Wulf climbed down from Riddari’s back as they neared the end of the grasslands, reaching the edge of the plains. He sighed, patting the horse on the neck. They exchanged a look of fatigue, and Wulf nodded. They should set up camp here for the night, they were about a few hundred metres from the river still and could easily get water there if necessary. They walked together for a bit, looking for firewood with which to make a fire for the night. A few dried out pieces of driftwood were littered about near the river, so Wulf gathered them together to form a pile. Riddari had lost interest in the fire-building process, picking on patches of grass that had managed to break through the sandy ground and thrive. Wulf was tired to say the least, they had come all this way in a matter of days from the ancient ruins where they had run into a bit of trouble. Back then, Wulf had dug Riddari out of a castle wall, in sword form, and after the fighting and creatures were gone, Riddari had revealed its other form, the form of a hulking dapple-gray horse. To say he was taken aback was an understatement.
 
 Leaning against a tall rock, he looked up at the sky to watch it set. He had been traveling too much the past few weeks to really appreciate it, but out here it was definitely beautiful. “It’s nice out here… but it’s lonely, isn’t it Ri?” He sighed. He missed people. He had lived in a small village near the Kingdom of Adeluna and there were always people around, but now he was alone while he traveled, save for Riddari.

The sun began to set and Wulf grew hungry, got up to search through his bag for some salted scraps of meat and bread he’d bought and wrapped in cloth at the last real village. He propped up some sticks and set the meat out over the fire to start cooking as he sat back down and tore into some of the bread. It was almost a perfect adventure, but he was still lonely. Riddari walked over to him, laid down beside Wulf and retook the form of a sword, leaving Wulf feeling even more lonely. He sighed and finished the last of the bread half, then picked a piece of meat from the fire to gnaw.

Rowan walked through the knee length grass with one hand on Mo'o's gleaming green scales. A breeze ruffled her shoulder length red hair, and she closed her eyes to revel in the feeling. The air smelled of growing things, moist dirt, and her Dragon companion. They had gotten a lead from Lyra again about the plains here being full of creatures that tormented villages. She couldn't resist the opportunity to be called a hero, even if it was only a handful of villagers. Rowan had to start making a name for herself somewhere and here was as good as anywhere. 

She absently patted the huge Dragon as they made their way along the river. They hadn't seen anyone for hours and hadn't seen a village in a few days. Good thing when they were done Rowan could mount up and fly out on Mo'o. She paused and knelt at the river, dipping her hands into the chilled water then raising it to her lips. With a sigh, she then splashed some on her face. The two of them had traveled hard, her legs ached from walking, and she knew Mo'o was tired of her slow pace. Moving in half plate armor wasn't comfortable nor practical, but Rowan wanted to prove herself. Her family had been tasked to roam and protect others with their Dragons, proving that they can be faithful friends, not something that needed to be killed on sight.

As she stood, she noticed that there was smoke curling up nearby. Rowan hadn't been quiet while tramping through the grasses, but if there was someone there she could use a warm fire. Cautiously she approached the encampment. A man sat at the fire eating something while a horse wandered nearby grazing. The man had medium-length dark brown hair but striking blue eyes. He looked about the same age as Rowan, and she felt relief. If there was another youth wandering the plains alone, it was likely they too were an adventurer. 

Rowan cursed to herself as she realized she was walking up to a stranger with a dragon on her heels the size of a house. She plastered a smile on her face and waved a hand at Mo'o warning him to keep his distance until she was ready for him. 

"Hello friend, I'm Rowan, and this is Mo'o. We could use some warmth from your fire and maybe some company." she offered. Rowan hoped the man wouldn't immediately attack Mo'o, the dragon was tolerant but didn't like weapons poked at him. If the man stayed where he was she wouldn't have to worry about him biting a hand off. 

