Dragonland [Bunbun]

[Nightcrawler]

She confirmed it, and then...

And then, he did not hear the rest. He did not need to. She was a witch, and all a witch's words were lies. A blackness crept in from the edges of his vision, reaching its questing tendrils forth, obscuring the sun, the meadow, the trees, until all he could see was her. It sunk down his throat and grasped his innards and twisted them tight until he knew his own fear. The memories burst forth again: the ones he must have buried so very, very deeply. And now, this was not a meadow at all, but a dark forest at the edge of an iron bog. And she was not a young, bumbling, foolish woman, but the sly and venomous one of his nightmares. And he would cut her down, or he would die in the attempt.

The witch cast her spell. Its light was meant to blind him. He stood. He drew the ax. And with a great bellow, he charged and swung.

[Bunbun]

Remaining quite oblivious until the very last moment, Axia had little time to react to Eln's sudden attack, but she managed to get her arms in position quickly enough to block it. A metallic clang rang out as her scales thankfully did their job, preventing the axe from slicing into her flesh, but they couldn't do much to absorb the force behind it. She found herself being knocked to the ground, barely keeping the weapon from sliding down and burying itself into a more vulnerable area. A flash of pain shot through her arms, and she once again had to hold back tears- though she couldn't be sure if they were due to the physical pain or the sting of betrayal.

It didn't make any sense. Was he just another would-be dragon hunter like the others they'd encountered? If that was the case, why would he bother going through the effort of protecting her earlier? Was he really so obsessed with getting the kill himself that he was willing to put his own life on the line for it?

She struggled to look past the axe and catch a glimpse of his face, only to be met with the same expression she'd witnessed earlier after attempting to lead him away from the fire. Not greed or cold indifference, but pure rage and hatred. Whatever this was about, it was definitely personal. Something she'd done had made him angry enough to want to kill her, and she wasn't particularly keen on letting him have his way. Summoning the resolve to fight back, Axia desperately kicked upwards at Eln's body, hoping that his enraged state was enough of a distraction for him to leave himself vulnerable.

[Nightcrawler]

The ax should have struck flesh and sunk deep and drawn blood. Instead, it glanced from the witch's arm like she herself was a blade. Eln hadn't expected it. He stumbled. Still, the woman was of slight build, and the force of his swing had knocked her to the ground. He caught his balance and again strode towards her, his steel eyes murderous. Those dark tendrils crept in further and stole his sight and tainted what was true. All he could see now was the witch. Not the glittering one before him, but her: wild hair and painted skin and stained lips twisted into a knowing smirk. The gentle scent of earth and grass became the choke of ash and sour vomit. Justice had slipped from his fingers once before. He would exact it now.

He raised his arm to swing again —

Pain. Blinding, nauseating, paralyzing pain that struck all thoughts from his mind. "Agh!" he roared, and stumbled back again. His ax slipped from his fingers. He fell with it, and his shoulder hit a cushion of tall grass. He writhed there, groaning and grasping about desperately like some deranged animal. His eyes watered. He thought he might be sick. He knew this pain...though...it had been some time since he'd been dealt it. But...she was a witch. With her powers over the very elements, why would she choose to do...this?

He groaned again and tried in vain to prop himself up. He had to be ready. He had to keep going, keep fighting. He glanced around him, still wild from the agony, and found her. But she was no longer the woman he'd sought to slay. She was still a witch, yes. But she was not his witch. She was young again, and silvery, and winged, and...frightened. Frightened in the way a child might be, had a man of his size just attacked her. His heart sunk. Was it a trick? Would she pretend to be innocent, only to gut him when he least suspected? He closed his eyes. He tried to shake the confusion. He had no answers.

[Bunbun]

Axia's kick struck true and Eln stumbled away from her, his axe landing dangerously close to her after slipping from his grasp. She took the brief window of opportunity to put some distance between them, scrambling backwards while still keeping her eyes on him- she wasn't about to turn her back to him after that. Her arms remained in their defensive position, and the scales running along them began to emit a subtle glow, preparing to release a blinding flash of light if Eln were to attack again. The attack never came, though, and eventually she let her guard down slightly to find Eln struggling to get back on his feet.

Truth be told, it probably wouldn't be particularly difficult for her to kill him at this point. He was clearly in no condition to continue fighting against her if she shifted again, and even if he did have the strength to do so, he didn't seem to be making an effort to claim his axe. He was just sort of... sitting there. Like all of his will to fight had suddenly left his body, and he was just waiting for her to finish him off. Had she really hurt him that badly? He wasn't exactly in the greatest condition after the whole forest fire incident, so she supposed it was possible, but something about the way he'd looked at her... something just wasn't right about it.

