Glory nodded, a little disappointed that neither of them would know such a spell to fulfill his wishes, although not all was lost. There was so much magic foreign to him - one day, perhaps, they would work it out and his armor would be as light as a feather! He could fly into battle, majestic, powerful, and not hindered down by the weight of metal over his body.

"Good! I would like to meet this Blacksmith as well! I'm sure he would have much to teach me! Ah, but who is your lifegiver?" He looked Ember over briefly, wondering how he hadn't noticed the hybridization of him before. Wolf and...something else. A bat? A dragon? His thoughts drifted to Dread...was he still in the caves somewhere? Or sleeping as he had been?

As Ember slipped out of the cave, Glory made to follow, glancing back at his forge one last time, with a silent promise to return, before following him into the windy exterior. It felt good, the hot air flowing through his feathers and he opened his wings a bit, letting the last bit of amniotic fluid dry from between each pinion. "Perhaps they are older then any of us. These caves are old - ancient! I wouldn't be surprised if they have been abandoned for thousands of cycles." The idea excited him further. Even if they had been out, working on a forge created by masters an eon ago would put a whole new beauty into his work. The souls of all those pieces, all that work...flowing through coal and fire and into the metal.

He must see this forge.

"Yes, that's more then fine. It will be good to stretch my wings, anyways. See how much in the caves has changed. If anything has changed at all." Orion wasn't far anyways. He assumed they'd have to fly through it just to get to any of the other caves, unless the new ones had an entrance somewhere in Monoceros.

@Ember

"He's a dragon," Ember answered absently, flexing his wings and looking around Monoceros, "named Dread. He's not all that mean, though, despite the name." He was, of course, wholly unaware of Glory's acquaintance with his lifegiver. "I didn't grow up with him, so I haven't actually spoken to him all that much, though."

His mind, too, was on the forges. If nobody was actually down there, using them, then... couldn't Gembounds like Glory and he just utilize them themselves? It was free equipment; maybe the Blacksmith wouldn't mind...

He didn't take off just yet, though. Instead he turned and looked at Glory, eyeing the eagle's spread wings. "Are you sure you're up for it already? If you just woke up, I mean?" he asked, concerned; or maybe the bird needed more time to... dry out?

image credits: [x] [x] [x]

Glory's head snapped up at Dread's name and his beak fell open out of pure shock. "Really?! What a strange fate for you to be here, then! Dread's an old friend of mine! Does he still wear those golden rings around his horns? I crafted those for him!" He puffed up, looking over Ember with a new light, pride in his eyes. So Dread was still here - it can't have been too long if he was still out there making children left and right. But long enough that him and his family had moved out of Monoceros. Fair enough - Leo sounded like it was bigger and more suitable for a family of dragons.

"He used to live here, you know. Right up...there." And here Glory turned, using a wing to gesture in the direction of Dread's old den. They hadn't been neighbors, but they'd lived relatively close. "He was a good friend. Well, in a manner of speaking. I'm not sure he truly understood the concept of friendship, but we had a mutual trust and I certainly considered him a friend. Certainly one of my best customers," he chuckled at the end, ruffling his wings a bit to dry them faster.

He shrugged. "They're dry enough. I might have to take a short break once we leave Monoceros - the winds here are fierce! - but I should be fine." Some of the roots still felt a bit damp, but from what he could tell, he was flight-ready.

@Ember

Ember glanced in surprise at Glory. "Dread was-?" Somehow, it seemed... odd, to imagine the black dragon with simple, social friends.

Ahh-... But maybe not, if even this friend wasn't sure if Dread understood friends. "He does... seem nice," Ember mused, repeating himself. "As in, I think he would understand friendship. He certainly understands family. I didn't know you knew one another!" He thought back, trying to picture his lifegiver from the very few times they'd met. "I think he does wear those rings, yes. One of them has--engravings in it, right?"

He studied Glory with renewed interest. "You made those-? They are beautiful."

What a small world they lived in. Well-... rather literally, really! But for this newfound ally to be a friend of his lifegiver? How strange. And the mention of Dread's old ledge had him curious, too; he craned his neck around, peering up in that direction. "I didn't know he'd lived here."

At length Ember nodded. "Just yell if you need to stop, okay?" he said softly. Then he spread his wings, flexing them once more before leaping from the ledge. Wing-leather caught, and he flapped twice before drifting into a soar, pawed legs tucked up close and lupine eyes fixed on the 'skies' ahead.

image credits: [x] [x] [x]

Glory nodded, smile creasing the corner of his eyes. It was good to know that, even if he'd been hibernating for such a long time, his work still graced the caves, even if it were only existing on the horns of a dragon. "Good! Thank you - they were some of my favorite work. Simple, but it is always special to make something for a friend." And Dread had helped him, as well! Both of their efforts had gone into those rings. Ah, how he loved the beauty of creation!

He nodded again, standing up straighter and opening his wings fully, testing the neglected muscles. They felt alright, definitely like he hadn't gone flying in multiple cycles. "I will!" He...probably wouldn't, his pride probably wouldn't afford him the luxury of needing a rest until they got to Orion, but he wouldn't let himself go falling out of the sky.

As Ember launched himself off the platform, Glory followed suit with a flap of his wings, the warm Monoceros air immediately catching under the feathers. He dove after the dragon-wolf, glancing back one more time at his forge before it fell out of sight.

*exit