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Closed Semi-lit: PG-13: The Order of the Dragon Knights

N'hee smiled at Verne, curling back her lips in something that looked more like a growl than a smile, but she laughed as well, a soft tinkling sound that was slightly eerie. With a few steps, she was inside the cave, where she curled in a bed of various plants.

The cave was large enough to house the dragon with quite a lot of room to spare, the walls curving upwards a great amount, meeting at the top to form a domed roof. The walls looked to have been scarped smooth by the large black dragon rubbing her scales against them, but the high roof was still rough and sported a few stalactites. The floor was covered with a layer of what looked like hay or similar, to make it soft, and there were good-sized gemstones and crystals piled against the walls.

"Welcome to my home." The black dragon purred.

---

Alanna slid off of Kismet's back, looking around at the place she had been brought. It lacked the glamor of her old home, but she liked it. It was...natural. She smiled and did a little spin, her brown hair swishing around her head and falling flat again when she came to a stop.

"It's nice, I like it!" The girl chirped, smiling.
 
Ardeina stifled a yawn as he rubbed her back with his tail. It only made her feel more tired... "If we can get a human bed sometime soon... I'd like that." Another yawn, and she slowly leaned against his side. He was the only pillow around, and she was too unused to roughing it to try to sleep without any sort of cushioning. At least he was warm, and she hadn't been impaled by a spike just yet. In fact, knowing that she had a dragon curled around her made her feel... safe. Secure in the knowledge that such a powerful creature was sheltering her... Even if it was a temporary arrangement.

((Short as hell and crappy too. >>))
 
((Welcome back!))

"Flying was fun," Charlie said, still excited.

He looked about in wonder. The cave was huge -- it may probably seem normal to a dragon, but to Charlie, it was quite huge. There were small trinkets hanging from the ceiling and barely anything else. Charlie had always imagined dragon caves to be piled high with gold coins and other treasures; he never though that it would be this empty. But, of course, he had always thought dragons are evil, murderous creatures, so he wasn't that surprised that he was wrong.

There was a pile of what looked like carefully placed stones, grasses, and feathers in the cave. Charlie walked over to it, curious. It looked like some sort of bird nest, only a few hundred times larger. This must be Morrigan's nest.

Speaking of nests... Charlie realized with a start that he was going to have to live here now. In this cave. With a dragon. Charlie found himself not really scared -- things were happening so fast, he didn't have time to worry about everything.

"I suppose I'll be living here for quite a while now... Is there a good spot I can sleep?" Charlie asked, looking about. The wind's pretty strong in the cave, and he wasn't sure what he'll do if it gets cold at night -- sleeping next to the dragon might solve this problem, but he might accidentally get crushed if Morrigan shifts in her sleep. The trinkets Morrigan hung around the cave clinked together, making a clear ringing noise.

"Oh, wait," Charlie suddenly remembered his present for Morrigan. He fished out his bronze coin -- thank goodness it was still there -- and held it up for the dragon. "You can have this if you want."
 
Verne stared inside in wonderment of all the jewels and gems, stacked inside the cave. "Woooah..." He gasped, his mouth hanging ajar. However, his surprise and shock soon turned into a great big grin. "This is just like being chosen by a noble... I've never seen so much wealth before..." he thought out loud. Verne began to walk toward N'hee's perch, grinning. "It's amazing how much treasure you've collected, Master N'hee..." He reached out and touched one of the larger gemstones, as he began to complement her, but something else also escaped his lips. "But it also looks so... empty otherwise." Verne approached her and stood next to her, right outside her nest. "Where would you like me to stay and sleep?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Endymion cooed softly, smiling and resting a paw overtop of Ardeina. A little of the mist remained around her, and in the air, acting like a blanket that, along with his own heat, helped to keep her warm"There you go... sleep well, my little human... Perhaps we can visit the town after a nap, unless you would like to stay here and relax, perhaps play, until it's time to return to the temple..." He thought, Good... Things seem to be going pretty smoothly so far... We'll have to see about the future, however...With that, the silver dragon began to sleep as well
 
Ardeina didn't dream. She was used to just emptiness and then waking up, and besides, her day so far had been too full of surprises for her to register the whole thing, and beyond the sensation of falling, she didn't remember anything when she did wake up. She could feel Endymion's breathing as his side rose and fell, and she shifted to become more comfortable. He was warm, and though her neck ached slightly, it was still better than sleeping on the ground. Was her partner awake? She couldn't tell - he might have just been lying still to ensure her comfort, or maybe he was asleep. It was impossible to make sure. Reluctantly sitting up, she rubbed at her eyes, trying to figure out how long she had slept. Maybe Endymion would know, but if he was sleeping, she didn't want to wake him. What a conundrum.

