Silver Dragon Rising (Whitebrand and Redfield)

[Whitebrand]

"It trusts me, poor little thing. I wonder if it will follow us."

The dragon settled down again, pointedly turning his back to the berries that had drugged him before.

The night passed quietly, with no more visits from the strange owl. That didn't mean that the elf's dreams were peaceful, though. She would once again find herself being hunted...this time by the dragon hatchling now somehow fully grown into a length of more than nine meters and she was as naked as the day she was born. He was laughing in the voice of the hatchling, though, and she couldn't tell if the hunt was in earnest or part of a game. The dream faded away as dawn began to rise.

[Redfield]

'Why am I being struck by these dreams' Sylph thought to herself as the light of dawn roused her from her slumber and she once more rolled up her rug as she pushed herself to her feet. Taking a moment to stretch she looked out over the surrounding trees, staying by a dragon had it's perks, the less intelligent predators were sure to keep away from them. She looked about for the rabbit, but it seemed it had left during the night, one way or the other Sylph couldn't tell.

The elven woman moved over to gather some berries for breakfast as she waited for the young hatchling to wake so they could continue their journey, hopefully without interruptions this day.

[Whitebrand]

Brand awoke with a start, looking around quickly at the ground in front of him. When he looked up at Sylph he made a little sighing sound.

"Big again," he muttered just barely audibly, sounding vaguely disappointed.

He snapped out of it quickly, though. He also eyed the berries carefully before he ate them. Once he had his fill of the safely gathered treats, he was ready and eager to go.

The sky was beautiful, with light clouds here and there but nothing obscured the sun. The little (relatively speaking, his body was as long as an adult human was tall) dragon's scales gleamed and glittered in the sunlight. The good weather clearly had a positive effect on the hatchling because he was almost strutting along the road as they walked.

When a food merchant and his staff happened along on a cart, Brand rather wisely chose to hide in the bushes nearby, to avoid scaring the humans...but given how delicious the cart smelled, there was definitely the possibility of a food theft in the dragon's eyes.

[Redfield]

The walk through the trees had been long, but they'd made good speed and soon they found themselves on another road. Sylph frowned a little, shaking her head at the distasteful cobblestone. Her elven ears twitched and she spotted the approaching cart, her head tilted to the side, she kept the rug over her shoulder and turned back towards Brand, to find the dragon had hidden already.

Sylph's nose picked up the smells coming from the cart and wiped her mouth with the back of her free hand, she shifted about, double checking she still had her backpack before moving to walk along the edge of the road. The elven woman slowly came to a stop, she didn't want to get too far ahead of Brand, either due to having to wait for him to catch up or because she wanted to be close in case a fight broke out.

The elven maiden turned to look up and down the road, her lips pursed in thought, she put down her rug at her feet and folded her arms beneath her chest pushing her breasts up slightly. She decided to wait for this merchant to pass, she hoped their wouldn't be a similar altercation with the others the other day.

[Whitebrand]

The cart slowed as it approached the elf, the young male driver clearly distracted by her beauty. Or maybe the prospect of a sale.

"Morning, neighbor" an older voice called from the cart. A grey-haired man with an absolutely Olympic mustache that was dyed an outrageous pink for some reason said. "Walking the road is hungry work. I don't suppose a fine lass as yourself would be interested in a trade or two?"

"Or maybe a wedding ring?" the driver joked.

"Rein it in, boy," the older man said, lightly smacking the back of the driver's head.

[Redfield]

Sylph blinked looking at the older man, trying not to be too distracted by his ridiculous looking moustache. The elven woman's cheeks donned a very faint shade of pink at the driver's words. At this distance she figured they wouldn't such things, they might not even notice her ears if she was careful enough, the young woman shifted about slightly, slowly slipping her backpack off, holding it in front of her she opened it up and peered inside. She didn't have much on her other than what she'd brought from her village and a few berries she'd saved for a snack on the road.

The young woman looked up to the merchant "I'd be willing to haggle" she says gently making sure she was speaking the proper language "though I can't imagine I'd have much of interest for one such as you."

There was a rustling in the trees some distance behind Sylph, a familiar face and rabbit ears poking out from behind a tree to watch the elven woman closely.

[Whitebrand]

"Well I'll be honest," the older man said. "We have a bit of an excess. We got a lot of food for an event that got cancelled, so I'm happy to let it go cheap rather than let it go bad, you know? Come around to the back and I'll let you see what I've got."

He went back into the cart while the driver eyed Sylph's figure with a stupid grin. Sylph had seen that same wistful-but-hopeless expression on a lot of young elven men, so experience told her he was probably harmless. He was only armed with a knife in any case, and there was no sign of any man-catching tools.

The old cook tossed up the canvas flap at the back of the wagon and let Sylph see that there was indeed a lot of decent food that had been prepared, for guests at some party maybe. There was even an entire roasted turkey, a handful of salads, and several small tuns of wine. Three other young people in the back were sitting on small seats, looking back at her. They were dressed in servant-like uniforms but had removed their jackets since they obviously weren't working.

The odds of a caterer of a cancelled party with a load of food coming along right then and there was a bit strange but maybe not impossible. It didn't look like a trap.

[Redfield]

Sylph remained cautious, holding her backpack close to her as she walked steadily around the cart. Giving the driver a small smile and a slight nod as she passed, she knew his type and figured he was unlikely to be a threat to her. "I understand, these unfortunate events must be quite troublesome" The elven woman says nodding, using a free hand to adjust her hair a little so that the strands covered her ears just enough to hide the points.