Finding herself at a complete loss as to what she should do with him, Axia simply sat still for a moment, eyes shifting back and forth between Eln and his axe until she was convinced that he wasn't about to try attacking again. Once she was, she allowed her arms to lower a bit more, settling in a crossed position over her chest.

"Why?"

She tried her best to keep up a brave face when she finally gathered her composure enough to speak up, but there was no hiding the shakiness in her voice.

"Why? It wasn't enough for you to just let me die when you had the chance? I thought I could trust you!"

[Nightcrawler]

The woman's voice jolted him from his stupor. He scrambled to his feet and stumbled backwards. It still stung where she had kicked him. Had he deserved it? By her tone, he certainly did. And if she was a witch, and this an act, then it was a performance honed to a perfect point. But...

Was she? Was it? He closed his eyes again and shook his head like a man shook water from his ear. "You know my reason. Stay away," he rasped, and took another step back. He pointed an accusatory finger. "Stay away from me, witch." His wide, fearful eyes darted to his fallen ax. He couldn't retrieve it. Not without risking attack. He met her gaze again. The pain in that young countenance struck him harder than any blow she might have dealt.

What was he doing? Had the knucklebones fallen differently, she could have been his daughter. And he had just...he had...

But she had said so herself: a witch.

He blinked as if to clear the blur from his mind. He took another step back. His heel caught the boulder he'd sat upon earlier, and he fell right back down to sit on it again. He hung his head and stared at the grass at her feet and tried to get his bearings again.

Not a witch, he told himself. Not a witch. Another place. Another meaning to the word. Not a witch.

He still labored for breath from what little they had fought. Was it the thin air, or was he truly so old? "Trust?" he echoed, sounding utterly lost and defeated. She still spoke like a child. Like a child betrayed. "No. Were I you, I would not trust a stranger in a lawless place."

He glanced back up at her. "I am sorry," he said, and he meant it. "I should never have...There is something...wrong with me. With my mind. It would be better if you stayed away."

[Bunbun]

His initial response only served to get Axia even more worked up. Was he lecturing her again? Really? After all this, he still had the audacity to tell her what she was doing wrong?

"Don't you dare try to tell me who I should and shouldn't trust. You'd be dead if I hadn't trusted you from the beginning." She snapped at him, and immediately felt bad for doing so. She wanted so badly to dig for something more hurtful, to wound his feelings in the same way that he'd done to her, but she found her will to fight draining quickly as his apology began to sink in. He really did seem like he meant it, like he was just as lost and confused about his actions as she was.

His answers weren't enough to satisfy her, though. She needed more from him- both her curiosity and her wounded trust demanded it. He'd told that she should stay away from him, but she'd never been the type to let someone else's advice get in the way of her doing what she wanted. And so, after taking a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes before they could fully take form, she made her way over and took a seat in the grass next to the boulder, her back and head resting against the rock.

"...Why are you so afraid of me? I never wanted to hurt you."

[Nightcrawler]

The woman admonished him. He deserved as much, and more. He hadn't done any physical damage, but he could have. It had been too close. If she hadn't had the good sense to block him with her magic scales, she might have been seriously injured. It was clear, though, that he'd frightened her. She was angry. Her eyes welled with tears that she did not want him to see.

She started forward. A witch. Not a witch. A witch again. Eln stiffened and his hand jerked towards an empty ax frog. Not a witch. He shoved aside his instinct to fight and to flee. He stayed on the boulder against his better judgment. He let her approach.

"...Why are you so afraid of me? I never wanted to hurt you," the woman Axia said.

He winced and scowled again as the innocent question conjured those same nauseating memories. They sapped him of his reason and his strength. His mind was a blur. He couldn't find the words. How could he explain a thing that he could not grasp himself? And to someone so young.

"I..."

Eln rubbed his face and shook his head. Every time he tried to focus, the memories slipped further into shadow. "I do not know. It is like fearing a snake, or a long drop from a cliff. The reason is there. But I cannot...I cannot remember."

He looked down at her. "I am sorry," he repeated. "My mind is broken."

It was as he'd said. He did not wish to pursue those thoughts any longer. He stood, dusted himself off, and retrieved his digging tool, as well as the bulbs he'd abandoned in the grass. He knelt next to yet another flower, avoiding her eyes. "You will not listen to me, I see," he observed as he dug again.

