A Long Overdue Visit (NWs)

It had been a long time since Shine had talked to most anyone. Too long, for her tastes. She'd been meaning to visit with the tribes regularly, but she'd started avoiding it after a while. Every time she did, it ended with the whole tribe bowing at her feet, which was the last thing she wanted. Goddess or not, she was still a dragon, and she still wanted to have a normal conversation with another dragon at least once in a while. A conversation without people bowing to her would be nice.
Corry was good company. Her catfish was swimming alongside her, spiraling around her and batting at bubbles with his webbed paws. He was fun and entertaining for a time, but she did like to have a conversation. Fun as the black catfish was, he couldn't speak.

The dragoness finally reached the shoreline, her paws digging into grains of sand as she stood, the water rolling off her shoulders as she started up out of the water, shaking her wings out, getting rid of the drops of water, as she started for the shrine erected in her honor. They'd all gone up-at least one in each tribe-once her full powers as a Goddess were realized. Dragons would leave offerings for her in the open-sided structures, and - despite her strong dislike for being worshiped - she did stop by every once in a while to collect them, feeling rude if she didn't accept them. There was something wrong with the idea of leaving those offerings. The Goddess felt that it gave the impression that she didn't care. Which was wrong, she did care.
She cared a lot.

Shine finally stopped when she stepped inside the open-air building, and looked over at the small pedestal in the center. Someone had found some shells and put them on it, a few flowers (already wilting) and some stones as well. A small smile spread over Shine's face as she pulled the items from where they were seated, looking them over. Corry reached into her paw for one of the brightly colored stones and pulled it onto the stone floor of the gazebo, batting it around curiously. Shine smiled slightly as she watched, tipping her head. There he was, cheering her up. Again.

Life was boring in the outskirts of the Empire. Well, sat least this side of the border was. He has been charged with guarding the shrine site along the southern border, where nothing but seagulls came and cursed at him to their hearts content. The only logical reason why he would be summoned here to,guard was in case the SeaWings attacked. That possibility was highly unlikely, but guarded nevertheless. He regretted the practical joke he played on the sergeant during training camp.p, as now he was assigned here for the next month. Mature, life could be worse than being stationed on a beach, but it was so booooring.m this day, however, seemed different. A short blue creature climbed out of the water and snuck into the shrine. Oh, the nerve of that SeaWing.

Hopping from his shaded post in the trees, the guard quickly covered the distance, having already sent the signal that something was amiss, and the speed runner would be at his post shortly to see if he returned. Stepping and now blocking the entrance of the shrine, the guard lowered his eyes from his helmet, his armor clinking, "Halt intruder! You have chosen the wrong place to trespass! Surrender so that no harm may come and you will be brought forth to my superior to ple your case!". Of course, this guard was being a little dramatic, having Been bored for so long.

Shine looked up at a new emotional aura nearing her, and twisted to face him, turning her attention from the catfish at her feet, who also looked up, his ears pricking curiously.
Oh. And this aura was threatening. She stood carefully, taking a step back from the main entrance to the shrine, wrapping one paw around the offerings so she could store them and make it known that she was still around and still cared.
Though she stiffened at the tone slightly, this was arguably better than instantly being worshipped, especially at the shrine. Dragons she ran into there always made it a much bigger deal. She set one paw in front of Cory as he hissed threateningly, despite being smaller than the other dragon's paw. "Calm down." She muttered at her pet, then turned her attention back to the guard, dipping her head, as Cory backed down slightly, turning to hide behind her paw. "Apologies, I-." She broke off. Something in the back of her mind told the rest of her not to say why she was here. Told her not to tell the border guard she was a Goddess. While not a fan of being threatened, she was being treated like a normal dragon once more, and that was much better than being worshiped in her mind. Maybe she could play along...? She started her answer over. "My apologies for trespassing. I was not away Nightwing Territory extended this far." She dipped her head submissively. "I merely came to relax away from the business of my tribe."

The guard scoffed at the dragoness as she seemed to surrender easily. In all honesty, he was a little nervous if he had gotten into a fight, having not made contact with anyone outside of the skirmishes. The submissive dragoness seemed to know she was beat, which made him calm. He heard the flap of wings, and turned his head. The runner had showed, a good thing. He could send the runner ahead to be sent forward to meet the overseer to help with this dragoness. "Mara, go and tell the overseer I'll be bringing a SeaWing tresspasser, and SeaWing, you will follow me so you can tell the overseer your excuse ," he spoked as the quick NightWing flew off ahead of him. He nudged his head for her to follow, and began to walk, looking back to see if she followed or not.