Wulf was at first startled by seeing another person out on the plains, then relaxed upon seeing the girl’s friendly face. Then immediately startled again as he saw her massive companion, a dragon! He had never laid eyes on a dragon before. Unconsciously, his grip on the hilt of his sword tightened, but he did not move an inch. He had no idea what to do.  The girl seemed friendly, as she introduced herself, and Wulf’s face softened. The dragon was clearly her companion, as it had a name, and she seemed to be telling him to mind his manners. After a moment, Wulf exhaled sharply, realizing he had been holding his breath in shock. The girl requested to share the fire with him, and he nodded, motioning for her and her… friend… to join him. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rowan and Sir Mo’o. My name is Wulf, I hail from the Kingdom of Adeluna… I believe you are not from around here, are you? As far as I know there are not too many dragons around here.” He chuckled to himself, as they came closer and the girl sat. She was about his age, but he wasn’t a great judge of such things, and quite pretty. He took a moment and reminded himself that pretty girls were to be just as respected as knights and heroes, especially pretty girls in armor that looked like they knew how to use a weapon who had a bodyguard that could smash him in half an instant. Best not to make her too mad, I’m betting. Mo’o could rip my head off with a single claw. He breathed in and out once more, finally relaxing. 

“I’m happy to see someone else out here. I’ve been traveling for a few days with no one around except a horse… sometimes.” He flipped the now-lifeless sword over, half expecting Riddari to change into a horse again, but it didn’t. This thing is definitely smarter than I think it is. Of course he'd stay as the sword. A horse seems like easy prey for a dragon, but they'd have no business munching on a sword. Very wise, Rid, very wise. You surprise me everyday. He released his hold on the sword and sat upright now, to be a bit more attentive to his guests. “You run into any no-gooders around here? Just had a run-in with the undead back in the Ancense Ruins, but haven’t really found anything crazy going on since then. Figured I’d make my way through the Plains and see if I could get anything done out here, help out some villagers maybe, save some damsels, kill a monster or two… What are you doing out here? Traveling? Or are you an adventurer, too?” Wulf smiled, trying to be friendly and polite, but he really hadn’t talked to a girl in a long time and it was making him a bit nervous. Hopefully this girl wouldn’t mind terribly that he was a novice in the art of speechcraft. The son of a blacksmith didn't know much in the ways of ladies and lords, but he could at least piece a few sentences together and make them sound decent! 

As Rowan sat down at the fire she sighed in contentment, at night the plains got cold especially if the wind whipped up. The warmth from the fire soothed the aches in her thighs and sitting made her want to sink down into a deep sleep. Mo'o followed her and sat down behind her, curling up into a boulder-sized ball at her back. When Wulf introduced himself to Mo'o the dragon chuffed in approval. Mo'o wasn't a particularly moody Dragon, but he liked others to keep to being formal as often as possible. Even Rowan tended to bow and treat him as politely as possible. Mo'o curled his long tail around her and she raised her arms as he placed it across her lap. 

"It's very nice to have human company and no I'm not from around here I'm from Canelux in the Highlands. My Father is a lesser lord there. I left to make a name for myself and kill as many evil creatures as possible." she admitted. It was nice to see someone else who was after the same things as her. It was hard to explain to travelers why she was out for glory. Most thought she was young and reckless. They didn't think that her ten years of training with a master swordsman meant anything. 

"I haven't seen anything in the last few days, but in the morning I was going to send Mo'o out scouting ahead. He will let me know where the creatures tormenting villages are." Rowan readjusted Mo'o's tail. For some reason, the Dragon thought he was smaller than he was and acted more like a dog sometimes than a Dragon. She reached into her sack and pulled out some travel bread. It was tough stuff that made her work hard to chew it but she hadn't let Mo'o out of her sight since she entered the Plains. Rowan didn't like walking alone, but now that she had Wulf with her maybe she should send Mo'o off for dinner.

Rowan shook Mo'o by his tail that still sat across her lap and turned to him. She was tired of dry bread and no meat, if she sent him away now he could scout ahead to make sure they would be safe for the night. "Mo'o why don't you find all of us something to eat, I'm sure you are hungry. While you are out will you check around us to see if it will be safe tonight?" she asked the Dragon softly. Wulf was eating dried salted meat and would probably enjoy a hot meal of fresh food too. With a nod to her Mo'o stood up, shook out his wings and took flight. It would only take him about thirty minutes and Rowan could check on him if she needed to.

