Sleeping Dragon Trials by Fire

She had Found herself in an unfamiliar, and mildly hellish, environment. Curiosity had always been her downfall- she had once gotten a jar stuck on her muzzle for three days. But she was beginning to realize that she may be a bit over her head. Thick, mineral rich mud sputtered and splattered, puffs of steam rising with each popped bubble. The earth rumbled under her paws, causing her hackles to raise, instinct urging her to run. But she was here on a mission. A Bright yellow Stone with healing properties. She moved forward, keeping her head low to avoid the noxious haze, heading closer to the yawning maw of the dragon.

The lava that seeped out of the not to sleepy volcano has his eyes widening in fascination. His interest in the grim always thrusts him into peculiar situations. He loves the chaotic nature of the volcano that’s been erupted. Loves the certain danger that comes with it; quiet but always there. The geysers with the shimmering, clear water take his breath away just to add a bit of beauty to the hectic nature of it all. The bodies of water without the fiery mist of the geysers shooting out are almost too hot to take a dip in, especially in the freezing temperatures that’s the weathers at currently.

His heavy paws carry himself across the rough terrain of dried lava rocks, loose gravel, and dirt higher up near the volcano. Where down lower there is still a fair amount of life, grass and the such. He sees from a distance, another wolf it looks like. 

He squints his eyes and his mouth dares to curl into a mischievous smile. He loves to play with other wolves; especially loves to scare them. So he continues onward, trotting at a steady pace as his body–thick with muscle and torn with scars–carry him. He loves a theatrical entrance; call him cliche.

His ruined ears point towards his new company. Santi’s ear twitches in irritation but his ghostly eyes are still stuck in his new toy. The tag that was clipped there bothers and he only mildly suppresses the urge to scratch it. His smile turns into a smirk and he lets out a throaty chuckle to announce himself and jumps over a thin rivulet of drying lava.

“And who are you now?” He drawls, his accent rich and pronounced. Santi puts his white teeth on display and his nub of a tail even dares to wag a bit. “What are you doing in such a place?”

She was expecting to be alone up here, in this flaming wasteland. She followed the scent of rotten eggs towards her target, ttaking care to watch her paws. A shard of obsidian jutted from an ash covered Boulder, cutting her leg. 
She paused to lick the wound, noticing a figure lurking through the haze. Instantly alert and uneasy her ears pinned down. 
The strange male leaped in front of her with a sneer and she took a few startled steps back, before steadying herself. "My name would be Aphrodite...and yours?"  her voice it's typical soft spoken purr, her Alluring sapphire eyes piercing. There was something sinister about the male, something that set her hackles on edge. "I'm looking for a crystal that can heal. Pale yellow, with a stink of rotten eggs. Could you help me find some?" Her tail gave a hopeful wag.

A single brow of his rises at her reaction but the smell of her blood reminds him he hasn’t eaten since early last moon. Is cannibalism really out of his league? He supposes not. Though he’s not sure he plans on eating this one. Scare–maybe. Kill–maybe. Play with–positively.

Though he takes in her feminine features and those unruly eyes of hers it makes his smile get fiercer. His left ear twitches in irritation from the tag as he comes forward. “Oh–,” he purrs. “You want my name, Bonita?” He says almost too softly. Even though his voice and face day two different things.

He towers over her with his impressive size and easily outweighs her. Santi lazily walks towards her left as if to make a circle around her. Those ghostly eyes of his burning holes in her pelt as he gazes at her up and down.

“I know not of your stone, Aphrodite.” He growls with that same devious smirk. “I do know that you’re not supposed to be here.” He says punctuating the sentence with a nip and moderately hard pull of her tail though not enough to really hurt too bad. 

He let’s go of her tail. “Such a quaint young lady such as yourself, being in a place so dangerous could lead to something bad–like myself.” He purrs again, voice soft and deep, so different from his voice in the previous sentence.

