Iseut + Indraneel | Clumsy dragons and shivering dogs
Who: Iseut and Indraneel
When: November 20th
Where: Outside in Tyrol somewheres
Ratings & Warnings: PG - talk of hunting
Not even the cold could keep Iseut indoors, if she was able to leave. Everyone else in the estate seemed involved in their own schemes, and it was easy enough to talk to the guards usually assigned to her and sneak out the back with them.
Apollo walked next to her, and looked just as happy to be out in the winter as she was. It was amazing how fast puppies grew into dogs; he was full grown, or nearly, now, and was quickly losing the typical awkwardness of too long limbs and inability to handle them of a puppy. If he didn't have his perpetual limp, he would have been the pride of the kennels.
That was fine. He could be her pride, instead. Iseut breathed in the air and concentrated on the way it felt and how effective it was at clearing her mind.
Winter had a way of making many things seem clearer than they normally were, she reflected.
Indraneel had no reason to stay indoors. The cold didn't really bother him, and the snow was fun. In fact, he only really stayed inside when Rhys was home. Otherwise, he wandered the streets finding things to do. Like scamper through the trees, rustling branches and knocking the dusting of snow down to the streets (and people) below, which was what he was doing that day.
As he leapt from one tree to another (sure, he could have flown, but scampering and leaping was fun, too!), he spotted the girl and her dog. And almost crashed into the branch he'd been aiming for as he tried to veer off to observe, his dragony paws slipping along the snow, the cat-sized dragon tumbling to the ground below with a muffled, "Oof."
He was almost instantly up again, scrambling to his feet and peering towards the dog, recalling that not all of those beasts cared much for dragons. While he wasn't worried about getting hurt, it wouldn't do to upset the animal in a tussle.
Iseut just barely kept from screaming as the, the small reptile-like thing fell on the ground in front of her. It was fortunate that Apollo's barking mostly kept that her little secret, but otherwise the barking wouldn't do much more than bring her guards' attention back to her and disrupt the neighborhood, because Apollo was not brave enough to take anything more than a pillow.
He was rather vicious to her pillows, truth be told.
"Apollo, quiet!" she said, pulling back on his leash. One of her guards jogged over from what he had been looking at, and she glanced back at him. "It's. A reptile of some sort." She looked back at the reptile, then to her guard again. "It does not look very dangerous. It sort of fell out of nowhere."
A reptile!? Surely one could recognize a dragon when they saw one! Gosh!
When he realized the dog wasn't about to charge at him, Indraneel focused on shaking traces of snow form his scales, giving his wings a bit of a flutter to rid them of the dampness. "I am a dragon, not a reptile," he corrected, perching back on his haunches with a rather regal posture. His accent was obviously not anywhere local, and if anyone could recognize it as hailing from India it would be pretty obvious he hadn't been in Balfour long.
His gaze flitted from the girl to her guard. It wasn't often you met someone with a dog as well as her own warriors to watch over her. Was she a princess? "But where are my manners?" He gave the girl a bow, as awkward as it was for his dragon form. "Namaste. I am Indraneel."
Even in Tyrol, dragons were not common.
An Other. Iseut knew her guard tensed up at when the small dragon spoke, but he still seemed fairly harmless. He also had manners, which was something that could not be said for many humans.
"Hello. I'm Iseut Aronine." She nodded in response to the bow; if it had been a person, she would have curtsied, but she was never taught how to curtsy to reptiles dragons.
"Iseut." Aronine sounded vaguely familiar, though he wasn't sure why. "It is nice to meet you!" He paid little mind to the guard. It wasn't like he was about to jump this girl or anything, and he was a citizen now so there wasn't anything her guard could do otherwise. And, of course, if the man did despite that, Indraneel could just fly away.
The dragon's gaze fell to the dog, his head tilted curiously. "What is his name?" he inquired. Humans so loved to name their pets, he knew.
"He is Apollo." Iseut patted him lightly on the head. If it had been a human in front of him, she had no doubt Apollo would already be rolling on the ground and waiting to be pet. For this little dragon, Apollo seemed more confused on what to do and, for now, preferred to remain attached to her side. "It is nice to meet you too. Did it hurt when you fell?"
Indraneel gave the dog a bow. "Namaste, Apollo." For all he knew the dog was intelligent so he might as well treat it as such!
He looked up at Iseut, shaking his little head. "It only hurts if I fall from way high up in the sky." He paused. "I do not do that often." Thankfully, he wasn't that clumsy. Just the occasional tumble from the rafters or trees. "Sometimes when there is a storm I go to fly in it and the lightning can make me fall." Storm-dodging had been a favourite game of his back with his family.
