private Far from home. 1x1 with Illiad Easle

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

The dragon was surprised by the sudden attack, Ædriga managing to get in a good number of strong attacks before the large dragon grabbed her by the harness and tore her off of itself, causing her to dig some deep cuts in his skin before he threw her to the ground in much a similar manner to Ætheron before quickly trying to fly off without another verbal jab.

In her attack she caused the dragon to drop the amulet it had taken, and it flew off without it.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
 

As Ædriga was used to getting tossed around due to her small size, it didn't really do much to her, even if she didn't have the time to land on her feet, the worst that happened was bit of dirt getting on her, as awful as her past was, it had at least made her a tough when it came to getting hurt. She didn't chase the dragon though, she did charge after it at first, maybe even getting few more hits in, but she turned back quite quickly since there was more important things to worry about than revenge. She actually scared herself a bit, she had lost control and the thoughts that had appeared in her head during the fight, good thing there wasn't any mirrors around, she would probably see someone else in there.

It took few moments for her to get a clear picture of what just happened, so she would stand in place for a time before proceeding with anything, she took the amulet as she happened to pass it and half-ran and half-flew to Ætheron, poking him, and if the poke had no response, she would shake him, she may have been bit rough with the latter, but she didn't exactly have training or experience on how to deal with injured creatures, all she was concerned about at the moment was, alive or dead?

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron was breathing, shallowly, when Ædriga poked him, though he didn't otherwise respond, Depending on where she shook him she'd find he had likely a few broken ribs, maybe a broken whither where he had hit the tree. His harness was likely the only reason his back wasn't broken. He took in a sharp breath when she did shake him, it was clear he was in pain.

He drew his legs in and rolled over away from the tree he had been thrown against, revealing that his right front leg was dislocated at the whither, but it didn't look like any of his legs were broken.

The side that had hit the tree had several deep cuts, likely both from the tree and the dragon's claws, he was bleeding a decent amount.

(I'm giving more detail than she'd likely be able to tell, you can decide how much she recognizes from the description.)

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga couldn't tell if there was any broken bones inside Ætheron's body, not that such information would have helped her anyway, since there wasn't really anything she could do about it, but she could tell he was in pain, which implied that there was something wrong inside him, and she hoped it was indeed a bone and not something more serious. The dislocated leg she did notice, like she did the wounds too, and for them, she lowered her head closer to Ætheron's head and said in slightly sorry, yet confident tone "This hurt you, I sorry." she then tried to relocate the leg in its right place, after which, regardless of her success, she moved her mouth close to each cut and let out a small flame to burn the wounds so that they would stop bleeding, it would hurt quite a lot, but she seemed to know what she was doing, burning only the bare minimum needed.

There was lot of going on in Ædriga's head, but as she was still in state similar to flight or fight, her true feelings didn't get through yet, she was almost like mother taking care of its offspring's injuries, very rough mother, but mother nonetheless.

 

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron was shocked back to full consciousness when Ædriga relocated his leg, causing him to lash out in pain and reflex, potentially kicking Ædriga by accident. His breathing was ragged as he looked around, there was a good amount of fear in his expression, "Is it gone?"

He'd let Ædriga cauterize his wounds, not having the strength to resist much, and doing his best not to scream lest he draw the dragon back to their vulnerable position.

Once Ædriga was done, the smell of burnt hair filling the area, he took a few minutes to recover before trying to stand, falling almost immediately, coughing up a small amount of blood. "My... some of my ribs... I think a lung is punctured."

He picked up his halberd from where it had fallen, and used it to brace himself as he stood again, keeping weight off the recently relocated leg, "There's a cave not far from here, we can rest there, not safe here." 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga took the kick and didn't seem surprised, she had done things like that to herself before and had expected some kind of reaction, she also could smell the fear before she saw Ætheron's expression, so that too had given her a reason to expect something, she didn't know how Ætheron's kind acted under fear, but she knew injured creatures could be unpredictable. To his question Ædriga simply nodded, she still had blood on her from the short fight, though considering the lack of wounds it shouldn't be hard to tell it wasn't hers.

She stayed silent the whole time, her responses being only nods, she seemed to be changing between checking Ætheron's state and making sure the dragon wasn't coming back, the way she acted was new, at least as far as anyone in Equestria knew, even back with the acid monster thing they took on she hadn't been this....neutral. After the failed attempt to stand, she tried to help Ætheron's as much as she could with her tiny body, she didn't seem to react too much to the blood he coughed up, so either she didn't notice it or she for reason or another didn't react to it.

