Beastly Swamp, Dragon Kingdom
Clambering out of the woven wood of the balloon's basket, having settled to rest on the rough-hewn planks of a boat dock, both Spyro and Elora began along moss-decorated timbers that creaked beneath their foot-and-hoof-steps. Intaking several samples of the thick and misty air, dank wafts of swamp flora and dark ripples of bog water drew their eyes toward the silhouettes of distant trees, twisting and reaching outward with vines and leaves hanging free as motionless entrails.
Reaching solid earth just beyond, and stone pavers mere steps later among the dry stacked blocks, ornate spirals and turns of forged iron spread into a flat array of patterns on the ground ahead, and Spyro hesitated, touching the rusting metal with one single toe.
"Its not live, in case y'all's were wondering."
Startled by the introduction of a calm and masculine drawl, immediately warping their attentions towards the source, the slender profile of a pea-green crocodilian dragon leaned around the edge of a corner wall just beyond, and Spyro grunted as the individual stepped into view, revealing his short legs beneath the prominent length of his yellow abdomen.
"Pays to be careful."
"Especially with your adventurin', Spyro. If these grids were fulla 'lectricity still, we'd all be cooked by now."
Rising up along the remarkable height of the approaching dragon, Elora's hands touched against her leafy stomach, cautiously clasping together as the towering mohawk-haired reptile drew to a halt in front of both of the younger creatures.
"I see you've brought the missus I've heard whisperin' about."
Blinking from the elder's remark, Spyro stood firm as he bent lower in a sudden reduction of height, mildly startled by the gnarled bone-topped staff clunking onto the flat iron bars beside his length.
"Name's Rosco, young lady. Welcome to our lovely swamplands."
Meeting the dragon's outstretched hand, arm shaking with his friendly vigor, the faun beamed. Noticing the shifting burlap bag draped around his waist, a large green eyeball decorated its flap, beneath another larger and rounder eye hanging from his necklace.
"Elora, of Avalar."
"Elora. Missus Elora... A gentle woodland soul, quite a ways away from tame pastures of old."
Cheekbones tinting, her head cocked aside toward Spyro to her left.
"This one seeks adventure, and I decided to join him in one."
"Rightly chosen. His journeys take him quite far on his little legs."
Frowning from the remark, Spyro's forelimb rose, a clawed toe extending toward Rosco's stubby knees.
"If anyone here has little legs...!"
"Its lanky ol' Rosco, yeh, heard that one a million. Tell you what..."
"Who in blazes are you talking to, Ross? The critters don't talk back as often as... Oh."
Twisting back to the heavy-footed arrival of another dragon, with red wings tucked behind his more conventional lime-green stature, all three of them were drawn to the light blue luminescence of the dragon's eyes amid the gloom.
"I'm talkin' to our newest arrivals you lunkhead."
"Ah, apologies to the lot of you then."
Ambling closer, with the crab claw of his staff clattering amid each step, the fuller build of the second dragon drew to a halt beside Rosco, and Elora stared at his glowing vision as it calmly looked between Spyro and herself.
"Who have we here?"
Nose rising into the dank air, Spyro proudly turned aside to his female companion.
"This is Elora, my... Adventure partner."
Met with Rosco's chuckle as he rose back to full height, Spyro then watched as the second elder leaned closer to Elora, inspecting the fine layers of her auburn fur in detail.
"That's a funny way'a saying yer girlfriend."
"Ah, well, yeah, sure."
"Pleased to meet you Elora. Isaak."
Chin sinking in a nod to match, she exhaled with mirth from another outwardly friendly reptilian greeting.
His girlfriend... Yes.
"I assume y'aren't the type to graze in biomes like ours here."
"Not often... Never, really."
"Thought not. Attend well then... You too, Spyro."
"I've been here before."
"And you almost became lunch for killer frogs and those blasted bushes."
"Oh, yeah. Those."
"As I was sayin', younguns, long as you stay on dryer and higher places, you should be alright. If you do decide to go swimming however..."
"Voluntarily, or not."
Eying Rosco beside himself with a squint, Isaak's attention returned to Elora's wide eyes, reflecting his mysterious glow.
"...Don't take too long to get out, lest the lower creatures might pull you under for a meal."
Lips parting slowly from the cryptic warning, and then the blinking of the eyeball on Rosco's bag just beside, Elora tingled from the swift scurry of an errant chicken just beyond.
"Duly noted."
"Other than that and a few other lesser seen beasties around these parts... You two should be alright to do whatever exploring y'like, without much issue."
"She's definitely a climber."
"We've got some extra tall trees over through yonder portal... That side of the island."
"Ooh."
"Elora, no. Those are... They're a bit far apart and... No wings, you know."
Glancing to Spyro from his immediate rejection of the idea, shaking his head in a tiny motion, Elora's lips pursed, and she looked on to the height of the temple between both elder dragons.
"I'll see how I do around here first."
"Fair enough. Them stones get a little slick with the slime and vines... Do be careful."
Turning in place one at a time, both of the elders began a meander, and both Elora and Spyro hesitantly followed for several paces, breaking from their still-curving path, but still keeping the young couple's attention as both of them gripped the top flange of a vertical entrance.
"Oh, and in case one or both of ya do flop into the water, I'll try and reach for you, but, these short little legs of mine, you know..."
Winking at Elora after pointedly eying Spyro, Rosco coiled his lower half up and over the rim, elbows held on the ledge, and after a pause, he dropped down into the hole with an audible thud onto an unseen surface.
"Underground room there."
"Ah."