Iseut blinked. This little thing flew in thunderstorms? "That sounds dangerous," she replied. "Why would you fly then?" What a peculiar little creature! She glanced over at her guard, who seemed less on the edge than he did before. She was tempted to hand him Apollo's leash so that it would give him a moment to calm down and stop shaking ...
And then she remembered what happened the last time she was on the streets alone. She mentally apologized to Apollo, but he would have to stay with her for right now no matter how he shook.
"It is not so dangerous!" He was very good at dodging! Most of the time. "It would be if I had a rider, though. I do not fly in storms then." Indraneel gave a toothy grin. "I fly in them because it is fun! Even when I am struck, my armour protects me when I fall. Though mostly I can stop myself from hitting the ground." Mostly. There was that one time... The elder he'd landed on hadn't appreciated it. At least the trees didn't complain when they broke his fall.
"Are there things you do for fun?" he asked, glancing to the dog. He paused, then. "Is Apollo all right?" Dogs weren't supposed to shake like that, were they?
"He is fine. It's his first winter." Iseut patted Apollo lightly on the head, and he hid his face in her skirts and whined. Perhaps it really was the cold more than the strange little Other in front of her. "If you say so." She thought on his question for a moment, then replied, "Riding and hunting, when I can. It is not as easy here as it was when we were out of the city."
He assumed she meant horses and not dragons, since none of the other humans (nor even non-humans) he'd met had gone dragon riding, and lots of people seemed to enjoy riding horses. He cocked his head to the side. "Hunting is fun?" While Indraneel hunted for food, he did find it entertaining to chase smaller critters around, but he didn't hunt them. Except for his friends, anyway. Rhys seemed to enjoy the rabbits he caught! "What do you hunt?" If she hunted something other than rabbits, maybe Rhys would like those, too!
"Yes." Iseut thought so, at least, and most of her family did. She couldn't think of many people who didn't enjoy it beyond her step-mother. "It depends. When I am with my falcon, it is small game like rabbits. When we go on horseback, it is normally deer." She thought about it, looking off to the side before focusing on the small dragon. "My father and brothers have hunted boar before, but have not allowed me to go with them."
"Is boar tasty?" Indraneel asked curiously. He hadn't tried boar. "I mostly hunt deer. Unless I am hunting for my friends, then rabbits, because they are easier to bring home." And Rhys was a small kid. He doubted a whole deer wouldn't go to waste before Rhys could finish it. Though that gave him the idea of bringing part of a deer back, instead... ...How big did boar get? "Why do they not let you go?"
"It is. It is also very dangerous to hunt boar, much more than hunting stag or small game." The idea of the danger of it didn't bother Iseut overmuch. It was a risk that one accepted when they were involved in the hunt, and it wasn't like she was ever really a major part of the hunt. It was a risk that bothered her family, and thus she had to agree to their wishes on it.
Which was one of the reasons she highly preferred falconry, where she played a more active role.
Huh, maybe he wouldn't hunt boar. Surely the thing couldn't hurt him, but he still didn't really like fighting, preferring the quick kill to a struggle, and it sounded like the things would fight him. Otherwise it wouldn't be dangerous.
"How do you hunt with a falcon?" He'd seen mention of falconing and heard people discuss it, but had never seen it done. They probably couldn't hunt in the city. Maybe he should leave more often... then he might see!
"We go to where a falcon would normally hunt and find the prey. Once we've found one, we release our falcons and they will attack the prey and bring it back. It takes many years to specially train one." Not like a dog, Iseut thought fondly. Apollo was shaking less now, but was still all but attached to her skirts. "Some larger breeds can successfully attack deer, but most are small game, like other birds, hares, and the like."
Birds! People did eat some birds, didn't they? "What kind of birds? I know people eat chickens, but those are raised, not hunted, yes?" Wait, did she say falcons could hunt deer? ...how big were these falcons? Now he really wanted to see. "Can yours hunt deer?"
"No, mine is small. They are eagles in other countries that are able to hunt deer, or wolves." Iseut thought about it again, watching her breath come out in steady puffs of white in front of her. "Ducks, when they are around. Grouse, pheasant, partridge. Chicken are not considering something that one would hunt, no."
Indraneel pondered. He'd have to ask Rhys if he liked any of those, then see if he could find them. Wait. "Wolves?" He gave Iseut a dragonish incredulous look. "People eat wolves?"
Iseut shook her head. "Not often. Wolf-hunting is for the pelts, not for the meat. It isn't very common around here." Though, with all the rumors and attacks based around werewolves ... she shivered. Keeping the wolves under control may be a part of that.
