exit, barreling through the waterfall and leaping over the lake, flapping once, twice, and transforming in mid air. Another flap, then another each creating a dull thud as he started beating them faster, the sound reminiscent of a beating heart. A giant, overpowering heartbeat, that created ripples on the surface of the lake. He could clear the island in five minutes, but five minutes could mean the difference between life and death. Either way, he let out a ferocious roar, deep and guttural that tore through the trees and sent flocks all across the island into a frenzy. It looked as if all of the birds had left their nests, fleeing from the thunderous sound and were now flying in panicked chaos along the tree line.

Some flew at Hvit, and others he flew through, ignoring the way they slammed into his hide and fell dead to the earth. Only after one flew almost into his eye, and more than a few had cut his wings with their beaks and talons did he decide to fly up, and torch the forest below him. He let out a stream of red flame, dark smoke licking back up into the air as the green wood burned. He flew higher, cutting off the torrent of fire, and began to search for Melly. She could be anywhere, and he didn't know where. But with his announcement to the whole island, and the intense glow of sudden flame, his glittering white hide would dominate the sky to any who looked up.

He let loose another frustrated roar, cracking the sky with his bass rumble, a noise that you could feel in your chest a mile away. The noisy chaos of the jungle caused by his first roar and fiery destruction fell away, only the frantic flapping of birds remaining as the landlocked animals crouched near the ground, and all who walked on two legs looked to the new sound. Their dragon didn't roar like that. Only Adelans would know that roar, and they wouldn't stick around above ground to see who owned it. That was the roar of war.

"Come on, keep it down! Move!"

Melly couldn't see properly, couldn't think straight as pure, instinctive panic overrode her senses. She wailed and thrashed against the net, tail lashing and wings beating uselessly.

A flurry of arrows flew at her and she shrieked as four of them lodged in her left shoulder and the joint of her wing. Her leg buckled and she went crashing to her side, still struggling wildly, biting and tearing at the net with her claws to no avail.

In the chaos and shouting, voices laced with an accent she didn't recognize, another javelin was thrown. This one didn't lodge, but it scoured a deep gash across her back, diagonally between her wings, and she cried out, throwing her whole body against her restraints.

Finally, she seemed to make some headway, her neck and shoulders pulling free. But the net was tight around her dripping wings, pinning her back. If she could just...pull...free...

Something cracked, or popped, and Melly screeched as pain exploded down her right side. He wing hung limp and useless, and in her panicked daze she froze, and then the net was surging back over her, the strange humans shouting again-

What felt like days of struggle to her was really only a matter of a few minutes. It was just at that moment that the roar reached them, and time seemed to stop. Even the humans froze, eyes wide as they looked at each other, then to the sky.

Melisma searched the air frantically, her sides heaving with every breath. Her eyes lit on a familiar shape and she gave another desperate cry, though this one held words.

"Hvit!" Her voice was rough and cracked, nothing like the chiming melody her tone usually possessed. "Hvit, help!"

The humans ran. The strange tropical dragon would have been a fight, sure, but she was clearly not a creature accustomed to fighting. This monstrosity was, and even were he not just the sheer size of him was enough to send them fleeing for their boats with their tails between their legs.

Melly's vision swam. Her head dropped onto the sand and her sides worked like a bellows with every breath. She was losing blood fast; it matted her feathers and stained her coat. The enchanted net still tangled around her form, tight around the base of her throat and her shoulders, puling painfully at her useless wing. She gave a weak cry, then coughed, tasting blood. Her eyes fluttered, then slid closed.

Hvit zeroed in on Melly's cries, and tucked his wings into a dive. From here he could see the humans who had tried to poach his friend, could see them fleeing before him. His anger was only stoked. Cowards, rats, the lot of them. They dared to do this, to one of his kind? They would pay in the dearest way he could make them.

He banked off towards their ships, obviously Adellan, and lit them up like so much tinder. The liquid that his flame consisted of was almost like an oil, and floated on the water, burning even where it shouldn't have. The ships had already been partially boarded, but those who had been fast enough or foolish enough to flee ahead of the pack roasted alive. The ships began to collapse, the pure heat of the fire weakening the wood at an alarming pace. Those who were left ran back inland, but another stream of blue-red fire ensured that they would never make it past the beach. The sand and water burned, the trees and boats burned, everything burned. It was all fire.