Alighting upon Isaak's friendly smile, tempered by the eerie and curious lumination of his eyes as he glanced back to them, Elora's hand unfurled into a small wave.
"Just start screaming. We'll getcha out if ya need."
"Thank you!"
Observing his disappearance to the unseen chamber as well, Elora looked to the perked eyebrow of Spyro, and then turned upward toward the squared tiers of the temple just beside, a smile curling into sight as she looked over the near corner. Notating several hoof-holds, she then peeked toward the pale-yellow of the early afternoon sky above, and her hand pried open her satchel, beginning a period of rummaging.
"I really don't plan on swimming here."
"I don't either, but its wise to consider any surprises."
Retrieving the length of the emerald ribbon from the bag's depths, she began scooping back handfuls of brunette locks, bunching them into a gathered mass behind. Circling her fingers and pulling the ribbon together, tying the ends into a knot, she glanced aside to Spyro, his large eyebrows now at full rise from the brand new sight of a ponytail behind her head, revealing the full extent of her large ears.
"Like that."
Humming from his simple utter, she continued forward to the unending gush of channeled bog water, leading them to the lowest of several tiered falls, dumping into the gooey green gloom. Then with a sink to all fours, one hoof scooting back along the stone and dipping forward into a crevice, Spyro inspected and promptly gaped at the steep slope Elora was about to launch toward.
Uh. "Are you..."
"Yep!"
Blasting forward and then rocketing upward with power, the clatter of her hooves echoed repeatedly across the swamp with each landing on thin ledges, and an open-mouthed Spyro watched as his wingless partner scaled a near-vertical wall, heaving herself onto the upper ledge within seconds. Abashed by her ease of elevation gain, Spyro arched back and sprung up into the air, thrusting his wings to rise to her level. With a smooth turn and glide onto the cut stone, his feet took on deceleration from his flight, only for Elora to turn left and launch without running, fingers helping gain purchase as her athletic legs stomped up another sheer face of stone bricks on the temple ruins.
"Are your wings working down there?"
Grinning from her teasing echo from above, Spyro's rear wiggled, and he stormed along the flat ledge of the temple, leaping beyond the waterfall into a dive and arcing upward, wings flapping hard to continue a capable ascent.
"They work just fine when I'm not distracted!"
"Ohhh!"
Angling tighter, swooping down and braking his glide with rearward flaps, he landed abruptly onto the very top platform of the viney temple, only to find Elora's head was already resting on her forearms, folded onto the same ledge.
"Am I that distracting?"
Exhaling from his narrow defeat, the purple dragon padded forward, overgrown ground cover squishing beneath his claws.
"I already told you, yes, and... Every day since I've ever been around you... You're full of random surprises."
Tail flitting left and right behind her emerald-banded ponytail, she eyed his slow approach with increasing interest and heartbeat.
"That's good."
"Yes, it is. You just have this habit of leaving me behind, but only 'cause I'm stuck, surprised and amazed."
Pale chin rising, tail tuft still waving eagerly, Elora increasingly rose to meet his approaching snout that lowered in an opposite manner of alignment.
"Aww, that's-ahhmmm..."
Speech cut off as he pushed his chops directly into her parted lips, she braked his small steps entirely with her nose, only to shove his head and horns vertically and nudge beneath his chin into his throat, cheek squishing into his scale-clad muscle.
"Heh, you..."
"What are you... Dahh, hah, oh-kay."
Forcing upward with all four limbs, her arms clamped around his shoulders in a full embrace, shoving the reptile further back and onto his side in a flop of upset on the flat stone roof. Unable to produce coherent words to follow, Spyro lay helpless as Elora's legs curled and jutted aside, and the rest of her own bodily mass sank onto his plated underbelly.
"H-Hey."
Facial fur receiving his puff of speech, her eyelids lowered in a flutter of delight from his amusement, despite his captivity.
"Hey." Hot stuff.
Dragging her fingertips along his maw, thumb grazing his fang between his folds, she cupped his course chin with a twist of wrist. Seeing his teeth readily retracting behind his lips, her brow danced in a flare of interest.
Ooh, you're...
Met with an abrupt bump of facial muscle, a laugh issued from her chest, and she pecked the front of his nose in a cheeky evasion. Seeing his large irides behind a patient flapping of eyelids, her arm nudged his snout a little higher, pressing her flat nose forward into him.
"Ah, heh."
"Yeah?"
Exhales and little words dancing between their mouths, Spyro's horns increasingly turned to his right shoulder, and Elora waited as the fine pale fur of her upper lip drug across the bumps and channels of his hide. Then, with his warm respiration meeting her cheek, she shifted aside and captured his lower lip, suckling on it with gentle pulls. In immediate response, his reptilian tongue hopped over his teeth and slithered beneath her upper fold, prying it up and away, and then swiping across the tip of her nose in a moist and ticklish flick. Satisfied with her resultant physical wiggle, his slackened forelegs stretched out beneath her auburn profile, clawed digits settling to rest on her nearest thigh. Vision meeting in a fleeting glance, with perks of sensual curiosity illustrated on their features, Spyro then nudged her with his tongue in offering, and she promptly released his dampened lip, capturing his slick member and enveloping its side with her own. Sampling the distinct fiery flavor of his muscle amid a massage of squeezes, she sank lower onto her elbow, gripping his nearer golden horn with distracted fingers as Spyro licked the roof of her mouth. Chasing his retreating member back into the muggy air, a bridge of saliva spanned the momentary gap between, only to be crushed by her planting of damp and fuzzy lips onto his folds. Hearts beating amid their oral collisions, settling into a series of ongoing kisses with drooly tongues battling between, both creatures remained intimately sprawled on the mossy stone amid their dank and mysterious locale.
