For almost as long as he could remember, which, well to be honest wasn't that long, he had wandered and hunted. Sometimes he was hunting food, sometimes entertainment, or treasure… though he did have a slightly distorted view of treasure, as most shiny things ended up being called that, regardless of true value. He was sure that he smelled something interesting, and it wasn't just those red flowers. A few scents went through the stone archway it seemed, but he couldn't always pick them up on the other side. He had walked circles around it at least a dozen times trying to figure out why, but eventually decided that he didn't care enough to pursue it further. They probably flew, or got carried away by birds. A loud growl came from his stomach as he thought about birds large enough to carry something away, and absently he took a bite out of a clump of roses. They tasted… Alright for plants, he was about to move on when he noticed that the ones he had removed seemed to regrow before his eyes.

…So of course he ate a few more, the scent was starting to bug him though so after testing this magical flower a few times he decided that maybe he should try to find something less aromatic to eat. When he went to leave though, rather than turning away from the arch and walking away he just stepped through it. When things turned dark, he momentarily thought that maybe he hit his head really hard on the arch, but quickly decided that wasn't it. Usually he just saw wobbly things and felt dizzy when that happened, instead he was seeing all sorts of strange things… Darkness… He blinked a few times, then tilted his head as he began to step through, there was some sort of strange stairway, and a big statue. Normally he could care less about a statue, but today, today was… Well, really no different. Once he deemed it safe he almost immediately seemed to forget the statue existed at all. Things that didn't move, even if they were bigger than you, weren't generally that interesting.

He actually kind of liked the steps, it was fun to see how many he could step over at once… He probably would have kept making a fool out of himself in such a way if something else hadn't appeared to make it worse. The image of other dragons… Young ones..? Even younger than him! His brain hardly processed this information before he shot open his wings and took off flying as fast as he could away from the images and up the stairs. He wasn't afraid of having kids, not in the least, the problem was that he hadn't realized they were images of /his/ possible kids. Instead he thought the images there were some actual hatchlings sitting around here, Which of course meant, there was probably a much BIGGER mother dragon getting ready to maul him.

His panic induced flight was not terribly graceful, but it was impressive how fast something that large could move when it thought its life depended on it… And hopefully magical jade steps didn't scratch or break easily, as there was a good chance he would go tumbling if they went on for too long… Or ended too abruptly, really pretty much anyway you looked at it this was probably going to end in disaster.

Today was an adventure! Like all other days Iva looked out at the realm with her wondrous brown eyes and had creativity spark to life. She got a toy sword and climb off her bed as she ran out of the temple and swung it around. The clergy stepped back from her laughing. "I am going to be mighty like my mama some day." They just agreed, after all she was one of the ladies of the house. They were practically paid to agree with her.

Huffing she put the sword on her belt and ran through the realm jumping and bolting over stumps. Her red curls were dancing in the air whenever she did a tumble or jump. Her laughter was filling the air as she roamed about. The best part? The best part was normally the people who ended up in her mama's realm on accident.

She splashed her way through the salt flats and found her way through the crystals. There was an odd sound as she peeked her head through the archway to the jade stairs. The girl let out an eep as the dragon came barreling through the archway. She jumped up onto one of the many crystals wondering if the dragon would stop in time. The crystals were much stronger than regular ones would ever be.

"Are you okay Mr. Fire Breathing Temple Crasher?" She pulled out the wooden sword and tapped on his scales from above. Climbing high up onto the crystals she peeked down at him. "You really shouldn't run on stairs mama says you could get hurt. Didn't your mama ever teach you not to run on stairs or with sharp objects? You could breath something or poke your eye out." She poked again with the wooden sword.

"Besides there is nothing to run from. It is perfectly safe here because I am here!" Iva beat her chest and coughed hard as she hit herself a bit too hard. "Why are you here Mr. Fire Breathing Temple Crasher? You got mighty big eyes. Mighty big teeth I bet too." She went to poke at his mouth. "Do you try to eat little girls because I'll have you know I'm in need of fancy new armor if you try to eat me." She poked him with the wooden sword again. "You look big enough to make me armor if you are naughty." She was teasing him and one could tell by the sound of her voice. "What do you say Mr. Fire Breathing Temple Crasher?"

