She sprinted fowards into the forest, easily manuvering through the brush. Occasionally she glanced up to see Kerrian through the tree tops
The queen and her dragon (open)
Kerrian hovered just above the tree line, keeping an eye on her the entire time.
She smiled mischeif and shifted behind a tree, hiding from Kerrian. She tried to calm her rapid breathing so he couldn't hear
Kerrian stopped, taking a lot of strength to stay in the air as he searched for her.
She glanced up, not seeing Kerrian. She crouched low and followed a line of bushes to another tree. Straightening she glanced up again only seeing his wing
Then, a burst of soft flame crossed through the trees. When it landed on Val, it stuck to her, a warm, tingling sensation erupting off the flame, “Come out majesty,” Kerrian’s voice rumbled through the greenery, “I have found you.”
She glanced around her as herself and the forest around her were illuminated in blue fire. She made her way out of the forest and faced Kerrian "first off, that's cheating. Secondly you burn the forest, you fix it." She said, not even trying to douse the Flames that crawled up her arm. In fact, she quite liked the warmth
Kerrian chuckled, “You never said they were any rules, and the forest isn’t going to burn down, look.” He blue flame started to flicker out around the teees, eventually disappearing from them and Val started to do so a second later.
She nodded "true, but that's because I thought dragons played fair. And thank you for not burning my beloved forest. She watched in facination as the flames lifted off her, turning to blue Ash. " Does your fire not burn at all or can you choose?"
“I can choose. Generally it doesn’t burn, I haven’t had a need for it in recent years.” He replied, blowing a ring of fire and watching it disappear.
Val nodded and looked around "we're a couple miles away from the castle. You can head back if you'd like. I'm going to the nearby village. They haven't been fairing so we'll since the harsh winter we've had. If anyone asks, I'm there." She started towards the path that led to the small village that could be seen from the hill they were on
“Val!” Kerrigan hovered above her, smirking, “Want to see a trick?”
She glanced up and smiled "sure, what's the trick?"
The smirk widened and then there was a burst of bright blue flame. It incased Kerrigan and when it disappeared, a miny dragon was hovering towards Val, small enough to sit on her shoulder. Kerrigan wobbled a little, clearly not having done that in a while and landed on her shoulder, “That’s the trick.”
She held out her arm so he could find balance and settle down "aw now you're miniature. How cute." He scratched his neck and smiled "anymore tricks?"
Kerrian, despite himself, purred a little at the scratching then frowned and better her hand away, “Yes I have more tricks, those are for another time.”
She chuckled and pulled her hand away. "I look fowards to seeing them some time." She smiled at a few passer bys "now behave. People here won't take to kindly to your antics."
Kerrian huffed, not liking that too much, as he curled up by her neck, "Fine…"
"thank you." They soon reached the village, Val nodded to the village people and asked them some questions about crops and how food was being distributed. Many were saying everything was getting much better, some even saying that they had more crops than needed and that they were giving to those who hadn't had such luck yet. Val and Kerrian reaches a large building "now I must ask, how good are you with kids?"
Kerrian shifted a little in discomfort, "I don't like them but I'm pretty good with them… why?"
"Just wondering," as she stood in the lobby of an orphanage. 5 -8 kids came running down the stairs and ran towards her. They stopped short when they saw the dragon perched on Val's shoulder. "Come now, don't be shy. He won't bite." The kids nodded and hugged Val, glancing up at the dragon in curiosity
Kerrian fluttered his wings and flew down to the floor. He made a purring, bird like noise and walked around the children's feet much like a cat.
The kids giggled and crouched down to study and play with Kerrian. Val watched with happiness, she walked over to where a woman was carrying a baby and gently took it from her, whispering sweet words to the child
Kerrian flew around the children, trying not to knock anything over as he did so.
Val shifted to her wolf form and held the baby on her paws as she glanced around. Some of the kids snuggled up to her and climbed around "Val, does the dragon talk?"
Kerrian dropped down beside Val, looking over at her as if asking if he should talk or not. Her choice.
She shrugged and nodded, letting out a small bark. She turned her attention back to the baby on her paws who was reaching up to her. She bent down and gently nudged her with her snoot.
Kerrian set back on his legs, tail wrapping round his front, "Hello."
The kids stared in surprise then laughed. They each introduced themselves to him and started dancing around, happy for their time of joy
Kerrian watched with a smile, and he could feel Drake smiling, too though the human was nearly asleep.