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Scales and Honor: Swirling Storm

Chapter 12

"H-how is it that you know my name?" Ramakox stammered, his gruff voice cracking a bit as his mind was still a tad flustered at being so thoroughly surprised. "Uh..How did you know my name?" his voice returned, as he resettled himself and swelled out his scaled chest.

"Well..." The dragoness raised one of her claws to her snout, and started cleaning the scales with her long pink tongue. She traced along the length, around all the fine scales until she got to the orange webbed part of her limb. "I thought everyone_had heard of the _great and powerful Swirling Storm." her eyes traced along his scales as she continued to clean herself, moving onto the next limb when she had finished. "Whose eyes were like treasured silver, and whose wings sprung forth thunderclaps every time he beat his wings?" She raised an eyebrow as the sweet words flowed from her maw.

_Were those the lines that Jandar had been using?_Ramakox smiled internally, mentally reminding himself to thank the man for such strong and well fitting words of praise. "I meant how did you know my _actual_name."

Fremra rose mid lick to give him a playful smile as she rose to all fours and began to stretch her limbs one by one. "Depends on who you ask..And the mortals that you talk to." She arched her back like a cat, letting a soft groan escape her mouth. One that made Ramakox's scales itch, made him want to stretch as well. "I just figured the whole thing was your name." She took a graceful step towards him, and started to circle him as he kept his eyes trained on her the entire time.

Ramakox eyed her scales, tracing along every portion of her. She had not adopted a hostile stance, and her muscles were untensed. Always be careful. The thought occurred to him as he checked her talons. From there he raised his eyes to see two large scars along her scales, one right at the base of her neck, and the other in the middle of her long tail. She seemed well fed, fit, and almost his size in length and height. He had to admit that her orange frills that went from the top of her snout to the tip of her tail were most pleasing to the eye. "Which mortal was that?" he asked casually, carefully watching her reaction as she continued to walk and smile.

"Hmmm.." She fluttered her frills with a soft chuckle. "Checking my scales out are we?" She gave him a knowing smile as she came to a stop, and resettled her wings against her back. "Oh you know...Some mortals with blue scales." She raised an eyebrow.

There was a brief moment of silence as Ramakox's eyes widened, and alarms sounded in his skull. He felt his blood run hot and before he knew what he was doing, he was snarling and baring his teeth. "What about him? If you have harm-."

"Calm your scales there Ramakox The Mighty Swirling Storm." She replied with a lowered soothing voice, that instantly set his nerves at ease. She glided her tail gently underneath his chin, giving him a wide grin."All I did was _talk_to the man, ask him about the dragon that clearly had an effect on his appearance."

Oh. Ramakox untensed his muscles, and let the rising heat fade away with the next deep breath he took. He gave a pleased sigh as her scent was very much like the sea, and it made his wings flutter softly. This was ruined as he thought to the blue scales on Jandar, and felt a stab of guilt to his heart. "What did he say?"

"It did not take much to get your name from him. I had to just ask with one of these." She lowered her snout to Ramakox and gave him two large eyes. Adorable eyes that were full of wonder and curiosity. It instantly made the blue dragon want to tell her anything, possibly ask her to stay.

Damn shes good at that face...So adorable....Don't show her its working."Indeed." Ramakox snorted, causing her to sit back onto her haunches and throw her head back into a fit of laughter.

"The thing that most had me curious though?" She ceased her laughing and returned to look at him, her tail casually curling around her. "The way he talked about you...Not just the praises that were flowing from his mouth like he was a thrall..But everything else." She raised a paw, and placed it to her orange scaled chest. "You would think that you raised the man...Which by his appearance..I would say that it is not too crazy to think."

"So..What brings you to my territory?" he asked, trying to avoid the topic of Jandar's scales. "Did you come looking to mate or something? Did you come to try and take some of my territory for your own?"

"Me?" The dragoness tossed back her head dramatically, and fell onto her back with fits of hysterical growly laughter. Her tail smacked against the grass, as her limbs spasmed, and her wings fluttered. "Oh..thats...Aahhahahahah!"

