For once, his shouting was sort of justified. The bay wasn't violent, but its breakers were nonetheless crashing nonstop around the base of his seastack home. Each rush of water gave a hissing roar, a spray of clear, fresh water pluming into the air. It reached nowhere near the top--his island home was quite tall, and their fall had been immense (it had stung Dread's skin, a little) but it was still loud.

"I TRIED TO DO MAGIC TO HELP YOU. BUT IT DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK AND THEN I FELL. IT'S OKAY," he added, reassuringly.

The dragon was not built for swimming, and it showed; his wings sort of floated on the surface, out to either side, while his feet doggy-paddled him rather slowly toward the shore. But he didn't sink, at least. "USE YOUR FEET TO PUSH." Odd, that he was teaching Cadenza to swim before even really to walk, but...

"ARE YOU DOING OKAY?" he called back, though his tone did not seem worried, as such. He knew they had the pendant--they weren't gonna drown or something.

"FLYING IS EASIER," Dread at once responded, with a matter-of-fact tone. A split second later, he remembered that perspective was a subjective thing, and added "FOR ME," rather hastily. He did use his wings, a little, but mostly they were too broad and thin to be of use.

But soon enough he'd reached the shore, hauling himself out and shaking himself off like a dog, the fins along his neck spraying water off. He craned his neck to peer forward at Cadenza. "MAGIC IS WEIRD. ALL SORTS OF THINGS CAN HAPPEN. IT IS GOOD TO PRACTICE! I DON'T NORMALLY FALL," he reassured them. Yes, he'd half-forgotten to answer this until now but it was answered now, and he plodded up higher onto the sand. He was heavy enough that his feet sank a bit, leaving huge three-toed prints--like gigantic bird feet--behind him. "IF YOU WANT TO TRY TO FLY AGAIN, DO IT OUT OVER THE WATER AGAIN! IT'S GOOD SWIMMING IS EASY!"

Cadenza seemed to enjoy it, even, which was good; he eyed them, thoughtful. "BLIGHT LIKES TO SWIM TOO. HE IS MY SON'S SON." (Sort of.) "HE WENT TO A CITY UNDER THE OCEAN ONCE. NOT THIS OCEAN."

With that random bit of information imparted, he turned and waddled a little off.

"TO FLY FROM THE GROUND, I RUN FIRST!"

Dread demonstrated. First, he turned back toward the water, having gotten up toward the treeline far enough to give himself plenty of room. He started off at a slow wing-walk, waddling tipped-forward with his wings used as forelimbs. He then broke into a strange, bounding sprint, the way a dog might run if its front legs were massive wings, and then--when he'd picked up speed--leapt skyward. Wings snapped out, billowing as they caught Leo's warm air, and a few beats swiftly carried him skyward.

"IF YOU GET UP HERE AND YOU GET CONFUSED ABOUT LANDING, JUST GO INTO THE WATER!" he yelled down.

Dread banked, curving smoothly toward Cadenza in the air, though nowhere near close enough to collide or startle them. He just studied them for a moment, an experienced eye picking out the way they handled every movement and shift of air. Good, he thought; flying seemed natural to them. Which made sense, given that they were a dragon.

"YOU ARE DOING VERY WELL!" he roared, his voice echoing in a twinned screech and bass rumble like a crack of thunder. There was absolutely no need for him to be this loud, but he was that loud anyway. His followup shouts, at least, were a little quieter: "IF THERE ARE EVER STORMS, IT WILL BE HARDER TO FLY! OR HARD WIND! LOOK AT TREES AND GRASS AND WATER BEFORE YOU FLY SO YOU KNOW IF IT WILL BE HARD! -BECAUSE WIND MOVES THEM," he explained.

He hoped they understood what he was trying to get across: that harshly swaying trees or bent reeds or frothing waves would indicate stronger winds, and thus, more difficult flight.

Oh, and one other piece advice he offered retrospectively: "AND DO NOT FLY UNTIL YOU ARE EXHAUSTED! THEN IT WILL BE TOO HARD TO LAND!"

He landed beside them a moment later, touching down and then rocking forward, landing on his wings. "A GOOD LANDING!" he bellowed, directly at his child.

As for travel-?

Dread considered. "ARE YOU TIRED YET? WE CAN GO. BUT IT IS A LONG WAY. WE CAN WALK--I HAVE TO WALK IN TUNNELS," he explained. "THEY ARE TOO SMALL TO FLY." An annoyance, but it was what it was.

Which was mostly very anti-climactic when Dread got into a huge fight, went to make a dramatic exit and had to land and walk.

"MAYBE DRINK SOME WATER BEFORE WE GO." It was unusual foresight, on his part, but the way was long, and none of the caves en route were known for fresh, flowing water.

'I could not have done it without you.'

Dread stared, for a moment, nonplussed--uncertain what the correct response to this was. "OKAY," was what he eventually settled on, with a mental shrug.

"WE CAN GO NOW," he agreed. And then--Cadenza was telling him to drink water. Again he was a little blankly confused; it wasn't often that anyone told him to do anything (or rather, suggested it strongly) and Dread had to pause to consider. Ah. I should drink. They're right, he realized.

"OKAY." This bellowed for the second time, he swiftly wing-walked over and dipped his head down low. He drank like a bird: filling his mouth, then tipping it quickly back and gulping the water down with the aid of gravity. Rinse, repeat.

Once he'd had his fill he turned, nodding. "IT WAS A GOOD IDEA. NOW WE GO THIS WAY," he said, and pointed his snout toward Tunnel D. "THERE ARE TWO WAYS BUT THIS ONE GOES TO THE SNOW CAVE AND THAT IS WHERE BONE MIGHT BE." She wouldn't turn up--though Dread didn't know this at the moment, of course; the white dragon would be far too busy aiding Order and the Hive. "THEN THERE IS POLARIS, WHICH IS FULL OF MAGIC, AND PAST THAT IS WHERE PRIDE LIVES." He paused, then, eyeing Cadenza sidelong. "SHOULD WE WALK OR FLY, FOR NOW?" he asked.

That much, at least, he could leave to them to decide.