Beaches are supposed to be peaceful places where you can relax and overall have a good time. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Comet. Ever since the Fornax incident, large bodies of water were avoided. So why was she here? Well, it was because of the raspite. She had found the stone long ago when she was a pup, and now, she felt she could no longer take good care of it, and the solution to that would be to find someone who care for it well. Maybe even give life to it again someday.

The sand crunched a bit under her paws, and she looked around to see if anyone lived here. For a gembound to survive so near to a large body of water, they must be really strong! Comet felt quite confident in entrusting a stone to someone who lived here.

@Dread

The distant shape that shot out over the water was immense: an impossibly broad wingspan, the light shining through the membranes to illuminate them a deep red-brown. The dragon soared at great speed, circling from one island to another, seabirds wheeling around him; he didn't seem to mind their presence.

He was making his daily rounds, the protection duty he'd agreed to.

Weird gemstone hole: safe, check.

Haven's nest: safe, at least probably. He hadn't seen her there but it didn't look wrecked, at least.

Satisfied, Dread turned and circled, turning his attention to the sea below and the thin, pale strip of shore that parted it from the thick forests beyond. The white wolf along the shoreline stood out, even against the pale sand; she was snow-colored, and in motion, and nothing like anything else that lived here.

Curiosity piqued, Dread swept lower. She wasn't dragon-shaped, so she wasn't a threat to his territory, in his mind. Wings wavering and beating with bass "whumphs" between each glide, he flew down close, curving in behind her in a sweep of air that might've blown her fur a little; then he came in to land some forty feet behind her, facing her, in a loud crunch of sand.

"WHAT ARE YOU?" he called out, curious. He was preeeetty sure she was a wolf, and with childlike hopefulness that he was right, he blurted out what he hoped was the answer: "ARE YOU A WOLF?"

His voice was loud--Dread had no inside voice--but it wasn't demanding, in this case; and as he began a swift wing-walk closer, he didn't seem likely to attack, despite his size.

@Comet

Comet had been looking everywhere-- but up. Strange, wasn't it, how animals tended to be less aware of what was above them than around? Her ear caught sound of wingbeats. Like Carja's wings. That's what it reminded her of. She looked up, and saw the enormous dragon descending from the sky. Her bottom jaw dropped in amazement, the raspite falling out. Comet quickly picked up back up again though, trying to ignore the feeling of sand that was on the stone now. Her gaze followed his movement, and soon he was close to enough to ruffle her fur. Turning around to face him, she tried to remember if she had seen him before. Maybe? Maybe not.

Comet folded back her ear at the roar that was his question. It was an oh so familiar question. She didn't want to think about the last time someone had asked her that. But she did. Wolf. Not an actual wolf, just a weird fish named Wolf. That was the exact question she had been asked, and that fish decided that it was a wolf too. She still felt guilty for causing a fish to think such a thing, which is why she tried not to dwell on it too much. Right. Back to the matter at hand.

"Yep! I am!" The dragon was swiftly approaching, but she felt no fear from it. He didn't seem threatening. Comet wrinkled her nose in thought. He certainly seemed like a powerful gembound. The sand covered raspite still sat in her mouth. Could this be the one she would give it to? Would he take it? She would have to know more about him first. "And you are?"

@Dread

Dread peered down, blinking ember eyes against the bright light of Leo. Yup, this was a wolf, all right. She confirmed it herself.

"I AM A DRAGON," he answered; oh, but maybe she'd wanted his name-? "MY NAME IS DREAD. THERE ARE OTHER DRAGONS HERE THAT ARE NOT NICE," he added, glancing back and up at the other islands as he offered this rather vague warning. His memory was on Haven, shouting at him to turn back "or else." "BUT MOSTLY IT IS SAFE. I THINK."

Dread shook himself, a little, the finned spines along his neck clattering some. For a moment he studied Comet's feather; he wondered if it were her gemstone, and why it was soft-looking, like that. Wolves didn't usually have one big, soft feather--at least, he didn't think so? He struggled to remember, for a moment.

Then, abruptly, with inspiration, his eyes lingering on the raspite: "IS THAT STONE FOR TRADE? I HAVE THINGS I CAN TRADE. I LIKE THE COLOR GOLD." Half his stash had been traded back and forth until he had about half gold and gold-colored things scattered throughout his hoard--and he was always loking for more.

She nodded at his answer. Comet would have been surprised if he said that he wasn't a dragon. That would've been a big twist indeed. "Well nice to meet you Dread. And thanks for the warning." she wondered what dragons he could've been talking about. It certainly couldn't be Carja, right? Carja was her friend. No, it had to be some other dragons that are not Carja. Unfortunately, Dread and Carja were the only dragons she had ever met. That didn't include the ones at the raid, but that didn't count since she hadn't actually met them. Like, met met them.

As Dread studied her feather, Comet studied his scales. Wow they looked tough. Did all dragons have scales? Were there furry dragons? His would be a good caretaker for the stone indeed. She shook her fur and snapped out of thinking about that.

"Oh, um..." she placed the stone onto the ground, "I was thinking I could give it to you for free actually. All you have to promise is that you will take good care of it. You can give life to it too. I saw renny do that before to another stone that had magic and it was super cool! Now I have a sibling." Comet nudged it over with her nose. She did not feel like she was going to regret this decision. Dread looked like he would take good care of the stone. And from her conversation so far with him it looked like if he revived it he would be a good father too.