"Oh." That made more sense. Humans used fur for blankets and such, though he'd never really thought about where they'd gotten it. "Do people use rabbit pelts, too? Or deer?" If the hides of his meals were useful, maybe he could learn how to skin them...
"Yes." Iseut fumbled a bit, but was able to pull her hand out of one of her gloves to his him the inside of it. "Rabbit fur. It keeps my hands warmer than if it was just leather or cloth."
Indraneel inched closer to peer at the glove, casting a wary glance towards the guard. He made sure to keep to the far side of Iseut from her dog, just in case his presence was a bother. "Is it comfortable?" he inquired. "I do not find most clothing very comfortable."
Iseut nodded and put the glove back on her hand. "It is very comfortable." She tilted her head at him. "Scales would be very different from skin or fur." There was less of him to cover, and as far as she could see no modesty issues at stake. If the cold did not effect him...
Indraneel blinked up at her, then looked down at himself. "Oh! I can be human shaped," he explained. "I do not like to be, but before when the duchess was still here, I did so to hide what I was so that my friends would be safe." The dragon gave Iseut a smug smile. "I do not have to hide anymore. Which is good because most clothing itches." That was one reason, anyway.
"Oh." That changed things. It also, as it turned out, made her guard more uncomfortable with this entire situation than he had been before. He tugged lightly at her sleeve and murmured that they would be expected home shortly for dinner and that it was probably time to wrap up this conversation.
Iseut wanted to protest, but she knew her guards. They were fairly lenient with her, which she was convinced was because they were either to be assigned to her and have long walks outdoors in the forests instead of being made to carry the bags of her stepmother's shopping trips, and she knew to take their words at face value.
"It seems I am expected elsewhere. Have a lovely day."
Aww, so soon? He gave her a crestfallen look, but brightened quickly, not wanting to offend. It seemed many people were often in some rush to get somewhere or other. "It was nice to meet you!" Indraneel smiled, and offered the lady another bow. "Namaste!" Well, he could always go searching for falcons... or grouse or some other bird for Rhys. He gave the guard a bow, as well, then waved a tiny paw to Apollo. "You will be warm soon!"
Iseut nodded to the little dragon, then trailed after her guard as he walked purposely back to their estate and away from weird reptiles that talked.
[And then Indraneel went to stalk falconers]
When: November 20th
Where: Outside in Tyrol somewheres
Ratings & Warnings: PG - talk of hunting
Not even the cold could keep Iseut indoors, if she was able to leave. Everyone else in the estate seemed involved in their own schemes, and it was easy enough to talk to the guards usually assigned to her and sneak out the back with them.
Apollo walked next to her, and looked just as happy to be out in the winter as she was. It was amazing how fast puppies grew into dogs; he was full grown, or nearly, now, and was quickly losing the typical awkwardness of too long limbs and inability to handle them of a puppy. If he didn't have his perpetual limp, he would have been the pride of the kennels.
That was fine. He could be her pride, instead. Iseut breathed in the air and concentrated on the way it felt and how effective it was at clearing her mind.
Winter had a way of making many things seem clearer than they normally were, she reflected.
Indraneel had no reason to stay indoors. The cold didn't really bother him, and the snow was fun. In fact, he only really stayed inside when Rhys was home. Otherwise, he wandered the streets finding things to do. Like scamper through the trees, rustling branches and knocking the dusting of snow down to the streets (and people) below, which was what he was doing that day.
As he leapt from one tree to another (sure, he could have flown, but scampering and leaping was fun, too!), he spotted the girl and her dog. And almost crashed into the branch he'd been aiming for as he tried to veer off to observe, his dragony paws slipping along the snow, the cat-sized dragon tumbling to the ground below with a muffled, "Oof."
He was almost instantly up again, scrambling to his feet and peering towards the dog, recalling that not all of those beasts cared much for dragons. While he wasn't worried about getting hurt, it wouldn't do to upset the animal in a tussle.
Iseut just barely kept from screaming as the, the small reptile-like thing fell on the ground in front of her. It was fortunate that Apollo's barking mostly kept that her little secret, but otherwise the barking wouldn't do much more than bring her guards' attention back to her and disrupt the neighborhood, because Apollo was not brave enough to take anything more than a pillow.
He was rather vicious to her pillows, truth be told.
"Apollo, quiet!" she said, pulling back on his leash. One of her guards jogged over from what he had been looking at, and she glanced back at him. "It's. A reptile of some sort." She looked back at the reptile, then to her guard again. "It does not look very dangerous. It sort of fell out of nowhere."
