Dragon lay quiet close beneath an orb-lamp that hung over the rocky cliffs to one end of Cetus. He'd showed this place to the little puffin Pietro; it was a place where one could climb up, then bask, high above the dangers of the swamp below... and, more pleasantly, close to the warmth of a few low-hanging orbs.

The puffin could fly, now. Dragon thought it the oddest of things--the bird did not look as if it were made to fly, yet somehow it could, and it seemed agile, to boot.

He was wondering how he might best put this to use.

The others could hunt; Tal'at was frozen away in a rock within Czernobog's chest, possibly going to reform, or possibly dead. Eve had flown off Aquarian-knew-where, and Willow he hadn't seen in quite a few days. That left him with no one to carry his messages, or to scout. Perhaps the puffin could help him with this. Certainly the little fellow was eager to prove himself; this would be a chance.

"Pietro," he began, voice rumbling, "I have a task for you."

He shifted a little, turning his entire bulk to face the young puffin, who was always so earnestly polite.

"The caves are large, and I am slow. There are several others I would like to... invite, to Cetus, for a meeting. It will be dangerous, so you will need to be very careful. Move fast, deliver the message, and return."

He eyed the puffin to ensure the little one was taking this all in. The last thing he wanted was for one of them to be eaten.

"Find the leader of Maji Walezi in Pisces. The leader of the Bonebound, in Canis. And find the leader of "Merrymen," in Monoceros."

Dragon didn't know much about the groups, or their leaders, but his scouts had given him the most basic of information, and the rest he'd discovered during and leading up to the fight with Raheerah.

"Tell them this: Dragon, of the Children of Rot, would like to gather all three of them for a discussion on something very important. Tell them it is to be a peaceful meeting, and it may concern the survival of us all."

With that the alligator let out another hissing rumble, as if going over his own words. Satisfied that he wasn't skipping anything important, he nodded faintly to the puffin.

"Have them meet me at the offering pile near the lake, if they will come. If they do not... then we will see."

He would go down and await them there; perhaps the other Children of Rot would join them. But if the denizens of the cave were to survive, well, it was time to take things in hand, and set things in motion.

All things considered, the alligator had not gone very far.

He was again laying near the same spot, in the same swamp, in the same cave. He was a little fatter, perhaps, but still waiting. The others--the mammals--they might live a couple dozen years, a few decades, but he--he would live forever.

He could wait.

If they chose to delay; well, that was their loss, not his.

"Thank you, little one," Dragon rumbled, twin threads of smoke briefly twisting from his nostrils. "Rest, eat, while we wait. They are slow creatures." He turned, slightly, though even that small movement required a ponderously (and ironically) slow dragging of his entire length, ridged tail sliding through the mud behind him.

He nudged at a small pile of fish that lay there, indicating it; maybe it was a bit too big for the puffin, for the most part, but he thought there might be a piece or two the bird could swallow. Or, at the very least, shred into.

And now, we wait.

He wondered if the wait would go on too long. If it did, the rest would probably die.

But not the Children.

Never them.