I think... I can deal with this swamp place... As long as you're here too.
Taking in the soft and wet pushes and pulls of her furry folds, her leafy bosom flattened onto his chest plating, Spyro lay still, fighting to keep his claws from curling into her leg amid the teasingly arousing experience.
Actually, I think I could deal with a bunch of things, and stuff. Later on... After this.
Staring down the bulgy eyes of a visibly perturbed chicken on the temple's staired platform, Spyro remained firmly poised, flame bottled readily within his throat. Distracted briefly by the clatter of a quick and precise ascent nearby, with Elora audibly hustling up onto the central tower of the temple's adjacent bridge, he looked back, suddenly finding two more chickens beside his shoulder. Twisting in a defensive rotation, tail sticking straight out behind, he bared his teeth, looking back and forth across the trio of twitchy brown-feathered fowl.
Higher above and a stone's throw aside, Elora sat herself next to a gargoyle-like statue on the dark and overgrown stone viaduct, crossing her legs amid an outward observance of the twisting and hanging foliage scattered throughout the swamp. Greeted by the squawking of chickens shortly after, spotting Spyro crouched down and facing off against three bulgy avians pacing around and flapping feathers at him, she set her satchel aside with a giggle as her purple partner's tail flicked left and right.
"I could cook you all real easy. Crispy chicken dinner for two."
Grinning from his echoing taunt and resultant smirk, Elora pried open the flap and retrieved the pad of parchment, pulling the phoenix quill free from its metal sheath. After a moment of swaying feet, hooves tapping against the unseen stone beneath her seat, she began sketching the temple with several precise drags of the warm feather, creating an outline of the tiered square structure. Adding various windows around its faces, and then detailing the top platform, a smile crept onto her lips, legs tightening amid a tickle of recent memory.
You're hot... Fire breather. Getting better with that smokey tongue... Hehee.
Outlining several distinctly large blocks framing the tiered waterfalls, she then paused as a bio-luminescent insect landed on the paper, surprisingly near to her hand. Inspecting the glowing and clear-winged insect, briefly contemplating drawing it as well, the mysterious arthropod took flight and landed near to her upper knee, only to take flight once more and drift away, turning her curiosity beyond her shoulder. Noticing a glint of a moving shell, and then realizing the ongoing length of the glimpsed creature, sides lined with numerous legs moving in a wave-like undulation, Elora stared at the sight of a large mint-green centipede turning and wandering along the outer perimeter of the shelf she sat on.
Oh wow. You're a big one.
Eying the silent journey of the large insect as its length disappeared from sight, she leaned forward and peered aside from a splash ensuring nearby, not entirely certain if the centipede had decided to swim. A bloom of orange light appeared in the opposite corner of her vision, and she turned quicker from the crackle of flame, only to find one of the earlier chickens loudly fleeing with its tail feathers on fire, leaving behind an amused Spyro that sat among a poof of singed feathers. Glancing up to Elora's perch after the departure of the local fodder, his wings flicked outward in an unspoken greeting, and she eyed him with a pointed smile.
We definitely aren't alone around here.
Misty Bog, Beast Maker's Realm
Treading gingerly along the decaying husk of a fallen and broken trunk, the remainder of a giant tree having long-since fallen into shallow water, both Spyro and Elora remained close together, testing various creaking lengths of moist and rotting timber as they progressed across a natural bridge. Drawing to a pause from the distinct sounds of swimming, their attentions spun left and right in alert, converging onto the girth of a gilled snake-like creature weaving through the murky water nearby. Gripping Spyro's wingtip from the decidedly large animal that oddly ignored them, Elora glanced between Spyro's attentive posture, and the lengthy visitor swimming further into the distance.
"That's an awfully big snake."
"Yeah. You and I are too much for him, thankfully."
"Hope so."
Glancing up to Elora's ponytail of hair, swaying behind flits and turns of attention to their surroundings, he stepped aside to continue their travel, gently pulling her arm with his wing and bringing her into motion once more. Hesitantly stepping lower into a collapsed portion of the trunk, squishing layers of moist wood and moss beneath, surges of murky water lapped around their toes and hooves, coating wrists and ankles alike with upward splashes from their weight. Hurrying further toward the sight of grass and earth beyond the gnarled twists and fragments of a long-uprooted stump, the couple separately clambered up and through the brief obstacle, and Elora gripped several of the still-solid bones of the stump amid her descent to the drier island of land. Padding forward and briefly inspecting wet fur crowning her hooves, she continued forward into a carpet of thicker and taller grass that already gobbled up Spyro's legs a short distance ahead, dampening her legs further as she arrived beside the idle dragon.
"Bet you wish you were back in the dry desert again."
"Mm, not yet."
Meeting his quirked brow with her hand, opening and settling to rest on his forehead, her fingers began brushing into his golden bristles.
"...Still more to see around here."
Grunting from her irresistible curiosity, he tromped forth through the grass, flattening a path that she followed him in. With several turns around the arches and twists of living roots from another great tree, the outward glow of light among the willow's shadow revealed a cluster of black and luminously-spotted mushrooms ahead, and Spyro continued towards the growth as Elora found a thick stick, grasping it with both hands. Sidling up around the large mushrooms, inspecting the strange and sizable fungus with leans in various directions, she then nudged each mushroom with the stick, prodding the broad flesh dome of the nearest with a gentle poke.
"Weird."
"Definitely."
"Lots of glowy things around here."
"Not a whole lot of sunlight under the trees."
Touching her free hand to her chin, Elora then peeped towards Spyro.