Despite her delicate, femenine appearance, she was not some shy, quivering thing. Her mother had warned her of wolves like him. Wolves like the brute she had met on the beach. She meets his gaze stubbornly, but then something catches her attention. "You have a tag! I did too.." She bends her neck to reveal the bare skin and damaged fur- the mark of a collar grown too tight for too long. A permanent scar from the zoo she was born in.
He towers over her, and she's slightly intimidated...she swallows but doesn't doesn't give in. "would I have asked your name if I didn't want it?" There is a pointed note in her voice. She was frustrated and a little bit frightened by the male, and really did want to continue on her way. She was no longer in heat- and she wasn't sure he would make a great companion. 
As he circles around her she is very aware of his eyes on her body. She shifts with each movement, never taking her eyes off the sinister male, but submitting to his gaze. That is, until his teeth close on her tail. 
She spins with a snarl, alluring eyes suddenly darkened and flashing angrily, teeth snapping near whatever she could reach. 
"Touch me like that again and I'll rip your tongue out." The threat almost sounds silly coming from such a petite, effiminate wolf, and yet her gaze and posture indicate she is not one to take nonsense. "If you can't help me then I will be on my way. There is no pack here- I can go where I wish." She sniffed, turning towards the direction she had been going previous to his interruption. She knew his intentions were to frighten her, and perhaps a more sensible wolf would be. At his next words she turned a look over her shoulder. "You aren't dangerous. Just a rude male that was never taught any manners and gets enjoyment out of having power over other wolves."

His mind reals when she says she too had a tag, it stunned him momentarily even though physically it’s doesn’t seem like it. The small female has an attitude. He likes the fire in her, he decides. He can tell just by her tone of voice she’d lash out at him once his teeth touched her furred tail. And boy does she. Her teeth show ferociously and she whips around like a snake poised to strike. She’s a spunky thing, with her attractive eyes so filled with anger it excites him. 

Though excitement was the outcome he still felt a jolt of surprise when she strikes out at him, teeth snapping. His ears point backwards and his brows raise at the words that leave her lips. Damn. Is all he can think. She’s absolutely vicious.

She announces that she’ll be on her way as she continues on talking about his mannerless self. He can only stand there like a child getting scolded by his mother. His toothy smile gone now he stands there allowing himself to get scolded. The way she knocks him down a peg even without knowing if he’d actually kill her or not was mildly embarrassing yet humbling for the Spaniard.

Ears previously pointed back, they face towards her again. His smile returns after his impromptu scolding, though not as devious as before but still there. His heavy paws carry him to come next to her.

“Now, now,” he begins looking down to her. “Is it my fault I had no one to teach me right?” He asks brows high and eyes half lidded, his handsome face not looking as evil as before; even though he still doesn’t look like an angel. “Maybe you could teach me, huh?” He laughs. “Since you know so much about those.”

He comes to walk in front of her effectively blocking her path with his massive body. He knocks her softly with his bulky head on the crook of her neck closer to her shoulder almost playfully if he didn’t have such a devious smile perhaps he almost would’ve seemed innocent.

“Now tell me, small wolf called Aphrodite, what are you looking for again?” He smiles faux sweetly and his voice becomes smooth again.

She senses him following her, and braces herself for another assault, her tail giving and agitated flick, but she relaxed a bit as his teasing voice meets her ears. 
He pleads his case, claiming he had no one to teach him right. She was intrigued- where had he come from, then? He didn't smell like any pack. "I didn't have anyone teach me how to be wild either. But I had no choice but to discover it for myself."  Her voice isn't accusatory- more of a declaration of fact. He asks her to teach him, and for a moment, she considers it. Either way, he's currently blocking her path. She looks up at him, studying his gaze and posture, allowing him to touch her again. It seemed he hadn't been expecting such a strong willed Fae... perhaps there was hope for him. "I would have to speak with Artyom. Our pack is nomadic- I'm not sure how much room we have. But so long as you are on your best behavior, or willing to learn, I don't see why I can't help you." 
She was either extremely naieve, rediculously forgiving, or woefully inexperienced. Either way, she wanted to see the good in everyone. "You know my name, and I still don't know yours. And I'm looking for Sulfur. It's got healing properties. Yellow crystals, grow on white rocks. Stink like rotten eggs." 

“I see.” He says like it’s a world wonder. “Self taught, not too bad then.” He comments nonchalantly. He moves to walk behind her, ghostly eyes eerily staying on her face/head as he walks behind her once again. He expects her to do something rash, she probably expects the same from him. Though he walks casually, almost like a stalk to her right side to walk beside her.

He smiles down to her, he likes to keep others on their toes. “Yes niña pequeña, I am Santiago Gabriel Arcos.” His accent rolling the words beautifully. “You can call me Santi if you’d like.” He says deeply with a playful wink.

