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His Weight in Bronze: Chapter Four

By Shalion and Yjay

[Yjay]: Xyo's head turned as he heard the sounds of the colossal dragoness waddling toward the mouth of the cave. "Where are you heading?" he asked genuinely curious as to Ylssa's whereabouts. Xyo still didn't know very much about the hobby's or what else the large female did, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for him to ask. The skinnier dragon began to follow the lumbering dragoness, easily catching up within a matter of seconds before having to slow down to stay at the same pace as the other dragon. To him, it was amazing she could still move at all with the extra weight.

[Shalion]: It was not surprising that Xyo was shocked that Ylssa could move at her weight. The dragon's great belly fell in an enormous sack to the level of her ankles and even lower so that on level ground there was less than six inches of space between the lowest point of her belly and the floor, and very frequently, Ylssa did not have the advantage of walking over level ground. But more significantly, the dragon's flanks expanded hugely outwards to her sides, making great, bovine slabs of meat on either side of her shoulders. Ylssa was wider than she was tall, so the majority of her weight was actually spread onto her flanks rather than sitting right on her abdomen, which was fortunate because if it had been, there would have been no way the dragoness could move realistically. But Ylssa was acutely aware of the possibility of her own weight immobilizing her. After all, she had had to live through that state personally several times over the course of the centuries and no matter what the circumstances, being unable to walk for her own weight grew tiresome in short order. That was why Ylssa made sure to walk every day and to remain as active as possible. Already, under all the thousands of extra pounds of meat, she was very muscular, much stronger and even more athletic than she looked. However, at her current extreme size, Ylssa was fast approaching the limit even big muscles could provide in handling such an excess of lard. Which made the fortuitous arrival of Xyo even more appreciated.

Ylssa kept her head high and let her thick, ponderous under-neck bounce as she moved, swaying with her waddling gait. "Nowhere in particular." she said coyly. She did notice how it was difficult for Xyo to walk slowly enough to keep pace with her lumbering self, round flanks swaying left and right in wide arcs so that her hind legs would even have the space to move against the large, hanging belly.

[Yjay]: The dragoness' very non-descriptive answer peaked the smaller drake's curiosity further. Xyo didn't want to be intrusive, understanding from personal experience why one might want their privacy. However in the end, his desire to know more got the better of him. "Mind if I follow you?" he asked casually, despite the slight pain from the wound in his side. The pain wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday, and even at a glance it was clear that the gash was beginning to close. Xyo also thought it would be a nice change to get a breath of fresh air, especially after practically being smothered by Ylssa earlier.

Speaking of the dragoness, during the entire walk he'd been unable to tear his eyes away from her overburdened form. The thickness of her legs and tail could be compared to tree trunks, which jiggled even with the smallest motion of Ylssa's body. While she was walking, these motions were even more constant, creating a show which the lithe dragon couldn't help but watch as they moved towards the cave's entrance.

[Shalion]: As much as Xyo might have expected otherwise, Ylssa was actually telling the truth in saying that she was not going anywhere in particular. After they got outside the cave entrance, the obese, waddling dragoness lumbered off of the main path and down a narrow dirt path that led through the tall evergreens. Not infrequently, the low hanging gut on the female dragon brushed against the ground, sometimes heavily, making a distinct sound that even Xyo could hear.

About a quarter mile distant from the cave entrance, Ylssa paused to catch her breath. She actually remained standing however, surprised at her own stamina which felt as if it had gotten a serious boost. The bronze dragoness knew better however, her renewed energy had less to do with increased strength so much as she'd just recently experienced some significant weight loss, even though it was not so apparent for all of her loosened skin. Before she got moving again, the obese dragon gathered herself and squatted with her tail near a tall old tree where she proceeded to mark her territory... voluminously. She stared at Xyo cannily as she did so, challenging him with her eyes.

