Hvittraak lounged lazily on the peak of a mountain in a blizzard, the weather affecting him as much as the rain affected a fish. His breath fogged up in great clouds, a sauna of heat clustering around his nostrils. This was living. Gods he loved the snow. It was like a fluffy blanket of chill on his scaly skin, and he'd missed it in that mine he'd been sleeping under for all of those years.
A large, reptilian eye cracked open, revealing a bone white orb with a lighter slitted point in the centre. His view extended across the peaks and down the valleys. Up here he was a god, and none could sneak up on him, none could challenge his might. None. And yet, some could disturb him. His ears perked up and he raised his great head from it's perch. Something was amiss, someone was here who traditionally shouldn't be. He scanned the horizon, and then the valleys below. Nothing. How very odd. It was only then that he looked up, to the skies, and saw very far away, a speck. A colourful, flailing speck. He beat his mighty wings, and with two flaps he was raised two hundred feet in the air, and angled towards his target. This day would be a tad different it seemed.
She'd never felt a storm so powerful in all her two centuries.
Serves me right for flying out over the ocean when I saw storm clouds, she thought vaguely as the raging winds tumbled her head over tail. Her wings beat desperately against the gales, and she keened as she felt feathers ripped from their pinions.
She was on the mainland, she knew that much- the storm had lasted two days, starting out over the ocean and sweeping her along its path. She seemed to be approaching a range of mountains- at least, that's what she could see every so often when she managed to maintain a right-side up position for longer than a moment.
Melisma wasn't used to feeling helpless, and it was not something she enjoyed. She keened again as thunder crackled in the air around her.
Hvit gauged perhaps four kilometres between them, the speck and he, so he decided to let himself be known. Four kilometres was nothing to his roar, and as he loosed it, it undercut the howl of the wind and echoed across the mountain peaks. Unless this flailing thing was deaf it would hear that.
Unlike the much smaller and struggling creature, Hvit was a Mountain Wyrm of old - as such, the mountains were his domain. He rode the winds as a boat would cut the waves, zigzagging through the gale and flying upwards, soon about a kilometre away from the beast (who seemed to be a feathery dragon herself) and two upwards. He fully intended to dive this thing out of the sky, for their own good. The ungainly wails that she was making on a regular basis began to annoy him, and so he decided the time was now, and tucked his wings in close to his ribs.
The wind ripped at his tail and filled his nostrils as he sped downwards at breakneck speeds. Once he hit terminal velocity, he sped his approach with a flap that rocketed him forwards even faster. He was now only one hundred metres from his target, and extended his claws to receive her.
The roar seemed to vibrate through her very bones and Melisma gasped, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound.
But there was too much- the rain, the thunder, the wind, she could barely orient herself, let alone figure out what was happening around her. Her wings flailed and she gave a squawk like a massive bird of prey.
"H-help!" Whatever could make a sound like that had to be big, right? Could probably navigate this storm. "Please, help me!"
No sooner had the words left her when she was careening into a pair of open claws. She gasped, suddenly stationary as the world seemed to twist and writhe around her. Utterly stunned, her head curled down on her sinuous neck and her wings wrapped around her body as much as they could in a feathery cocoon.
Hvit landed on his back feet in a snowbank, causing what might have been an avalanche. Oops. Either way, a colourful feathery thing that reminded him of a parrot was in his claws, and it was kinda freaking out.
"Steady yourself little bird. The wind no longer takes you." His booming voice was never soft, however hard he tried to make it. His size simply denied him that. The mountain he had decided to settle one was home to a few mountain hermits, and quite a few now abandoned housings.
He twisted his neck around to the feathery bundle, "Can you take the form of a biped, little bird? It may come in handy to escape this storm."
Panting heavily, Melly stared up at him. Her feathers twitched and she shivered- she was certainly not built for this cold.
A biped? What- oh!
She was so disoriented it took several moments for the booming voice of the dragon that held her- she could see he was another dragon now- to actually make sense. Nodding quickly, she attempted to disentangle herself from his claws as she took her human shape.
"Storms and crows!" she yelped as fur and feathers melted away, leaving her in her fragile human skin. She wrapped her colorful wings around herself in an attempt to preserve some warmth. "Wh-where am I? It's freezing!"
Hvit set her down near the door of a small building made of stone, and himself went through a similar transformation, but much more violently. It didn't pain him, but it looked like it should. His tail fused with his spine and his digitigrade legs snapped forward. His skull delongated and his ribs straightened, all of them shrinking until he was in humanesque form. Even then he was much larger than she was, but now not nearly so large was the difference.
"Shall we?" He asked as he opened the door to the hermit house
Melly stared up at him with wide eyes as he took his humanoid shape- she'd never even met another dragon, let alone seen one transform.
Was that what it looked like when she did it? She winced internally.
"Um...thank you." She ducked her head to him and scurried into the house. Looking back at her rescuer, she let loose a barrage of question. "Where are we? Who are you? Thank you for helping me, but oh, why did you? Why are you so big? Do you live here?"
Hvit closed the door behind them, shutting out the chill he so loved. But this little bird was not built for the cold, so for now, he would abide.
He managed to get out a, "You're welcome," before he was overwhelmed by the flood of questions which he proceeded to try and sort through, "These are the Thunderblacks, my home, and I am Hvittraak Vaengi'Katleinn, Great White Drake of the peaks. I believe that answers three of you questions at once. As for why I saved you, well, if we dragons do not look out for eachother, who will?"
