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One of the reptilian's ears perked up as she heard footsteps through the brush. One of her eyes opened, the light blue iris adjusting to the light. Looking around, the scaled creature saw the slender elf approaching, and let out a quiet growl. So soon, someone had found her? They would have to be dealt with accordingly, once the dragoness had seen who it really was.

Upon hearing the voice, it took her a moment to decipher the words. Having been asleep, she hadn't heard anyone speak for a fair few years, and she hesitated before responding. "I...don't think that I would," she said. Slowly pushing herself up, anyone could see now that scales covered her entire body, offering protection as well as keeping her more private areas hidden. Turning her eyes to the newcomer that had arrived, she tilted her head, looking at the elf. "You can open your eyes, there's nothing that you shouldn't be seeing. Unless you're afraid of me eating you, which I wouldn't do." Her jaws stretched in a yawn, the bones creaking and popping from disuse. "What brings an elf like out out here?" She asked, looking around. The forest around her had changed, but she thought she knew relatively where she was.

Ember's eyes pop open, focusing on Charlotte."Oh! You're a dragoness." She gives Charlotte a toothy grin. "From my point of view you looked...bare." She chuckles, a slight blush raising to her cheeks. "I always come here, mostly to relax." She says. There was no real way of telling that Ember was a princess, she dressed in something similar to jeans and a t-shirt of that time. She looked like any other, normal elf. "Wait, a dragoness." She pauses, attempting to understand these words. "Can you fly?" She asks, out of the blue. If she couldn't, how could she have possibly gotten here? Unless, she was here for the years before Zuhan.

Ember picks up the towel she had thrown towards the woman. She had decided she wouldn't reveal her identity quite yet. She likes to trust, but it could also get her into a load of trouble. And, she couldn't deal with that if she was going to leave for the first time. Ember had read about Charlotte's species, but not much was known, they tended to be secretive. She tried to observe her nonchalantly. After all these years of being taught to be a lady, she most definitely wasn't one.

Amara left her post after an hour of looking at the landscape. She darted into the forest once more, barely making a sound.

Suddenly, she fell. The feeling of sharp iron around her left hind ankle, just above her hoof. A clear, almost musical cry left her throat as she crashed to the ground. A trap left by hunters, but it seemed to have been there for a long time. It was rusted, but held firm to her leg.

Time seemed to make this trap stronger rather than weaker. It was useless to use magic, as Amara would soon find out. It simply absorbed her weak spells, leaving her drained of energy.

Amara laid there, breathing hard, shallow breaths.

"No worries," the dragoness replied. "You come often? Interesting. I don't suppose that you...how long have you been coming here?" She asked. It would help her get some idea of the timeframe, at least. Shaking her head to clear it again, a small could of dust puffed off, gently drifting away. Her fanlike ears swiveled forward, and then pressed flat against her head, repeating the process and getting faster each time, then finally settling against her scales.

Hearing the question, her head tilted slightly, and she shook her head again, slower this time. "No, I cannot fly," she said. "I lack the means to, without wings. Rather, I'm an aquatic type, built for swimming." She held up a paw, spreading her fingers to show the webbing that had appeared between them. As quickly as it had appeared, it retracted again, and the hand went back to her side.

Scooting away slightly as the elf retrieved the fallen towel, Charlotte caught a whiff of her scent. It wasn't out of the ordinary, but she did recognize the elven nature of it. "Is there a settlement around here?" She asked. "Last I woke, there was nothing around for miles." Why else would someone like her be wandering around out here?

Inscribed on the sleeper's stone pedestal were the following archaic words, written in an antique script:

WANN YE WEALD A STIRRING HAST
WANN YE DEAD FROM BRASSEN SLUMBER RYSE
WANN YORD SHAKETH AND OLDE WASSER TRIMBTH
DANN YE SLAFER THE CENT BY CENT OPFER WILL EARNST
UND SHALL AGINNE SEIN AUES OPPEN

"Yes, actually, a kingdom." Ember raises a brow. "How long have you been here?" She asks. "You do know the water is toxic, right?" She adds, concerned. This dragoness knew more than she was letting on. It puzzle Ember. She didn't like it when she didn't know what was going on. It made her feel weak. And no one in her family likes being weak.

The dragoness blinked, a blank stare on her face as the elf said that there was a kingdom here. "A...kingdom?" She asked, her head tilting. She looked back at the pond. "Toxic..." She looked back at the woman. "I...I don't remember," she said. "Years, I suppose." How long did it take for a kingdom to be established? She was confused, and looked at her hand. The scales on her arm shimmered, and she relaxed slightly. Good. At least she could still do that. "I fell asleep... in there," she said, gesturing to the pond.

"Ahh...from the chemicals. This place was a waste dump, and the chemicals got into the water. The chemicals put a person--dragoness--into a coma-like slumber. You've had to have been here for at least 10 years." Ember explains.

"Welcome to Zuhan. A Kingdom strictly of elves." She says, gesturing to the castle which was towering over the forest. "I'd wish that I could help you escape, but alas, it's impossible. And, if you walk into town like that, you'll probably be killed." She sympathizes.

