The waves lapped against the shoreline ; the cries of gulls above could be heard - it seemed they wanted to glean off her meal. She narrowed her eyes ; disgusted that such birds hovered over her and dared to rush her . Opening her mouth she released an ill - tempered hiss ; one that echoed against the water and caused the lingering birds to scatter and rethink their choice of scavenging. The female gave a content rumble ; now that her meal wasn't being interrupted anymore. She was feasting on the carcass of a sea lion - the poor creature had made the mistake of swimming into her tail. The poor creature died rather painfully ; the sound of soft squelching could be heard as she ripped into the carcass even more - bits of vermillion droplets of blood splattered as she did so, and the crunch of bone could be heard as she chewed into the meat. Taking her tongue she ran it across her mouth - the salty taste of blood flooding her senses and that brought her delight. This was just merely a snack for her, she hadn't been able to do her proper hunting during her journey to the Kingdom of Ederia . She grunted in annoyance , the thought of bonding with a pathetic creature within the Kingdom didn't bring her the slightest bit of pleasure. Her claws dug into the rock - an ear piercing scraping sound could be heard as she ran them down the rock. Maybe the Kingdom wouldn't mind if she made the mortal her morsel ; but then the puny creatures would attempt to invade her seas in retribution - and they already were damaging her waters. She gave an annoyed snort at the thought, as she flattened her wings against the rock - slightly raising them up and down as she sunbathed, warming her body up.

She let out a lazy yawn ; her fangs dripping with the blood of her prey, and the vermillion liquid glistening against the sunlight. It was a rather pretty day - not too warm nor too cool for her. Though she probably shouldn't overdo it in that sunlight - and so she slid into the water with ease. And she kept swimming, the waters were growing warmer as she approached the Kingdom - she was used to the deeper stormy frigid waters of her home, and she rose up, peering her head out the water. She could hear the gasps of humans who were on their wooden boats ; some looking at her in fear and others clutching their puny wooden sticks as if they could use them as weapons against her - foolish humans, she could only sneer within her mind. As she dove back down, the waters getting a bit cooler as she did so, but the channel she was swimming in was growing narrower and she was forced to surface again. She gave an annoyed sigh, she'd rather not be away from water for too long. Such lengths this parasite was making her go through to meet them - they'd had better be worth all the trouble lest she'd decide to make a meal out of them. Her nostrils flared as she caught the strong scent of humans and dragons intermixing - it seemed that she was growing near this, so called, Valley. Where humans came and prayed to whatever Gods they worshiped to be paired with one of her kind ; she thought it foolish, but in the back of her mind the prospect of a weak creature such as a human being worthy to ride a dragon was intriguing. But she had met and seen humans over the centuries ; and most were egotistical bastards that thought nothing of others and only moved to their own advantage and hurt anyone in their way. Rarely was there a sense of community between them ; she gave a sigh as she noted the tree line.

She walked through the trees ; the scents of the forest calming her nerves slightly - she was already on edge from being on land . Her paws making imprints in the earth, causing it to mix with the salt water of the sea she came from - this scent was pleasing to her. She then noticed a lake and perked up at the sight - only to notice it was being used by another Water Dragon ; lucky bastard , she thought to herself , they were smart enough to find a pool of water to be comfortable in. And she noticed the small creatures before him - two small humans, a girl and a boy , she flicked her tail at the sight and carefully walked around them. She was dropping wet from the sea, the water droplets falling in her wake ; she then noticed the tree line ended and there was nothing but open sun and she could feel her eye jerk in annoyance. The gods must wanted to torture her, she had to stand out in the sun and actually search for this being that would become her Bonded ? They had better be grateful that she even graced them with her presence. She then noted other dragons with their humans ; most seemingly territorial and irritable - she didn't understand the feeling but maybe she would one day. For now she could only feel plain annoyance - and she could feel her dorsal fins rattling in annoyance, mirroring her emotions.

