He wasn't exactly hiding himself. And considering all that had happened to him, it was a bit of a foolish decision. But Dragon was nothing if not brash.

He was tramping forward through the ferns, head low, sniffing his way along. He hated the cold ice-tunnel--he'd had to come through twice, and that after Ghanyarah had showed him firsthand how terrible ice could be. Now he was on warm earth again, and he didn't care that he was knocking grass waving every which way, or stomping on dry crunchy leaves. What mattered was that there was water ahead.

Aquarian--his Dad, or so he thought--lived in water. If there was a lake here, too, then maybe he could find something here that Dad would accept as an offering.

Dragon carried on stomping and crashing--rather impressively for a young alligator hatchling only a few feet long--until he reached the crystalline water, emerging from the ferns to open space. His eyes widened.

"TWO lakes!" he squeaked. Never mind that they were little pools or ponds more than lakes. They were lakes to him.

He crept forward, peering down at his vibrantly clear reflection, utterly transfixed in awe--and oblivious to all else.

Dragon leapt into the air, startled half out of his skin, as the cry of "PLAY?" came from behind him. He stared back at the strange pale fuzzy thing that bounded toward him. What the?! He scrambled back so his hind legs touched the cool water, then hesitated. It didn't look hostile.

"...What is--play?" he asked, uncertainly--almost suspiciously. He had never played before, wasn't sure what it meant... but maybe it was a good thing?

Then another thing was pushing through the ferns--the yellow-brown-cat, like the black-cat but different, the one who had visited him in his swamp. The weird, slightly unpleasant creature. It greeted him by name (or so he rather naturally assumed) and eyed up the play-white-thing.

Dragon eyed them both.

"Am here to swim," he lied abruptly, and he wasn't sure why. Maybe these things were out to get him. It wouldn't do to give them too much information.

Then he stared between the two rather blankly, too startled to add anything else of use, waiting to see what they would do.

Dragon eyed Baratheon first. Despite being furry, he swam like a reptile, wriggling and moving with his tail. He tilted his head, and slowly lowered himself to the water's surface before shoving himself off into the pool. He, too, swam with legs tucked up and tail propelling him, its sideways swishes leaving an arrow-shaped wake.

"Are you a dragon, too?" he asked, voice slightly quiet with hesitation. "Are we also brothers?" He already had Ghanyarah as a brother--they were both dragons, both Aquarian's sons. Or were in his mind, anyway.

He glanced at the lion, next. He'd met him. He had been strange, and rude, but Dragon couldn't remember exactly what had been said or done--only that he didn't trust the lion. He looked away again, back at Baratheon.

The young alligator kept slowly floating out into the pool, staying well away from the other two, for now--for some reason, he still felt oddly suspicious. Maybe it was the strange place, or the fact that they were two large, predatory strangers--or a combination thereof. Maybe it was a trap?

A sudden surge of pride ran through him.

Dragon was rather pleased at Baratheon's agreement that they were brothers. The other creature swam like him, at least, like Ghanyarah had, and that was something, and he was always glad to find new relatives, new sons of Aquarian.

But then the lion cub (whom he distinctly didn't like, the know-it-all who stuck his silly whiskered nose into places where it wasn't welcome! who thought he was better than him!) was speaking again. Dragon actually listened, and considered the word "crocodile," but it rang wrong with him. He knew it wasn't right, and shook his reptilian head.

"No," he replied rather condescendingly at Usui, and then, looking to Baratheon, gave his answer. "I am Dragon!" He meant this as his name, though perhaps it wouldn't be clear.

Joyful at having found a new comrade, he lifted his head back, the fire brimming up from within; he'd intended to fire a plume of flames straight up into the air in celebration, but only managed a few spurts of smoking embers.

Undeterred, he dove down into the water, sleek and dark and sinuous, and curved up to tag Baratheon as he'd tagged Ghanyarah, with a gentle nip to his foot. Then he swam to the other side, curving up to the surface, breaking through with a splash and peering playfully back at the "other" dragon.

"TAG!" he crowed, before turning and diving away.