--------------
Morrigan grinned as he looked around, and flared out her wings in a preening gesture. Of course she was happy that he was impressed - her cave wasn't very nice in comparison to many others, but she enjoyed the wind far more than dull gold that stayed on the ground. "Sleeping... Um... You could sleep in my nest, or I could make a seperate one for you. It won't blow away - the stones weigh them down. And I don't think it gets so strong that it'll blow you away... You didn't seem to be that light. Or... I could ask a human to build one, or get one, or whatever you do to get beds. Do you make them? And... oh, it's pretty! Do you think you could tie a string around it, and hang it up? It'd be even nicer then!" Ah, subject change, her ally.

If Charlie still knew what she was talking about by the time she was done, it would be a miracle - but she didn't mind. It was fun to see other people try to figure it all out.
 
Charlie was a bit taken back when Morrigan started talking. She talked really fast, and Charlie found himself completely confused. Let's see... He supposed that the dragon could make a nest for him. It looked pretty comfortable, and, although a human bed would probably be more comfortable, Charlie did not want to know exactly how the dragon planned to get a bed.

And, uh, beds are pretty? And he's supposed to tie a string around it and -- ah. Right. The coin.

"Um, I suppose you can make one for me, please. Us humans do make beds, actually. I think carpenters make them out of pieces of wood... I'm not sure exactly how the mattress is made though... And I can probably tie the coin up... Let's see..." Charlie fished around in his pockets again and produced a piece of string. Ah. Thank goodness for pocket lint. He wiped the coin on his shirt to make it shine and tried to tie the string around it, but the string was not long enough. "Um, Morrigan, would you happen to have a piece of string?"
 
Feeling the human next to him shifting and sitting up, Endymion slowly began to stir once again. He rolled away from the human, laying on his back along one side of his nest, with his tail and neck sticking out over the edge, then he began to stretch out the length of his body, his arms toward his head and his legs toward his tailtip. He finished by spreading his wings along their span, then folding them again and sitting up. "So you're awake... Did you sleep well?" He glanced toward the entrance of the cave, to see how much sunlight was shining inside. "Well, it only seems like it's been a couple hours... it's about mid morning. So, have you chosen what you'd like to do next, Ardeina?"

(fail :()
 
"Ah, now, it might have been boring to you, but I'd give a lot to see the world-at least once," Kinri said with a twitch of his tail as he continued onward. "But I see...Hmm..." The young dragon seemed thoughtful, pensive even, perhaps. He was so uncertain of how this would turn out. Suddenly he felt like this was a responsibility he miiight just not be ready for.

But oh well, he'd find a way to cope with it. Right??

"I don't know about interesting, really, just yet..." He glanced back at the young man with a slightly serious expression- an oddity in his case, really. Green dragons were rarely serious in general; their light, always-friendly mood and mischievious nature would ruin any attempt at true seriousness anyway.

"And it's only a little longer, really," He added, "To where I sleep, at any rate." His muzzle twitched-if he'd had lips he would have pursed them in a speculative manner. "I'm not even sure bringing you out here was a wise idea..." He sighed. "I know so little about something like this..."
 
N'hee raised one of her scaled paws and rolled partly so she was on her side, her chest exposed and uncovering a part of the bed of vegetation.

"You shall sleep beside me, my little prince. It's the best way for me to make sure nothing tries to hurt you. I won't roll on you in my sleep, I promise." She cooed, lowering her head and smiling.

Her wings folded behind her and her tail curled around her legs. She sort of resembled an oversized cat with scales instead of fur, purring contentedly and eying her little mousy pet.

((Failpost :c))
 
Ardeina nodded blearily. "Yes, I slept well. Thank you." She had no idea what to do next, but the idea of hanging around in the cavern until she was hungry wasn't as appealing as seeing other humans. Maybe not the others who had been chosen - she didn't think they liked her, for some reason, but there were other humans, right? And maybe shops, or houses, or something to look at besides caves. Unless all the humans slept in caves. That wouldn't be very exciting. "Could we look around outside? There are normal people here, right? Not just partners for dragons?" It made sense, at least to her. There had to be craftsmen and mundane people for everything to work out...

------------------
Morrigan grinned more at the confusion on his face. At least he had figured it out at the end. Tail lashing with her amusement, she nosed her own bed and then began seperating some of the reeds and feathers from it, and lumping it nearby. Stones were fetched, and she prodded at it until it was roughly the shape and size she wanted. "There! That can be your bed. I hope it's comfortable." she said cheerily, and then went in search of a piece of string. There wasn't much on the ground, but eventually she procured a slender chain and showed it to him. "Better! Can carry around, and won't break. Strings are too small for my claws. Maybe we can find more coins and string them all together so they clink in the wind!"

Yes, the purpose of all those hanging charms and windchimes was to fill the cavern with beautiful sound when the wind blew. It wasn't all that surprising, considering what her ability was.
 