He didn't have much time to process what was coming up ahead of him, especially as he mistakenly took a moment to look back behind himself to see if he was being chased, his flight dipped slightly and his wings were unable to adjust to pick him back up again. There was some flailing of limbs as he tried to switch over to running again, but his legs weren't fast enough at this point and he ended up falling on his face… With the amount of speed, and weight he had he slid forward across the strange ground then collided with a crystal with a loud 'THUNK'.. Limbs limply flopping down for a moment as he lifted his head and saw two little girls that appeared to be swirling about somewhat. This was much more like what he had expected if he had hit his head, and the vague ache that now afflicted his thick skull told him he had indeed collided with something that was harder than his head and horn.

"…I don't breath fire." He responded after several of her sentences seemed to pass through his skull. With a shake of his head he cleared his vision again and leaned in a little closer to the small human…Thing… It didn't smell like a regular human. "My mom didn't really teach me anything." He said with a few more blinks as he started to catch up with what she was saying. When she tried to poke at his mouth he somewhat obligingly bared his very large, white, and pointy teeth. It wasn't a snarl, but might have looked kind of like it, after she seemed content with examining his teeth his lips sealed over them again. "I also have big claws, and a big horn, and a big stomach… I think people say most of me is big." He sniffed at her a few times, his muzzle coming right up to her, the sniffing was followed by an attempted lick, which if not avoided would likely slime the entire front of the little girl. She was lucky that for once his breath smelled like roses, usually it was either mostly scent-less or resembled what he last ate… Although the latter was technically true today. "I've eaten little girls before, but most of them were rabbits… Or deer." Of course at this point his stomach growled very loudly, the gurgling rumbling noise responding to this talk of food.

There was a definite pause as something seemed to either fall into, or out of place in his mind. "What's a temple? did I squish it?" He absently checked under a foot or two as he got into a more proper lying down position rather than just remaining haphazardly crashed.

The child winced as he ran into the crystal. She watched him shake it off only to tell her that he in fact did not breath fire. Putting her hands on her hips she shook her head. "I think you hit your head hard! You look like a Mr. Fire Breathing Temple Crasher." When she heard his mother did not teach him anything she removed her hands from her hips and dramatically flailed. "Your mother has to be the worst mother ever I AM SO SORRY."

Inspecting his teeth as he 'snarled' she looked unimpressed. "That all you have? I have a mommy that smites people for a living." She let out a happy squeal as he sniffed her and she hugged onto his snout. She didn't mind getting dirty as she let out more squeals, obviously overjoyed by the dragon. "Those aren't little girls." She giggled and rubbed his belly, well as close as she could get from where she was.

"There, there." She thought for a moment. "You don't know where you are?" She tilted her head. "Ok Mr. Lost Scaley Dude this way!" She took a look at the tightly knitted crystals. "Momma he's too FAT to get through."

"Fat is not a nice word," the voice boomed as a vine came down and smacked the back of Iva's head.

Iva whined as her hands came up and shielded the back of her head. "Fine he is large and we can't get through." The crystals receded into the walls for now and Iva smiled up at Thalron. "I'm Iva. Come on we should get out of the cave so Momma can put the crystals back up." She led him out into the salt field and splashed about in the abundant water. "What is your name? We can get you food at the temple."

It was kind of strange to meet such an energetic young thing that was so fearless, it had happened before but usually they were dragged away by older things. He rubbed his head after she mentioned he might have hit his head too hard, he was pretty sure he hadn't but it was sometimes hard to tell… "I never really met her." he replied nonchalantly, by the time he had hatched his parents had taken off, which was not terribly uncommon for his species. Some stayed around the area to protect their young, or even kept them in their own lairs, but it depended on the individuals. He was probably lucky they stayed around long enough to ensure he'd hatch.

He actually seemed somewhat happy when she hugged his muzzle, and playfully nibbled at her shirt before she let go. He wondered what exactly a person that smites people did, since people often used that word to mean a variety of things… Usually harmful things, but it was still a little confusing to him. "I can smite things, and rabbits are little, and many of them are girls!" He defended his position on that matter playfully, though it was obvious he didn't particularly care whether they were really considered little girls. The pat to his belly, or attempted pat to his belly resulted in a resounding belch, which expelled a couple wet rose petals that splatted on some of the crystals…

"I know I'm uh, here..? And I came from over that way," he motioned back to where he came from "So I'm not lost!" He jumped slightly when that voice came out of nowhere, and looked pretty much everywhere to try and pinpoint where it came from. Finding nothing though he just puffed up a bit and followed Iva more closely, eyeing the vines with suspicion. "I'm Thalron… Is your mom a plant?" Again, at the mention of food a low growl came from his stomach, as if it was responding directly to the offer. 

