Asimona soared through the room, her large wings holding her weight aloft as she let the current of winds push her along. In one of her claws she clutched one of the bands she had gotten from Naskital. It was large and might fit on one of Dread's claws, covered with delicate jewels. Even if he didn't want to wear it, she knew he would appreciate the gift. She was a little nervous to be seeing him after so much time, even if she had just seen him the other day. She frowned, wondering what on earth she was even going to say.

They had both been children, playing in Fornax, when they had first met. Now they were adults and Asimona would have to explain why she had just left him there and never come back to see him. It was something she still felt a little guilty about. She hadn't tried whatsoever to find out what had become of her dragon friend, one of the only other dragons she had ever seen in the caves.

She sighed. She couldn't predict what was going to happen. She didn't know Dread back then and she certainly didn't know him now. She could only hope that this meet went well.

She found the cave he had appeared from before and changed her direction slightly so that she was flying towards it. She didn't do anything to conceal herself but she also didn't make a ton of noise until she was about a quarter mile away. She pulled herself back and stayed hovering in the air. She made a small noise to alert Dread of her being there. "Dread? It's Asimona. Are you there?"

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

Dread was, at first, quite asleep. He lay curled in his den, faint twists of smoke rising from his nostrils, wings twitching as he dreamt of hunting. His tail-tip was neatly covered by his jaws.

In his dream, he wove around the strong air currents of Monoceros. Below were bats--swift and many. They twisted and darted away from him, and he followed, bellowing. They twittered and squeaked in fear, and one called back to him, "Dread?" Before he fathom why a bat was calling him, he was already rousing from his sleep. "It's Asimona." The voice--ahh. He blinked ember eyes, the third eyelid lingering stubbornly as he shook himself, trying to fully waken. "Are you there?"

He rumbled, pushing up and hauling himself to the edge of his den's ledge. There wasn't enough space for them to both stay there comfortably--it barely housed one dragon--and so with a sluggish shove, he went off the ledge and into open air. Wings unfurled, billowing, and he angled toward the call.

"Asimona," he acknowledged, and his call was loud, his voice carrying deeply. "Yes--I am here."

He caught sight of her--silvery in the distance--and began to wing her way, wondering curiously just what had brought her back here.

@Asimona

She heard the rumbling voice and she didn't immediately recognize it. For some reason, she associated Dread with the tiny squeaking little dragonling and didn't quite expect his voice to be so deep. But she reminded herself that it had been a very long time since they had last seen each other. She saw him appear, although it was more difficult for her then it was for him - he was darker and did not stick out so plainly from the muted colors of the cave.

She looked for a place where they could land but she didn't know the cave well and all the ledge nearby seemed too small for two fully grown dragons to rest on. So she had to settle with staying in the air for now.

She didn't want to wait for him, though, and closed the distance. For a moment, she didn't speak, just stared at him. He was large and intimidating, truly a fearsome and magnificent beast, very unlike the little winged lizard she once knew.

She forced herself back to her senses, though, and pushed away any doubts of coming back. "Hello, Dread. I...I'm sorry I didn't come back after we met with Glory here...I got held up." Yes, she had children, but she decided to not yet mention that detail. "I wanted to apologize and give you this." She held out the band, although she was unsure how he was going to grab it. With his mouth? With his hind claws? She hadn't thought this through.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

Dread eyed Asimona dispassionately, though he was curious. But he was not as empathetic a being as she, and consequently had felt no grief at her departure, no sense of betrayal, long ago. Nor had he missed her all that much when she had left after Glory.

That didn't mean he was not glad to see her, though "glad" for the dragon was more a case of "vaguely pleased and not angry." The sight of the shiny object, however--and Asimona's offering of it--at once sharpened his attention. His gaze snapped to it, rapt, but for a moment he seemed just as baffled as she as to how to take it. For the first time he noticed she had more legs than he did (that's not fair--). He wanted to grab it in his jaws, but then he would not be able to speak. He half-glanced around as he hovered there, bobbing up and down with his wingbeats--but they were high up, and he wanted the shiny now.

After a moment, he lifted up a little higher, looking back to the circlet and attempting to pick it from her hand with his hind foot, should she allow it. He spoke, meanwhile; though his mind was locked on the glittering jewels, he could still manage conversation, at least.

"Shiny! Thank you," he said (for White's lesson remained with him always)--hurriedly followed by, "Why are you sorry? It was not long ago." He hadn't heard the word "sorry" all that much in his life and he thought, perhaps, that there was some intricacy to it which might have escaped him.

The dragon glanced down again, and around, and then nodded to the rock far below. "The den is too small for two! We can land on the ground. And talk," he added, as though this were some new and novel idea that his white fellow dragon may not have considered.

He turned, preparing to descend, but as he did so he caught sight of Asimona from the corner of his eye--and a flash of memory returned. It wasn't that he'd forgotten, but the single moment was suddenly crystalline clear, as the ice had been--a sculpture, left with him, perfect and cold.

Maybe she'll give more. But that might have been a lot to hope for.