Shine nodded obediently, happy she was finally being treated as an equal (or lesser, in this case). She took a moment to discreetly set the offerings back on their pedestal, not wanting to walk in with it and give herself away. She set them down with the pretense of picking Cory up (which she did) and he took his place on her back between her wings and shoulder blades, hissing quietly at the Nightwing as she approached him obediently, before standing calmly next to him, keeping her head lowered. "Lead the way." She answered quietly. She honestly didn't know where the Nightwing Camp was, and was slightly eager to find out. Hopefully she'd be treated well. It wasn't a huge issue if she wasn't, but she didn't want to have to flaunt her status as Goddess in order to get them to back down. That was worst case. Best case, she'd get to see Nightwings and no one would bow to her. Maybe she'd get a decent conversation out of the bargain. She'd been needing one.

The guard walked at a decent pace, making sure that Shining was still following and keeping up. He gave the SeaWing dragoness a glare when they entered a small fort with a central tent, with a couple heavily armored NightWings on either side of the tent entrance. Shine would be able to feel a few emotions in the trees as trackers hid and observed. Without saying a word, the guard entered the tent, and if Shine followed, opened his maw to speak, but was interrupted. "Thank you guard, you may return to duty. I will handle this as the flyer has already briefed me." With a small nod from the guard, he backed out of the tent, so that it was just the central NightWing with the two entrance guards who would have followed Shine in. "Now, I am Overseer Gnarth. I run this southern camp to keep infiltrations at bay, and usually send the rogues on their merry little way back out of the territory, or guide them to where they can enter legally. I am not used to a SeaWing entering the territory, as most know to not breach the sanctuary area without visiting the appropriate area. So tell me, are you an outcast and another rogue trying to slip in and cause mischief? And what is your name and reason for entering?" Gnarth said Shine, quite unaware as to who he was talking to, and his tone was more tough act as he was annoyed with dealing with petty border disputes.

Shine couldn't help but look around constantly as she was led to the camp. She could feel the other dragons watching, even if she couldn't see them. A lot of mistrust, confusion, even the occasional bit of surprise. So far, it seemed her cover wasn't blown. She couldn't sense any recognition yet.
Then she was being led into a tent, and another dragon was speaking, a large, burly dragon. She blinked a few times before dipping her head an answering. A name...a name...something that wouldn't give her away...."My name is Tidepool." She answered, one of her favorite locations coming to mind first. Well, better than nothing. "I'm a Seawing Healer. I apologize for intruding. I was not away Nightwing Territory extended so close to the shore." She didn't look up as she answered. So far, being submissive was working well. And appropriate for someone of her size amongst so many larger dragons. Given her real status, she wasn't too worried about getting too badly hurt, especially since all it took was for her to summon a portal and she was safe in her realm. Not too hard to escape if she needed to. But for the moment, she was hoping the healer title would keep them from attacking her, and she could keep the ruse up a bit longer. Hopefully. It'd be nice. "I came simply to relax on the beach and escape the busier areas of my tribe's waters. I merely needed some quiet. I mean your tribe no harm." And that time being a leader was handy in situations like this as well. Didn't hurt to know a more diplomatic way to word things.

Gnarth looked at the supposed SeaWing healer, and leveled his eyes to be on her level. "Look Tidepool, I do know that the laws on borders are becoming more lax, but it is still territory that needs to be protected. If you wanted to relax on the oh so wonderful beaches of the NightWing Empire, I would suggest you have contacted someone before. Now, ignorance is not a suitable excuse, so if you wish to roam the territory of the NightWings, you will need to go to the specific border check points, or ask a guard to show you the direction so you can be properly admitted, capisce?" Gnarth spoke, watching to see how the small SeaWing would react, watching her body movements to see if she was lying in her response and if she was really just here to cause mayhem or was honestly ignorant.

