[Aiona]

Nykhtorarr.

A young woman in a fashionable lavender coat walked along the banks of a brilliant River Cora. The afternoon sun lit the water into a rippling field of sparkles. It was a deceptively sunny day with blue skies, cotton white clouds, and fishermen doing their fishing. Of course, green meadows and flowers and leafy trees would have made the image better, but spring was yet to come and cold breezes still traversed Alexshire.

On this summer-looking but not really summer day, Aiona was trying to call her dragon. Except he wasn't responding, even more rudely so than usual. She stopped in her footsteps and looked out into the river, focusing on their psychic link as her mind cleared at the sight of the waves.

Nykh, how long are you going to ignore me? Aiona asked with a frown and something that slightly resembled a pout. But then she smiled and projected a thought into his mind like smooth honey. I want to show you a ring, she said sweetly, conversationally. It contains a sapphire. A large, brilliant one! Please come and see?

At that moment, a strange air current briefly swept the area, making the grasses rustle and sweeping a few dead leaves off the ground. Shadow blocked the sun, but it was actually a great dragon descending. His deep gold scales shimmered as though lit by fire. Huge wings beat the air, creating enough wind to knock off a nearby fisherman's hat into the water. The distressed man cried out and made a dive for his hat that was ignored by both dragon and Summoner.

Huh! And I thought that this would finally be the day where I made you beg! Nykhtorarr lowered his head to Aiona's level so that he could narrow a big golden eye at her.

Aiona laughed, a light, tinkling sound with a barely discernable hint of playful mockery. "No, no! Your faithful Bonded one only humbly, respectfully requests your service."

Nykhtorarr angrily lashed his tail into the river from where he had perched on the bank. The resulting minor tsunamis created dramatic effect that suited his style. Enough! Where is the ring?

Aiona picked it out of her pocket. The sapphire was indeed as big and wonderful as she described, and it flashed brilliantly in the sunshine.

She pulled it back before the dragon could get at it. I must ask a favor first.

[Kiel]

Kiel was on one of his solo runs, jogging lazily (or, like, as lazily as Kiel could get) back towards his house from his circuitous tour of the fields. Since it was sunny, Shane had opted to stay behind, so he'd basically spent the whole run talking to himself.

But at least, like, his biceps were glistening with sweat in that cool way that chicks digged, right? He was looking pretty hawt in his silver jog pants and sleeveless vest, even if he did say so himself. 'Cause, like, you know. Zeph never told him that kinda stuff so he might as well flatter himself, hahaha.

“Girly, it's girly,” he chastised himself, swatting at a bumble bee when it tried to fly up his nose.

“Waugh!” Kiel's duck was totally instinctive, and so was covering his head with his hands, but, like, he couldn't help it, you know? That noise, of, like, huge wings flapping, and the way the sun went dark, it brought out his fight or flight instincts. Slythe had threatened to eat him too many times, hahahaha.

But then Kiel saw what the noise had been and all survival instincts and common sense flew right out the window. “Wah! Dragon, wah!” His excitement made him bounce on the spot several times as his finger flew out to point like the people around them couldn't already see what he was pointing at. And without a second thought, he lunged toward the great golden beast with a whoop, one hand flying madly to keep his balance as the other clutched his hat to his head.

“Dragon, dragon!” he yelled needlessly, sounding more like a child excited to receive presents than a grown man seeing a dangerous beast. “Hi, hi! Dude, man, hi! Hahahahaha, dude, you're awesome, you're awesome!”

And all the while, Kiel totally hadn't even seen the chick who'd summoned the beastie.

Like, oops?

[Aiona]

The fisherman from before had crawled out of the water and dropped his soggy hat back on his head. Then he rowed away into irritated oblivion whilst mumbling to himself.

In the meantime, Aiona began explaining to Nykhtorarr what she wanted, her voice characteristically gentle yet compelling as she implored the dragon for his help. "You already know about that letter I received a few days ago, yes? I need to--"

Hold on. Something is happening.

