FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This is a story commission that Nulkurrak has written for Saphirafafnar: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/saphirafafnar/

Description: A gallivanting gryphoness in search of rare materials to decorate her first nest happens upon a lone dragon who she decides to approach despite the stories surrounding his scaled kind.

Firi(c) belongs to Nulkurrak

Xigfeldo(c) belongs to Saphirafafnar

***Wisdom of the Glade***

Firi skulked through the thick underbrush, grinding her beak in annoyance at the vines that tangled around limbs, wings and feathers alike. Why did she have to land in such precarious spot? To make it worse, the sparkling gemstone she spotted proved to be nothing more than a chipped dragon scale that caught the light at just the right angle. A silver and pretty one, certainly, but not the prize she expected, especially when the temper of the creatures themselves was as varied as their coloring.

Dragons. The thought of them unnerved her, given their proud and, most often than not, rigid nature. A gryphon's lighter body and feathered wings allowed them to outfly a dragon, but speed alone did not always win, just like brawn did not guarantee victory in a brawl. Firi shook her head, willing herself to rid of the unnecessary apprehension at encountering a dragon and began to slash through the vines blocking her way with her sharp talons. Her hind claws proved equally effective at dealing with the tricky vegetation, as a few flicks of her paws freed her from the verdant clutches.

Once free of the deeper reaches of her lush cover, she lowered herself halfway to the ground, tucking her wings tight against her sides when the slope turned trickier ahead. Cool moisture greeted her nares, making her snort and shake her head to keep herself from sneezing and potentially give away her position. Water irritated her; it weighed down her feathers, made her feel sluggish and useless. Nevertheless, there was only one way out of the underbrush, so she clambered down the slope with slow, tentative steps, digging her talons into the soft dirt for purchase. Once she made it into the clearing ahead, Firi froze.

Ahead, settled on his belly in front of a crystalline pond fueled by the frenzied waters of several waterfalls, was a dragon. Or so Firi assumed. Unlike the scaled variety every gryphon in her colony held in varying degrees of contempt, this dragon boasted a far too sumptuous mane and an equally impressive crest made of the same long, luxurious, flowing hair that rustled in the humid breeze. His coloring, an enchanting silver that seemed to shift shades depending on where the sun kissed him, instilled an unnatural calm within her, planting the ridiculous notion in her mind that such beautiful creature couldn't possibly cause harm to a gryphon who had no qualms with him. After all, his dark talons begged to differ, as did the long, pointy horns that flanked the impressive tuft of fur that crowned his head.

For a moment, Firi watched his lush mane and bushy tail ripple in the wind, taking in the soft, pleasant scents that travelled to her nostrils, ones that proved to be as soft as the dragon's fur.

"You may approach," his smooth, serene voice alerted her ears, causing them to perk in alarm. She made herself as small as she could, tail tucked between her legs as she began to make her way back into the safety of thick vegetation. "Lean above the pond, so that I may see your reflection alongside mine."

Couldn't he just turn his head to satisfy his nagging curiosity? Then again, his request carried a certain charm, one that sparked unquenchable curiosity within her. She had long wished to meet a dragon, to dispel the absurd notions of her colony and spend time alongside one to explore all that made them different. By the looks of it, this one harbored the same inquisitiveness which pushed her forth towards him, reduced in intensity by the passing of years.

How old was he? She could gauge his life's experiences from his tranquil nature alone, his impassivity with her presence proving to her that she was hardly the first gryphon he ever encountered, unlike in her case.

Uneasiness all but forgotten when confronted with one too many clues and a far too rare opportunity not to take into consideration, Firi took a few slow steps towards him, flapped her wings feebly to get the grime out of her feathers, and greeted him with a friendly warble.

He did not respond. Not at first. Perhaps he was waiting for her to take the initiative, or maybe he simply enjoyed taunting her like dragons often did with one another, but the silver one remained still, with only the tip of his tail flicking back and forth.

It could be that he did not hear her. The clearing itself was drowned by the thunderous waterfalls that cascaded from cliffs so tall the spray reached even the shore, blanketing the dragon's scales in tiny, glimmering droplets. Curious, how the water raged forth with such intensity ahead, only to attain pleasant stillness above the dragon's talons that hung over the crystalline mirror, his rich, golden eyes distorted by the soft ripples cruising through the surface.

It was only when she settled beside him that his head angled slowly and dipped in greeting. The same silken fur of his crest and mane sprouted from the end of his jaw and embellished the top of his shoulders, thick and lush and so fine that Firi had the sudden urge to rub herself against it to test its texture. His tapered, angular snout then rose, the plates protecting his neck becoming apparent, as did the smaller ones running across the middle of his snout that diminished into beautiful eye ridges above the golden pools in which swam thin, narrow, ebony slits. His nostrils twitched, taking in her scent no doubt, one that he found relaxing enough to peer back into the cool waters.

"You are far from home, young bird. Farther than your kind usually ventures. What wind has carried you here?"

Firi's talons curled inwards at the sound of his rich, imposing tone, tail flicking with increased restlessness. She knew so little of dragons, of the world beyond her peaks, of what it meant to survive by relying only on herself, while her companion possessed a grace specific to one who flew from one end of the world to the other. At the same time, the starkness of his scales was muffled by his silky fur that the breeze itself seemed to caress, making him a little less intimidating. Nevertheless, a mere glimpse into his golden eyes that turned to regard her warned Firi of this dragon's hidden power, and she instinctively dipped her head in submission.

"Hrm," the dragon rumbled in either amusement or sympathy for her kind, ever the one to slip their tail between their legs when confronted by a dragon. "There is no need for manners out here, in the wilderness. Regardless of what you may have heard, not every dragon has an ego to match their height."

"I have not even heard of your kind, the fluff--" she shut her beak right away. She almost called his breed fluffy! A dragon that she knew nothing about! Firi tried again. Only, this time, she stuck to the reason that brought her here.

"It is customary for gryphons within a colony to embellish their first nest with a variety of exotic materials gathered from the farthest reaches of their territory, and for the braver ones, beyond it. The rarer in color, texture, and shine, the better. I could leave if I flew too far. Should I?" She rushed her final words, almost afraid of the repercussions a silly gem hunt might bring upon her.

The dragon flicked his crest, letting the wind catch it lightly while he eyed the newcomer. His gaze trailed from her dainty, dark-tipped falcon beak to the violet-tinted wings whose feathers darkened at the tips and finally, to the white tuft tipping her tail. Instead of an answer, he simply shook his head softly as he remained fully sprawled in the bed of lush grass and flowers that sprouted all around them.

"Are you still part of a colony? Or have you set out on your own to find your worth?" His tail swished with a grace and subtleness not known among most dragons, his demeanor as calm as the waters bathing the tips of his talons.

"I'm aware of the gallivanting habits of gryphons, and like you, curiosity had often spirited me away from the comfort of my den and the familiarity of my territory in search for an elusive purpose, whichever that might be. Careful not to let it carry you too far, for the world beyond your peaks is as varied as the flowers within this glade." The drake's wings spread a little, his eyes meeting hers for a moment before he pushed himself up, his gaze not condemning nor ominous, but filled with understanding.

"The humans west of here have a wary tale they tell their hatchlings, of a cat lured forth by its incessant inquisitiveness that eventually meets its demise in the jaws of a wolf. But is it the wolf that killed it, or its curiosity?"

Firi blinked in bewilderment at his strange words. She had learned of humans, of their spread and influence, but no more than their locations in order to keep away from them. She wished to know more, but now that he stood up, he made her seem little by comparison with his regal poise despite their somewhat similar size. Firi dipped her head in acknowledgment at his words, and took a fretful step towards him.

"Its choices led her into the jaws of death. She should have been warier of her surroundings and find a tree to seek refuge within its boughs."

"Mmmm," the dragon hummed, circling her in a playful yet slightly threatening way, like a predator analyzing the vulnerabilities of his prey. "Are you wary of your surroundings? You did, after all, land perilously close to a dragon whose intentions are a complete mystery to you."

"Then it is a good thing you know of mine," she held her ground, trying to keep her wings and tail from flinching. He had a lithe constitution and a size similar to hers, enough for his agility to pose a threat. The sturdy plates protecting his most vulnerable of spots and menacing black talons tipping his toes could give him clear advantage in a brawl, but Firi had outmaneuvered and outraced gryphons far nimbler than him.

"Do I?" he continued his pacing, watching her from the corner of an eye. "You search for baubles, but from the way you look at me, I'd say you are just about ready to take flight."

He faked a pounce and, sure enough, Firi leaped back, her heart jumping all the way up to her throat in panic. An instinctive shriek of warning fled her before she could subdue it, flattening the dragon's enthusiasm visibly as his crest drooped.

"I am no threat to you. Or at the very least, I wish not to be..."

