private Far from home. 1x1 with Illiad Easle

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ditzy looked thoughtful for a bit, "Been a while since I cooked fish, but I could make something sufficiently aromatic that Dinky wouldn't mind it much."

Ætheron nodded with a smile, "I'm sure you'll do fine, neither of us are very pick eaters in any case." With that he would turn towards the door, "What time should we come by? Ædriga wants to look at the local caves and library."

Ditzy nodded, "I get out of here at 5, so at 6? When the sun is about a hoof above the horizon."

Ætheron nodded, "We'll be there, then."

Once they were outside the office Ætheron turned to Ædriga, "So, do you want to look at nearby caves first? Or find books?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga waved to Ditzy when they went outside, the plans went bit over her head as there was many words she didn't understand and she didn't know anything about clocks, but she got the basic idea, thus not asking for more details.

"Books." she didn't need a place to be before the moment she would be alone, she also guessed that wherever they would be getting the books, it wouldn't be available after certain point, mostly based on the various things relating to time she had heard, she may have not really known how hours worked, but it was clear that creatures here had schedules based on something. "Can take books and go cave, but no can take cave and go books."
 

 

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron chuckled at her comparison, "Very true, we'll get the books then."

He led the way into the town proper, as before the ponies gave them a berth as they passed, but the ponies didn't seem afraid of either of them, a few of the younger ones even gave them some friendly waves as they passed.

Eventually they arrived at a large tree with a door set in the side like Zecora's house, "Here's the library, it's magically treated so you can't burn it down with your fire." He knocked on the door and Spike, the small dragon they had seen earlier, opened the door, he looked surprised to see them "Æther, you know Twilight doesn't want you here."

Ætheron sighed, "And I'll stay outside," he motioned to Ædriga, "This is Ædriga, she would like to check out some books, maybe you could help her out?"

Spike nodded with a smile, "Can do!" He opened the door wider and motioned for Ædriga to enter, "Come on in, what can I help you with?"

Ætheron meanwhile turned to take a seat in the shade nearby, "I'll wait out here, don't worry."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga hesitated a bit but did go in, though she became visibly more wary when she did. She wasn't scared of Spike, a wingless dragon who was small even by her standards wasn't that threatening, but the situation as a whole was unpleasant, alone in an unfamiliar place with no obvious escape routes, it didn't help that Twilight's name was mentioned, Ætheron may have told her that she was not a bad pony, but in Ædriga's mind the first thought still was her literally melting a creature without warning.

"Need learn words." she managed to answer with small delay to Spike's question, it was immediately bit harder to speak in that language now that part of her focus was stolen by her instincts, but she could manage, hopefully.

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Spike nodded, "Words, right. Ditzy checked out a pair of books on that last week, hasn't returned them yet, and I suppose that's because she gave them to you?" He was of course referring to the books that Ætheron had given her earlier.

Spike went over to one of the bookcases, "I guess then you'll need some more advanced books than those, maybe a basic dictionary to help learn less common words?"

He was mostly talking to himself as he gathered a trio of larger books, bringing them back over to Ædriga in short order, "These should be good for you." One was a simple dictionary, the second was the next book in the series Ætheron had given her, and the third one was the first Daring Doo book.

Spike only waited a moment before asking, "So, are all dragons like you where you come from?" He was talking about her form, being more quadrupedal than the Equestrian dragons, but how she understood the question remained to be seen.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga nodded and said "Ætheron" when Spike asked about the two books Ditzy had, she didn't have her own bag to keep stuff in so technically speaking she didn't have anything, and instead Ætheron had everything. She thanked Spike when he brought the books, but said nothing else about them. 

It took a second for Ædriga to respond to Spike's last question, partly due to her needing to think a moment to figure out what exactly was asked, and partly because it took her bit by surprise as it had nothing to do with books. "Yes but more big and more evil."  