Shine nodded, keeping her gaze on the ground, and shuffled her feet. Well. She wanted to be treated like a dragon, not a Goddess. She got it. Though things had changed since she'd actually been a healer. Tribes formerly welcomed healers, assuming they were there to trade and search for materials they needed. Even the Nightwings had been more lax. And it wasn't as if she'd ACTALLY broken any rules. "Tidepool" had, but as far as Shine knew, she was free to visit the shrine in her honor as frequently as she wished, no matter the territory. "I'll let someone know ahead of time next time." She promised, still with her eyes on the ground, looking slightly miserable. Unfortunately, this was likely not a promise she'd need to keep. Her ruse was likely to go up in flames while she was at the camp, or after, if the Nightwings went to ask about the nonexistent Seawing Healer "Tidepool," only to find that she'd never existed int the first place. If she ever came back, the nightwings would either recognize her immediately, or attack her for thinking her a rogue who was there to stir up trouble. In which case they'd recognize her immediately on the third time around. Ah well. She could enjoy the (albeit strict) treatment of being a normal dragon for the time being.

Gnarth watched as the dragoness seemed sad by hearing the news, but he had to keep his job and act on. "Miss, if you want to wander the NightWing Lands, go roughly an either sun cycle due west, and they can clear you for entry. A guard will accompany you to either the border or that station. Good day." With that, Gnarth went back to looking over paper, and the two guards opened the tent, waiting obviously for 'Tidepool' to come out. A tracker cloaked in black scales watched and awaited, perching and they would begin to follow and track Shine as she moved wherever, being tasked to keep an eye on her.

Shine nodded and stood, exiting the tent and starting back towards the entrance to their camp, before heading back out. She was planning to head back to the shrine, and-from there-back into the water. She wasn't planning on sticking around long. She was planning to stick around long enough for the Trackers to leave so she could grab the offerings, and from there she would leave. But for now, she could just be happy she'd gotten an interaction without someone groveling at her feet, which was certainly nice. She glance over her shoulder as she exited the camp, watching the tracker follow her. She quickly turned her gaze ahead once more with a sigh. Well. That went well. She hadn't been attacked though, and her cover hadn't been blown.

Flying overhead, the wingbeats of two different dragons could be heard. They were a mentor and her apprentice, a young trainee by the name of Virsha. The tiny group was making their way towards the famous library in the Shadow Refuge. Yes, while Virsha may have been assigned a tracker as a mentor, for now, she still wanted to study to become a scholar. But it was proving... difficult. The spells that Virsha possessed at the moment seemed to have come naturally to her, almost as if hereditary. Dragons that naturally knew this type of magic that inherited were practically nonexistant. Not to mention all the incidents that had occurred with magic wielding dragons. Nightflare being the most infamous of examples, having almost caused the NightWings, FireWings, and SkyWings to collapse into complete chaos.

But Virsha didn't know this. While they may fear her, Nightflare was discovered dead by Oculus, Tenebris, and Xangor, once they had discovered her torturing other NightWings, and had gone to investigate. They assumed she found out about their arrival, and poisoned herself. This had been the smart thing to do, since they would have surely burned her if she had tried to escape. Oculus gave this big speech about how the final evils of the NightWings had been flushed out, and now they had to remind the whole world of this, but Virsha, at the time of the speech, had been to young to attend. Even now, Virsha knew little of Nightflare, other than that she was really evil, due to the fact a lot of NightWings were trying to forget about the past. But Virsha was going to try and prove that magic was not an evil thing. And she was determined, even if she was only about nine.

"Miss Royetta, where are we going?" Virsha would ask with a concerned expression. They had been flying for quite some time, and her mentor had been silent for most of the trip. The young, inexperienced trainee was beginning to think she didn't know where they were going. Of course, Royetta, who had been around during some of the tough times, knew where she was going. They were taking a slight detour so that she could check up on something before they made it all the way to the island. Royetta wasn't a fan of children, but the child had been assigned to her by her superior, so she didn't have much of a choice in the manner. And the kid had been quiet so far, so maybe she wasn't too bad.

With a sideways glance back at the young Virsha, Royetta would let out a sigh. She supposed she had to make some effort of conversation with this girl. Whipping her tail in slight aggrevation, mostly from having to fly so far, the NightWing would begin to explain to the girl where they were going. "We're going to the Shadow Refuge. I have been told that there are many books there, and my superior desired me to go retrieve a few for you. And I brought you along, so you get a feel for what being by yourself feels like. Well, by your self I mean away from your parents. Luckily, we won't be there for long...."

