Day 31
102
New Dragon
I guess RNG is celebrating us reaching an entire month's worth of posts! Wohoo!
Meet Bronte:
Once again, the official introduction will have to be covered in the next update!
When they finally decided to venture into a lower level of the Underice, it was to everyone's surprise that Mara volunteered to be on the exploration team. But she had thrown herself into her new training regime with Asher over the past few days, and she wanted desperately to make up for all the time she wasted away curled up in the cave.
Besides, Asher and Aleksei, the group's best fighters, would be going along with her, and that gave Mara the last push of confidence she needed to make herself do this. Stepping out of her comfort zone was the only way to work through her trauma, after all.
Asher said he might know of an entrance to the south of their hill, so that's the way they set out. All three of them were fast fliers, and they exchanged no words as Asher took up the lead.
As they travelled, Mara scanned the lands below with her eyes. She liked to think she wasn't being paranoid, merely cautious, though she knew her efforts would come to little fruition. Most beasts that lived here blended well into the environment, and they were travelling much too fast for her to have the time to be scrupulous.
They'd been flying for about an hour when Asher started to slow down. "It's around here," he called over his shoulder, then started guiding them towards the ground.
Yet another hour of searching later, they found no trace of a hole anywhere in the vicinity. Asher was in a bad mood, for he was sure he had seen an entrance here. Finally he decided if they couldn't find the exact entrance he knew of, perhaps there'd be another somewhere nearby.
They began to move further south, keeping an eye for anything else that might lead them down. They found a tiny empty den at one point, which Mara braved alone, for she was the only one small enough to fit in - but it was only about five feet deep, and lead to a dead end. They were forced to move on again, determined not to return empty-handed.
A while later, Mara discovered a loose green feather half-buried in the ground. As she moved closer to inspect it, the entrance of a large cave came into sight from behind a large mound of snow. It was about fifteen feet across, wide enough to fit her body length twice over.
"Um... I may have found something?" she called over her shoulder, stepping warily towards the cave.
At first, she didn't see much of anything but a cloud of blackness inside. But as she squinted and stepped even closer, she could have sworn she saw something stir inside. And was that... a pair of eyes peering at her?
In that moment, something suddenly darted out of the cave with a wild screech. Mara yelped in surprise and leapt away as something big and feathery angrily flapped its wings in her direction.
It was no dragon, but some kind of strange, green bird. It continued to screech, but didn't attack. Aleksei and Asher were on each of Mara's sides at this point, and both of them seemed baffled at the sight. As the bird's squawks carried across the icy walls, Asher called out an annoyed: "Cut it out, or we'll cut
you up."
The bird lowered its wings and stopped its screeching, though it still looked angry and puffed up, and for all manners of speaking it was definitely glaring at them.
"Well, I've never seen one of those here before," Aleksei offered. "But I suppose we can bring it down? Looks plump."
Before either Mara or Asher could reply, a new voice called out from within the cave: "My, that's no way to bid your greetings, now is it?"
Asher and Aleksei tensed, as if getting ready for battle. Mara followed suit, forcing her body to stay in place instead of cowering away like it wished to.
At first Mara thought she saw another pair of eyes gleaming from inside the cave, but then she saw more and more of them, tiny blue twinkling orbs of light. Then, as if gliding on water, a large dragon emerged gracefully from within the cave, its body sliding out in a smooth motion.
Mara stared at them with her jaw open. She saw purples and blues, soft-looking silks, and a pair of glittering wings all coming together to form the image of a gorgeous Imperial dragon, floating in the air before them as if perched on a cloud.
"You're so brave, my little Starling! Well done," the Imperial said, then turned to the three of them with a smile. "I do apologise. I hope he didn't frighten you too much."
"And that's
your way of greeting guests, I take it?" Aleksei asked.
"Alas, for safety purposes, yes," the Imperial replied, this time with an apologetic smile. "I would hate to have to get my own claws involved if anyone...
unsavoury stumbled by, so I have my boy Starling here to take care of them for me."
Starling clucked lowly, still looking entirely unhappy. His eyes seemed to centre in on Asher with a particular note of dislike.
Mara meanwhile was still stunned by the dragon's appearance, and words tumbled out of her mouth before she could even think them over. "Gosh... You're so pretty."
The Imperial laughed at her words in obvious delight. "Aren't I, though?"
Asher rolled his eyes with a grunt, and the Imperial finally glided down to the ground in front of them. "My name's Veritas. In case it crosses your little heads to wonder, I'll have you know I am male. Now with that out of the way, who might you three be, and why were you trying to snoop around in my home?"
While introductions were exchanged, Mara thought there was something curious about Veritas and the way he carried himself. There was a mischievous glint to his eyes, and his playful smile seemed to hold a promise of knowing more than he was letting on. It was as if everything he said and did was a way of teasing them against his actual intentions, and what he really did know was rendered unreachable to them; a truth hidden behind a partly open door.