 

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Spike nodded sagely, "There are some bad dragons around here too, but they mostly stay in the south where there's a lot of volcanos and such. I didn't much like being with them, so I stay around here. Maybe you'll like it here too? There's a large cave in the tall mountain not far from here, recently vacated by a massive dragon who won't be coming back. Maybe you'd like it? He may even have left some treasure behind when he left. But anyway, anything else I can help you with?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga again took a moment to assimilate everything that was said, her capability to understand wasn't yet quick enough to keep up with Spike as he spoke, though eventually she comprehended most of what was said, besides of course the words she didn't know yet. It was slightly embarrassing to her to be so slow with it, but language wasn't one of her strong points, even her native language was bit lacking for her, because her kind didn't really talk that much, so while she learned words quickly, it always took a second to understand everything. 

When she eventually figured out what was said, her response was simple "No need more help." 

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Spike nodded at that, "Alright then, just remember to bring those books back when you get the chance, as well as the ones you got earlier if you can? They may not be in the highest demand, but we do have some folks looking for them on occasion."

He would start to show her to the door before stopping, "Hold on, I've got something else that might help." He'd rush off to one of the back rooms before coming back with a special bag to carry the books, "Here, this bag is fireproof, and good at keeping the books safe, that way you won't have to worry too much while you travel."

With that he would get the door for her, "I hope you come back soon, and enjoy the books!"

Outside, Ætheron had attracted the attention of the local ponies, a number of younger ponies sat around where he was sitting, listening to a story he was just finishing telling. He got up when he saw Ædriga exiting the library, "I need to go now friends."

The ponies expressed their disappointment, but didn't make too much of a fuss as he went over to Ædriga, "Everything went well I hope? You want to see the caves now yes?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga nodded and thanked Spike for the bag, but other than that she didn't have many reactions, partly because she didn't understand everything, and partly because she still didn't like being inside alone.

She looked curiously at the ponies around Ætheron when she got outside, being bit wary until they started to leave. "Yes, and yes, Spike..?" she wasn't fully sure if that was the name, she just remembered it was someone's name they met before, and Spike she had seen before "...say that there cave no far, 'tall mountain'." she said 'tall mountain' in a different way to everything else, this was because she wasn't sure what exactly it meant, and she was just directly quoting what she had heard "many other caves?" "And ponies friends?" it was two very different questions, but she didn't know when else to ask them.

She didn't necessarily want a big cave, since smaller ones were easier to defend due to bigger dragons not fitting in, but she was still interested in seeing it, maybe she could modify it a bit. 

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron nodded, "That is one of the caves I had in mind, it's nice and far from any of the cities so you shouldn't need to worry about being bothered there, and it recently got a dragon cleared out, so you would be the first one to move in if you want it."

In regards to her first question: He would nod "There are a decent number of caves in the area, all different sizes and locations, we'll see what you like best."

In regards to her second question: He would smile and look at the smaller ponies as they wandered off, "Some of them I helped save when I first arrived, the rest are friends of theirs, so became friends of mine as well. Often when you make a friend of one pony, you make a friend of all of their friends too."

If she didn't have a pressing follow up question to those answers, Ætheron would start to lead the way to the cave in the Tall Mountain. She could of course ask follow ups as they walked.

He would point out the tall mountain just to the north of the town, it sat outside the forest, or at least some of the base of the mountain was visible outside the forest. "That's the mountain there. We'll need to hurry if we want to get there and back before dinner."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
"I understand." Ædriga said in regards of both answers, she was thinking about starting to make it bit more obvious if she understood or not so that others could repeat something if it was important, but she still thought about it, so it wasn't sure if it would happen. She didn't have any further questions, mostly wondering about what kind of cave she wanted and about what ways she could make friends outside Ætheron introducing her, maybe she could save someone at some point, she may have been scared of dragons, but everything else was mostly fine.

She nodded to Ætheron pointing at the mountain "Let's go" she didn't know what 'let's' meant, but Ætheron had said 'let's go' so many times at this point that she had learned its general meaning. The speed they would go would be fully up to Ætheron, as Ædriga had no trouble to keep up, especially now that she was all healed up, she was natural in uneven terrain, and that was without the use of her wings.
 