Hvit circled and flew back for Melly, who was now bleeding profusely and was unconscious. Panic began to settle in his chest as he dove and sent sand flying everywhere on his eruptive landing. He tore through the net like fabric, but was hesitant to lift the smaller dragoness, for fear of dislodging the harpoon, or perhaps hurting her otherwise.

Melly dragged in a long, ragged breath as the strangling grip of the net was relaxed and her eyes fluttered slightly, her mind stirring toward consciousness.

The heat of the fire was oddly comforting from this distance and she let out a long breath, then leaned in pain as every one of her wounds reminded her of its presence. She managed to twist her head slightly and blinked blearily up at Hvit.

"Y-you-" She coughed painfully and her head slumped again. "Are- are they gone?" she rasped, throat raw. Her feathers fluttered lightly in the strangely calming breeze that came off the sea.

"They're dead." He growled, a snarl sliding onto his face. The low rumble that characterized him was higher than normal, an effect of his panic, and it peaked into what was almost a whine when he asked, "Where did they injure you? Can you fly?"

His tail lashed back and forth anxiously, snapping trunks absentmindedly and fanning the beach into a small dust cloud behind him. Today really fucking sucked.

The dragoness tried to stand, then gave a weak cry as her legs buckled again. She shook her head, panting.

"My- my wings. It's...dislocated. Broken maybe." She peered over her shoulder at her limp right wing and whimpered quietly.

What was a bird without her wings.

A sharp breath jostled the javelin in her side and she keened, clenching her eyes shut. "I- I can't get it out. It hurts, Hvit..."

If she sounded like a whiny hatchling, she didn't care. Her whole body flared with pain with every movement, every breath. And she couldn't stop thinking- why? Why had they done this to her? She'd never harbored anything but good will for humans before. Why had they done this?

"I'm not entirely sure you should remove it," he said, "It may cause more harm than good right now... where are these villagers you speak of, the friendly denizens of this island? Surely they could help you if I brought them?"

Yes that could work. A dragon wasn't biologically fundamentally different than any other four legged creature, and though the wings could pose problems, surely these people could offer something.

"Where is the nearest village?" He asked again, the wheels of his plan set in motion.

Another cough, this one accompanied by a spray of blood on the sand. "South...east," she gasped, her breath rattling in her throat. "About- about a seven minute flight...for me."

Again she tried to stand, and again she barely had her front paws under her before she collapsed back onto the sand. She looked up at Hvit, panting, eyes wide and scared.

"Don't move." Hvit warned. After sparing a worried glance for Melly, he spread his wings and launched into the air again. The flaps that were normally strong and decisive were jittery, unsteady. This wouldn't do. Hvit steeled himself, clenching his shoulders and tightening his jaw.

Three minutes later he'd landed amidst a fishing party just outside a collection of meshed huts he'd assumed were the village. After aggressively calming the terrified villagers down, Hvit had them direct him to the healer. Collecting the young woman and a few assistants delicately in his claws, by the eleventh minute he'd returned to Melly.

She was already worse for wear. Whatever skin uncovered by feathers paled,the sand around her soaked black with her blood. The smell only made his testosterone fueled aggression spike, mixing oddly with his ever-growing fear. It made him sick to his stomach. He released the tiny humans, taking absentminded care not to squish them as they began to work, his own helplessness just making him angry. He'd done as much as he could, but he should've been able to do more. He should've been able to do more.

The healer seemed to recognize Melly, and she gave a few sharp commands to her assistants as they set to work stitching and bandaging and setting. The dragoness gave a weak cry of pain when attention was turned to her injured wing- dislocated, the healer said decisively.

Melly was barely conscious, her breathing labored as she submitted to the humans' attentions. It became too much work to keep her eyes open- but then the healer was talking to her in Yoreiqi, telling her she had to stay awake.

"I'm tired," she whispered, not really sure who she was talking to. "Please, I'm so tired..."

Four human popped her wing back into joint with no warning and she screamed, her back arched and eyes wide with a moment of blind panic and pain. Then she collapsed again, panting.

Hvit had begun to pace, his tail lashing back and forth. It was only when he nearly took the head off of one of the workers, and set a few of them screaming and ducking. It was then that he decided to lay down. When he was settled, the tip of his snout was only a few feet from Melly's, maybe ten. Just enough so that the workers could walk around her, but close enough that they weren't far from eachother.

Every time she groaned or yelped he couldn't help but wince, and grow darkly angry. Like a bonfire to be lit by a slow fuse, minutes away from erupting in a tower of heat and flame and light. He could do nothing, and that only fueled the fire that was yet to be lit. But his monumentous anger could be doused before it began. It all depended on her. If she lived... or if she didn't.