"I did not think it was _that_funny." Ramakox grumbled as he stoically watched the wiggling, cackling dragoness. He could feel irritation lurking within his bones as he drummed his talons against the dirt and waited.

She continued on like this for a solid two minutes before ceasing her laughter, and wiping a tear from eyes. "Oh..That..was.." She chuckled to herself as she sat back down with her tail curled around her. "Where were we? Oh yes.." She chuckled slightly, looking like she was fighting off another bout of laughter. This time however it looked like she swallowed it down and continued on. "Me? Conquer things?" She fought another chuckle as a smile came to her snout. "Or Mate?" Her eyes once more took all of Ramakox in, and he noticed they did linger around his slit. "You presume much...But alas." she looked away from him and closed her eyes. "What can be expected from a male." She ended the statement with a soft chuckle, and a thump of her tail.

"Then why even come to my lands? Why seek me out?" Ramakox tilted his head to the side as the dragoness started inspecting her talons one at a time. It reminded him of the way the Emerald Lady usually had done it.

"Why does anyone do anything Ramakox The Great and Powerful Swirling Storm." She raised her other paw next, eyes focused right on her talons. "Perhaps I am simply a leaf on the wind, going where ever the breeze takes me?"

A traveling dragon? He had heard about some in the stories from long ago. Some he knew quite well over the years. He just did not think he would ever meet one in the flesh. It had seemed like a fantastical idea. One that was simple a product of the stories. "You don't have a home?" the words came from his mouth but felt alien to the tongue.

"Now I never said that." She strolled away from him towards the river with a flick of her tail.

"So_what_ are you saying then?" the blue dragon padded after her, easily keeping pace with the dragoness. He suspected that she slowed her walk so that he could catch up, if the coy smile she gave him was any indication. He followed her in silence until she sat down gently by the rivers edge, and casually dipped a claw into the water.

"Your water is nice here." She sighed, swirling a claw in the running water. "Very much like the water of the coast near here...I think I even spotted a few placed that could fit me."

Is she asking something of me? The thought popped into his head when she did not look to him, and gave a long drawn out sigh. "Are you asking permission to stay on _my_territory?" he sat down beside her, letting his tail snake out behind him.

"Is that what I did?" she looked back to him, placing her two claws over her snout in surprise. "If I did.." She placed her paws back down onto the ground. "Would you let me?" Before he could offer a response she slid into the water gracefully, quickly submerging herself up to her snout. She swam through the water like she was a fish, easily besting the soft current.

Ramakox sat and watched her swim around as he drummed his talons against the earth one by one. He thought about what she had just asked, the prospect was interesting to say the least. He grumbled to himself when he saw her dart quickly in the water, moving far faster than he ever could. If he did not know any better, he would say she was showing off for him. He broke his sight from the teal dragoness to the tops of the vibrant green trees. He imagined her great orange membranes carrying her over the treetops. He had to admit, things had been fairly lonely these past few years. Even if he had spent a lot of time in East Cliff with the mortals, it just was not the same as the companionship of a dragon. Or the mortal you care about. With a snort he came to the conclusion that it would be good to have her around.

"I will allow you to reside in my territory...On the condition that you do not cause trouble for the mortals that reside within it. If I find you have hurt them in anyway, I will forcibly remove you from my lands...If you can follow that, then you are allowed to stay." He looked down with a satisfied snort. He was rather pleased with the way he had laid things out for her. He found that she was swimming on her back with a smug grin. It was like she had planned this the entire time.

"Very well....But I warn you Ramakox The Great and Powerful Swirling Storm." She casually swam backwards away from him. "I will be starting my heat in a few days, and if I catch you trying to take advantage of me, I will claw that face of yours." She held out her claws, showing of the talons as she opened and closed them. "I am in no mood to bear your, or any other dragon's clutch."

"Wouldn't dream of it." the blue dragon looked away with a snort, causing the dragoness to laugh.

