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Gothard stood there watching the big yellow dragon sleep. He heard Mercy walk up beside him. He looked up at her tender face, then back at he big dragon asleep in his hut.

"You really do have feelings for this one. How long has it been since you've fallen for one of them now?"

"Far too long Gothard."

"He must really trust you to let you bring him here." Gothard turned to face Mercy, "For that matter you must trust him to bring him here. Is his part of the business you were talking about?"

"It is, but let's let business wait for a little while longer, we have plenty of time."

"You're not planning on using him are you?"

"No." Mercy sighed and turned away, and started walking towards the thick fields, "No, and yes. I don't really see another way. Not without moving the entire Tapestry."

"That's not really an option of course," Gothard turned and began to follow his old friend, "but I know he's not going to like it. Are you hoping to keep him Mercy?"

"Gothard, I want to so badly. I haven't seen such a magnificent dragon in a long time. We both know what I mean by that too. He's far from perfect of course, but I don't care. I'm not even close to that. The gods aren't even close to perfect, so far as I'm looking, he's perfect."

"Don't start talking in circles there. How's he taking the whole, um, what would you call this anyway? Meeting? He's been brought up to know you pretty well I would imagine."

"Well, most of what he's learned about us is wrong. None of those living creatures understand any of this. I doubt they ever will." Mercy heaved a sigh and seemed to deflate, "To answer your question, not well. He's angry, frightened, and a little outside of his element."

"He is outside of his Covenant I noticed. He's got that mark on his face plate."

"Yes, I did that." For a moment guilt seemed to weigh her down, but then she shrugged it aside, "Though, I didn't have any say in the matter at that point. Mixcoatl was absolutely set on taking him, for that matter he had his eyes set on Motungo's sweetheart at the time too, but couldn't take her either. Much to my benefit I should add."

"I could imagine why you would think so."

"I like him too" He heard Argh think through him, "He's easy to scare."

"Good news," Gothard laughed, "Argh likes him a fair bit. I think he's finally found a play mate."

"I don't know how well that will work out. He sort of holds grudges."

"Argh'll work on it I'm pretty sure. When he gets his mind set on something, you know how he can be."

"True."

They walked in silence for a while. Gothard let his mind drift for a while. It had been a very long time since Mercy had let her eye be caught by another dragon. It must have been generations ago, but he couldn't remember exactly how long anymore. He could tell from the look in Mercy's face when she mentioned his name, that this time she really had fallen pretty far for this one.

He wondered then just how far this Motungo would follow Mercy. It was practically against his very nature, and pushing against the flow of nature almost never worked, he would know. On top of that, it wasn't enough to just turn the poor dragon's life upside down, but to get him involved in whatever Mercy had planned, that would certainly be enough to break the poor dragon.

"Argh," Gothard projected to his soul-bonded, "I wouldn't get too attached to Mercy's friend."

***

Motungo opened his eyes to the sound of heavy foot steps in the grass outside. The first impression was that Mercy had come to gloat over him, but when his eyes found the source of the sound, he found Argh. The bird carried a small deer and laid it at the entrance of the shed. It stood and remained motionless. After a second Motungo realized that the bird was studying him. It wasn't just normal curiosity, this bird seemed to know what it was looking at and knew what he meant.

Motungo frowned. why do I feel that a bird knows more about what's going on than I do? That's just ridiculous. As Motungo stood, Argh stepped back. He decided to study the bird back. When Argh scared him worse than a sparrow, he hadn't noticed the large plume on the back of the bird's head, or the small leather collar it wore on it's neck.

"You're certainly different." Motungo said.

The bird twisted his head to one side and looked at him through one eye.

"I don't think I've ever seen your breed before. Something similar, but not quite so big."

Argh clucked.

"This is for me I assume? Ha, I'm asking a bird a question. I'm more tired than I thought."

Argh's plume went up and he gave a quiet sort of eagle's cry.