[Yjay]: The male just stared back in amazement as he watched the female urinate directly in front of him. She was certain more brash than other dragon's he'd met, something Xyo never thought he would experience to such an extent as he had today. The weakest of a litter was usually the outcast, ignored by all and forced to live a lonely life. That same life was exactly how the white drake had lived, until meeting Ylssa. For him, these past few days had been a massive change, yet a much appreciated one at that. Not only had the dragon begun to change emotionally, his physical appearance was starting to shift as well.

In the bright daylight, Xyo's recovery over the past das was obvious. The drake's legs and wings had already regained a large amount of the previously lost muscle mass, the scales adorning his entire body being lustrous once more as well. His frame had gone from being skeletal to being only slightly below normal weight, much to the relief of Xyo. He now knew he had a chance of survival once more, and maybe he could make it better than he had originally. It was an odd thought to the drake, but he knew he might be able to live without being alone for a change.

[Shalion]: The hike through the woods around the entrance to Ylssa's cave went on a bit longer after that, with the female creating regular scent marks as she went. However, even with her feeling lighter of foot than usual, the hugely obese dragoness could not manage walking through the rough terrain for very long, even at her abysmally slow gait. At the half mile point, they turned back, completing a circuit where Xyo never once felt out of breath despite the massive injury to his flank, though Ylssa had had to stop, sit down and recover twice over before returning. Upon getting back to her padded dais, the enormous dragon collapsed in a heap, panting with a livid red tongue and gently fanning her overheated body with wings showing large red veins in the membranes. After about half a minute of this, she seemed to notice Xyo was still in the room.

"How about you make yourself useful and serve us that stew? It ought to be about ready by now."

[Yjay]: "Of course!" Xyo said, beginning to get a tad bored from sitting around too long. Getting up from where he'd seated himself on the rocks near the dais, he began to walk over to the large pot of stew, still roasting over the fire. The heavenly aromas wafting up and filling the air were enough to convince the drake the that the stew was indeed ready, and he wasted no time in filling three large bowls. One of the bowls was for himself, while the other two were for the gargantuan dragoness resting on the pedestal. Careful to avoid burning himself, he brought the warm bowls over to the dais, placing them in front of the dragoness. "Um, h-here y-you go." the white dragon stated somewhat nervously as he sat down in front of the dais, beginning to blow cold air over the steaming hot stew.

[Shalion]: The dragons ate, Ylssa demonstrating her casual gluttony while Xyo stormed his single bowl with reckless abandon, appetite seemingly peaked by the short outdoor walk. He still did not hold a candle to the literal gallons Ylssa could dump into the endless reservoir of her expansive midsection, but the massively obese dragoness found it charming how much actual pleasure Xyo took from eating, a real joy that was lacking almost completely in the way that Ylssa satisfied her own greed with a bored, business-like manner.

That first dinner shared together, at least the first one where they were both fully conscious, marked the beginning of a new routine for both dragons. Ylssa had thought initially that she would have trouble adapting to sharing her den with a male dragon of all things, but in fact, with Xyo's docility, it was surprisingly nice. What was even more nice was having the lean male whose physical abilities increased day by day do all of the tedious daily chores for her while she watched.

And even as the first days passed in a startling blur, the steady effect of Ylssa's presence on Xyo accumulated more and more visibly. The white dragon continued to gain muscle on his slender body until one could not really call him slender anymore. He built up to the point where the muscles stood out in a clear structure beneath his hide and it was impossible to tell that he had experienced a near fatal amount of hardship just recently and not a day had passed from that point before Xyo began to develop a newfound softness which began to blur his once clearly outlined shape and contours. And even as Xyo mounted a marvelous transformation from the weak whelp she had found to a strapping, well fleshed drake, Ylssa was undergoing her own steady, if less obvious transformation.