"Kinda want to draw these."
"Go for it."
Turning left and right for a seat, alighting upon a twisted arch of exposed root, she sidled over and hopped up onto the rigid wood, seating herself onto it with a flounce. Watching the arrival of her bag in her lap, Spyro then continued around the growth of mushrooms, clambering up onto the breadth of the tree trunk itself.
"Gonna climb stuff like you."
Passively orbiting to his new position, her tongue sat between her teeth amid a bloom of mirth.
"Kay. I'll be here."
Clambering up the mottled vertical surface, hooking his claws in with deft digs of tightening digits, Spyro's tail remained slackened to maintain balance as he ascended the broad pillar of the giant willow tree. Glancing down to Elora seated below, pleased with his apparent progress, he admired the sight of her seated profile, legs crossed and tail tuft slowly flitting in differing directions amid her illustration.
Forest faun... I think you just like being anywhere where there's trees.
Reaching upward and grasping the diagonal spiral of a vine, the deceptively tight tubular growth suddenly peeled away from the trunk in his grasp, and with a panicked look upward as it pulled him back, seeing the vine reach into the branches some distance from the trunk, he clutched the growth with both front paws as it peeled him further away, pulled taught into an embarrassing spread of limbs as his bottom toes barely clung onto their position.
Uh, hah, okay, what if...
Releasing hold of the trunk, a momentary sway of suspension left him hanging in the open air, only for the vine to abruptly sink from his weight, pulling down a cluster of branches from above. Steadily lowering, causing him to swiftly evaluate the developing descent with hurried flits up and down, the branch supporting his vine then broke free with distinct pops of splitting wood, crashing into and through other layers beneath with jerks of ongoing failure. Deciding that flight was now a better option, Spyro thrust his wings outward and released one forelimb, twisting around and relinquishing the still-falling vine, plummeting into a downward glide toward the grassy bank below. Swooping upward over the water and immediately banking around in a circular revolution, hearing the tumbles and splashes of falling branches into the bog water, he sheepishly lowered into a glide toward a still-drawing Elora, legs spreading and wings flapping backward to slow his arrival into a controlled hover. Plopping onto the carpet of grass beneath, wiping away muck on his paws with a quickly-beating heart, the purple dragon looked up to the female faun, finding her teal irides focused on him, lips curled with visible amusement from the period of chaos.
"You good?"
"Yep, all good. Done climbing."
Humming with ongoing mirth, she patted the root beside her seat in invitation, and Spyro ambled over in immediate heed. Clambering onto the much less challenging curvature of wood, closing the distance between with careful placements of paws, he sat beside Elora, facing her directly. Lowering his chin to rest on her shoulder, he then looked to her gathered ponytail of hair, bound by the green ribbon from the prior morning. Fangs peeking out amid a smile as she leaned her head aside, burying her cheekbone onto his nose, he took in her pleasantly familiar scent, vision wandering further aside and keeping watch as her broad velvet ear lowered to rest between his horns.
I love you.
Beastly Swamp, Dragon Kingdom
Reclining in the veiny center of an enormous leaf, sunk and spread onto an unseen bush beneath and curling into a hammock-like shape, Elora gazed into the narrow window of the night sky between the edges, head resting on the belly of an already-sleeping Spyro. Hands weaved together on her stomach, with his tail curled and tucked against her hip, she gazed at the distant gleam of a verdant aurora, with waves of mysterious green light meandering across the glinting stars, washing across the closer silhouettes of towering trees.
Spyro... I know you have your reasons for being wary about this place... And I'm sure I would too if you weren't here with me. But being here reminds me of Idol Springs... More swamp than jungle but, all the same... Lush green plants, and water, and abundance of life and probably food. Maybe a little less safe, but... Every place has its risks and wildlife, right?
Closing her eyes, listening to the serenade of crickets and toads, and other songs of unknown creatures adding into the chorus of the night, she sighed with delight and wonder.
I guess, in the end... I'm glad you've brought me here. I know I talked about you being my tour guide someday, but I wasn't expecting you to bring me to your dragon worlds as quickly as you did... Though I'm glad you have all the same. This is my kind of adventure. These places are amazing and magical. I know I haven't seen everything... But I know you want to show me everything, and I love that.
Turning aside, nuzzling his shoulder with her forehead, a murmur left her throat as she nested cozily against his hide.
I love you. Dork.
Cliff Lake, Magic Crafter's Realm, Dragon Kingdom
Meandering through the sparkling cool blue of an ice-lined tunnel, with hints of their colors reflected on broken and icicle-laden facets, both Spyro and Elora maintained a sedate pace through the underground passage, hooves and paws padding carefully along the slick tiled surface. Looking on along crimson cushions spiked into the rock walls, stepping into the open interior of a widened cave, swirls of sparse snowflakes wandered in from an arched opening, riding the current of a cold and eerily vocal wind. Grasping her bicep, fur swaying and blown flat from the breeze, Elora squinted toward the sight of developing weather as their footfall echoed within the vacant room.
"Any dragons around here?"
"A few. They have their hiding places... They meet in here sometimes for meditation."
Nose wrinkling in an intake of the persistent airflow, approaching the room's peaked entrance, thin tufts of unbound hair retreated behind her ears.
"No doors?"
"They can just block the entry with a wall... For a while there were druids around here that did that."
"Druids?"
"Non-dragon wizard things... Have no idea where they came from, but they played with local magic all day. Moved stuff all over the place... Summoned lightning... Honestly they were all pretty annoying."