In all honesty it was simple curiosity that had spurred him on, but he had learned long ago that it was a benevolent disposition that led others to be trusting, and therefore more easily swayed in the future. A simple trick, but one that worked, "As for my size, I am a dragon. I am old, and I have grown. Surely your dam or sire were of a similar size, if perhaps not just as large, little hatchling?"
Melly blinked, then shrugged, allowing her wings to open up slightly. She was still cold, but at least now the chill no longer felt like it was biting into her bones.
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I've never met them. Do you really live in this listtle house? Wouldn't that mean you must spend all your time like that?" She gestured to his human form.
Hvit frowned, but caught on, "Oh no, this place is not mine. It's owner is far from here, perhaps no longer alive. I live in an old dwarven mine, several kilometres from here, but you seemed cold, so I decided to land here."
He took notice of her nakedness, but didn't think much of it. Human physiology simply wasn't attractive to him, at least not in the way it would be to a bipedal creature. He did however recognize how the cold would affect her, and a fire sprung to life in his hands. He sat cross-legged, and set the remnants of a fire pit alight. It wouldn't last too long, but hopefully it would be enough for now.
"Oh!" She gasped and practically threw herself down before the fire. "Thank you," she said brightly, smiling up at him. She allowed her wings to relax, sprawling from her back rather haphazardly.
"I don't think I quite caught your name," she said sheepishly, looking up to him again. "Its was...rather long. I'm Melisma, by the way."
"Call me Hvittraak, or Hvit. It is nice to meet you Melisma." He lounged now, his wings spreading out from under his dragon skin cloak, and stretching the entirety of the one room house.
"So what is a tropical dragon doing this far north." He inquired, genuinely curious, " The cold certainly doesn't suit you."
She blushed and ducked her head, wings ruffling in embarrassment. "I, um... I got caught in a storm a few days ago. Stupid thing to do- I didn't realize how fierce your winds are on the mainland."
"I'd say the tropical winds get worse," he commented, "But you also don't have mountain updrafts, at least not nearly as strong as here. That's probably what caught you off guard, if it were anything."
He studied the dragoness, taking in every detail. He'd never seen such a colourful, but feathery dragon, and yet that was indeed what she was, no mistake there. He approached another subject, "You've never met your dam and sire? Were you stolen as a hatchling?" His tone lowered, "Did you give them hell for taking you?"
"Hm?" She blinked up at him, then shook her head quickly. "Oh no, nothing like that! They were- well, I think something bad must have happened to them." Her brow furrowed and she added a little softer, "That or they just abandoned me..."
She was quiet a moment, then shook herself out of it and flashed another smile. "My Papa found my egg. There wasn't anyone around, at least not when he looked, so he thought I must be a dud and took me home." A little shrug. "But- well, then I hatched."
She smiled again, shifting a little closer to the fire. Her eyes flicked over him curiously. "You're very big," she told him plainly, as though he might not know that. "Do all mainland dragons get as big as you?"
Hvit smiled, amused, and answered, "With time, most dragons get to be my size. Regardless of whence they came. You probability will, given you grow in the right conditions." He looked her up and down, trying to gauge her age, but in her human form, he couldn't distinguish a thing. He really could only tell children from adults, and adults from elders.
"How old are you, exactly?" He asked.
"Two hundred twenty-" she replied promptly, then paused. "Um...no. No, two hundred and...thirty? Thirty-six?" She offered him a sheepish sort of smile. "Somewhere around there. I'm not always good with keeping track."
Her head tilted. "What about you?"
"Hum..." he thought back towards the days of his hatching, and then the millennia under the earth, and then the last two or three millennia.
"Perhaps around 10,400, or so. I too have lost count over the years, but I did sleep for quite a while underneath a mountain, so... yes, about that."
Melly's eyes widened. "Um...wow." She shook her head. "I- I knew we were long-lived, I guess I just didn't realize how long."
"Yes well," Hvit stoked the already dying flame, and elaborated on the subject, "I've never known a dragon to die of old age. Ever. Disease, Bipeds, other dragons, yes... but never old age. We are, little bird, more or less immortal. It would be wise of you to make friends among your own kin, for all other races eventually die, and you will run through a great many companions before you join them."
Melly's expression changed, grief flashing through her eyes as she bit her lip and looked away. "Yes," she murmured, for once actually sounding like a being with two centuries under her wings rather than a bubbly teenager. "I know."
She cleared her throat and ran a hand through her rainbow hair, glancing up at him. "What about you then? Surely you must be lonely out in these cold mountains by yourself." She shivered dramatically, glaring at the door as though that would raise the temperature outside.
"When you get to my age, little bird, sometimes solitude is better than any company one can offer. Whereas it may be the opposite for you, finding being alone tolerable only in short periods, being around the hustle and bustle of little people with little agendas wears me down, and I tire quickly of them and their kind." Hvit rumbled to her, but also as if to himself, "These mountains also provide a perfect environment for soul searching, and when one has been all over and seen all there is to see, where else is there to look but in?"
The younger dragon tilted her head and got to her feet. Her wings ruffled and folded loosely against her back as she eyed him curiously.
Little bird. She liked that, for some reason; though she never would have called herself "little" before.
"You really think you've seen everything?" she asked- not a challenge, simple curiosity in her tone. Her eyes lit up and her feathers fluttered in a happy little shiver. "You hadn't seen me before today. That means there must be some things you haven't seen." She stated it triumphantly, eyes gleaming.
Hvit's head lolled to the side, and he gave the colourful dragoness an exasperated look.
"Well, certainly not everything, little bird," he said, "That would be impossible, but at the same time, if you've seen one shiny fish you've seen them all. You are correct, however, and you are also a living testament to my endless ignorance."