His face becomes contemplative then. “Mis disculpas, small wolf. I cannot join a pack. A few friends of mine had some trouble telling me what to do in the past.” His eyes go dark for a second not due to a bad memory, merely his mind going back to the primal carnage of what he used to do to other animals and things of the such.

He shakes himself out and a light smile graces his features. “Your pack would not want to accept me anyhow.” He comments indifferently with a shrug. “We look for your crystal then?” 

He praises her and her wariness fades a bit, a smile gracing her features and her eyes relaxing. She was confident now that he wouldn't harm her- if he wanted to, he would have done so when she threatened him. Relaxed like this she could see past his attempt at being agressive, that it was a cry for attention. Again she found herself pondering...what had happened to him? Her eyes lit up when she heard his native tongue- it sounded familiar and prompted her to respond in her own tongue. "Eísai apó tin patrída?" She asked eagerly in Greek, hoping for a response, hoping for a phantom of home. "Santi. A handsome name. For a handsome wolf." She smiled at him, her confidence obvious. She frowned though, at his expression, and his claim about packs. "I am not ordered around. I am free to do as I please. All that is asked of me is respect, and to do my part." She is gentle in her answer, trying to reassure him. "We are not many- only ten or so. There is plenty of room to be on your own."  At his insistance he would not be welcome, she turned to face him, this time it is her blocking his path. "Would you try, if I promised to help you? If I promised not to leave you? I don't know why it matters so much...but every wolf deserves a second chance." 

He smiles as she loosens her guard around him. His ears go forward intently when she speaks her native language of Greek. His mind swirls with ideas of what she might have said but ultimately fails at knowing what language she speaks in. 

He laughs but lowers his head slightly, “I’m sorry chica I couldn’t catch that. I tried but I cannot seem to place that one.”

Then she compliments him and if he wasn’t narcissistic before (which he was) he is now (even more). He preens and smiles again; yes, he loves attention. “You think so? I was thinking the same thing.” He purrs, mainly as a joke but partly serious talking about himself. Hell the man even loves the sound of his own voice. Then his ghostly eyes flick towards her. “One could say yours as well.” He flirts confidently.

Then she moves to block his path with her small self and it almost makes him chuckle but then he notes how serious she seems and he watches and listens intently to her. She says there’s not too many of them–okay but he would fight with them, he thinks. It’s hard for him not to fight with one who disrespects him when he’s in the wrong mood. Even if this petite, cute wolf had caught him on a bad day he would’ve killed her, and not to make it sound worse, he would’ve eaten her as well; such is nature.

He can see the spirit in her. A second chance? Hell, this is his...like thousandth chance. Every time he won a fight back then he considered it another chance at life. Then being released into this so called freedom seemed like whole different chance as well, one he’s still getting used to.

He lowered his head down to hers. “Tan dulce eres, pequeña lobo.” He says smoothly looking into her eyes. Then that signature ominous smirk returns. “I do not deserve a family.” He almost growls. “I don’t deserve freedom. I’ve done horrible things and I know I’ll have the misfortune of doing horrible thing in the future to come.”

He paces away from her with that same sadistic smile across his maw. “I appreciate the offer, beautiful. I cannot partake though. It would lead to things that are out of your control.” 

Her eager smile fades a bit. "I am from a land far away known as greece. Some of the workers where I come from spoke that language....Spanish? I think? And so I thought..." She fades, eyes fixed forward for a second with memory. 
He calls her beautiful and she brightens again, preening and posing. She was proud of her looks, though after walking through the volcano she would need a bath. He levels his head to hers and his next words bring back that fiery intensity to her gaze again. "Don't speak like that! I don't care who you are, or what you've done! And anyone else who does is a selfish fool! Everyone deserves peace, love, a family. And if you don't know how to have those things, then well...you asked me to teach you, didn't you?"  
She softens again, looking up into his eyes, trusting and warm. "Just because you were a monster, doesn't mean that's all you can ever be. And you can only truely be a monster if you did whatever you did willingly- with no one forcing you, with no training or abuse, with no fear of the consequences should you refuse."  She takes a step forward, this time it is her initiating contact. Her brow meets his shoulder and she stays there for a moment, still and quiet. "A wolf can't survive long alone. Not in body or in mind. And certainly not in spirit." 

