Dragon was very, very pleased with himself, and very happy. He had won! This thing--this big black furball thing with horns and mean--had attacked him and now it was sulking off in the water!

...But damn, he was hurting. His body still tingled unpleasantly from the big cat's magic, and he now sported some extra wounds in the top of his head. With a soft hiss, the alligator hatchling turned and scampered off down into the water, where he promptly sank himself beneath the black.

Here he lay, for awhile, looking about and watching to see if Cancer would prowl on after him. Seeing nothing, however, he put down his front claws and used them to slowly turn himself around in the water. With slow, strong pushes of his tail, he swept out into the dark marsh-water, where he was far more comfortable than on land, to get the heck away. He was still hungry, too!

Dragon quickly left Cancer and his little patch of marsh behind, swimming out into the Heart of Cetus (but not too far, not yet--he didn't have enough of an offering yet for Aquarian, after all) and then around a long peninsula of tousled swamp grass and into an inlet. He used this water, floating slowly like a black branch of driftwood, to get a bit more inland. With luck, he wouldn't lead the cat right to his offering, or anything else; instead, he headed back toward the giant tree with the screaming roots, triumph still fiercely glowing in his heart.