[Bunbun]

His answer was as frustrating as it was cryptic as it was frustrating. What on earth was she supposed to make of that? She supposed that she couldn't force him to give a proper explanation if he wasn't capable of doing so, but it did little to improve her mood or satisfy her curiosity.

Once again, she found herself watching Eln dig away at the flowered plants. The situation was now quite similar to how it had been just a few minutes ago- if it weren't for the newly formed air of unease, there was shockingly little evidence to show that there had ever been a fight between the two. She briefly glanced over at his axe- still lying harmlessly in the grass. If he really intended on trying to hurt her again, he was certainly giving her plenty of time to prepare herself.

"You're right, I won't listen. Not if all you're going to say is that you want me to leave, at least. I think I've made it pretty clear that I can take care of myself. Even if you... well, you know." She shifted around a bit uncomfortably, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her arms on top.

She knew it was probably a bad idea to push him further on an answer for his attack, but she couldn't bring herself to put it completely out of her mind- at least not yet. It certainly didn't seem likely that she was going to get a clear explanation for it, but... maybe she could get idea about it if she knew a little more about him?

"If you don't want to talk about that anymore, maybe we can talk about something else. Like, hmm... oh, I know. Where are you from? Eln-of... of..." She tilted her head slightly as she racked her memories for the name he'd told her earlier, but ultimately found herself coming up short. "Um. I... may have forgotten the rest of it. Sorry."

[Nightcrawler]

"As is your right," Eln replied in concession. He knew he should recognize her authority, but it was still difficult for him not to treat her like a young one. "You may choose not to listen. It was but a warning." He said it all with the dull, defeated tone of a man who bore the shame of his actions. For he was ashamed. Could have killed her, he rebuked himself as he pried the last bulb from the ground. There was enough for both of them. He gathered them all into a pile. Now, he would need to make a fire.

Slowly, so as to not seem a threat, he rose to his feet. He still refused to meet the woman's gaze. She asked him a question. She asked where he was from. He dusted the dirt from his hands, tossed the digging tool to the grass, and tried to remember. There were flashes of a valley. Great, ancient, needled trees. Moss underfoot. Cliffs of black basalt, and white water thundering over them. Mountains, impossibly tall, their razor peaks scraping the sky. And then...gone. All gone. Reduced to ash. "I do not know," he replied. "...Not here," he added. He shot her a furtive glance. "We need a fire. I should find wood."

He ignored her question about his name. It surely did not matter.

Eln stepped slowly towards his ax, still eyeing her apologetically. He stood over it. He did not stoop to lift it. "I will need this," he explained. "For the wood. May I?"

[Bunbun]

He didn't know. Again. It sure seemed like there was a lot about himself that he didn't know. Could it really be that he'd forgotten all of it? Or was that just the excuse he was using in order to avoid giving her any real answers?

It really did seem like Axia's questions weren't going to get any answers at this point, and every attempt to press him further only seemed to make him even more reluctant to respond. Maybe the best solution would be to leave it be for now and give him some time to come around, but... well, it wasn't like she could just call him nothing, and "Eln-of-I-forgot-the-rest-of-it" wasn't a particularly appealing alternative. She supposed he'd just have to be "Eln", at least for the moment.

She tensed up slightly when Eln asked permission to retrieve his axe, clearly not too thrilled with the thought of him with a potential weapon back in has hands. On the other hand, allowing him to take it would probably help to build up some trust- maybe there was still a chance for her to get some answers after all! Besides, surely he wouldn't be cruel or foolish enough to swing at her again, right?

"...Alright, you can take it. But..." She swiftly pushed herself off the ground and up to her feet, managing a hopeful smile despite the uneasy atmosphere. "I do want to go with you. Can't have you wandering off on your own, now, can I?"

[Nightcrawler]

Eln did not pick up the ax, but rather hesitated on the spot as he slowly worked past his own confusion. Had this Axia woman not demonstrated witchly powers, he would take her authority at face value with no question — even with so few years behind her. But this was a complication. An in-between. She was not a witch, but she was. His station could not reflect something so ambiguous. He would need to choose, one way or the other.

He chose what was familiar.

"Yes, Lady Axia," he replied, inclining his head in respect. He bent and lifted the heavy ax from the grass, stowing it securely in its frog. As he did so, he gazed out over the clearing and squinted at the tree line in the direction from whence they had come. "If they lived, and they tracked you," he murmured, before solemnly addressing her again. "It will not be long. Without my shield, I am useless against a bowman, and thus to you. Be wary."