"That's what they all say. Then you have to claw up some handsome dragon's face."

"Handsome am I?" he turned to her with a toothy grin.

"If I say no, will I still be able to stay in your territory?" She raised one of her wings from the water, letting the water slide off of it and run down the membranes.

"Yes." Ramakox frowned, flicking his tail as he grumbled to himself.

"I have certainly seen _worse_dragons..." She swam swiftly over towards the water's edge, poking her neck out from the water. "Why not come in? The water is fine."

"I..no." Ramakox snorted. He typically only went into the river to scrub himself with rocks, or wash away blood from his kills. He had not been swimming in quite some time.

"Oh come on." she playfully flicked some water onto his snout. "Or is the _brave and mighty Swirling Storm_afraid of some water?"

The dragon rolled his head with a snort. It was like a small fire had been lit inside him, begging him to prove her wrong. "I'll show you afraid." he grumbled, leaping into the water. He crashed into the cool liquid with a great splash that slammed into the surprised dragoness. He swam through the water like a dog, and treaded water before her. "There..I am not afraid of water."

"You call that swimming?" she gestured to his pitiful paddling against the water. She glided around him like the water was not even there. She continued to circle him as he made his way to the center of the river.

"Yes..This is swimming." he followed the chuckling teal dragoness while she circled him.

"I have seen wrymlings swim better then you... Ramakox The great and powerful Swirling Storm. I suppose it can be added to the list of things he is not good at."

"Your making a list of my shortcomings?" he growled lightly, fighting against the current with his paddling. "Why?"

"Why not?" she cackled, darting away playfully as he moved towards her. "You're too slow...You'll never catch me swimming like that."

The blue dragon frowned and grumbled as he realized that was true. No matter how well he swam, she was ever more graceful than he was. He resigned himself to slowly paddling after her, causing her to always dart away with a chuckle. The only time he got close to her in the water, it was because she had allowed it. However sure enough when he got close, she bolted away and sprayed him with water. When he had enough of her teasing he made his way back to the edge,and picked himself up onto the ground. He shook himself powerfully like a canine, flicking the water from his scales in a large shower.

"Awww...Too much water for the old Ramakox?" she called to him in a singsong voice.

"No..it's not." the dragon replied gruffly with a snort.

"I..Could practically live in the water." She swam towards the shore several feet away. She slipped out of the water, and flicked all the liquid from her scales with several shakes of her body.

"If you really are going to be staying here...I should show you the best hunting spots...The best sunbathing spots, areas where to scrub your scales clean."

"No thanks." she replied with a snap of her jaws. "Besides...Anything that you hunt would not interest me."

Of that's right. The blue dragon let out a sigh as he drummed his talons. "You eat nothing but seafood."

"Now he catches on." she smiled. "Although...I have tried Elk before..It was fairly tasty for land based food."

"So will you be staying by the coast?" he asked, when she had turned to spread her wings. "So I know where to avoid when you're in heat." He tried to fight the image of a needy dragoness begging for him to quell her heat. He shook his head and focused on the cool water instead.

"How sweet of you." she replied back, turning towards him. She rose a claw to her snout and drummed her talons against the pebbly surface gently. "Hmmmmmm." she tapped her tail against the ground as she looked around at the trees, the river, and then back to Ramakox. "Passed that mortal town." She pointed with her left wing in the direction of East Cliff. "On the rocks there by the ocean." She curled her head around as if she were looking at it in that moment. "It has the best_view...Even has water right up to the entrance." she flicked her tail at him, than quickly bounded into the air. "See you around Ramakox _The great and powerful Swirling Storm. I hope to not see you in the next month!" She bared her teeth and slashed at the air with her claws. "I'd really hate to claw up that snout of yours. Make it worse than it is."

"Watch your tongue!" he called with with a snort of irritation. She gave him a loud roar farewell, her wings carrying her swiftly out of sight. He thought about following her for a moment but decided against it. As slightly annoying as she was, it was dragon to share company with. When he started flying towards his home, he wondered when he would see her next.