A reptile!? Surely one could recognize a dragon when they saw one! Gosh!
When he realized the dog wasn't about to charge at him, Indraneel focused on shaking traces of snow form his scales, giving his wings a bit of a flutter to rid them of the dampness. "I am a dragon, not a reptile," he corrected, perching back on his haunches with a rather regal posture. His accent was obviously not anywhere local, and if anyone could recognize it as hailing from India it would be pretty obvious he hadn't been in Balfour long.
His gaze flitted from the girl to her guard. It wasn't often you met someone with a dog as well as her own warriors to watch over her. Was she a princess? "But where are my manners?" He gave the girl a bow, as awkward as it was for his dragon form. "Namaste. I am Indraneel."
Even in Tyrol, dragons were not common.
An Other. Iseut knew her guard tensed up at when the small dragon spoke, but he still seemed fairly harmless. He also had manners, which was something that could not be said for many humans.
"Hello. I'm Iseut Aronine." She nodded in response to the bow; if it had been a person, she would have curtsied, but she was never taught how to curtsy to reptiles dragons.
"Iseut." Aronine sounded vaguely familiar, though he wasn't sure why. "It is nice to meet you!" He paid little mind to the guard. It wasn't like he was about to jump this girl or anything, and he was a citizen now so there wasn't anything her guard could do otherwise. And, of course, if the man did despite that, Indraneel could just fly away.
The dragon's gaze fell to the dog, his head tilted curiously. "What is his name?" he inquired. Humans so loved to name their pets, he knew.
"He is Apollo." Iseut patted him lightly on the head. If it had been a human in front of him, she had no doubt Apollo would already be rolling on the ground and waiting to be pet. For this little dragon, Apollo seemed more confused on what to do and, for now, preferred to remain attached to her side. "It is nice to meet you too. Did it hurt when you fell?"
Indraneel gave the dog a bow. "Namaste, Apollo." For all he knew the dog was intelligent so he might as well treat it as such!
He looked up at Iseut, shaking his little head. "It only hurts if I fall from way high up in the sky." He paused. "I do not do that often." Thankfully, he wasn't that clumsy. Just the occasional tumble from the rafters or trees. "Sometimes when there is a storm I go to fly in it and the lightning can make me fall." Storm-dodging had been a favourite game of his back with his family.
Iseut blinked. This little thing flew in thunderstorms? "That sounds dangerous," she replied. "Why would you fly then?" What a peculiar little creature! She glanced over at her guard, who seemed less on the edge than he did before. She was tempted to hand him Apollo's leash so that it would give him a moment to calm down and stop shaking ...
And then she remembered what happened the last time she was on the streets alone. She mentally apologized to Apollo, but he would have to stay with her for right now no matter how he shook.
"It is not so dangerous!" He was very good at dodging! Most of the time. "It would be if I had a rider, though. I do not fly in storms then." Indraneel gave a toothy grin. "I fly in them because it is fun! Even when I am struck, my armour protects me when I fall. Though mostly I can stop myself from hitting the ground." Mostly. There was that one time... The elder he'd landed on hadn't appreciated it. At least the trees didn't complain when they broke his fall.
"Are there things you do for fun?" he asked, glancing to the dog. He paused, then. "Is Apollo all right?" Dogs weren't supposed to shake like that, were they?
"He is fine. It's his first winter." Iseut patted Apollo lightly on the head, and he hid his face in her skirts and whined. Perhaps it really was the cold more than the strange little Other in front of her. "If you say so." She thought on his question for a moment, then replied, "Riding and hunting, when I can. It is not as easy here as it was when we were out of the city."
He assumed she meant horses and not dragons, since none of the other humans (nor even non-humans) he'd met had gone dragon riding, and lots of people seemed to enjoy riding horses. He cocked his head to the side. "Hunting is fun?" While Indraneel hunted for food, he did find it entertaining to chase smaller critters around, but he didn't hunt them. Except for his friends, anyway. Rhys seemed to enjoy the rabbits he caught! "What do you hunt?" If she hunted something other than rabbits, maybe Rhys would like those, too!
"Yes." Iseut thought so, at least, and most of her family did. She couldn't think of many people who didn't enjoy it beyond her step-mother. "It depends. When I am with my falcon, it is small game like rabbits. When we go on horseback, it is normally deer." She thought about it, looking off to the side before focusing on the small dragon. "My father and brothers have hunted boar before, but have not allowed me to go with them."
