FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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Chapter Sixty Seven

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Revaramek padded alongside the weathered stone wall, moss flattened out beneath his paws. The wall was one of many that belonged to an unusually large ruin, atop what he thought was once a flat summit. It was the largest such ruin he'd yet discovered in his time in the swamp. It was also one of most intact. There were enough walls and structures still standing to make it look as if a limestone village once capped the hill.

"I hope you know how to get back home." Nyramyn sat on her haunches nearby, idly scratching at some moss draped across a broken wall. "We've only got so much water with us."

Revaramek jerked his head up, glancing back. "Wait. You don't know how to get home?"

Nyramyn cocked her head and gave him a blank look.

"You're supposed to be the navigator on our excursions! All these trees and ruins look the same to me." He craned his neck to peer down through the remnants of a battered roof. "Oooh, maybe in here."

"Oh, don't worry about me." Nyramyn held up a forepaw and glanced at it. "I know how to get home just fine. But I'm planning to leave you here as soon as you're out of sight."

Revaramek flattened down his wings, gazing across them at her. "I told you, you didn't have to come if you didn't want to."

"You just said I was your navigator!" She thumped her forepaw back down. "I have to come on your wanders or you'll get lost and die out there in the swamp."

"You could just give me instructions."

"I tried!" Nyramyn curled her tail in frustration. "I told you exactly how to get here."

Revaramek reared onto his hind legs, digging at the rotten roofing materials with a forepaw. He tore away a few large chunks, and then clambered over the wall, into the room. Then he poked his head back out to snort at his mate. "No, you told me to fly to the big tree with the blue flowers, then turn left towards the broken obelisk, then, do a loop around the second set of bubbles in the fourth patch of whatever, take three breaths and fly for seventeen heartbeats."

Nyramyn folded her forelegs. "I was not near that nonsensical." She arched her neck, huffing, her spines displayed. "It's not my fault if I remember things by visual cue and you don't."

"I remember landmarks!" Revaramek playfully tossed a bit of rotten wood at her. She batted it out of the air. "But half the trees out there have blue flowers right now, and every bit of battered stone looks like a broken obelisk."

"But only one of the trees has flowers wreathing it in the spiral pattern I described, and only one obelisk is broken two foreleg lengths above the water!"

Revaramek only laughed and shook his head again. "I can't remember those kinds of details!"

Nyramyn flexed her wings. "It's not my fault you're a dullard."

"You're just jealous of my resplendency." Revaramek cackled to himself and ducked his head back down. He gazed around the room. A few rotten bookshelves, and a decaying bed with only a tattered sheet clinging to it. Not what he was hoping for. "This room's a bust, anyway."

"What?"

The dragon lifted his head, only to bump it on the remains of the ceiling. "OW!" He rubbed his head with a paw, then clambered back over the wall. "I said the room's a bust, anyway."

"Like all the others, then." Nyramyn smiled at him, spreading out her wings in smug display. "When are you going to admit that I'm right?"

"You say that like you've never found anything useful in the ruins." Revaramek waved his paw at her. "Come along. Or if you're tired, you can wait here."

"I am not tired." Nyramyn snapped her jaws. She pushed herself up with a little grunt, padding after him. The swollenness of her body made her look as if she was waddling just a little. "I'm just wondering why we're out here right now. We could just catch a few dozen screech birds, and use their feathers as bedding for our egg, the way my parents did."

"Something tells me your parents did that before your mother got all tubby with your egg in her belly."

"I am not tubby." She hissed at him, nipping at his tail as she came up behind him.

"No, of course not." He rubbed her neck with his tail tip, smiling back at her. "You are beautifully filled with fresh life."

"Yes." She gave a little purr, leaning into his tail. "And you'd best not forget it. Besides, my father was a very respectful mate to my mother, and he did all the hunting while she lay gravid."

"I've offered time and again to hunt for you." Revaramek laughed and shook his head. "If you get much plumper, I'm going to start insisting."

