Thread: Heart of the Forest (Atroxa & Loveraiden)

Valaethia got up, leaving the young dragon on her bed, and opened the door to the meat she kept put away from later, jumping back a little as the hatchling dove into the food and began to gorge itself. She sighed a little and shook her head, going back to her bed and sitting on it as she watched him eat. She was going to have to go hunting more often it seemed to keep this voracious baby healthy and growing. The elf laughed softly as he finished and came crawling back, cooing and yawning as he got back up in bed with her, curled up, and went to sleep. Valaethia sighed, rubbing her hand along his neck and back soothingly, smiling gently as the baby dragon slept. -------------------------------------------- Within a year, the dragon had nearly doubled in size, and was now roughly the equivalent of a five year old, dragons growing much faster than most other intelligent races. It was certainly challenging to raise a dragon, Urowen was smart, energetic, and rather mischievous at times. Valaethia also knew almost nothing about how dragons grew and learned, he caught on quickly, more quickly than she really had been prepared for. Even humans, as short lived as they were, did not age and grow so quickly. Elves and Dragons lived roughly about the same length of time, but Elves aged much more slowly than either race. Dragons had to be able to take care of themselves rather quickly though. Today she would be starting a new leg of Urowen's life, she would be teaching him to hunt, much to the dragon's excitement. She could feel his mind buzzing impatiently at her own, as one side effect of raising him had been the mental link they now had established. Dragons could communicate many different ways, they had bestial body language, but also the draconic languages, and could even communicate telepathically to a point with one another. Raising him, Valaethia had found herself establishing the sort of connection he would have with his mother. It was interesting, but it could be annoying at times, like right now as she walked down the natural spiraling staircase that she had developed around the trunk of the tree over the years. I'm coming, I'm coming, Valaethia sighed, her bright gold eyes finding the dragon as she neared the forest floor. He'd grown into a handsome creature, with metallic golden scales that sparkled in the sunlight and intelligent copper-brown eyes. Remember Urowen, you'll be watching me at first, and then I'll let you have a go, but you must do as I say, she told him with a maternal scowl, knowing that there was no way he was going to just watch her willingly, she'd probably have berate him into it. The Elf began to change as she stepped off the tree, until she was a mountain lion with a bright red pelt and gold eyes, long tail twitching. Come on, she thought to him, setting off into the forest. She showed him how to track as best she could, knowing it would take practice for him to really get how to do it, but hoping maybe he would try to pay attention. Valaethia showed him tracks of different animals, which ones would actually be good to eat, as well as trying to get him to learn their smells and how to tell if the animal had passed by recently or not. Eventually she got them on the trail of a deer, and told Urowen to be as quiet as he could, her body moving low to the ground as she began to stalk down the trail the deer left.