Motungo began to get the impression that the bird definitely was smarter than any other bird he'd seen before. He let a thoughtful nod respond and hoped it would be an enough of an apology to fly between them.

The bird gave another cluck and then turned and walked out of sight. Motungo assumed the bird went to the other side of the hut. He knelt down to eat. He didn't like anything raw, and could probably do alright to skip until sometime tomorrow since half of a dragon's metabolism was fueled by magic anyway. He had been careful with his magical reserves since wisps in human territories seemed hard to come by.

As he ate, he could hear Mercy's voice on the other side of the wall at the back of the stable. Then her voice was answered by Gothard's. He couldn't understand what they were talking about, their voices too low through the wall, and the sound of insects and birds drowning out whatever else he would have heard.

It didn't take long for him to finish the carcass, and he carefully picked it up and carried it to the edge of the woods. He hoped it would be polite enough for his odd hosts. Then he turned back to the hut and decided it might be time to actually meet the man and his strange bird. He might even be able to get some answers as to how he could be the friend of an Avatar.

First he felt he had to clean up some. Fresh kill usually made humans unsettled since it smelt so bad for them, and he didn't particularly care of the taste anyway. Nearby the hut was a small pond of a sort, and he washed himself as best he could for the time being. Then he walked to the front of the hut.

Argh met him at the door and gave another odd cluck. It nearly sounded like when he heard a young human boy click his tongue. Then the bird used a wing to point to the door, which settled Motungo's mind on the bird's intelligence.

"Sure, let me in." Motungo said, "Sorry about before, it was a bit rude."

Argh cooed, then used one of his long legs and managed to unlatch the door and push it open.

Motungo walked inside and found the inside of the hut made much like his den back at the mine. There was a raised pit, with glowing embers, in the center of the large room. Several shelves loaded with various tools and items that every human seemed to need occupied the four walls and even some space in the attic above. Motungo still didn't know what they all were, and didn't have much notion to learn either. There was a small doorway at the other side of the room.

Mercy sat to the right of the fire, and sitting next to her on a stool was Gothard. He no longer wore the long robe, and wore a wool shirt and a pair trousers. It seemed rather common fare for a human as far as he could tell. The two of them looked at him as he took in the room.

"Come in," Gothard waved at the fire pit, "We've got plenty of room in here for everyone."

For a small hut, he did have room enough. It was almost like he expected to have larger than human visitors. Possibly a product of having a Boneweaver as a friend.

"Thank you." Motungo said as he sat across from Mercy.

"Mercy and I were just swapping recent tales. I haven't seen her since sometime this spring. Seems she and I have been pretty busy keeping after things."

"I see."

"But anyway, would you like anything to eat or drink? I don't have a whole lot for dragons. I don't get many visitors at all out this far in the woods, and most of the dragons to the south seem to keep to themselves anyway. I think I have a bottle of oaksap wine. I forget where I got it or how old it is actually. But I'll go grab it if you'd like? Other than that I've just got some water."

"If it wouldn't be too much to ask, I would like the wine. I haven't tasted that in two years now."

"Then wine it is." Gothard stood and walked through the doorway into the back room. Motungo could hear bottles rattling and things being moved about, "I could cook up something if you're hungry too. I've got some venison if you would like?"

"No actually, I just ate. Your bird um, found me something."

"Ha, I'll have to thank him then. He doesn't usually warm up to strangers so quickly. I guess you must have really made an impression with him."

"I'm not sure how."

"He likes scaring people, and you seemed to take it rather well."

Motungo felt his spines rise slightly, it was mildly irritating and embarrassing to be so easy to scare. He would remember the bird's hobby, maybe he could return the favor.

"So, how was the trip out here?" Motungo asked as he emerged from the back room carrying a familiar rectangular glass container in both arms. "I figure if you both flew it would have taken you about the whole night right?"

"It did, how do you know that?"

He set the glass container on the ground, and it came up past the human's knees. It couldn't have been easy for him to get he drink all the way out here. It wasn't easy to transport even in the Covenant, and wasn't cheap either.