"Oh!" Her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. "I didn't mean- it just seems like...well, if you're always by yourself, it seems like you might miss out on some things..." She shrugged and ducked her head, playing absently with the ends of her hair.
Hvit raised an eyebrow, and a grin tugged at the ends of his lips. His eyes drifted across her form, and he absentmindedly wondered why she was standing.
"Such as?" He asked, an expectant look playing on his features.
"Well..." Melly bit her lip, thinking. She shifted her weight absently from foot to foot, sort of swaying on the spot. "Family, for one thing," she said after a moment.
Wide, bright eyes blinked up at him. "Don't you miss having family around?"
"Little bird, my family lives in the same mountains I do. My immediate family died long, long ago, but I have cousins who inhabit these hills as well." He thought for a second then continued, "I'm only about thirty kilometres from a second cousin of mine, and he's about double your age."
She frowned. "But- but they're not with you? You just...sleep. All by yourself?" She shook her head and huffed, wrapping her arms around herself. "That just seems so lonely."
"Well...yes." He said, for lack of anything else, "But then I meet people who interrupt my solitude, such as yourself. They're not unwelcome interruptions, but they happen. Slices of life that I get to see, simply because I was here, sleeping, and not elsewhere."
Melly huffed. This seemed like an argument she probably wasn't going to win. "Alright. I suppose I was lucky you were here, at least."
Her eyes suddenly widened a bit. "Oh..." She looked to the door, then back to him. "I- I don't know where I am," she seemed to suddenly fully realize. "I don't know how to get home."
"I can accompany you back to wherever you came from. You couldn't have blown too far now could you?" He was confident he could get her back to whatever island she had made her home on, "Where are you from, little bird?"
"Yoreiq," she replied quickly. "I'm from Yoreiq." She rubbed at her arms and stared at him balefully. "I- I'm not even sure which direction it is from here..."
"Yoreiq..." he stared off into the fire as he pondered he location. It was far enough for a long flight, and one he wasn't up for immediately. He turned back to the little dragoness, and stood up.
"Let me sleep, and then eat. I can fly you by morning."
"Oh, thank you!"
Without thinking, she bounded forward and threw her arms around him. She was so little compared to him she only managed to really get her arms around his waist. She beamed, wings fluttering happily behind her.
Hvittraak wasn't expecting the sudden show of affection, and stepped back as she effectively tackled him. After a second, he returned the gesture, albeit a tad awkwardly, including his wings alongside his arms.
Taking that as acceptance of her hug, Melly beamed and nuzzled into him, purring like a cat as she curved her wings around her own arms a bit to press lightly against his sides.
"You're warm," she noted happily, perfectly content to use him against the unfamiliar chill of the mountains. "Is that why you don't get cold up here?"
"No," he replied, then said simply, "Thick skin."
After a minute, he released her, and knelt to the fire, the embers now low yet again. He let loose another round of flame, but he knew that it would only burn bright for a short time afterward. He then laid upon the ground next to it, and watched the fire eat away at the kindled branches within.
She released him easily and settled down in front of the fire, drawing her knees up to her chest and sweeping her wings forward to wrap around herself.
"So, do we stay here for the night?" she asked, head tilted.
"If only for you, little bird." He replied solemnly, and stole a glance to the closed door, or rather to the gale he knew was beyond it. But he had a guest, and so by their needs he would abide, even if only for know.
"Oh." Melly worried her lip and tilted her head the other way. "Well- I don't want you to be...inconvenienced because of me. We could...go back to your home, if that's better? I'll take my true form, I'll be warm enough!" she chirped.
"No, that's alright. I intended to sleep on the mountain's peak tonight, but I doubt you'll be warm enough for that all night."
He sprawled out on his back, starfish, except for one of his wings, which was up against a wall. The other lay across the floor, and with it he beckoned Melly over as one would with a finger.
She hesitated a moment, not sure if she read his invitation right, then crawled forward and let herself flop down next to him, curling into his side and draping one wing over her body so it fell a little across him.
He could always tell her to move if he didn't want her there.
The purring started up again and she snuggled closer, the warmth of the fire a pleasant tingle at her back.
She was right, in a way. He'd missed company. But he'd also learned long ago that relationships with humans were short and fiery, so much to experience crammed into so little time. That was something one could only experience so many times, without feeling the pain of letting them die.
The wings that had been adorning the wall fell across the both of them, and he curled inwards slightly, as he did even in reptilian form when he slept. He'd missed it, but here it was again. Perhaps this time would be different.
Melly's purring picked up as he curled in and she smiled, already starting to drift off.
She'd learned a little bit about her species in the time since Raki's death- tracking down the appropriate scrolls and temple writings hadn't been easy, but she thought it was worth it. They were social creatures, living in what she'd translated as a "flight".
Once upon a time she'd even seen a carving on a temple wall, depicting colorful feathered dragons all nestled together, wings overlapped and tails intertwined. Peaceful. A family. The image had sparked an ache in her chest she hadn't entirely understood, a longing for something she'd never experienced.
For a moment, she could pretend she had that, thousands of miles from home.
Light shone in rays from the cracks between the wooden roof. It was one such ray, positioned over Hvit's eye, that awoke him. The fire had died long ago, and yet he still felt warmth. It was then that he remembered his guest, and found her in his little human arms.
Both of those things were odd to him, for different reasons, but strangest of all, was that upon further exploration, he found himself in a very intimate position with the young dragoness. And she was nude. He didn't remember anything past falling asleep, and he hoped that truly that was all that had happened.