He settled down once again, looming over the pond, making himself small before her to regain her trust.

"Excitement often gets the better of me, especially around gryphons. I hold a few of them very close to my heart who have spoiled me with games and pleasures I would have never discovered on my own."

She immediately wished to know more of them, of how two creatures from different parts of the world came together in ways that hinted at more than just companionship.

"Tell me about them," she asked, more decisively than she intended.

"Only if you join me, so that your crisp, pleasant scent rouses my memory."

Spoken exactly like the prime example of the scaled, lascivious beasts that many a gryphon avoided for that very reason. If his calm nature initially attracted her, then his contrasting boldness intrigued her enough to fulfill his request by taking her place at his side. But no matter the courage she wished to evoke, her primordial fear of another predator manifested through the way in which she recoiled from his approaching snout, as well as the noticeable distance she put between their forepaws.

"Sera was much like you when I met her. Audacious when spurred forth by interest in the exotic creatures penetrating the dense woodlands she called her territory, reluctant in her choice to put her trust in dragons she only heard of from the beaks of others, and far too lovely in her naivety. Unlike you, she was a peculiar breed of gryphon. A mere touch of those soft, unprotected pads on her feathers," he flicked his bushy tail tip over the exposed toes of one of her hind paws, "and you would crumple in deep, painful fever that can last for days."

"Fever?" Firi's ears perked.

"It is what the civilized races call the affliction where your flesh grows warm and tense and uncontrollable shivers creep through you. Your pads would grow moist with the cold film of sickness, and the only thing you'd crave for is the wing of another draped over your curled frame to keep you warm when the cold settles in."

"But isn't the flesh already hot?"

The dragon's eyelids draped slightly over his eyes, making them narrower and more compassionate. "That is why they call it fever and not heat."

She remembered her first heat, a time of daunting loneliness and too long nights spent keeping vigil for fear of a male creeping upon her. Combat scrapes, cuts and bruises accumulated over days, each of them throbbing and burning as hot as her weeping slit.

"Crawk, heat is far worse. It rouses the predatory crave within placid males, turning them against each other in the most unreasonable of ways. The few who found me, I...I had to fight off, no matter how alluring and inviting they seemed."

She tucked her hind paws tighter, her toes restlessly kneading against each other while her companion fell silent, his attention drifting to the waters raging down the steep rockface.

"Would you rather not experience it at all?"

Her beak hung in indecision, beady eyes seeking the comfort of his rich, imposing ones who filled her with strange reassurance. "I wished for it to end with every breath I took while I traveled the farthest reaches of the colony in search of a reclusive spot to wait for it to fade. The males, the constant sogginess of my undertail, the sleepless nights...they wore my resilience thin, but not more so than the existence of this need inflicted upon me. Why should the dull throbs of my nether depths decide if I should seek a mate or not?"

"But then?" The dragon pulled on her tongue, as if aware she had more to say.

"But then it faded, and when it finally subsided, a part of me missed it..." Firi's ears splayed inward, tail curling tighter around her flank so that the white tip hugged the dark scutes of her wrist. "Not the unrest it brought me, but the thought of how it might have been, had I allowed a male inside me. How it would have felt, to be filled by them when I desired that more than meat itself."

The dragon's weary sigh took her aback. A male could not grasp the tribulations of heat any more than a female understood how his gender could shoot their seed during sleep, without the faintest touch or stroke.

"Do not let curiosity lead you astray, young one. Remember my cautionary tale."

"Firi," the gryphoness decided to trust him with her name, increasingly irritated with the alternatives. "And I assume yours will be one that is so heavy on the beak, I would have no choice but to refer you as dragon."

"Is it?" The dragon flicked his crest in that charming way of his, settling his head onto his forepaws. The fluff of his cheeks spilled over the scutes protecting the back of his toes, pooling into tiny, white puddles. "Sera and Nalu had no trouble with it, and they have a beak as well. Try it out. Xigfeldo."

"Sicfeldo," Firi said it without hesitation, beaming with pride at having succeeded in the first try, should the dragon's pleased rumble pose any indication of that. "Does it mean something?"

"It means what those who I meet wish it to mean. To some, it describes a creature of impulse, like the waters rushing from the top of that mountain which break into the stone below, heedless of consequence. To others, I'm a curiosity that they are adamant in deciphering. And to you?"

Firi's wings tensed, claws hooking around fistfuls of grass. Her mind turned blank at being confronted with such question from a creature she knew so little about. What if she offended him? Would he lunge at her with burning fury, like the tales of her kind warned her of?

"An inviting blanket and bedding," she eyed both his wing and mane, one that she wished to feel with her cheek dearly.

"Irp," the dragon chuckled in a surprisingly sharp, high-pitched way given his majesty. "Is that what truly what I am to you?"

The excited flicks of his tail betrayed his playfulness, so Firi not only maintained her composure, but dared to inch her head towards him.

"Is it not known that my kind relishes the softness of our partners? That dragons find our belly an equally inviting spot to rest their weary head on?"

"Go ahead, then," the dragon urged, his deep, pleasant purr hinting at his own excitement to be explored by another gryphon. "I'm not about to deny a gryphon the pleasure of soft things, but know that I will expect the same from you."

His rippling mane caught her attention for a moment, and Firi almost thrust her neck forward with the intention to sink her face into the soft, pleasing strands of fur. It looked so fluffy and enticing! She restrained herself at the last moment, not wishing to appear too infatuated with him or fall into his ploy so quick.

"What about Nalu?" She tried to shrug away his offer by distracting him from the moment at hand. "What sort of gryphon was she?"

"Ah, Nalu..." Xigfeldo trailed off, rolling back and forth on the grass like a gryphon burdened with lusts, warbling and kicking his paws at the air. "I miss her. I miss her dearly. She was...uncertain with herself," he purposefully hid a fact about her that he did not trust Firi with, as if aware of why she maneuvered around his challenge. "Troubled by her lot in life. Prior to her, I had yet to meet a gryphon who was both bold in her initiative and afraid at the same time. In some parts of the world, civilizations do not hold dark-colored gryphons in respect, which is why it puzzled me greatly that she traveled to those very lands."

Firi's longer, avian toes curled tighter around one another, her foremost curiosity hovering on the tip of her tiny avian tongue.

"We have mated, yes," Xigfeldo's knowing eyes bore into hers, warm and filled with understanding. "And I filled her with all the confidence I could muster, for without it, she would not have traveled the world. In a way, she was also my first, just like I was hers..."

The dragon shifted on his back, exposing the elegant plates of his belly to the caress of the gentle midday sun, his forelimbs angled downward in quite the endearing way while his haunches splayed inelegantly, exposing the dash of pink that marked his gender.

That was where his member hid. Dragons had no plump spheres resting under their tail like the males of her kind, with only their scent and voice differentiating the two genders. She expected Xigfeldo's aroma to be sharper and stronger to denote his external strength, but just like his flowing mane, his distinct fragrance had a mystifying, alluring softness to it that brought faint shudders under her tail.

Oh, how she wished she could savor the same peace he relished instead of dwelling on his words long after he uttered them. He filled Nalu with far more than just courage, proving to her that such unions were not only happening, but that some gryphons enjoyed the company of a dragon enough to allow them inside the core of their being, perhaps more than once...

"What is bothering you?" Xigfeldo's gentle tone disrupted her musings, making her aware of how nervously her tail swished back and forth. "Then again, it is quite obvious, is it not?"

Dazed by the warm, puzzling shivers trailing under her fur, the gryphoness had no time to react to the dragon's sudden initiative. Faster than she anticipated, he trudged his way next to her, beak and snout separated by the tiniest of distance before his head drooped onto his joined forepaws to place his mane at her eye level.

"Rest," he said, his eyelids slowly engulfing those golden gemstones. "Give pause to your hunt. Let the calm murmur of the water wash away your worries."

Was that how he tempted those previous two gryphons into falling prey to his charm? Crawk! How crude!

But so effective...

Presented with such lush offer separated solely by a beak's length, the gryphoness first cocked her head at the bewildering behavior, then inched her beak closer to sift through some of the sleek fur strands to test for a reaction. When nothing happened, her instinct got the better of her, guiding her cheek into the embrace of that far too tempting and exotic bedding.

"Crrrrr, mrrrip, irp, irp, mrip," a cacophony of enjoyment, excitement, growing relaxation soon assembled into a coherent song of pleasure. It wasn't enough to feel the luxurious caress of one side of her face alone; she needed to experience it all by gently rolling her head up and down the natural curve of his neck, rubbing away her previous reluctance and taking in his extravagant, stimulating scent.

The dragon twitched no limb, nor claw or tail, paying no attention to the talons that now began to clamber all over him for balance during her moment of childish exploration. To Firi, it wasn't just the softness of his mane that beckoned her, but the foreign scents that permeated it. Gryphon males had carried the tang of lust when she last interacted with them, while Xigfeldo smelled of calming serenity.