Nykh was looking past her in annoyance (although one could never really tell if it was just concentration; he always looked mad in some form or another). Genuinely confused, Aiona turned around to see what was commanding her dragon's attention over her request. Geez, he usually never got distracted by anything except--

Evidentally, it was a guy bouncing toward them and shouting obnoxiously like a little boy. She simply watched for a moment to gather the situation, and then cast her dragon a bright little smirk. Her earlier request was not of priority anymore.

"Oh? It seems you have an admirer," she stated plainly, not bothering to raise her voice over the boy's incessant yelling. Furtive amusement flickered up at the dragon from the gold shadows of hooded eyes, a rather signature expression of hers that tended to aggravate him.

Aiona stood calmly as Nykhtorarr drifted forward from behind her to meet the boy. Heh, she wanted to see what would happen. Would the kid get eaten? Her smile faltered for a split second. No wait, that couldn't be allowed.

The dragon extended a large claw that would lift the kid straight into the air unless he fell into a hole or something. What a childish one! The great beast projected his judgment to be heard by all as he narrowed in on the boy. And you're a dracovari! Rutilus! Are you all taught to be so reckless?

Unbeknownst to anyone, Nykhtorarr definitely agreed that he was meriting of attention, recklessly given or not.

[Xephia]

Xephia had been in New Alexandria for less than 24 hours and already she was having second thoughts.

She arrived weary after a long day of travelling, at first by hitch hiking with a seemingly friendly, but ultimately thoroughly disreputable old man of loose morals. After giving him what for for his unappreciated advances, she decided to fly. This notion was futile from its very inception, as she was still a young thing skilled only in the very basics of flight and the rolling planes around her gave no hint of a suitable place from which to launch herself. Curssing, she had walked the rest of the day and entered the city as the moon reached its zenith. Unable to arrange adequate accomodation in time for the night she found a quiet corner of the city and sat and watched. She could not bring herself to sleep. As soon as the local businesses were open, she told herself, she would find permanent lodging whether a hotel room or perhaps a rented loft somewhere.

Before morning came she was accosted by a group of child beggars pleading for a spare coin, but being that she was not of an overly generous character she shooed them away. Of course, new comers and obvious strangers in any city are easy prey and she was innocent to the fact that she was seen as fair game to these seemingly innocent urchins. As she stood looking helplessly around at the small throng that had gathered around her, she felt a rumaging in her small kit bag; one of the little whelps had filched something!

Glancing quickly in her bag she moaned in dismay as she found that, trust her luck, he had stolen her one tiny jar of Tepua pollen. She gave chase through the streets but it was a lost cause.

She walked on. She was tired. She was upset. She had lost an essential part of her kit that she was never going to be able to afford to replace right now. She was homeless. She conceeded to herself that city life probably wasn't for her after all. She walked on straight out of the city in a minor melodramatic huff, not even looking where she was going but ruminating to herself about the unjustice of it all.

By the time the Sun had raised its glorious head to greet the new day, good reason began finally to come back to her. So she had a few rough patches in the city, so what? She had dealt with worse in the past, but weariness, timidity and shot nerves had robbed her of her senses. Strolling over to the the river, she took a handful of clear cool water and splashed it over herself, feeling a little more wakeful for it.

Giving herself a stern mental telling off for being so childish, she turned herself around to head back to the city, though she had lost track of how far she had come now. Of course it was just her luck today that a little way ahead of her a dragon began to descend, and she inwardly moaned to herself.

Give me strength to face whatever it is I'm walking towards right now. Preferably the wit and skill to just, you know, avoid it all together. Please? No..? Never mind. Things can only get better, right?

Approaching the Dragon and the Dracovari woman he was attending (not out of choice, it's hard to avoid such a beast when you are already so close and she didn't wish to appear weak or afraid given the nights events) she noticed too a young Dracovari man making a fuss and a dance about the great beast. She had never dealt with many of the Dracovari in her time, being that her home village was mostly (though not uniquely) inhabited by Anyeli. She had seen them on the road certainly but had never seen one summon a Dragon. She wondered why the man was creating such a fuss about the Dragon being there. She had assumed of all the people here by the river this fine day, it should be her making a fuss, not another Dracovari!