Squinting toward Spyro as they both stepped through a low drift of blown snow, Elora's vision then rose to the spindly peak of a lone tower affixed to the mountain slope further beyond.
"Will we be meeting any of them?"
"Doubt it. Any of them that I didn't get were probably chased away by the elders."
"So they weren't native here?"
"Not that I know of. Just kinda appeared around the time Gnasty... Huh."
Looking aside to the cliff's edge bordering their path, Spyro watched the wiggles of snow-laden grass and alpine flowers, buffeted by the swirls of upward drafts.
"...I get the feeling we showed up here, right at the start of a snow storm."
Reaching outward, feeling the direction of airflow on her spread digits, Elora glanced across the valley, eyes wet and squinting above a hint of a smile.
"If it is a storm... Its not too bad right now."
"Pretty windy."
"Big winds like to blow before big weather."
Flitting aside to Elora, her hands now clasped together behind her back, Spyro outwardly exhaled, steam drifting from his nostrils.
"Do you like snow?"
"I do. I wouldn't live in it, but... Its nice when it comes and goes."
"We're up high in the mountains here so... There's always snow somewhere."
"All the flowers around here suggest it melts off."
"Yeah. Comes and goes. Even if it does snow now, it'll be gone in a little while."
"Mm. Think so?"
"At least, it should be."
"Sounds a little like wishful thinking."
"Hey, when the sun comes out, this home world is pretty nice."
Sheltering beneath clusters of dark green needles, decorating rough twists and bends of a pine tree's branches, a young couple of contrasting height and color calmly observed the increasingly heavier descent of snow from the heavens, burying ever-dwindling traces of green foliage. Pressed together shoulder to shoulder, seated on a damp spread of natural debris and sharing Spyro's abundant warmth, Elora's hands remained within her satchel, clutching the pleasantly warm quill residing within.
"IF the sun comes out."
Gazing into the churning white bloom, Elora's chin rose from the fleeting visual of a dim figure standing alone in the distance, only for the profile to begin steps aside, and then pause.
What.
Squinting from the sight, brow furrowed, she leaned forward, hands tightening from the haunting familiarity of the silhouette hiding just beyond the swirling snow.
Surely you aren't...
Locking onto the faun's perk of attention beside, Spyro's jaw pried open as she shuffled forward onto all fours, rising upright and brushing beneath the branches just above. Receiving a loosened clump of snow onto his cranium and promptly shaking it free, Spyro shot up to his feet, uncertain of the spell that had come over his companion as she hesitantly stepped into the face of the weather.
"H-Hey."
Ear perking from the distinct dialect of a voice carried closer on the howling wind, Elora's heart beat as she glanced left and right, with acres of black and white forest stretching in all directions. Hooves silenced by the white blanket adorning the earth, she looked vainly for the source of the beckoning, finding the shadowed being from before with a further turn to the left. Swallowing with a clearer confirmation of the specter's stature, much like her own, she began into motion once more, lulled by the white noise obscuring any traces of doubt and disbelief.
"Elora?"
Heart racing as her name floated into her perked ears, her stumbling through the snow quickened in an attempt to accelerate. Then, with a sudden burst of lavender color filling her vision, shoulders abruptly jerking back from a physical collision, she blinked away a swirl of powder, finding Spyro facing her directly with his damp paws planted onto her shoulders. Vision flitting left and right around him, finding the prior forest had all but disappeared, her teal irides then settled onto Spyro's concerned expression.
"Hey, you alright?"
Fuzzy lips parting, a puff of steam seeping from within, she then glanced down to determine her physical orientation, only to find that Spyro was in fact standing on his hind legs, propped upright against her.
"I'm... I am."
"Okay. You got up and started following something and... Knowing the terrain and the weather right now, honestly, it freaked me out a little."
Aching from his audible concern, she delicately reached up and draped her arms from his forelimbs.
"I'm sorry... Somebody was out there, or... It seemed like they were."
"There's a lot of magic out here... People without much exposure to it can get entranced and... That's probably why you started seeing things."
Turning to her pale shoulder, Elora's chin sank into the thin fur, cautiously looking out to the bright void obscuring once-visible peaks, and a briefly seen forest of memory.
"I did see things."
"Well, try not to go chasing phantoms. They can lead you to an edge you don't see, and..."
Turning back to his lowering voice, she sucked in a great cold breath from his implication.
"...I'd rather not leave this place on my own."
Leaning forward and thoroughly embracing his upright figure, she nuzzled his warm snout as her fur tucked against the length of his stretched stature. After a moment of closing her eyes from the ensuing storm, her vision pried open, noticing the peculiar approach of a glowing light source. Staring at the orb of a pale blue color, discerning the globe of a lantern that seemed to be quite literally floating despite the wind, Elora's breath vanished as the much larger profile of a creature shuffled through the snow. Discovering the lantern's hanging from the forward end of a long blue tail, and then finding the height and spreading wingspan of a blue-green dragon, with a purple cloak and garments undulating along the wind, her eyes met those of another elder, squinting both from the wind and their errant presence in the brunt of the ongoing squall. Halting his unheard approach, and then extending the length of his wing aside to block the inbound wind, the elder dragon then tucked the lantern near to the expanse of feathered flesh, and Spyro's head lifted, realizing the presence of the visitor that beheld Elora's attention.
"Spyro? And another... When, and why..."
"Ah, heh, hi Kelvin."
Glancing around at the near-whiteout weather, the now-identified elder grunted from Spyro's sheepish greeting, focus returning to the wind-swept youths standing together.
"You know, I sensed a surge of energy in the local aura... Thought it was just the weather... Turns out its you two influencing it... Are you lost?"