In the salt flats he sort of tip-toed at first to avoid standing in the water… But soon gave up on that, and then stomped a few times, sending water flying. There was more room here too, and his wings spread out again stretching to their full and somewhat impressive lengths at either side of his body. He had been contemplating proving that he didn't breath water, but luckily some part of his brain had informed him that breathing lightning while you and your friend were standing in water might end poorly… So instead he just sort of goofed off and splashed a bit, before starting to eat some of the salt. Depending on how astutely he was being observed, it might seem like he was somewhat copying how Iva was acting.

Iva put her hands to her mouth in a rather exaggerated motion but she hugged herself to him. "Well my momma will be your momma! She is everyone's momma." It was a difficult thing for such a young child to understand but she had been raised around this for all her life. Even in her mother's womb she had attended god meetings in the fabled conclave. 

Letting the lightest of squeals out as he nipped at her shirt Iva found herself with a new friend. "Not the way gods do! I am going to learn to use all kinds of magic some day and I want to rank myself up with the best of the best! Maybe one day I'll stand in an arena in front of my momma and we will fight. I will lose but I will learn. Gods are super strong!" She smiled up at him as her mother spoke.

"No silly Thalron my mom isn't a plant! She is a person! Who can just talk to us through plants." She walked with him and she giggled at him as he copied her. "I wouldn't eat that. Salt is all nasty by itself. I'm sure my momma will have a huge feast for us in your honor!" It seemed like the girl was blessed as they walked through, rather jumped through, the salt flats into the fields of wheat. She looked back at Thalron and smiled.

"My momma made all of this. Isn't she amazing!" She ran back to him and hugged his leg. "She is right up those steps and through the Mother's Footpath!" She giggled and ran through the tall wheat. Thalron would have a hard time seeing someone as short as she was. Though her movement could be seen zigzagging through the wheat.

Finally she jumped up onto the mossy steps. "Come on, I know where the real food is! It's yummy too!" She jumped up and down.

He wasn't sure how someone else could be his mother, or everyone's mother… Maybe it was a magic thing, he knew you could do pretty much anything with magic he just didn't know any of it. He was completely oblivious to the fact that someone could be adopted, or be family without being directly related via other means, but probably wouldn't have cared one way or the other if he did find out. "When you learn to do magic, you should show me! Then we could both do magic." He rumbled a bit, it sounded almost like a purr but not quite. He had found out early on that his natural 'purr' was almost exactly what other people considered to be a growl, so he had been attempting to copy the sound that cats made. People liked cats, so if he copied them a bit they might like him better.

…Well, at least now he knew gods were probably not some kind of plant, and they were a person, but person was a rather loose definition here so that didn't say much. People had even called him a person! But obviously, he was a dragon. "My favourite food is… Camel. What's yours?" He spat out the salt when she said not to eat that, though he didn't have a problem eating it on its own. Maybe it was just personal preference, though also he didn't have a ton of access to salt where he was prior. A lot of the more animistic creatures tended to have less of a problem with just eating salt straight.

When they entered the fields of wheat he shook the salty water from his hands and feet, then shook off. "She must like wheat…" He paused and peered down at her when she hugged his leg, grinning a little bit he nosed at her head then. When she ran off he could see the movement, but not the person in the wheat. It was stirring up his predatory instincts to pounce… His ears had definitely perked up as he watched for a moment, but then managed to distract himself with another idea. Instead of just following her he ran ahead at full speed and barreled past her. Where he stepped was obvious by the crushed and displaced wheat as he bounded up to the steps then skidded to a halt and turned to puff up proudly.

"If I had my saddle I could carry you a lot faster… But I ate it." The last part he admitted with a little embarrassment, glancing away and up the stairs as he let her go first. one of the good things about her going first up the stairs was that he didn't have to look down so far to see her well… And also he could occasionally pretend to nip at her to get her to climb faster. He knew better than to actually do so though, his teeth actually closing several inches behind her instead. It wasn't long before he found out that people tended to bleed, and scream or such when he accidentally nipped off things like fingers… Or sections of arms. He was more careful now, though eventually might grow into his strength, and learn to be more careful.

Iva squealed a bit more as she got excited. Her brown eyes shimmered brightly. “We could learn together! I bet momma would have an idea about how we could! We could both blow fire or something!” That would be super awesome and it put more skip to her walk.

Thinking about her favorite food she laughed. “Camels are big but I heard all dragons eat like that! Normally Momma’s fruit! The garden has some of the best fruit in all of Revaliir!” She blushed a bit as she realized something. “Or so I hear. Momma doesn’t let me leave the temple too often because of bad people.”