After what felt to Melly like hours, but was probably lass than one, the healer stepped back to survey the work that had been done.

"Do not let her fly," she said, turning to Hvit and speaking in heavily accented Common. "She needs rest. Much rest. Even then..." She spread her hands a little helplessly- the humans had done all they could. Melly's healing was in the young dragon's own hands now.

"Thank you. For protecting her," the woman murmured after a moment. Melisma had been a fixture of the island since before she was born. If she'd died or even been taken, her presence would have been sorely missed by the entirety of the island.

Melly's eyes were closed, but her breathing was just a bit more even now. Blindly, she stretched her neck forward a bit, then sighed. "I just need to sleep," she whispered. "Please. That's all I need..."

Hvit regarded the healer with one large white eye, rumbling his acknowledgment of her orders. When she thanked him for keeping his little bird safe, he snorted. Then he frowned. That was oddly possessive. 

He extended his neck to reach Melly, touching the tip of his snout to hers.

"Then sleep little bird," he said softly to her, "I will watch for any danger. Rest."

The healer stepped away, beckinfing the other humans with a wave of her hand. It seemed to her that the foreign dragon had things in hand, and she did not want to risk irritating the massive creature with their presence.

When Hvit's nose touched hers, Melly sighed a bit and nuzzled against him slightly, but she was too exhausted to do much more than that.

"Okay," she whispered. She forced her eyes open a crack. "Thank you, Hvit," she murmured, voice still lower and rougher than normal. Then her eyes closed and within moments she was unconscious, labored breaths working her sides like a bellows.

Hvit got to his feet, in the process leaving an indent the length of his body in the sand. He padded around the little dragoness, and laid down around her. By the time he'd settled into position, Melly had a wall of scales and spikes to protect her, and Hvit settled himself into a light doze. When she woke he'd hunt, or perhaps notify the bipeds. Until then, he would stay here, a bastion against danger.

Hours passed before Melly next opened her eyes. She normally only slept for snatches at a time, and she was groggy and fumbling when she attempted to raise her head.

"Oof." That was too much effort. And it hurt. Everything hurt. The small hole the javelin had left in her side ached and throbbed, the cut across her back straining against the stitches, and the joint of her wing felt like it had been pulverized with a hammer, puffy and swollen.

She tilted her head slightly as it came to rest on her paws, blinking up at Hvit. "How long-" Her voice creaked and she stopped, cleared her throat, then tried again. "How long was I out?"

Hvit's eye snapped open, though nothing else visibly changed about him. Even his breathing was still relaxed.

"Through the day. The sun will set soon, maybe an hour or so. I could be wrong, given your geographic location, but I'm basing my judgement off of last night," he replied, "And how do you feel?"

She tried to laugh, but the sound was rough and rattling. "I hurt. But I'm alive."

She finally raised her head, wincing as she looked at him. "I wouldn't have been, without you." A sigh worked her sides and she winced again. "Thank you, Hvit."

Her head fell with another sharp breath and she clenched her eyes shut against a rippling wave of dull pain. "I think the healer gave me something," she murmured. "I- I can feel it, but's sort of...distant. Aching instead of sharp, you know?" Another rattling chuckle and wince.

"I couldn't explain it to you." He told her, "The healing process is not one I am practiced in. Quite the opposite, in fact."

His pale slit pupil widened, then thinned again as he regarded the much smaller dragon. After a minute or two, he asked, "Are you hungry, little bird? I could go and be back with food quickly if you'd like."

"Oh." Melly raised her head again with a hit less difficulty this time. "Do- would you? I'm sorry, I'm so useless..."

She sighed and glanced over her shoulder. "I can't fly." There was a dull hollowness in her voice. She shook her head as soon as she heard it. She was alive. She was lucky to be alive.

"Give it time, little bird," Hvit began to stand, his great weight leaving another indent around Melly. It almost seemed like she had a moat around her.

"You will heal." Hvit noted her dejected tone, and thought that this perhaps was the first time she'd been grounded. It was almost always a harrowing experience for dragonets, which is usually the time when a clumsy blunder or childlike fighting would injure a young dragon. Melly's unorthodox upbringing must have seen her rather sheltered by draconic standards.

He slithered into the jungle, leaving her on the beach, and scanned the air for a certain scent. There. Buffalo.Water Buffalo, to be exact. He had first noticed the enticing smell when they'd landed, but his thoughts were elsewhere. In less than an hour they would have a good and sizeable meal ready.