"No, not lost. We were walking the trail, and the snow got heavier so we stopped for a while under a tree, and..."
Eyes orbiting around, with zero trees in any visible proximity, Kelvin eyed Spyro pointedly.
"Both of you are several paces off of the path through here."
"Okay, maybe now we are lost."
"Where were you heading?"
"Nowhere in particular."
"In the middle of an arriving blizzard."
"It was hardly snowing when we got here!"
Turning and eying Elora pointedly after Spyro's splutter, with blown flakes decorating the damp fringes of her fur, Kelvin's mouth shifted left and right in contemplation.
"Your faun friend here doesn't seem to be dressed for the weather you've wandered into."
"We didn't think this storm would keep going."
"You didn't think, and that's your first error. These storms have no desire to be predictable in length or ferocity, young one."
Looking to a promptly silenced Spyro, Elora's brow peaked, and she alighted upon the patiently static elder dragon.
"We left shelter and got lost, because I saw and followed something out here... He followed and stopped me from going any further, so..."
"Mm. So you fell victim to the magic stirred up by the winds... Not the first time wayward travelers have done so."
"I... Yes. I did."
"Well, regardless of intentions, there's little reason any of us should linger in this storm any longer than we ought to... Come along, young ones."
Mouths parting, lungs filled with icy breath as Kelvin's wing retreated, Spyro backed away and dropped to all four paws, and Elora immediately grasped his available wingtip. Turning and following the blue glow of the tail-hung lantern, keeping pace behind the elder's tromps through the drifting and packed snow, they traded quick and frequent glances as they were led somewhere through the howling bloom.
He must be a native... To have any sense of direction right now.
Nose tingling from the bite of frigid swirls, Elora's free arm crossed her bosom, gripping her opposite shoulder.
I sure wasn't expecting to end up in the middle of winter... After being in a hot and steamy swamp.
Alpine Ridge, Magic Crafter's Realm, Dragon Kingdom
Seated by the ash-strewn coping of a fireplace, taking in the marvelous heat of a peculiar blue fire, a drier and thankful Elora periodically caressed her fur with flame-warmed fingers. Eying a fully-dry Spyro seated nearby, idly conversing with Kelvin who was now seated in a large armchair with a book spread onto his lap, her vision meandered slowly along the fascinating variety of curiosities seated on numerous shelves adorning the cabin's walls.
This dragon has stuff... All kinds of stuff, and things.
Seeing Kelvin's hand hover over the book in a pass, turning a page with a sparkling gleam, her lips remained parted.
He has magic too... Didn't even touch that page.
Waiting to see a repeat of the motion, she reached up behind her head with both arms, pulling at the damp green ribbon and unraveling the knot tied around her hair. Tying the fabric around her wrist, she then fluffed her brunette hair forward with several pushes and shook her head left and right, locks and tufts tossing wild and free with each turn. Brushing one group away from her eye, she then smiled from Spyro's magnetized attention, his large purple eyes taking in her seated profile against the cerulean fire behind.
"Miss fauna."
Flitting toward the seated dragon, noticing the glint of a key hanging from a thick necklace, she then inspected the spread of his split horns around his head.
"...I assume Spyro here is of your companionship."
"He is."
"I also assume you have traveled from very far away to end up here."
"I have. We have. He brought me here to the dragon worlds."
"I see. Your kind have not been seen here for a number of generations... Do believe they sought greener pastures, so to speak."
"That's what I've read."
"To be frank, I have never seen your kind with my own eyes."
Hands intersecting and resting on the satchel on her lap, Elora's shoulders perked and then spread in relaxation, fur tingling from the heat on her back.
"Now you have."
"I have indeed... What is your name, if I may?"
"Elora, of Avalar."
"Ah, well, welcome again to my abode, Fauna Elora."
"Thank you, um, Kelvin, was it?"
"Correct."
Eyes closing with a murmur, she took in a breath of the cabin's mixed odors and fragrances, and after a long seep of relaxed exhale, she looked aside toward a small ice-coated window of stained glass. Noticing the presence of a familiar object hanging just above the pane, with tubes of increasing length bundled together in a flat row, her head tilted in recognition of the instrument, bringing both reptile's attentions to the direction of her focus.
"That's..."
"A flute. Pan flute, rather."
Eying the object with a lean closer, its curved surfaces glinting from the firelight, she peeked towards the elder, mildly tempted to stand and approach the instrument, only for the teal dragon's arm to rise from his chair.
"Your interest in it is rather obvious... Would you like to see it?"
"Please. Those are, ahm, familiar, where I am from."
Heart thumping as the dragon's fingers folded, hand twisting, the flute lifted from its perch on the dim wall and floated closer, leaving behind a trail of sparkling mana as its strap undulated, unaffected by gravity as it drifted along in tow.
"Now, miss Elora, I have had no success whatsoever in getting that flute to produce sound... Much as I dislike such a prospect, I'd like to ward off any disappointment."
Palms touching and opening upward in acceptance, waiting for the flute's arrival above her pale digits, she stared at its cautious approach.
"Is it broken?"
"Doesn't appear to be... Is very strongly enchanted, however."
Cupping the flute as it landed in her grasp, met with its expected mass upon release from levitation, her thumbs dragged along the smooth pipes, nudging its time-worn leather band with her knuckles.
"Its big... Really quite lovely... Where did you find it?"
"I traded for it, and its story. The enchantment instilled in those markings were scribed by its creator... A satyr."
Ears perking, looking over elegant and very old runes etched into the tarnished metal tubes, Elora turned the flute over in her grasp, poring over the detail and mystery exuding from it.