Hugging to his leg she stared out to the wheat and shook her head. “This is all for the people of Revaliir. If there is ever a food shortage they can come here and get help. It’s also fun to play in!” She took off from him and giggled as she watched him follow her. Finally he ran past her and it seemed like they were forever playing a game of tag as they made it to the long bridge of Angela’s temple.

“We’re home!” She jumped up and down. “Don’t worry about your saddle I’m sure we can get you a new one!” She giggled more as she hugged his leg and bounded across the long bridge. Getting to the large doors she looked at Thalron and smiled. “Don’t worry about not fitting THE INSIDE IS HUGE!”

The doors opened up and the help made way for the two as she took him into the throne room. She took food from the trees as she looked over at the empty woven throne. “Momma must be out.” She filled a large basket and brought it over for Thalron.

“No, just watching.” Her mother melded out of the building and smiled up at the dragon. “Thank you for playing with my Iva. You must be starving after keeping up with her.”

He wondered if all other dragons breathed fire, and if he was just some sort of fluke… Hmm… He didn't really care that much actually, it tended to surprise people more when a bolt of lightning flew out instead of fire, which worked in his favor more often than not. It could set stuff on fire too, if needed. It seemed like all of these areas were terrible for showing it off though, a thin layer of water increase the chances of electrocuting Iva by accident, and if he did it in the field it might catch on fire, which also was not too good. "Maybe if you learn magic you can come outside more often, and find new favorites… It'd also help you against bad people! I heard some people can actually fly with magic and stuff too." He spoke as they goofed off together, generally when he was passing her or when they were nearer to each other. He wondered why people would want all this wheat though, it didn't taste very good… Maybe they made something else with it that was better tasting than the wheat itself, it did smell similar to some of the bits in bread and such.

When they reached the bridge he stopped for a moment, then peered over the edge of it. It was a good thing he was not scared in the slightest of heights or such, though the water was somewhat worrying. He wasn't the best swimmer, but he didn't foresee going in it at any point. When he turned his attention back to the bridge and temple at the other end he was pretty impressed with the building, it was huge! He liked big buildings, it meant he hit his head less on the ceiling, and generally caused less accidental renovations. "Okay! Umm… Why is it so big, do you usually have a lot of people?" He asked as he followed behind her across the bridge, easily keeping up with the little girls pace. When the doors opened he glanced at them, wondering what had made them open but he wasn't given much time to think about it as he was busy following Iva into the throne room.

He took the basket and more or less just dumped it into his jaws, chewing up the fruit seeds and all. "Maybe-" he stopped speaking as her mother seemed to flow out from the building, then he decided to finish chewing and swallow. A lot of juice had ended up running down his face, and possibly splattering on Iva during this though. Depending on how close to his face she was. "Oh, umm… You're welcome, I like playing with her." He grinned toothily, then leaned down and bumped Iva with his nose lightly. He was about to say he wasn't /starving/ but his stomach made a loud, low rumbling growl which appeared to disrupt his thoughts for a moment. "Maybe a little starving."

The thoughts about what he had eaten recently filtered through his mind for a moment, some roses, salt, an old deer corpse, and a few rabbits. Maybe he was hungrier than he was letting himself think he was, he had the problem that he always felt hungry, and also had the ability to eat incredible amounts of food so it was hard to judge when he was really 'full'… Maybe it was because he was growing.

There was a moment when the Goddess had been absorbed into just staring at the dragon's magnificent coloring. Truly he was a work of art but still he was a friend to her daughter and she could offer him a gift for being as such. "Little Dragon full of might and wonder." A smile crossed her face. "You have done me a great service by giving my blood a friend. You are also my child as is every life form in the land of Revaliir." She approached and gently caressed his scales.

"I can but offer you one gift. I offer you the chance to walk along side her in a body I make. You can walk in it as long as you are here for as long as you want. Whenever you come to my realm to play with Iva you may transfer yourself into this body I make for you. If you accept you will be able to learn everything besides her. You will be able to learn magics beyond your wildest dreams and of course you can grow along side my daughter."

Angela left their side and sat down. "All you need to do is say the word, say yes." She created a body in front of him. A child with dark skin and hair the shade of his scales and eyes the same as his. He was as big as Iva was and Angela smiled. "You wouldn't need to worry about hurting her with your size. I will transfer your soul back and forth but this is only possible in my realm. You cannot walk of here in it."

Iva looked at the body and back at Thalron. "THALLY YOU SHOULD DO IT! WE CAN HAVE SO MUCH FUN!" Her voice was filled with such joy as she wrapped her arms around his leg the best she could.