Even after Ætheron picked up his halberd, Ædriga still tried to help him to get support, she was strong for her size, so the weight wasn't necessarily a problem, but finding a spot where she actually helped and just didn't make moving harder was bit more challenging.

It wasn't until they started moving when Ædriga started to speak, or more like mutter, it was in her native language, so one could only guess what was said, but from tone of it, if one could tell such things, it almost sounded like she was scolding herself. 

 

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron was grateful for Ædriga's assistance in helping him to stand and move, leaning on her as much as she could support, revealing just how much Ætheron weighed in the process, he was deceivingly heavy, though it may have been due to not being able to support too much of his own weight with his legs.

He didn't notice Ædriga talking to herself, still being mostly out of it and just focused on getting to the nearby cave.

He stumbled a few times over some uneven terrain, but eventually they made it to a mostly hidden cave that bore several signs of having been lived in before, including a fire circle and a small pile of wood stocked up.

Ætheron sat himself down near one of the walls of the cave, not taking off his harness as he usually did, instead taking off whatever packages remained and tightening the straps a bit, "I... I need to rest. Someone will come looking... when we don't get to Canterlot... I need you to keep an eye out for them... bring them here when they look for us... Can you do that for me?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga fell silent after Ætheron's first stumble, or well mostly silent, she was still muttering to herself, but it got so quiet that it was almost soundless, and when they reached the cave, she was back to being quiet. She took of her harness, kinda tossing it aside, she didn't throw it or anything, but there was a clear difference to the usual way she acted with it, she seemed almost frustrated based on that, even though outwardly she seemed to be quite neutral. She tossed the amulet she had grabbed on top of what was left of her packages, she would go and see if she could gather rest of the packages later, currently she wasn't in the state to care.  

Her response to Ætheron was simple "yes", what probably wasn't a surprise, her tone told that she was not feeling too happy at the moment, and she was still bit tense, didn't sound like she was much on a chatting mood, and if Ætheron did try to start a conversation, she would simply say "You hurt, need rest, no talk if no need something." She would settle by walking to the cave entrance and sitting down, looking outside, she was standing, or well, sitting guard, and even if Ætheron said something she would respond to, she would not move. 

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron remained conscious for a few moments to watch Ædriga's vigil before falling unconscious against the wall of the cave.

It wasn't until a few hours later, in the early evening, when a trio of pegasi flew over the clearing, and came down about where the dragon had attacked them. Ædriga had no way of knowing if these were the ponies Ætheron had mentioned might come looking for them or not from here.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
During the next few hours Ædriga left the cave to gather the packages that had been left behind, or at least all of them she could find, and to hunt to get meat and the skins of few animals, she cleaned the skins the best she could and then put them over Ætheron to keep him warm, and put the meat aside to be cooked later, she was never gone for longer than ten to twenty minutes at a time. She did these things now because she could sense a downpour coming, she couldn't tell if it would be in an hour or few, but she could tell one was coming. She also at one point went to let out some steam, which left a small area of the forest partly burned and several trees in pieces.

She was out on a patrol when the pegasi appeared, she had marked a small area around the cave as her territory to repel wild animals and other dragons, and was going around it now and then to check for threats, and she sensed the ponies before they would have any chance to realize she was there. She climbed up into the forest roof, silently stalking the three pegasi from the trees when they entered the forest, while her blue, and now partly red, coloring didn't exactly blend in with the forest's colors, she knew how to hide without working camouflage, and thus would be very hard to spot, especially if one didn't know what exactly to look for.

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Given she had been moving packages back to the cave, the pegasi who came down to investigate were more easily able to follow a path to the cave where Ætheron was resting. As they walked they would talk amongst themselves: "Looks like a dragon attack alright, not a lot of blood nor corpses though."

"Maybe the dragon carried them off? Ate them elsewhere?"

"This path has been traveled a few times, most dragons wouldn't have reason to make multiple trips, nothing valuable enough gets transported this way to warrant it."

"You think they survived the attack then?"

"Maybe, question is how they got the dragon to leave them alone."

If they were not stopped before they got close enough to the cave, they'd notice that the cave had been marked,

"A dragon has claimed this cave."

"Careful then, weapons ready, let's get a quick look and pull back. We don't want to get trapped inside the cave if/when the dragon returns."