Eln gave a quick, sharp nod, as though he was certain that the lady Axia took his meaning. Then, with a swirl of his crimson travel cloak, he was off, striding through the grass. He did not look to see if she followed, but rather moved with a singular focus as he scanned that dark line where grass met forest. He kept his hand off his ax, though habit urged him to be at the ready. He did not wish to frighten her again.

Eln slowed as he approached the underbrush that marked the start of the wood. He took in his surroundings, keeping an ear towards the trees, his brow furrowed in concern. One well-aimed arrow would be the end of him now that he was so vulnerable. He was not accustomed to this, especially not with a charge in tow. Still on alert, he unfastened his cloak, laid it out flat on the duff, and began to gather the driest wood he could find.

[Bunbun]

There it was again- Lady Axia. It still felt a bit strange to be referred to in such a manner- the number of people she'd come across that respected her enough to grant her a title like that were few and far between, and she still couldn't get a good read on how exactly Eln felt about her. At first it was borderline worship, then it was treating her like a child, then it was trying to kill her, and now... well, she supposed that if any version of Eln was going to stick around for good, she'd much prefer it to be this one, so it was probably best for her not to complain too much.

Axia acknowledged his warning about the hunters with a brief nod, but all things considered, she couldn't bring herself to get too concerned about the idea. She found it highly unlikely that they would risk their lives anymore that they'd already done, so while she did keep an eye on their surroundings while Eln got to work, she wasn't specifically watching for hunters. Instead, she took a moment to quietly scan the forest for anything interesting, her eyes lighting up ever so slightly whenever they caught a glimpse of a small animal or odd plant before her gaze finally landed back on Eln. The man hadn't said anything for a while, and he did look pretty focused on the task at hand, and maaaaybe she should try not to distract him too much, but...

Oh, screw it. She just couldn't help herself.

"I have a question," she blurted out suddenly, not bothering to wait for a response from Eln before continuing. "Why is it always 'Lady' Axia? You don't need to say that if you don't want to, you know. I'm not actually a 'Lady'." Okay, nope, that definitely didn't sound right. It was probably best to clarify what she meant. "Wait, no. I mean, I guess I am a lady. Just not, like, a 'Lady' lady. Like a 'proper' lady? Um... what I mean is that people don't usually call me 'Lady'. I'm not a noble or anything, soooo... usually it's just Axia. Or, uh... sometimes decidedly less nice names."

[Nightcrawler]

Eln returned to his cloak and dropped a hefty armful of sticks on it. He had just turned away to gather more when the woman spoke up again. He faced her again and stood patiently, expression neutral, while he waited for her to finish. Finally, she began to trail off, and then stopped talking altogether. The silence was deafening as he tried to pull forth that simple query from so very many words. "You are a woman," he said finally, in a tone that implied that the rest was obvious. "A woman leads. A man serves so that she may lead. This is the way of things."

With that, he turned and continued to gather, until his cloak was stacked with as much firewood as it could carry. He wrapped the hood and hem up over it and hoisted the burden up over his shoulder with a grunt. "It is enough for now," he informed her as he made for the boulder in the field again. "Come."

[Bunbun]

It was a puzzling answer for sure- in Axia's experience, what Eln had described was quite often very much not the way of things. Maybe that was just the way they did things in... wherever the heck it was that he was from. Yet another bit of information she'd have to add to her gradually growing knowledge base about him. It was progress, at least!

She nodded and began to follow behind when Eln told her to follow, only to quicken her pace a moment later to walk along side him, tilting her head up to offer him a smile. "So. Do you know how to start a fire? I'm guessing you do, right? You do seem like the type. But if you do need any help with it, well..." Her eyes lit up with an excited (or perhaps mischievous) sparkle. "Just give me the word. I'm pretty good at that kinda thing."

[Nightcrawler]

Eln slowed. He glanced at Lady Axia and then looked pointedly at the billowing black smoke on the horizon before turning back at her. "Yes," he said warily. "You have proven as much." He picked up the pace again without elaborating any further. He did not like the thought of her using that witch magic again. It was also clear that she could not control it — that it was a primal force of nature with a will of its own. She might just as soon set the meadow ablaze.

At last, he reached the boulder that marked where he had stowed the bulbs he had dug, and set his laden cloak on the grass with a thud. He began to clear a circle to make the fire, and for a while, he focused on this task in silence. Then he spoke up.

"Tell me of your people, Lady Axia."

[Bunbun]

Oh. OH. He was asking her to talk about herself?! This was going to be good.