"Oh, Mercy's told me how it works a few times. Sometimes just for fun she'll fly it normal rather than just flash all over the place."

"It's good to fly," Mercy added, "when I have something on my mind and I need some time to think."

Motungo nodded, then motioned to the drink, "Are you sure this is fine? I don't know how expensive this would be to get in gol. I figure it's probably-"

"Oh don't worry about it Motungo." Gothard waved to the back room, "It was just taking up space in there and I've been thinking about dumping it out and using the jar to hold potatoes. I'm glad it can get some use. You know I sure can't drink it, and Argh thinks it smells too much like trees to even try it."

Motungo used a claw to break the seal on the container and then took a drink. It tasted as good as he remembered it would. Then he sat back and nodded. "It's good, thank you."

"You're welcome friend."

"How can you be a friend with an Avatar?"

Gothard looked at Mercy, it seemed like a pained understanding look which confused Motungo. How could a human feel attached enough to a boneweaver to even display that emotion?

"Well, that is a bit of a story isn't it? She and I met a long time back. It was actually Argh that introduced us. See I'm not a follower of Gadre'ell. I'm a soul-bound."

Motungo made a questioning face, which thankfully worked.

"Right, the dragons don't know much about that. Basically I devote my life to a messenger of the natural world. I sort of act as an interpreter or an ambassador to the local area. Sometimes the people around here listen, sometimes they don't. But generally I watch what the different races are doing and if someone steps on the Mother a little too much, I try to suggest an alternative."

"That's interesting, but what does that have to do with the boneweavers?"

"Well, have you ever seen a big storm? The sort that blows trees down?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever seen a storm like one of those, that decides to blow down only oak trees?"

"Of course not."

"Well, nature views humans, dragons, satyrs, luprin, boneweavers, and everything else, as trees in the forest of the world. They're just another creature, just a little different is all."

"Where do you get your interpretation of what nature wants?" Motungo couldn't find the explanation quite satisfying. The idea that boneweavers were part of the natural world couldn't be right.

"Argh helps a lot with that actually. He's been in it for a while longer than I have. But over the years I've grown an ear to it too really. But it's something that you feel, about the best I could say is how you sense wisps is how I sense nature."

"Alright, still though," Motungo pointed with a wing, "that is a boneweaver, destroyer of nature and life. Not only that, it's an Avatar of the Thief."

Gothard waved a hand, asking for him to stop. Motungo retracted the wing and watched the man carefully.

"Yes, she is an Avatar. She's one of the nicest Avatars you'll probably meet for a while too." He paused and smiled as he thought to himself, then he continued, "It might make more sense like this. Nature isn't all about life. People forget that. Death and decay is part of the process of life, Mercy represents that half of nature in a way."

"I don't buy it. That can't be right."

"Well it isn't exactly, but that's about the best I can say. She's the holder of a different kind of life that can't live in the same space as the life you understand. Why should nature side with one sort of life for another?"

"Because of what she does, that's why."

"Alright," Gothard waved his hands signaling his defeat, "I won't argue about it any more. If you feel that way, then that must be how it is in your eyes. We're not here to talk about that right now anyway are we?"

"No," Mercy's voice slid across the conversation, "actually we're here to ask for your help. I told you a little about it already, but now that he's awake. I need you to help him get back inside the dragon's covenant."

"Wow." Gothard leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. "When you apologize you don't go for the easy things do you? You never do."

Motungo watched the man. He looked at the ceiling for a short time, then looked at Mercy, then at him. How could a human be able to get inside the Covenant without them knowing about it? The Hunters seem to know every creature that crosses into or out of the boarders. Gothard sat forward.

"You want inside the Covenant, to see someone you knew from there right?"

Motungo nodded slightly.

"How well do you know the land in there?"

"Well enough to know where all the Covenant's major zigaurats are."

"How about places to hide?"

"I think I remember a few."

"Then I may be able to get you inside."