In a spur of raw instinct and neglected desire, Firi all but clambered over the dragon's back, stepping on the smooth, surprisingly warm membrane of a wing with a hind paw as she straddled his elegant form, all so that she could lay on top of him. His crest, previously perked in confusion, laid back over her head, entrapping her between two layers of his snow-white fur.

"Nalu did that too," he observed without turning his head to ruin her moment. "Gryphons have a knack for choosing the most curious of perching spots it seems."

The growing awareness that this could not last as long as she wished it to slowly began to nudge the back of Firi's mind. Mutual curiosity in each other formed a frail link between them, enough to indulge a few immature desires, but no more.

Despite her gnawing worries, Firi couldn't easily uproot herself from the deep state of relaxation flooding her body, nor neglect the reassuring fire pulsing at the base of her tail. Try as her mind might to invent a multitude of reasons to separate herself from him, Xigfeldo's tranquil nature and stimulating fragrance amplified her yearn for physical affection. With him, there were no ancient rites of courtship to go through. No obligations to take into account, no propriety that she had to heed, and absolutely no chance of carrying his clutch after his seed quelled the heated unrest of her nether depths.

Firi's head shot through his crest, shocked and aroused by just how far her thoughts had drifted. The disturbance panicked the dragon too, his graceful body tilting slightly to the left to encourage her off him. Lacking proper balance, Firi unceremoniously flopped on her side, the impact with the ground dwarfed by the overpowering crave sizzling within her. Uncertain on how to act when confronted by his charming and playful expression, the gryphoness reached out to him with a hind paw, pushing against his snout at an invitation to play, wiggling her body and fluttering her wings.

"Gryphons fight for what they desire, so I trust you will do the same."

"Quite the drastic change from the wide-eyed, wary creature that first approached me," Xigfeldo teased, easing the tip of his angular snout into the smooth, gentle pads of her paw. "But there will be no fight, for your paws are too gentle and soft to deserve anything more than careful grooming."

He deserved to be kicked right between the nostrils for insulting her, but instead, Firi found herself enraptured by the slow movements of the dragon's snout against her pads. Sparks of invigorating excitement ruffled her fur and feathers alike at how exquisite the pebbly scales lining his nostrils felt to the pink-mottled surface of her paw. Her toes betrayed her, fanning out under his intrigued sniffs, the twitch of his nostrils, together with his sparking purr, flooding her with unexpected desire.

Why did he pay such lavish attention to her paw? What sort of information could he gather from the scents imprinted upon her pads? She washed them just the day before, so the only fragrance they oozed was her own, amplified by the river of conflicting emotions coursing through her. Could it be true, that dragons could smell the apprehension leaving the body of their prey?

With only her paws capable of growing slick during moments of high tension, Firi froze in indecision, giving the dragon enough time to draw his conclusions.

"You enjoy this, don't you?" he pulled back to lick his snout in quite the cunning manner. "The thrill of the unknown. The uncertainty of what happens next."

Without giving her time to react, Xigfeldo's tongue lashed over her pads, forcing the alarmed gryphoness' paw back, toes curled defensively.

"I happen to enjoy soft things as well," he shrugged his wings, purring in glee. "And the soft, pleasant smell of this very glade permeates your pads, so now it is my turn to savor their softness."

"Scrawk?" Firi tried to press for an answer to his baffling request, yet her beak still clacked with the remnants of addled, undecipherable joy at being greeted by his tongue on the only other furless surface of her body, save for her sex. The tongue of a dragon, long and slippery and nimble as an eel, had long intrigued for, for her own achieved little more than efficient preening. She wished it upon herself, now more than ever, and Xigfeldo eyed her paws with a knowing look, already aware that she would surrender to his will.

"Why my paws?" Firi batted his snout further from its intended target with light, playful kicks. "You can rest against my belly, to feel the softness of my downy fur and bask in its warm caress. Or it can be my wings," she lifted them halfway up the ground, unfurled to their full splendor. "Don't feathers entice you?"

"Not as much as the curious patterns of your pads and their vulnerability. Whereas scutes protest your forelimbs and fur embellishes the rest of your supple form, your paw pads are as exposed as the membrane of my wings."

"And..." Firi brought her hind paws together, rubbing them against each other uncertainly. "Does your tongue spark the same tumultuous sensations when it visits their delicate surface?"

"Mhhhhrrrmmm, that," Xigfeldo began as he pushed himself up, his height suddenly unnerving to the splayed gryphoness, "is something only a partner can offer you."

Without awaiting for her consent, the dragon craned his long neck to nuzzle at her raised hind paws, his touch gentle, his breaths even, his demeanor as tranquil as the wind sailing through his mane.

"Nalu enjoyed this type of exquisite attention. She is the one who taught me many of the things I know of gryphons. Will you allow me?"

Why should he demean himself for her pleasure? Worse yet, the heated slickness of his tongue might trigger unforeseen lusts within her, some of which the gryphoness fought against with the help of those very distractions. Nevertheless, she sorely needed to lay this debauched curiosity to rest, and it would only take a few flicks of his tongue to prove to her that his attention was far better received elsewhere.

"Show me this exquisite attention you boast of," Firi planted a single paw upon the tip of his snout, kneading at its scaly surface with her toes to both pester and signal her readiness to get this over with.

"Hrrf rrrf mrrrf," Xigfeldo snorted, again and again under her deft strokes, revealing the heightened sensitivity of the tiny scales lining his nostrils. Still, he kept pushing against her, daring her to test him in whatever ways she wished, for he wouldn't back down.

Unable to restrain herself, Firi's other hind paw alighted near the first, each of them focusing on their designated targets, incessantly rubbing against the slick edge of his nostrils to try and coax an embarrassing sneeze.

What came out of his mouth, however, was not the sharp, sudden, amusing sound of weakness, but the same tongue that had previously given pause to Firi. Its tapered tip snuck between the toes of her right paw, pushing its way through the ticklish blue fur sprouting between the oval, mottled pads to dab at a spot not even Firi was aware of.

"Scraaak!" She shrieked in surprise, jerking her trembling, itching paw back, just like the dragon wanted. Having singled one paw out, he dragged his lithe ribbon of warm flesh over the surface of her pads, igniting prickling embers of strange satisfaction beneath their pink and grey surface.

Firi took in a deep breath, holding it deep within her chest while her toes bent to the will of the dragon's tongue, fanning out when he explored the edges of her central pad, clenching when he visited the tufts of fur poking between them, then relaxing once again as he ran the thicker middle of his deft appendage over the entire surface of her paw.

"Mrrr, so eager," the dragon hummed, the sound so rich and deep it made its way into her very bones, stoking the mysterious yet somehow familiar prickles of lust that began to swarm her tingling hide. The soft, inquisitive dabs of his snout against her slick pads made her recoil at first, unaccustomed to anything else other than the alluring licks and the pleasure they brought, but it only took a few tries for her to lean into his touch. "Your pads are surprisingly soft, dear gryphon, and so well groomed."

At the height of her wanton research of the dragon's delectable tongue, Firi cared little for praise, more interested in the physical inspection of her features. She saw, through half-opened and bleary eyes, that he had more to say, but her insistent hind paws that alighted on his muzzle reinforced her intentions, and Xigfeldo complied with a satisfied rumble.

"Rawwwwk," Firi let out a long, mellow, drawn-out cry of enjoyment at being tended in such lavish yet uncanny way, the excited swings of her tail over the bed of grass broadening with every lick Xigfeldo treated her pads to. Alternating between her paws, he employed varied motion and frequency to his warm, wet caress, keeping Firi on the edge of pleasure and suspense alike. No matter how her gripping toes and shifting paws competed for his tongue, he ensured to give each little bean one flick and nothing more.

Perhaps that was for the best. Short lived as the enrapturing experienced might have been, it had stretched Firi's senses far wider than she anticipated. She grew unexpectedly warm, and the previously calm shudders of subdued enjoyment turned stronger, more noticeable, becoming blissful and frighteningly intense tremors that begged his tongue's attention on the only other furless area of her body.

She wanted him there. To suck in her strong, eager, stimulating scent. To drink deep of her pent-up, liquid frustration, to finally rid herself of this weakness of the flesh that stiffened her muscles and clouded her thoughts from a few simple licks given to her paws. Her eyes, drowned in longing, hinted at her desires, yet nothing came of it. Not because her clue eluded him, but because the gryphoness swung back onto her belly, her tail hiding the source of her temptation while her talons anxiously kneaded at the grass.

