If you're caught in the shadow then turn around
If you hear my voice, follow the sound
'Cause I'm here to guide you home
If you hear my voice, follow the sound
'Cause I'm here to guide you home
A name was not everything to know about a person or creature, but it was a start. The dragon rumbled acknowledgement deep within his chest, and blinked slowly. Pupils dilated, before contracting again.
'Umbra,' came a whispered return, and a sense of depth followed with the word. Of deep oceans and high heavens, of blue hues fading gradually from blinding near-white into azure, to ultramarine, to near-black. Cold shadows and vast patience hid behind such a name, a dark midnight backdrop against which a small star might learn to shine.
Vaguely aware of the exchange, the girl chose not to interfere. It was unsettling that someone besides her or her mother - or another dragon - might be able to converse so clearly with her companion, but she would not begrudge her friend the experience. Besides, she had her own riddles to contemplate; most of them being Deimos' neutral expression, and the weary smile that belayed the answer he offered. It made her ache, that he so clearly carried something inside, yet couldn't find it in him to speak of it to her.
"I understand," she said, and the soft smile she gave him suggested that she actually did. To an extent, at least. "That's good, then. If it ever were to change and something was not alright anymore... I would be honored to listen, and help however I can." That was all she could do for now; perhaps it was all she would ever be able to do.
'You will never be able to save anyone, my sweet,' Safrin's voice seemed to whisper to her, all over again. It was no easier to hear now than it had been before, and did little to quell her desire to try.
"I have a trick I can do," she went on, saving them both with a retreat to safer topics. Divine gifts and trials felt safe and mundane compared to the treacherous paths of budding friendship. "An island elsewhere, where I can place items, and visit. Mother said there is a way to make portals open from there to wherever I wish to go... and for that she needs ice. Among other things."
'Umbra,' came a whispered return, and a sense of depth followed with the word. Of deep oceans and high heavens, of blue hues fading gradually from blinding near-white into azure, to ultramarine, to near-black. Cold shadows and vast patience hid behind such a name, a dark midnight backdrop against which a small star might learn to shine.
Vaguely aware of the exchange, the girl chose not to interfere. It was unsettling that someone besides her or her mother - or another dragon - might be able to converse so clearly with her companion, but she would not begrudge her friend the experience. Besides, she had her own riddles to contemplate; most of them being Deimos' neutral expression, and the weary smile that belayed the answer he offered. It made her ache, that he so clearly carried something inside, yet couldn't find it in him to speak of it to her.
"I understand," she said, and the soft smile she gave him suggested that she actually did. To an extent, at least. "That's good, then. If it ever were to change and something was not alright anymore... I would be honored to listen, and help however I can." That was all she could do for now; perhaps it was all she would ever be able to do.
'You will never be able to save anyone, my sweet,' Safrin's voice seemed to whisper to her, all over again. It was no easier to hear now than it had been before, and did little to quell her desire to try.
"I have a trick I can do," she went on, saving them both with a retreat to safer topics. Divine gifts and trials felt safe and mundane compared to the treacherous paths of budding friendship. "An island elsewhere, where I can place items, and visit. Mother said there is a way to make portals open from there to wherever I wish to go... and for that she needs ice. Among other things."
Seren
