She'd returned. After so long, she was back here in Monoceros, where she'd played with Svartis, drawing on his scales and snuggling up with Asimona. There were three of her family left, now, with Bone and Svartis missing. Blight, Dread, and Asimona.

But she had one dragon to talk to, the only one who'd truly intimidated her, but now wasn't the time to be intimidated. She had her new paint, people who would be willing to help her family find their missing members (and either bring them home or... cull them).

"G-grandpa Dread?", she cried out into the cave, the place where Dread normally was.

He had to care about Bone and Svartis. Her aunt and father (though adopted). She hadn't seen him or talked to him much, so she could only hope her permanent paint didn't make him think she was an enemy.

Maybe she shouldn't have called out 'grandpa'...

Carja stepped forward and set down a piece of her own hoard, a few gems she'd found. Her hoard wasn't big but she was aware that Dread liked shiny or sparkly things. He was laden with gold already, from the brief glimpses she'd seen of the massive dragon.

"I need to talk to you! Please!", she cried out, falling quiet again, her tail lashing nervously.

@Dread

No answering roar came, no shadow of the black dragon.

Should Carja know where to look, even the den--its dusty path long ago cracked away to keep land-walkers from reaching it--was empty. The charred remains of previous prey (bones, hides, furs) lay half-obscured by Monoceros' wind-blown sand, decayed, dessicated.

Only a few stones from his hoard remained, left behind and abandoned. There was no telling where he had gone, but it was clear that he wasn't here--and hadn't been for some time. And his prized possessions--the singing crystals, the golden collar, and the brightest of the gemstones, the most burnished armors--were gone.

Were magic to look at the den site later, it might find glimpses of all the time he had spent here, raising his family. Or it might show him carefully scooping things into a single, tattered hide, and sweeping off for a final time, launching from his familiar ledge out over the Gorge, and away. He wasn't here any longer; this wasn't his home anymore.

@Carja

Carja shuddered as she stepped inside. It was cold here. This wasn't the place she'd left, where her family had lived. Her chest tightened and she wondered where Blight was, if he was okay, and if Asimona had left for Ursa like Bone and Svartis had.

Tears welled up as she sat down heavily, digging her claws into the blown sand and dust. He was gone. Her home was left deserted, and she felt colder than she ever had before, as if she'd been plunged into one of Pisces' pools.

"... Where did you go?", she asked weakly, hoping there was someone to answer her, to guide her in the right direction.

But there was nothing.

She picked up her gems and walked out of the cave, wings held tightly against her body. She'd left her family, and her family was torn apart. She left to be with a stupid little cult and abandoned her family in their time of need, and now Bone and Svartis were gone, Dread was nowhere to be found-

And it was all her fault. If she hadn't been so weak, if she'd stopped Bone long enough for Astraea to get to her, then maybe everything would be okay.

Carja had to fix this! She had to make this right!!

Fire filled her chest instead of ice, rage making itself known. Mother didn't know the true rage of a dragon, but she would. Fire and ice would tear whatever lair she had apart. If she lived or died didn't matter as long as she either saved those she could or put those she couldn't out of their misery.

Hell hath no fury like that of a dragon.

And with that, she took flight, steam rising from her nostrils, a growl rising in her throat, quickly turning to a savage roar that echoed across Monoceros, and she swooped towards the tunnel that would leave to the warmest cave in this place.

Leo. If there was somewhere Dread would have gone, it would be there.

Exit.
@Dread for vis