You're tired, she thought, it's been a long night and it will be a long day. Just move on. That's right, just move around the lot of them, don't get caught up in this, they're Dragons, and you're just a young Anyeli going to New Alexandria, you have no business here, just - walk - on.. She was practically ontop of the three of them now, and at a loss for what to do she just stopped, clutching her little bag, and gawped.


The next 24 hours, she thought, may well be as stressful as the last.

[Kiel]

When the great golden beast turned his way, Kiel about imploded under the weight of his excitement, and the litany in his head - "Dragon, there's a dragon, dude, there's a dragon, a dragon!" - went around and around in his head so fast anyone else probably would have toppled over all dizzy and stuff. Not Kiel. That giddy rush fuelled his fidgety bouncing so much he could have totally shot off for a visit to Neme all by himself, hahahaha.

But then the dragon reached for him, and Kiel's common sense finally got a clue. This is bad, it told him. You should be running, 'cause, like, Kiel had dealt with enough dragons to recognise an "I'm going to eat you" move when he saw it.

“Wah!” he yelped, and quickly - and haphazardly - scanned the area for a place to hide. “Wah!” he yelped again as he spotted an Apali and in his panic totally decided her wings would be a great place to hide.

He wasn't even aware of moving, but was suddenly peering out at the golden dragon from behind Xephia's wings, kinda wishing they were bigger. Even then, his excitement wouldn't leave him alone, and he was grinning like an idiot. “Hahahaha, that's awesome, that's awesome! Hahahaha, like, hi,” he thought to say then, a bit bashfully but not at all embarrassed. “I'm Kiel, I'm Kiel! How cool is this?”

[Xephia]

As the young Dracovari man skidded in behind her wings, she felt a wave of almost annoyed astonishment. She could not take her eyes off the dragon, but almost instinctively her motherly protective instincts kicked in. She flexed her white feathery wings to offer him even more shelter. Well, whatever shelter feathery wings could offer anyone in the face of a dragon.

"So err...pleased to meet you, Kiel. I'm Xephia, and I've never seen a dragon in my life!"

She quivered slightly under the great creatures gaze, but she held relativey steady for one so stressed and, yes admitedly, afraid. There was no way she was getting out of this now. She let her eyes fall towards the summoner. It was only a split second but they were pleading, begging almost for her help, and then back up to the beast again, daring not to let it out of her sight.

"Say, Kiel," she stammered, trying to lighten the situation a little, "You're a Dracovari, shouldn't I be hiding behind you?"

[Aiona]

Nykhtorarr was not impressed.

The scrawny little Rutilus did have some sense after all, but he still seemed unable to do anything except grin unintelligently and make a fool of himself by hiding behind an anyeli's wings. To display his annoyed disapproval, the golden dragon opened his jaws over both of them and snarled. As ferocious as his fangs looked, he wasn't going to eat them -- he only ate things worthy of eating.

What a boring farce.

Well, you are exceptionally frightening, Aiona pointed out. It was probably about time she stopped simply watching. Kiel was certainly as reckless as Nykh had said, but the anyeli woman--Xephia?--looked genuinely intimidated. Her bravery in the face of potential death was admirable, though, Aiona thought.

She came forward to meet the two, smiling in greeting. "Good afternoon," she said. "My name is Aiona, and this dragon is Nykhtorarr." She turned to Xephia. "You've never seen a dragon? Ah, they're every bit as scary and deadly as they look. But don't worry, he won't eat you."

Nykhtorarr had settled down on his belly and was staring at Kiel and Xephia. He didn't make any move to join in Aiona's introduction. Still unimpressed.

[Xephia]

Xephia relaxed slightly as the Dragon laid down on the riverbank. She managed a weak but not insincere smile towards Aiona and offered her hand by way of greeting.

"Xephia Athoryx," she responded, and dipped her head in acknowlegement and respect towards Nykhtorarr. Though certainly not out of rudeness, this was all she offered. She got the distinct impression that he would not really be that interested in such pleasantries any how.

"And thank you for your assurances. I have had rather a long night and I thought for a second my luck may have finally run out."

She turned slightly towards Kiel, feeling much more herself and much more composed after Aiona's level headed greeting.