Melly raised her head to watch him go, then lowered it again with a small, cheeping sort of sound that she hadn't made since she was a hatchling.

She couldn't do much but wait, and think. Mostly it was one thought that circled her mind. Why did they do it?

She'd never harmed a human in her life. She'd coexisted with dozens of them for two centuries, and nothing like this had ever come close to happing before. Hell, her only scar was across her back hip, from falling off her Papa's roof when she was a hatchling.

Perhaps she could begin to understand some of Hvit's animosity toward the two-leggers.

Hvittraak returned to her with five fat water buffalo, perhaps a tad much, but he was thinking of his own ravenous hunger when injured. Hunger that later fueled the healing process, and thus was a necessity to satiate.

He carried three in his claws and two half in his mouth, dropping the three he held not fifteen feet from Melly. They landed with a snapping that made Hvit hungry himself. Odd. He landed himself with the other two, and dropped them much less violently.

"Would you prefer roasted or raw?"

Melly hardly waited for the question to leave his mouth before she'd shoved herself up into we forepaws and stretched her neck out to tear a hunk of flesh from the nearest animal's hide.

She paused, looking up at him, and swallowed the bite. "This- this is fine," she murmured sheepishly.

She hadn't realized how hungry she was. Normally raw meat didn't appeal to her at all, but she was starving.  "Thank you, Hvit," she murmured as she tore off another bite. "Thank you..."

Again she paused, and tilted her head slightly to look at him. "You saved my life. I don't- I don't know why, but they wanted to hurt me, to kill me. And you...thank you."

Hvit lay next to his smaller companion, morbidly amused at her appetite. He'd normally have laughed, or chuckled at the least, but he was not in the mood for humour.

"Humans are destructive little apes, with minds too devious and clever for their own good," he told her, "And I don't think they just wanted to hurt you. I think they wanted you alive."if they wanted you dead, they'd have harpooned you in the throat, the head, or the shoulder. They'd have started stabbing you once the net was down. No, they wanted you alive."

Melly's eyes widened, her slitted pupils going round, like a startled cat. "But- why?" she whispered, her voice quivering slightly.

With a sad cheeping sound, she nibbled at the edge of the buffalo's haunch. "I'd never done anything to them. I just...don't understand."

She shook her head with a sigh. "You were right, Hvit," she murmured. "I'm just a hatchling after all."

"Like I've said, they're too clever for their own good. They probably thought to sell you or breed you, without a concern for other larger dragons who may have been here. Clever, but ultimately foolish... As for why, they were probably just poachers. That's what they do."

Hvit looked at the small dragoness, thinking of how to respond to this latest statement. He finally decided on silence, instead snapping up a water buffalo and swallowing it, but not before biting the head off and spitting the horned skull out.

Another sigh and Melisma continued to eat the prey he'd provided in quiet. She made it through almost two of the creatures before she was sated, and settled back onto the sand with a small, tired huff.

"I know I'm not supposed to use my wing," she murmured after a moment, "but I'd...I'd like to get home, if I can. I'm pretty sure I can walk." She pushed herself to her feet with a small groan, managed to take a few stumbling steps, then halted, eyes closed while she drew in deep breaths.

Everything hurt, and the stress she was putting on the healer's work was doing her wounds no favors. The gash across her back pulled painfully and she bowed her head, neck arched as the tip of her tail twitched in a combination of irritation and pain.

"Perhaps you shouldn't," Hvit warned, "At least not until you've healed more. If suggest you transform, and I carry you, but I don't know what effects it might have on your wounds. The physiology is quite different to be fair."

Nonetheless, he stepped up and braced her with his foreleg, careful to shy away from her wounds but still provide adequate support. 

"Unless you have a better idea."

"I could...try that." She leaned against him and tilted her head back to look up at him. "I- I'm most worried about what that would do to my wing."

She huffed and closed her eyes a moment. "I don't suppose I could just...climb up?" She nodded to his back, then sighed. "I hate this. I hate feeling so helpless."

Hvit let out something that was akin to a sigh, and crouched to better allow her onto his back.

"It is something you'll have to accustom yourself to, little bird," He rumbled, though his tone was rather exasperated. The young thought they were indestructible, until they actually became injured. Then they would complain that they weren't indestructible, and Hvit had to listen to it.

"Thank you." Melly's voice was soft as she awkwardly hoisted herself up onto his back, giving a small squeak of pain. she sighed and dropped her head to rest just against his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Hvit," she whispered. "I'm sorry for everything today..."