Though she slept deeply, Melly had always been sensitive to small changes in her surroundings. She frowned when a small beam of light touched the corner of her eye and arched her back in a stretch, almost flopping herself in her host's lap unconsciously.
She yawned and make a chirping sort of sound like a waking songbird and blinked her eyes open. "Where...?"
Oh. Right. She blinked again, then twisted her head to smile at Hvit, cocking her head to the side so her rainbow hair dusted across his chest.
"Morning."
"Morning,"
He sat up, only a little, but took her with him, so that she sat on his lap. He was somewhat amused by the difference in their size, even in humanoid form. His hands fell behind him as he stretched out his wings, flaring them wide behind his back, almost like a cape in the wind. When sufficiently stretched, he shot her a confused but unsure look and he asked, "I remember sleep, but nothing else. I am confident in my memory, but refresh me anyway. It was simply sleep that we shared, yes?"
Melisma tucked herself into the curve of his body easily as he sat up, stretching her own wings and yawning again, still feeling a little dreamy.
His words jerked her back to the present and she stared at him for a moment, wide eyed, then giggled.
"Yes, we just slept," she assured him. Her head tilted. "I was...rather under the impression you would think I was too young for you."
Though she'd admit the thought had crossed her sleepy mind once or twice the previous night. She'd never met another dragon, let alone a male. Whether or not he was exactly like her, she'd had a few twinges that seemed to be urging action.
Perhaps she'd reached breeding age? She honestly wasn't sure- she'd never really considered such things before.
"Perhaps you are, just a tad, but that hasn't stopped similar scenarios from happening." He said, remembering a particular dragon he knew, "Usually, in my experience, an Alpha Male will have much younger mates. Usually it's just personal preference, but the young ones are preferred over older females, at least in the mountains near mine."
"Really?" Melly tilted her head. "That doesn't seem fair. What happens to the older females?" She screwed up her nose, frowning a bit.
"They care for the children, usually," he replied, "The younger provide, protect and procreate, and the older members of a clan would care for the children, and pass on their wisdoms."
She snorted. "That's silly. Anyone who wants to nest should lay and care for eggs."
She frowned, not sure what had spurred her to say that. "I mean- that's what makes sense to me." Her head tilted again and she looked him up and down.
"Do you have a clutch, somewhere?"
"I went to sleep under the mine during my prime breeding age." He told her, "I could now have near any dragoness I desire, but I lack the drive to want one. It just simply isn't a whim to which I bow."
He adjusted himself under her, and crossed his legs, forming a seat more or less.
"In short, no, I've never sired any hatchlings."
"Oh." She settled onto his lap a bit more comfortably, letting her legs sprawl out and over his so her knees were on either side of his hips.
"Did you ever want to? Before?" Her head tilted the other way as she seemed to consider the question herself. "It might be nice to have hatchlings...but it seems like a lot of work."
"That depends on what you consider worth the work. Would they be worth it for you?" He asked, "A relationship and an heir, for years of parenting? I'd say so. It just isn't my current prerogative, and it's not like I have a deadline."
"I suppose that's a good point." She was still having a hard time wrapping her head around just how old he was.
The lack of fire at her back made itself suddenly known when a sharp breeze made it's way into the house and she shivered, wrapping her wings forward around her body.
Hvittraak frowned, and a low rumble began in his throat. He was thinking over how long this tropical bird could stay in the mountains comfortably. He placed the back of his hand on her cheek, gauging the temperature, and his frown deepened.
"Perhaps we should eat and be off soon, little bird," he suggested, concern shaping his thoughts.
"Oh. Yes, probably..." She worried her lower lip, frowning a bit.
If she was being honest, she didn't want to go home quite yet. For the first time she'd met someone like her- not just someone, and incredibly old and obviously knowledgeable someone. She knew he'd leave once he brought her back home, and there was still so much she wanted to know.
She tried to put the thought from her mind and forced a quick smile. "What is there to eat here?"
"Humans, cattle, various game," he listed the items off on his fingers, "dragons, wyverns, and dwarves. Take your pick."
He noticed her odd behaviour, and thought the cold had bothered her. His wings drifted around the both of them, forming a kind of cocoon.
Melisma's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. "No people." In truth, she only ate meat if she had no other option- as seemed to be the case- so the idea of eating a "biped" as he referred to them made her stomach roil.
"Um...what's "cattle"?" she asked curiously. "Is that another kind of animal?" She shifted a little on his lap as his wings wrapped around them, relishing the warmth.
"Cows, little bird. Cows and yaks." He smiled at her naïveté, but could help his sarcasm, "We're a little short of tropical fruit. If you'd like we can feed upon the grass like livestock?"
She pouted at him. "I can eat game," she defended herself. "I just didn't know that word." Her nose wrinkled and she added, "Besides, I can't imagine the grass on these mountains has much value to it. It'd be all dry from the cold."
"Well, at any rate, we should hunt and be off," he said, and gave her a squeeze around the hips, "Off me please."
"Oh, right!" She scrambled off him and got to her feet, shaking her wings out before spreading them to their full extent- no where near his length, but impressive enough- and folding them back against the curve of her spine.
She smiled and nodded to him. "After you."
He stood, and quickly exited the hut, already transforming back into Draconic form. In several seconds, his gargantuan white shape dominated the side of the mountain once again. He loosed a roar, so loud it shook the top layer of snow from the peak, and small snowballs began to tumble down from the tip of them mountain.
He ruffled his wings, and stretched them in much a similar fashion to Melly, only now ten times larger. When he was done showing off, he hung his neck low, and peeked into the little hut for his companion.