One of them, a confident looking mare, slowly crept into the cave, looking curious as she saw the pile of packages that Ædriga had accrued before looking shocked when she saw Ætheron's unconscious form, she quickly approached to check his vitals, seemingly relieved to see he was still alive, before immediately leaving the cave. Again, unless she was stopped at any point in the sequence, she returned to her comrades outside the cave and relayed: "There's a whole bunch of packages in there, and one of the couriers, that Centaur guy, he seems pretty injured."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
It was in Ædriga's instinct to attack right away, but she resisted the urge, she wanted to know what these ponies were about first, she without sound followed them in the treetops observing them, if someone would have been able to see her, they would have certainly gotten worried at least, because while her intention wasn't to attack yet, she still looked like a predator stalking her prey, cold and calculating. It sounded like these ponies were here due to the attack, but it sounded like they weren't necessarily aware of Ædriga and only knew there was two couriers, which made her think of the best way to approach the situation without starting a fight.

They would get to the cave, but there wouldn't be time for anyone to go in before Ædriga, spoke, she was still hidden in the shadows up in the trees, so only thing the ponies would be able to tell for sure was that she was above them "You here help Ætheron!?" her tone wasn't straight up hostile, but there was a hint of something that indicated that there was a wrong answer to that question, and that any sudden movements wasn't recommended.

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

The pegasi would step back and draw weapons when Ædriga spoke, looking around in an attempt to spot where Ædriga was, when they couldn't pinpoint her location one hesitantly spoke, "We're Equestrian guards from Canterlot. We saw that a dragon attacked and came to investigate. We heard that a pair of couriers were coming through the area, is Ætheron one of them? Are you the other one?"

They wouldn't approach the cave, waiting instead for Ædriga's response.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
"Canterlot, yes, that where we need go before dragon." Ædriga said, partly to herself, "Dragon hurt Ætheron, but I make dragon leave." she poked her head out of the shadows, directly above the guards, there was dried up blood around her mouth from the fight, she hadn't bothered to clean herself after it "You metal sticks no hurt I, Ætheron there, I no can help he more, maybe you can, you soft like he." she pointed at the cave, the mention of the weapons was sort of a warning in case they tried anything. Her expression and tone were unnaturally neutral, like she was purposely making herself as hard to read as possible.

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

The guards were a bit startled when Ædriga revealed herself to be a dragon as well, but figured there wasn't much choice in the matter if this was a trap.

As before they only sent one of the guards in to check if Ætheron was inside and not dead, once that was verified that guard relayed back the information as to what supplies were needed.

One of the guards flew off towards Canterlot, the other informed Ædriga, "He is very injured, he is lucky to be alive at this point, I assume you dressed his wounds? It was crude but effective, you probably saved his life there. We can't move him without risking more damage, so we sent one of us to get the supplies we need to heal him here. Even then... it could be several days before he's healed to the point where he can walk again, longer before he can get back to moving packages, if he ever gets all his strength back."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga stayed in the trees while the guard went to check, but it wasn't hard to tell she was keeping her senses on them to make sure they didn't try anything. She stayed silent as the guard explained their observations "I no hurry." she then dropped from the tree, and like her movements in the trees, there was no obvious sounds from her dropping down, again showing just how terrifying she could be, how fortunate she was on the side of ponies instead of against them. This also revealed rest of the dried up blood, though not all of it was from the fight, removing skins from animals and handling their meat wasn't exactly clean. "If Ætheron die, I find dragon and make it many pieces." it wasn't hard to tell that Ædriga wasn't necessarily on her best mental state at the moment, the unkempt appearance alone implied it "You no need worry I hurt you, Ætheron want you help, ponys no reason I fail." she went past them and sat on the same place she had been at any time she was guarding the cave, it was starting to get bit darker as the downpour she had sensed was coming towards them

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

The guards were quick to return with medical supplies and a unicorn in tow, removing the skins he had been covered in, cleaning and dressing the wounds, and using magic to correct the broken ribs. He was breathing noticeably better now than he had been before, but still not as well as he had before the attack. Once Ætheron had been tended to, the guards left, one relaying to Ædriga, "He should make a full recovery, or nearly full, in a week or so. Do keep an eye on him and don't let him strain himself." She sighed, "We weren't able to fully heal his lung, he's lucky to have three others, but that will likely be a hinderance to his ability in the future. He may want to consider retiring at this point, this isn't the first time he's gotten hurt like this out here."

With that the guards would leave, Ætheron would finally wake up several hours later, "Wh- what happened? Did... did you do this?" He was referring to the bandages, "Good work, you did well."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga stayed in guard the whole time Ætheron was taken care of, and simply nodded to the guards as response when they were done, she didn't say anything or otherwise move. The edge of the rain had reached them around the time the guards had come back, getting more intense with time, and around the time Ætheron woke up, it had turned into a full blown rainstorm, and Ædriga, now in high laying position rather than sitting, got lot of water on her due to being so close to the entrance.