"Surprising what a long tongue can achieve, rrrr?" Xigfeldo settled next to her, rubbing his side against her in invitation to lay her head against him. Firi did just that, eyes settled on the fluffy end of his tail that curled around one of his forelegs, the same where her forepaw rested upon his. She had the faint urge to let go after her embarrassing moment of debauchery, but chose not to as her gaze followed his, down to their reflection. Gryphon and dragon. What an odd pairing, though not unheard of, according to Xigfeldo. Firi herself had heard of dragons forging bonds with gryphons, some of which went well beyond mere companionship. A few rumors even claimed that some gryphons took dragons as mates, though no bird had ever returned to the colony to confirm them. If such pairings did happen, they were lost to the world, just like this very glade.

"The wind is a fickle element, Firi. Some argue that it is imbued with the will of the god who created it, while many humans believe it capable of bending to their prayers; that it can bring them rain, that it curses their enemies with storms, or abandons their ships in the sea when it simply...vanishes."

"It did not carry me here. My intentions did. Several of the gryphons in my colony braved through winds so filled with rage, they would have torn off the wings of lesser kin, all for something as little as the chipped dragon scale that caught my eye."

His expression changed, the ripples in the water washing away his pensive, distant gaze and replacing it with a sly, intrigued one.

"Trust in yourself. In what you can see, smell, feel and taste and witness. Many of the misunderstandings between our kinds sparked from rampant emotions and colorful storytelling. Not all that different from the humans and their idols who they claim can speak, mmmm?"

His words stirred Firi's heart. A part of her beamed at discovering such a secluded place by happenstance, while another cautioned restraint. There was a reason gryphons had never happened upon this glade, and it probably had nothing to do with failed gem hunts. How did she end up here in the first place? And most importantly, why? No matter the answer, Firi's head felt heavy all of a sudden, so she followed his advice by allowing his pleasant purr to wash over and soothe her. She closed her eyes, and listened to the sound of flowing water mingling with his rich, pleasant voice.

"Have you lured the gryphons you have spoken of into your embrace as you did with me?" Firi asked. He turned to face, unable to hide his smirk in time. The flashing of his fangs might have unnerved her when she first landed here, but now, Firi no longer flinched. This dragon made her feel at peace, more so than many of her fellow gryphons, for it wasn't impulse that drove him, but mere curiosity.

"Sera found me, and she was none too happy with my trespass nor seduced by what I could offer. It took multiple brawls and just as many threats for her to finally run out of spite and accept that a visitor in her secluded forest can work to her advantage. Nalu, however, proved to be far more receptive, for she thirsted for the one thing I have in great abundance: my stories."

Firi involuntarily clacked her beak, ever impatient with tales from lands she had no wish to lay eyes upon.

"I encouraged neither to pursue anything they did not deem stimulating. In fact," Xigfeldo paused, eyes growing narrow, "I suspect I was their opportunity to tread into unexplored territory, and eventually, they both confided in me for the reason you did. I'm not a gryphon," his last reveal flattened Firi's previously perked ears with its predictable nature.

"I wasted a few opportunities myself," she confessed as she ran her talons through the delicate strands of grass. "I considered magic unnecessary and have not practiced it at all when the first attempts ended in failure. Some of the males I had battled during my first heat might never be able to hunt by themselves due to their folly, and the nest I had built for myself had already begun to wither. But that is the way of things." She flexed the toes of her hind paws and fluttered her wings when they felt overly stiff. "If I allowed one of those males to overpower me, I would have had hatchlings to look after, and would have never stumbled upon this glade and the wisdom it offered."

Her hackles raised due to the vulgar thought that crossed her mind, yet a perverse sense of courage urged her to let it out. "Have you been with a dragoness? One that you could call your mate?"

Xigfeldo smiled at the question and looked skyward, crest twitching in veiled interest at tucking into that story. As always, he maintained a level of low tension between them, testing Firi's patience over the sound of rushing, soothing water.

Eventually, his forepaw reached over to hers, cradling it affectionately. "I have enjoyed the company of those who wished to share the warmth of my scales, the cover of my wing, the gentle strokes of my tail tip gliding over their back and haunches as we rested in each other's embrace," he proved it to her by running his tail tip over the length of her spine. "At times, I wish to have committed to a long-lasting time together, but such existence does not suit every dragon. The fighting, however..."

He paused at that, the soft traces of a smile tugging at his lips. "That is the best way to gauge the potential in a mate, is it not? For dragons, the stronger their determination is, the more they desire you. After all, which is a more honest display of devotion than fighting over the thing you want most?"

Firi took a moment to allow his words to sink in. As a gryphon, it unnerved her to know that she might have missed one too many subtleties during her brawls. That every choice of banishing a male from her territory led to a plethora of other choices, and even something minimal, like searching for gemstones to decorate her nest, was enough to carry her under the wing of a dragon. No choice was right, and no choice was wrong.

He confirmed her suspicions with the way his paw squeezed hers, and then, his eyes sparkled with renewed curiosity at what she made of the dragons' rite of mateship. Firi felt unexpected fondness bloom within her, and trudged closer to him.

"We do not battle over affection," the gryphoness spoke. "The combat is the one that flares our emotions. Words are fleeting, sometimes treacherous, whereas actions define us. A simple spar is enough to gauge your partner and his intentions, and both victory and defeat are regarded in the same manner. A gryphon that is graceful in both victory and defeat is one that deserves to be my mate." She paused to dip her beak into the crystalline water and wet her tongue with the cool liquid. "A torn pride is worse than a torn feather, which is why my kind prefers to resort to this sort of contests. A gryphon that succumbs easily to his emotions and has little respect for their partner does not make for a very good mate, not when there is a lifetime ahead of us."

The talk of combat stirred her blood. It urged her to get up, stretch her back, and spread open her wings, flapping twice before tucking them to her sides. "I'm not sure how your males act, so I cannot tell. There is courting if both of us desire it, and other, more tender moments as well. I...I haven't made it past the courting stage, however. I do desire it. Crave for it. But I never found the right partner for it."

She dipped her head to stare at the flexing talons of her forepaws. The few male gryphons that showed interest in her had a weak resolve. They were young, too eager to mate, and much too proud and aggressive. They only desired to subdue the female in heat, no doubt, and had hoped that she would rise her tail for them simply became they outmatched her strength or outmaneuvered her in flight. How wrong they were...

Or were they? Some of them had certainly found mates by now, while Firi's nest dried further with each passing day.

Xigfeldo nodded softly, his great wings unfurling as he flexed them in thought. Perhaps the customs of gryphons bothered him, or maybe it was the brashness of youth that perturbed him. "I'm relieved that such sparring did not take its toll on you. Gentleness is not present in every dragon or gryphon, and there are those who take the competition too far. As for me, I far prefer subtler, slower pursuit in my affections."

"Such as that of the bipeds?" Firi's beak clacked nervously, her eyes narrowing in dislike of their foreign habits.

"In a way, yes. We live long lives, so our kind often takes many years to decades to find a suitable partner for breeding, though we also often enjoy the affection and love of such things many times before it. We are, in the end, free spirited, and enjoy stretching and dragging on the important decision for as long as it takes to be certain that we are the right match for one another. Often there is great caring and warmth in such acts, even if they are not a permanent commitment to each other. I have enjoyed many of such moments, and so did my partners. We still do when our paths cross."

A soft, muffled chirp of longing wormed its way through Firi's throat, subdued by her closed beak. She couldn't help but imagine herself back in her nest with the male she felt the most attracted to, one whose dark plumage contrasted with his timid kindness which she mistook for weakness. Every day, she all but convinced herself that a better male would happen upon her; that none of her suitors matched her current expectations.

Perhaps this was for the best. Xigfeldo might not have been a gryphon, but his elegant, triangular muzzle that approached her neck to preen her nape and cheek tended to her with surprising tenderness.

"Shyness, uncertainty, maybe fear of going beyond what is accepted by your kind...it is something I understand from my early days. I felt the same pull towards others, though in my case, I did not let heat swarm me with all manner of suitors."

The impressive span of the wing that blanketed her sent a warm shudder across Firi's spine. She had never seen a dragon up close prior to this day, let alone share the warmth of one. His fur blended with the spikes of his eye ridges and the plates of his back and shoulders in beautiful and intriguing ways, but it was his slender gracefulness that roused an unsuitable feeling of attraction within Firi. How fast could he fly? Faster than her?

Firi made a mental not to ask him to join her in a friendly competition as she listened to the complicated nature of his kind. It seemed uneventful at times, lacking the vigor and the thrill of combat that her gryphon mind was accustomed to, yet equally enticing. To find the right mate through tender acts...that sounded almost strange.

"Gryphons take mates for life as well. It is both a necessity and a choice, as our clutch is constantly threatened by Spikechins, three-horned bladed tails and other, bigger fliers with dull minds. Even as a pair, we're still free to mate with other gryphons, as long as we always return to our nest, and tend to our clutch. Some gryphons do that. Others prefer to stick with their chosen mate."