Melly ran to the door and watched him shift, still fascinated by observing the process from the outside. She smiled when his head lowered and nodded at him, slipping out into the snow.
"Oh! Brr." She shivered and rubbed her arms before arching her wings up over her head and taking her own dragon shape.
Once again it hit home how much smaller she was than her companion as she looked up at him, gold eyes wide and gleaming. She shook a bit of snow off her feathers- at least now she had a fur coat to keep her a little bit warmer- and nodded at him.
"I suppose I'm following you then."
"And up we go," he rumbled, his voice once deep now like muted thunder. He flapped once, then twice, blowing snow across he huts and Melly, but in the same breath climbed two hundred feet into the air. He looked down on the freshly snowed in dragoness, and laughed, a sound like an avalanche of shale.
"Oops."
The younger dragon gave a squawk and tried to dodge the sudden miniature blizzard, but still found herself covered in chilly white powder. She shook herself and jumped into the air, giving a few extra beats of her wings to shake the excess snow off.
"Was that on purpose?" she accused as she flew up under him and then veered leftward to come up beside his head. She was pouting a bit- well, as much as a dragoness could pout- and her colorful coat and feathers still held bits of sparkling white.
"What do you think?" He said, refusing answer. For every one of his flaps, she did so thrice, the sheer size of his wings keeping his afloat for longer than she. He angled his eye towards her, and asked, "How do you prefer your cattle? Raw, or crispy?"
She gave a little roll of her shoulder than made her wings shudder slightly- a shrug. "I usually fire my food, if i have to eat meat," she replied. The chill air made her shiver and she swooped under his body so he blocked most of the wind, angling herself to make sure the back draft from his wings wouldn't send her spinning through the air.
Hvittraak arched his neck downward, to see his smaller companion flitting around beneath him. They flew this way for a few kilometres, down the mountain until Hvittraak stopped, and looked down. He was correct in his halting, for directly below them, lay a field of cattle.
"Eat and be full, little bird. We have long a ways to fly."
Melly eyed the creatures below her curiously, then circled out from under the shelter of her her companion to wing her way over the herd.
"Forgive me, little friend," she muttered, and suddenly dove in a streak of color to the ground. Her feathers aided her in stealth, so the cow she had picked was almost entirely unaware of her presence until she was almost upon it.
Her first blow knocked the animal to the ground, stunning it, and she ended it with a quick, sharp bite to the neck. The rest of the herd had stampeded away from her and she took the opportunity to begin roasting her catch with a thin stream of flame.
Hvit knew that one cow would not satisfy his needs, much less so for a journey, and so he spotted five or so scampering away from the gore that Melly had wrought. He swung in low for a dive, and just 15 metres from the ground flared his wings. He began to glide, and loosed a stream of flame so wide it engulfed an entire cow. As he swung low in the air, his stream of flame roasted the five cattle, and he cut off the stream only to circle back and land near the burnt cow shaped lumps.
"Delicious," he muttered to himself, and licked his chops, before taking an upturned heifer in his jaws and shaking it like a dog, tearing the back half of it off and swallowing it whole. His jaw unlatched, much like a serpent's although it didn't really need to. His maw was large enough that the cow slid down without trouble.
Not usually a meat eater, Melly watched with a combination of awe and horror as Hvit downed his meal. She shook her head and got to work on her own cow, trying to eat as quickly as she could so she wouldn't keep him waiting.
"That's...interesting," she noted slowly as she stripped of large hunks and swallowed them. "Different, certainly." She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the meal.
"Do you enjoy your meal?" He asked with some difficulty, as he was still chewing on the rump roast of his second to last cow. But hey, who said dragons had table manners. He lay down, a great thud as all of his 60 some tonnes shook the ground upon landing. He continue doing to gnaw the leg down, all the while watching Melly's procedure.
"A tad...delicate, of you." He commented over the roast.
She stripped off one of her last pieces and tossed it down with a birdlike jerk of her head. "I'm not used to eating meat," she said by way of explanation. She curled up on the ground herself, shuffling her wings a bit before letting them fold neatly against her back.
Hvittraak intended to take a nap while he digested, but didn't think Melly would last in the snow, at least not if another storm hit, as they were wanton to do. Much the same as he had in the hut, he extended a wing and waggled it to and fro, beckoning her over. If he fell asleep, at least his gargantuan warmth would provide.
Melly licked at her mouth to clean away a bit of blood before padding toward him and snuggling against his side.
"Thanks," she chirped, using a hooked claw of her own wing to gently drag his down over her like a blanket.
He grunted in response, and laid down his head upon his forelegs. He began to doze, smoke pouring from his nostrils and for all the world appearing like a guardian of treasure from myth and legend. Before he drifted off entirely, he wrapped his tail around Melly, and his wing, bringing the tip over to his mouth and wedging it in a gap between his teeth. It was something he had done since birth, and wasn't about to give it up now for some guest.
Melisma wriggled around a bit until she was comfortably settled against his side. She was completely encased in his wing, eyes fluttering closed and a few soft chirps and warbles breathing from her as she drifted off evidently quite content.
Hvittraak was kept from sleeping immediately by the twisting, wriggling of Melly getting comfortable, but when she was, he relaxed, and closed his eyes. His scaled eyelids shut with a snickt noise, and his breathing deepened. Soon he was dreaming of flying high, high above the mountain peaks, the clouds around him and the sun his destination. He would fly with the gods.