"Sorry for the actions of others, actions that you never influenced?" Hvit stood slowly, balancing Melly then shuffling enough to keep his smaller companion securely between his shoulders. "Why would you apologize?"

"I-" She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut with a sigh. "I should have been able to fight them off," she whispered eventually. "I've never- I've never had to do something like that. I was completely useless."

She huffed.

"You've never had to do something like defending yourself?" Hvit again cursed his draconic form for not possessing eyebrows, and therefore couldn't raise one in skepticism.

"What kind of lifestyle have you lead little bird?" he asked, stepping over a downed tree. They would be coming near to the charred section of the forest soon, and Hvit worried about her reaction. He knew she loved this island, and he had gone and well destroyed some of it.

"No," Melly whispered. "I've never..."

Her voice trailed off as she caught sight of the forest. "Gods...Hvit, did you...?"

Of course he had. She closed her eyes and sighed, lowering her head to his back. She felt horribly guilty, rather than angry- he'd done this because she wasn't strong enough to defend herself.

"Yes..." Hvit murmured, "I did. I did what I had to, and much more."

He slithered between blackened tree stumps, the dark scar on the forest stretching maybe a mile before them, though it was only a hundred meters or so across. Some of the trunks fell to dust on his scales, marring them like a black paint. His feet soon became stained with the ash, but he still trudged on.

"I hope you will forgive me."

Another sigh and Melly clenched her eyes shut, hiding her face against his shoulder. "Of course I forgive you," she murmured. "This was my fault, not yours. And you saved me."

"Then I thank you," He rumbled quietly, "Not many would do the same. I am afraid that this part of your forest may never be as lush as it once was, at least not in the near future..." Hvittraak let the silence hang and hardened his tone for his next words, though he didn't intend to do so, "I think that when you are healed sufficiently so that you can take proper care of yourself, I will leave. This place is not a welcome one with me here. And though I have done good, namely in saving you, I have done much more harm and not just to the environment."

His steps slowed, and he turned back to stare with one giant eye, saying, "I have hurt you, little bird, without trying to. I do not wish this to become a trend."

The dragoness tensed slightly, but even that small movement made her body ache. She forced herself to raise her head, blinking at him.

"...Okay." She didn't want him to go, her heart twisted at the thought of being alone again- but she didn't know what she could say to him that would convince him to stay.

With a soft breath, she gathered her strength and stretched her neck up to nuzzle his cheek. "It's okay, you know," she murmured quietly. "I know you didn't...you had good reasons."

She sighed and dropped her head back to his shoulders. "It's okay..."

Hvit glanced away as she pressed her snout into his cheek. He unconsciously clenched his jaw and began to whip the tip of his tail back and forth.

You don't deserve this.

He sneered at his own thoughts, but on some deeper level, he agreed with them. They were his own sentiments after all... truthfully he didn't want to leave his newly found companion as much as she didn't want him to leave, but he saw no other way.

Not sure what else she could do, at least for now, Melisma started up a soft, rumbling purr, pressing herself a little closer to his body so the vibration traveled easily between them in an unconscious gesture meant to soothe or comfort.

Forty more minutes of walking, trudging truly, across the juxtaposed lush jungles and ashen fields and finally, they came near to the ruins. There was a problem, however, and that was how to get in. The entrances were all aerial... except for her treasure hoard. They'd have to take their humanoid forms to access it from there, and even then flight would be necessary. It would be easier to carry her and fly in that shape, but Hvit was unsure if she could sustain a transformation.

"Little bird," He called back to her, "Do you think you could change your shape, or shall we sleep outside your home tonight?"

"Mm?" Melly had begun to doze, and as she lifted her head sleepily, blinking, it took her a few moments to puzzle through his words. "Oh. Oh!"

She nodded. "I can shift, just give me a moment." With a soft, pained grunt, she slid down his side to the ground. Her legs shook and she stumbled, but managed to stay mostly upright. At least, until she closed her eyes and willed her form to change, bracing herself for a sharp pain.

What she got was far more than she anticipated. Her dislocated wing popped and cracked and jerked and she cried out, evey sore and battered muscle in her body protesting the change of shape. She staggered forward and her knees trembled, then gave out, sending her to the ground. The cuts that covered her body burned, two reopening, and she panted as she braced her palms on the ground in front of her.

With a small whimper, she gasped, "I'm not- not changing back...any time soon."