"And I shall deny it every time." Nyramyn walked up alongside him, nuzzling his neck. "You'll just have to go off on your own, and hunt my food without asking, before I can tell you otherwise."

Revaramek lifted his spines, grinning at her. "Oh? Is that your way of telling me how I can get away with hunting your food, so you can laze about at home without giving me an excuse to tease you?"

Nyramyn bumped her haunches against his. "A gravid female is never lazing. She is concentrating on growing her egg."

"I don't think that's how it works."

"It's how it works if I say it's how it works." She nosed at him, then flashed her fingers. "Any arguments, Resplendent?"

"Oh, none." Revaramek licked her nose. "I'm just happy to be the best flier again."

Nyramyn tossed her head. "Enjoy it while you can. As soon as this egg is laid, I'm going to fly three loops around you just to prove my point."

"I'm going to have to teach our child to bite you, aren't I."

Laughing, Nyramyn flicked him with her tail. "You do, and _I'll_bite you."

"And that would be different how?" Revaramek shook himself, his scales clicking and wings rustling.

"The difference will be where I bite you."

"You vicious thing." Revaramek licked her ear, then lifted his head to gaze across the maze-like collection of walls they wandered. They were nearer the center of it now, the swamp's black water a good distance away in all directions. "This must have been the top of a hill, or something. A village, or maybe a fortress. Storms and time have taken off most of the roofs but...there might be a little treasure trove left."

"You've been saying that all day." Nyramyn scratched at some lichen alongside a nearby wall.

"And I found something to validate my claims!"

"Yes, and what luck for us to have discovered an intact...what did you call it? An end table?" She put a paw to her chest. "Why, I'm overjoyed! At last, I'll finally have somewhere to display all my many beautiful belongings, for all the visitors we have so often."

"If your sarcasm where any sharper, I'd be bleeding."

"I can use my claws, if you like."

"You usually do." When she glared at him, he gave her cheek a gentle lick. "My, but you're grumpy when you're pregnant."

"Keep it up, and I'll bite off one of your ears."

"Guess there are worse things you could bite off."

"Luckily for you, I've found those to be useful on occasion." She bit at his neck hard enough to make him yelp, then hissed. "But only just."

"Glad to be useful." He rubbed his neck with a paw, flattening back his ears. "Regardless of the usefulness of an end table, it proves a few things have made it through the years intact. Now, we just have to find a bedroom that's been properly sheltered from the elements-"

"And the beasts and the bugs and mold and-"

"Now you're just dreaming if you think we can find something without mold." Revaramek laughed, leading her down what he thought was once a street. Stone walls rose on either side of them, but with enough space for the dragons to walk together. "We live in a swamp. Everything's moldy. Hell, I've probably got mold under my scales, you-"

"If you say I'm moldy, I really am leaving you here."

"You're probably the only thing in this swamp completely and totally free of mold." Revaramek swallowed, nudging her muzzle with his. "Is what I was going to say."

"That's more like it."

Revaramek led her on through the ruin, walking between broken walls. Now and then he cleared crumbled stone debris out of her way, not wanting her to trip or stumble over any loose scree. As long as she carried that vulnerable life inside of her, he was going to go out of his way to help protect it. At first, each time he made her wait she glare at him, impatient. She told him she wasn't going to trip, or that she could just climb or even fly over the obstacles. After he explained he didn't want her jarring the growing egg, she smiled and waited with far more patience.

That she had their child growing inside her had not come as a surprise. That hadn't planned it, but they hadn't worked to avoid it, either. Though dragons could mate for love and pleasure year-round, mating usually only resulted in pregnancy when a female was in her heat cycle. Such an occurrence happened once a year or so, and now that they were mates, when Nyramyn reached her cycle they made no effort to avoid each other.

