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Kadryn was ditching school again. Such a lovely cloudless day was not to be spent indoors listening to history or sparring with the other children. Sitting on the banks of Lake Tyluafel, she was making a mud castle. Her clothes were covered, her hair had mud in it, and the skin on her arms and bare feet couldn't be seen beneath the mud. Giggling, she began to build walls around her mud castle. Getting dirty was the best part of playing, that and her mother's expression when she got home made mud the greatest thing in Kadryn's book.

"oof!" Kadryn was so absorbed in her mud castle she didn't notice the approaching figure until it'd tripped over her. Looking over her shoulder she saw a small figure(still taller than her though) lying in the mud to her left. Standing up she stepped towards the prostrated person. "Are you okay?" Reaching down with her muddy hands to help the person up, she noticed the child's hair was long and blonde and he, she.. it had... horns? 'Another dovaa! I don't meet any for all my life and then in a week I see two!' She though to herself, 'I wonder what tale this one has to tell?' "Sorry about the mud, though it'll wash off quick in the lake," she said as she pulled the dovaa up.

Kadryn felt her heart go out to the poor fellow. She might get away with being muddy, but she knew of others who would get punished for getting as filthy as she was. "Don't worry, I know of some plant leaves that'll work just as well as soap. I'm Kadryn, I live an hours walk from here." She smiled down at the .. girl? Or was it a guy? The slim frame and silky long hair looked really pretty and girly, but the face had some guy traits to it... Kadryn shrugged. What this fellow's gender was didn't matter. Smiling she finally figured out who she was reminded of by the soft keening and expressions of this dovaa; Fallon, her baby brother. Reaching out, she patted the soft golden hair with a muddy hand, "I'll go grab my bag, it has those leaves I was talking about. Ma never lets me leave without them, she feels that if they're there I'll use them. Not that I ever do." Smirking she turned to get her bag, she'd put it on a rock nearby to keep it out of the mud.

She stopped dead in her tracks. While she'd been talking to this sweet child, a Ysali dragon had crept on towards them; now it was between her and her bag. Yelling, she cried out behind her, "Dragon! Flee or charge in and attack while I distract it!" A fierce feeling rose inside her, she would not let this sweet person be hurt! She unfurled her wings and launched herself into the air, flying straight at the dragon. She wouldn't run from this one like the last two, that child could get hurt!

Flying at the dragon trying to keep it from seeing anything but her, Kadryn flew straight at the dragon's eyes. As her small frame landed on the dragons head she had only time for one thought on how large it was compared to her before she began climbing towards the eyes. The dragon went wild, shaking it's head to try and dislodge her. Kadryn had to stop and cling, staring straight at the dragon's angry eyes. Glaring at it, she whispered, "I'm going to win this time, no running away." Kadryn hoped that the sweet child had either run or was attacking while she held the dragons attention, wishing she could chance looking around, but didn't dare to. She couldn't help but wonder how they would win unarmed as they were... did they have to pound it to death with their small fists? If that's what it takes then that's what I'll do, she thought. Though I should have grabbed a rock or stick before I flew at this guy... then I'd have something like a weapon.

'Well this is one of my more stupid ideas,' she thought. After she'd landed on the dragon's head, she couldn't attack it, cause that would dislodge her; nor could she let go, then she'd get bitten. After all there was no way the dragon would miss at this close range. Holding on with all her might, Kadryn quickly tried to think up a plan. 'What can I do? Should I try letting go and try for the eyes and hope it's too slow to bite me? Or...' A reprieve from her dilemma came in the form of a yelp from below, followed by a startled growl from the dragon. As it swung its head downwards and stopped concentrating on her, Kadryn let go from her perch right in front of the dragon's eyes and frantically flew up away from the dragon.

Turning around, she saw the other child rubbing his..her head and crying about not being able to hurt it. She saw blood on his.. her horns. 'Is that a girl or boy? I really need to ask... oh and the name too, still don't know that... And what am I thinking about?! This is a battle, concentrate!' Shaking her head she called downwards; "Well you've done more than I have! Keep it up..." Looking around, Kadryn saw a nice sized rock, one with sharp pointy edges. 'Perfect!' she thought. "Give me a sec; if your horns can hurt it, than a rock can too!" She shouted downwards. Swooping down to the rock, she unearthed it. Then, grunting with the effort, she laboriously gained the air once more. 'Oof! Carrying something this heavy is difficult,' she muttered through clenched teeth. She'd never tried flying with something so heavy before. 'If this is so hard, how will I ever be able to fly with a real weapon?' She wondered. As she strained upwards with her rock, she forgot to keep an eye on the dragon....

Kadryn finally made it high enough that a rock would do some serious damage if thrown. As she looked down to see where the dragon was, she almost dropped her rock from sheer anger and fear.

The dragon had lunged towards a terrified Ismiril and snapped him up in one bite of its huge maw. Blood pounding in her veins, Kadryn screamed with rage and threw her rock with all her might and charged in after it. Thrown by anger, the rock hurtled down and impacted on top of the head as Kadryn hit the dragon on the base of its neck. The sudden double impact and stunning pain caused the dragon to spit out its mouthful right into the lake. As it staggered around stunned, Kadryn dug in with her teeth and hands. Tearing and ripping for all she could. How dare this beast try to eat that sweet heart Ismiril!!!! Kadryn felt no pain, no exhaustion, only anger and a blood thirst in her veins. Red clouded her vision and there was only the dragon.
Kadryn didn't know she'd killed the dragon, not even until it's dropped to the ground and stopped moving. She kept hitting and biting until it vanished into smoke, leaving behind two glowing green orbs and an little Orderite.

Panting, Kadryn shook her head to clear away the red mist. She looked around for Ismiril, only to see his limp body lying in the shallows. Panicked once more, Kadryn stumbled exhastedly over. Was he... dead? Had she made a terrible mistake in trying to use that rock?! As she sat at Ismiril's side, she sighed in relief as she noticed his chest rising and falling with his breath. Only fainted! What a relief! And what would yo expect, he'd been almost eaten by a dragon! Kadryn shook her head as she smiled, "I think I'd faint too if a dragon almost ate me! But, wow, what a mess your clothes are! And you were so unhappy when it was just mud; now you've gotten covered in blood, dirt and dragon drool! I'd better take you back to may house, that way Mum can clean you up. And make sure you're not hurt too badly..."
Matching thought to deed, Kadryn tiredly hoisted Ismiril onto her back and began to fly back to her house. It was a long and exhausting hour of flying, but Kadryn didn't want to risk dragging Ismiril back through the forest to her house.

Kadryn giggled as Ismiril woke up and mumbled then nuzzled her ear.

"Hey! That tickles! And nah. Didn't get eaten. I got so mad when I saw it eat you! Kinda went a little crazy.. don't know how, but I managed to kill it... " Kadryn pat his back and set him down as her mother Laasya ran out of their house. Laasya was short and thin, and had pale blue skin and long straight silver hair. Her eyes were a darker shade of blue just like Kadryn's. She wore a blue and white plaid dress with an apron over it.

"Kadryn! What's wrong? Who's this?" Worried because she saw the blood and dirt, but not afraid since Kadryn had a huge smile on her face.

"This is Ismiril Ma! We beat a dragon together! But he got hurt,can you patch him up?" She then fumbled in her bag and grabbed the two Ysali orbs in there, handing one to Ismiril and holding the other up for her mother to see.