Verne looked up at the black dragon before him, and somewhat tentatively approached her nest. "... All right... " he replied, as he began to climb up into N'hee's nest, The large boy sat down with his back turned to the dragon, and leaned back against her tummy, stretching his arms back upward, moaning comfortably. Verne took a deep breath and closed his eyes, speaking softly to her. "Thank you for choosing me, N'hee... I wasn't sure what to think at first, but you really can be nice. You're strong, rich, self-confident... everything I could have hoped for. I'm honored to be your human. Just tell me what you wish of me..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Endymion nodded as he looked down over Ardeina's shoulder, toward her. "Yes, there are many humans in the city. They are mainly the descendants of previous human partners. Riders raise their families here, and their children, as they come of age, have the choice to remain in the city, or leave back to the rest of the kingdom. Those that leave are supposed to remain quiet about the city and about the dragon knights, but in return, they are treated as nobility, so I've heard. Anyway, sure, I will show you the city. Would you like to try riding on my back this time?"
 
Charlie watched curiously as Morrigan pushed some rocks around. So that's how dragons make their nest... Although the lump of grasses and feathers aren't as great as a noble's bed, it was no worse than the straw mat he used to sleep on. Charlie found himself a bit surprised at how quickly he had adapted to the situation -- he was not freaking out at the notion of sleeping next to a dragon, nor was he afraid of flying. Flying! Honestly, he had never thought he would be partnered with a dragon, let alone living next to one. Then again, he had always imagined dragons as evil, vile creatures, which Morrigan was definitely not, so he was not that surprised.

Charlie was snapped out of his musings when Morrigan exclaimed something excitedly while holding a piece of chain. "Oh, thanks..." The boy carefully took the chain from the dragon's claws and tied it around the coin. "Where do you want me to hang this?" He asked, holding the coin up to the light. It shone dully -- it would definitely work better as a wind chime than a decoration. Charlie looked about the cave, studying the various items clinking above him. "I suppose you can always hang it next to another coin, and they will clank together when the wind blows. That way, you won't need any more coins."
 
Ardeina sighed. "The fog will make sure I don't fall, right?" she asked warily. "I suppose we can try." Somehow, if she had ever visualized riding some type of noble beast, it had been a winged horse, or something along those lines. Not an intelligent, talking dragon that had threatened her in the first five minutes, and was large enough to squash her with a claw. Flying was also supposed to be fun, with a gentle breeze and warm air and the ground still visible. Not the rushed experience of being carried in his jaws.

Still, if she was going to stay on, with no fear of falling... Well, she could try it. It couldn't be worse than fearing that he would bite down, or crush her in his tail. "Alright."
---------------------
Morrigan instantly changed her original idea, since his was so much better. "Yes, let's do that! Um..." She looked at the hanging objects, before spotting a solitary silver coin. "That looks nice... Wait." After some sniffing around the corners of the cave, she somehow found another, already strung, gold coin, and reared up onto her hind legs to hook the chains into crannies in the rocks. This accomplished, she prodded one and hissed in delight as it swung into the others, clinking. "You have good ideas! So, what do you want to do? Eat, or sleep, or maybe fly around? That is, if you don't feel sick from flying, you don't, right? I'd hate it if I wasn't good enough to keep you from getting sick from all the moving around. I've heard you can't breathe well at high altitude. I've never had that problem, but humans could..." Her anxiety showed in her voice and the way she dropped back to the ground, sticking her snout right in front of his face to ascertain that he wasn't throwing up.
 
"Of course, Ardeina," Endymion replied. "You don't have to worry about a thing. You're perfectly safe... as long as you trust me." The silver dragon began to blow a stream of grayish fog toward Ardeina, starting to cover her again in a coating of what could only be described as warm gray, sticky goo. The 'suit' seemed to glitter, shine, and glow as it attached to her. Endy then crouched down, opening one of his paws right beside her. "Climb on. I'll place you down."
 
Morrigan started jabbering again as she hung up Charlie's bronze coin. The dragon sure likes to talk... Charlie had to focus quite hard to understand Morrigan's constant topic switches. The dragon suddenly stuck her snout right in front of Charlie's face while still talking, causing the boy to stumble back surprisingly. Charlie could see what might be a dragon's face expression of concern, although he wasn't really sure because Morrigan was too close to him, and Charlie wasn't exactly what one'd call an expert at reading dragon expressions.

Morrigan certainly sounded concerned... So what was she talking about? Charlie was pretty sure it wasn't about coins -- he heard flying somewhere in the dragon's rapid speech. Perhaps the dragon wanted to fly. Yes, that must be it. Morrigan certainly look like she was built to fly, with her huge wings and tiny limbs. Although what is she concerned about?

