Ranewen was walking upon the grounds of the Dragon Spine Mountains, looking around cautiously. From behind her, she thought she had heard footsteps, perhaps following her. She took advantage of being a Shadowdancer and she fled to the shadows and stayed as still as possible. She became unable to be seen after a moment of two. She looked around slyly and then she exited the shadows and continued walking a long normally.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

She turned around once again, but nobody was there. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me once again… she guessed and tried to ignore the fact that it probably wasn’t. She drew in a breath and continued on her way. So long as I stay out of their way, perhaps I won’t be noticed… she concluded. Then again, they won’t know how to kill me. Unless they overheard me a few days or weeks ago. She smirked devilishly and looked around.

She had expected it to be full of dragons and dragon bones, posts in the ground with maidens attached to them as offerings from Talas, Kellen, and the other cities. She had obviously guessed wrong. She bent down and placed her hand in an imprint that was about three times the size of her hand – the size of a growing dragon’s foot. She stayed down there, examining the dirt, trying to ignore the crunching sounds still coming towards her, growing louder as each second passed.

Sargoth was pressing forward at the tail end of a four day journey. As usual, he had not stopped to rest or to sleep; it was not in his nature to require slumber, even though it was probably for the best during trying travels like this most recent one through the forboding Dragon Spine Mountains. He had watched the landscape fade from thick forests to rolling plains to this now desolate place. When he decided to travel toward the tall mountain range, he had lost sight of trees nearly a week ago. His wanderings bade him forward and he did not look back, even though he preferred the peaceful woodlands over the sun-torn rocks. An unspoken drive had sent his body into the treacherous and infamous range, a home to an uncounted number of fierce dragons and drakes. For the three days he had remained within the clutches of his surroundings, he had only seen one dragon far off on the horizon. Sargoth was glad that his encounter was short and uneventful.

He now trudged along a path of loose rocks that resembled a stone river across a barren desert. He had heard that heavy rains sometimes visited the mountains, and that there were dangerous floods during their downpour, but it was the dry season and no moisture was falling. The stone river was the closest to a familiar babbling brook that Sargoth could locate. He gave himself up and walked in the middle of these stones; they rubbed and scratched against one another in a symphony of unskilled musicians. He had definately ruined his stealth but did not particularly mind. He continued walking forward until he came across a lone figure bent over a depression in the ground. A flash of lightning streaked through his eyes as he looked her over.

"Good day," he said in greeting. His voice was deep but showed signs of weariness.

Ranewen had ignored the greeting for a few moments. But then she felt eyes looking her over. She suddenly stood up and turned around quickly, getting ready to jump into a shadow of some sort. She looked at him and then finally decided to respond. “Hello.” She carefully made sure that he had no weapons in his hands. Once she was pretty sure that he was harmless at the moment, she let herself relax.

Silence hung between them as if Ranewen was in a sound-proof room, or perhaps she had gone deaf. She shifted her position slightly and heard the crunching of the leaves. She sighed in relief that she hadn’t lost her hearing ability. That would definitely have been a downfall for her. An eavesdropper, she was. And damn proud of it, too. She smirked to herself and then crossed her arms.

“What brings you up here?” she asked. She avoided introducing herself at the moment, for she wished to learn about why this strange-looking person was up here. Is he a human? No, he’s not… But what is he? she asked herself, not able to come up with a conclusion. A friend or a foe? she asked herself once again. Yet silence had overcome them for the slow passing moments. She still awaited for her answer, as patient as she could be.

Sargoth's half-robe and white hair fluttered in a sudden gust of wind, one that caused a whistling sound echo throughout the ravine. It reminded him of the forest; he could not help attributing the sound to the location, he had spent more time in Norwood Forest than anywhere else. It was indeed surrounding the one place he could even fathom calling home, but the connection was deeper than that. It was an undescribable connection, a calling that let him know that peace was waiting for him. He was lost in those woods because he wanted to be lost; away from humanity and the trials of violence. When he was not urged to wander to some obscure location, he was urged to remain in solitude and peace.