Discreetly she looked down at her left wrist, upon it was a large bracelet set with a glass yellow eye. She focused on the eye for a moment, knowing that her own eyes were changing from the clear green to bright yellow. Suddenly she could see herself from above through Mo'o's eyes. He was circling around the camp and there was nothing other than green grass surrounding them. Once he had enough height he veered off westward, chasing the setting sun. When Rowan could no longer see herself through Mo'o's eyes she stopped prying on him and let him hunt.

Wulf nodded as Rowan went on. A fellow adventurer! And she seemed to be just as interested in hunting down evil creatures and monsters as he was! He smiled, hoping that he could make the best of this situation. “Yeah, there hasn’t been much around here. Surprised I didn’t run into the two of you sooner!” Wulf laughed, thinking it a bit odd that most likely the only two adventurers in the area had actually happened upon each other. He chewed on a new piece of the dried-out meat as Rowan tugged at a piece of bread. She must have been just as tired of dry chewy food with nothing to it as he was, as she asked the dragon to go off and find them something. Wulf was more than excited about that idea, as he could feel his stomach gnawing at itself even with the leathery strips of meat in him.

It took off with a strong gust blowing around them, and Wulf was filled with a new feeling, a mix of awe and fear. Such a great beast, clearly deadly and full of power that he would never even dream of amounting to, to travel around with a simple human girl? He wondered what the details of their background were, how did she meet a dragon in the first place and set out adventuring with him? He would have to find out in due time. Wulf’s gaze was fixed upon the beast, as the dragon circled around and higher above them and eventually flew out of sight, off to find something for them. Wulf wondered what it might be, and hoped it might be something already dead… He was a bit tired and not about to jump into battle to fight off some monstrous troll creatures, or whatever might have been lurking nearby.

“So how does one come about finding a dragon as a traveling companion? Seems almost unheard of to me, but I am not sure I’ve met enough adventurers myself to be sure of what the norms are. I never really dreamed of meeting a friendly dragon, I’ve never heard about them being terribly nice. My hometown doesn’t know too much in the ways of such things, though, so I’m sure they’ve only got what passersby and travelers have to say as far as information goes…” He tossed his sword back and forth between his hands as he said it, then started his own story, “I found this beauty, Riddari’s it’s name I believe, hidden away in a castle wall in the Ancense Ruins. Thought it was just a sword at first, then found out it’s a bit more than that! A horse in a sword, something like that!”

It was so strange, he thought back, to how he had found out Riddari would change back and forth. It was definitely… strange.

Rowan felt odd without Mo'o at her side, she felt overly exposed. There usually wan't a minute out of the day that she let him out of her site since they went hunting together more often than not. Wulf seemed like a man after her own heart, someone willing to put his life on the line to help another. It wasn't a trait she had come across thus far in her wanderings.

"I've known Mo'o my whole life. My family is a minor royal house that has befriended Dragons for generations. I'm here to prove that they can be friends and do not need to be hunted down to extinction." she shrugged. It was an odd idea, something the average person hardly understood. To them Dragons carried off their flock or young children. They burned their villages to the ground and horded gold in caves where hundreds of men died trying to reach the riches. 

Her entire childhood and been spent with Mo'o, treating the bites he constantly gave her. It had been very difficult to gain his trust, as it was with every Dragon. She had constantly been bruised or wrapped in bandages, the worst injury being a broken arm at one point. That had been when he had swatted her with his tail when she had been teaching him to accept the riding saddle. It wasn't as glorious as it sounded and Rowan had been scolded every time Mo'o had hurt her. She was to be kind and firm, touching him and gaining his favor. 

In later years when they had finally gotten along things had changed. Suddenly she had a friend who was more loyal than any member of her family. Her Father had seen this and told her it was time to leave. That was why she was here, wandering around with a Dragon doing her best to prove they shouldn't be murdered.