"And what of yourself, young master Kiel? I assume you don't really know mistress Aiona either from the way you were prancing about just now?"

[Kiel]

“Wah! Prancing? Like, dude, no way, man, for sers!” But Kiel was more interested in "Nykh" to argue more like he might have otherwise, and was already, like, totally countering what Xephia said about him by prancing up as close as he dare get to Aiona's dragon and flapping his arms madly over how “Awesome, you're awesome!” the dragon was.

And then his brain caught up with his ears and he spun around to flap his arms madly at Xephia instead. “Wah! Hahahahaha, you have my boyfriend's name, that's so cool! Hahahaha. Except, like, he's a dude and he's Zephyr but, like, I'll call you Xeph, okay? No, no, I can't call you Xeph, Zeph'd get confused. Dude! Hahahaha, hi, hi, I'm Kiel,” he tacked on, shoving his hand out toward Aiona for a meet and greet. “Your dragon's awesome, man. Wah! You're not much older than me, man, that sucks, that sucks. I want a dragon, for sers!”

[Aiona]

Well, at least the anyeli had manners, Nykhtorarr thought, worn out as she seemed. He responded to her with a single blink of his eyes, which hardly was a noticeable greeting. But what did a dragon need bother to do?

Aiona meanwhile could sense his impatience with Kiel. His wings were twitching as large gold eyes glared at the bouncing guy. A dragon could only take so much of random limb-waving in his face. The only thing stopping him from flicking the Rutilus into the river and flying away was the fact that Aiona had a pretty sapphire. And it was nice to be admired.

He will run out of energy sometime or another, Aiona assured him, although she wasn't completely positive about that.

Kiel's next comment caught her in surprise. He had a boyfriend? She almost giggled at the thought of who it could be. Surely someone with lots of loving equanimity.

She took Kiel's hand and didn't even need to be an Aurumus to feel the wild level of his excitement. Hm, her earlier words were definitely not going to come true anytime soon. With an easy and slightly bemused expression, she sent a light wave of empathic energy toward him. Calmness. Serenity.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," she said. "And thank you, Kiel! Do you always flail about, by the way? Some dragons will find that disruptive."

[Xephia]

"Well, I certainly wouldn't want you getting me mixed up with your boyfriend!" she grinned at Kiel, though was taken aback at his discourse with Aiona; "You mean to say you don't have a Dragon? Why is that?"

She was suprised to find that Kiel did not 'have' a dragon. As her experience with the Dracovari race was so limited, she had always been under the impression that being a part of such a race and having ones very own dragon were one and the same.

Realising that she was speaking of such great creatures as if they were commodities, she turned once more to both Aiona and Nykhtorarr,

"I must appologise for my ignorance in this matter though. I hope I don't offend you by putting it that way"

There was something about being in the presence of such a great creature, not just fear for she trusted the cool headed Aiona's word, but the majesty of the beast, that filled her with the need to address it with a profound respect.

Kiel on the other hand...well, he just filled her with the need to address him as an aunty to an adolescent nephew. She knew she wasn't his senior, but he exuded a childlike quality which was both endearing and mildly irritating at the same time. She would have to watch her tongue around him. His boyfriend may not be quite so childlike and who knew what he'd do if she managed to upset Kiel by being too condescending.

[Kiel]

Kiel was so excited that Aiona's serenity wave barely touched him, but as the dark gold dragon settled down and dismissed him, and the two chicks started talking like it was an everyday mundane event, he started to simmer down a little bit all by his lonesome.

Which was to say that instead of shooting around like a ping-pong ball, he stood and bounced and fidgeted and practically hummed with energy instead.

Kiel kinda wanted to argue with Aiona over the whole flailing thing, but he knew better. He didn't have a leg to stand on, you know, 'cause, like, his feet were too busy trying to escape. So instead, he totally focused on Xephia's question.

“It's 'cause, like, I'm too young,” he explained, pouting at Aiona. He couldn't tell how much older she was exactly, but he could tell she was older. “And, like, Zeph says I have to "focus, dammit".” Air quotes were accompanied by a drop in pitch so he could mimic the girly-haired freak. “But, like, it sucks, it sucks! Are you sure I can't pet you, man?” His attention skipped right back to the huge beast, and he clapped eagerly. “You're awesome, you're awesome!”