She couldn't feel the Bond in the slightest. Which was rather annoying. She then raised her head in alert as she caught the sight of a human approaching her tail in her peripheral vision ; and giving a sharp hiss, with a snapping of her teeth she rotated her head upside down - like that of an owl. Her fangs bared as she removed her tail from the humans grubby hands. As much as she would like to inflict pain on the bold creature ; she wasn't trying to get in trouble. " Human . . . " her voice guttural and raspy , having not spoken above land for a while , being rather eerie at the moment " do you wish to know pain unlike any other ? Do not touch my tail unless you wish to get stung . " she instructed rather harshly, the more she spoke - the smoother her voice came out until it was her usual sweet sounding voice. She then gave an annoyed huff at the prospects and continued to walk around in search of her rider.

She noticed that her sister was there and had quickly found her rider - Ediothea felt a pang of envy at the female finding her companion quite easily. She wished to go greet her sister ; but she didn't want to interrupt the bonding. And she gave a short chuff after that she began concentrating on her Bond - trying to pinpoint them amongst the humans to no avail. And she frowned at this and gave a brief look of displeasure on her face at realizing her predicament - her rider wasn't even here yet, it seemed. Oh she was not pleased, not pleased at all .

Kayne/ 18/ male/ new rider/ Mentions: Adramelech, Avery, Marina

When the dragon- his dragon- suddenly dropped him as if it hadn't a care in the world whether Kayne landed safely or not, Kayne righted himself and landed in a cat-like crouch. If Adramelech wanted a rider who was easily pushed around, he'd chosen the wrong guy. Hoping he'd disappointed the dragon by not landing in a flailing heap, he dusted himself off.

"First off, if this is gonna work, yeah, we're gonna have to find you a nickname, mate." He drawled, his twangy yet somehow still elegant sounding accent even thicker in his irritation.

Then his dragon stopped suddenly and made the strangest sound, like he'd eaten someone earlier and one of their bones had settled in Adramelech's throat. He followed Adram's gaze and saw him interested in a very NOT friendly looking dragonness. The Dark dragon. Creepy. Very dangerous. Did he mention creepy yet? Kayne liked the night. The shadows were comforting, the air was fresh, the forests quiet, and the stars were beautiful, but this dragonness was not like the night's darkness at all. She exuded the dank claustrophobic darkness of the deepest cave. Her darkness was no comfort to him. It was simply suffocating.

Kayne trotted to keep up with his dragon's long strides. "Wait, you have friends?" His voice snarky, hoping for a reaction.

He let out an exasperated sigh when his dragon told him to stay close. "Look, mate, I'll do what I dang well please. I didn't sign up for this. I wasn't even planning on being here today, and I don't know why you chose me over some other kid who probably waited their whole life to be a Rider, cause I'm a Ranger already and I don't know how well this whole dragon Rider thing is going to work out."

Even as he spoke, he wondered at the truth of these words. Perhaps he could make more of a difference as a rider than a ranger. With the advantage of flight and a freakin fire breathing monster on his side, maybe he could finally tighten up the border security, or at least gather enough evidence to present a case for the royalty of the land to care about all of the tension at the border. As a Rider, maybe he would finally have a voice. Could he finally make a difference?

His gaze flickered to Avery Solstrale. He needed questions answered. He didn't necessarily like the man-well, people in general really- but he needed questions answered and that was the only one he knew to ask. Besides, he looked like he had some sort of rank within the Riders.

"Look, while you go catch up with your friend." He told Adramelech. "I'm going to go ask that guy a few questions about all this Rider stuff." He pointed out Solstrale. "That okay with you?" He asked, but didn't wait for an answer before he began that direction. If Adram had a problem with it, Kayne would certainly hear about it within the next 2.5 seconds.

Solstrale was talking to the same girl with the water dragon that Kayne had given his cloak to. Making sure to steer clear on the cantankerous water lizard, Kayne came up behind Solstrale and paused for a moment, crossing his arms. There was no way to get out of this one without talking to someone. And he probably had to be respectful too. He needed questions answered and irritating Solstrale would not help his case.

"Solstrale." He finally spoke, his voice deep and even, not arrogant, but not submissive either. "I don't know if you remember me, but I have some questions for you."

It sounded more like he meant it as an interrogation than a friendly conversation, but he hadn't meant it that way. His tone was just a bit too serious. He uncrossed his arms to hopefully tone his body posture down a notch to something less threatening.