"I am here for the sake of moving forward. Forward because something was missing behind me," Sargoth said almost cryptically, even though he meant it in almost every way.

Without further words, he stepped forward to see the imprint the girl was examining. While he noticed that the person he now spoke to looked slightly different from most he had ever come across, he said nothing and focused on the ground instead. As far as he was aware, it was possible that he had stumbled upon a dragon in bipedal form, and he was not going to make the mistake of commenting on its disguise.

Sargoth knew the answer from the start, but asked in order to try and further the friendly conversation, "What do we have here?"

Ranewen shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know or care. “A dragon imprint. Of what type of dragon? I don’t know. But which dragon? I think I know. You ever hear of Renor Cryso? The Shadow Dragon? He’s still growing, but dangerous is what he is, or so I was told.” She nodded her head, even though she wasn’t sure that it could be him. Maybe this being would know. He seemed smart, and she was still slightly baffled while trying to figure out what he had meant before.

She then let her gaze go up towards one of the mountains. She studied it for a long while, as if expecting to see something pop out of its face that she would never again see. She shook her head as if disappointed and then turned back around towards Sargoth. “Do you have a name I can call you by?” she asked, not knowing what else to call him if she didn’t know his name. “I’m Ranewen if it is any concern to you.” She doubted he had ever heard her name. But then again, wouldn’t all of Imythess know that she had saved Bahamut from being stuck inside a unicorn’s body?

She doubted it. She didn’t care if he knew her or not. Why would it matter in what situation they were in now? Well, if he attacked me kn owing what I did, I think he’s more powerful than I am. But I have the shadows to help me. That’s an advantage on my side. But he seems like the person not to attack me unless I did something first. There she went again with her first impression thing. She hated how she always did that, but she couldn’t get herself to stop. She waited, hoping he would answer her question. But as she waited, she looked up towards the mountain again, watching carefully to see if there were any dragons around.

"M'lady, all dragons are dangerous. Shadow Dragons are hardly on the lowest rung of dragons at that," Sargoth commented. He thought back to his dragon sighting only slightly backward in history, trying to recall if he could make out the species. In resignation, he shook the thought off as he thought the dragon glowed red in the sunlight.

"It is nice to meet you, Ranewen. I am Sargoth and you will need to forgive me if I seem slightly shaken. I have been travelling for nearly four days without stopping over a rather uninteresting section of land, so I've been held captive by disinterest," Sargoth admitted. He had rarely ever met anyone at this point of a taxing journey so he felt the need to apologize. He did not know if she would care, but it was mainly for himself rather than for her.

He followed her gaze up to a large mountain beside them, one that he had seen from a distance but had recently stopped looking at. He was too busy staring at the loose rocks infront of him to care what was looming above. The peak was obscured by the typical layer of clouds, making it unlikely that Ranewen was able to see anything of interest. Sargoth rarely had a good relationship with wild dragons, especially those with reputations, so he was just as happy not seeing any large lizard taking flight from its roost.

"So, tell me, what exactly are you doing here that requires you to track a dragon's footsteps? I don't suppose you intend to slay the beast?"

“’Tis nice to meet you, Sargoth.” She smiled slightly and then when he had asked what she was doing here that required her of studying the tracks of a specific dragon. When she had heard him say the word ‘slay’ she shook her head rapidly. Several times, she shook her head, until she stopped and looked back up at the peak. She waited a moment, as if searching for the right words and the order to put each of them to make it sound right.

“I don’t intend to slay the beast. Never would I harm a creature unless it attack me,” she admitted. When she had said ‘creature,’ she meant as in animals. Definitely not humans or other races. She would harm them when she wanted, where she wanted, and how she wanted. “Capture, Sir, is more like it.” She nodded her head and looked back down at him, trying to see if he held an expression that would interest her on his face.