Hvit watched Melly's transformation with a wince, and then alarm. He changed shape beside her and quickly moved to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come now, little bird," he said, "Can you stand? If you can do that, I can carry you the rest of the way."

"I- I think so." She took a breath and pushed herself up to her feet with a wince and and a quiet whimper that she quickly tried to swallow.

Without firnor feathers, the gashes that now decorated her body were much clearer, as were the dark bruises that edged the torn flesh. She glanced down at herself with another wince, arms wrapping loosely around her middle.

He quite literally swept her off her feet, taking her knees out with one forearm and bracing her wings with the other. Hvit, much taller and stronger than his feminine companion, easily lifted the girl and began to flap, careful not to jostle his precious cargo.

The flight was short, but then it needn't have been long. After a quick vertical ascension, they were soon walking through Melisma's hoard again but this time under very different circumstances.

Melly squeaked, then reached up to wrap her arms around his shoulders. It wasn't really that she thought he'd drop her, it was more for her own comfort than anything else.

"Thank you," she murmured on a sigh, letting her head come to rest against his chest.

"It is the least I could do. Where would you prefer me to put you down? Mind that you might not move from this spot for some time," Hvit told her, winding through the piles of treasure and literature towards her small resting room. Unless she preferred something else, he was already sure of her answer. Still, he didn't know her full preference, so he asked nonetheless.

"No." Melly tightened her grip a bit, unconsciously. "No, just...not yet."

Hvit frowned, creasing his brow, and he asked, "What do you mean, little bird? The sooner I set you down the sooner you can begin to heal. Is that not your wish?"

He stopped walking, slowing to a halt amid the mounds of her possessions. Even with her weight, and light she was not, he could hold her there for much, much longer if need be.

"I know."

She was quiet for a long moment, then sighed and relaxed her arms from around him. "I'm sorry. I just..."

Liked being close to him. But she couldn't say that, so she kept her mouth shut, eyes downcast. "You- you can put me down," she murmured after a few moments.

Hvit squinted skeptically at her for a second. After a quick look, he continued on his way.

"What is wrong, little bird?" he inquired, "Is there something bothering you?"

The journey to her loft was a fast one, and before long he had her lounging on some carefully arranged pillows, himself sat comfortably beside her. He'd also scrounged up some of the fruit from the day before and now had been peeling an orange for her.

"You know that you can tell me, right?"

"I- I know I can," Melly muttered, relaxing back onto her pillows with a relieved sigh. Her body ached and she closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and letting the citrusy smell of the orange wash over her.

"I'm just not sure if I should," she murmured after a moment.

"Take a chance," He encouraged. Hvit tilted his head at her, and finished peeling the orange. Pulling a wedge from the rest, he popped it into his mouth, then took another for her and held it out.

Carefully, she took the wedge and placed in on her tongue, using the excuse of chewing to buy some time to think.

"I...like it," she sighed eventually. "Being close to you, how we were. I- I know what you said before, and I'm not trying to...to change your mind or anything. But I like being close to you..."

She shrugged, looking down.

Hvit picked apart the orange piece by piece. It was a long time before he spoke again, but when he finally did, he said, "I know. And I understand that, as a sentiment. In fact, I can even agree with you... Trust me. I'd like to stay or have you come with me, but neither of us is compatible with each other's environments."

He gave her a solemn look, "And, honestly, I'm not sure what would happen emotionally if we continued to live in proximity."

"I know."

Her heart ached with it, but she knew he was probably right. She glanced up. "Really, Hvit. I understand, I just..."

She sighed and looked away again. "Could you- could you at least come visit, sometimes? Or I could go to the mainland," she offered quietly.

Hvittraak's expression softened, empathy surfacing yet again for this young dragonness. She had time after time pulled his affection for her out of the cold shell he had cultivated for himself.

"Of course, little bird. I would not forget you... I thought that maybe you could return with me for a time, and mingle with dragons closer to your own age? It would do well for you to experience time with your peers."

Melly glanced up, a little startled by the offer. "You- you think I could?"

She bit her lip and brushed a lock of rainbow hair behind her ear, ignore the way the movement pulled at her cuts and bruises. "What if... I mean, I must seem so odd to them. I wouldn't know what to do or say..."

She trailed off, feeling suddenly very young and small.

"I believe you would fit into the right crowd just fine." He told her, "I have a nephew, a great-grand-nephew to be honest, who I think might enjoy your company. He is just over a thousand years old, I think. Imagine a smaller, younger me, who is perhaps less magnificent and majestic."

