Dread remained carefully still, though the tip of his tail lashed behind him with excitement as Glory fitted the gold to his horns.

He wished he could see it--but he could feel them there, and when Glory declared that it was done (and that, better yet, he looked magnificent) he reared back. Reflections! He could go find water, and eye his own reflection! Perfect.

Excited, the dragon at once turned, shuffle-running away from the smith before leaping his full bulk into the air, leathery wings billowing up as they caught the warm rising air. Up he went, with bass wing flaps; after a beat he let out a sky-shattering roar, excited and proud. He curled in the air, circling with a whoosh over Glory's forge, though rising higher.

He started to inhale, for a breath of flame, but almost immediately remembered his manners, and the magicka choked down and away. He circled lower, drifting rapidly back toward the smith.

"THANK YOU," he bellowed, nearly having forgotten. "I am going to go find water! To see! Do you want to come?"

@Glory

When Dread suddenly turned to leave, Glory sprinted after him, walking out on the ledge and looking up as the dragon bellowed his glee for the entire world to hear. He felt a rush of pride and joy to see the dragon so happy with his work. When someone was this happy with what he had made for them, the payment didn't matter - the only thing he cared about was seeing this, the results of his work.

He thought that, perhaps, the dragon would go back to his den or find water so he could properly look at his new decorations. So he was surprised when the dragon came gliding back down to thank him. He had been about to turn back to his cave, to get some proper rest, but at the mention of water, Glory realized exactly how parched he was. It was the think he hadn't had in the last many hours of work. "Yes, sure! I could use a drink, after all!"

He spread his wings and leaped off his ledge, immediately catching the hot air and flying up to were Dread was hovering. He still felt pretty weak from the work, but it felt nice to fly without being held down by heavy things.

@Dread

Dread watched as his friend took flight; he'd never really watched Glory fly before, and it was interesting to him to see the eagle's feathers aid in balance. He himself--obviously--had no such things, and he now wondered if it had much effect on flight.

"DO THE FEATHERS HELP? DO THEY MAKE YOU TOO HOT?" he called as he turned, banking against the wind. Vast, slow wingbeats carried him toward the Gorge. The dragon didn't need to drink often, but when he did it was at the river running through the Gorge's base. He didn't know of any still water with which to check his reflection, so the current would have to do.

He glanced back once, to be sure that Glory was keeping up, and then half-folded his wings--tail ruddering behind him--to dive down into the canyon. Once over the river the wings snapped back out, a loud leathery rustle ripping the air as he caught the thermal again. For a moment he soared low enough, wings outstretched, that his tail-tip thrashed the river-water in a spray of foam. Then he slowed, heavy wings bringing him to a halt on a broad stretch of bank, his feet kicking out before him and his upper body rocking back as he thumped down in a landing. Just as quickly, his upper body thudded back forward, landing on his great black wings.

Then he started to wing-walk toward the water's edge--turning to give Glory an excited glance.

@Glory

As Glory flew behind Dread, the question was roared on the wind and for a moment he was confused. Help with what? Flying? Staying warm? Staying cool? Maybe all three. "Well, I'm pretty sure!" he crowed back loudly. "Most of my wings are made of feathers so I'd assume so! And not anymore! I'm used to it now!"

He followed Dread's flight path until the dragon looked back and then dived. He stopped in the air, fluttered a bit, and then angled himself down as well, holding his wings closer to his side, but out just enough that he was in control of his dive. As soon as Dread opened his wings, Glory followed suit, a little away from him to catch his own gust of wind, but his stop was not as immediate as the dragon's. As soon as he opened his wings, instead of just allowing the wind to catch him, he slowly leveled out, flying in a curved pattern, so that the wind didn't just rip his feathers right out. He stayed above Dread for now, mainly so that he didn't run into him, until he was going slow enough to be completely back in control.

He turned down and circled above Dread for a moment, spiraling down until he reached his talons out, folded in his wings, and landed.

Glory followed behind the dragon, opening a wing to gesture towards the water. He'd wait for the dragon to see his reflection before drinking and disturbing the surface.

@Dread

The river was a river, the water was running, so it was a little hard for Dread to get any sort of clear picture of the rings, at first.

He peered in intently, tilting his head first this way, then that. What he could see was the glinting reflection of the gold, and the bright flashes over the terrain around them as the water caught and dispersed its scattered light.

Dread saw his eye, between the searching ripples--then a glimpse of his scales, then his horns. He saw bits of the first ring, flickers of the second, and then he pushed back. He had a clear enough picture, from all the little glints, of what he looked like--and he twisted his muscular neck toward Glory, his scales dancing in the water's light, and grumbled happily.

"THEY ARE PERFECT," he bellowed, after a moment--inevitably erupting into a near-roar with his words. "Thank you."

@Glory

Glory stepped up to the water's edge as Dread was looking at himself, dipping his beak in and drinking deeply from the clear water. It wasn't cold, like the river in Polaris, but it was clean and it felt as cold as ice going down his parched throat. When Dread twisted around to thank him, he lifted his head out of the water, shaking off the water droplets that had gotten into his feathers. "You're welcome! I'm glad that you like them so much!"

His beak cracked open and then suddenly stretched in a large, involuntary yawn as a wave of exhaustion took him over. His nap had been nice, but he needed a full rest now. He glanced back up in the direction of his cave and opened his wings. "If you need anything else from me, don't hesitate to ask! Thanks for the work, I greatly enjoyed it!" He jumped into the air and took off, feeling relieved and pleased at how this all had turned out, heading to his nest to at last get some proper sleep.

*exit, unless stopped

@Dread

Dread gave Glory a nod--a dip of his head.

"I WILL," he assured the eagle. If he likes making things so much, maybe I should send him others who want shinies, Dread thought to himself.

He turned his attention back to his reflection, and for long, quiet moments he sat alone with the river. The glints of gold he could catch, now and then, kept him rapt--and anyway, he had nowhere else to be. He revelled in his new gift, and felt even more gratitude toward Glory as he gazed at himself. He, Dread, the dragon, now had gold as part of himself!

He drank deeply of the cool water, at one point, and then went back to idly perching at the riverside, watching the gold flash past in the river's current.

It was not until hours later, when the cave's light had faded into a dim dusk, that the dry bank would at last be empty.

exit Dread