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"Right, sounds good. I'll be back in an hour or so. Dragon! Come on!"

She headed off down the hill and to the stream. From there she turned south and walked until the stream ran deeper and entered the forest. It eventually met up with a larger river and this was where Rin settled in on a well-worn bank that had obviously been used before. She baited her line and cast it, watching the river lazily.

Rin climbed up the hill and held up her catch for Syla to see for a moment before vanishing into the house to prepare the fish for later. It took a small amount of time and by the time she exited into the clearing Maderik had returned, smelling faintly of blood from whatever poor animal he'd caught for his meal.

"Maderik wants to show you the boundaries of the Ley Suan territory," Rin said, approaching the other human, "It's too wide to traverse in one day though so he's just going to take us to the nearest marker and then show you the rest by air. Keep an eye out for any spot you might want to settle in to - I recommend high-ground so that you don't get swamped during the spring rains. C'mon, we're walking to the first marker. It's not far."

Maderik nodded towards the small group and started walking, slipping into the forest. He was remarkably graceful for his size, slipping between the trees and what saplings he couldn't avoid simply bent beneath his body before springing back into place.

"We're in the south-east corner of Ley Suan," Maderik said, "I prefer to stay near the borders as that's the typical location of the outsiders or anyone that wants to be left alone. We have only one clan that directly borders our land and that's to the north. To the west is the human territory, to the east and south are more clans but they're all over a day's travel by air away. It's very quiet around here."

Up ahead the land started to dip and for a brief interval the trees were thin enough to see down the hill and where the stream that ran past the ruins joined with a larger river - shallow and wide.

"The marker is by the bank," Rin said, "C'mon, I'll race you there. Maderik, you're excluded in this cause you'll just win."

And she leapt onto the incline, half-sliding and half-running for the bottom and the flat stretch of forest that led to the river bank.

Rin made it down the incline and slowed to a stop as she reached the barren river bank. She looked up and down, nodded to herself, and walked upstream a bit to where a huge rock rose out of the ground. It was stuck in the ground and was as easily as tall as one of the dragons. Runes were carved into the surface.

“See these?” Rin said as the two approached, “Dragon writing. They don’t use it very often so it’s very primitive. Basically this denotes the start of Ley Suan territory. It conveys concepts but no details. These are placed far enough apart so that you can see them by air but a dragon or human walking into the territory could miss them. So stay away from the northern border cause it’s real easy to walk into the next clan’s territory. I did that once.”

“They just brought her back, rather annoyed,” Maderik said, coming up behind them, “We’ve had our disputes with the northern clan but for the most part relations remain civil.”

He started walking further down the bank.

“I’ve been told there’s a good patch of land just west of where I live. Close to the borders but since no one lives on our borders right now it doesn’t matter. Interested?”

Maderik led the group upriver for a ways before cutting back into the woods. Eventually he stopped at a place where the land rose some, away from river-level, and the trees were clear enough to provide some space to build a small cottage or other structure.

"Close to the river," Maderik said, "and there's plenty of game and foraging nearby as well. About a half-day's walk from where Rin and I are. She can come help you set up here if you want to stay."

Rin eyed her dragon for a moment. This was very much not like him. He was very distant from everyone... unlike her. She was lonely most of the time.

"Thank you," she said mentally and recieved only a quiet sense of satisfaction in response.