Daily the dragoness felt more lively and energetic. She cut down on sleeping, from 18 hours a day to 14. She sometimes even got up from her dais to pace around her den, just because she wanted to. This was not due to any build up of muscle or further toning of her already expansive muscleclature buried deep within her vast body, rather it had entirely to do with relieving her overtaxed body of unneeded pounds of flab, a steady stream of it, in fact, to all the living creatures in her vicinity. Pigs certainly did well as fat dumping grounds, but not so much when she inevitably ate them; though the metabolic cost of converting the fat back when she ate it had conveniently kept her from becoming immobile for sheer size until now. But the arrival of Xyo had changed the balance of the equation in Ylssa's favor, for which she was now reaping the benefits.

Ylssa's skin continued to slacken bit by bit and on the huge dragoness, the changes were indeed hard to notice if one was not looking for them. She mostly lost girth from around her flanks to start with, the greatest change was Ylssa's rapidly decreasing width across her vertical profile. Her great belly continued to hang at around the same low level, but the flesh sack was getting even flabbier and more wobbly than it ever had been. The skin on the obese dragoness too looked less taut and straining the way it had been when the deep fat padding coated in brimming skin was still growing to meet the expanding internal dimensions. There was more cellulite on the dragoness now as a result the skin slackening in places. Ylssa was confident though that she would not soon be wading through rags and bunches of distended skin, however. She was a dragon after all, a magical creature, not an overgrown lizard, and she remembered what it was like to be skinny. Ylssa looked forward to trying on the look again for the first time in almost two centuries.

[Yjay]: The morning sun rose on Xyo's 8th day with Ylssa, much to displeasure of the sleeping drake. Having normally slept in an area where waking up by the sun was unheard of, the bright light reflecting off of the polished floor and into his eyes irritated the dragon slightly. The white dragon sleepily opened his eyes, taking a moment to take in his increasingly familiar surroundings, including Ylssa's still slumbering form lying on the ornate pedestal. Xyo quietly got to his feet and stretched, causing all of the recent changes to his form to become apparent.

The wound on his side had vanished, all that remained of the injury being a fading white marking on his flank. The ice drake's scales had once more become lustrous and reflective, by part from being healthy once more and also from his newfound habit of bathing regularly. Xyo now looked very similar to any other dragon of his species, with one key difference. The once lithe drake now sported a slight paunch, hanging down from his middle and blurring the normally finite definition which he would otherwise possess. However the drake did not spare a second thought about his recent change in weight, having dubbed it down to his large change in diet. Many nights of a surfeit of food had lead to an increase in the drake's appetite, having gone from barely eating the equivalent of a hare to being able to consume an entire bowl and a half of soup in a single sitting.

Xyo breathed a relaxed sigh, finally getting over his discomfort of no longer being awoken from his own accord. Just before the drake was about to collect the ingredients for the evenings stew, the drake picked up a foreign smell which he recognized recognized immediately. Human was the only word on the dragon's mind as he crept without a sound over to the side of the entrance. Soft footsteps could be heard coming up the hard stone stairs. Without hesitation, the drake flung himself out in the open immediately, baring his fangs and flaring his wings in a menacing manner at the intruder.

[Shalion]: Samantha, the daughter of Dragon's Reach's mayor Jacob, walked up the long path towards the shrine. From the village, it was an uphill hike through trees and then some rocky ground. The path leveled off a bit as the young woman neared the bottom of the cliff face, walking alongside the small fenced pasture that stretched out from the entrance along one side of the sheer cliff. The protector's small herd was grazing sedately in the early morning sunshine. Already, they were heavier and thicker since the last time Samantha had seen them, the day Ylssa herself had come down to the village to collect the taxes. The woman smiled contently, such was the power and prosperity of the Protector.

Samantha had little on her mind other than concentrating on the matter which she had come up here to discuss with the Protector, remembering the proper oaths to swear and the correct amount of bowing to preserve the Protector's dignity without seeming ingratiating. She held a crude tin bucket tight in her right hand. She knew the Protector enjoyed milk, but it was hard for her to extract it from her animals herself. Samantha knew the small gesture would greater predispose the great dragon to accepting her and her father's request...