“I’m sure you’re home called Greece is a beautiful place. It is diverse huh? Very good.” He comments back with an easy smile. He can relate to the way she momentarily zones out with the thought of her past, he does it all the time, he thinks reimagining all the sickening things he’s done. 

She’s an intense little thing, trying to convince him that he can do/be good. He knows he can do good, he’s done it before just not as frequently as the opposite. He looks down to the small wolf as she spits wise words for a young wolf saying she’d teach him. Sure he can be taught but he’ll still always have some of that chaotic fire within him.

Then those eyes of hers gaze up at up him with the most genuine kindness. He thought he might burst into flames, how sweet. She comes towards him pressing against his muscled shoulder, he can feel the hum of her voice. The words she speak are deep, he not sure if he’s even worthy of thought such as this, words such as this. 

Santi almost even feels a pang if guilt to disappoint her so. She doesn’t understand how he works–mentally that is. He’s complicated and a sure he could be stronger with a pack but he couldn’t be anything but the leader. That’s how he was in his previous life, he ruled when he fought. He’s even fought alongside other dogs before but he let them know who the alpha was and all was balanced again. Joining a pack and challenging for the spot is always an option but not a popular one. Especially from an outsider like him compared to a leader the pack has grown to respect.

His ears face backwards with the interesting emotions he feels, he hates to disappoint, but the small wolf would come to regret asking him to join her even if he did. Santi brings his massive head in between the two, pushing the female away gently with his muzzle underneath her chin, brushing her neck. Pulling away his eyes are actually moderately soft, not hard and looking to kill or terrify. 

“Lo siento, pequeña lobo, pero debo declinar.” He apologizes almost sweetly with an easy smile. “You would not understand.” He says straightening himself and holding his head high. “It would bring misfortune upon your dear pack.” He says nonchalantly. 

Then pacing around her once more he continues. “You see, I’d have to become the leader of your cute little pack and I don’t think anyone would like how I’d have to do it.” He says with a shrug. “Such is nature, sí?” 

The giant wolf comes to butt his head against her shoulder again with his devious smirk put back in place and certain malicious intent in his snowy eyes. “I would love to walk you home. Perhaps find your little rock or whatever it is you search for.“

She sighed, nodding. "I wasn't there for long. Man took me away as a pup. My father went to a different place than my mother and I- I never saw him again. My sister was sick when they took us. I never saw her again, either. I remember being always hungry...but I was happy. And then I spent a long time in a pack behind fences. There were many wolves from different places. Man attacked again, and...I wandered here."  She told him her story, hoping that maybe he would share his. 
At his insistance he would need to lead she sighed softly. Bringing conflict to the pack would not bode well- and she knew she had lost as he gently pushed her away. She could see the sadness in his features. "We can still meet.. outside the territory? I would like to know you...if that's alright? " She was strangely affectionate towards the male, and though they probably would never be lovers, perhaps she could be the sort of friend he needed. The  offesort Heof friend who forgave him, fought for him, guided him. He offered to walk her home and she nodded, smiling, again choosing to overlook the deviousness in his expression. Let him plot, she had already proven she could outmatch him. "I was following the scent of rotten eggs. I might find some near the steam vents?"

His face lights up at her story. “You’ve met the two-legs too then?” His deep voice raises a few octaves in shock. “Grupo interesante, huh?” He laughs devilishly thinking of his human counterparts. “Very interesting.” He comments about her past.

Then she seems hopeful to see him outside of her packs boundaries. Surely they’d smell him on her. Maybe that’s what he wants. They’d probably run out to get him, perhaps scold her. He’d love to see her little pack come try and chase him from the lands they don’t even own, merely border.

He smiles at her handsomely, face hiding any type of emotion behind his bravado. “My my chica, you’re greedy, no?” He laughs and bumps against her accidentally a little too hard as they walk. “Of course. Though you say your pack is nomadic?” He looks to her expectantly.

“Yes now that you say that, I do smell something rotten. Let us sniff out this sulfur you speak of.” He comments eyes forwards and head tall as he walks along side her.

Then he jolts slightly remembering about her apparent cross with humans as well. “I was around many humans as well. They are the one who made me fight.” He says nonchalantly. “Though I wouldn’t say made. They taught me how and I liked it.” Then he looks down to her with a lightly disgusted face. “They did always try and touch me though. Aunque in poco desagradable.” He huffs deeply.