Her words faltered as Xigfeldo continued to groom her, the allure of another's touch proving far too enjoyable for her not to fully surrender herself to it. She allowed his snout to shift through the silken strands of fur protecting her neck. It caressed her in the most tender of ways, making her chirp in delight and rub against him, unknowingly pleading for more. His words rang true, his touch bore the same warmth that coated his voice, and the ways of his kind stirred an unbridled curiosity within Firi's heart. Affection. Love. Great caring and warmth. Firi knew not of such things, for she had had nobody to show it to her.

She continued to brush against him, draping a wing over his frame while she rubbed her cheek against his. For some reason, Firi had a strange urge to get his alluring scent all over her; he smelled like the glade: A suave yet fragrant touch that stirred her senses and made her long for more.

"I envy your kind. So carefree, so gentle to those who are not your kind," she added sheepishly before she craned her neck to preen the fluff flowing down his jaw. "If you visited my colony, the uptight Wing Guards would not have treated you in the gentle way you treated me. They're an old colony with old blood feuds, and nothing can change them. That is why I have left them. To find a new territory, and maybe an opportunity to disentangle myself from their ways."

Words gave way to faded chirps enriched by the soft caress of his tail. The fluffy tip flowed across her back like silk, gliding between her wings and running across her left haunch. She shivered slightly, and rubbed her neck against Xigfeldo once again as his views on companionship took away her initial reluctance to expose herself to him.

"The search for a mate..." she spoke with a soft voice. "I thought I found a bloodstone--a red sparkling gem, and a rare find--for my nest. Many races assume gryphons chase pretty baubles to decorate their nests, but it's more to it than that. The nest reflects a gryphon's admiration of their qualities, and the length one goes to achieve the perfect balance of colors and symmetry. A scarcely decorated one leaves much to be desired."

Firi ran her beak through his lush mane, letting out a mellow coo. "When you are almost certain you have found a mate, how do dragons proceed further?"

He did not answer that straight away, maintaining the enrapturing air of mystery that first drew her to him. His right forepaw lifted off hers as the talons began to softly comb and scratch in a gentle and caressing manner through the soft plumage embellishing her wing's frame, shifting to the fur trailing down from the chin and cheek and along the neck before resting it upon her chest.

"In some ways, everyone wants to push their strengths and special skills and abilities forward in an attempt to mask their lacks. It is the whisper of natural instinct to be accepted, and there are many who heed its primeval wisdom. It is not always the way, considering that one's flaws will come to surface sooner or later, so I value honesty above everything else. But for the other dragons..."

He distracted her from her focused state with a nuzzle on her left ear, causing it to twitch and pin back in surprise. "It depends on the pair, how much time they have spent with each other and how deep their bond runs. There are even those who declare their love to another by raiding the settlements of the southern humans, stealing and pillaging for one single day."

That sounded both exciting and frightening to Firi, whose head swerved to look the dragon in the eye with her wide, shocked ones. Instead, it was her beak that met his snout, causing the two to recoil from one another from the unexpected occurrence.

"Elegance and grace are the way in which we approach our kind, and it is gentleness and kindness that are the paramount to protecting not only one another, but our future clutch."

The way in which he licked his snout and visibly shuddered from their brief contact sent warm tingles through Firi's tightening muscles. Her toes clenched, claws biting into the earth in fear that, had they not rooted themselves, they would land right on the dragon's shoulder, neck and perhaps, his soothing face.

Xigfeldo, already accustomed to such closeness, recovered far quicker than her, resuming what he started by shifting his position to face her and thus employ both of his forepaws in their inquisitive, unexpectedly charming exploration of her furred body.

"I wish my kind learned more from yours, mirrrrrp," Firi trilled from his pleasant ministrations. She closed her eyes to savor the dragon's slow, elaborate touch, particularly the way his claws parted her fur strands with great tenderness. She opened her eyes to look up at him, and cocked her head to regard him with growing affection. "Gifts, surprises, even a night spent together means so much more than building a nest for a male who barely notices the shinies after a couple of nights spent in it. Its beauty is ephemeral, leaving room for the affection that follows. Why not pursue each other through affection rather than shinies?"

She pinned back her ears at that, and followed his gaze towards a lonely feather that the waters carried ashore. A speckle of white, lost in an infinite ocean of reflected colors. Firi felt like that feather, in a way. She stood out, and just like it, she was alone, at the mercy of the winds.

"I am...glad...that I'm here with you," she murmured as she leaned her head against his longer, stronger, more imposing neck. "My kind is stubborn as a buzzard at times. We cling to our ancient rites without pausing to look at our fellow predators, both of the earth and of the sky. We can learn much from each other, if only we wanted to. Most gryphons don't..." she trailed off as the waters carried the pristine white feather right in front of her, within an arm's reach. She grabbed it in her talons, then in her beak, and showed it to Xigfeldo with an inquisitive squawk. "Can I keep it for my nest?"

Xigfeldo gave a soft nod, almost indifferent to that small detail as he continued to softly knead at the muscles hiding beneath the layer of indigo fur. His claw tips trailed over her flank on their way to her haunch, tail flicking in the same calm, sluggish pattern. He seemed not to mind the subtle attention he awarded her, or if she would consider it some form of advance that might bloom into something more. He was so at ease and relaxed that it made it nigh impossible for Firi to guess his thoughts.

"We talked of how we attract kin, but happens when a dragon finds a gryphon instead of a female of his kind?" She teased, tucking the feather under the nearest bush to keep the wind from blowing it away before returning to him. This time, however, she lounged on her side, exposing the white of her belly, speckled with dark spots, to the dragon's peaceful gaze. When he did not reply, she tried to coax an answer by kicking her paws playfully at his side and massaging his haunch with her soft, feline-shaped hind paws.

Her beak parted halfway, a soft gasp working its way out at the pleasant friction between the larger, tougher texture of his scales tugging at her smooth, sensitive paw pads. Glued to his hide, they felt softer than she imagined and far less rigid. She tried testing their resilience by protracting her claws and gently dragging them over the dragon's natural armor, squawking in awe at how her claw tips glided over their smooth surface.

Xigfeldo's dark, thin pupils followed the movements of her paws, a low purr igniting in his throat as his haunch parted to reveal his belly. Firi did not go there; it seemed too intimate an area to visit so soon, especially when the dragon had yet to make himself more comfortable.

"Mmmm, it depends on what both dragon and gryphon desire," he said, pushing himself on his fours, snout leaning over to lightly lick and nibble across her throat.

Firi's breath instinctively froze, her hindpaws tucking tight to her belly, forepaws seizing his arms with the intent to push him away. But she didn't, for the trail of warmth his tongue left over the lower side felt too good, as did his hot breath rolling over her fluffy cheeks.

Aware that he allowed his excitement to get the better of him, Xigfeldo lowered himself back on his haunches, undoing the knots of apprehension permeating Firi's muscles by rubbing and scratching along her soft belly, claw tips sliding back and forth, working their way ever deeper into her soft underbelly fur. Soon enough, a single, instinctive chirp became two, and two spread into several distinct vocalization that slowly turned into a mellow song of bliss.

The gryphoness' eyes lidded in trust and comfort, her toes spreading and clenching in unison with the careful groping of Xigfeldo's long, mobile fingers. The softest of scales coated their underside, and the dragon understood that given his confident rubbing along the gryphon's sleek form.

Firi's head grew light as a feather. She had never basked in such pleasant and deft strokes before. If that was how having a mate felt like, then Firi wanted nothing else than to spend every moment of her life relishing the blissful caress. Her wings splayed on the ground as a sign of both trust and submission, and her forepaws reached forward to grope at his forelegs idly while his delightful claws ran through her sensitive downy fur, slipping through the thicker, longer fur of her belly with uncanny grace.

Her feline toes spread lightly as the gryphoness shifted to the left to face Xigfeldo, her eyelids drooping halfway over her eyes, hazy with pleasure from the gentle tingles that flowed through her frame. The broad strokes of his paws flared her song a pitch higher, and her tail began to swish restlessly before it curled inwards to cover the moist patch of fur forming at the base of her tail. Had the wind not revealed it, she would have never realized that desire leaked from her, all too apparent for a dragon of keen senses.

"Can I continue?"

His words, harmless as they seemed, alerted Firi to the reality of her situation, drawing her from the depths of her haze of delight. She regarded him for a moment, that shapely, beautiful head that cast its shadow over her, his snout so foreign and his tongue so wonderfully long...

"You may," she offered, removing her tail from her underbelly. There was no point in hiding what was obvious to his twitching nostrils, and seeing his eyes linger there, on her exposed, moist, mottled flesh, filled her with uncanny, ravishing warmth. What she did not account for, however, was Xigfeldo's intentions. As a dragon who had been with dragonesses, gryphonesses and who knew which other beings, his first intention was to wipe away the film of discomfort coating her nethers, something that took Firi completely aback.