She whistled into the air. For a few moments it seemed as if she did it for no reason. But she had a reason. Soon enough, hoof beats shattered the delicate silence that hung between them at the moment and a nightmare appeared soon enough. She pat the neck of the nightmare and swung on its back. “You can come, if you want. I could use an extra hand. Although this isn’t a full-grown dragon, I know he’s capable of doing harm.” Although I cannot be harmed by him… she wanted to add, but she didn’t for her own good.

Sargoth looked toward the loud stampede that reflected off of the mountain walls and gave the illusion of a much more impressive ruckus than one horse deserved. He had seen nightmare steeds before, but rarely one under the command of another. The last one he had seen was running wild in the dead of night, without a rider. It was hardly a happy experience, especially since it had angled its course toward him in an attempt to trample him.

Midnight black hair fell from the dark creature's neck and his eyes were the traditional red. Sargoth could not place the feeling exactly, but he felt that the nightmare was completely appropriate for the woman he had just met. There was something shadowed, even threatening about her posture and language. She seemed to eminate an aura of fear usually reserved for tyrants. While she had never openly shown her intentions to him, Sargoth still took precautions and kept Taegris on the verge of being summoned, holding it back just far enough that he could bring it to his hands from thin air with only a second of notice.

"Capturing a dragon. Interesting," Sargoth finally responded after returning his gaze to the mountain beside the group. "I will join you, then, primarily out of curiosity."

She nodded her head and nudged the horse’s sides. “Maral…” she said angrily at the mare. “DO not piss me off. I’m warning you…” she threatened the horse. The horse’s eyes seemed to be mischievous, but the horse finally let herself be controlled by her master. “That’s what I thought…” she whispered into the horse’s ears before getting her into a walk. The horse stepped right in the dragon print and kept on going.

Ranewen looked back only once to see if he followed. It didn’t matter to her if he pulled out or not. She could do this on her own. He probably did not know her secret. He probably wouldn’t, either, unless he asked why she dared to face a dragon. She only stood at five-foot-five, and she looked only about eighteen years old and appeared human. It disguised her perfectly. I wonder if he has anything to ride, or if he will be walking… she thought and shrugged her shoulders as she pushed the horse into a steady trot.

She kept her gaze focused on that of the mountain and the clouds the stopped her view of the peak, where all the excitement probably was. That’s where they were headed, too. Perhaps I should leave Marl to roam free for now and walk up there… She decided that that was best and she let herself seem to fall off the horse. At the last possible moment, she turned herself so that she landed on one foot, her other leg pressed against the ground as if she were kneeling down. “Go on, Maral. Out of here.” She hit the horse so that it would run away. It definitely didn’t hurt her, but it scared her away. Ranewen looked back to find out if Sargoth was there, or if he had left.

Sargoth had witnessed Ranewen swatting her steed away from the mountainside after her rather acrobatic dismount. Sargoth had neve ridden a horse and had no intentions of doing so, at least for a very long time. It felt needlessly cruel to him to make an unsuspecting equine bear the weight of his stone body. Besides, there was little point to him picking up the skill except for the sake of additional knowledge: he had obviously kept up. Sargoth stood with one foot propped on a knee high rock. He had bent over and rested his elbow on the bent leg, staring at the spectacle in front of him.

"She does not seem to be entirely obedient, yet," Sargoth commented. He knew that the task of subjucating a nightmare fully was close to impossible. They simply did not understand loyalty when it truly mattered. "I suppose she'd learn something if she followed you anyway and wound up at the pointed end of a diving dragon."

Sargoth knew the most effective lesson was by experience. Though, this particular instance seemed to drastic to push further. "Perhaps in time." He did not mean to strike any anger in his temporary companion, but it seemed unavoidable if she felt like defending her horse. He knew what it was like to care deeply about an animal, and to have that love returned.

Sargoth tried to change the topic to something that actually mattered given the situation. "So, is there a particular plan, or are we walking blindly into a dragon's den with little more than a spark of hope?"