 

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron started off slow, but slowly gained speed as Ædriga proved herself capable of keeping up. Soon enough he was running at a full gallop up the mountain, his hooves deftly avoiding the uneven terrain.

After a few minutes of traveling, they arrived at the cave entrance, it had a fairly large plateau in front of it rather than opening straight to the cliffside. Ætheron took a bit to catch his breath before walking into the cave, "Here's the cave, it's got a nice flat area out front, over the tree line so it's a good place to get some sun as well as giving you a good view of the valley below you. The mouth is fairly narrow, the previous dragon was only barely able to walk down it, which may have been one of the reasons why they were as willing to leave as they were."

After the narrow entrance the cave widened up considerably to what was presumably the hoard room. There were a few scattered coins and treasures left behind by the cave's previous occupant.

Ætheron would turn his attention to Ædriga, "So, what do you think?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga looked around, the entrance may have been narrow when compared to the previous owner, but her being as small as she was, it was rather big for her, and the cave was on quite visible place, but at the same time, she too would have lot more visibility, and it would be lot harder for anyone to surprise attack her. "Maybe" she said after thinking for a moment "no all good." she started scratching a picture on the ground, showing a bit just how hard her claws were, being able to scrach pictures in solid rock, it was a picture of the cave as seen from outside "Need more small" she stated, drawing what looked like rocks blocking part of the entrance "And maybe trees." she then drew trees blocking the entrance even more. 

She then walked to the entrance and looked at the walls of the cave, hitting them with her head few times to see how easy they would be to collapse, there was potential, but it would take work.

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Inspecting the walls closer Ædriga would find they had been smoothed by being superheated, likely by the dragon who lived here previously, making them remarkably smooth as well as incredibly sturdy. She would not be able to adjust them without melting them some more herself.

Ætheron nodded at her comments, "I figured as much, I think I know another cave much closer to what you want. We should be able to get to it before we need to go to Ditzy's house."

He would lead the way back down the mountain, taking a slightly different route that brought them down into the forest instead of into the valley. After a few minutes of trotting through the forest they arrived at one of the caves they had stayed in during their travels together, "This is a bit of a smaller cave, the mouth is fairly well hidden from the forest floor, still gives a good vantage over the treetops without being fully exposed. Much smaller interior and mouth, but there is easier access to food and water from here. What do you think?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga followed Ætheron but not before taking few of the loose coins with her, it wasn't like anyone would miss them, and she liked the idea of having bit of shinies with her trophy in the self-made necklace, though she would look into that later, for now she just took them with her without doing anything else to them.

On the way down Ædriga stayed near Ætheron, even though her natural instinct was to just open her wings and drop down, her kind may have been rather ground based in their ways, but wings were still useful tool when it came to moving, and keeping pace with ground-bound creature felt a bit limiting.

Again she examined the cave before stating any opinions "More good." she would need to make few changes to make it better for herself, but that would be true for most caves, especially considering the fate of her last cave "I try cave." ultimately the only way to know what fit her was to try it, she could always go somewhere else if a problem showed itself.

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron nodded, pleased that he had been useful in helping her find a cave. He turned to head back to Ponyville, "We should get going so we aren't late. If you still want to come to Ditzy's house with me?"

If she agreed to join him, he would start heading that way, but would pause at a nearby stream, taking off the light armor he always wore he quickly bathed himself in the stream, "Best to be clean when visiting others. Ponies like clean things."

Once he finished he'd put his armor back on and resume the journey if Ædriga did not stop him.

They'd get to Ditzy's house right when the sun was in the position they'd agreed upon earlier. Ætheron seemed, almost nervous? when he knocked on the door. "Come in!" Ditzy called from inside, they could smell the fish and bread cooking as he opened the door, letting Ædriga enter first before stooping under the doorframe to enter himself.

Ditzy's house was sparsely decorated, but still warm and inviting, while it wasn't the most spacious there was still plenty of room for the two of them to walk around.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga nodded and would follow Ætheron, it had been pretty clear that Ditzy had wanted her to come too, so she didn't want to disappoint the kind pony.

