A Rainbow Through the Gray

[DragonSong]

Melisma ruffled her feathers and narrowed her eyes slightly in a dragon's smile as she gave him another nod of thanks before allowing her head to drop onto her paws once more. She curled up a little tighter on the makeshift bed of leaves, and her eyes grew heavy when he began to speak again.

She did not know the language--though she did know with almost surprising certainty that it was not a human tongue, so she assumed it must be draconic in nature--but just the sounds of it were oddly comforting.

For the first time in far too many days, she felt safe. With a quiet sigh, her eyes drifted closed completely and she dropped off into sleep as her body began the lengthy task of repairing itself.



@Marjorie

[Marjorie]

It took a few days for Melisma to fully recover, but Ulyruc was patient and kind. He brought her food more to her liking and let her rest and lounge about his layer. One day, while she slept, Ulriyrc had shifted back into the shape of a man and unrolled a great sheet of parchment on which he sketched a scale drawling of her. It was something to add to his manuscripts. He had never encountered a dragon of her type before. When she finally woke and looked rested, he smiled at her. He had on another occasion asked her about herself, her subspecies of dragon, and where he kind lived... more for his manuscripts.

Today though she looked fully mended. "I've a mind to go back to those ruins," he said, "I meant to explore them the night I found you... but I didn't want to leave you to your lonesome while you recovered. You're welcome to come with or stay here, as long as you need."

[DragonSong]

Melly wasn't sure the of last time she'd spoken so much with another person, let alone another dragon--she could count on one claw the number of actual conversations she'd had with others of her kind, as a matter of fact.

As she healed and he began asking her more and more questions, she found herself more often than not answering--sheepishly and almost guiltily--that she unfortunately just didn't know. She'd only met a few mainland dragons in her lifetime, and never another of her own subspecies.

She'd fallen asleep in her humanoid form the previous night, colorful, feathery wings wrapped around her body and one of Ulryic's thick, heavy blankets drawn up to her shoulders. She sat up slowly and stretched, giving a happy little sound of contentment when none of her old injuries protested the movement.

"Oh, well if you don't mind the company I'd be happy to come along." She smiled a little crookedly, head tilted to the side. "Perhaps I can be of more use to you exploring the ruins than I was providing information about my kind."



The ruins themselves were no longer quite so deserted as perhaps either Ulryic or Melisma would have liked.

It was difficult to track a dragon, but the spatters of iridescent violet blood that had trailed from Melly's erratic flight for freedom and quite a bit of magical know-how seemed to have brought the dragon-hunters close on her heels in a matter of days.

[Marjorie]

Ulryic smiled. "I'd be happy for the company," he said amiably. He busied himself packing a bag full of things... blank papers and scrolls, ink wells, pens, charcoal sticks, a couple torches, a couple books, food, water, wine, and a hand full of other things... actually, the bag should have been quite full, but sagged when put over his shoulder as if it were nearly empty. It was a bag of holding... one of his favorite objects that he possessed.

He stripped out of his clothes then and shifted back into his Dragon form. "It's a ways," he said, "we'd best fly. Are you ready?"

[DragonSong]

The smaller dragon nodded quickly and got to her feet, shaking her wings out and giving her back a quick arch to stretch out some of the sleepy kinks before stepping forward into her proper form; while she normally considered it a convenience not to wear clothing in her human shape, she'd admit here on the mainland, up in the mountains at least, they might be worth looking into--she was so cold in just her skin that she typically had to wrap up in any and all blankets Ulryic had available.

Her dragon form was better, but only just. She still shivered as she moved to follow him out of the cave, hunkering down slightly and pulling her feathery wings in tight to her body, crest nearly flat to her skull as she attempted to conserve heat. "R-ready when you are," she chirped in reply, cheerful despite the cold.

[Marjorie]

Luckily for Melly, Ulryic had thought ahead, and packed some cold weather clothes for her into his bag as well. Once she said he was ready he splayed his wings and gave them a mighty downward push which lifted him off the ground and took to the sky. Because of their difference in size, if Melly stayed behind him she could stay out of the wind and draft off of him.

It was about an hour's flight back to the ruins that he'd originally found Melly in. Once he landed, he shifted forms quickly and dawned his heavy furs. Then he reached into his bag and offered another set of warm winter clothes to Melly. To explore the ruins, they'd have to be in human form to fit in further than the entrance. 

[DragonSong]

The initial buffet of wind from the larger dragon's wings was enough to make Melly squeak and scrabble for purchase with her claws, but once they were both in the air things were considerably easier. She kept herself behind and just above him, in the pocket of air undisturbed by his passage, until they had reached the ruins and came in for a landing.

Her paws skittered slightly on the icy stone, but she managed to correct her balance quickly enough and let her form shimmer and shrink back to humanoid, quickly wrapping her colorful wings around her body even as she took the offered clothes from him gratefully.

"D-do you have any idea what you're looking for in here?" she asked as she bundled herself up. Normally she didn't like human clothes all that much, but in this climate she was glad to make an exception. "Or are we just...looking for the sake of looking?"