Ranewen listened to everything he had said. She nodded her head when he said perhaps in time, agreeing that it would take time for the equine to trust her. If that was what he meant. She had saved the nightmare a few times; perhaps she had earned her trust a little bit. “Maybe that’s why she is willing to come back…” she muttered to herself and looked around.

Then he had mentioned if she had had a plan. Her expression went blank and she stopped. How could I forget a plan?! she shouted in her mind. “Uhhh… Well… Ummm…” she could only manage to spit out. “Well… Only you’d be the one who’d be in trouble,” she finally said, nodding her head.

She then rapped her arms around her torso and looked at him. “Do you have any ideas? Have you ever tried to capture a dragon before?” she finally gave in, asking for his help. Obviously, if she hadn’t met Sargoth, she’d be supposedly walking into a death trap. “Just remember, Renor Cryso isn’t a full-grown dragon. Perhaps about four times the size of me.” She remembered the size of the impression in the dirt and waited to see if he had any ideas.

As if she were lazy and couldn’t stand, she plopped herself on the ground and sat cross-legged, her arms crossing over each other as they slightly extended away from her body. The wind picked up again and played with her hair, before it died once more and let her hair fall back in place. “If you don’t have one, we’ll have to take a detour to the Library. I have ways to get there fast.” She nodded towards the summoning staff to her left.

Sargoth had just begun expressing his shock and dismay that the woman had travelled this far only to be lacking any sort of plan when he was interrupted by a fearsome roar. The voice could only belong to one of this regions most renowned inhabitants, a dragon. Shockwaves of noise seemed to kick up dust from the ground before echoing back to assault Sargoth's ears. The guardian peered upward, toward the peak of the mountain, to try and pinpoint its origin. He was sorely unhappy when his vision revealed a partly grown black dragon barreling down toward him. In a gut response, he opened up his great wings and pushed backwards, using the air to buffet himself out of the way. The dragon, apparently a shadow dragon by its scales and body shape, smashed into the ground between Sargoth and Ranewn, it's claws piercing the rocky floor with ease. It looked at both of the bipedals with angry eyes as it snorted mist out of its mouth.

Sargoth had hoped this particular event would have evaded his trip through the mountains, but he had no qualms about finding a resolution. Taegris appeared in his right hand, held low and diagonal so that the tip barely hovered over the ground. Sargoth glared at the gigantic reptile, unable to see Ranewen past the beast to see if she was unharmed.

Ranewen stumbled backwards and landed on the ground with a thud and a grunt. She got up and looked at the dragon. "It's him..." She muttered to herself. He wasn't full-grown, but she was right: the dragon was about four times her size. Perhaps even more. Maybe less. She didn't care. It was him. Her dream came true. She reached and finished her goal.

She unsheathed her Chaos blade and got ready to brace herself from Renor's wrath. The dragon's head turned towards Sargoth first, examining him closely before looking over at Ranewen. Obviously, he didn't like these intruders upon his land. "What should we do?" she called over to Sargoth as Renor still examined her.

The dragon lazily examined Sargoth once more, his head going close to him. Ranewen thought she could reach his back rather easily and swing herself upon his black hide, but it was too dangerous. Although she couldn't die, the dragon could fly away and she probably would never again get another chance. She waited, her sword held tightly in her hands, for a reply from Sargoth. He seemed much smarter than she was.

Ranewen's voice carried over the hulk of scales in front of him and brought a message that she was alright. That was one of his first burning questions that he needed to answer. She asked him yet again for a plan, but he had only heard of the insane goal only minutes before. He had to try and think of some way to subdue the ancient creature while defending himself from it at the same time.

Sargoth called back to Ranewen a pivitol question, "Is it Renor?" He needed to know if this was the dragon Ranewen had spoken to him about. Simply scaring it off, if even possible, would be a bad idea if he had just agreed to help her capture it. He made the assumption that it was the same dragon as he tried to think of what to do while waiting for a response. His foe was standing idle and looking him over, a sign of intelligence and swift action soon to come.

