Strong Ties (Private Asailia & Lorien )

One year after Ocean's disappearance, Ark still left empty without her caring for his family as best as he could, still he couldn't keep up it was surprising how well he was keeping it together. Yet luckily his elder kids helped out more even with Delphin getting a shot at being an lieutenant, this did please Ark as if he was following in his footsteps. Yet it still brings a pain when he sees his youngest, as they are young and without their mother, deep down he still thought she was alive but his faith sunk as his searching failed to see any sign of her.

Returning from his normal patrol he sighed feeling tired, gazing around he saw Delphin busy talking some trackers choosing not to interrupt he decided to check up on Asailia after all this time since Atlas left, she had been a strong leader. Yet quite a number of the tribe look towards Ark aswell like a leader but Asailia with the final word and commands. Entering the palace he smiled towards a few guardians he past, looking around for Asailia he spotted her in one of the main chambers. Walking up towards her he dipped his snout slightly in respect and spoke "Hey Asailia, how you doing?" he asked with a smile.

Asailia had just finished the scrolls she had been told to look at that morning. They were simple, a few arguments about fishing areas, and a pair of mates... well not mates... who were each saying that their cave was one, and not the others. She wasn't quite she why she dealt with problems like those, Shardas knows she has not enough time as it was, but it kept the tribe happy if she wrote with solutions on problems. And then there was the megalodon incident, which was still wrapping up. Nobody was quite sure who and who not was dead. Gory business, but it had to be done. Now, however, she was taking a break before going on a quick flight around the territory to check up on things. Lost in thought, she ended up jumping in surprise when Arkhor appeared, her tail flower snapping open, blades ready. She relaxed when she saw it was simply Arkhor. Not a shark. "Hello, Ark," she said, pausing in her walk, and relaxing, her tail flower shutting into a budlike state once more. "I'm fine, just a bit tired. You?"

Chuckling slightly at startling her, he smiled and replied "Ah good, well you know as always busy... thought I would check up on how your doing" letting out a sigh he continued "Just saw Delp, he seems to be settling in. Thought I do slightly chuckle at the thought that he could be a leader some day" frowning slightly with a saddened expression on his face, he couldn't help but think of Ocean as he talked about Delp. Gazing back towards her he continued "So.. have we worked out how many we have lost...?"

Watching him as he spoke, Asailia could tell her was still aching for Oceana. It broke her heart to see her friend like this, even if he'd been worse when she first disappeared around a year ago. It still want exactly her day at the beach. He probably wouldn't be found of any more sympathy, so she merely responded to him in the least... adverse voice she could manage, even though the topic had taken a turn that way. I'm doing fine," she said. "Just working a lot. Delphin has been doin excellently, by the way. All of the Guardians on the border and the Guards here are perfectly coordinated. As for the numbers related to the Megalodon attack... we're slowing down. But we hit twenty yesterday, and that's bound to rise a bit more before we've counted all we possibly can."

Ark frowning at the number he replied with a saddened tone, "Too many... *sigh* maybe we should hold a gathering to remember them?" pausing for a moment he smiled slightly and replied "Heard anything from Atlas? Been a while since we have seen him" Stepping a little closer he felt proud that Delphin received praise from Asailia.

In response to his first statement, Asailia nodded, pulling her tail around her paws tiredly. "There will be some sort of ceremony after all of this is said and done. I'm putting off preparations for that until we have a full count, however." At the mention of Atlas' name, she frowned, closing her wings tighter to her sides. She still didn't understand why he'd left her to do this all on her own. In her mind, it was more than a bit of a jerk move. "Not a word," she said. "As far as when I last spoke to him, he should still be gathering information out among Pyrria. I don't know when he'll return."

Lowering his gaze towards the floor as she talked about the recent deaths, looking back towards her as she started talking about Atlas. "Well I'm sure he will turn up sooner or later, not like him to just disappear off the planet" Smiling slightly he decided to change the subject, "So...doing anything at the moment?" he asked with a smile as he was curious if she was busy.

Asailia glanced over at him when he spoke, her head tipping to the side. She hadn't been paying attention to the emotions she sensed from other dragons lately, mostly because it just confused her between her own and what others felt. She didn't know what she felt at the moment. It made it hard to determine how others felt. But she did notice that, at the very least, she didn't feel that unbearable sadness from Arkhor anymore. That alone made her feel a bit better. "I was just resting before I started a quick patrol," she replied. "So at this very second, no, nothing at all."