@Dread

Dread's eyes widened.

Give it life-? It was a living stone? This was lucky--he'd been missing having kids.

"I HAVE RAISED CHILDREN! I WOULD LIKE SOME MORE," he told Comet, and then--as if some former bad experience prompted him to feel the need to reassure her--"THEY ARE HEALTHY AND GOOD AND I LOVE THEM." He didn't want to be accused, again, by another stranger, for not knowing his own children!

"DO YOU WANT TO WATCH?" he asked, after a moment. "I HAVE TO FLY UP TO MY DEN 'CAUSE ROCKS GROW WHERE YOU PLANT THEM." (A weird sentence, were it out of context.) "I CAN FLY YOU THERE. YOU CAN TAKE SOMETHING IF YOU WANT. I HAVE SHINIES. JUST NOT THE SINGING ONE," he added--"I LIKE THE SINGING ONE."

Gently--carefully--Dread reached forward with one foot. He didn't suspect any trick; in fact, he blurted a half-forgotten "THANK YOU!" as his talons closed around this one. With such a fiery color, there could only be good things in store, right?

@Comet

So this one was an experienced parent. That was very good! He seemed very enthusiastic about having more children, and Comet couldn't feel more assured that the stone was in good hands. Er, feet. That caused her to wonder, though, why she hadn't seen any dragon hybrids flying around. Or maybe it was those dragons she had seen at the raid? Maybe. "That's great! I'm sure you'll take good care of the stone." It was her personal favorite too.

"Sure!" it made sense that the stone would be planted in his den. Otherwise it would be hard working having to fly back and forth if he placed it here. And it showed how much he valued the stone too. "It's alright, no payment is needed." She watched as Dread gently picked up the stone, amazed at how gentle those dangerous looking claws could be.

Comet was a bit confused though, at how the dragon would take her there. "You can pick me up if you want. Or I can ride on your back?" when she was a small pup she rode on James's back.

@Dread

"NO, I MIGHT DROP YOU. -IF YOU WERE ON MY BACK," he clarified. Then he realized he only had two feet, and he'd need them to carry Comet. "STAY HERE. I HAVE TO FLY TO PICK YOU UP."

It took him a moment of maneuvering, but Dread transferred the stone delicately into his jaws, and then turned away. He bounded--on hind legs and wing-limbs--to pick up momentum, then leapt upward and with great beats of black, leathery wings, he took flight.

Raspite still held firmly but gently in his mouth, he turned--fixing ember eyes on Comet--and swept down. Just as he'd done with cave deer a dozen times, he reached to snag her in his talons--not very gracefully, but with one foot grabbing for her scruff, the other angled to scoop her chest and belly from underneath.

And if she allowed it, he'd then fly back toward his den with sweeping wingbeats--higher and higher into Leo's ocean air, toward the tall, narrow rock outcrop of an island that he called home.

@Comet

"Okay." Comet watched the dragon transfer the stone into his jaws, just like how she carried it. She watched as Dread bounded into the air, and her fur was ruffled around by the wind produced. What a majestic dragon. It was hard to stay still when there was a dragon diving at you from the air, even when you knew that it wasn't going to hurt you. Closing her eyes, as Dread closed his talons around her, she only opened them again when she felt the flight flatten out.

"Wow." Comet wiggled her toes and laughed at the sensation of being in the air. This was great! The only problem was that they were flying over a large body of water. She started to get nervous. What if he accidently dropped her? That water looked scary. Comet tried to focus on something else so she wouldn't start to get too scared. Ooh, those islands look pretty. What a nice view. She couldn't wait for this to be finished and to be back on solid ground though.

@Dread

The island atop which he lightly touched down, at last, was one some hundred feet or more high at its crown. There was a hole in its side, quite high up--his main den, in fact; its sides otherwise were jagged and sheer, the surf crashing along their base. It would be impossible to reach without wings, but that was hardly an issue for the dragon.

The top of the island was a sort of shallow, bowl-shaped hollow, chosen for the ridges around it--it was only perhaps forty or fifty feet across--that left it fairly sheltered. A couple bent, wind-swept trees offered a little shade, and grasses and a few other sparse plants added a little greenery. But the divot itself--into which Dread first gently deposited Comet, and then swept back around to land in--was full of treasures.

These "treasures" ranged from random crystals and gemstones to battered, worn pieces of armor, to metal scraps and hides and bones. His greater treasures--including singing crystals and the enchanted golden collar--were in the den far below.

Dread leaned down, clearing a spot in amongst the stones and here he carefully set the raspite.

"I WILL TRY TO BRING IT TO LIFE," he informed Comet--seemingly unconcerned about having a stranger in his den. His focus--his excitement, in fact--was on the gemstone, and after a moment he leaned down.

He pressed his snout to the rock, and squeezed his eyes shut very carefully (as if this were an important part of how this all worked) and for a moment, he was still. From him, then, magic flowed: and the stone swelled slightly with life.

It would fuse to the den site soon enough, he knew. He looked to Comet, ember eyes flaring with excitement. "IT IS ALIVE, NOW!" he exclaimed. (He'd have another hatchling! How exciting!) Dread then glanced around at all his treasures, as if now they were nothing more to him than trash; and compared to a child, they were. "DO YOU WANT SOME OF THIS?" he asked--"IN TRADE?"

@Comet