[Aiona]

Nykhtorarr did narrow his eyes when he noticed he was being mentioned as a commodity (a super exquisite rare dangerous worship-worthy one by the way), but hey, at least they all revered him. Which was acceptable in the least.

Aiona shrugged away Xephia's apology since the dragon's pride wasn't hers, and she could tell that the anyeli didn't mean any harm. "No need to apologize," she replied sweetly. "No one knows everything."

When Kiel was still bouncing around despite the empathic influence she had experimented with, Aiona felt a minor prick of disappointment and a touch of surprise. He's like popcorn, she thought in wonder. Cue the mental images.

“And, like, Zeph says I have to "focus, dammit".”

"Who is this Zeph, exactly?" Aiona asked brightly, since Kiel seemed to love to talk about him. "Besides being your boyfriend, I mean?"

She was too busy being curious and consequently lost the time to warn Kiel. Nykhtorarr raised his gigantic gold head and roared at the tiny dracovari, showing a full set of gleaming white fangs. Aiona frowned, a bit worriedly for the first time that day. Sometimes Nykh was patient, and sometimes he wasn't. Most times, he was demanding.

"Sorry," Aiona quickly said. "He doesn't like being degraded to pet status. You might need to offer something."

[Kiel]

((I hope you don't mind my skipping you, Lith, only I figured Kiel should react first since he's about to be dragon food. ))

“WAH!”

Even Kiel knew when he'd pushed too far. And, like, okay, so it took a dragon flashing his tonsils at him to show him he'd pushed too far, but Kiel could get a clue, you know?

Sometimes.

“Wah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!”

He didn't get the big deal. Like, who wouldn't like being petted, you know? Kiel would totally die happy if he knew he'd be reincarnated as something warm and fuzzy that people would pet the rest of his second life. Heck, forget the reincarnation.

But, you know, you don't argue with dragons. That whole thing about teeth and stomachs big enough to digest a cow whole... so he did what any sane idiot would do when being fanged at - he fled right back behind Xephia's wings. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry!”

((Sorry, Xeph! *wince*))

[Xephia]

Oh dear, good job I have these wings of mine...

Xephia flinched back as the dragon roared, but Kiel was already behind her. Wings spread she bumped right into him and nearly tripped right over, stumbling over his and her feet, and feathers coming loose.

"Ow!! Kiel, do you mind?"

She glared back at him with her big blue eyes, steely and a little annoyed, and then back to Nykhtorarr, her good sense and temper a little frayed,

"Can you please stop making him do that?" she snapped, and then back to Aiona, "Do you need me to take this one away so you can do...whatever it is you and Nykhtorarr are doing? As pleasant as this has been, I get the feeling your friend is getting distinctly annoyed by now and I'm sure I, or Kiel for that matter," she stepped aside so he was in full view again, "don't want to be the cause of an incident. Do we, Kiel?"

She elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

[Kiel]

Kiel didn't respond. He was too busy ogling his shoes and holding his guts in. Dude, that girl's elbow was sharp!

Well, like, okay, so he was crazy exaggerating how painful her jab had been.

“But, like, dude,” he said in a stage whisper from somewhere to the Anyelos's right, catching on to the fact that she was annoyed and so not happy about being a feather shield. He'd already had to try and steady her when she fell over him, but, like, that wasn't his fault, man!

“Having a dragon 'port in here kinda already is an incident, you know?” Not that Kiel would care, man, it was just awesome watching the dragon's sleek lines, he just wished he could get closer without the great beast dumping a bucket of drool on him or something.

And then, as if he hadn't just been elbowed and chastised, he totally switched the topic of conversation and unabashedly stepped forward a bit. “Hey, hey, like, hey, do you know Slythe? Or, like, Aelia or Tullia or Ani - ” forgetting that wasn't her real name “- or, or Nekokerfuffle?” He would have continued down the list of all the dragons connected to his family, but, like, he kinda needed to catch his breath, man.