"Really?"
"So I was told. Said satyr didn't want any odd creature to play his handiwork, so he cast enchantments on each of his instruments... To prevent that."
Staring intently at the straight-lined edges near to the tight banding, Elora's lips parted, brimming with curiosity.
"Maybe that's why you haven't been able to play any notes with it."
"I'm certain of that, yes."
Slowly peeking aside to Spyro, his tail weaving slowly across the floor behind his outwardly sprawled legs, his resultant smile brought a bloom of mirth to her chest, and she bit her bottom lip, bringing the flute closer to her mammalian mouth. Discreetly lowering her tightening lips to the flute, turning it in alignment, she blew a puff of air into one of the pipes, and was immediately startled by the little hum of resonance that exited the opposite end. Feeling her back tingle with a wash of increasing heat, she then looked upward between both dragons, realizing their similarly startled stares from the unexpected sound.
So it just... "Uh."
Seeing Kelvin's posture rise forward in earnest from his cushioned seat, Elora remained still.
"Good, graven, gracious."
"Should... Should I do that again?"
"By all means."
"O-Okay."
"Do you know any songs?"
"Parts of some... I remember most of one."
"Do play what you know... Please."
Hands throbbing from the heartbeat coursing through her suspended arms, Elora looked down to the wind instrument in her hand, and with an upward nudge of the tarnished flanges against her muzzle, she blew a steadier breath into the pipe, and a solid pleasant note spread freely into the cabin's warm air. Glimpsing a fading twinkle trailing the sound, her eyelids lowered as she shifted the flute aside, producing another note with a puff of controlled breath. Shifting the instrument left and right in careful sequential movements, a hint of a smile crept onto her lips beneath closing eyes, and an adjacent Spyro stared at his bipedal girlfriend with surprise and thorough enamorment, as wavering notes of an unfamiliar song filled his ears. Noticing the continuous dancing of the blue flames in the fireplace beyond, surging with an upward draft amid each hum of Elora's blown notes, Spyro then looked aside to his elder, finding the larger dragon leaning his snout onto his forelimb, just as visibly awestruck by the the brand new sound of an ancient relic.
This is really cool... She's playing a song with a stingy old enchanted flute and... It likes her.
Slowly grinning as her notes began to come forth with increasing speed and vigor, indicative of returning familiarity, Spyro admired the bob of her head left and right above her crossed legs, lips pecking each of the flute's tubes without even seeing it in her grasp. Hearing a nearby thud and tinkle however, his attention was then pulled aside from the music by an odd series of sounds, finding the bizarre sight of table settings and a roll of parchment rising from a nearby table in levitation. Looking elsewhere, with several of the curios of the shelves rising, wobbling, and several turning in place, the plum dragon gaped at the phenomenon in all directions. Finally whirling toward Kelvin, uncertain if the gravity cancellation was his doing, both dragon's eyes met, but the still-seated and fascinated elder answered the youth's unspoken question by simply pointing towards Elora with an outward claw.
"Whoa."
"Whoa is right."
Remaining still, captive among the gathering of suspended and turning objects, including the edge of the woven rug he lay upon, Spyro's vision flitted around, seeing shadows drifting along the walls behind them. Glancing toward Elora once more, with twinkles of mana flying free from the flute's tubes and the fireplace flames happily dancing behind her auburn profile, his paws spread, hoping to keep the rug beneath from lifting him up as well. Then, with a deceleration of her song, and puffs of finality setting long-unheard notes free, the song seemed to end, punctuated by the gentle descent of the instrument in her grasp. Peeping open, spotting a wide-eyed Spyro, Elora was then greeted be a cacophony of clunks, clatters and thuds as numerous small objects dropped onto their surfaces beneath, flinching as something metallic tumbled unseen onto the planked flooring with a distinct clatter.
"Oh my, ah... Was that the wind?"
Chuckling from her innocent question, Kelvin stood free from his chair.
"That was entirely your work."
Looking to a still-bewildered Spyro for confirmation, the purple quadruped produced a silent nod of agreement.
"I... What?"
Finding Kelvin now approaching her, lowering to a kneel on both of his legs, the elder lifted the freely hanging leather strap into his grasp, a smile of disbelief spread onto his snout as he then eyed the faun with a bloom of interest.
"Young lady Elora, have you any awareness of your own magic?"
Blinking in utter surprise from the dragon's question, she peeked down to the ancient instrument in her grasp.
"Not... Until now."
"It would appear this satyr's flute, recognizes your kinship as a faun."
"You were about to levitate this entire place."
Lips pursing from Spyro's additional remark, capturing her tongue between, she looked to her warm shoulder, chest puffing with short exchanges of disbelief.
"No I wasn't."
"Everything that wasn't heavy was moving."
Looking once more to Spyro, seeing him rapidly nodding, her tongue disappeared behind a grin curling mirthfully onto her cheeks.
"If that was happening, um... Can I take it outside and play it some more?"
Chin rising with a grunt of interest, Kelvin's posture straightened.
"...Depending on the weather?"
"Which has since calmed... You have my permission."
"It has?"
"For a short while now."
Rising to her hooves with excitement, Elora slipped the flute's strap over her head, brushing it past her broad ears, and lowering it to rest on her bosom as she began toward the cabin's door.
"Thank you, dragon sir!"
"Certainly. Do avoid causing avalanches if you are able."
