Snippet #1741830

Riona watched as Kharygos moved apart from them and curled up to sleep. She looked back to Flynn as he was rubbing Somnium's scales. She felt… upset somehow. Perhaps she was still rattled by the rockslide.

"I'm…" she began to answer how she was. "I'm going to take a walk." She opened her mouth as if to say more, and then she abruptly closed it. She left their circle and began to pick her way over the overturned rocks. It was dark, but she liked the risk of walking such uneven ground. She always considered herself sure-footed.

She walked fifteen minutes in the dark, and was fortunate to not have a major stumble. She stopped when she came to a small flat area, where it seemed like a good place to build a fire. She gathered some wood and struck her flint. Making fire came easy to her. She looked down at the flames and found solace.

"Riona." She heard her name coming from the flames. The flames twisted so that a face could be faintly seen. Riona tensed. She knew him--he was a jinn from Razikstania. She was not expecting to see him in this new land.

"It is you again," Riona spoke to the face in her native tongue. "Majhebah."

The face smiled and gained more definition. It could be seen that he was a man with no hair on his head and a small goatee on his chin. His eyebrows were thick and curling and he had an impish face.

"You have done well, Riona. Accomplished much," the jinn spoke in a wheedling voice. "I see that you have a dragon now, and fancy armor… so far you have come."

Internally, Riona agreed. She had come very far. And it was all help to this jinn. He had granted her what she needed to survive, at a time when she had been very desperate.

"And yet, still you are not happy," the jinn concluded. "Riona, I can grant you complete happiness. I know what stands in your way."

At that moment, the face disappeared from the flames. Riona turned when the jinn appeared in his flesh form, sitting beside her. He had pointed ears and smoke constantly drifted from his skin. He put a caressing hand on her hair. In the other he handed her a glass bottle. It was empty.

"All I ask is a little bit of dragon blood," the jinn said. "It's a small amount, and you already know several dragons. It will be easy for you."

Riona took the bottle and weighed it in her palm. "Very well," she agreed.

---

Gadenai slowly moved his head forward to meet Tasarin. Gadenai was not a handsome dragon, and in fact was very ugly to behold. He was squat and his face was covered in crags and horns. Half of his face was still in shadow, and he did not care to show the rest of himself.

You must be Gaiamat's new mate, Gadenai assumed. He never saw his mother around male dragons unless they were her consort, a position which was prone to change every century or so. I am Gadenai, her first son, and a son of Mordenai the Earth Shaper. I suspect that you are powerful to be chosen by my mother, Tasarin of the Nightfall.

Gaiamat looked with surprise at Gadenai. She had never seen him so… outspoken. He seemed to take an immediate liking to Tasarin, which was rare for Gadenai to warm to anyone so quickly.

Tasarin's rider and my rider are friends, Gaiamat explained, although she did not directly refute the assumption that the younger dragon was her mate. Her eyes seemed to hide amusement.

---

The gnome, too, looked somewhat in awe of the plant magic she had started. "I have never seen them grow so fast," she said. She looked to Ryan. "Gaiamat's cave does not foster this type of magic. Although… I did grow the vines that conceal the opening of the cave, behind the waterfall."

Ashwise felt warmed by Denna's enthusiasm for the vine shelter. When Denna came towards him, he gathered his strength and rose to his feet. His body still ached from his crash with Cedare. He put his hand on his neck and rubbed it. "I can't really do anything as interesting as this," he said, gesturing to the work of the gnome. "When I moved south, I built myself a hut in the woods. But it took me weeks to do, and this is happening in minutes." The vines were still growing as he spoke, and there was still a hole in the top.

"Let's leave it at that," the gnome said. She snapped her fingers and the light in the crystal died out. "We need a hole to let out the smoke from a fire, and to speak to Tasarin and Gaiamat. I'm afraid they might have to sleep outside…" She looked around. Clearly there would not be enough room for two more full-grown dragons.