Nodding gently, there was a brief pause as he replied "Well.. If you want I can always join you on patrol, certainly been a while" he smiled, wondering what her response would be he glanced over towards the entrance as he though he heard something. Sighing slightly he continued "Where do you plan on going?"

// could always have like me or yourself getting hurt in the partol or something? //

((Okay ^.^))

"I'd love if you joined me," Asailia replied,getting to her feet slowly, flopping her tail out to its proper place behind her. "The patrols can get some bit boring by myself. I'm checking on the general ocean areas near the shores. Any sharks in the area need to be cut off, so when I find one, Or try to take care of it."

Nodding as she explained her idea for the patrol he couldn't see any fault though he wanted to help her even more so and didn't want her to go alone. "Alright, we can go whenever your ready" he smiled, he didn't really have much to do today and he always like talking to Asailia. Stretching his legs for a brief moment he checked over his wings making sure that he was ready.

Asailia nodded, pausing a moment while he checked his wings, her own still tucked neatly to her sides. When he looked as if he were ready, she smiled and trotted towards the nearest window, most of which were made to easily take off from. It was then she opened her wings, spreading them wide, stretching a bit, before jumping out and taking to the air, stopping to hover a bit above, looking down at Arkhor expectantly.

Smirking slightly for a moment as he watched Asail jump into the air, he soon followed suit and leaped into the air. Hovering for a moment near her he gestured towards the coast line as he started to fly in that direction glancing back towards Asail so he was going the same pace.

A number of hours later into the patrol Ark decided to have a break, mostly for Asail's sake after all he didn't want her to get too tired in case. Landing on a shallow beach he glanced back towards her, and spoke "Lets have a break, don't want you getting too tired." he smiled with an almost laughable grin.

Despite his joking, Asailia was tired, and smiled in relief at the suggestion for a break, going down towards the beach and landing, folding her wings to her sides slowly. "Sure you're not just having trouble keeping up?" she joked halfheartedly. Now that she'd landed, and wasn't alone in the sky anymore, her powers were kicking in. As always,without her permission. Usually, she would try to ignore them, but this time, something was different. Mostly because it wasn't something she often felt when she was around others. Fonder emotions weren't something most showed around a leader, and, since Arika's and Oceana's disappearances, she'd not really been around many dragons she'd actually cared about. She cared about the tribe, sure, but on a different level than those she knew personally. So an emotion of love, this was weird, almost. She paused a moment, trying to identify its source and direction. After all, it could just be coming from a nearby dolphin or something.

// Gona say like 3 rogue dragons attack them or something //

Watching as she landed he chuckled at her comment, giving her a laughable smirk. "Yeah.. Yeah... to be fair I'm better in the water" he smiled, letting out a sigh he couldn't help but feel something towards Asailia, yet without his knowledge she tapped into his feelings. Walking slightly closer to her, he couldn't help but notice that she was thinking to herself. looking curiously he replied "Everything alright?" Suddenly his ears twitch at crack in the distance towards the tree line, gasping slightly as he instinctively glanced over. Dispair, within moments 3 slightly taller dragons pounced towards them. Quickly with his paw he moved Asailia out of the way, only to swipe one with his tail sending the attacker towards the ocean at speed. Though it seemed that they where focused on her, shouting as he started to dash over "Asailia! Look out!" .

Asailia didn't hear his first reply at all, distracted as she was. Which, if she'd looked back, probably didn't help the situation they ended up in next. He spoke again, and the flaps on either side of her face twitched slightly, and she glanced over at him slowly, taking a moment to retrieve her mind from the depths of itself. "Yea-" she started, only to be cut of with a jerk as she was shoved to the side, tripping over the tail she'd curled around her paws and falling to the floor in a tangle of limbs and tail, all the three of the of the flowers on her wings and tail instinctively snapping closed. Her tail flopped down over her eyes, and she froze a moment as a strange scent hit her nose, and an overwhelming emotion of anger, and bloodlust. Shaking her tail off of her nose, she started to get  to her feet, roaring as she felt claws sink into her side. Immediately, she dissolved into water, moving around behind her attacker and solidifying, her tail flower snapping open and swinging at the other dragon, opening a gash in its side. This isn't good, she thought, a small high-pitched squeak escaping her as she landed, pain resonating from the wound as a reply. Shaking her head, she liquified once more, solidifying only her tail at this point, slashing again at the rogue, randomly using her head as well to bite at the dragon, whom was doing his best to hit a weirdly moving target. She glanced over at Arkhor worriedly whenever she could. Sure, he was a god. She shouldn't be worrying. But all the same, she felt her eyes drift over moment after moment, though that distraction only earned her another small scratch on her nose. She roared menacingly, focusing her mind back in the fight, keeping a mental eye out for any sense of pain from his direction.