She would also clean herself up, but not with water, instead she put everything she had to the side, moved to a safe spot, and burned herself with smokeless fire, after which she took her stuff back. Getting dirty wasn't really a problem for her, things didn't stick to her scales like they did to fur, and she always smelled like smoke and fire for obvious reasons, so smell wasn't a problem either, but it was always good now and then burn things that may have stuck.

Ædriga looked in from the doorway before going in Ditzy's house, partly because he had noticed Ætheron's slight nervousness, and didn't know the difference between different kinds of nervousnesses, and partly because of similar reason to the library, a new place with no obvious escapes, houses for some reason felt more uncomfortable to her than caves she knew were dead ends. She went in after looking from the door for few seconds. 

The space wasn't a problem, after all, she wasn't that big, but she still moved carefully as she looked around, as this was a new space with unfamiliar smells, even if the cooked fish was the strongest.

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Just a bit after they had entered the house Ditzy would turn away from what she was preparing to greet them, "Hi! Welcome! I'm glad you could make it. To be honest I thought this day would never come, and I half expected you to come by and cancel before it happened."

She paused a moment, "You aren't here to cancel right?"

Ætheron chuckled and shook his head, "No no, it would be very rude to cancel now. We're here to stay and enjoy the wonderful smell you've created. If it tastes half as good as it smells it'll be the best I've eaten all week."

Ditzy blushed for a moment before recomposing herself and motioning to the table, "Come! why don't you take a seat, the food will be ready soon and I'm sure you two are tired from all the traveling."

She turned away and called for Dinky, the light purple unicorn filly bounding down the stairs shortly after, "Hiya, Hey! You're the dragon I saw a couple days ago! Are you traveling with Ætheron? Did he save you like he saved me?"

Ditzy chuckled, "Now now muffin, don't ask so many questions all at once, give the nice dragon time to answer. Also, could you set the table for me? Dinner's almost done."

Dinky nodded, "Sorry," She then set about putting out plates and silverware for four, Ætheron seemed to realize something when they were set out and quietly said to Ædriga, "Just don't break the plate" he pointed to the plate, "And you can ignore the rest." 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga greeted Ditzy in her usual manner, but other than that she was more focused on the house over the conversation between Ditzy and Ætheron, though she did notice Ditzy blushing, getting bit curious since she didn't recognize the emotion, but she didn't ask about it.

She stopped to listen when Dinky's steps started, moving again when she could see the source of the hoofsteps, she hadn't realized there was space above them too, but after she looked at the stairs with more care, she started to understand the layout bit better. She greeted Dinky, she could tell this was a young one but was still bit surprised by the enthusiasm, for the questions she didn't really have a chance to answer verbally, but she did nod to both hoping it was answer enough, though she would be willing to answer again if they were asked again, and would answer yes verbally if it seemed like Dinky was still waiting for a reply even if she didn't ask again. 

She would follow Ætheron so she would go to the table when he did, if there was a chair, she would try to get a good position on it but would end up just moving it away and sitting on the floor, while she was about the same height as a pony, her build made it so that her reach was bit better when she sat down, so reaching the table was no problem.

She was unsurprisingly baffled by the plate and silverware, and while she did understand lot of what Ætheron said, she still investigated what they were, looking closely at them. She was clever enough to guess the use for the silverware, as they were pretty obvious when you started to think about what they looked like they were best at, knife was for slicing, fork for stabbing, spoon could hold liquid...but that was about it, she tried to pick one of them up but with them not being designed for use by her kind, she couldn't position it in a way with her 'fingers' that she could actually use it, so instead she just put it back down and ignored the silverware as Ætheron had suggested. 

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

Dinky was watching as Ædriga tried to operate the silverware, "I guess dragons don't need forks or knives, your claws are like forks and your teeth are like knives. That must be convenient." She didn't seem at all repulsed by the fact, if anything she seemed fascinated by it.

Her curiosity was abated as Ditzy returned with the food, setting a tray full of well cooked and seasoned fish on the side of the table furthest from Dinky, which was in front of Ætheron as Dinky was determined to sit next to Ædriga. She then went back into the kitchen and returned with muffins, which she set in the middle of the table, and a salad which went closest to Dinky. "Well everyone, I hope you enjoy it."