Melly was evidently a bit of a restless sleeper. She kept pressing closer into her companion's scaly hide in an effort to find warmth, and her feathery wings fluttered against his side every now and then as she seemed to be dreaming.
Hvittraak awoke after one such disturbance, the clawed tip of one of Melly's wings catching a scale as one might catch their clothes on a splinter or nail. It didn't pain him, but was rather annoying and very uncomfortable. He lifted his wing and released his tail.
He brought it around behind him again, and whipped at Melly's flank. It was a light, playful strike, but a strike nonetheless.
The younger dragon came awake with a squawk, flailing her wings and jerking awkwardly to her feet. She snapped at the unknown projectile instinctively and wound up with the tip of Hvit's tail in her mouth, blinking up at him with wide eyes.
Too out of it to quite realize what she'd done, and half convinced she was still dreaming, she growled playfully and gave his tail a light tug.
The pinch of her jaws on his tail gave him a start, but the tug he was ready for, and didn't jump the same. He did however extend his neck so that his muzzle came near her, dug his nose under her belly and flipped her over as easily as a wolf picks up a pup.
In a smaller creature the noise Melly made probably would have been called a squeak. She lay on her back for a moment, tail and legs flailing. When she managed to right herself, she sank into a half crouch and gave another playful growl.
Like a kitten baiting a larger cat, she pounced at him, feinting to his tail before leaping up to try to scramble over his back.
He tried to shake her off, but in lieu of wishing actual harm on his playful combatant, he couldn't do much. He did however twist his neck around to see her, and snorted a jet of smoke at her.
Coughing, Melly slid down off his back to land in a colorful, sooty heap beside him. She shook herself, blurring snow and soot together around her, and sat back on her hind legs and stretched her neck to its full extent in an effort to be closer to eye level with him.
Her eyes glinted happily and she gave a playful chirp before darting in to nuzzle at his neck.
Hvit rolled over onto his back as she nuzzled him, wings spread out and legs up in the air. In this position he stretched, expanding and elongating, his tail going ramrod straight, then swinging back and forth contentedly.
Melly gave another happy little chirp and suddenly scrambled her way up to lay sprawled over his belly.
"I never got todo this," she told him, seeming quite content. "I never had anyone like me to play with when I was a hatchling. Is this what it's like growing up with other dragons?"
"More or less." He said quietly, which was kind of oxymoronic for him, "It's very competitive at first, establishing an order among the siblings, and for food and scraps, and parental attention. But from what I've heard, a lot of that is simply childhood across the species."
"Mm." She kneaded at his chest gently, claws sheathed. "I suppose that's true." She sighed and let her head flop onto her front paws. "Still wish I could've done it myself though, sometimes."
"Well I guess you can enjoy it now," Hvit rumbled, sparing a glance up towards the sleeping dragonness above him.
Melly made another humming sound of recognition in the back of her throat, the sound thrumming through her chest, but she didn't comment.
Much as she wanted to go home, she was finding it more and mores difficult to think about actually leaving. She still had questions- and even little things like this, playful pouncing and tail chasing that she knew she'd miss when she was on her own again.
"Perhaps we should set off now, little bird?" Hvittraak suggested, tilting his gargantuan head, "We shouldn't tarry if we wish to make the flight."
"Oh, right!" She slid off him to land rather gracefully at his side. "Have you eaten enough?" she chirped with a little tilt of her head.
"Enough," he said simply, and righted himself from his upturned position. Steadying himself upon his feet, he flared his wings, but glanced back at Melly, asking, "Have you sated yourself?"
She nodded quickly. "Oh, yes, I'm full." Her wings flared out out, giving a little flutter to dislodge some of the excess snow she'd picked up. Her head cocked to the side. "Ready when you are."
"Then let us be off." He declared, and let Melly take flight first this time, to avoid snowing her in again. Once she had risen above him, he launched himself from the ground, leaving deep gouges where his hind legs sprung from the soft earth. Soon they had climbed many hundreds of feet, and Hvittraak began to fly off in a southwesterly direction. If he was right, the storm had been moving east, and had passed them by, but if he wasn't, they would run into it by the Thunderblack Bay.
Melly kept herself a dozen or so feet above Hvit as they flew this time, finding a pocket of air that was only marginally disturbed when he beat his wings and staying within the safety of it.
"Do you know how far we are from the sea?" she called after a while. "I couldn't keep track in the storm, things were a little...hectic."
"Only about thirty Kilometres. The whole journey is maybe thrice that. Not very far, by any standard." Hvit answered, drawing the lines on a mental map.
"Oh." She huffed. "It certainly felt farther than that when I was being tossed around in that storm," she grumbled, more to herself than him.
"Fret not, little bird. The journey is short, and the hardest part over now. Soon you shall lie back in your nest," he reassured his companion, thinking her words a sign of insecurity.
"Right." Melly ducked a little lower so her paws were almost skimming his back as they flew.
"So surely, little bird, you haven't lived secluded from all of Dragonkind?" Hvittraak asked the smaller dragon above him, "You must know of some things."
"Oh sure!" she chirped brightly. "I've done lots of reasearch."
Her tone dipped a bit, mellow notes coloring her voice. "I...haven't really been able to find much, though. Mostly old carvings and such in ruined temples. Not a lot of hard facts, y'know?"
"Hmm..." Hvitt rumbled, and spared a glance upward, "Is there anything you'd like to know? We'll be flying for quite some time, now would be the best opportunity. I can try and answer to the best of my ability."
Melly blinked.
Anything she wanted to know?