In fact, when she first reached it, a great downpour of fresh rain came that night. Nyramyn took it as a sign, and invited him to dance with her in the rain. Their rain dance led once more to mating, even as they knew it meant their family would grow. Later, Nyramyn made no big announcement about her pregnancy, for there was no need. If nothing else, the subtle changes in hormones and the way they affected her scent made it clear to Revaramek she was pregnant long before her belly swelled.

While there was no surprise declaration, no sudden shock of knowing he would be a father, that hadn't stopped Revaramek from celebrating it anyway. He'd danced on the ground and in the air, swooped and dived, roared and sang, hunted the sweetest swamp crabs he could find and then wrote a poem about fatherhood. Or at least he'd tried, most of it had been babbled nonsense but at least it made Nyramyn laugh.

Now that they had a child on the way, Revaramek was determined to find suitable bedding for it. Though dragon eggs were very sturdy, he didn't want to take any chances. The truth was, Revaramek didn't have the first clue about taking care of an egg. It wasn't the sort of thing his mother spent her last years teaching him, and it wasn't a subject any stories dwelled upon. So he wanted to find something as soft and warm as possible to cradle it while its precious life within grew.

If they lived in the marsh, they would have hunted deer and elk and rabbits and sheep, and used their furred pelts as bedding. Oh, who was he kidding. He'd have gone into town and demanded a their finest blankets and pillows. Only the best for _his_egg. But here in the swamp, soft things were much harder to come by. There were not many creatures with furred hides left. There were screech birds and their feathered relatives, but they were hard to catch in number enough to make a bed from their feathers. When Nyramyn mentioned to him the immense ruin she'd discovered, not yet completely flooded, he thought it his best chance to find what he sought.

"What about over there?" Nyramyn nudged him to get his attention, then pointed with a paw to an area where heavy slabs of curved stone lay across a few former chambers. "Some of those places might be sheltered."

"Oooh, good eye." Revaramek gave her a lick of gratitude, then moved to clear some debris out of her way so she could follow him closer. While she caught up, Revaramek reared up onto his hind legs, then braced his forepaws against a battered wall, gazing across the ruin. "It looks quite promising."

"You know if that wall crumbles under you, you're going to come crashing down with it."

"Yes, thank you for your concern, Mother." Revaramek tossed his head. When the wall shifted ominously, he eased away from it as nonchalantly as he could.

"Oh, no." Nyramyn splayed a wing and batted him with it. "You don't get to call me that. Only our hatchling will. And I don't think I like 'mother' anyway. It sounds so...formal."

"You'd rather he calls you Nyra?" Revaramek glanced back at her, then slipped between a few stone walls. He turned around, and worked to widen the space for her, tossing rocks aside.

"I was thinking momma, or something."

Revaramek grunted, hauling a large chunk of limestone up in his forepaws. "Well he's not calling me papa." He tossed the stone aside, then stepped back to let her pass. "I don't care if it sounds formal, I want him to call me Father."

"You sound awfully sure our child will be male." She perked her ears as she brushed past him. "We might have a daughter."

"Which would be lovely. Either way, it's settled. You'll be momma, and I'll be father." He ran a paw over the scales of her swollen lower belly as she eased by. "As chubby as you're getting, we might be having one of each."

Nyramyn swatted him across the muzzle with her tail.

"Ow!" Revaramek yelped. Her webbed spines scratched at his pebbly scales. "You almost put my eye out."

"You have another."

"For now." He rubbed his muzzle, then followed her, chuckling. "You get abusive when you're pregnant."

"Only when my lovely mate says not so lovely things."

"Oh, lick my-"

"You keep talking to me that way and I won't be licking anything of yours for a very long time."

Revaramek snorted, tossing his head. "Like you could ever stay mad at me."

Nyramyn gave one of her beautiful, musical laughs. Revaramek couldn't tell if she was laughing with him, or at him. Either way, he relished the sound.

