Closed w/ azraiel

[kingofeli]

There was a great rumble across the plains as a great female Guardian landed in them, shaking her head as she did. Her body was covered in golden filigree armor, which shone brightly in the sun as she lifted her head, letting a bellow tear from her throat as she tilted her head back, announcing her arrival. Two female Mirrors landed beside her in short succession, and Lansa looked down at them, violet eyes slightly narrowed.

"Come on, Lansa," the larger grey female, Tzeitel, said to her, flattening her crests irritably. "We're supposed to be looking for allies, not scaring off everything within our reach."

"Sorry," yawned the female Guardian, stretching out lazily. Vera, the smaller female Mirror, dodged to the side to avoid her wings, which she had extended as she stretched. "Just something I do. 'sides, it's not like the dragons around here have never seen a Guardian before."

"Perhaps they haven't." Vera spoke this time, reaching up with one of her feet to scratch behind her crest. "Still, Sis is right. We don't wanna scare anybody." Snorting, Lansa tossed her head, then stood and started to walk forward.

"Well, let's go then. We won't find anyone by sitting around here."

[azraiel]

The trees tipped with the wind, leaves rustling and swirling.  Soko and Maliel lifted their heads from the bushes, and Soko tucked the herbs he'd been gathering into his pack.  

"Did you feel that?"

"Yes," Maliel replied in her light, airy high-pitched tone.  Just as she finished speaking, a loud, low roar rose from the relative quiet.  The birds in the trees silenced themselves, and the roar rose in volume, then faded.  Maliel looked back to Soko with mild alarm across her features.  "That didn't sound familiar."

"Should we go get someone-" Soko began, but was cut off as a loud thud pulled his attention back to their sides.  

Malachite dropped from the topiary, placing her thickly clawed hands on her clanmates' backs.  "Hello, little man," she directed toward Soko, "Hello, fire deer.  It appears our territory has a visitor.  You guys think a warrior, the messenger, and an explorer make a good welcoming committee?"

Soko sighed, and Maliel remained tense as she had become when Malachite arrived.  The guardian has little experience with the ridgeback, much less than Soko had with her.  

"Do we have a choice?"  He asked, and Malachite smiled warmly; never a good thing.  She responded to his question by dropping to all fours, inhaling deeply, and letting out a screech-like roar that carried through the forest, well loud enough to reach their visitors.  

"Come on, you next," she said, after fading out and inhaling again.

Maliel just narrowed her eyes, so Soko was left.  He slowly lowered his hands to the ground, and began a low, flat moan of a roar, slightly quieter than Malachites, a point which she noticed and planned to complain to him about at a later time.  Maliel then took her turn to roar back, a ripping, louder-than-expected noise from the soft-spoken dragon.

"Now that they know we're here, let's go see what they want," Malachite said, with a smirk, stepping off in the direction they'd heard the roar, toward the wall and the road.  Soko and Maliel, albeit slightly reluctantly, followed behind, quiet behind the giant green dragon as she all but crashed through the forest to greet their guests.

[kingofeli]

A short tremor of fear shook Vera's body as she heard the responding roars. Three. So they were equally matched...maybe. It depended on the breeds and sizes of the other dragons, and their sizes, and if they were hostile or not...

Caught up in her thoughts, Vera barely noticed that Lansa was speaking to her before the huge Guardian gave her a rather rough shove.

"Hey!" Vera protested, narrowing her eyes at her larger friend. Lansa simply flicked her tail in response to that, then motioned with her head towards the trees at the other end of the field.

"They're coming from that way. We'd better get ready." With alarm, Vera noticed that Lansa was planting her feet in a defensive stance, lowering her head and flaring her nostrils. Beside her, Tzeitel bristled, her crests snapping to attention and filling with blood as she did.

"Hey, hey, wait! What if they're not hostile? We're not here to fight, come on!" Vera jumped in front of the other two, her own crests raising from where they'd been flattened against her neck. "What would your father say if he knew you were being so--so snappy?"

A dark light flashed across Lansa's eyes as she replied. "Dad isn't here. He doesn't make the rules here."

"He'd be disappointed, wouldn't he?" Lansa growled in response, but Vera could tell that she was taking her words into consideration as she sat back on her haunches.

