paradisalogs | Luster, let me go

Who: Firethroat
What: Waking up in Paradisa
When: Morning of January 17
Where: The roof or outside the castle
Rating: G-PG? Possible risk of violence? We'll see.

A.

Curled up on the castle roof is a sleeping dragon. She barely fits her body is so large, even with her wings folded and tail tucked nearby. The heat from her body has caused the nearby snow to melt into puddles. Some of the water drips over the edge, running over wall and window. Not too far away, a journal with the name “Firethroat” lays on the edge of a puddle, unnoticed.

The dragon shifts in her sleep, causing her tail to fall over the roof’s ledge. Firethroat's eyes flicker, then immediately snap open in concern. This is not her cave. Where is she, and how did she get here? Shifting a little, she looks at her front claws. Gripped within them is a golden casket, not too large to be picked up by a man but not small either. The dragon sighs in relief. At least her heart has not been stolen. However, the casket also creates another risk in this strange land. Whoever was here might want it for their own purposes. She has not forgotten the Hunter and his recent attempt to bend her to his will.

Enraged at the memory and her current situation, Firethroat lets out a blast of fire towards the sky. Then she stops, suddenly worried that she might have drawn more attention to her presence. Glancing back at the casket, she drags it underneath her, hidden from sight. With that, the dragon settles back down onto the roof, thinking deeply. While there did not seem to be any immediate danger, she was still at a disadvantage on unfamiliar territory. She would have to gather her wits and any information she could find in order to get through this.

B.

Once she is alone again, Firethroat flies off to the forest to conceal her heart's casket. Although she wants to keep it within her sight, that would mean letting people see it, people who might try to steal it from her later. The risk was too great. However, she also needed to be able to move freely to be able to explore properly. Hiding it was her best choice for now.

With the chest safely hidden, she begins investigating this new place. The dragon flies over the forest and town, reaching the castle once again. She is most interested in the castle, having not seen one in many hundreds of years. Landing next to it, she looks over the building curiously, gently tapping at stone and peering into the glassy windows. Strange, how the castle seems to call to her. Perhaps it is because of its beauty. She does appreciate beauty after all.

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Oh? Now that is interesting. She looks down at him curiously.

"Is that so? Pray tell, what are you then?"

Elves had an air that was not the same as the one carried by humans; they were different, and not only because of the ears. It was strange, being mistaken for one. It just wasn't done, not ever. But here was a question he was not entirely sure how to answer - to act as though the answer was obvious would be dangerous, to refuse to answer would be dangerous, to answer directly would be dangerous. And it was difficult, in a situation like this, where suddenly it seemed the rules were dissolving and there was no right answer, not to let terror overwhelm him again.

Terror would do nothing. Terror was not useful.

"I am a Wood-elf." That told enough without revealing a great deal about him in particular, it left some of the mystery, it specified the kind instead of merely naming 'elf', it both assumed and did not assume, and hopefully as an answer it would work.

"A Wood-elf, you say."

Firethroat was still suspicious but also quite curious. After so many thousands of years, it was rare that she came across a species that she had not heard or seen before.

"And what exactly is a Wood-elf? Are you native to these lands, or are you, like myself, from some other world?"

Some new arrival? The Castle had brought people here, it seemed unlikely that it should wish them dead, whatever the presence of a dragon would logically suggest. But it was bizarre that it did not know what he was. And he did not know how to do otherwise than answer directly - and this, at least, would hopefully do no harm.

"An elf who makes its home in the forest. I, and many others, have found themselves in a world not their own."

"Being named after the wood, I had gathered you would live in the forest. Yet that does not explain what an elf is."

Without losing sight of her "guest", the dragon settles onto the roof, curling up and putting her legs under her like a great cat. This does not lessen her intimidating size much though, given how large her body is. Indeed, she takes up most of the roof, with only the space near Thranduil empty.

"So this is a common fate among us. And how, pray tell, have you found yourself here? Do elves share with dragons the skill of traveling between worlds?"

It makes him start trembling again, actually the subtle reminder of how large she is even at her smallest. At the reminder that he has nowhere to run. Not much of the roof is left empty, and he does not trust to his reflexes or the speed of gravity to outmatch her. He could try to kill her, but that was so unlikely to succeed, especially when he did not know her weak spot.

But her questions don't make sense. How to explain elves to a dragon? And moreover how to explain in such a way that would not make her want to kill him, if truly she did not know?

"We are those who walked first in darkness and starlight before the morning of the world. We are the people of the Earth, and it is first ours, though others came later.

"All I know here are those from other worlds, but none came by any choice of theirs."

How to explain it while minimizing the chance of death? By being honest, or at least not overly dishonest. For she is truly curious, and a curious dragon is much safer while her knowledge is being properly satiated.

"Interesting. You say that the Earth was first your own. And yet I have not seen the like of elves or any like you until the dawn of Men, and they arrived much later in the Earth's lifespan."

"So we have been brought here by outside forces then." That explained quite a bit, actually. Like how she managed to travel between worlds without her knowledge or intent.

But, in his world, dragons were creatures of Morgoth, and elves decidedly were not. Dragons had been created wicked, and that did not change. He was starting to shake again - it was difficult to control for long periods. And he did not know to what these questions tended - guessing what she was do was harder when he didn't know what she was doing.

"The world was given first to the elder children of Ilúvatar - Men were not created until long years had passed under the stars." He hadn't been there for that part, personally, but there were elves alive who had.

"It is a mystery."

Firethroat is not a stranger to her "guests" shivering with fear; it was hard to avoid, given her size and reputation. Yet he seemed to be shaking more than most. Could it be the cold? Not wishing her newest novelty to freeze to death, Firethroat breathes out a breath of warm air in Thranduil's direction.

"Interesting. And when then did unicorns come to be, before or after the elves?"

Unfortunately for Firethroat and all her good intentions, a sudden rush of warm air really did not help calm Thranduil down. His eyes squeezed reflexively shut and he shook harder, and hoped dying would not take too long. But it was not the fire, not yet, she was still talking. And it took long moments for him to find voice enough to answer her - even then he had very little to say.

"I have never heard of unicorns."

Oh dear, that hadn't helped at all. Had Firethroat realized sooner that yes, all that shivering was from fear, she would have held off from breathing on him. She lifts her head back again, giving him a more respectful distance to recompose himself.

"Peace, wood elf. A lack of foreknowledge is hardly a slight. Still, a strange world you must hail from, if there are no unicorns."

If he could remain on his feet until the end of the conversation it would be a minor miracle. He tried, but could not keep his voice from shaking now, not after that. He was going to be sick.

"I fear I have no answer for you with regards to if it is nor not."

Firethroat sighs, closing her eyes. It seems unlikely that she will get much out of this one in this state. It would probably be better to start her questioning over with someone else.

Opening her eyes back up, she stands to her feet again.

"I understand. In that case, perhaps it is time to return to your woods. I can carry you back if you wish."

Or he can walk there, though really Firethroat is questioning if he could right now. Elves seem to be fragile creatures.

Luster, let me go

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