Melly giggled a bit despite herself and arched an eyebrow. "Does that make him more or less modest?" she teased quietly, eyes glinting.

Her expression faded slightly and she leaned back into the pillows again with a sigh. "I...think I'd like to meet more of your kind. Our kind. But I don't know when I'll be able to fly again."

"Modesty is a trait learned," Hvit said, "and then subsequently forgotten. When you are healed, however far away that may be, I will take you to my kin."

She chuckled again and ducked her head, allowing her smile to fade slightly. "Thank you, Hvit. For everything."

Hvittraak laid lazily on the highest point of the ruins that also supported his weight. Unfortunately, that was not a very tall building. He'd gone regularly there in his off time over the last month and a half, as a way of enjoying the outside but not being too far from his charge at any given time. Now, he was heavy-lidded but listening for the slightest of calls from within the ruined temple.

Melly was going stir-crazy. She needed to fly, to just get out.

Which hadn't really been an option for her lately, Hvit was far too good a guardian, she couldn't even sneak off to test her healing wing in recent weeks. But it didn't stop her from trying.

Paws soft on the ancient stone, she wove her way through her hoard toward the gaps between the pillars, trying to wriggle through as soundlessly as possible.

Melly was very quiet. Hvit couldn't deny her that. But she was also a living rainbow, and he was perched to keep a good eye on the most likely exits that he knew of. He'd pressed her for all the entrances into the ruins in the first couple of days, and though she'd given him quite the list, he wasn't sure if she'd confided them all.

"Where are you going, Little Bird?" Hvit called in a low rumble, raising his head to give away his position. He'd wanted to see her expression when she knew she'd been caught.

The dragoness gave a rather indignant squeak as she froze, glancing up at him with an expression that could only be described as a pout.

"I was going to get a drink?" she offered lamely, head slightly lowered and tail swishing gently in a primal gesture of supplication. Her body language had grown more pronounced in the time they'd lived together, more draconic and less human.

"You have water in the temple," Hvit countered, raising a ridged eyebrow. He could understand her desire for the air, but he wouldn't allow her to indulge it. It could set the both of them back months, and all for a momentary bliss that would ultimately be bittersweet.

"Can you lift your wing?" He asked her, "Give me your full range of motion, and perhaps I will let you 'get a drink'."

Her head lowered further and she offered a pining little peep of protest, then suddenly perked up again. Speeding her wings, she only gave a small wince as she gave an over-exaggerated flapping motion and rotated them back and forth a bit. She was stiff, but mobile.

Hvit gave Melly a scrutinizing glare, but eventually gave out. He laid his head back onto his forelegs, and closed his eyes. For several minutes he sat there, waiting, thinking.

He finally opened his eyes again, and with a sigh, said, "No high flying, and don't exert yourself. Be back in an hour."

With a high, musical call Melly trolled a joyful, "Thank you!" and bounded away into the jungle. The sides of the temple were too precarious to climb in her current state, even she recognized that. She was aiming to find some higher ground to use for a takeoff.

Hvit watched her leap away, and for a second considered staying on the rock. It was warm. It was comfortable. But she was about to try and fly for the first time since breaking her wing, and was trying to do so by jumping off of a cliff.

He sighed, and reluctantly slunk down off of his tanning bed and loped after the smaller Dragoness.

Melly wasn't exactly planning on jumping off a cliff. The ground tilted steadily upward the further inland she got, and eventually she reached a break in the trees where a river cut through, offering a path to the sky and a steeper incline.

Hvit padded behind her, surprised at her speed. The little one could get around if she really wanted to. His lazy day was to be postponed longer than anticipated, it seemed.

"Little Bird," Hvit called, "If you sprint the entire way, you'll have no energy for the actual flight. I don't want you exhausted and trying to fly at the same time. Not now, not ever, if I have my way. It's a dangerous combination."

The little dragoness chirped and twisted to give him an almost exasperated look.

Nothing like living with the older dragon constantly harping on her to cure her little infatuation. At least she hoped.

"I know, I know," she grumbled impatiently, wriggling her whole body and stretching her wings again. "C'mon, I want to get in the air!"

Hvit sighed again, finding himself becoming fond of the human expression. It was quite useful when one became exasperated. It was definitely something he hadn't learned from his kin, who either ignored or swatted at you when you got on their nerves. Of course it had been many, many years since any drake had done such a thing to him.

"How long until your ailment is healed?" Hvit called to Melly, "By your own measurement?"