[Aiona]

Geez, Nykhtorarr, look what you did, Aiona scolded wistfully. You destroyed what could have been a good friendship!

The great gold dragon snorted. Pfft, like I care. He opened his gigantic wings to stretch them before closing them again. For the sake of Nirim, how long was he going to have to endure this lame play? Although it was fun to scare the bouncy one, most of his thoughts were still lingering on that sapphire.

"Unfortunately," Aiona said to Xephia, "I don't think he will be taken away that easily. Unless-- are you extraordinarily strong?"

“Having a dragon 'port in here kinda already is an incident, you know?”

Kiel's words gave Aiona a reminder that perhaps it would be better next time to summon her dragon in a more remote location. She stared out at the walls of New Alexandria. ...Well, this was already fairly remote, and she really didn't want to have to hike into the mountains or even down to the Ao Coast, as much as Nykh would appreciate such efforts.

When Kiel mentioned the names of his family's dragons, Nykhtorarr's irises twitched as he perked up just a little. Aiona caught that and smiled. She clapped her hands together happily. "Oh, I think he might even be friends with some of them!" she remarked, even though her knowledge of Nykh's buddy-list was zero.

Nykhtorarr growled at his summoner's imprudence. You--! Don't assume things!


(( Emma, is it okay if I say the dragons (might) know one another? ; ))

[Xephia]

"Unfortunately I'm not that strong. If I had a hill I could drag him off perhaps but the landscape here really is much too gentle. Lucky day for some I suppose,"

She glanced back at the young man with an arched eyebrow.

Though personally content with her chastisement of Kiel, she conceeded Aiona had a point and he certainly didn't seem to wear a speaking down to for so long. Already he was becoming excited over again, and after Nykhtorarr gave out yet another growl, this time at his companion, she braced herself for impact once more.

Well at least he wasn't pulling feathers anymore. And besides, he also had a point...

"Yes, I suppose a Dragon wandering around outside of New Alexandria is quite an incident and we're already involved. If you'll forgive me for asking, Aiona...your friend here does seem to be getting agitated, why exactly is he here?"

[Kiel]

“No way!” Kiel crowed, missing the interaction between dragon and Bonded. “For sers? You know them? Dude, that's awesome, that's awesome! I gotta call Zeph and my mom, man! And ChloChlo! And - ”

Babbling excitedly to himself about who he'd call and how they'd react, Kiel wandered off a little ways and fumbled in his pockets for his COM. All the elbowing and arched looks was dismissed in an instant as he argued with himself over exactly who he should be calling first, since this awesomeness was so awesome everyone on his contact list deserved to know at exactly the same time!

And he said as much when Xephia asked why the dragon was here. “Like, 'cause he's too awesome not to show off, hahahahaha. Like, right?” And then he went right back to pressing random buttons to call then cancel then call the next person then cancel then maybe a mass text with a photo would be better.

Yeah.

“Dude! Dude, can I, like, take a photo? It's awesome, it's awesome!”

Or maybe a video would be better, too.

[Aiona]

Before Xephia asked, the thought of why Nykh was there had largely drifted to the back of Aiona's mind. "Er, I was going to ask him to visit some places for me," she explained with a slightly guilty look at the dragon, whom she had kept waiting for so long. "Dragons can travel quickly, you see, so it's optimal for information-gathering." She decided to remain vague, since it wouldn't do to get Xephia and Kiel involved in her personal pursuits.

Nykhtorarr obviously listened to Aiona while she said this, and he gave the dragon equivalent of something like a sigh. Apparently, he wasn't too pleased with the objective. But then there was that tantalizingly brilliant blue sapphire.

When Kiel asked for a photo, Aiona grinned. "Why not?" she said, concentrating to the luckily fairly harmless request.

You humanoids and your excessive technologies! Nykhtorarr complained, to be ignored by a camera-happy Aiona. (The COM was actually one of the few pieces of crystal technology she knew how to use remotely decently.)

"Shall we all pose? Why don't we all pose? Come here, Xephia! Kiel can send you a copy when he's done!"

Nykhtorarr flared his impressive wings. They gleamed bright gold in the sun, completely majestic and well-- amazing. He was going to put that sorry little camera in its place.