"Ohhhh man. Where do I start? Let's see... alright. So, I'm what's called a 'dragon'. Remember- the big scaly flying lizard thing from before? That's what you could call my 'true form'. As in, that's how I was born. I mean, I wasn't born exactly like that- of course I was a lot smaller back then. Actually, I'm still pretty small in comparison to a lot of dragons. Guess it's 'cause I'm also pretty young for a dragon. We can get to be pretty old, you know. I might even be older than you! But I dunno, I never really bothered to keep track of that kind of thing.

"Anyways- dragons. They're big, they're strong. Tend to be a bit on the territorial side. A lot of them keep these things called 'hoards' where they collect a bunch of stuff and put it in one place so they can... well, they don't really tend to do much of anything with it. I guess they just like knowing that they have it or something like that? Personally, I don't see the appeal of it- always seemed like a big hassle to me, and it's not like I have anywhere to keep one anyway. I don't really like sticking to one place too much, after all.

"Oh, right. Remember that dragon you found earlier that the hunters shot down? Had a sort of bracelet-looking thing? That was an Adelan dragon. Adela- that's where you are, by the way- kind of has a thing for them. They have a whole system where they can bond with 'em and then they go flying around together. Killing one of them is considered, like, basically one of the worst crimes you can commit. Probably why those hunters were so on edge when you bumped into them, now that I think about it. As for other dragons like myself, we're decently well protected? Not as well as the ones they bond with, but I think you'd still get in pretty big trouble for hunting one, so it's a relatively safe place for me."

She finally stopped to take a breath and actually think about what she'd told him so far, before nodding to herself in satisfaction. "Yeah, I'd say that about covers the basics. Want me to elaborate on anything?"

[Nightcrawler]

By the time she had finished, Eln had cleared a sizeable circle down to the dirt, stacked the firewood and kindling and charcloth, drawn flint and pyrite from a pouch, and begun to spark it. He tilted his head and eyed her as he worked. "No," he said at first. Then he thought more on what she had said. "Yes," he corrected himself. He lowered the stones and met her gaze. "The dead one. The hunted one. It was like you? It could speak, and...reason? And they kill your kind?" He grimaced at the thought, but he needed to know. "For what purpose? To what end? For meat? Or...for a god?"

[Bunbun]

"Oh, you know. For teeth. Scales. Maybe bones? Basically anything that you could reasonably sell as some sort of trophy or good luck charm. People will pay a lot for that stuff since it's pretty hard to get, for obvious reasons." She answered rather impassively as she knelt down near him, her attention drawn to the steadily dwindling embers. The idea of her kind being hunted for profit was evidentially not a new concept for her. "But yes, it could speak. Not like we're speaking to each other, though. When they bond with someone, they can communicate without speaking. It's... pretty intense. I've heard that a lot of bonded partners never recover if one of them dies."

[Nightcrawler]

The more she went on, the more stricken he became. These people...these creatures...they weren't hunted for meat, or in defense, or even in the name of a god. They were hunted for sport. For trophies. For gold. Lady Axia, young as she was, spoke of it like one would discuss the rain or the changing of the seasons. She had seen such violence early and often, then. Eln knelt in quiet fury until she finished. He shot another worried glance over his shoulder at the treeline before returning his attention to her. "If I had known this..." He shook his head, frustrated by his own murky mind. "To kill a conscious thing for one's greed alone, I..."

He sighed and collected his thoughts. "I cannot abide it," he finished. "They will find no mercy here." He nodded earnestly at her, took up his fire rocks, and began to spark them again.

[Bunbun]

Eln's solemn response took Axia rather by surprise- of course, they were dealing with some dark subject matter, but considering everything they'd been through so far, she honestly didn't think that what she'd said was particularly shocking. If there was one lesson that had been drilled into her countless times as a hatchling- even if she constantly ignored it- it was that the wilderness could be a dangerous place, even for the strongest of creatures. Still though, this was clearly something that he felt strongly about, and she didn't wish to risk invalidating those feelings by pushing back too much.

"Well. In that case, I bet you'll fit in pretty well in Adela- if you do end up wanting to stay here, that is. Maybe meet some more dragons! I'm sure they'll appreciate the extra protection." She offered him what she hoped was a reassuring enough smile, before returning to a more neutral expression as her head tilted in thought. "I have to admit, though... I'm a little bit surprised. I wasn't really expecting such a strong reaction. I mean... it's not like those hunters weren't going to attack you. They were willing to kill whoever they needed to in order to make their profits, dragon or otherwise. I guess I don't see much of a difference between them and regular old bandits."