When he was sure Nyramyn wasn't looking, Revaramek reared up again, forepaws on a thick wall. He looked around, examining the area of the ruin they were in. Not far away, several rooms and chambers looked crushed beneath the weight of immense, curved stones. He followed the lay of the oddly-shaped structures until the found their origin. A jagged, circular wall rose above the others at what may have once been a fort's inner sanctum. It must have been risen high above the rest of the place, long before it came tumbling down.

"It's a tower!"

"A what?" Nyramyn glanced back at him, her head tilted.

"A tower!" Revaramek drew a line with his paw, following the lay of the fallen structure. "Or at least it was. See that circle of rock over there? That was the base of the tower, and all those other pieces were part of it."

"You keep saying that word, but that doesn't tell me what it means."

"You don't know what a tower is?" Revaramek scrunched his muzzle.

"Never even heard that before. Toe...her."

"No, tower."

"Whatever. Is it a human word?"

"Well..." Revaramek trailed off. He tried to think of the translation, only to realize there wasn't one. "I suppose it is."

"What's it mean?"

Revaramek smiled. Oh, how he loved it when she asked him to explain a word. He hopped down from the wall and padded over to her. There wasn't enough room between walls to stand alongside his mate, so he settled on his haunches before her. "You see, tower means a tall, cylindrical stone building." He unsheathed a single claw, tracing the design in the dirt. He drew a few simple boxes to indicate the smaller buildings around then, then scratched a large, rectangular tower that stood sentinel over them. "Like this. The biggest one is the tower."

"Like an obelisk?" Nyramyn canted her head.

"Yes. Though, usually an obelisk is more of a monument, and a tower is more of a habitation." He gestured with his paw. "Though, there are also guard towers, and those are..." When Nyramyn gave him a blank stare, he flicked his ears back. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, all these big blocks of stone that have fallen across this part of the ruin are curved like that because they used to be part of the tower's walls. Till the tower broke apart and came toppling down across them." He stretched out a wing, and motioned in a line with the talon tipping it. "Which is why most of it is now laying across those other buildings."

Nyramyn shrugged her wings, curling her tail. "You could have just said, it's a big round stone humans lived in, once."

"That too." He pushed himself back up to his feet. "Anyway, time to go dig around under it."

Nyramyn's frills shot up. "But it might be unstable."

"Which is why you, my love, and your precious cargo will remain here." Revaramek patted her belly, and then turned away to clamber over the nearest wall. No sense winding through maze-like corridors if he was going by himself. "I'll tell you all about my indescribably amazing discoveries when I'm back."

"Hey!" Nyramyn hissed and snapped at his tail as it slipped over the wall. "What do you think you're doing? Those blocks of stone are as big as you are! If they fall on you-"

"You'll get to tell my corpse you told me so!" Revaramek cackled as he bound down a mossy lane between stone barriers, and clambered over another wall. "Back soon, don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"I'm not stupid enough to do anything you'd do!"

Smiling, Revaramek pushed onwards. While he traversed the ruins, he took a moment to thank whatever forces had brought him to Nyramyn. Whether it was his spark, some unseen god, or even the story itself, he was ever grateful. Hell, he'd almost be willing to thank Asterbury if the chance presented itself. He scrunched his muzzle. There was a name he hadn't thought of lately. The crazy little monster hadn't showed himself once since the day Revaramek dragged him here. He'd like to think the urd'thin had died out there in the swamp, but somehow he doubted himself that lucky.

After clambering over a few more walls, Revaramek slowed his pace as he reached the fallen tower. Up close the area looked more dangerous than he'd anticipated. While some of the tower's walls rested against the earth and moss, others balanced precariously on shattered limestone partitions. He could squeeze under them, but if he dislodged them they might crash down. If it did, it would either crush him to death, or trap him to starve or suffocate.

Gods, if he got himself killed here, Nyra would never let his body hear the end of it.

The answer was simple of course, he just had to not die.