She hadn't waited there for the whole time though, there was a now fire going in the cave to keep Ætheron warm, and the amount of food had increased, she had even made some protection for it to keep it fresh. She had also gathered stones and pieces of wood on the entrance to stop the water from flowing in. 

"No, ponys help you." was Ædriga response, her tone was no longer neutral, and rather she sounded like she was in low spirits "I no know how help, I no ever hurt like that."

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron sighed, before weakly attempting to come over to where Ædriga was, taking care to not get the bandages wet. "I owe you my life. If you were not there, the dragon would have killed me. If you had not closed my wounds I would have bled out long before the ponies came. I could have been killed by timber wolves or a manticore in this cave if you had not stood guard. You saved me, even more than when I saved you... I don't know of many, even ponies, who would have done for me what you did. Thank you."

He spread his arms in a request for a hug, he could not come out to where she was lest he also get soaked, so it was also an invitation for her to come in and be with him.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga shook her head "If I no weak you no hurt." she came inside, but Ætheron  would need to do all the work if he was going to hug her, she didn't stop him, but she didn't give effort to hug back "Dragons here soft, metal hurt them, but I still hide all time." "I know dragon there before it hurt you, but I too weak and slow." "I need pony help because I no know how help you" "I fail." 

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Once Ædriga was close enough Ætheron would draw her into a hug and hold her close, gently caressing her, "No no no... you didn't fail. You can't do everything, no one can. You did everything you could, and because of that I am alive, I'll heal with time, this will pass, and we'll both be stronger afterwards. I don't blame you for what happened, I'm grateful, you shouldn't blame yourself either."

After a short while, if Ædriga didn't push him away sooner, Ætheron would end the hug and move over to where he had been resting, "I can rest easy, because I know you will protect me."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
Ædriga didn't push Ætheron away, but she shook her head again, "No, I fail all." "I only here because I fail, I no strong enough, first day here, I fail and need help." "All time I hide, need you help, I dragon who fear all new and other dragons." "And one time you need help, I no help." she looked towards the outside "It no because I no big, dragon try hurt I and I no hurt, I weak here." she pointed at her head

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron paused a moment and thought about what he could say to make things better. What came to mind was risky, but he thought it might work out, "Maybe... maybe you fail, or you think you fail, because you're trying to be something you aren't supposed to." He sighed and leaned back a bit. "When I was young and small, I thought I was supposed to become a great warrior, like my father, and his father, and so on. But everything I tried to be like him, I failed. I later discovered that I was never meant to be a warrior, but an adventurer. Once I discovered that, I realized my previous failures weren't failures after all, but signs that I was going the wrong way. Maybe that's the case for you, you have an idea of the sort of dragon you're supposed to be, and you think you've failed because you aren't that sort, but it turns out you weren't meant to be that type of dragon at all? Before you judge yourself any more, why not take some time and figure out if the dragon you think you're supposed to become, is the sort of dragon you want to become."

(I hope that makes sense?)

[Catpone Cerberus 23,665]

@Illiad Easle
"But all I know is hurt others." Ædriga said after thinking a moment about what had been said "I no like hurt others, and I fear when I like it, but it all I know." "I hide yes, but when I hide, I still know how hurt if I no can hide." "I see new animal or no animal, I know how hurt before I know what is." "I break trees because I no hurt dragon enough after you hurt." "All I know is hurt, but I too weak, how I no fail?" in her eyes it made perfect sense, her whole life it had been kill or be killed, yet she was too scared and mentally weak to kill anything besides prey until she was close to dying herself, or in this case a friend was, a killer that was bad at killing, that was quite a failure. 

[Illiad Easle 3,174]

@Catpone Cerberus

Ætheron shook his head, "That is not all you know, but that is all you were taught by your kind." He motioned outside, "You have learned many things since you came here. You learned how to read, how to deliver packages, how to make friends, and most importantly: you learned how to care about others. How to put the needs of others over your own. You proved that when you stayed to defend me instead of chasing down that dragon. The only way you've failed... is that you failed to recognize how far you've come. failed to see that you have changed, that you are better now than you were before. You are free now to choose what you want to do, what you want to be. Then we can see about helping you to know how to accomplish that."

(Maybe I shouldn't post after midnight. Do let me know if it's unclear or less than persuasive.)