@Asimona

As Dread reached forward with his hind claws, she held out the band as far as she could so that when he neared he would not hit her with his wings. She released the band as his claws closed around it and retreated a couple of feet. That, apparently, was something that had not changed. Or maybe it was something that Asimona understood as well. She did not have the voracious greed and love for shiny things that Dread had, but her want to hoard jewelry, little gems, and pretty things was still there, in the back of her head.

She shrugged a bit awkwardly. "It was a couple of cycles ago. I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer."

She looked down at where Dread was gesturing and began to descend as well, thankful. She didn't really want to have an entire conversation while hanging in the air like that. So, after a moment of flying down, she opened her wings and carefully touched down on the ground, quickly folding them again and sitting straight, watching for Dread.

She was quiet for a moment, unsure of what really to say, or perhaps to give Dread a moment to look as his shiny before she blurted out, "So...how have you been, Dread?"

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

The dragon swept down, his body rocking backward as he reached the ground. Tail lashed behind him for balance, neck arched up, wings beating powerfully to gently lower him to the rock. Then his body rocked heavily forward to land upon his wings, and he craned his head down, closely inspecting Asimona's gift. Apparently he was pleased, or at least satisfied, because he didn't complain about it; he looked back up, settling himself on the rock as she spoke.

Dread was no better a conversationalist than he'd been the last time they met, and he rarely had reason to speak at any length, but he was content to see the other dragon and after a moment of thought, he made an effort. "I am not unwell! There is... Glory, here. He is a friend," he declared, as if Asimona could possibly be unaware of this--and there was a thread of "claim" in the statement as well. It was as if he was also pointing out that the eagle was, in a sense, his and not to be harmed or taken away, somehow. Though it seemed impersonal--not directed at Asimona, exactly. "In Orion there are more shinies. And there are others there. A little green thing--it can make gold," he added, a gleam of greed in his eyes. Never mind that the substance wasn't actually gold.

"It has friends--and enemies. They have given me food," he added, and the contentment about this was obvious in his satisfied tone, as if he'd just eaten a meal.

The black dragon then eyed the white one, wondering where she had been. Was she well? Was there more food, elsewhere, more shinies? "Where have you been?" he asked, bluntly. It wasn't a demand--not upset at all--but only curious.

It was probably Dread's version of "how have you been," instead, but a bit--off.

@Asimona

Asimona's tail swept across the ground as she listened to Dread, watching him with amusement as he cradled the band with care. Then it had been a good decision to get it for him. She had considered making him an ice sculpture, like she had done when they were kids, but she had a feeling he was not the sentimental type and would appreciate a piece of non-melting jewels instead.

There was a rumble in her chest, a sound of faint amusement at the mention of a small green thing. She imagined a tiny green shape offering large hunks of meat and gifts of large golden jewels to Dread and for some reason it was amusing. "Oh? Who is this tiny green thing? I haven't been to Orion in some time." She had heard tell of some group in Orion but knew little more then their existence.

But then he asked that question that she knew would be difficult to answer. Where had she been? Well, that answer was quite simple: "Pisces. I've made a small corner of ice and snow to serve as my nest. And...I have children there. Three of them." She hadn't meant to say it so suddenly and so soon but it was the most recent event and the freshest in her mind.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

Dread stared at Asimona as he listened. And afterward, too. He was silent for so long--the gears practically visible working in his head--that it might have been unclear whether he was lost in his own thoughts, or suddenly desirous of one of Asimona's shiny scales, or angry for some strange reason about her having children of her own.

Abruptly he blinked.

"STAY HERE," he roared suddenly--as if having an epiphany. And just like that he turned, shambling into a run, wings spreading and beating as he picked up speed, until he lifted off.

He swept off into the distance, up again to his den, vanishing out of sight over its lip. Once there he spent a moment putting Asimona's gift down--and shuffling half-eagerly, half-reluctantly through his hoard.

After a minute or two he reappeared over the lip of the ledge, dropping down and gliding with stilled and billowed wings (making minor fractional adjustments constantly, beating twice as he hit the ground). Clutched in his talons--and teeth--were several objects, which he quickly dropped and nudged with snout and claw to Asimona.

They were, it seemed, gifts in turn: four of them.

There was a scrap of shining gold-colored armor; it was worn grey-brown around its sides, but had been burnished, perhaps by Dread's wings or nose, so that its center held a dull gleam. It seemed useless for anything, at least without work, but it was shiny and gold and thus it was good. Obviously.

There was one small blue crystal, perhaps the size of a rat, which chimed softly with a music all its own. Then there were two jagged, rough gemstones: a chunk of ruby the size of a fist, dirty and scuffed on one side but shining and translucent on the other, as if half-cut and half raw. The second was an orb, perhaps the size of a rabbit's head, imperfect but quite pretty: translucent blue and glinting in the light. It was the one that Envy had created for him. This one he pushed toward Asimona. "GIFTS," he declared. "This one always made me think of your ice. The others are for your children! There are three. I COUNTED," he added, with a proud huff of smoke.

These somewhat-questionable gifts now given (with a couple of regretful glances cast their way) the black dragon settled back down. "How did you make children?" he asked then.

Apparently, nobody had given Dread the talk about the magicka and the stones.

When she did not answer he turned, wandering off; farther and farther in the silence, waiting for her to awaken from whatever trance it was that she was in.

editing into an exit
@Asimona