It had been about ten minutes since Mo'o left and she could hear a roar. It was a warning and Rowan stood quickly, drawing her sword and looking to the skies. She watched as Mo'o flew into sight with something large in his caws. It looked like whatever he had found was something fighting back.

"Wulf, Mo'o brought back a live creature." she said as she moved so her back was to the fire. She quickly looked through his eyes and saw that he held a rabid looking hippogriff. The dragon dropped the creature to the ground in front of Rowan. It was stunned and shook it's head before trying to stand. Mo'o took his place n the other side of the beast and Rowan was ready for a fight.

The girl seemed uneasy without her dragon alongside her, that was clear enough to Wulf, but he did not know exactly how to make a woman more comfortable. He was not much of a man, and not much of a smooth-talker either. Wulf listened to her story about the dragons being friendly, or at least not entirely hostile, and nodded. He supposed, if people could be good and bad, so could dragons, could they not? They were supposedly smarter, craftier, and wiser than people, so wouldn’t it make sense that they have just as many facets to their personalities, if not moreso!? 

In what seemed like no time at all, the dragon’s wings could be heard with the accompaniment of a huge roar, and Wulf found himself jumping to his feet and fumbling for his sword before his new companion could even tell him the situation. A live creature? What kind of creature? His heart pounded, he was excited and his adrenaline was flowing. His last fight hadn’t been since the ruins, alongside Icarus. What an adventure that had been, he remarked as he stepped out of the way of Mo’o’s living present for them. 

“Any idea on what we’ll be dealing with, then? Troll? Yeti? Lions, tigers, or bears, perhaps? Or do you think it’s magical?” He asked her, but unfortunately it was too late for an answer to reach him as Mo’o was overhead. 

The figure dropped from the sky and he heard a crack as the dust cleared. Before them was a very angry, very rabid, and only slightly injured hippogriff. The beast growled and rawred at them, and attempted flight to no avail, as it’s wings had been too ruffled and mussed from the dragon’s maws to grant it such a luxury. It growled again, and turned at Wulf to charge him. He managed to dodge it narrowly, but the beast sat and spun and came running back at him, at which point Wulf stood his ground to the last minute and stepped out of harm’s way just in time, injuring the creature with a straight gash along its along the side. The beast howled and backed off of him, and changed its gaze to Rowan and Mo’o. Wulf tried to run in front of it to block it from them, but it was too fast and he had to regress to where he stood to maintain his own safety. 

Rowan smiled as she felt the thrill of battle rising in her. It wasn't often that Mo'o brought her back something alive! The huge green dragon dropped a strange creature before them. She drew out her longsword and sank into her a battle stance. Wulf was the first to attack at it, the beast charged at him, and he managed to dodge before slashing at it. Blood welled up from its' side, and Rowan strode forward in anticipation. She wasn't going to let Wulf get all of the glory after all her dragon had brought the thing here.

With a snarl, the Hippogriff turned to Rowan, seeing her as the closest threat since Wulf was out of its line of site. A huge claw struck out as she lunged to the side to avoid the blow. Quickly she spun and slashed at the creature's other flank as it passed her. She wasn't sure where her companion had gone until, something enormous and green landed on top of the hippogriff. With a snap of his jaws and a twist Mo'o broke the beast's neck. Rowan found herself laughing hysterically. She had expected a drawn out battle with wounds on all accounts, but there was Mo'o finishing it before it had even started.

"Well, I guess that's it. Do you know how to butcher one of these things for some meat? Heads or tales?" she giggled as she moved around Mo'o back into the warmth of the fire. "I'm sorry he didn't bring something a little easier to eat back, but at least we will have fresh meat." Rowan sheathed her sword before looking at the dragon. He had probably brought the large game because he was so hungry. Well at least there would be plenty left over for him once her and Wulf had their fill.