She laughed and gave her head a little shake. "Oh, I think I have too many questions to pick one!" she exclaimed after a moment, the ruff along her neck fluffing out as she shook her head again. "Well- have you ever met another dragon like me? Without scales and such, I mean."
"Feathered dragons, yes. None of your colour, nor singularly feathered. That to me is unique. I have also seen dragons entirely scaleless. Leathery skin lies beneath these scales, apparently," he elaborated, delving into his memory for the answers this little dragoness seeked. He enjoyed this, really... He would miss it when he returned here. Maybe he wouldn't return immediately.
"Really?" She did an excited little backflip, unable to contain herself. True, it seemed that Hvit wouldn't be able to tell her more about her own kind, but it was fascinating to learn anything about other dragons.
"Well then...do you hoard? Almost all the carving and scrolls I've found mention hoards, and I like to collect things, but do all dragons do it?"
"I've a sizeable amount of dwarven-worked metal and rubies back at my mine. It's one of the reasons I chose it." He explained, "I'd say most hoard something or other. Shiny things. We're like magpies, honestly."
"Hmm." She turned that over in her mind. "I have a few shiny things. Probably not as much as you lot on the mainland though- there isn't a whole lot of metal working on Yoreiq."
"You should have said so," he berated, "I could have gifted you something from my mounds of treasure. I have much and I think not that one trinket missing will do any harm."
"Oh, no! I don't mind. I like my collection, there's a few sparkly bits in it." She let herself alight on his back for a moment so she could nuzzle his shoulder in gratitude. "Thank you for the thought though."
"Simple courtesy, little bird." He replied, "A kind guest deserves a kind send off, even if the host flies with them. It is a matter of hospitality."
He arched his neck back in pride, attempting a regal pose whilst both flying and carrying a passenger.
Melly giggled and nuzzled into him again, crooning quietly in the back of her throat. "Well, I certainly appreciate the sentiment."
She gave two quick flaps to get herself airborne again, dipping to fly beside his head for a moment so she might catch his eye. "Truly though, I don't need any gift. I've learned more in two days with you than a century on my own, and that is gift enough."
"If you say so..." he said twisting one eye back at her. He could probably stay in the tropics for a while. It would be nostalgia and lack of cold that would drive him back though...
"Have you any cold mountains in Yoreiq?" He asked, eye flicking back up at Melly.
"Hmm..." She tilted her head, considering. "Well, some of the islands have mountains. But none of them get as cold as yours- there is snow sometimes though!"
She flipped onto her back, flying that way for a while before turning back over. "The water up there always tastes the best. It's fresh and clear and cold. I like it."
He was silent for a time, as they flew. He was thinking, and as such he watched the landscape go by quickly under them.
"Mayhap I shall stay with you there, for a short while," he finally said, breaking the silence, "I will leave, yes, but not immediately, I don't think."
"Really?" Melly's wings stalled and she stared at him, all wide gold eyes and shivering feathers. Then she squeaked happily and dove to fly in a looping spiral around his neck- up, over, around, up, over, around.
"Oh, yay! Thank you!" she chirped, musical laughter bubbling up out of her.
Hvittraak shifted his wings and halted in mid air, withdrawing his neck from the whirlwind of rainbow feathers.
"Well yes, alright," He said distractedly as he drew his head away from her, "Calm down. I need to see where I'm flying Little Bird!"
"Oh!" She halted, hovering, then ducked her head and drew her legs tighter up against her body in embarrassment. "Um, right. Sorry. I...got excited." She fluttered back to fly just above him again, trying to tuck herself out of the way.
Hvit chuckled, a deep rumble for him, and continued flying along his chosen path.
"No worries, little bird," he said, amused.
Glad she didn't seemed to have truly annoyed her new friend, Melly gave a happy little chirp in response and continued flying, gliding out over his wings every so often so she could peer down at the strange landscape below them.
"So, tell me something of you, little bird," Hvit rumbled, "I have told you much of me. It is now time to return the favour."
"Oh, well..." She frowned a bit, trying to come up with something to say. "I'm afraid I don't have much that would be of interest," she laughed a little sheepishly after a few moments. "I...spend much of my time traveling my islands, usually as a human. The people are quite fascinating, and I can usually make trades for my collection."
"Are you always nude when you do so?" He asked, smiling humorously at the thought. It would make sense for bipeds to trade her shiny things if she went out like that.
"Hm? Usually." There was a note in his voice that she couldn't quite place, which confused her a bit. "I have a few pieces of clothing in my collection, but I normally forget to put them on," she added carelessly.
"Interesting..." He said, smiling further at her naïveté. She was probably a story among the locals, a winged nude woman who asks for treasure and roams the islands. He couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"What?" Melisma flew toward his head again, peering at his face. "What's funny?"
"Nothing you would understand, little bird," he said, and refused to speak further, only sparing her knowing smiles and the occasional chuckle.
"Hmph!"
She tried to sulk, she really did, but it just wasn't in her nature. She gave up after a few minutes and continued soaring lazily up and down the length of his spine, gazing down at the ground over his sides when she could.
His wings were so large that he created his own updrafts, and she found if she angled herself right she could just glide along in the pocket of air he created.
"Are you playing on my back?" He rumbled, turning an eye to her, and watching her glide, "That, I'll have to admit, is a first."
He decided to have some fun with the dragoness, and tilited his left wing up just as she was drifting over it, letting a jet of air slide up the front and run up under her wings.
Melly started, then admitted bashfully, "Maybe."
The sudden rush of air under her wings sent her spiraling upward and she squeaked, quickly finding her balance so she could ride the wind properly. A delighted laugh bubbled out of her and she dove to pass her front paws over his back gently, then arched up and away again.
