"You did," Tal agreed, smug as a robber that the cops couldn't catch. "Prob'ly helped that y'had an amazin' student, too!" He grinned unrepentantly at his friend, enjoying the easy back-and-forth of their teasing and the warm bonds between them. Sure, at the time he'd been so scared he'd been shaking and Soh had a hail of a time getting him to willingly stick his face underwater, but they'd gotten there in the end! Further lessons had firmed up his confidence and smoothed out his technique enough that he wasn't a danger to himself or others anymore, even if he wasn't about to win any races.
His dragon was her usual charmingly bullying self as she inserted herself into the conversation, leaving both humans laughing in exasperation as they obeyed her royal whim. Soh's question brought Tal back to the reason to her visit, though he didn't stop his scritches of his companion. "More, since the War," he admitted cheerfully enough. "If y'keep an eye out for ursurs an' breath snatches. There's the Hollow Forest, with its weird steel trees, an' the Bay with its black sand beaches. The Frostfields are kinda spooky, all full o'mist, but the Greenwing is prob'ly the prettiest place now. An' you'll see what's left o' the Fangs when we get t'the Springs," he added with a grin as they passed under the Gates and started on the well-traveled trail towards the hills. "Tomorrow I can take y'up in the Peregrine an' you can get a bird's eye view for your mappin', if y'want?"
His dragon was her usual charmingly bullying self as she inserted herself into the conversation, leaving both humans laughing in exasperation as they obeyed her royal whim. Soh's question brought Tal back to the reason to her visit, though he didn't stop his scritches of his companion. "More, since the War," he admitted cheerfully enough. "If y'keep an eye out for ursurs an' breath snatches. There's the Hollow Forest, with its weird steel trees, an' the Bay with its black sand beaches. The Frostfields are kinda spooky, all full o'mist, but the Greenwing is prob'ly the prettiest place now. An' you'll see what's left o' the Fangs when we get t'the Springs," he added with a grin as they passed under the Gates and started on the well-traveled trail towards the hills. "Tomorrow I can take y'up in the Peregrine an' you can get a bird's eye view for your mappin', if y'want?"