She pinned her ears as he laughed about the humans. "I wouldn't call them interesting." She spat. "Selfish, cruel. Monsters. That is more fitting." Her family had been torn apart. She had watched her sister die of mange and suffered mange, an embedded collar, and hunger herself. And even when she thought she was finally safe, they had come in the night, burning her home and tearing down the fences. Her pack had been scattered. And all her way here there was signs of their destructive ways. Slaughtered carrion on the strange black pathways. Garbage that smelled enticing but would twist your gut for days and sometimes left you to starve nomatter what you tried to eat. "No, I am very glad there are no Man here." She bristled. She relaxes a bit at his teasing, and laughs as his nudge unsteadies her, stumbling a bit and nearly falling into the rich volcanic mud. "Why should anyone have only one friend, or mate, for that matter? I'm not greedy. I just know how to have fun." She laughed, looking up at him with her Come-Get-Me eyes. "That's what I've been told. Whitebark Stream. There's plenty of areas nearby two young wolves could get into trouble in..." She nudges him, then pads ahead a bit, swaying her hips flirtatiously. She swivels an ear as he finally spills his own story of fighting and bloodlust. "You didn't deserve that. Every wolf will adapt. Every wolf knows bloodlust. Some are better at a reserved demeanor, but every wolf has it's sins."  She paused, thinking for a moment. "The marks the humans left on me were removed. Would... would you like yours removed, too?" 

His ears press to his head at her frustrations with the humans. Now, he didn’t have a good experience with them either but he’s a different kind of wolf that never had a family to begin with for them to tear apart. He adapted to their lifestyle; simple as that. He’s sure if he started off like her then he’d think the same way. 

Though Santi’s glad his teasing can make her relax some as she brightens and a smile appears on her face once more, those deep blues gazing up to him playfully. She brushes past him, her sleek body a tempting sight he had to admit, even though he never tried hiding the fact he found her attractive. He’s a very straightforward wolf anyhow. 

The massive wolf’s heavy body stalks towards her devious smile back in place. “Oh cariño, me gustó.” He purrs deeply, referring to the fighting and bloodlust she speaks of and perhaps something else. “There are many places to get into trouble, especially on the edge of an active volcano, no?” He chuckles following her, eying her down intently.

Then he contemplates. The idea of having the tag removed sounds good, the tag bothers him so as well. Although it causes him to twitch and scratch every once in a while, he still has to refuse. An odd, rotting feeling in his stomach convinced him that perhaps it was put there for a reason. Perhaps those human would come back for him. Oh how he wouldn’t mind going back to his previous lifestyle. 
He tilts his head back to her. “I will have to politely decline for reasons that are my own.” He says vaguely with his same smirk.

She senses his eyes on her body, a feeling she is not only aware of but enjoys. She may not be in heat, but the Fae knew how to enjoy herself- all she wanted out of life was love...and fun. At his throaty purr she echoes with her own soft moan, her tail now slightly raised. At the mention of trouble she giggled, her voice slightly husky. "There is. I don't see why a wolf should only fall for a wolf in her own pack. Why limmit yourself? And,"  she swallowed, hoping this wouldn't scare him off, "I like you. You're sweet, but not rediculously sappy. Funny. Smart. And...I can help you." With time, she could see herself starting a family, raising beautiful agouti pups. Best not to mention that though. He declined her offer to assist with the tag and she nods. Some wolves wanted to cling to their past. She was unaware, of course, of the tiny RFID chip embedded in her own shoulder, just under her skin.

Santi grins devilishly at the sound that escapes her. The plume of her tail slightly raised makes him chuckle deeply as he trots the short distance between them. He listens to her scarlet voice and ghostly eyes half lidded he stares at her casually. “I agree.” Then at her next sentence his ruined ears perk forwards at her. “You’d be crazy not to like me. And it does seem like I need help... with a lot of things.” He says smoothly and suggestively, completely full of himself. 


He loves to tease and scare others, though now it seems he’s leaning more towards regular teasing with this one rather than what he was doing when he first met her. The wolf smirks slyly, and dips his massive head sniffing her womanhood and takes an experimental lap with a wide tongue across her backside, but goes no further. He likes to keep others on their toes around him, in this case it’s no different.

After his experimental lick, he brushes past, to walk ahead, giving a heated side glance to her as he passes. “I think I smell your rock this way, chica.” He says casually as he picks a random direction to head to. Obviously not having smelt the rotten eggs of sulfur but merely just picking a direction to head in with a throaty chuckle.