However, as Samantha walked through the great columns her ancestors and the Protector herself had constructed long ago and into the chambers of the shrine proper, she was not greeted with the huge, lordly and sedate form of the bronze dragoness, but instead by a huge mass of white scales, all fangs, wings and open aggression.

Samantha screamed and her bucket fell from her suddenly numb fingers as she cowered before the huge, imposing beast, sure that she was immediately about to die. The only thing she could think as she collapsed to her knees, clutching the round wooden dragon talisman around her neck in her fingers was, "Protector, help me!"

The next thing Samantha heard was a booming voice from farther back in the shrine, "XYO!" Samantha knew the voice well, and she lifted her head as the voice was followed by an audible THUD she could feel in her legs and feet as something heavy dropped onto the floor and moved swiftly towards both her and the strange dragon. Then she was just there, standing between the menacing white dragon and her puny, merely human form, the Protector. Samantha shivered in religious ecstasy at being so close, she could have reached out to touch the large round flank, but the woman held back, too shy and hesitant to touch the living goddess. The "goddess" seemed a bit winded from the sprint to her current position, as her chest and belly heaved. Nevertheless, she said in a low voice, "This human is... my charge, Xyo... So if... you touch a hair... on her head..." she paused to swallow, "I'll gut you where you stand."

[Yjay]: Xyo was startled momentarily before the drake adorned a very perplexed look. He pulled his wings back to his body, knowing showing further aggression to this human would be a foolish decision. "Protector?" the white drake said with a confused tone, before looking at Ylssa, and to the form of the human cowering by the columns.

The white dragon had been told stories in the tundra about humans, about their little structures and their habit of slaying dragons "for honor." He'd only ever seen a human a few times, when his brothers would come back some nights with one to play with. They usually ran around in circles, tried to hide, and screamed a lot before being inevitably eaten. Xyo had never given much thought to how he felt about humans, though they had struck him as rather dumb creatures, what with the tales of them seeking to kill dragons and yet all he had ever seen of them was being pawed at, screaming, before being invariably devoured by one of his brothers. It made him curious as to why Ylssa was defending a human of all things.

[Shalion]: Ylssa calmed down, seeing that Xyo was not intent on mauling the young human female like an untrained puppy. She remained standing, a new pleasure considering that previously she would have felt the need to sit as soon as she stopped moving. "Yes, Protector, Xyo." Ylssa spoke confidently, still mantling her wings behind her broad body to emphasize her size and position. Even as she faced Xyo, behind her, she moved her tail close to Samantha, offering the narrow tip at chest level, like an outstretched hand. It took concentration to do these things simultaneously, and Ylssa was proud of her ability to concentrate on multiple things at once. After all, she was perfectly aware of who this woman was. Letting the mayor's daughter be killed on a routine trip up to the shrine would reflect poorly on her indeed.

Samantha, for her part, gently grabbed hold of the tail tip which rapidly thickened into a mass much wider than her entire body, but at the point was narrow enough to grasp as a sturdy tree branch. The tail escorted her into Ylssa's shadow and all but under her wing. The dragon smell was strong, like a mix between snakeskin and sulfur, but Samantha did not mind. She wanted very much to reach out and stroke the massive flank that rose to a climax over three feet above her head, thousands of pounds of muscle and power, and yet even more, magic and godly wisdom as the village girl understood things. She moved along Ylssa's body shielding her from the other dragon. She knew she ought to stay back, but curiosity demanded another look, a memory which was not tainted with shock and the fear of instant death. She poked her head out from around the bronze dragon's thick, protruding brisket hanging under her neck.

"I am in charge of these humans. Think of them like the cows, goats and pigs, if you must, but they are not for eating." she cocked her head down at the girl clamoring near her chest, looking down at her with one huge violet eye. The young woman cowered, again clutching the amulet around her neck. Releasing a satisfied breath, she added to Xyo, "This one's name is Samantha."