The gryphoness' mellow song ended abruptly as his tongue slid over her sweltering lips, causing them to shudder and her tunnel to quake with unexpected bliss at how hot and moist that ribbon of flesh felt like. The sensation was too intense, too foreign, and far too enthralling. So much so, that her hind paws instinctively pushed him away to put a stop to it before it claimed her mind.

"Mhhhrm," the dragon rumbled, licking the tapering tip of his snout with that slim, thinning tongue of his repeatedly. He not only tasted her, but...savored her. Firi could see proof of it manifesting under his belly, where the tip of his member began to worm its way out of his slit, guided forth by gentle pulsing.

The sight of it shook Firi. Yearning and fear alike washed over her, a wave of frost and fire that cascaded down her brow and all the way to the very end of her tail, raising every strand of fur on her body in intense awareness. Her calm all but vanished, the gryphoness rushed on her fours and leaped away from him, her wings unfurled and ready to take her away from this overwhelming sight, of a dragon who desired her.

With practiced ease amassed over several dozens of years spent in the company of many a female, Xigfeldo laid back on his haunches, bringing his wings about to mask the noticeable vulnerability that crept forth from between his legs.

"We can stop at that one lick, or more could follow. We can also share each other's warmth for the night, if that suits you, or rest a comfortable distance from each other and recount tales from our homeland until sleep claims us."

He omitted one paramount option, where she left him and all of her entrapping worries behind. Her tense muscles made it hard to focus on more than her pounding heartbeat, and her panting muffled the sharpness of her thoughts. She understood the reason for her reluctance, but not the drive behind it, and that very conflict laid its heaviness over her wings, keeping them from spreading forth and taking flight.

Xigfeldo said no more. He did not even look at her, preferring to let her be the one to fight her way out of this paralyzing incertitude, a grace that no male gryphon would have awarded her during such a moment of apparent weakness.

Heat changed her. Of that, Firi was certain. Her goal, of ensuring that she embellished a nest with her diligent efforts, fueled her internal strife, as did the choices that led her here. She declined, after all, the advances of every male, no matter how striking she found them at the time, and left her colony for the same reason that whisked her away from Xigfeldo's blissful tongue.

Her first time had to be on her terms; to take into account all her struggles, frustrations, wants and aspirations, for she had pondered on little else since the moment she first felt the urge to share herself with the opposite gender.

Only, Xigfeldo wasn't just a male, but a dragon, bound to none of her stringent ambitions. His seed, unlike that of a gryphon, posed no risk of a clutch, a too important detail that further stoked the flames of lust caressing her nether lips.

"Approach me as you would a dragoness," Firi made up her mind as she lowered herself onto her back, adopting the position that best reflected her current intentions. "If I am to be with a dragon, then I wish to experience mateship as a dragon would, with the elegance and all the numerous platitudes you have mentioned earlier."

Xigfeldo grinned, his confident steps quickening the beats of Firi's heart.

"Then it means we skip the fighting and the courting in favor of satisfying our more pressing needs, always starting with those of the female."

Xigfeldo' snout inched closer to her that very moment to plant a few wet licks across her sensitive throat. Firi's forepaws embraced him, and she welcomed him by rubbing her cheek against his several times while cooing her bliss in his ear.

"And afterwards?"

"Afterwards," Xigfeldo's snout traveled to one of her ears, his breath tickling its pink insides, "we relish all the subtleties that led to our mutual infatuation, for it is only with a clear mind that one can appreciate all the small details that stir the hearts of mates for one another."

His words made her ears perk and her limbs and tail still in growing excitement for what would come next. She blinked back her disbelief several times, as if to make sure she chose this course of action, and that the dragon whose form shadowed hers possessed no conflicting thoughts of his own. She now knew what she desired; that sweltering wetness coating her slit suggested as much.

And yet, Firi felt both overjoyed and intimidated at the prospect of learning about bodily pleasure. So far, Xigfeldo treated her with a gentleness that no gryphons other than her parents and siblings had shown her. His paw, wading through the longer, spotted fur of her belly, made her limbs quiver and her slit to shudder with want. And of all things, he cared not for his pleasure and need, but wished only to be her guide, to introduce her to the only unexplored part of adulthood. Why not allow him?

Held at bay by her clasped forepaws, Xigfeldo listened to the romantic rhythm of her breaths and excited heartbeats, their vibrations caressing the cheek that rested on Firi's chest. Her talons played with his mane, twirling the strands of long, silken hair between her toes to show her appreciation for his patience and understanding.

"It is time," she said, more for herself than for him. Her hold lessened, allowing his elegant head to slide its way down at an excruciatingly slow pace. He must have nuzzled every strand of fur on his way down, building up the gryphoness' eagerness to almost unbearable levels, only to unleash her deep, resounding sigh from the depths of her chest when he climbed rather than descend to pay her paws a visit.

"Awwwk, not there," Firi pushed against his snout with both paws to guide him where he belonged, only for her beak to shutter and her nictitating membranes to fling shut against the blissful protests of his tongue. A few hearty lashes of his slimy ribbon of flesh across her pads was all it took to subdue her, its warmth intoxicating in its intensity.

"We dragons spread our affection to every part of our mate, not just to her sex," he added between each delightful flick, his purr rising and falling in unison with the tonality of her lustful warble. "It makes for a deeper, more sensual connection, a true union of our joint bodies."

Her tail joined with his neck, tugging at it with all the force she could muster to signal her growing impatience. Ultimately, it was her heavy huffs sneaking through Firi's agape beak mixed with her increasingly noticeable aroma that drew the dragon's attention away from her slickened pads. Maintaining its fervor and confidence, his angular snout reached between her splayed haunches, pushing away the cover of her tail to breathe in the layer of thick arousal oozing from her soggy, shuddering crevice. The way his nostrils twitched and his lips wrinkled with lust bathed Firi in the warm, exciting tingles of lustful apprehension, for the moment that she had forever pushed back for one reason or another was finally upon her.

For a split second, she wondered what Xigfeldo made of her intense, almost raw smell. Its effects on him were obvious, for he began to grow faster than she imagined without even tasting her. Still, she wanted to hear it from him, the hind paws settling on his horns slowly guiding him forth until his white scales almost kissed her mottled, glistening lips.

"Hrrrrrrhhhh," Xigfeldo pulled away slightly, spreading his jaws in a lust-filled snarl. "Dragons learn much from each other's scents, and your fragrance....mrrrmmm...it enriches my senses with its coarse potency."

"More," Firi demanded, driven forth by perverse curiosity. "Male gryphons tracked my scent for miles, yet they never...rawk...breathed it into themselves like you did. Their tongues...awk...small and...irp...cowardly."

The dragon chuckled, his widened nostrils sucking in the smell of her ardor straight from its source, its strength visibly rattling his scales and causing his member to jolt in obvious excitement.

"There is..." he distanced himself enough to keep his thoughts lucid, tongue wiping away some of her arousing haze, "little else that is more fulfilling for a male than the fierce, ravishing fragrance of a female who had yet to spend her passion. It carries a distinct odor, especially in gryphons whose tongues seldom grace their lips. I can..."

He trailed off to take another sample, his eyes closing to fully immerse himself into it. "Practically smell the many nights during which your flower wept without hope of satisfaction."

"Arrrk..." Firi whined softly, the dull throbs pulsing through her depths amplified by his most unusual yet enchanting words. They made her all the more impatient for what followed, causing her to fidget and paw at his neck and throat restlessly, struck by burdening need.

The squawk meant to berate him for toying with her lodged in her throat, entrapped by her tightly clasped beak as his long, heated tongue slid hungrily across her previously untouched slit, bathing the entirety of it in its maddeningly warm caress. The motion tugged at the crevice nestled between her taut, trembling lips, permitting a waft of stronger odor to sail into his nostrils, accompanied by a rivulet of pent-up, far too eager fluids. No matter how much she desired to closely watch the erotic dance of his tongue, Firi's eyes betrayed her, shuttering under the waves of great and terrible pleasure assaulting her being.

Although she couldn't see, Firi vividly felt every stroke of his tongue as it swirled and circled the damp fur edging her sex, licking away her honey before it had the chance to dry and stoking his irresistible hunger in the process. When he next returned to where she needed him most, Xigfeldo resolved to first get her used to his tongue by licking her entrance repeatedly, his moans convincing her own pleasured cries to roam free.

Warm gusts of air billowed from his nostrils and gently rolled over her vent and across her tailhole, an all too stimulating and erotic caress that enhanced the rapid, enthusiastic motions of his tongue. Her enchanting taste pressed him to dip the tip of his agile appendage into her ever so slightly to gain access to the nectar glued upon her clenched walls. Barely noticeable over the mystifying, heated pressure that began to well within her with every throb and contracting motion of her tunnel, they soon captured Firi's attention. Ever so subtle, she felt him worm his way into her, prying and stretching her apart in search of more of the honey that he cherished far more than she ever expected.