He did not think quickly enough; the shadow dragon lunged forward from its position and sped toward Sargoth. A pair of humongous claws swiped at him, being partially blocked by Taegris. The blade had absorbed the power of the strike, but in doing so was shattered to pieces. Sargoth rolled out of the way of the beast as the broken weapon was recalled back to the seed of power. He was not familiar enough with the weapon yet to effectively battle the beast. At the end of his roll, he quickly cast a stone skin spell that covered his body with flexible but sturdy rock. He had no intention of receiving an unchecked attack from the powerful creature. The dragon roared as he watched the stone armor erupt over his prey.

Ranewen watched as the dragon lunged at Sargoth. She cringed, preparing for the worst, closing her eyes. When she had opened them, Sargoth had cast a spell over himself: stone skin. Then the dragon had roared and she stepped back. It rang inside her head for a moment, but she had no time to react. The beast looked her and lunged forward.

Using her stealth, she jumped out of the way, the dragon’s claw missing her face by inches. She sighed in relief, but she stumbled over a log and fell on her bottom. She looked up as the dragon examined what had happened. She scrambled to her feet and faced the dragon. “Try harder. Try again.” She used the same taunt she had used on Ahren when they were in the Academy of Arms.

The dragon seemed enraged and he lunged at her again. As she moved out of the way, Ranewen swung the blade and it hit the hard scales of the dragon, thought it did leave a cut on his left front paw. He roared angrily and Ranewen jumped backwards into the shadows where she felt most comfortable. She tried to keep the beast’s attention on her, that way Sargoth could use that to his advantage and attack from behind, possible injuring the dragon so that she could tame him. Once that happened, she would go to the Temple of Nature and ask Oppel what she could do to tame this beast.

Sargoth took the oppurtunity given by Ranewen's engagement with the shadow dragon to begin summoning a powerful spell. It took most of his concentration to weave the spell using the highest of his abilities, making the normal magic quicker, more powerful, and longer lasting. He would normally have been able to release his strike soon after beginning his chant, but he was concentrating the power and trying to wait for an open moment to strike.

He watched as the dragon swiped and missed at his companion, she happened to be just quick enough to avoid most of the careless strikes. She faded in and out of the shadow, sometimes making him lose her position entirely. He assumed the dragon was having somewhat the same trouble, which explained its intense concentration on Ranewen instead of himself. He knew that a typical, mature dragon would constantly keep track of all opponents to avoid exactly what Sargoth was planning.

Ranewen faded completely into the shadows one more time just far enough away from the dragon for Sargoth to strike. The magic was released and a huge bolt of lightining poured down from the sky to strike the dragon in the spine. Its scales went bright as sparks of electricity danced over its entire body. Smoke rose from its backside and its wings appeared singed. It roared and took a few steps toward Sargoth before stopping and toppling over to its side. It breathed heavily and showed signs of severe exhaustion. Sargoth had never had the oppurtunity to release such power into one spell and it had apparently paid off this time.

He stood his ground and watched the steady breathing of the beast. It was steady, the shadow dragon would not die. Sargoth was fortunate that it was only a young dragon instead of an ancient; his magic would have been entirely useless on a fully developed fire-lizard. The guardian was also exhausted from the spell; it had taken a lot out of him. He was glad that the battle was over, at least for now.

"Ranewen?" Sargoth asked broadly to the shadows.

Hearing her name, she stepped out of the shadows, becoming visible once again. She looked down at the exhausted beast and smirked. Then, she looked up at Sargoth. “I’m all right. Thank you for helping me.” She smiled for the first time in a long time. “Do you think he’ll be able to walk? Like, if I tie a rope around his neck, he’ll be too exhausted to resist, yet strong enough to walk?” she asked.

She walked towards the dragon’s face and knelt down by it. She looked into Renor’s eyes and smiled. “Xun naut eszak, tagnik'zur. Usstan uil naut ghil ulu jivviim dos felah.” (Do not worry, dragon. I am not here to harm you further.) She nodded her head and placed a hand on the side of its face. His eyes glanced up at her.