Humming from the possibly humored warning, she pried the cabin's creaking door open, indeed finding the blizzard's gales had ceased, replaced by a whisper of passing breeze in the early evening's light. Glancing back and motioning for Spyro to follow, the plum reptile spun into motion, kicking the rug aside into a disheveled heap and then finding himself staring at the fluffy tuft of her tail behind her rump. Paw rising, only for Elora to sidle out through the door, he brushed through with a grunt of missed opportunity, watching with a crane of his neck as the passage closed behind, met with the click of a heavy latch.
Padding along behind Elora's hoofsteps through the dense layer of recent snow, the clouds blanketing the wintry sky hosted hues of pink and gold, gleaming with freely wandering twinkles of sparse flakes. Halting beside Elora as she paused beside a large mound of snow, she lifted her leg and pushed her hoof firmly into the sloped surface. Looking to Spyro, head nodding toward it, the dragon inspected the bends of her knees, and with a puff of steam preceding a single laugh, he pushed his clawed paw into the snow beside her hoof.
"Now lift it out."
With legs retreating, Spyro eyed the imprints of both of their feet together, and he stirred in realization, moreso as he turned up to Elora, becoming recipient of her fuzzy hand curling against his cheekbone.
"We've been taking a lot of steps together."
Smiling from her easily heard whisper among the silence, he nudged closer to her hand as her fingertips caressed his scales.
"I'm cool with doing a million more."
Laughing sweetly, she nodded.
"Me too."
Turning aside after a length of shared peace, tempered by the wind playing with her fur and his bristles, both creatures began a cautious approach to a snow-packed bluff, mere steps from the edge of a visible cliff. Pausing, and then straddling up and over Spyro's back, just behind his wings, she squeezed his sides with her knees, keeping close to the abundant warmth seeping from his scales.
"Okay."
Looking down to Spyro, gripping the pan flute readily, she flopped her hand onto his cranium just beside his golden crest, thumb dragging along the ridges of his horn.
"Ready?"
"For the mayhem?"
"Whatever happens, yes."
"I am if you are."
"Alright."
"Go for it."
"Going for it..."
Tucking the flute's tubes against her pale lips, she pulled in a great breath through her damp nose, and a sharp chirp of an introductory note rippled free from the flute, echoing into the open air, and bouncing off of the realm's distant peaks and ridges.
"Whoa."
"Cool."
Blowing two more notes, wandering outward and then returning back in a quieter and haunting reprisal, her ears perked forward readily, and she began playing a second rendition of the earlier song, knees nudging Spyro's hide as she leaned back and forth in small motions of adjustment. Keeping her eyes open this time, she looked out into the open depth of the cloud-obscured valley, and with several sequential releases of vibrating air, began to witness the distinct spiraling of snowflakes adrift in the open air. Blinking away moisture accumulating in her eyes, she sucked in a deeper breath, and with a strong blast of melody, she peeked aside as a spiral of rising snow lifted beside both of them, immediately garnering Spyro's attention and wonder beneath as his horns turned to the mystical spire growing beside them. With looks elsewhere, seeing soft channels appearing in the snow, seemingly reassembling into the spiraling obelisks of powder amid the echoing song, her eyes widened as the once-still snowpack around them continued to rise into life, lifting toward the churning and gleaming swirls already spinning in the air.
"Elora, you're doing this, and you're amazing!"
Grinning, and suddenly finding Spyro surging forward, her heartbeat spiked in minor alarm as he leaped over the edge directly in front of her, only to zoom up into the increasingly pink sky. Wings flapping with enthralled energy, his marvelously cheeky laughter echoed as he swooped around in speedy turns, gliding among and through swirls of powder that nudged against his wings, lifting him higher with little effort.
Glancing down to the sun-browned faun, easily visible among the blanket of white draped over the alpine realm, he beamed with elation as she fondly admired his flight, soaring through the open air with cooperative ease amid her ongoing melody.
I don't think there's any question... You are magical, Elora.
Sitting inside the now-dark cabin, with nightfall shrouding the glistening snowscape in inescapable darkness, Elora sat near the calm blue flames that produced a low glow throughout the cozy structure's interior. Having previously sketched the mystical pan flute that hung above the stained window once more, she finished the last of several written notes about the instrument of mysterious origin and unknown age. Looking lower along her parchment, illuminated by the fireplace and the gentle glow of the warm phoenix quill, her palm drifted aside, revealing prior sketches of the patterns and spires of snow that had formed around her during her second magical concerto.
I don't know if I'll ever see something so odd and beautiful again... This place, and all of the things here in it, are definitely full of magic.
"Elora."
Slowly rising from Kelvin's voice, softly spoken, she looked to the elder dragon as he lowered a cup of tea to the arm of his chair.
"Your enchanting earlier was marvelous, truly. To see and feel such energy channeled by a non-dragon, after my own heart... I dare say that you consider tutoring in magic crafting."
Stirring from his kind and powerful words, Elora rolled the glowing quill in her fingers.
"Maybe. This is the first time I've ever had anything like this happen."
"Your first, perhaps, but there's certainly a presence within you that the flute's enchantment recognized."
"As a faun, from a satyr... We're related."
"Quite so, but I insist regardless. Whether here in our realm, or if you prefer the guidance of magicians elsewhere... I do recommend you do so."
Chin lowering, looking over the prone profile of Spyro fully asleep against her knee, she leaned aside, allowing her shoulder fur to cool.
"I'll consider it."
Sliding the quill into its brass tube, her now-free hand lowered aside to Spyro's crest, stroking his bristles in repeating drags. Closing her eyes and humming individual notes of the evening's song, her imagination wandered into a distant view of a dense and dark green forest, perched onto a large branch and looking out to the pointed roof of a temple, seated atop a distant tree-less hillock.
Been a few years... Since I've played that tune.