"Cra...cawwww," the gryphoness loosened her passion, squirming on the ground like an agitated eel, her paws and tail a storm of kicks and wild swings. Not even his increasingly prominent scent, soft yet distinct at the same time, could hope to distract her from the pressing need boiling within her underbelly. In fact, breathing it in enflamed her lust further due to its unique tang. Neither sweet nor overpowering, it reminded Firi of a fresh wintery morning, where her mind lingered on naught but the pleasant heat welled within her furs.

That same heat now raged deep within her, caged beneath layers of self-control that the dragon slowly took apart with every flick of his tongue.

Firi let out an almost relieved squeak as Xigfeldo backed away from her, aware that she was ready, his nostrils flared to ensure that his senses did not betray him. Firi's lower belly practically simmered with that too demanding, almost uncomfortable burden of unspent lust, driving her to ignore his proposition and bring him back where he belonged.

"More," she half commanded, half pleaded, voice strained by the shudders propagating through her entire being. Firi whipped her tail to the side to allow the male complete freedom over her vent. She watched him, her eyes sparkling with want in the fading light, the claws of her hind paws protracting and retracting due to nervousness. She was about to mate, to experience the greatest pleasure the world had to offer. Not with a gryphon, but with a dragon--a dragon that, somehow, felt more suited to tend to her needs than any gryphon ever did.

And instead, all that she wanted from him was for his tongue to finish what it started, and then to drink deep of whatever would burst out of her at the height of her passion.

His forepaws locked around her haunches, kneading the taut muscles underneath the dark blue fur to ease her further into the erotic act. Her wings folded to her sides as she kept her tail angled to the side, leaving her sex bare for the dragon's pleasure. She watched Xigfeldo's snout approach her slit, gazing deep into his eyes, drawing strength from those crystalline, sunlit orbs to banish her doubts. Even though Xigfeldo licked, touched and felt her with his paws, a mating implied so much more, and this was but the prelude to something far greater.

Xigfeldo held her gaze as his snout connected with her slit. Firi shivered a little, then squawked softly when his tongue traced across her folds. Her balance wavered under the toll of searing pleasure that shot through her, and her puffy lips shivered slightly. That long, moist tongue stroke across her most sensitive area felt divine to Firi, now that she began to grow accustomed to it. She had to spread her wings to keep her wavering balance, her limbs growing weaker with every successive tongue stroke. For a gryphon that never licked herself down there, it was too much. She barely noticed the drake's arousal, a crisp and sharp scent, over her budding climax. As much as she tried to hold back, Firi couldn't, not when his tender tongue that caressed her virgin folds dipped deep into her nether depths, as if aware she could no longer endure the anticipation. His snout planted against her slit, preparing her for the much-sought finality of their first moment of intimacy. The spasms racing through her insides picked up, and the thickening tongue that spread her tight tunnel further apart felt too good inside her.

Firi clamped down upon the drake's tongue, then released him just as quick as sharp, sporadic caws fled her beak. She restlessly squirmed on the ground as a rush of hot, prickling fire surged through her insides, wetting Xigfeldo' tongue with her fragrant essence. Stars speckled her vision from the might of her first climax, bearing a myriad of nuances. No matter how hard she blinked, they didn't go away, and neither did the haze marring her vision. She whipped her head back towards Xigfeldo, giving him a fond look that bespoke of her want for him. Then, she slowly splayed her head back, swishing her tail while waiting for him to claim her.

His rumbling growl traversed through Firi's frame, making her shift her weight from one side to the other in anticipation. Her head still whirled from her recent orgasm, and Xigfeldo' paws upon her haunches already made her blood boil and her wings to flutter. She perked her head to watch him, squeaking softly as she saw him--all of him, from his soft, angular snout, to the fluffy mane flowing across his spine, to the sleek pink shaft poking between his haunches. He grew as big as his affection for her did, and Firi wanted nothing more than to have him inside her, to feel his gentle touch and experience all that he promised her. She now had that chance. All she had to do was say it.

But first, she basked in his pleasant caress, trilling in joy at how his paws moved expertly across her flanks, cawing softly and flicking her ears when he nibbled on them.

"It can stop here," he whispered with a gentle tone, filled with understanding. "You can remain untouched by a male, unstained by his seed, yet still leave with the knowledge of how overpowering it feels to be groomed bellow the tail."

"I will not leave," Firi pecked at the tip of his snout, chirping in amusement at how it made him flinch. "This glade showed me that the right male for me does not have to be a gryphon, just as you showed me that one doesn't need a mate to learn about pleasure." She closed her eyes, savoring his lick in her earnest, before rubbing her beak against his chin with renewed fondness. Her tail twined with his, pulling on it suggestively before she rolled onto her belly, adopting the customary mating position for gryphons.

It was happening, and it was way better than she had envisioned it so many times when she stood alone in her nest. A young and overly excited gryphon lacked the delicate touch of Xigfeldo's more experienced paws; a gryphon wouldn't have used his talons to scratch at her nape fur lightly, and no gryphon bore that crisp, alluring fragrance of her partner. His scent filled her nostrils, quickening her blood as his forepaws stroked her in the most intimate of ways. As he leaned over her, Firi had easy access to his fluffy cheeks and snout. She rubbed against him, squawking her delight at having such a warm, comforting weight rest against her. Although bigger and stronger, the drake took great care not to press his chest too tight against her back, allowing her a tidbit of freedom to shift and wriggle a bit. Firi stood still, however, caught in the fetters of the warmth that oozed from his furred hide.

Her mellow chant cut for a brief moment while the drake got into position. Firi's breath caught in her throat as she felt him poking at her silken crevice, a tight, warm, and slick presence that made her heart flutter and the claws of her hind paws to protract from the sudden stimulation. She loved the way he shifted into position, subtle as silk, his body draping her like a warm, living blanket. Their combined heat made her breath grow harder and sharper, her head a whirlwind of lust and emotions. His thighs locked around hers to keep her into place, his wings spread to encompass the whole wide sky, and his tip brushed over her folds, ever so slightly, enticing her with a couple of slow strokes.

Firi squirmed lightly in his embrace, squeaking in surprise at how good that sleek, hard tip felt. It ran across her lips, caressing her, wetting her with his own arousal. Firi perked up at that, and her haunches trembled as fiery lust took hold of her. She wanted him, more than ever, to feel him inside her, to embrace her first partner in a tight, slick grip.

He finally gave her that, and the first thrust felt surprisingly good to Firi. Her talons dug into the earth, drawing shallow furrows as she felt him pierce her. Shudders of elation crept through her body, urging her to let out a trembling moan as her virgin hole took in her first male. And what a surprising male he was! Gentler and more affectionate than any gryphon she ever hoped to find.

His spaded tip pushed inside her silken sanctuary with a wet, squelching sound. His thickness surprised her, but no more than the exotic shape of his head. She did not expect it to be so firm, to throb so noticeably, and to keep spreading her tight, shuddering walls so noticeably on its way into her deepest reaches. An irrational panic took roots within her mind, that his dragon girth might prove too demanding for her, accompanied by the overpowering urge to make her water.

Acting on instinct, Firi skipped forward, breaking their union to squat and ease the puzzling sensation of overt fulness creeping through her nether canal by letting go of all the pressure that seemed to have built within her. It was only after the rivulet slowed down into trickles that the cold claws of dread seized Firi's heart within their icy touch upon realizing that the itch still persisted; that the memory of Xigfeldo's shaft workings its way through her still permeated her inner walls, and that it wouldn't end until he rid her of it with his tongue.

But why would he, after she slighted him by severing their all too intimate bond? She interrupted their mating. She betrayed the dragon's trust, all so that she could follow her instinct's folly.

"That happens at times to young females whose partners enter them for the first time," Xigfeldo said, his voice full of kindness and understanding as he made his way to her shameful puddle. He stepped over it without giving it a single glance, his attention fully reserved for her.

Before Firi had the chance to utter an apology, the warmth of his tongue visited her unsuspecting nether orifice. Her body instinctively straightened to make room for his snout and savor those familiar, reassuring, and far too pleasant strokes on her still eager and receptive lips as if nothing happened.

As if she didn't just pee during their mating.

The pang of rising dread grew within Firi enough to pierce through the veil of lust and force her a step forward.

Xigfeldo's snout still followed.

Perturbed, dazed and uncoordinated, she tried to evade him through a few twists and turns, but no matter where she went, his tongue still pushed her tail aside to lick her there.