"Alright, fine. We'll wait here. No fighting, unless they strike first, of course."

[azraiel]

Maliel trotted over the ground, feet taking her so quickly she almost trampled the territory's visitors. Malachite and Soko had split, as well, going to her right but still within hearing distance, if she was lucky.

She halted sharply, several meters away from the trio of strangers. She let out a low chuff, and Malachite was at her side almost immediately, Soko not far behind. For a moment, they simply watched the dragons through the trees, listening to their words.

"Hope they aren't looking for a fight," Maliel commented quietly as Malachite stepped out and toward them, drawing their attention.

"You guys lost?" Malachite questioned, wings poised by her shoulders to emphasize her height. Maliel and Soko quickly joined her, hoping to reduce her apparent threat display. Malachite frowned at them, wings dropping and body relaxing.

"Hello," Maliel greeted, tone flat but not hostile. Soko stood behind and between the other two dragons, content to let them do the talking. "Please ignore Malachite's poor behavior. She is not representative of our clan. Are you in need of any assistance, medical attention, or food...?" she asked, getting quickly to the point of showing that they wouldn't be hostile unless provoked. It was a pride of their clan to be welcoming to all outsiders, and to help as best they could; most dragons went to great lengths to maintain their image as a peaceful icon.

[kingofeli]

"We're not lost," Lansa answered, her wings flattening against her back. She lowered her head a bit to appear less threatening, since these dragons didn't seem to be planning an attack. Beside her, Vera and Tzeitel both sat on the ground, tails twitching slowly like cats.

"Our Clan's Patriarch sent us here to look for allies," the Guardian continued to explain. "We're somewhat of a small Clan and we don't have many fighters. Right now, we've got some trouble brewing thanks to a few rogue dragons on our territory and we need help to keep them from killing us all."

"Do you have a leader we can speak to?" Vera asked once Lansa had finished talking. It had been her task to attempt to create negotiations with their potential ally; although Lansa was the leaders' daughter, she wasn't the best at talking things out with other dragons.

[azraiel]

Soko and Malachite seemed visibly surprised to hear that the dragons wanted an alliance, though Maliel was unfazed, as usual. The brown guardian nodded, then.

"We have a council, but no leader. You are free to discuss your plans with us while we take you to them," Maliel said, turning and heading away, indicating the visitors were to follow behind her and her clanmates.

"We don't have many warriors, but those we do have are good," Malachite said, chest puffed out slightly and walking in an almost-prance. Soko sighed at her bragging. "I'm not the head of the group, but I'm second in command," she said. "Jadeite, she's the leader of the battle team. And we have Fog, too. Little thing, and not that strong, but still an asset."

"Where are you coming from?" Soko piped up and asked, albeit quietly, to the members of the other clan.

[kingofeli]

"A council but no leader...hmm," Vera mused as the three dragons started to follow the others. "How many dragons are on your council? And we don't really have any plans outside of an allyship. We have things to offer, if that's what you're interested in?"

Tzeitel and Vera noticed Malachite's prance as she walked, and apparently so did Lansa, they saw as she gave an irritated twitch of her tail. She wasn't one for show-offs, no matter how subtle.

In response to Soko's question, Tzeitel answered. "We come from the Shadowlands, from the Foxfire Brambles. We live in a castle there, not too far from the Forum of the Obscured Crescent."

[azraiel]

"We're mostly interested allies that will grant us a greater range for exploration," Soko said quietly. Maliel nodded.

"We're a rather newly formed clan, and we don't have a wide range for gathering. It would benefit us to make allies in regions with different available foods," Maliel agreed. "We have seven council members currently, but there has been talk of expansion as the clan's population grows." She glanced at Soko out of the corner of her eye, and he scowled.

"Our living situation's not quite so..."

"Obvious," Malachite offered to Maliel's sentence, and Maliel nodded after considering it. By way of explanation, Malachite pointed upward into the trees. Along the trunk of one larger tree, spiraling boards could be seen in the form of a staircase, and the bark of the tree ballooned outward, broken only by a small window, in which a curtain and a potted plant could be seen.

"Most of the clan's buildings are like that," Soko said, studying the underside of the rounded structure, "But we do have some built on the ground."

"The council room is in the trees, though," Malachite added.

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