The dragoness nodded slowly. "I see," she said. "Well, in that case..." She looked toward the castle. "That definitely wasn't there when I was awake before," she mumbled to herself. "Zuhan? Only elves? I suppose that bodes poorly for me. And you say that it's impossible for me to leave?" She asked. "Why?" Were the borders guarded? Maybe there was some natural formation - a ravine, or a huge cliff or such.

"Well, there's a forest that borders the kingdom. It keeps everyone in, but leaves all others out. It presents you with a series of fatal obstacles. No species has ever gone through it. The only way of escape is to fly." She explains. It was odd meeting someone who didn't know this. All the people she's ever met were elves, or part elf, like her cousin. "Where is your home?" She asks.

"Nobody has gotten past it..." The dragoness cast her gaze downwards, thinking. "So, I'm basically stuck in the middle, then? I can't leave the border, and going into town will most likely kill me." It didn't sound good, but there might be a way out. "My home? It was a rather large lake to the west of here, near the base of a mountain. Quite serene, if I do say so myself." Looking at her hand, she raised it slightly, watching as the scales shimmered and appeared to liquefy. "I don't suppose this would help, would it?"

Ember thinks for a moment. She grabs a bucket off of a nearby tree. It was used for bringing drinking water before this pond became toxic. "Ok, do your thing." She says. "Can you move when you liquefy?" She asks before Charlotte does anything. It might be bad if she soaks into the ground. She chuckles at the thought.

Amara laid there, for what seemed to be hours in silence before making a choice. She lifted her head and let a trill escape her deer like muzzle.


It was a cry for help.

((I'll assume Amara is around where I am which is also near Avalynn and Jal))

Isaiah's ears picked up a faint cry. Curious, he stopped a distance away from Avalynn & Jal and headed to the source of the sound.

He found Amara after a few minutes of crashing through the underbrush. The sight of the incapacitated unicorn gave him pause and he considered his next course if action.

((oops, forgot to clue location, Thanks for the response))

Amara was aware someone had answered her call. She shook as she looked at the being before her. He was a human, looking to be of the Asian variety. Making the mistake of trying to stand, as it was her instinct when someone approach when she was laying down; she felt the rusted metal dig into her leg once more. The metal drained her energy and she nearly fell back to the ground.

"My... deep...est apologies... I seem.... to have.... gotten.. in a tight spot." She spoke in a clear voice between growls of pain.

Pushing herself to a standing position, the dragoness walked to the bucket, her body completely liquefying and flowing into the container. Almost completely filling it, her head solidified, and she looked up at the elf. "Yes, I can move when I shift," she said. "I'm not sure if I can soak into the ground, though. I've never tried."

Isaiah nodded at the unicorn and applied his bone sword to the bear trap. Inserting it laterally through the gaps in the bear trap, he started working it like a crowbar to prey the trap open.

If 1-4, trap opens briefly but sword breaks and clamps back on Amara
If 5-8, sword breaks
If 9-15, trap opens momentarily long enough for Amara to pull herself loose
If 16+, trap opens fully

Amara stood up as soon as the trap opened. She backed away, being careful not to place a lot of weight on her left hind leg.

"Thank you, again, my apologies. " She spoke again.

Amara looked at the man for intensively this time. There did not seem to be a way to see his age. Rather, like her, he had been around for a while. Yet... she was still young in the grips of time.

"I have never sensed your kind. Human... but not human...." She spoke in a musing manner.

Jal's neck slowly craned back as Avalynn approached. He watched the mantis fae warily, suspicious of her intentions as soon as their eyes met. His brow furrowed when she addressed him as a 'vegetable-human'. Certainly he'd been called boring, but being likened to a plant was new to him. The man straightened his back, stretching a bit under his armor. After his trek down the mountain he didn't feel as stiff, but his limbs still felt somewhat sore. It set him on edge; if this creature meant ill, he wasn't in a good condition to fight her at all.

Despite his concerns he lingered to listen to her, figuring it was the least aggressive thing to do at the moment. So far, it seemed, her observations rung true. He knew, without knowing how he ended up there, that he definitely wasn't meant to emerge from it. And especially so long after that it was left untended, covered in vines. Just what sort of world had he awakened to? His lips parted with the potential of a reply but words came slowly to him, and Avalynn's extended limb distracted him from what little he knew to say. So he extended his hand for a tentative, but firm, shake. (Cautious of those spikes, of course.)

Jal did his best to meet her introduction with his own, respectfully. "Pleasure to meet you, Avalynn." He tried to sound normal but his throat was dry from dust, making him sound hoarse. He cleared it and continued. "I am Jalsinter." There was a tickle in the back of his mind, a gentle urge to add his titles, his place of origin. But the man had no idea if any of these things were still known, let alone relevant. Even then, as he thought on them, he found recalling just what they were to be difficult. The man let go of the fae's leg and rested his hand on his breastplate idly. "If I may ask, where are we?"

That was when he heard the shrill cry of a beast far away, as well as the rustling of leaves announcing the other man's departure. The bone-armor made it impossible for him to discern that the thing in the trees was humanoid, leaving him even more uneasy in their absence. Were there still others like him? Or was this land taken by the fair folk?

Ember smiled. "Well then, we'll go to the castle." She says mischievously. "No one will find you if you stay in my room." She says, not realizing that she totally gave away her secret. She always was bad at lying. It was in her species nature though, but to cover up that they used trickery. She grinned. It pleased her to use this ability, although she tried to deny it.