"This is fun!"
"Is it?" He asked, indulging her childish side, and repeatedly shifted and flared his wings when she flew near them, jostling the air bubble she'd been using as an aerial anchor.
The younger dragon's delighted laughter flowed around them, caught and snatched away by the wind. She didn't care that she was acting like a hatchling- it just felt good, liberating, to be able to play as she never really had when she was younger.
Hvittraak smiled contentedly as the dragoness played above him. It must be good for her, being able to finally interact with her own kind in this manner after two centuries of only dealing with bipeds. He couldn't imagine how she hadn't eaten or killed them all by then. He probably would have, but maybe that was just him.
Gradually, Melly started to come down from her playful high and alighted gently on his back again, panting lightly.
"I'm out of shape," she laughed at herself. "All that flipping around tires me out." She ruffled her feathers, the crest behind her ears flared out happily as she purred and kneaded at his back absently.
"I don't know," he said, "I'd be pretty exhausted myself. Then again I am much heavier than you but it's all proportional."
He looked out across the mountains, the ocean's deep blue just beginning to peak out over the spine of the land. He gauged maybe half an hour until they were flying out over open waters.
"Oh!" Melisma soared out over his head again so she could get a better look at the approaching sea. "It's...darker here," she noted with interest. "I didn't notice before. Back home, the waters are clearer."
"It is very deep," he said, remembering his first foray into the grey-blue waves, lightning crackling around him and the curls of great water slamming down into themselves like liquid thunder. He continued, "The mountains go directly down into the ocean, and the beach is nothing but a rock shelf above a drop many hundreds of feet deep."
"Really?" Her head tilted as she peered down. "It's all sand on the islands. And it's shallow for such a long time, then just drops off into the deeper waters."
"Oh yes," he said, and the memories of his violent encounter with the cruel mistress that was the Ocean rang in his mind. Beautiful, indeed, but cruel and indifferent to the sufferings of man and dragon alike. She was strong, and she was dangerous.
"It's so much warmer there too," Melly continued with a sigh, evidently oblivious to his internal musings. "You could sleep in the water if you wanted to, it's so shallow and clear and warm...of course there are plenty of fish and such you probably wouldn't want to bother, but you could."
"What fish deserves to stand in the way of a dragon, little bird?" He challenged, his tone becoming proud, "We are the greatest beings to walk this earth, you and I, and all other drakes. Never forget that. These bipeds think themselves kings and queens among the rest of us, but who are they to stand before a kingdom of dragons?"
Melly's wings stalled for a moment as she listened to him. "Oh." She cleared her throat. "W-well, I just meant- a few of the fish are poisonous." She tilted her head at him. "You really don't care for humans, huh?"
"Humans, little bird, are dragonbane. They proclaim themselves above all and take accordingly," He sighed, and saw that he'd have to explain himself. He cleared his throat, a grating, rumbling sound, and continued, "The number one reason Dragons die, is because some human boy wants to prove his worth to his petty house or to impress a mate who'll be gone ten times over before the dragon he slayed had even been out of childhood. They are parasites, and while some are companion worthy, interesting and fair among their monstrous kind, there are a thousand who posses nothing more than greed and hate for not only anything alien to them but also to their own kind. We drakes can be harsh and angry, but even we respect our own."
Melly landed delicately on his back again, curling up between his shoulders and purring quietly, the vibration echoing through her into him in an instinctive effort to calm.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I...I've never met humans like that. I didn't know..."
"Fret not, little bird," he said, "With you the fault doesn't lie. The subject of bipeds arouses my anger, for they and I have a complicated and violent history. Do not apologize for something beyond your ken."
"Still. I'm sorry they hurt you." She nuzzled at the back of his neck before spreading her wings to catch the wind again and floating a few feet above him.
Hvit sighed, an oddly loud noise despite it's nature. The horizon grew orange as the sun began to drop down in front of them, silhouetting a small spot of land just gracing the edge of his sight.
"There is your home, little bird," he said, "See it dark on the horizon? That is our destination, and not an hour from us."
"Oh my goodness!" Melisma laughed and soared out over his head to get a better look. "I never realized how close- oh. Well, I suppose you fly faster than I do," she chuckled to herself, soaring back to settle herself between his shoulders for a moment.
"To be fair, I am also much larger than you are," he said to her, though he could not see her, "This flight may have taken you thrice as long, had I not led your way."
"I suppose that's true." She launched herself off his back and arched over his wing, twisting to fly on her back as she did so she'd completed a full flip by the time she tucked herself into the slipstream under his stomach.
The smell of the ocean here was more familiar and she closed her eyes for a moment with a contented sigh as the small dot of land on the horizon grew ever larger. "It'll be good to be home."
The highest mountain on Yoreiq was tiny. There was no other way to put it. It was a little bump of a hill that had a slightly chilled breeze at the peak. This place was miserable.
"How do you enjoy this weather?" Hvittraak asked incredulously, landing with a few great flaps on the black stone of the mountain. He could see grass and palms not a league from this very spot. What kind of mountain had palm trees a league from the peak? It was blasphemous. "It is so hot and... humid!"
Melly laughed in sheer delight as she came in to land beside him, wins spread wide to soak up the sun. "I love it," she proclaimed, golden eyes shimmering as she looked around.
Another laughed and she cocked her head at him. "I don't have scales or thick skin to keep the cold out. This is comfortable for me." She shrugged. "Guess if you're born here you get used to the humidity."
"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."
OOC: Click Me (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=22854.new#new)