Revaramek wandered around the area of the fallen tower, looking for the safest places to investigate. He flattened himself to the ground, and crawled under one large section of weather-beaten rock, pausing beneath it to glance up inside. There was nothing of interest, so he crawled out the other side. He kept looking, trying to avoid any area that looked ready to give way. Nearer the base of the former structure, there were larger pieces of stone, resting across half-collapsed rooms. In a few instances, the walls remained intact enough to support the massive hunks of limestone that lay across them.

The dragon roamed around one of the mostly intact buildings. It looked as if the crumbled tower had formed a seal of sorts, blocking off the roof, and filling the old doorway with crumbled stone. Moss and vines crept across the pile of debris blocking the door, but Revaramek was certain if he dug it out, and pulled down a non-supporting wall, he could wriggle his way into the chamber beyond. He spent a few moments examining everything to make sure it wouldn't collapse on him, and then began to dig out the entryway.

"What are you doing?" Nyramyn's voice drifted to him on the wind.

"Nothing dangerous!"

"You'd better not be excavating that old building!"

Revaramek jerked his head up. He glanced over, wondering how she could see what he was up to. In the distance, Nyramyn had propped her forelegs up on a tall building, glaring at him. He hissed at her. "You know, someone recently told me that if that wall crumbles under you, you're going to come crashing down with it."

"You're hilarious." She glared at him a moment, then hopped down, out of sight. "Just stop doing stupid things!"

Revaramek pulled out a particularly large block of stone. The slab resting against it shifted ever so slightly. He gulped and tossed the debris aside. "Wouldn't dream of it, love."

When he had a large enough hole, he stuck his head through the opening. Immediately something stung him on the nose. "OW!" He yelped and yanked his head back, grabbing at his throbbing snout. A fat scorpion-toad crawled out of the hole, flashing its angry red colors at him, twin stinger tails twitching. He snarled at it and batted it aside before it could sting him again. "Stupid thing!"

"What happened?" Nyra called out again, concern in her voice now. "Are you alright? Do you need help?"

"I'm fine!" Revaramek cringed, hot pain boiling at the end of muzzle. "A stupid scorpion-toad got me on the nose!"

"I've told you a thousand times not to go poking your muzzle in dark places!"

"Yes, thank you dear, that really helps the pain."

"If you'd listened to me, you wouldn't be in pain right now!"

Revaramek grit his teeth, all his spines flared. "Being reminded I'm an idiot is a wonderful balm for the searing agony in my snout!" He sucked in a sharp breath. "Would you like to punch me in the balls, too?"

"Well I wasn't planning on it, but if you think it would help I can give it a try."

Despite the pain, Revaramek laughed, shaking his head. "Get mounted, Nyra."

"Really? Is that what getting punched in the balls puts you in mood for? I mean, if you're really that into it, I can try it out..."

"You know what would really help my pain right now?" Revaramek licked his nose a few times to try and soothe the sharp sting. "Getting the last word for once!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I can't help you there." Nyramyn laughed in the distance. "I'll see if I can find some blueblossom. That helps ease the pain faster. In the meantime, stay out of that damn hole!"

"I will do no such thing." Revaramek muttered to himself, peering into the opening. "Not only will I not stay out, but I'll find something amazing in there. That'll show you."

"What are you muttering about over there?"

The dragon jerked his head up again. "I love you!"

"I love you too, but you'd better not be delving into those ruins."

"Can't hear you dear, delving into ruins!"

Ignoring her increasingly vocal protests, Revaramek pulled a few more chunks of rocky debris away. That was one way to get the last word. Once the old entryway was mostly cleared, he worked at pulling down sections of cracked walls. The dragon kept careful watch on the immense slab resting just above him, careful not to dislodge anything holding it up. By the time he made enough room to slip into the chamber, his forelegs ached from tossing boulders. Tiny cuts and scrapes left his pads stinging. At least pain in his nose had ebbed away to a dull, steady throb, though the end of his muzzle was noticeably swollen.