Wulf stared in slight astonishment, though he soon realized he was most likely seeing something normal. The dragon, most likely to protect its girl, had finished off the beast as Rowan had gone to slash at it. Wulf shrugged and lowered his sword as the beast crumbled to the ground and lay dead.

“So much for our exciting battle, then,” he walked over, eying the animal as Rowan asked if he knew how to harvest the meat of such a thing. He nodded, though it was certainly not something he had ever skinned and harvested before. “Probably a bit like a deer, don’t you think? I’m sure we can figure out some way to scrape some off of here.” He knelt down and inspected the beast more closely, as it laid on the side he had not struck, and there was already a sizeable gash from front to back. “What are you in the mood for, Miss Rowan? Shoulder or brisket?” He laughed to himself, as he wondered if she would know the differences between cuts of meat. Brisket would be gamey and muscled, especially on a wild beast such as this, but shoulder would be quite lean and possibly even tender. He removed a serrated knife from his things and set to work at the breast of the animal, cutting out the shoulder’s meat and then cutting it into smaller pieces. He laid the meat out on a scrap of cloth that he had had his own dried salted meat in earlier, so as to keep it from getting dirty before it was prepared.

“Can I trust you to handle the cooking part? I think we can probably use the rump to dry out and have as a snack for later days.” He handed Rowan the cloth, dripping and full of meat, hoping she would figure out a way to cook it while he worked on the rump, cutting the pieces and filleting them into thin strips. He then searched for sticks with which he could create some sort of rack in order to prop the meat up to dry out. Finding a few, but not many, he settled for placing the sticks across rocks so that the meat would lay across the top of them. Without any sort of herbs or seasoning, it would likely be a bit bland, but that didn’t matter to him. He’d let the meat dry for a bit in the air, to drain the blood and excess moisture, and then move the rack over the fire to smoke it and dehydrate it faster.

Returning his attention to his new comrades, he pointed at the remaining carcass.

“I believe we have more than enough for ourselves, if you’d like to have the rest.” He said, addressing the dragon and feeling a bit weird about it. He then addressed the girl, “Miss Rowan, how is dinner looking so far?” He joked as he strode over to the fire to see how she was progressing.

Rowan took the piece of cloth from Wulf, the meat weighed in her hands, and she could feel her mouth water despite the fact that there was no cooked food yet. It had been days since her, and Mo'o had had a proper meal. She had left her home with enough dried provisions but after living in a keep with servants who cook, trail rations are hard to stomach. At least, she had made sure to spend time with them as her father had always told her "Never make a man do a job you wouldn't do yourself." When Mo'o had been hunting or napping she had spent her time either training with the sword or doing chores. She hadn't spent enough time with any one task to become proficient, but she could hold her own at a cooking fire. As she busied herself with her work, she kept peeking glances at Wulf. Being of noble birth it hadn't been often that she found herself in the presence of a man without a chaperone. Though she was not the average noble girl, she had been raised knowing the customs that would be expected of her if she were around other dignitaries. It seemed strange to her to be alone with a man even in such circumstances as these. 

"Have you heard any of the rumors about the villages out here? I came to help free them from the beasts attacking them, but if you are here for the same reason we could team up, " she offered. "Mo'o helps out a little too," she jested as the green dragon huffed at her. He was eyeing the carcass that Wulf was finishing up with. To her surprise, the man offered the remains to the dragon instead of just leaving it to him as if he were an unintelligent animal. Her respect for him climbed a few notches higher; not many earned the respect of a dragon. Though as with most beasts and men themselves, the way to woo them was through their stomach.

When he asked after the food Rowan had realized it was finished cooking, she pulled the meat away from the fire and handed some hot meat to Wulf. Then she sat back down on the grass with her back against Mo'o who was currently tearing into the remains of the carcass. Rowan ignored the ripping sounds as he bit off chunks of flesh and smiled at Wulf. The meat was juicy and more flavorful than she had expected as they had no seasonings. It was heaven in her mouth after weeks of trail rations. She devoured her food in silence, savoring every morsel in case it was some time before she had a hot meal again.