When they explained to him the reason for them being here, Veritas' expression turned sympathetic. His lips still curled up at the corners, he said: "I'm afraid the tunnel caved in a couple of months ago. There was an earthquake in the area, and I think that might have done it."
"There are earthquakes here?" Mara asked with surprise.
Veritas nodded. "Oh yes, and they are entirely odious. Nothing like the thunder of stalactite rain to wake you up on a serene morning of the Underice, eh?" He shook his head. "Well, what can you do? Better that than the floods, I'll say! Those absolutely
devastate my lovely creations!"
"There are
floods here?"
"We're getting off topic," Asher interrupted. "And since what we came for isn't here, we'll be taking our leave."
"My, not one for conversation much, are you, Crystalline?" Veritas mused, and Asher narrowed his eyes. "But before you leave, let me ask you something. You see, this is the first time I've ever seen this many dragons travelling together. What are you, pray tell? And what turned you from savagery to apparent friendship, I wonder?"
"We're part of a bigger Clan," Mara shared with excitement, though it took a hit when Asher threw her a glare. "Well, what? You know someone like Harper or Spindle would tell him, too!"
"That they would," Asher sighed in exasperation, murmuring under his breath about all of them having no concept of privacy or safety.
Veritas looked intrigued nonetheless. "Clan? Down here?" He exchanged a look with Starling, who looked up at him in bafflement, though it was hard to tell if the bird understood them, or was just waiting for instructions from his master.
"Well, congratulations, my fascinating guests. You've certainly secured my curiosity," Veritas announced happily. "I'd be delighted to take a look for myself. You've visited me, but does that Clan of yours take kindly to visitors in turn, I wonder?"
"Uh, sure," Mara shrugged. "I don't think anybody will mind."
"Just keep your chicken in line," Asher added, and Veritas gasped in mock offence.
"Chicken? My little Starling is a Cockatrice, I'll have you know, and I ask you to treat him with respect. He's a lovely friend of mine," Veritas said, smiling at Starling. Then his eyes returned to Asher, and his expression turned impish. "Buuut, if we're already exchanging insults... Who, pray tell, picked your outfit for you, Crystalline? Why it's nothing but rags! It wounds me to look upon it."
"Then don't," Asher huffed, and Mara quickly stepped in front of him with an apologetic expression.
"I'm sorry, he's like that sometimes," she said, ignoring Asher's dismissive scoff. "He's nice, I promise. We're just going through a tough time. Um, there's a nest of hatchlings back home, and we're running really short on supplies. That's why we really wanted to get to the lower levels," she explained.
Veritas pressed a hand to his chest in astonishment. "Hatchlings? Oh, this won't do," he said, turning towards the entrance to the cave. "Allow me to share some of my provisions with you."
As he entered his cave, Mara hurriedly stepped after him. "Wait, what? You don't have to do that!"
He wouldn't listen however, and soon emerged back with a heavy-looking sack, which he dropped in front of them as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "There. Hopefully this will last you the next little while."
Mara exchanged a look with Aleksei. Even Asher looked dumbfounded. "Um, really, we appreciate it, but... Like I said, you don't have to. I mean, don't you need that yourself?"
Veritas waved a hand. "Don't be silly. I won't allow hatchlings to go hungry if I can help it. Starling and I will manage, believe me," he said with a smile.
"Well... Okay, thank you. Um, I mean, if we can pay you back somehow..."
"Oh, yes. You can pay me back by allowing me to dress your friend Crystalline over there properly when I visit your Clan," Veritas said with a laugh. "And... I didn't want to say anything, buuut..." His gaze now turned to Aleksei. "My lovely Mirror friend, I am sure I could turn you into a stunning beauty if you just let me adjust a few things here and there. Such a waste, hiding under a hood like that."
Aleksei chuckled, nonplussed. "You're a tailor, then?"
"I suppose you can call it that, but the word doesn't begin to cover it, if you ask me," Veritas said airily. "It's not just about
making clothes - it's about the design! It's about matching, and layering, and finding just the right fit! It's an
art form."
The Imperial paused. His expression turned into a frown, though his lips remained curled up in an unhappy smile. "Of course, you hardly find anyone who appreciates such things around here... Hardly any room for pretty things in the hearts of Underice dragons, I'll say."
"Oh, I think I know just the dragon for you," Aleksei said with a smirk.
Asher continued to hurry them along, so finally they started getting ready to leave. They gave Veritas directions on how to get to their hill, and promised to be expecting him soon. The Imperial looked thrilled at the prospect, especially when Mara shared just how many more dragons lived with them.
"My, it's been so long since I've had so many dragons to dress... I must prepare! Oh, this will be so much fun. I'll see you very soon, my friends!"
While Asher and Aleksei jointly carried the sack of supplies between them, Mara waved Veritas goodbye. He waved back, and even that simple gesture looked elegant when he did it. As Mara turned away to catch up with the other two, she couldn't help a grin from forming on her face. It had been a while since she had enjoyed herself so thoroughly, and she already looked forward to the curious Imperial's visit.
