He didn't quite accept her explanation: he'd been gone for weeks, and no scent would by then remain, really. Nor would it drift so strongly over the entirety of an inland sea. But he'd left behind enough rocks, at least, that the rest made sense--if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't in the hottest place, not by far. That tunnel was far warmer; the lava dripping down the mountainside was hot. The underforge was broiling. Hell, even Hydra eclipsed the heat of most of the rest of the caves. So his suspicions lingered.

Gemstones, at least, mollified him. The shine and sparkle weren't gold--he didn't hold them in highest esteem. But they were something.

"PUT THEM DOWN AND I'LL TAKE THEM. BUT WHAT DO YOU MEAN TO DO-? THEY ARE IN URSA," he confirmed, "IN THE COLD PLACE. THEY LIVE THERE NOW." Continued puzzlement; why was this a bad thing? "THEY AREN'T SICK," he added. He wasn't sure what they'd been infected with, exactly--he knew the thing about some fungus or-... something.

It hadn't exactly been clear to the black dragon; he certainly wasn't trying to figure out the details.l

Soaring over the crashing waves, wingtips dipping into the surf, talons snatching deer from the cliffsides for a meal--that was his idea of a pleasant life. He'd leave the thinking to those who cared.

@Carja

Okay. Now Carja was angry.

"THEY'RE NOT OKAY!", she roared, loud and sudden, her throat billowing out like a sail to increase the volume to practically a thunderclap, "LISTEN TO ME, DREAD! MY FATHER AND MY AUNT, YOUR CHILDREN! THEY LIED TO YOU! THEY LIED TO US ALL BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T OF THEIR OWN MINDS!"

She threw the gems to the ground, half-mourning them, half-hating the things. She flapped her wings hard as steam rose from the vents on her neck as she opened them, talons flexing.

"Bone hates the cold!! You know how I know? 'Cause I talked to her and she was uncomfortable when the snow covered Polaris! But you wouldn't know because all you do is hide in whatever cave or den you have! Do you even talk to your children? Do you know what their favorite prey is, that they like gems over gold, that they had a kid?", she hissed, "No! You didn't know! Because if you did, you'd know who I was when I said my name! But you're a dragon, and of course all you care about is your stupid gold!"

She was tearing up now, so angry and so... betrayed that she couldn't hold it in.

"Bone hates the cold," she repeated, tears falling, "She was scared everyone would leave when they found where the cold was coming from. She told me. And the worst thing is? She was right. Everyone left."

Carja wiped her eyes and sniffled, and finally stared Dread down, hoping he wasn't irrational or something, "Help me find my dad. Please."

She couldn't fail them again.

@Dread

The shouting was bad, but the tossing the gems over open water--or had she moved over ground, first? He was circling over sea--that was even worse. Anger bloomed in him, rose higher, and then Carja was shouting about the cold. Dread's rage simmered over, and he interrupted with a bellow.

"SHUT UP. I KNOW THAT." Why the hell was she assuming what he did and didn't know-?! Confusion, frustration, anger, and the dragon shook himself, spines rattling. Magicka flared with his anger, an intent to summon rage in physical form--his anger would have shown itself as a rain of meteors had it not simply failed to come. That was probably for the best, but his snarl and flaring of eyes was enough demonstration of his fury. This stranger had come here, insulted him personally and was still now insulting him. He had a good relationship with his children; he'd raised them closely, even warmly, protecting them quite closely. They'd hunted and lived together their entire lives.

Carja knew nothing about them.

"WE are family. YOU are not family. I DO NOT KNOW YOU. GET OUT," he added, ignoring her pleading, a roar on its heels.

Dread ignored the gemstones, turning to fly off, wings beating as he carried himself back toward his little island.

Perhaps he would have aided--in fact, he likely would have--but her words had infuriated him, and now he wanted her nothing but gone.

He'd go check on his children himself, at some other point, but he had spoken to them, and she had not. Whoever this dragon was, he wanted nothing to do with her.

exit Dread unless stopped
@Carja

Carja went cold. She started to pant, shaking her head as she desperately flew after Dread, stupidly.

"NONONO- STOP!! WAIT PLEASE-", she cried out, half-sobbing as she tore ass after him.

"PLEASE!!", she begged, tears streaming down her face.

She was months old. A child still. Fully grown physically, maybe, but logic and emotions were never her strong suit. It seemed she'd have to grow up faster.

But that hurt.

"WE are family. YOU are not family. I DO NOT KNOW YOU. GET OUT."

Carja stopped mid-flight and stared after Dread, curling her front legs up, holding onto herself. She shook and was barely able to keep herself aloft, crying so hard she could barely breathe.

"... I am," she said brokenly, "I am family. I-I am."

She stared after Dread, at his retreating form, her hope dwindling with his retreating form. If he got away, she'd accept that no, she wasn't family. But if she caught up, she'd have a chance to prove she was.

"I am family!", she roared, a fire welling in her throat, a weak one, but it was there.

Despite the heat that didn't come, she shot forward anyway, jaw clenched, face set in an ugly grimace, tears streaming down her face.

"HELP ME!", she yelled, "PLEASE! I'm sorry I insulted you- I'm tired and I'm angry at them for taking my dad and I haven't slept good in a while! I'm sorry!"

@Dread

The crying only irritated him as he flew off, a shake of his head rattling the quills along his neck. "GO AWAY," he repeated, and his tail lashed in warning. But he was making a beeline back for his nest, now, back to the island where it jutted from Leo's sea. "I WILL GO FIND THEM LATER."

Without this annoying, screaming, crying brat-thing harassing him.

@Carja

Why did she have to yell? Why did she have to lose her temper now of all times?

She stopped flying and angled down instead to land on a piece of land jutting out from the sea. She kept her tail and paws up and away from the water as she watched him fly away, hunched over awkwardly. She wiped her eyes and sniffled, head drooping.

She really was weak.

Carja felt numb as she turned, finally retreating. But she didn't know where to go. Monoceros was empty, the Voidcrawlers were a mess without Sunny. Maybe she ought to find Wyvern or Asimona. They'd understand. Maybe.

The dragon took flight and made her way to one of the small islands nearby and landed, sitting down heavily with her wings drawn around her. She couldn't get the cold to leave her body, and curled up against a small outcropping of rock, the sound of water surrounding her. She hoped she didn't just single-handedly ruin her chances of saving Svartis and Bone.

Exit Carja unless stopped
@Dread

She had, at least, left a worry in his mind.

Her tantrum--her ignorant rant about him not knowing his own children--had been foolish and misled. Of course he knew that Bone hated the cold--she got that from him! But she was in Ursa to stay near Svartis, for now. It was more that Carja's ranting had been wrong: Dread had raised his children closely, loved them, and knew them well. They meant more to him than mere treasure would, and for a dragon that would kill to defend his gold, that said a lot. When she--a stranger--had arrived and made those claims, then, he had immediately dismissed her words as being without foundation. If she was this wrong on so many points, then nothing she said held merit to him.

But he did love his children; and now the stranger's departure left him thinking about them, where in the past days he'd mostly regressed to a feral state. He'd enjoyed simply basking in the bright light, dipping down toward blind-glittering, surging seas to snatch up fish, feeling the roil of warm ocean wind blown cool beneath his wings. The torrential rains that struck this place at times left him feeling secure within his hoarded den, and he'd found pleasure, too, in picking over some old ruins here for whatever treasures he could find.

He hadn't thought about his children in days, really, so Carja's words had that effect, at least.

He would go and see to them, in a day or two--when his anger had worn off--but not with that crying monstrosity following him. No; he didn't trust that one.

exit Dread