It had been exhausting flying all the way from Monoceros to here. Maybe Dread had come to be closer to Ursa, maybe because his family had gone, he'd decided to come here, she didn't know. But now she was here, and she had to find him, to convince him to help her retrieve what family she could. She knew the Voidcrawlers would help, and there were those like Astraea and Vargas, masters who wanted Mother purged.

But she needed Dread. She needed his flame, his strength. What comfort he could give by his presence supporting them all.

"Now's the hard part," she mumbled, leaning on her wing claws, her forefeet clutching a collection of gems, "How can you lose a dragon that big, huh?"

She had his scent in some of the charred bones she had with her, now all she had to do was find the guy. Her grandfather.

The sea breeze blew what scent there was away, so she dropped down off the cliff and took flight, eyes narrowed. Dread lived in caves, specifically ones that were warm, right? He was a reptile, reptiles liked heat, it was obvious. She just had to catch a hunting trail or a recent kill, anything that would suggest he was here.

He had to be.

Carja swooped down and flew along the cliffs, relying on her nose rather than her eyes for now. Once she caught a scent, she'd follow it to wherever Dread was hiding out, offer her gems and strategy, and maybe stay for a bit.

She flew a bit further over the ocean to see if he'd tried to go after sea birds, her brows furrowed as her eyes idly scanned below.

She caught the scent of char, of fire and ash and the familiar smell of molted scales and meat. He'd been hunting this way, and most likely had brought back a kill or gobbled it up mid-air. She tilted and kept her nostrils flared, mouth open as she turned towards the sea instead, staring at the isles dotting the water. Why would he be out there? Perhaps none of the caves were big enough?

Carja shook her head. No, that wasn't important. She'd found his scent, he was here, and now the only obstacle was to actually find the guy.

Carja swooped down over the water, her tail skimming the surface before she rose up again, anxiety welling up as she landed on a pillar of rock and dirt, a small bush managing to live somehow on the top. She swallowed and looked across the large body, remembering Fornax and the awful monster that had desperately tried to have her for a meal.

She bit her lip and huddled on the cliff, looking back at the mainland. She was too far now... she had to keep going.

The dragon shifted on the pillar and clung to it tightly, warring internally with herself. Land was safe, water was not, and she was trying to convince herself that in no way was she actually swimming, but to no avail. She was still terrified.

"Rrr... Come on!", she yelled, "You are Carja Voidwing! Protector, fighter, and you are not afraid of some stupid ocean!"

Carja took off, sending stones plunging into the ocean beneath her, her chest heaving as she forced herself to fly, desperately hoping that Dread was close and on an island that was big enough for her to land so she didn't have to touch the water at all.

A glint of something caught her eye, the scent in her nose again. Her eyes widened and she turned towards it, relief flashing in her chest. She flew towards the island, flapping as hard as she could to get there as fast as she could, not wanting to be grabbed and plunged beneath the waves again.

Oh how she hated large bodies of water...

"DREEEEEEAD!!", she cried out, "IT'S ME, CARJA!! THE WHELP SVARTIS ADOPTED!! I NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOU AND I HAVE SHINY THINGS!"

Hopefully that got the dragon's attention. She was coming in a bit hot, but she really wanted to land and to get away from the water, so speed wasn't an issue. That was for future Carja to worry about.

Carja swerved despite the flame being nowhere near her, her head turning to face Dread as she flapped furiously to keep herself hovering. She stared at the dragon, still so massive despite how much she'd grown. Bigger than her, more powerful than her, and probably didn't recognize her either.

They'd barely encountered, and back then she was barely bigger than a wolf and a soft, downy grey instead of the fierce black she was now. Her tail swung beneath her to balance her as she hovered, and she shook her head out, analyzing the situation.

"It's your place," she assured, a flare of jealousy welling up at the fact that she herself had no such place to call her own, having to lug her hoard everywhere she settled down, meaning it had to be kept small and easily transported.

Carja lifted her head and bit her lip, wondering how to continue without angering the dragon.

"... I was of your thunder!", she cried out, just beneath a bellow in case the other thought she was trying to be aggressive, though her relaxed tail and limbs ought to suggest that by itself, "In Monoceros! The cave with the tornado! I remember you coming in from your hunts! Svartis took me under his wing about 6 cycles ago. Do you remember the raid, Dread?"

She hoped he did. She hoped he remembered her wail as she desperately ran to him, to try and get him to follow Bone or to tell her what to do.

"Do you remember when I called to you?", she called out, and then, to herself, she said, "Please remember... I don't want to fight you."

Carja exhaled and flew forward to circle tightly rather than hover, else her wings would give before she finished the conversation.

"Your group," she said, "Asimona, Blight, Svartis, Bone? Svartis and Bone are your children, right? Svartis adopted me- took me in. At the snowy place, Bone and Svartis went to Ursa, but not of their own will."

She shook her head, "You're my family, and I need you to help me bring Bone and Svartis home! The deer that was at the fight, who was helping. I was infected with some of the dust that the stone creature erupted when it was defeated. They were spores, Dread. Mind-controlling spores. Bone and Svartis got a facefull of the stuff and went to Ursa where the controller lives."

This was too much explaining and not enough up and leaving for her tastes, but she supposed her own fear of the dragon had made this more difficult than it needed to be.

"What I'm saying," she said, "Is that your children- my family, are in danger. A lot of danger. We have to save them."

Carja exhaled slowly. Either she was too scatterbrained for this or Dread too dull- maybe both.

"I went home," she said, "To find you. When you weren't there and I saw your whole hoard was gone, I knew you'd moved somewhere. So I figured that a fire dragon would find the warmest place to make a new den or nest or whatever! So I came here and I brought with me some things that had your scent on them so I could track you down. If you weren't here then I would have given up and went off to find Blight or Asimona or something."

She probably should have gotten Asimona since she was an ice dragon and all, but her logic at the time had been 'find someone big enough to restrain Svartis and Bone', so...

"Svartis and Bone went to Ursa," she said, "They've been... infected. With a mind-controlling fungus. The last place they were seen was Ursa. Everyone who was infected went to Ursa, so that's gotta be where they are, or at least they had to have gone to one of the new caves. If I can at least catch a scent there, then we can find them. If they're there, then we can make a proper game plan, okay? We can get them back!"

She was hopeful, possibly too hopeful.

"I have gems," she said, holding out a handful of them, "I don't have many, but this is most of my hoard. If you help me, I'll give this to you. Please. Help me get our family back."

Carja trained her eyes on the other, circling with him, the bags under her eyes deep with worry. He had to help her.