Oops my finger slipped, too nsfw?? Haha

He agrees with her, and she smiles hopefully. She knew it would take time to gain his trust...and maybe his love, but she was beginning to think it was worth it. That may or may not have anything to do with the current season, and her possibly being pregnant with Aiolos's (and the mysterious stranger on the beach) pups,  but for now she was willing to just go with it. "Stick with me and you'll have plenty of...help." she smiled, looking back at him as his nose lowered towards her tail. She lifted it higher, giving him a full view of herself. Perhaps her body would entice him to join her pack. She felt his tongue slide along her vent and moaned again, growling in frustration as he quickly pulls away and suggests the location of her stone- she had almost forgotten her original purpose. "I think you smell a lot more than my silly stone." She giggled suggestively. 

No worries! I'm over 18 and kinda ship them! 

He too had forgotten about the stone but needed a reason to tease her so he went with her original reason of being here as his excuse to pull away. Santi almost didn’t want to, but of course only the will power of a true man can resist such urges. Though he chuckles when he hears her growl in frustration, the noise makes it more tempting to grab her scruff roughly and go to town. Of course, he’s no gentlemen but he isn’t a monster. He’s sure the sultry female would like it anyhow. 

Though after he walks ahead of her Santi glances back and chuckles deeply. “You still want to find your stone, chica? O te gustaría divertirte?” He asks with that mischievous side glance. “Then I walk you home sometime.” He comments sidling across a stream of solid lava rock.

Oh okay, tight!

  They are teasing each other, she realizes, and she wants him as much as he obviously wants her. But there is a difference between love and lust. 
For a moment, she thinks he is going to take her right there. She is not in heat, in fact is possibly already pregnant, and instinct tells her no.....  And yet here she is, parting her tail to the side and spreading her legs for him. A breathy moan escapes her as he pulls away and she shoots him a look, frustrated. He trots ahead and she sidesteps another flow, following him. "I actually really do need that stone, but we don't have to go home right away...." 

Santi paws lazily ahead of her and chuckles deeply at her frustration. “Then come chica, let’s go find that rock.” He stops to wait for her to catch up to him. Glancing at her with half lidded eyes, the silver seems to gaze into her soul. “Entonces quizás podamos divertirnos.” He grins back at her. 

Then a deep bark of laughter erupts from him. “Yes, yes! Then we can go frolic around the live volcano! THEN home.” He grins, all teeth. “See I can have too.” He jokes.

She nearly purrs at his sultry look, and the promise he utters, and smiles. Slipping past him- tail curled mischievously- she lowered her head, picking her way further down the mountain to a dried hot spring, evaporated or cracked and drained when the volcano erupted. The ground rumbled and a boiling jet of steam shot out of a crevasse between her paws- she only just dodged getting her face burnt. Still- there it was, among a glittering array of other minerals and crystals. She picked her way down into the hollow, nudging the stone loose. "Got it."

He can tell by the way her eyes glaze over and how she stares, she’s no doubt interested. The Spaniard enjoys the teasing, he even likes to be teased himself. The wolf assumes it’s the thrill of the chase, though he likes the catch just as much. 

The way she’s smirks at him and brushes past makes his eyes follow, soon after his body. He’s right beside her, walking a reasonable distance to her left like the good boy he is (sometimes). The small wolf leads them down the mountain and her paws drop herself into the dried up ruins of a former geyser.

Santiago gazes at her as she curiously paws at the ominous crack lightening  beneath them. “Careful, cariño.” He begins to say just as a burst of steam raises from the depths, looking to target the one altering its burial ground.

She hops back just in the nick of time and at the suddenness of the situation the raven wolf’s fur along his spine prickles and raises. “¡Santa mierda!” He exclaims deeply fixing a stern gaze to the females form. Only pissed because she started digging around but glad she didn’t get injured.

Though she seems to have found her prize and at that he can’t help but crack a smile. “You’ve found your special rock, but what cost? Getting your pretty face burnt off?” He cackles at her. “Are you okay?”

She smiles at his show of concern, proudly carrying the stone in her jaws. "Didn't get burned. Just a little surprised. Though we should probably get out of here... soon." She answered as another rumble shook the ground and a stream of lava shot into the air from the mouth of the dragon.