This made Virsha curious. Why was it a good thing that they wouldn't be there for long? Unfortunately, these thoughts quickly escaped Virsha, flowing onto her tongue before she had a chance to try to discover a less rude way to put it. Royetta, while she didn't snap at Virsha, simply rolled her eyes. "That place creeps me out." was her only reply, and soon the topic was dropped entirely, replaced instead with the soothing remedy of silence.

When Royetta said they'd be returning, she meant that they would not be staying by the coastal sides of the NightWing empire for training. Royetta would instead be taking Virsha to the inland areas of the empire, in one of their training camps, and teach her the basics, even if that wasn't what Virsha desired. Everyone needed to know how to fight. Even those sneaky politicians still knew a thing or two about how to take down an enemy. So while Royetta could attempt to help her with her book work, she didn't know that much about magic. And honestly, didn't care to. The kid was skilled in magic, so what? Why didn't she just practice her regular breath attacks instead? Things like this never ceased to confuse Royetta.

Following closely behind, Virsha made a face, though she was careful not to let Royetta see it, else she may be subjugated to a long, boring talk, or a whipping to the face, neither of which she wanted. She didn't understand why magic was such a touchy subject. Weren't Nightwings like, the most adept in magic, or something? Shouldn't they encourage younglings who have a gift in it? It made no sense to her....

As they continued to fly, nothing of much interest happened. A few birds would fly by Virsha, and playfully, she'd try to chase after them, only to be scolded by Royetta, so after a couple times, she just stopped. It had been about an hour, and Virsha's wings were beginning to ache, when the aggressive adult in front of her finally allowed them to land. For the first time in this entire confound trip, Virsha was relieved, and happy, and actually liked her 'teacher', if you could call her that.

Royetta flew down gracefully, but Virsha was the opposite. She tried to act graceful, but her wings kind of just gave out, and she ended up flopping onto her stomach, letting out exasperated gasps. She hadn't flown that long in her entire life! How long had they been flying, five hours?! Who even knew! It was all way too hectic for Virsha to care.

"Oh sweet ground, how my tired wings have missed you!" Virsha would rejoice, rolling onto her back. Royetta gently stretched her wings behind Virsha, pretending not to notice the hatchling (as she liked to call her) embarrassing herself. Once Royetta was done stretching, she snap at Virsha, who was still rolling on the ground. "You! Quiet! You'll scare away all the food. Now, you stay here, and I'll get us something to eat, then we're back off in the air, understood?" Royetta waited until Virsha had positioned herself appropriately, and was nodding viciously, until she deemed it satisfactory, and walked off. She didn't try to be mean. This was just the only way she knew how to keep children in check.

Once Royetta was gone, Virsha let out a sigh of relief, and flopped back down on the ground, panting. Why did I have to get stuck with her? the trainee thought to herself, looking up at the sky, When there are so many other, nicer dragons who would be willing to teach me....?

For a moment, Virsha laid in silence, enjoying the sounds of the forest. She tried to be calm, but with no one around, she became very nervous. If Shine were near her, she'd feel her varied emotions of anger, relief, and fear. Royetta had landed Virsha in some bushes, near where Shine and the tracker would walk/fly by.

Shine continued through the Nightwing territory, looking around curiously, then settled looking forward again. She looked to the side curiously at one point, tipping her head as she looked at a few bushes off to the side, tipping her head once more. She blinked a few times curiously. Huh. Another dragon. She considered stopping to check it out, but thought better of it. She was being escorted out of the territory, or to that checkpoint, she was still deciding, but one thing was for sure. She didn't want to dawdle for too long, or at all. She wasn't sure how the silent tracker behind her would take that. It was still interesting though. She shook the thought away and started forward, rustling though a few bushes as she went.

While laying there, Virsha would listen carefully. The sounds of footsteps would begin to increase, and with it, her curiosity would grow as well. Surely Royetta wouldn't be mad at her if she were to just run off for a couple minutes, would she? Of course the thought was conflicting. Virsha really didn't want to face Royetta's wrath, but at the same time, wanted to see where those sounds were coming from. But her mother had always told her never to wander off, especially not in placed like this. But surely the NightWing territory wasn't dangerous, especially knowing how protective their great king Oculus was.