[Yjay]: Xyo stood there for a few moments, craning his head at such an angle that he could see Samantha, who cowered closer to Ylssa's side once she realized the other dragon was watching her. Pulling his head back, he looked once more at the dragoness. "So you keep humans... as pets?" he asked inquisitively, before adding "And you mentioned humans, plural, which means you have multiple...?" the curious drake added, despite there being various other questions he desired to ask. He refrained from doing so, as he knew accidently antagonizing Ylssa when she'd recently threatened to kill him would be an ill-fated choice. Xyo then waited patiently for her to respond, an inquisitive look clearly present on his pale-scaled face.

[Shalion]: Ylssa chuckled softly to herself. Either the recovery of his body was fueling a new curiosity in the previously passive drake, or he had a thing specifically about humans. Either way, it was refreshing to have Xyo question her, even if it was a mild inconvenience. "I suppose you could say it's something like that." she said, nevermind what Samantha thought about being compared to a pet, or earlier to livestock. She shifted her weight again, holding her head higher over Xyo's. "And there are more of them." she said challengingly, "An entire village of them, 500 strong." she snorted, tilting her broad snout to one side. "All of them obey me, some even worship me..." She looked down again at the human female. "Isn' that right, Samantha?"

"Y-yes, P-protector Ylssa." said the woman, again shrinking under the power of the huge violet eye above her head. She turned towards the white dragon who was almost close enough for him to have reached her with an outstretched claw. She summoned her courage and said to him. "The Protector is wise and great. She keeps all harm away from our little valley." Samantha was proud that her voice sounded pure and true that time, she had not stuttered. She was even prouder as the oversized dragoness beamed satisfaction down at her, almost causing Samantha to melt with religious feelings of awe and self-worth.

[Yjay]: Xyo could physically smell the scent of true admiration coming off of Samantha as Ylssa cast her glance down at her, but the biggest though on his mind was the size of the village the dragoness was "protecting" 500? If a large amount of them worship her so, it would explain the quality of her residence and her... corpulence. Taking a moment to organize his thoughts, he asked the most pertinent questions on his mind, as asking all of them would most likely result in them being there until sunset. "For what period of time have you been... protecting the village?" Xyo said, having to take a moment to find the correct wording, once more to avoid antagonizing the dragoness. "And m-might I be able to see this village someday?" the drake added with a hint of nervousness in his voice, unsure as to how Ylssa would perceive the question.

[Shalion]: The obese dragoness stalked forward with wide, slow steps, really swaying her broad hips and tail. She put a clawed hand on Xyo's chest. "Ah, come now, Xyo. It's not polite to ask a female about matters which might reveal her age." she said sarcastically, winking at the white drake. Her paw braced him firmly, feeling the strong muscle which had grown under his brilliant hide in hardly over a week. Muscle, and a little extra. She went on, still touching him with her paw, "As for when you might see it..." she spared a glance back down towards Samantha, "Why not today? I've been waiting for your wound to heal to send you out flying anyways. Nothing beats a little fresh venison, eh, Xyo?" she chuckled.

Then the human woman surprised both dragons by speaking, her voice high pitched compared to the baritone of both the male and female dragons. "Y-you were injured?" she asked, looking towards Xyo with curious eyes, still clasping the dragon pendant between her closed fingers at her breast.

[Yjay]: Xyo looked to Ylssa first, silently asking if it would be appropriate to tell his tale, still completely unaware of the social customs that were required for human interaction.... Much to his relief, the dragoness nodded a simple yes. The white drake took a moment to determine where to start. "I'm comparatively new to this area, I came from the tundra many miles away from here. When I first arrived, I was nothing more than a barely breathing skeleton... " he trailed off, distracted momentarily by what could have happened had he not met Ylssa. Images of him slowly starving away in an unfamiliar place, alone forever. These images momentarily filled his mind, yet Xyo quickly pushed those thoughts away, knowing that's not what had happened. He was with Ylssa now, his previous hardships behind him. There was a notable pause in the dragon's speech as he took a few moments to recollect himself. "Although I do say I am certainly feeling better now, thanks to Ylssa. " he said, not comfortable with calling her "protector" yet.