He took a breath, and spat a burst of flame through the hole to chase away anything else that might be lurking just inside. The flash of red-orange light illuminated a room that looked surprisingly intact. It was barely large enough to fit him, but if he didn't get stuck, he should be alright. He flattened back his ears. Gods, he thought, if Nyra had to come dig him out he'd be sleeping outside in the swamp for a month.

Revaramek pushed himself through the opening, then moved aside to let the light pour in behind him. The space was uncomfortably small. He wasn't normally claustrophobic, but having stone brushing his wings and his back at the same time left him uneasy. As his eyes adjusted, the dragon gazed around, a delighted grin upon his muzzle. It looked as though stumbled into part of someone's former house.

One side of the room was crushed beneath stone, and from the looks of it, there had once been bookshelves there. A few scattered tomes littered the floor, though he doubted whatever moldering pages remained between their brittle covers would survive being touched. A broken table and shattered chairs lay scattered around one corner. Recognizable dishes and eating utensils were strewn around the remnants of what he guessed was a wash basin. A skeletal hand jutted out from beneath stone debris, amidst dark moss.

The dragon's heart tightened. He hadn't realized anyone had been living here when the tower came down. Something about it prickled at him, though. Revaramek had little room to maneuver around, so he stretched his neck to get a closer look at the skeletal hand. It was small, even by the standards of humans. At first he wondered if it was a child's hand, but then he spotted the claws. Each little finger was tipped with a small, dull, dark claw. It wasn't dark moss around the bones, it was fur. It was an urd'thin's hand.

Revaramek sniffed at the bones. The dry fur rustled. The scent was faded and rotted, but definitely urd'thin. He scrunched his muzzle. Why would an urd'thin have been living here? A storyteller slave, perhaps? Or one of Asterbury's tribe, scattered to the winds, and trying to start a new life in the swamp? He growled. The idea did not sit well in his belly. The dragon decided it was probably not to trouble himself with such questions.

With a few careful, precise movements, Revaramek repositioned himself. At the other side of the room a bed laid against the wall. From the size of it, it looked about right for an adult urd'thin. The bed's wooden frame looked a bit rotted, and the pillows looked to have been turned into insect nests, but a thick fur blanket still covered the whole bed. Almost looked as if the poor urd'thin had made the bed just before he'd been crushed. Though the blanket looked a bit insect-eaten, it was still in better condition than he'd hoped.

That was what he'd come here for. The faint hope that somewhere in this ruined place, he might find a blanket with which to swaddle their egg. The fact he'd succeeded in what he secretly thought a fool's errand made Revaramek smile. He stretched his neck, grasped the old blanket in his teeth, and carefully backed out of the ruin.

Once he was out in the open again, he shook himself, glad to be freed from the poor urd'thin's stone tomb. He draped the blanket across the ground, examining it. Though the insects had definitely had their way with sections of it, other parts of the blanket remained in good shape. The fur there was very soft, a dark brown color. He couldn't place its origin. It felt as soft as some of the rabbit hides he remembered Enora bringing him in his youth, but the creature it came from was closer to the size of an elk. Revaramek wondered if it was some beast that roamed this land long before the poisoned age, or if it came from another world, brought by the storytellers.

Revaramek took the blanket in his paws, and leapt into the sky. He beat his wings, pivoting in the air over the ruin until he spotted Nyramyn. She was at the water's edge, stretching her neck out to bite off bright indigo flowers from vines around a tree just beyond the shore. A little pile of them lay around her paws. Revaramek swept in and landed a little way off, not wanting the wind from his wings to send the flowers spiraling into the swamp.

"You'd better not be going in that water." He hobbled over to her on three paws, carrying the blanket in the fourth. "We both agreed no swimming for you, as long as you're carrying that egg."

"I'm not in the water." She gestured at the mire with a forepaw. "As you'd clearly see, if you'd use your eyes to look somewhere other than under my tail. Now, what have you got there?"