“Ka dos doer xuil ussa, dos orn inbau alur. Usstan iglata.” (If you come with me, you will get better. I promise.) She stood, but the dragon seemed not to move. He was probably considering her words, if he happened to understand what she was saying.

Sargoth had been staring directly at an empty plot of darkened ground when Ranewen appeared out of thin air. He could not tell since she moved quickly, but he thought he saw her form become visible in direct relation to the shadow line on the ground. He was amazed at the degree of stealth the woman possessed, he had never seen anything quite like it. He pondered this for a moment until her words brought him back in focus. He considered the dragon on the ground as she whispered a strange language into the lizard's ear.

"He was probably just numbed by the electricity. He should be able to walk within a few minutes, judging by the strength he showed in combat. As much as I would like to see a rope capable of holding a dragon, I believe it would be unwise to move him a single inch until we are certain he has chosen to follow. I hope what you have whispered to him helps us figure that out," Sargoth replied, using what logic he could put together at that moment.

As if he was offering a sign of truce, Sargoth allowed his stone skin spell to tumble away from him in tiny pebbles, allowing them to collect in a pile around his feet before dissapearing in a gray cloud of smoke. Dragons were very intelligent, and their heritage gave them certain respect of beings showing more power than themself. Sargoth hoped the dragon was old enough to understand this fact and submit.

You promise?
“Usstan iglata,” she repeated as she stood up. “ Phuul dos aluin ulu flohlu udossa lueth doer ulu natha alur delmah? Xor orn'la dos y'sik zexen'uma ghil lueth ori'gato slaggiss doer lueth plynn dosst karliik tir dosst plica?” She gave him two choices. For a moment, he seemed to consider both.
I will come with both of you without struggle and I will not be a threat, so long as you keep your promise and bring me to a better home. I do not wish to stay here and let they slayers take my head off my neck as a trophy.

Ranewen turned her gaze towards Sargoth as she finally took in what he had said. “He says he will follow us. He will be our friend, not a foe.” She nodded her head and moved away fro mthe dragon a couple of steps to let him have room to get up. He struggled to his feet after the numbness wore off of him. He examined each of them closely before he finally understood that they would not hurt him if he did not harm them.

Ranewen let her gaze go over towards Sargoth once again to see if he approved of what she had done and what the dragon had said. If he didn’t like it, she would let him go. Either way, she would. But they probably wouldn’t be as close as friends if he didn’t trust this evil-natured dragon. She wouldn’t blame him, but the dragon promised not to harm them. What more proof did she need?

"Please translate in case he cannot understand me," Sargoth began after considering Ranewen's words.

Once again, Sargoth had been torn between thoughts regarding the shadow dragon. His studies of dragons had told him of a noble and trustworthy race, one that was unshaken in its bond to honesty and duty. He knew that even the most subversive of the grand beasts would be a loyal companion if the dragon actually made a promise. Unlike humans, a dragon's morals were of the highest regard. Sargoth knew this, but he was still dealing with a half-grown dragon, one that might not have learned the values of a promise yet during his life. Sargoth had no idea about this dragon's interactions with others and had no way to reference whether he was trustworthy or not; however, for the sake of trust and hope, he would assume the dragon knew the weight of his promise.

Sargoth then spoke in a manner that would morally trap the dragon if he had developed enough, "Renor, Shadow Dragon of the Dragon Spine Mountains, do you give your word of honor that you have decided to travel with Ranewen, and myself for a short while, without the interest of harming either of us?"

If the dragon gave his word, Sargoth would be contented and the group could travel together in relative peace.

"Renor, Barra Tagnik'zur del lil Dragon Spine Mountains xun dos belbau dosst xan'ss del bel'la nindel dos inbal detholusin ulu z'hin xuil Ranewen izil al izil ussa whol natha bista draeval, xuileb lil isintol del elggin usbyr del udossa?" she siad the words as they directly came from Sargoth's tongue.