He did not mind. He did not care. Not a single wrinkle of revulsion disturbed the even scales lining his beautiful face as he kept moaning, nuzzling and licking her little, throbbing rift, enthralled by the honey it rewarded him with.

Most surprisingly, the motions of his tongues picked up to such extent that he began to practically lap at her folds, all four of her limbs growing weak and unsteady in remembrance of how strong and rich her first climax was.

"Skra--stop," Firi muttered, her beak shuddering in unison with the waves of elation traversing her spine and soaked depths both. She was close, so close, her head so fuzzy she feared closing her eyes.

"Are you sure?" he teased her by poking his way through her flooded gates, seeking to familiarize her with the growing thickness of a male by inserting his tongue into her in slow, steady, increasingly deeper thrusts.

"Craaawk, I...I...shireeek!" The gryphoness cried out, her walls only a few shudders away from drowning her into that ocean of infinite bliss.

Xigfeldo stopped moments before she was overcome, much to Firi's gasping gratefulness.

Her body suddenly as heavy as her breaths, the gryphoness settled down, head still light with the promise of intense, much-needed relief. It only took a few impatient flicks of her tail tip over Xigfeldo's snout to get him to assume his customary mating position before her fire faded, poking at her cleft with his now familiar tip yet again.

Unlike a gryphon's soft barbs, Xigfeldo's tight dragonhood did not scratch or tug at her smooth, overly sensitive insides. On the contrary, it made her squirm in growing bliss as he spread her for the second time, working his taut, thickening shaft further and further into her. Her walls groped and clasped around him, sending jolts of raw pleasure surging through her spine at how foreign yet stimulating his occasional throb felt inside her. This time, the urge to make her water felt distant, barely perceptible, drowned in the ocean of bliss that began to creep through every inch of her furred hide.

Instinctively, without her accord, her haunches began to wiggle as she attempted to get more of him inside her. He already stretched her far more than she had ever been stretched before, but the elation that flooded her being clouded Firi's mind. It urged her to trill her joy, to rub her beak against him, to show him that she relished him just as much as he enjoyed her, given how his tip seemed to bloat with the seed he desperately wanted to lay inside her.

"It...it feels so overpowering," she barely managed through her soft chirps of delight. "And the pressure...that growing...mrawk, growing pressure..."

"Lose yourself into the ocean of ecstasy," Xigfeldo guided her with affectionate licks and nuzzles over her nape and ears. "Immerse into it. Let it engulf you."

She wanted to, more than anything, but at the same time, she wished for the dragon to heed his own words and surrender to the will of his instinct. She wanted him to reach his great pleasure without worrying about her comfort, for only then could they truly be together. His tightness, lodged inside her, scared her a bit, as he was bigger than a gryphon, and longer too, yet the deep pleasure coursing through her abolished her worries. It forced her to focus on nothing but the soft shudders of her insides and the fiery tingles rushing through her frame.

Xigfeldo continued to rub the pebbly scales lining his snout tip against the side of her beak, adding a lick to help reassure her every time he pushed his way in, no matter how slightly. He seemed to understand when to stop, pause, and extend his affection to her neck and throat, not at all bothered by how her tunnel squeezed and entrapped him at times. Her wonderful, silken walls coaxed the most beautiful and vibrant of purrs from his plated throat, adding rhythm to Firi's sharper, louder song whenever he slipped more of his malehood into her. He tensed and hissed in pleasure and building desire, every motion of his hips or her hindquarters augmenting their mutual pleasure. His free forepaw tightened around her chest, scratching at her fluff tenderly, making her feel particularly treasured during his sluggish, careful, yet immensely satisfying advance.

As he pushed in deeper to make room for more of his smooth spire, Firi bit back her blissful cries. A sharp squeak still made it through before she dug her beak into the fluff of his neck to muffle her sounds. It felt oddly satisfying, to bury her head into her partner. It made her feel safe, cared for, even loved. Her body loved him in equal measure, her walls rippling with growing shudders. He slipped through her folds with great ease, their combined arousal working wonders to help her untested depths accommodate him.

Even so, having a dragon inside her felt quite overwhelming, and no matter how hard she fought to contain her pleasure, Firi couldn't. His long, firm shaft buried into her almost in its entirety applied straining, immensely delightful pressure on her eagerly clenching walls, his tip rubbing and pushing with a teasing and intensive grind while his tail swayed firmly and heavily behind him.

Her second climax washed over her, the shudder so potent it ruffled all her feathers and forced her muscles to squeeze his member with light, repeated, persistent strokes. More of her honey flowed through her sanctuary, sharp and sweet, coating his length with squirting layers of fresh, gryphon climax.

Through bleary eyes, Firi stared at him, slightly embarrassed and apologetic because of how fast she gave in to her passion. To show him that she wanted to keep going, Firi rocked her hindquarters and curled her tail around his, emitting a series of lustful sounds while nuzzling at his snout reassuringly.

Xigfeldo's consistent rumble acquired a deeper, stronger, primordial touch as the rush of her second orgasm surged through the gryphoness below him, his member quaking more violently than his body in a desperate bid to join her. He was almost there; Firi felt the head of his penis bloat with the finality of their mating act, his seed encouraged forth by her abundant wetness mixed with the precum he had leaked into her. If the spasms of her quaking tunnels weren't enough, then the back and forth grinding motions of his hips against hers that rubbed their mixed, liquid pleasure together finally broke through his thinned endurance.

Urged forth by that innate, primordial instinct to shoot his seed as deep into his female as possible, Xigfeldo's back arched farther than she believed it possible, lodging as much of his malehood into her as her overly stretched canal allowed. Then, over the thin, piercing cry he unleashed for all the sky to hear, he poured--no, spurted--his warmth into her, throbbing so prominently her nether muscles clenched and squeezed at his rock-hard spade, turning her vision blurry with renewed, unexpected elation.

"Scraaaaaaa!" Firi's screeched joined her partner's tamer, more melodious song of utter relief, her mind flooded with all manner of lascivious thoughts on how overwhelming it must have felt to empty his seed into the arousal-drenched depths of a female. The short, desperate, rapid thrusts into her mirrored the intense quiver wading under his scales, intensifying his delight to such enrapturing degree his voice choked into tiny whimpers accompanying his spurts.

It all felt surreal, similar to a dream in which her focus was distorted, her attention distributed to select parts of her body. But for the ripples echoing within her underbelly, everything felt faint, like a vague memory muffled by the prominent waves of pleasure swimming through the entirety of her being. She wished it to never end; for his strong spurts that attacked her deepest, most intimate reaches to flow until she was so thoroughly filled her mind would flow out of her body.

It was her voice that gave in first, shifting from the demanding roughness of her pleasured cry to soothing trills and playful warbles. Xigfeldo's verve died down as well. All that remained of his majestic roar was a faint, smoldering growl that heralded the end of his efforts. His last few trickles of seed were so unnoticeable that Firi only detected their presence when he rocked his hindquarters softly, somehow bothered by the shudders still creeping through her.

She did not understand why he began shrinking, or the reason for withdrawing from their union and let slip a rivulet of their combined essence into the cooler air of early evening, but nor did it matter. A comfortable amount remained entrapped within her, however, held fast by her relaxing walls. Xigfeldo's tongue that greeted her a moment after merely swept away the lukewarm surplus that would soon turn her fur into a rigid, uncomfortable mess.

Possessed by euphoric glee, Firi rolled onto her side, pawing gently at his snout while she rocked from left to right and right to left. The grass warmed by her belly felt wonderful to her back, as did its caress over fur and feathers alike. She couldn't help herself from chirping away her sudden onrush of joy, a song reserved solely for the one who watched her with great interest, noticeable affection beaming in his eyes.

"There is nothing more beautiful in the world than a fulfilled gryphoness," he said, settling down on his belly, mesmerized by her display. The intensity with which he absorbed her fluid movements filled Firi with a curious sensation, eerily similar to the seed whose warmth still seemed to pulsate within her, yet far more thorough. It felt as if every strand of fur on her lithe body tingled with the warm glow of satisfaction that could be enriched further if she but followed the pull of her instinct.

This mysterious lack drove her into Xigfeldo's beckoning embrace, then under his raised wing that encased her in its protective shelter as soon as she snuggled against his side, her cheek rubbing against his shoulder lovingly.

The dragon's head poked through the edge of her new living shelter shortly after, snout greeting beak with a light dab. "Now tell me, my alluring bird, which story would you like to hear?"

"Tell me about your homeland," Firi chose to sate her utmost curiosity, sneaking her hind paws under his haunch, where his warmth burned brightest. She absorbed every word, enchanted by the lavish description of a dragon's life, by the satisfied purr that filled in the moments of silence. Little by little, his voice grew dimmer, his blanketing wing tighter and his joy-filled hum louder, until it was all that Firi heard when she succumbed to her state of deep, elated relaxation.

***The End***

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