[Shalion]: "Protector guide us all." said Samantha as a response, bringing the round dragon pendant to her lips and kissing it. The young woman herself was overwhelmed to consider that the great Protector Ylssa had even managed to save another sky-lord such as herself. Truly her power knew no bounds.

The massively overweight dragon extended her foreleg to the young woman. She looked up in awe at Ylssa, who gave her a slight nod and a beckoning gesture with her head. "It's alright." she said simply and the woman seemed to take her meaning as she scrambled up the foreleg, placing her simple leather boots onto the crook of the dragon's elbow and hoisting herself up to sit at the base of Ylssa's neck. Ylssa was far too broad to make a comfortable seat for the human female, but the fat bulging against her lower back from the dragon's bulbous shoulders helped hold her in place. "How about we get some fresh air." suggested Ylssa easily and she began to waddle her still-wide body around towards the entrance past the while columns. "You can show me how well you've recovered, Xyo. And I don't believe Samantha here has ever seen a dragon fly before..."

[Yjay]: Xyo, putting his curiosities aside for the moment, followed the dragoness outside. The prospect of flying once more was certainly exciting for the muscular drake, having done little but work around Ylssa's home and eat for the past few days. He hoped his flying muscles had recovered, even without exercise, knowing fully well a failure would be massively embarrassing and would be detrimental to his pride. But another worry about flying he had was the paunch he now sported around his middle, which was large enough to jiggle slightly as he walked. Xyo pushed that worry aside, knowing that flying would be a good way to work some of that extra weight off. He didn't want to gain too much extra flab now, or did he?

The dragon's own self doubt about the topic confused him slightly. He'd always lived his life skinny as could be, not an extra ounce of weight on him. Xyo looked to his side at Ylssa, who was already beginning to pant lightly once more from the mere effort of walking, or more accurately, waddling. The extra flab certainly seemed to have a negative effect on one's stamina, and possibly health. But then why did he doubt himself so? Was it the softness, or something else..? The drake was so lost in thought he almost walked straight into Ylssa when she abruptly stopped a few feet in front of him.

[Shalion]: They had only gone a short way from the entrance to Ylssa's shrine, the massive dragon waddling with her wide hips and flanks. The human woman on her back felt like she weighed nothing at all, even as her legs straddled the broad base of her neck. She kept rather still, as if afraid of making a sudden movement that might offend her goddess. Silly little human female, thought Ylssa haughtily, though the behavior of those who had chosen - of their own accord, Ylssa reminded herself - to worship her as more than flesh and blood was endearing to the centuries old dragon, like lost mewling puppies.

Ylssa led the way back down the path, turning off of it at a familiar place. It would have been familiar to Xyo too, had he been conscious the last time he had been there. It was not much longer at all until Ylssa sat her wide rump down on the stony clifftop, a valley spreading out below all three of the party. She turned her thick neck to the white dragon, "Well, Let's see what you can do, Xyo." she said expectantly.

[Yjay]: The drake took a second to look over at Ylssa, and the human mounted on her neck eyeing him with curious eyes, before stepping forward towards the edge of the cliff. Up here, the wind carried the refreshing scent of a forest from many miles away. Xyo took a moment to breathe in the untainted scent before he spread his mighty wings, preparing to take off for the first time in a week. A sudden gust of wind was all the dragon needed before he took off, riding the draft until he was high above Ylssa and her passenger. Xyo let out a sigh of relief, knowing he was still airworthy, the wing rushing by him helping blow away his worries. The drake took the time to enjoy himself, flying around high in the sky for a while, even doing a few acrobatic tricks mid-air before deciding to fly lower to investigate the forest below.

