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Asariel nosed the dense undergrowth and sneezed, disturbing all sorts of bugs. Momentarily distracted by all the flying things, he chased after the insects enthusiastically; sure, he was a youngling now, but he still retained that playful spirit. Not to mention, those bugs were asking for it by looking so darn chaseable! Once they had all been suitably vanquished, he looked back at his traveling companion and grinned. It had all started with Zera putting her book in some human’s backpack… the human had wandered away with another human and Maderik, a rather bad-tempered adult dragon, but Asariel had tagged along because… well, first of all, Zera was his friend. Second of all, he couldn’t think of anything else to do.

And it was interesting exploring the world. That was true. Up until the moment they had wandered away from the Hatching Grounds, that was basically all Asariel had known. The bugs there were fun, but these ones were better. And there would probably be all sorts of fun new interesting rocks to dig up out here. Shinier ones, perhaps! Like all dragons, Asariel had a fondness for shiny rocks.

What do you think of the humans, Zera? he asked mentally; he wasn’t sure how he had figured out Zera’s name… but, he knew that was the name of the black female youngling, the one with the red swirls. In his mind, it didn’t really matter how he knew her name; he just did. And she just knew his. At a stream crossing, he stopped for a brief drink and then looked at the water. He had a very definite memory of Zera turning all the snow to ice… he tried it, and blew out a thin flame instead and immediately coughed afterwards, bringing up a lot of smoke.

Shaking his head, he spoke again to Zera’s mind, And how come you can make things cold? I can’t…Hey, try it on the creek! in his mind, maybe Zera could create a whole pool of that soft fluffy stuff!

Asariel didn’t bother wondering how he had suddenly magically learned the language, or at least most of it. Why did it matter? Maybe he was just naturally talented or something. And Zera had done it too, so that was good. It was probably normal to suddenly magically be imbued with all this knowledge. They were dragons, after all! The masters of the world! Obviously they were, since there weren’t enough humans around to dominate it. Besides, all the dragons seemed more like pets or something.

Canting his head to one side, he poked the frozen stream with one claw, and found it to be completely solid. He was slightly disappointed as he had been hoping for a pile of the fluffy stuff to jump into. On the other hand, this made crossing a lot easier. They wouldn’t have to get their feet wet at all!

Humans seem like odd little creatures… I would like to meet more of them. They’re very interesting. Maybe while we’re visiting, we can talk to Maderik about them. He’s bound to know something since he’s got a human and all that…

Asariel squealed in delight as the snow flew into his face; in response, he blew out a weak flame at the snow, instantly turning it back into water once more. He followed his friend onto the frozen creek, trying to avoid the cracking areas. Fetching the book could wait a little while; this was fun!

Dragon-Bounds? That’s a funny name, Asariel said, stopping momentarily to think about this. Of course, his weight caused the ice to break underneath him, dumping him into the cold water. Laughing, he shook himself off quickly, spraying water everywhere. He blew another thin stream of fire at it and was surprised to see the water droplets vanish. Where had they gone?

Well… we’ve all got wings. Maybe when we get older we can fly. Although… only the ones with humans fly from what I’ve seen. Others don’t. So maybe it’s got something to do with humans? His nose wrinkled slightly as he considered the thought. It sounded dumb, even to him. Humans couldn’t fly, that was obvious. More likely, it was just a coincidence. He decided to ask Maderik once they got there. He had a human and he could fly; maybe he could explain a few things to them.

The water really doesn’t seem cold to you? he asked curiously, canting his head to one side. Now that seemed just as odd as only dragons with humans could fly! The water was cold to him! Freezing, in fact. Dragging himself out of the water, he shivered slightly. It was refreshing, true, but still so cold! His stomach growled and he sniffed some nearby greenery and gave it a nibble before spitting it out. Blech. They needed to find some real food.

As water was suddenly splashed in his face, Asariel responded in kind, flinging his body back into the shallow creek and splashing water everywhere, including all over Zera.

At Zera’s question, Asariel paused, wondering how he could explain cold to someone who apparently never felt it. It was like trying to explain colors to a blind person! Cold is… sad, he ventured finally. But like a whole-body sadness instead of just in your mind. That seemed good enough. He had tried, at least. Hopefully, he hadn’t hurt Zera’s feelings or anything… dragons often complained about her breath being cold---or ‘sad’ as Asariel had explained it--- so he could see how someone could take that comment personally.

Lurching onto his hind legs, Asariel tugged at a few red berries that clung to a nearby branch. The tart flavor surprised the little dragon and delighted him at the same time. Mentally inviting Zera over, he tugged a few off the braches for her too so she wouldn’t have to stand up to get them.

Asariel blorted his distress as he realized just how much his words had upset Zera. Nonono! He hadn’t wanted that! Alright, so he wasn’t quite sure what he had expected, but not this… he had sort of hoped that she would learn to be more careful with her icy breath, but there was no need to completely stop it. The only way to get better with it was to practice, right? And if she didn’t practice… well, he wasn’t sure what would happen, but something bad.

It was a while before the youngling mentally spoke. You’re not bad. You can’t be bad… a bad dragon wouldn’t care that it makes others feel bad, and you do feel bad. So, you’re not bad. It was then that Asariel realized that he needed a wider vocabulary. Or he would have thought that, had the word ‘vocabulary’ exist in his vocabulary. What he really thought was more along the lines of ‘I need a better choice of words’ which is close enough.

Asariel danced happily as Zera cheered up, or at least as best a young dragon could ‘dance’. It looked more like he was trying to stamp bugs under his feet, except anyone that knew Asariel knew that he would chase after bugs and eat them, not step on them. He darted after his friend excitedly, almost tripping over the same root that she had already fallen victim to. Glaring at the root, he sniffed it momentarily before giving it an optimistic nibble in the hopes that it was edible.

It wasn’t, much to his dismay. Spitting out bits of wood, something shiny caught his eye. Blorting his curiosity, he stuck his head into the hollowed out tree. Yes, there was something shiny in here! Scrabbling on the bark, Asariel attempted to stick his head as far into the hole as he could make it. Almost there… he blorted a victory blort as he managed to get his jaws around the Shiny Things or at least the strings that the Shiny Things were attached to. Unfortunately… well, he got stuck. He tried to back out and made an unpleasant noise as he discovered his head was stuck in the tree.

Squealing in surprise and dismay, he fought against the tree, his talons scouring deep marks in the bark. Zera! Zera, help me!! he thought desperately to his friend.

As he was freed from the clutches of the evil tree, Asariel rolled backwards a few times. The only thing that stopped him was hitting another tree. Damn trees… they just had to be everywhere in a forest, now didn’t they?! It was just like them… he shook his head, shaking the shiny things a little bit. Nope, there wasn’t any food involved, sadly…

Still, they were shiny! Putting them on the ground, Asariel observed the shiny objects for a moment. They certainly were pretty, much better than the rock he had given Zera a long time ago. And they had funny squiggles on them too! Asariel blorted and tilted his head to one side. Those squiggles… they looked familiar. Reaching back into his memory, he vaguely recalled that Zera’s papery object had funny marks on it. Maybe they meant something! Well, whatever they meant, the shiny things were pretty! And there were two of them! How perfect.

Picking up one in his mouth, he trotted to Zera and promptly offered it to her in a typical ‘begging’ position.


ooc| Now that would be an adorable Valentine's card. You can imagine it, can't you? Asariel sitting there on his haunches with a little dagger on a string hanging from his mouth and, above his head, the words "Be Mine?"