She took a moment to glance down the road, checking the direction it came from, with any luck they might have some useful information about any raids that might seem give her a clue about what happened to Brand's farm. Sylph gave a polite nod to the three young workers a smile on her face her eyes then turned to the food on display and she nodded. "This is quite an impressive spread" she complimented the cook "do you know what kind of event it was for?"

As Sylph disappeared from view Velvet took the opportunity to get closer, the humanoid bunny moved up across the grass until she by the road, hiding just behind a tree. Her bunny ears twitching a little as she peered out towards the cart. She couldn't see the old man or the elf girl from her position, but she could see the driver.

[Whitebrand]

"A big dwarf family gathering," the wildly mustachioed merchant replied. "I have a lot of mixed salads here that are just going to spoil, so help yourself. A pile of variety sandwiches, deviled eggs, a huge potato and egg salad. Some cider. The turkey and the wine you'll have to trade for though."

He brandished a handful of hand cloths monogramed with what could have been a Dwarvish rune.

"A few napkins for the occasion," he added with a grin that was made even more silly by his pink mustache. "It was going to be the party of the year but..." He shrugged. "Dwarves. Once they start arguing, it isn't long before things get out of hand, am I right?"

Velvet could see that the driver only had eyes for the elf. He didn't even notice the bunnygirl peering at the cart. She could also see that Brand had caught the scent of the cooked meat on the wagon. He was creeping closer to the edge of the road, crouched low among the bushes.

[Redfield]

"I had heard that they can be quite rowdy, never met a dwarf myself though" Sylph mused out loud with a small smirk on her face 'they don't tend to come around my part of the forest.' She finished thinking to herself, her eyes looked onto the cloths, they looked quite nice maybe even more so than the rug and definitely more convenient to carry around. Though she lacked the experience to tell what kind of runes were on it. she set her backpack down on the cart, unclipped the buttons and opened it up to peer inside.

The elven woman cast a quick glance around at the workers before rummaging through her backpack. Some of the items she had were basic and long lasting food items made from home, but she preferred the food she found in the forest. She had it because the elders insisted she take it, so she pulled out a couple loaves of lembas bread which grew a couple of sizes once they were free of the shrinking spell in her backpack. Lembas bread was quite rare since it didn't usually travel outside of elven villages and Sylph briefly wandered if it was ok to offer up for trade.

Velvet turned her head towards Brand watching him creep along the edge of the road and she sniffed the air to see what had caught the creatures attention. Her ears twitched a little and she shifted about slightly. The rabbit girl was feeling a tad more cautious now she'd smelt the meat, she'd heard from the village elders that other races liked to eat rabbits and not just the normal ones either. Velvet had been told how her kind often ended up on the dinner table as a valuable 'rare' delicacy though how true that was she didn't know. Velvet blushed a little brushing herself down she moved forward stepping out from behind the tree cautiously moving onto the road. The cobblestone mildly warm against her bare feet. The rabbit girl let out a small but audible squeak and stumbled forward managing to catch herself before she fell over Sylph's rug.

Her ears twitched and she brushed herself down once more a small sigh escaping her lips as she moved close to the cart.

[Whitebrand]

"Is that...lembas bread?" The older man asked. "You can have the whole bird for that if you can carry it!"

Even the other humans looked interested. Real self-made food was actually more of a rarity than many cooks let on. Mostly so they could create fine vegetable dishes and label it "elvish", and get more coin for their trouble. The genuine article made them very interested.

Then driver finally spotted Velvet.

"Well they there," the man called out. "I don't suppose you're looking for a husband, huh cutie?"

[Redfield]

"It is" Sylph confirmed a small smile on her face as she looked to the interested humans, the elven woman rolled her head slightly, she glanced down at her backpack. She probably could fit a whole turkey inside, though even with the shrinking spell attached to the backpack it was still likely to take up a fair bit of room. The elven woman nodded slowly "I might be able to fit it in my backpack" she says looking to the turkey, she might have underestimated it's size a little but she was sure she could maybe make it work. "My backpacks enchanted to shrink the contents down to a more manageable size, so it might just fit in." She noted giving a small laugh as she shifted about slightly, putting her hand into the backpack to see if she could make just a bit more room.

Velvet's rabbit ears twitched at the young man's words, she pursed her lips only half listening to him, she was aware of his position on the cart so the young woman felt that she didn't have to worry too much about him. So without paying too much mind to the young man's words her head bobbed up and down briefly before her attention turned to focus on the voices coming from the back of the cart.

[Whitebrand]

Brand's belly rumbled at the scent of the turkey, making him salivae in eager anticipation. He was rather surprised to see the bunnygirl appear in the road, but he wisely remained hidden.

"I can't tempt you with some lettuce or something?" the driver asked the bunnygirl. Then he sighed when she ignored him. "Story of my life."

"That's a handy toy to have with you," the pink-mustached merchant said, looking impressed. "Now I wish I had something worth trading for it."

[Redfield]

"Ha....I don't you'd be able to find anything I'd trade my bag for" Sylph admitted though she wasn't sure she'd liked it being called a toy. The elven woman there was enough room for the turkey that she was sure of now, she looked over the moustached merchant. "Ok so the Lembas bread for the bird, that's a good trade to me" she says with a gentle smile, keeping one hand firmly on her backpack, her lips pursed together in thought for a brief moment.

Velvet moved to the back of the cart, the bunny girl poked her head around the back of the cart, her rabbit ears flopping about. Then she stepped out, behind Sylph, the alluring rabbit girl coming into sight of the merchant chef and his assistants.