"Are those for me?" Revaramek glanced down at all the blue flowers dotting the mud.

"They are, but if you're going to act like a brat and ignore my questions, I'm going to toss them into the murk."

The dragon only smiled at her. "This...." He stepped back, spreading the out the blanket on the shore. "Is a blanket. A fur blanket, in fact, the best kind. It's just what I was hoping for!" He ruffled the fur with a paw. "Found it in a sealed room, so it's still in excellent shape. It's soft, and warm, and it'll be just perfect to snuggle our egg in! And after it hatches, we can wrap the hatchling in it, or lay on it with them. Don't you think it's perfect?"

Nyramyn tilted her head, staring down at the blanket. "I think it's perfectly full of bugs."

"What?" Revaramek glanced down at. A whole bevy of shiny-carapace creatures were climbing out of the fur, now that their home had been so disturbed. "Oh, damn!" He grabbed it in his forepaw, and hoisted it up. "I'll shake it out, it'll be fine."

"Yes, I'm sure our hatchling will be ever so grateful to be hatched and swaddled in a fuzzy nest of bugs. Happy Hatchday, hope you like scale mites!"

Revaramek hung his head, sulking. "It doesn't have scale mites."

"Just turn around." She swung her head. "Face that way before you shake it out, or the gusts will blow away all the blue blossoms I've collected for you. If you do that I'm not getting you anymore."

"Oh. Right." Revaramek turned around with the blanket, glancing back at his mate over his wings. "Thank you for that, by the way."

"You're welcome. How's your nose? Looks swollen."

"It is. Hurts too, but not as badly as it did." Facing away from Narymyn and the flowers she'd gathered, Revaramek grasped the blanket in both his forepaws. He leaned back onto his haunches, and shook it out a few times. Dozens of insects flew off of it. Some landed on the mud and crawled away, others took to tiny wings, and a few more landed in the swamp where larger things beneath the surface snatched them up. Dust drifted away. He shook it once more, and then turned back around to present it to his mate. He set it down, brushed it with a paw, and then smiled at her. "See? It's lovely now."

Nyramyn flattened her frills. She lowered her head and gave the blanket a suspicious sniff, then rubbed one of the nicer looking sections with her forepaw. "It is actually rather soft." She glanced up at Revaramek, smiling. "Hardly the treasure you make it out to be, but it's nice, I'll give you that."

"You see? You can find good things in the ruins."

"We may have to cut out these rotted sections here." She dragged claws across it. "Might have to cut it into a few strips, but...yes, I think it will make nice bedding for our egg." Nyramyn stretched her neck to nuzzle him, purring. "Congratulations, Revaramek, you've done well. For once."

Revaramek clapped his forepaws. "A compliment? Oooh, I'll take it!" He nuzzled her back, and lapped at her ear a few times. "I'm glad you like it, love."

"Mmm." Nyramyn cradled his chin in her paw. "Let me see your nose." She tilted her head back and forth, scrutinizing him. Revaramek crossed his eyes. The soft area at the end of his muzzle looked red and swollen. "Got you right between your nostrils. A bit late to squeeze the poison out, but if I grind up these blue blossoms and work them in, that'll ease the swelling and dull the pain."

Revaramek smiled at her when she released his chin. "Where would I ever be without you?"

"Dead." Nyramyn collected a few flat rocks to grind the flowers. "This will be ready in a few moments."

"Take your time."

Revaramek just kept smiling. He rubbed his paw against the soft part of the fur blanket. Though he knew she was teasing him, he also knew she was right. He'd never have survived on his own in this place. He'd come here to save an entire world from a lunatic, and he'd come here ready to die. When he told Mirelle goodbye, he'd prepared himself to face the end. Yet only in what once seemed his darkest time, had he truly come to understand that life was meant to be enjoyed. It took a dragon dancing in the rain, and swimming in the poison to teach him how to live.

He'd come here expecting to die, and instead, he'd never felt more alive.