So after weighing her options, and the threat of losing the sounds weighing high above her head, Virsha finally made up her mind. With a determined smile, she thought to herself, I'll leave something to help me get back to this clearing. I'll just go to check the sound out, then I'll come back. Royetta won't even know I left! but still, even as Virsha came up with this oh so brilliant plan, she couldn't help thinking this might be a bad idea. After all, what if the sound wasn't even friendly? She had been a hatchling but two months ago. She didn't know how to fight.

With a hesitate gulp, the scholar trainee made her way through the forest, eventually coming across a path. It looked to have been tread pretty recently by dragons. Following this path, she eventually found two dragons, a NightWing and a SeaWing. The little one hadn't been the best at stealth though, and if attention were being paid by the tracker escorting Shine, he would soon smell Virsha's scent. She wasn't exactly very well, hidden, either, only partially obscured by a bush.

Shine finally stopped and paused at a bit of loud rustling, turning to look over her shoulder curiously at the sound of poorly disguised rustling. She walk towards the source, but she did turn to look at it curiously. She didn't like being followed. And while these emotions had no ill intentions, mostly curiosity, there was a good chance the tracker would do something about it, and she didn't want to keep going without her guide. Her eyes narrowed curiously. She did want to know who was following them. That'd be nice to know.

As Virsha followed, feeling rather proud, but cautious, she froze in fear as she noticed the SeaWing tense up. Of course, being untrained, Virsha didn't really notice that the SeaWing might have picked up on her following them right away. And instead, only noticed when the SeaWing stopped, and was about to turn around. And of course, the little NightWing panicked. What was she to do? She couldn't keep following? Maybe this undergrowth was enough to hide her? Oh, she wish she knew a spell that would allow her to become invisible, or something!

Out of desperation, and quick thinking, Virsha decided to try to crawl deeper into the underbrush, and lay as still as possible. If the tracker, who looked like a NightWing, found out she was here, no doubt she would get punishment, from both the stranger, and no doubt Royetta when she got back. So she lay in the undergrowth, quietly, hoping not to get caught. Unfortunately, Virsha had unintentionally made a lot of noise when digging deeper into the brush, which would have surely alerted the tracker of her presence, not to mention the fact that Virsha didn't know how to hide her scent, so they could probably smell her as well.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea after... Virsha thought quietly to herself. She may have book smarts, but she was very naive when it came to the workings of a survival world, out in the woods.

(I posties for Shiny, but busy so sorry if short ;-; )
The tracker followed behind 'TidePool', maintaining a safe distance, but never letting Shine get out of eyesight range. Hearing noises off and noticing her query pause, the tracker hopped from tree to the ground back to tree branch, eventually coming just above Virsha, peering down at the brush below them. The tracker then peered off to the left at Shine, making sure she hadn't fled, and then back down at the bushes, trying to identify what was there. The noise could have been a rodent, meaning a quick snack, or another SeaWing coming for Shine. "Out out, with you. One warning." spoke the voice, obviously feminine voice, keeping an eye now at the bush and Shine. Her task was to escort this 'Tidepool' out or to the checkpoint, but if she caught another rogue trying to sneak in, then she'd surely be rewarded. If it was just food, then a free snack never hurt. And if it was food, it would probably stay hidden till she put whatever it was to sleep before consuming it.

(I'm going to go ahead and get out of here soon so we can wrap this up ;3)

Virsha would pause, and wait quietly in the undergrowth. She would freeze in a cold sweat when the tracker leading Shine would stop as well. Then Virsha would shake a little when the tracker approached her bush. No, Virsha wasn't worried about getting hurt. A NightWing would never attack another NightWing (Oh poor innocent Virsha XD). No, Virsha was mostly worried about getting punished for her actions. And.... worst of all, if she was forced to head back. Royetta could do that, couldn't she? Then Virsha wouldn't get any of the information she desired.....

When the tracker spoke, warning her to get out of here, Virsha decided she would do just that. Once the two left, she would head back to where Royetta had left her, just as soon as the two walked away....

Once, however, they had left, when Virsha returned, trying to sneak through the bushes, she came face to face with a furious Royetta. Perhaps Shine and the tracker could even hear the roars of anger coming from her. Long story short, Virsha's detour had not been as pleasant as she so had desired.

Shine tipped her head and blinked a few times in surprise at that. So there had been someone, and they'd been scared. But-apparently-they'd gotten out of there pretty quick. Possible a trainee who got curious, maybe something else. Whatever it was, they were gone now. The goddess tipped her head back towards the tracker curiously. "D'you think it was a trainee?"