"Flying sounds fine," Charlie replied, "it's pretty fun in the air, actually." Hopefully that'll calm the dragon down, whatever she's worried about.
 
Ardeina flinched as the goo settled on her, glittering prettily. Normally, she would have been entranced, but she was preoccupied with slowly climbing onto Endymion's paw. Sitting down carefully, she braced herself for the lift and being put on his back. He said it would work if she trusted him. The problem was... did she really trust him? She couldn't do much else... "I trust you, if only a little right now. Your first words weren't very... encouraging."
-------------------
Morrigan beamed at him. So he wasn't sick - that was good! And he wanted to fly again, which was great. "Good. Get on, then?" She crouched low to the ground, looking over her shoulder to see how he was faring. "Did you have trouble holding on? Maybe I could find something for you to make sure you don't fall..." Though she was sure she could catch him if he did fall. She was good at the steep dives that imitated those of falcons. Swooping, rolling, she knew all the fun tricks to ride the wind to its fullest, and she couldn't wait to show her partner.
 
Morrigan seemed to beam at Charlie's response. Well, whatever was the matter with the dragon was solved now, and Charlie gave a small sigh of relief. He did not want to deal with a bothered dragon, although Morrigan did seem to be easily distracted. Charlie once again clambered up the purple dragon's back, this time not as awkwardly, seeing that the dragon had crouched down to make his climb easier. He settled back into his old spot right in front of Morrigan's wings and wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck, trying not to shiver at the dragon's stare. Although Morrigan was a very nice dragon, getting stared at by eyeballs bigger than a human hand is still creepy.

"I'm fine," Charlie called out, pressing his belly against the dragon's back. Morrigan had been a steady flier, and this trip can't be too bad, right? After all, what can a huge dragon do in the air?
 
"Oh? It feels like we already have been through this though..." As he spoke, Endymion kept his paw open and began to lift the small human up into the air. He rotated his elbow, while holding his paw parallel to the ground, not moving too fast. "I suppose you're referring to my little speech at the temple? I thought it was a very realistic one. You know, certain guidelines need to be set, but as long as they're met, there's nothing to fear. Perhaps you need to test me as well, to see just what I'm like in your own mind, just as I have been testing you."

Finally, the dragon lowered his neck and held his paw just next to his shoulders, between a pair of spikes on the side of his armor. "Climb on, and sit down on one of my armored plates. It should be shaped roughly like one of those horse saddles you humans use for traveling on horses. You can slide your feet in, just between the plate and the one before it, and you can lean back or sit forward if you want. Just try to get comfortable."
 
Ardeina sighed. "But how can I test you? You're so... much more powerful than I am." As if that wasn't obvious, but she had no other way to say how she felt about her apprehension whenever she thought back to the temple... Still, she tentatively climbed onto his back, fitting herself on the armored plate and putting her feet in the crack. She couldn't bear to lean back when she knew there was a spike there, even if she wasn't going to be impaled on it, so she sat stiffly upright. It wasn't all that different from a saddle - a spiky saddle - and she fought to keep that thought in mind.

---------------------

Morrigan looked straight ahead once more, grinning. "Great! So, do you want to just fly around, or can I show off to you? I know lots of fun tricks in the air." It was plain that she wanted to show off just how skilled she was, as she sounded much more enthusiastic about the latter option. Still, she waited for his response as she padded out of the cave and stood on the ledge, unfolding her wings. "You don't need to worry about falling off because I can catch you faster than you can fall! You haven't seen me dive yet, but my teachers can do it just like falcons, and it's really fast and fun. I can also roll, or do loops - that's fun too!" she informed him, unaware that this could just scare him, rather than have him match her excitement.

((Ardeina is fail for me. Morri's part I am more pleased with.))
 
Endymion chuckled, shaking his head. "Silly human... 'Testing' is not about bouts of physical or magical strength. You will be strong enough soon, don't worry. But, if you are to make it in this world, you need to know more than just how strong something is. You need to know how they think, what they are looking for, and you need to do in return to get them to do what you want. And so, the first thing you need to figure out is, how do I think? Only when you can feel confident about how I would react to a given circumstance can you rest assured that things are under your control, and that you are safe with me. And in order to do that, you have to test me. You have to find subtle ways to test my reactions and thought patterns, and figure out how you can work with me. You can be sure that I will be doing the same with you."

As Ardeina settled in, the membrane around her began to spread out onto Endy's body, helping to cement her on it. It was a little flexible, to help remove sudden jerks and allow her arms and upper body a little movement, but it was also solid and somewhat tight. It was like being covered in an elastic rubber and glued onto his back. The silver dragon lowered his shoulders a bit, feeling the human's weight on his back. He was more used to younger children, but it only took a few seconds to get used to her somewhat-larger body. "All right, ready?" Endymion stood up fully on all fours, and started walking toward the cave entrance.
 
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