Walking on Fire (Crono)

[Anonymous]

Most people would dismiss the rapid footfalls a passionate birdwatcher, or perhaps someone chasing after some sort of animal.
But they'd not be expecting the heavier footfalls that followed the first. A group of men, chasing someone.
But that someone was far from a person. Her cloak lost long ago, dragging her speed down, she'd shed it, and ran with naught but her markings for clothing. Dark almost-purple hair flying out behind her, green pupil-less eyes fixed ahead, wide with fear. Every now and then she'd stumble, but she'd be quick to get back to her feet again.

Rika honestly did not know why she always found herself in this position. Running from the same group of men each time she tried to set foot in the town. She knew it was because of what she looked like... there was no way they'd know she was a dragon, she'd never taken up her true form anywhere near civilization.
She came close to a lake, and leapt over it, taking a moment to stumble on her feet and stand again, dragging back into a run. She was fast, but she'd tire eventually, like any human, she couldn't keep running. She didn't want to fight them either, she had no weapons, and in her dragon form... she'd surely kill them. She had no more desire to spill blood. She'd done enough the previous week in Arca.

The evening was dark, she was using her luminescent horns for light, what little they provided anyway.
All she'd done was try to get some human food to eat from the town, but this group of men had spotted her, and for some reason, had come after her. She could still hear their shouts and the sound of their weapons whistling through the air as they ran. She hated this, it always made her feel like she was an animal that had to be killed. The dragon hesitated again, wondering if... maybe she did take on her true form, just to scare them off, tonight wouldn't turn out so bad.

Then she came to a running stop, having come to some sort of gorge. She stopped, she wasn't going to jump. She cursed loudly, not turning around. She heard their footsteps come to a halt, she closed her eyes, and braced herself to jump. The river below would provide enough to break her fall. Hopefully anyway...

[Anonymous]

It just wasn't fair! He'd practically been invited to join the army! Then they send him out of the country. He wasn't assigned to patrol the border, hell, he wasn't even sent off for training! He was snapped up, then told to ferry a messenger to this village out in the middle of nowhere. He had it in mind to just skip Ketra and keep going until he hit the Serha Plains. Give those raiders something to worry about, he would!

Tanith was content to just glide along and leave Lucius to his musings. They'd return to Ketra, whether Lucius wanted to go or not. He was the one to get them all tangled up in the affairs of humans and Tanith was going to see that he stay that way until he was told otherwise.

The messenger had been dropped off earlier in the day and Lucius had been ordered to return to Ketra as soon as possible. Which left them flying along into the evening. It was a dark one too. The moon was in a low quarter, not willing to provide much light to fly by. It made no difference to the dragon if she flew during the night or day, there weren't many things that could both sneak up on a flying dragon and knock it out of the air. She also needed no landmarks, her sense of direction honed over the many years of her life.

Tanith had decided to fly relatively low, for now, setting her path by a river that snaked its way below her. The dragon kept a path open to her charge's thoughts, keeping an eye on what he was thinking to make sure he wouldn't attempt anything foolish.

A small light up ahead grabbed the notice of the dragon. The light had just left the edge of the cliff. It looked too big to be a torch or something somebody would casually want to lose. Which meant...."Lucius."
"I see it. Let's go."

The dragon increased her flight speed, the human leaning low to help reduce the drag. As they got closer, Tanith angled downwards, trying to make her controlled fall parallel to the object. "You won't have long to grab it before I need to pull up." The dragon sent to Lucius. His tightening of grip served as his acknowledgment since it was unlikely he would be able to make himself heard over the rush of the wind.

As they got closer, Lucius was able to make out the object. It was definitely a person, though he couldn't make out much beyond that in the darkness. As the rescue team slid closer and closer to the mysterious faller, Lucius noticed that they were too far down for him to make a grab. "Tanith!" He yelled over the wind. "You need to slow down a little!" The dragon's wings banked a little so Lucius would be able to guide their target onto her back. "Hurry." She cautioned.

"Got her!" At this distance, Lucius could definitely tell that the ex-faller in question was definitely female. And she was basically naked. A thought went skimming through his head saying that there should be embarrassment for either him or her but the thought was set aside for later, when they weren't still falling. He patted Tanith, letting her know, if his exclamation hadn't been heard, that it was safe to pull out of the dive. The timing was good too. With a powerful beat of wings, the dragon curved from a headlong dive into the water to skimming the claws of her toes along the surface.

