Astalder stabbed his jagged blade into the side of the mountain disguised volcano. Electricity flew around and shocked miscelanious pebbles. He positioned his foot in a small cleft and pushed up. He repeated this process until he was on top of it. The first thing Astalder noticed was that this was no mountian, but a volcano.

He peeked his head over the edge to see what the volcano held. Their was just emptiness and darkness, no lave or magma or anything. He sighed, relieved that he was in no danger what so ever, yet. He sat down on the edge of the volcano's steep slope. He wiped the moist sweat of his forehead and let his feet dangle of the edge. He peered down at all of Imythess. It was a wonderful sight. He saw the large city of Tara's, the Coast, Kellen, everything! He let his breathe out. It came out in a foggy wisp.

On top the mountain was very cold, but it didn't bother Astalder. He enjoyed the cold, and the warm, and the rain, snow, hail. Anykind of weather was very appealing to Astalder. It just took a look from a different perspective to respect such marvels. Astalder sheathed his white glowing blade and looked down at a hawk's nest. It withheld 3 large eggs, and the mother keeping a watchful eye on her siblings. This represented something to Astalder as his gaze shifted over to the Land of Imythess. It represented the Godess of Night, Laoura, watching over the people of Imythess. He smiled to himself as a great repect for her came over him.

Kahlua prowled around the woods at the foot of the volcanoe in tiger form. This was the biggest thing that she could turn into so far and it was by a long while, her favorite. She had been bored for the longest time and busied herself by shifting into many animals. By the time she finnished, she was so tired that she had to take a nap. Now that she had regained her energy and woken up, there was nothing to be done. She looked up and saw Astaldar, her eyes glinted. She said to herself -ah, a person, maybe I could busy myself and find something to do with him- She changed into a snowy owl, for she knew that it would be cold up top there.

With great flaps of her snowy white wings, she was up in the air and flying upwards towards the man. She hooted a greeting, knowing that he would become confused as to why an owl was out this early and to why it was heading towards him. She would not injure him, for it was not her style, she would just play around with his head a bit. She arrived and flew around his head a bit, then flew behind a rock, hidden from him, and changed into an arctic fox. She trotted out with a fox grin on her face and sat down, waiting for his reaction.

Astalder's daydreaming was interupted as a gracefull snow owl swooped up from the bottom of the volcano. He laughed as the owl flew about his head. He gave up trying to chase it with his eyes when he got dizzy. He watched the owl go behind a rock and decided that it probably went their for a purpose. He never moved from his spot and looked down over at the Shore. Quite a time he had their before... Quite a time indeed...

A white wolf then appeared, walking around the large stone. Astalder quirked his eyebrow and got up. He went to check behind the rock ot see if the owl was attacked. Their was no feathers or blood or miscelanious footprints. He smiled as he realized what it was. Shapeshifters... Astalder thought to himself.

He chuckled and thought he'd humor the shape shifting wolf.

"Where in the world did you come from?" Astalder asked, a honest confused look on his face. "Their was just an owl..." Astalder cheacked back behind the rock. "Ah forget it, I must be seeing things," Astalder said sitting back down on the edge of the volcano.

The wolf showed a mischevious grin as she noticed his confusion. She loved playing this game. The white wolf's tail swayed slowly in the small wind as her eyes twinkled again, a new idea forming in her head. She trotted back behind the rock and changed into a medium-sized polar bear. She lumbered back out and roared non-threateningly, at Astaldar while standing up on only two feet. Kahlua smiled to herself, this game was going to be fun but she would like to talk with him when he finally figured her out. She rarely showed her true human form, but with no one else around, she figured it couldn't hurt to socialized a bit. As she came back down to the ground, she shook her shaggy, snow white fur off and opened her mouth, panting faintly in the cold air.

"You know you remind me of a snow wolf I once met. Except you don't the eyes. She was quite intelligent too. She'd always seem to find me and-" Astalder stopped when he noticed that the wolf was gone, and instead their stood a polar bear. Astalder quirked an eyebrow. "I swear their was a wolf just here. It's as if he just disappeared." Astalder then smiled looking over the volcano. "Or changed... Shapeshifters seem to like to play with the minds of people who can't change forms. Very cute though, very entertaining. If you'd like you can change into a form that speaks English and we can conversate, or we could play "Name that mammal"," Astalder said jokingly. He knew he probably ruined her fun but he found the chances of a polar bear being atop a volcano impossible, it was just pushing it.

Kahlua laughed then smiled, she knew that the polar bear idea was somewhat outrageous. In a way, she wanted the man to figure her out. The bear once again rose on its hind legs and a small see through tornado picked it up and as it was set down again, it was Kahlua. The tornado thing only happened when Kahlua changed into a large animal. As she was set down, she smiled slyly and said "did you have fun kind sir" and raised an eyebrow curiously as she walked towards him. She walked up to him and sat down on a rock. Her ice blue eyes still lay on him waiting for a reply. She placed her pale hands on her knees as she waited. She was used to this slightly cold climate. She had lived in one almost her whole life. It showed for she didn't even have goosebumps up top here.

Astalder smiled and moved his soft gaze towards the now human woman.

"Quite. That was fun. You actually had me going for a second. If I hadn't already met a shapeshifter before, I'd actually be confused," he said with a small laugh. "My name is Astalder, and it is a pleasure to meet," Astalder said bowing and kissing the woman's hand. Astalder never really understood why he always did this. It had become a habit now. Sometimes he wouldn't even know that he had done it. "What might your name be?" Astalder felt a soft, barely noticable, rumble under him. He stood up and walked over to the hole of the volcano. He looked down but didn't see anything change. He shrugged and sat back down with the woman.

Kahlua smiled slightly and said "ah, but that is what I live for" and got up still smiling but this time slyly. She walked around the man in a circle and taunted heartily, "why does it matter to you what my name is?" Her arms hung at her side as her dark brown hair lay down flat on her back. Her ice blue eyes traveled over the mans face, noting his every feature.

((sorry for short post, my mom's making me get off))

Astalder frowned a bit. A small gust picked up as this happened. It seemed ever since he became a Storm Kindler that his emotions had some control over the weather.

"Well if I ever see you again, I could say 'Hello so and so' instead of 'Hello shapeshifter!'," Astalder said, his frown turning back to a smile. The gust stopped once this happened. "Plus I had told you my name. Do you also live for a lack of manners?" Astalder said.

Astalder pushed back some of his golden hair, and shifted Arauka a bit as we awaited the response of the mysterious woman.

Just as that happened, Alstader felt something eminating from the mountain. As if something was awakening. But was this sensation playing tricks on him, or was it? Little did he realise that the awakening of a dangerous new dragon was afoot. But it was not time yet for anyone to discover...

Kahlua smiled, still not bothered by what he said. She said "Some consider me rude, others just call me secretive. Either way, you argue a fair point. Since you have given me your name, I shall indeed give you mine. I am Kahlua."

She grinned and changed into small pheonix, the only magical creature her dad was able to teach her to turn into. One day she hoped to be able to do bigger and more magical creatures, but for now she had to make do with what she had learned from her dad. She flew down into the volcanoe, going only as deep as she had to to see the lava. She did not have to go far though, it was rising. Slowly but surely, it was rising. She flew back up upon coming out, she changed back into her elven form. She said exasperatedly, "the lava's rising. I will have no trouble with it, but you might want a fair headsart." She smiled and brushed back some straggling strands of hair.