"Is boar tasty?" Indraneel asked curiously. He hadn't tried boar. "I mostly hunt deer. Unless I am hunting for my friends, then rabbits, because they are easier to bring home." And Rhys was a small kid. He doubted a whole deer wouldn't go to waste before Rhys could finish it. Though that gave him the idea of bringing part of a deer back, instead... ...How big did boar get? "Why do they not let you go?"
"It is. It is also very dangerous to hunt boar, much more than hunting stag or small game." The idea of the danger of it didn't bother Iseut overmuch. It was a risk that one accepted when they were involved in the hunt, and it wasn't like she was ever really a major part of the hunt. It was a risk that bothered her family, and thus she had to agree to their wishes on it.
Which was one of the reasons she highly preferred falconry, where she played a more active role.
Huh, maybe he wouldn't hunt boar. Surely the thing couldn't hurt him, but he still didn't really like fighting, preferring the quick kill to a struggle, and it sounded like the things would fight him. Otherwise it wouldn't be dangerous.
"How do you hunt with a falcon?" He'd seen mention of falconing and heard people discuss it, but had never seen it done. They probably couldn't hunt in the city. Maybe he should leave more often... then he might see!
"We go to where a falcon would normally hunt and find the prey. Once we've found one, we release our falcons and they will attack the prey and bring it back. It takes many years to specially train one." Not like a dog, Iseut thought fondly. Apollo was shaking less now, but was still all but attached to her skirts. "Some larger breeds can successfully attack deer, but most are small game, like other birds, hares, and the like."
Birds! People did eat some birds, didn't they? "What kind of birds? I know people eat chickens, but those are raised, not hunted, yes?" Wait, did she say falcons could hunt deer? ...how big were these falcons? Now he really wanted to see. "Can yours hunt deer?"
"No, mine is small. They are eagles in other countries that are able to hunt deer, or wolves." Iseut thought about it again, watching her breath come out in steady puffs of white in front of her. "Ducks, when they are around. Grouse, pheasant, partridge. Chicken are not considering something that one would hunt, no."
Indraneel pondered. He'd have to ask Rhys if he liked any of those, then see if he could find them. Wait. "Wolves?" He gave Iseut a dragonish incredulous look. "People eat wolves?"
Iseut shook her head. "Not often. Wolf-hunting is for the pelts, not for the meat. It isn't very common around here." Though, with all the rumors and attacks based around werewolves ... she shivered. Keeping the wolves under control may be a part of that.
"Oh." That made more sense. Humans used fur for blankets and such, though he'd never really thought about where they'd gotten it. "Do people use rabbit pelts, too? Or deer?" If the hides of his meals were useful, maybe he could learn how to skin them...
"Yes." Iseut fumbled a bit, but was able to pull her hand out of one of her gloves to his him the inside of it. "Rabbit fur. It keeps my hands warmer than if it was just leather or cloth."
Indraneel inched closer to peer at the glove, casting a wary glance towards the guard. He made sure to keep to the far side of Iseut from her dog, just in case his presence was a bother. "Is it comfortable?" he inquired. "I do not find most clothing very comfortable."
Iseut nodded and put the glove back on her hand. "It is very comfortable." She tilted her head at him. "Scales would be very different from skin or fur." There was less of him to cover, and as far as she could see no modesty issues at stake. If the cold did not effect him...
Indraneel blinked up at her, then looked down at himself. "Oh! I can be human shaped," he explained. "I do not like to be, but before when the duchess was still here, I did so to hide what I was so that my friends would be safe." The dragon gave Iseut a smug smile. "I do not have to hide anymore. Which is good because most clothing itches." That was one reason, anyway.
"Oh." That changed things. It also, as it turned out, made her guard more uncomfortable with this entire situation than he had been before. He tugged lightly at her sleeve and murmured that they would be expected home shortly for dinner and that it was probably time to wrap up this conversation.
Iseut wanted to protest, but she knew her guards. They were fairly lenient with her, which she was convinced was because they were either to be assigned to her and have long walks outdoors in the forests instead of being made to carry the bags of her stepmother's shopping trips, and she knew to take their words at face value.
"It seems I am expected elsewhere. Have a lovely day."
Aww, so soon? He gave her a crestfallen look, but brightened quickly, not wanting to offend. It seemed many people were often in some rush to get somewhere or other. "It was nice to meet you!" Indraneel smiled, and offered the lady another bow. "Namaste!" Well, he could always go searching for falcons... or grouse or some other bird for Rhys. He gave the guard a bow, as well, then waved a tiny paw to Apollo. "You will be warm soon!"
Iseut nodded to the little dragon, then trailed after her guard as he walked purposely back to their estate and away from weird reptiles that talked.
[And then Indraneel went to stalk falconers]