Once things were settled and they were gliding smoothly, Lucius turned to the girl he had managed to position behind him. "Please forgive the sudden appearance but I don't believe we've met." His smile was one of slight embarrassment. She was virtually naked after all. "I'm Lucius and this is Tanith." He said, patting the dragon they were flying on. Tanith gave a snort of recognition. "Tell me, why were you so eager to meet the water?"

[Anonymous]

When those men showed no sign of backing off, Rika allowed her feet to slide off the cliff face, falling quickly. The surprised shouts from her perusers fading away as she pummeled off the edge. Squeezing her eyes shut. A little further and maybe she'd be out of their eyesight so that she could shift...
Then there was a sound. A familiar one. Of huge wings beating through the air. Rika's eyes snapped open in surprise. Before she could twist around and see just what it was, a hand had taken hold of her arm. The movement caused all the air to rush out of Rika's lungs. Then the same hand had pulled her onto another dragon. She could hear the shouts of surprise from the men, Rika's actions seemed pointless now. She could have saved herself if she'd known this was going to happen.

If it was possible, her eyes got even wider as she felt the hide beneath her human legs. She placed a hand on the scales fondly, looking from the man in front of her down to the scales again. She needn't worry about holding on, she was used to this.
But she was confused.
Why would a full blood dragon allow a human to ride her? The two seemed oddly comfortable around one another. The dragon was completely at ease, and the human on her back seemed like he'd ridden on dragons for the majority of... -if not all-... his life.

He proceeded to introduce himself, and the dragon they both now rode on. Lucius and Tanith.
Rika snorted at his introduction, she moved a little closer to him, using the faint blue light from her horns to locate where he sat, and position herself just behind him. She sat like one would sit on a stationary log. Barely holding on. But she leaned in so that her voice could be heard by him, and not blown away by the wind, "Rika. Thank you, for that. Sir Lucius. Don't think they would have stopped, even if I had fallen to my death." she said simply, meaning his rescue, then a smile at his next question, "I expect you would be too if you were being chased by a group of angry men with long pointy forks." she stated bluntly. Her accent forming her words clearly.

Her mind had processed what had just happened and it made a little more sence. She'd heard of dragon riders, but she'd never really thought dragons would be willing to allow a human to ride on them for such a long time...

Then she frowned, even on this dragon things didn't seem right, she raised her voice so that the dragon might hear, "And why might lady Tanith appear so comfortable with us upon her?" she asked. Placing her other hand on the scales as well. It had been a long time since she'd met another full blooded dragon.
That was something she'd always known. She hadn't minded it when people had ridden on her, but after a while, the sensation became a little annoying. Having to look out for the human on your back as well as yourself made it hard. It limited most of the dragon's mobility.

She looked at the back of Lucius's head, "Does she have a human form as well?" she asked, leaning forward to listen to the dragon's pulse, pressing the side of her head against the dragon, to see what kind of dragon she was. Rika doubted that she and Tanith shared the same broodmother anywhere along the line.

[Anonymous]

"Why would they have followed you over the cliff?" Lucius inquired of the girl. "What reason did you give them to pursue you?" It probably wasn't too polite to ask such questions right after meeting somebody but, since he did not know the situation, Lucius felt that it was warranted. Tanith, however, felt the need to answer the girl's questions before she could answer Lucius'.

"I'm letting you two ride on my back because I have little other choice." Tanith sent the message to both of them so Lucius wouldn't give a second answer. She kept an eye out for a landing area. She could tell that Lucius was getting hungry and also figured that the girl they rescued would want to be back on solid ground. There was more to this passenger than met the eye though. The dragon could tell this from the brief contact she had made to send her message, the girl's brain was much more vast than the humanoid she appeared to be.

Another question. Another answer. "I've not use for a human form." The dragon replied. "And I don't see why I would ever need one." Tanith spotted a clearing large enough for her to land in, though considering her side, it was basically a meadow. Tanith touched down and waited for her passengers to get off before setting off to hunt. Lucius watched her fly off before turning to his companion. "Well it looks like we're staying here for the night. Hope you don't mind sleeping under the stars."