Fraidy Cat and Scaredy Dragon [Art & Eliza]

"Oh yes, difficult not to feel that much of it." At that point she started to feel like she was overheating and she leaned lightly toward Ro's shoulder. "Is it getting increasingly warm or is that me?" She had the feeling that is was just her, but it never hurt to ask if maybe the rest of the chamber was just as warm. She slumped almost haphazardly beside her friend and sighed. "Don't you wonder where this stuff comes from? It's like lava coming up through the earth. Though instead of a volcano it's a giant cave of blue crystals. Makes you wonder. . ." she trailed off.

Even if there were such a thing as magic why on earth would it affect things like this? It didn't seem to make sense, but then again most things in nature didn't and that was good enough. "Rokam please tell me you'll stay the size you are now. Not all dragons need to be big enough to crush cities." Something told her that he wasn't going to get much bigger, if he was going to grow more at all. Truly, she needed to find a library and start studying these dragons. They just got more and more interesting by the second.

Silence looked around and wiped some sweat from her brow before nodding and turning, albeit rather dizzily, toward the exit. "This is quite the day so far. . ." she muttered. In the messy chaos of the cave-in, she didn't quite notice the shard of crystal that got tangled in her hair. Knowing that Ro was right behind her like a cat with its tail on fire, she bolted out as fast as she could. Of course along the way chunks of rock and crystal fell around her and it was rather daunting just to get out "period" much less alive and in one piece. The heat was only getting worse at the moment, but as soon as she was outside the heat went away and she lay flat on the ground trying to cool off.

"Holy. . .Holy hellfire. . ." she gasped. After most of the burning went away, she slowly sat upright and looked around for her dragon friend. "Rokam? Rokam are you alright?" she called. Things still looked fuzzy, and she was still seeing double, but she'd know a card dragon if she saw one, it was just a matter of seeing it in the first place. Once everything stopped coming in pairs, things became more clear and she ventured to stand. "Ro? Where are ya?" she called again.

"Something actually caught fire? Hadn't noticed. . ." she gasped. Her knees were shaking when she stood, and as the crystal fell from her hair it split in half, though now the two halves were glowing. "Lovely, a pair of keepsakes." she remarked half-sarcastically. She picked them up carefully and noticed that they made her hands warm, but it was nowhere near the burning she'd experienced before. She felt the back of her head and sighed with relief, no hair lost, or at least minimal loss. "Magic is one strange thing." Upon pocketing her treasure, she hugged Rokam 'round the neck. "So glad you're alright!" It was high time to return home after all this trouble.

"Let's get out of here and head back to the circus. You can sleep in my tent for the night if you like." Silence knew as soon as she got back within a few feet of her bed she'd simply pass out on it, and Heaven forbid she leave her friend out in the open where he might get rained on. If she could stay awake long enough to move her breakables to a safer place and get some bedding out for Ro, she'd be right pleased. She started off in that general direction and paused. "This "is" the way back isn't it?"

"Night traveling's never been much of an issue here, but alright we'll hurry back." she agreed as she headed off in the general direction of home. She slid once or twice on the way down, making it a little scary with the sounds of shock she'd utter. "Mountains take the grace out of your steps if you aren't careful." she grumbled. By the time they got to ground level, the sun had started its descent. If Rokam was to stay out of the dark, they'd have to book it all the way home. With Silence not having shoes that was risky business, but there was a clear path that could be seen through the trees and she took off toward it. "We'll have to move fast if we want to be there by dark, I'll try to move faster than I did earlier."

What made Ro want to be out of the woods by dark wasn't something she was about to inquire into. It wasn't too long before things began to get tough to see, but as light faded entirely the familiar tents came into view. "Home sweet home!" Silence ran on ahead to move her valuables and set up a bed for her friend, then went back out and held the tent flap aside for him. "Got a bed made up for you and there's no risk of breaking anything." she said smiling. "Make yourself at home!"

"It's fine I can always just put them back up when we move, or when you leave whichever comes first. But eh, no rush no hurry we're here for a while you can come and go as you please." She gave a rather wide yawn and stretched her arms. "Today was far more than I thought it would turn out to be. If your bed isn't comfy enough just let me know, I have extra pillows if they're needed." After making sure everything was still in tact after her adventure, she lit up an oil lamp and fixed something light for them both to eat. "Is there anything else you'd like before I turn the lights out to sleep?"

She felt a bit bad that she was forcing him to go to sleep when she did, but he did have the option of staying up and checking out the rest of the tents if he so chose. She curled up on her bed and left a single lantern lit on his side of the tent in case he wanted to do some exploring. "Just blow out the flame when you're ready to sleep, ok?" It took less than 10 minutes of lying in bed for her to pass out from all the stress. Tomorrow could wait just a while longer.