As Ætheron served himself he softly said to Ædriga, "You don't have to try everything, and she won't be offended if you don't like something, just take what you want to eat."

The fish was already deboned and skinned, leaving just the meat for them to eat.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga didn't say anything to Dinky's observation as she didn't really understand what she said, an before she could inform her about it, the arriving food took her focus away from that. she didn't really find most of it especially appealing, muffins were good enough but they weren't really food, salad was just plants mixed together, and the fish, it was her least favorite meat cooked with plants. She didn't show it though, seeming mostly curious about the things that had been served, and in the end there wasn't really anything she wouldn't eat if she had to, and she wasn't the type to refuse easy food, she hadn't yet gotten used to having a choice after all.

Ætheron's comment was bit surprising to her, mostly because she hadn't even though that she would need to try everything in any context, she wasn't exactly taught for good dining manners, sure she understood that it would be rude to not take anything or to cause a mess or something like that, but the idea of doing something you wouldn't normally do, like carnivore eating plants, just to please others was unfamiliar idea. 

If someone didn't end up helping Ædriga, she would do her best to serve herself about the same amount of fish as Ætheron took if he took it, if he didn't, she would take about one fourth of the whole, and how well it went depended on how it was served. If it was in existing pieces of any size, she would have no trouble just picking up what she wanted, but if it was just in a big whole that one had to cut a piece out of it if they didn't want to empty the whole tray at once, then it would be more challenging for her.

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

The fish was already divided into three portions, Ditzy took the smallest, Ætheron took the middle sized one, and the largest portion was left to Ædriga. Dinky apparently would not be having any of the fish.

No one touched the muffins until after they had all eaten their portions of the dinner. Ætheron, Ditzy, and Dinky sharing the salad though a small amount was left over in case Ædriga did want to try some.

The muffins were the same kind as the one Ditzy had given Ædriga the last time they had been in town.

They had been eating for a few minutes before Dinky got back into asking Ædriga questions: "How long have you been in Equestria? Do you like it here? Where did you come from? Why did you come here?"

She did space her questions, giving Ædriga time to respond to each before asking the next question in the list.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga didn't take any salad, not seeing any reason to do so, plants were plants no matter how you mixed them up. The whole eating together thing in general was bit awkward for her, sure she didn't know much about social norms so she didn't worry about something like table manners, but she did acknowledge that she probably should at least try to mimic the others to not be too different, so she didn't really know how she should approach eating, cutting her food like the others was of course to obvious route, but it was more complicated when the only way to do it risked cutting the plate in half too. She ended up waiting until the others had eaten most of their fish, after which she simply grabbed her piece, took it from her plate and ate it whole. She would be the last one to take a muffin.

The first question was the hardest to answer for her, counting time hadn't really had any use in her life before, so she hadn't paid attention to how long exactly she had been here, this would be clear from her tone and from the ways she looked at Ætheron after her answer, asking wordlessly him to correct or add to her answer "Many days, ten and more?" 

The rest were easy enough "Yes" was the answer to the second question, she didn't even need to think about it much "From far, lot sea from there here." was answer to the third one, she pointed towards north when she said it. 

Her answer to the last question may have been bit too direct considering who was asking, but that only showed her lack of understanding  on social expectations if that was the case "I hurt lot there, if I no leave, I dead."  

 

[Illiad Easle 3,128]

@Catpone Cerberus

No one commented on how she ate, so she was probably doing fine.

Dinky listened very intently to everything Ædriga had to say, Ditzy was apparently listening too as she responded at the end, "That's so sad to hear, but I'm glad that you were able to make it here. You'll be safe here, especially with Ætheron at your side. He's known for keeping creatures safe in the woods."

Ætheron chuckled at the compliment, but didn't otherwise respond.

Dinky continued her questions, "What are you going to do now? Are you going to stay with Ætheron as he delivers the mail? Are you going to live in the forest like him?"