"I see. You've lived through loosing family to humans and being left for dead. You've learned from many, and you've taught many. Living with with the most abundant of the staple species, you've seen the world through their actions," Ahnah said, looking up from the ground, "Thank you for telling me. I guess it's only fair that I tell you my life's story no."

"I was born in a village many miles north of here in a region known as the Snowsqual Tundra. When I was born, my father branded me as the village's next shaman.

It wasn't until two years later that I was brought into the current shaman's hut where I was restrained and had a single rib removed to be engraved. When I woke, I was still bleeding and on the verge of bleeding out.

When I finaly recovered, I spent the next nine years taking leasons form the shaman while still living with my parents, all the while being forced to focus on work and my leasons by my father. He would destroy anything that would seem like a distraction, and he would chase off anyone who tried to become friends with me.

When I was twelve, I was to go through the finale ritual that would make me a full and true shaman. The night before the ritual, packed everything I had to my name before fighting with my father to leave the village. When I proved to be strong wnough to survive on my own, he let me leave under the condition that I was to never return for any reason.

I spent the next three years, traveling and using my magic to survive until i came to my first human settlment where I was attacked on sight. If not for the illusion magic I knew, I would have been dead there. Using the illusions, I made it look as though I had been carrying human child before dropping her and leaving at the first sight of danger.

I spent the next year in that settlment learning their ways, language, and beliefes. By the end of the year, I had learned everything I could from them and made my way into a massive jungle where I spent the next ten years trying to get out.

While picking my way through the jungle, I came to a set of twelve pillars aranged so that eleven of them circled a much large one in the center. On each of eleven small pillards was a slot shaped like these runes we've found. From the pillars, I managed to find my way out with the help of the creatures that seemed trapped within.

I spent the ten fallowing years going from human settlments to settlments learning what I could until I came across this forest. When I first came across the cave, they rejected me as a member of the sociaty inside. Using the same illusion magic I had used with the humans, I diguised myself as a species similar to theirs. Before I went to try again, I found Tieral nearly starved to death. Taking him with me, we entered the cave, and from there I enroled in the enfocer academy, and Tieral went through the school system before joining me in the academy,"she said, carefully balancing her bonein the dirt, "I do not regret leaving the Tundra, but I sometimes with I had stayed. I know I wouldn't have been treated as a actual person, but I would never have had to hide myself."

(That would make her in her thirties or fourties, wouldn't it?)

"It seems as though we have both had rough pasts.  I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through such hardships within your village..." she said quietly.

(46 to be exact. Seeing as dragons are said to live for hundreds to thousands of years in many instances of mythology, I'd say she's would still be fairly young.)

"Don't be sorry, there was nothing you could controle. I am glad I left because I would have never met you or Tieral if I hadn't," she said, using a claw to gentily lift Goldenscale's chin, "I would say you had a harder time of it though. During all my trvels, I only experienced death once and it was of someone trying to save me from the Shade. I've been no closer to death than when I was two. I still wonder how I managed to not bleed out."

"At least you're happy and healthy." she said, nuzzling Ahnah.

"For that, I am most greatful. While I wouldn't say I'm in the best condition i could be in, I'm in the best condition for what I've had to mange with. Normally I would make he majority of my meals out of pants and such, but I had to cut back on that up until reacently. It will take me a few months to get back into peek shape, but I can handle myself till then," she said, bringing her wongs around to hug Goldenscale. "Now, I believe we've rested enough for now. Let's don our disguises and get moving so we can get to the settlments before nightfall," she said before releasing Goldenscale, "Don't want to get cought out on the plains at night. Some of the more dangerous things come out at night, and we wont be able to see the shade should he come upon us."

"True..." she said quietly.  She then donned her human form, wearing the sky blue dress.  "But how will we know.what to wear?  Frost said each settlement was different..."

"We will want to wear something that is a bit dull and made of tougher materials like leather or linen," Ahnah said, taking on her human form, wearing a checkerred longsleave shirt and jeans, "Something more like this. If we're wearing similar clothing, they'll think we're working together and expect to see us in the same general area as each other."

Goldenscale went searching in her own bag for clothes similar to Ahnah's and found a pair of jeans as well as a stripped longsleeve.  She changed and rolled he sleeves to her elbows.  She then put the dress back and put the bags on her shoulders.  "Ready?"

"I don't see why I wouldn't be. Climbing out of here will be a bit difficult, but it will give us the hard traveled look. If all works out, we should look close enough to the common traveler to not be questioned too much upon entry," she said, ,picking up ehr bags and starting towards the den's incline.

Goldenscale cli.bed up, finding footholds and helping Ahnah when she needed it.  When they got up, she pulled her hair back with a rubber band, some of the shorter strands framing her face.

Brushing herself off, Ahnah stood up straight and looked around before tucking her bone into a loop on her jeans. After taking a deep breath, she started towards a path worn into the dirt though frequent use. "If we fallow this, it'll lead us straight to the settlement, and we wont appear as one of the wilders."

"Okay." she said, following Ahnah.

"So, what name will you go by as a human? Goldenscale doesn't fallow normal human format. My name will work, but it will seem a little foreign for the area," she said.

"Either Aurora or Lily.  I don't know which one I want to use yet." she said with a shrug.  "I'm open to suggestions as well."

"Lily would fit better with them so we'll got with that for now," she said, picking up a stone from the path and tossing it up into the air a few times, "Humans seem to have a lot of flower names for their females so Lily doesn't sound too far off. Not very common, but common enough to not rise suspition."