"Hrrmm." Melly stretched her wing cautiously, slowing her pace some. She winced as muscles long unused flexed and stretched, then tried again. She still didn't have a wide range of motion, but at least she could move it.

"A few more days if I exercise? Carefully," she added, her crest drooping a bit as she realized she really was just going to make the whole process take longer if she was over-eager.

"How about," Hvit suggested, "I take you on my back, and I fly a quick sweep around the island?"

He'd already lowered his shoulders to allow her to scramble on, knowing she would take his offer if there was no other alternative. She may have been foreign, but she was still a dragoness, and if this was the only way she could get back in the air, she would do it.

Melly grumbled quietly, protesting that she wasn't actually a hatchling, but it was more for the form of the thing than anything else, as she was already sidling toward him.

She relented and climbed up onto his back, tucking herself along his spine between his wings and letting her tail swish back and forth behind her. "Okay, ready," she chirped, fidgeting a bit in her anxiety to get into the air.

"Do not scratch my back, little bird," Hvit warned. Melly's claws had grown long and sharp in her torpor, and though she had somewhat maintained them on the stone floors of her ruined keep, she was not so groomed as he would have liked a passenger to be. It wasn't too uncomfortable, but it wasn't exactly peachy either.

"Get comfortable," He said before abruptly launching into the air, his powerful hind legs gouging the earth and propelling them nearly eighty feet vertically by themselves alone. An accompanied flap during ascension and they were off, the clouds approaching at breakneck speed.

"I won't, I won't-" Her voice broke off in a squeak and she pressed herself closer to his back as he launched them into the air, scrabbling with her claws for a moment before she remembered his warning.

Once they were in the air though, she settled, peering out over his shoulder. A contented thrum rose in her chest and she nuzzled the back of his neck. "Thank you!"

Hvittraak broke the cloud line in a flourishing spin, his wingtips fluttering like a cape caught by a gust of wind. He was a lord of the clouds, and the sky his aethereal domain. The adrenaline of flight paired with the ease of muscle memory allowed their ascent a certain level of complacency, but Hvit was in the mood for a sudden display of skill. He was very vain, after all.

The anticipation of the drop rushed through him, and in the apex of the climb time seemed to slow. His wings became tense, his eyes widened and pupils dilated before sliding into a razor thin slit. His tail straightened then curled inward slightly and even his claws flexed unconsciously. Then it hit, and gravity took him. He began to fall, but three voracious flaps sped their descent to much faster than terminal velocity. He angled his wings as to catch the air and they started spiralling. A corkscrew of dull white and brilliant hues glittered as it sped towards the earth at a breakneck pace.

Surely, if they hit the ground, they would break far more than their necks. But Hvit wouldn't let that occur, and at a lofty three thousand feet, he abruptly flared his wings wide, catching his (relatively) small body in their draft. Stopped as though by a godly pinch, they hung for a second in the air, unmoving. Then they began to fall slowly, progressing into a lazy glide. Hvit would hit the ground, yes, but in a few minutes rather than seconds.

Melly had never actually gasped in this form, but the breath was dragged from her lungs as they suddenly dropped, plummeting toward the earth.

Unable to even cry out, she rapped her legs as tight around Hvitt as she could manage and tucked her head into the back of his neck in an effort to block some of the tearing wind, wings folded tight against her back and eyes narrowed to slits.

The sudden break from the dive jolted her slightly and she had to scramble a bit to stay on his back, but she was laughing, a high, chiming sound that floated musically through the air.

"Show-off," she accused, but there was certainly a good deal of fondness in her tone. The gem in her brow glittered almost cheerfully, seeming to reflect her suddenly improved spirits.

"Perhaps," Hvit suggested lazily, as he began to bank ever so slowly, aiming for the ground. Fatigue began to take hold of him... but not fatigue of the body. Fatigue of the mind is what plagued him.

He would close his eyes and see snow-capped mountains, feel - more fleeting than a heartbeat - the sharp winds of home. Crisp, fresh, and on top of the world. Where he wanted to be, but not where he was. Because he was here. Because she was here, and so he was here... for her. But it was time to leave, to return, and in that moment he promised himself to take his next window of opportunity with the same ambitious drive that had taken him on the beach months earlier.

"Oh, here." Melly spread her wings and, once they were close enough to the ground, sprang off his back so she could coast gently to the ground, relieving some of the weight he had to carry. She ran a few paces once her paws touched earth, then twisted her head back to look at him.

He seemed...off. "Are you alright?" she asked softly after a few moments.