At a glance, the forest seemed no different from any other. Thick trees covered most of the places which Xyo could see, only to be broken by the occasional clearing or lake. Even from the air, he could still smell the faint odor of a few of the forest's inhabitants, which mostly seemed to consist of deer and hares. From some angles, the entrance to the dragoness' cave was visible, along with the large clearing which seemed to be present close to the base of the mountain in which it was situated. This caught his attention, and Xyo tilted his wings and let his wings carry him in it's direction. When he got close, he saw that the clearing was not in fact empty. In fact, it was instead densely populated with humans. He could easily see some of their odd little structures, along with herds full of animals and the occasional farm present near the edges. This must be where the humans Ylssa was talking about live. Xyo thought to himself. As he drew closer, a few of the humans began to point at his form in the sky, starting talk amongst themselves. He stopped just a dozen feet from the edge of the clearing, where a large gathering of them had gathered to watch the white dragon. They didn't seem to do much, but he did occasionally see one of them branch off from the group and walk in the direction of Ylssa's home.

"Oh right... Ylssa and Samantha..." the drake said to himself, having forgotten about the two who were meant to be watching him fly. He knew he should probably get back to them soon, lest they worry about him too much. Without a second glance, he flew away from the human village and back to the perch where Ylssa was waiting.

[Shalion]: Ylssa watched the now muscular and well-fleshed drake dive and soar through the air, twisting his lithe body and performing acrobatics, clearly just for the fun of it. This brought a rather wistful grin to the obese dragon's wide, jowly face. Oh, how long it had been for her to feel the wind supporting her weight! She continued to watch Xyo twist and turn, angling his wings in the sharp mountain updrafts with greedy eyes. Not so much longer now, she would be where he is, she plotted silently. Until then, Xyo could have his fun and more importantly make himself of use to her.

Of course, the thought occurred to Ylssa that with her wide rump and belly weighing her solidly to the ground, Xyo could easily whirl away on a breeze, never to be seen again. Judging by the way he had behaved so far, so meek, so lacking in self-direction, Ylssa did not think he would abandon her now. However, she knew that this might not always be the case. The morbidly obese dragoness realized that she needed something to hold him here, something that she controlled absolutely. Well, there was her own marvelous self, naturally, and she expected the drake to be drawn to her feminine qualities by instinct alone, regardless of how ludicrously immature he seemed. 'But maybe there is something more...' thought the dragoness as her thoughts turned towards the human female straddling her neck.

Xyo returned eventually to the perch after flying off quite a ways. Ylssa could guess by memory of flying over the same area that the drake was naturally curious about the human village; Ylssa was curious herself as it had been over 100 years since she had last been in the air and the village had more than doubled in size since then. The white drake circled overhead, and Ylssa shouted up at him, "I knew you'd be in fine shape, Xyo! Come back down here for a moment!"

As the white drake angled off and spun back around for a graceful landing, Ylssa crouched and stuck out her foreleg once more, prompting Samantha to clamor back down to the ground. She covered her face as the wind from Xyo's massive wings kicked up dirt and small rocks, the dragon flapping the big membranes as he gently alighted on the stone first with hind legs before dropping his forequarters. Ylssa waddled forward, prompting Samantha as well with a quick, gentle tap to her hindquarters with a claw. "Nice wing work." she said, inclining her head on her thick neck. "But you haven't got any prey now do you? We're going to have to work on that..." Xyo's eyes widened in surprise as Ylssa went on to explain that she wanted him to let Samantha ride on his back, that the human woman would show him the paths the herds used and which clearings in which they might be most exposed. Samantha herself mounted a brief, mostly silent protest, almost telling Ylssa that she had come up to the shrine to discuss something of importance, but the plea fell on mostly deaf ears. The fattened dragoness all but shoved her forward towards the still cautious Xyo.