I promise to not harm you... Either of you. I swear on my life that I will not harm you if you do not harm me.

Ranewen then nodded her head and repeated what the dragon had told her. Renor looked around in every which way. Which way are we heading? he asked Ranewen.

"The Temple of Nature, to Oppel, God of Nature. Sargoth - I do not tihnk - is going there with us. I believe he wished to return home to the Temple of Magic, correct?" she asked and looked over at him with a curious gaze. "Or where ever you are going."

The dragon seemed to nod his head as he took a few steps. It seemed to Ranewen that the feeling had come back to him, for he was able to walk again. She sighed in relief and placed a hand on the dragon's hide. "Xal Usstan z'har pholor dosst rath?" Ranewen asked curiously. Renor nodded his head and he crouched down and Ranewen hauled herself up onto his back, right before his neck was. She looked down at Sargoth. "Do you wish for me to summon an Elemental to carry you so you do not have to walk?" she asked, willing to do it.

"As I still have somewhere to go be, I cannot accept your kind offer to return me from where I began. While I have been side tracked to aid you in your time of need, it still does not diminish my urge to return to my own path," Sargoth explained, though he did not bother asking how she knew he was near the Temple of Magic when he had left.

He watched the dragon, apparently honest in his agreement that he no longer wished to attack, get back up onto his feet. Sargoth was glad that he did not injure the dragon too badly, since that was not his goal, but he still noticed a slight limp. Out of kindness, almost as a repayment for the damage he had caused, Sargoth asked, "Renor, would you wish to be healed of some of your more grevious wounds before I continue on my journey?"

Sargoth assumed that his words would be translated by Ranewen if she deemed it worthy of repeating. She might not even bother if she had already planned on curing the burn injuries on Renor's wings and back. Sargoth stared at the dragon, taking in the sight. He was still wild and Sargoth had never been able to study a wild dragon without being considered either an intruder or food. They really were amazing creatures, especially the ancients. Sargoth had never taken too much stock in the endurance of his own rock form since he learned that dragon scales grew to be as hard as mithril.

He recalled how easily Taegris shattered under the might of the dragon's claws, and judging by the interactions between Ranewen and the beast, he knew she was gaining a powerful ally. He was happy to be on good terms with the both of them, and inwardly was thankful, but he only displayed a patient face awaiting a response to his healing proposal.

She nodded her head, understanding that he needed to go elsewhere. She looked down at the dragon beneath her as Sargoth proposed an offer of healing the beast. Tell him... I said that would be kind. It would be nice not to have a limp the whole way to... wherever it is we are going.

"He says that would be kind of you." She hopped off of Renor's back and he looked at her for a moment. All of a sudden, there was a blinding flash, and when Ranewen's vision returned to normal. She noticed that the dragon was gone; in its place was a human, no older than seventeen.

Where the wounds had hurt the dragon, were bruises and scratches and the such. Especially on his arm where Ranewen had sliced him - or at least tried to. It wasn't a cut, though. Only a simple bruise, probably form the impact of her sword. He then nodded his head to show that he was ready to be healed.

"It is very kind of you to do this for me," he spoke in a similar voice that rang inside Ranewen's head from when she had heard his voice telepathically. Ranewen smiled and looked over at Sargoth. She then whistled for her nightmate, Maral, and soon enough, the mare was right by Ranewen's side. She stroked her muzzle and hopped up onto the horse's back, waiting for them to finish. She would let Renor ride on the horse with her if he so wished.

"In my human form - for further notice - please call my Ryu. That way, not many people will be afraid of me, for being who I really am." He flashed both of them a smile, which seemed stuck in Ranewen's head. What had she gotten herself into? She just captured a dragon who could change into a humanoid that can not only talk telepathically, and he is feared by people! She shuddered, but hid her emotions behind a straight face as she watched Sargoth patiently.