Hearing Asailia cry out, made him frown as he felt fear within his heart. Snarling as his anger grew bashing the other dragon as he bit at the neck. Soon enough the rogue yelped and collasped from the pressure of Ark's jaw. As he finished off the foe the final rogue was still attacking her, as his rage peaked he used his power which he hated using. The rogue stopped suddenly and quickly cried out in pain, almost deafing as it was apparnt what was happening. Ark glowing was a clear sign that it was him, liquid from the rogue drained killing the foe quickly. Letting out a sigh he shook his head to release the anger only to hug Asailia as he healed her wounds quickly as ge didn't want to risk anything. "A...Asailia? You alright?"

Asailia felt a wave of anger and fear from Arkhor, and turned worriedly, her eyes narrowing. Is he hurt? Instead, she saw him barreling towards her. Quickly, the female dissipated into water once more, pulling away from the two dragons as they crashed together, not wanting to get caught in it. She'd seen Arkhor when the sharks had attacked. She'd rather not get accidentally killed. She knew he'd never do that, but all the same, instincts made her back quickly, turning into a dragon a few meters away and landing carefully on three paws, her tail coming in front of her protectively, the spines glinting in the light. When the dragon died, however, she froze, the snarl slowly leaving her face as she realized the battle was over. Her eyes went to Arkhor, widening as the male rushed over to her, her wounds starting to heal. Asailia sighed, leaning against him, the spines on her tail drifting shut. "I am now," she said softly, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks.

Smiling slightly at her response he looked into her eyes and replied "Sorry If I scared you..." frowning slightly he released his hug as he thought it wasn't best if he did scare her. Sighing he briefly checked over her healed wounds to make sure, giving her a worried look. Though he noticed her blush, which only made him feel awkward and he blushed himself.

Lifting her head, Asailia looked up at him, shaking her head slightly. Her heart was pounding, sure, but she knew she wasn't scared. She wasn't quite sure why her heart was pounding. She could breathe well, either. "You didn't scare me," she said. Her head tipped to the side, and she took in a deep breath. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" she was worried, and it didn't help that the emotions she was getting from herself as well as all directions were confusing her greatly.

Shaking his head in response he smiled slightly at her question, "Nah I'm fine, more worried about you though" smiling he lowered his snout and continued "Hey its a good thing you can dissolve... at least I healed you up though" chuckling slightly he gazed away for a moment as he still felt worried for her, with his own emotions peaking from the recent attack.

"That's good," Asailia replied softly. Her head was starting to hurt a bit from the turmoil. She was trying to keep up with it, sorting all the assaulting emotions out in her brain. She could have dealt with just her and Arkhor,but the nearby ocean and rocks ensured other creatures that, no matter how small, carries their own feelings. It was like trying to swim through mud. Closing her eyes, Asailia pressed her forehead against Arkhor's chest, trying to at least block some of them out of her brain.

As he was looking away he felt Asailia press against his chest, turning naturally he spotted her head resting against him. Of course with his recent emotions he couldn't help but blush though he tried to hide his expression turning his gaze away again with his body betraying him. With his breathing calming he tried to focus on something else but it proved hard.

By the time she'd managed to lower her range enough so that only Arkhor was included in her radar for emotions, and managed to essentially lock it there for the moment, Asailia realized how fast her own heart was beating. Her eyes widened fractionally, and, within moments this time, she sorted out her own emotions from Arkhor's, though, at this point, they were nearly the same. She didn't dare move, taking a deep breath of air, trying to calm herself. She'd barely known how she herself felt, and now she knew that they both felt the same way. It was baffling to her. She breathed in again, holding the air in, trying to calm herself down at least fractionally.

Sighing as he returned his snout towards her, with his blushing dimming down he replied gazing down towards her "Hey.. you alright now? Ready to go?" As waited for her response he couldn't help but flick his tail just preparing himself to move on again. Still unknown to him what Asailia was experiencing, yet his emotions did start to calm.