"Seriss has decided his time has come. We are here to see him off."

"Oh. 'Decided'?" She tilts her head, curiously.

"Though dragons do not age and die as mortals, we may, if we choose, return ourselves to the earth."

"Oh." She considers this. It doesn't really make sense for someone to choose to do that, but she is very young and doesn't know very much about the world yet, so she's maybe missing something. "But it's fine if I never do that?"

"Of course, sweetheart."

Dahlia pets her shoulderwhelp.

"Okay!" She snuggles Dahlia. "Then I'll wish Seriss a good goodbye. I'm glad I'll get to meet him before he's gone."

Alexstrasza and Dahlia move inside the tree, where there is a homey little nook of living arrangements. Dahlia offers Alexstrasza a cup of tea, which she accepts. Ranaestrasza can try a little bowl too, if she wants.

Oooooo. New thing! Yes she does want! She will even try to have something resembling table manners, she is aware that whelps are considered impulsive and somewhat impolite (if adorable), and she wants to be the best whelp ever. Which means trying to be polite! Even when it's hard and kind of silly!

The bowl she is given is rather sturdy, so breaking it shouldn't be a concern. She should probably not try to drink from the shoulder, though.

Oh. Yes. That would be bad. And probably also messy. Dahlia gets a little goodbye snuggle, then she flaps off to land neatly next to her mother at the table (sitting on it instead of sitting at it) and carefully begins sipping tea from the bowl. She is actually very polite. ... For a whelp, anyway.

Truly, she is the epitome of etiquette. The tea itself is hot, and certainly has a flavor. Definitely not plain water, this tea.

Eh. It's okay? She doesn't love it, she doesn't hate it. It's fun to sit at the table and drink it politely, though, so she keeps doing that even though she's ambivalent about the tea itself.

Her companions sit at the table and sip their own tea, discussing matters at the Shrine and its upkeep and the state of the world. Dahlia has recently had a letter from a cousin in Suramar; it seems the Grand Magistrix has renewed the fashion for walking in bare feet as the trolls do, eschewing slippers and shoes and prompting a quiet panic among the cobblers.

Neat! She listens with fascination, and asks occasional insightful questions such as 'What is Suramar' (followed by 'What is a city?') and 'What are shoes.'

A city is a place where a lot of mortals live in close proximity to each other, with a lot of buildings. Suramar is one such elf city, noted as one of the centers of magical learning.

Shoes are articles of clothing worn on the feet to protect them from the ground; like other articles of clothing, they also serve a decorative purpose.

Exciting stuff! She thanks Dahlia and her mother for answering her questions politely, and continues showing remarkable tea table manners. This is a Good Trip that is Very Important and she wants to be the best at it so she can persuade Mom to take her on more. She wants to see the whole world if she can!

There's more talking, and eventually, their guests arrive.

Seriss is clearly Very Old. He's not quite as big as Alexstrasza, but he's in her weight class. His wings are tattered along the trailing edges and he has a large scar across the right side of his face, cutting across a milky-white eye. The two dragons on either side of him gently support him as they descend to the ground.

Ranaex is very impressed. She has the urge to pester him with questions immediately, like how he got that scar and how his wings got all tattered, and how old is he really, but she has just enough social awareness to understand that... maybe... she should not do that just yet. In favor of being respectful. Or something. What does being respectful look like? Well, she guesses she'll just try her best and see if that's acceptable. As a starter, she'll let him land without being pestered, and also let Mom talk first, and then, uh. She'll. Figure something out?? Probably? Gosh he's neat though, she is so lucky she got to meet him, at least the once!!!

"Seriss," Alexstrasza says. "It has been some time."

     "Alesxstrasza. It is good to see you once more. How long it has been since we burned the cultists from Ashenvale." He swings his head around to regard the group with his good eye. "And who is this whelpling? Hello there, child."

"Hi!" chirps the little whelpling, flapping up to his nose. "I'm Ranaestrasza! It's nice to meet you! Why were there cultists in Ashenvale? Were they Twilight cultists, or are there multiple bad cults that need to be burned out of places?" She is briefly distracted considering if one cult of baddies would be better or worse than multiple cults of baddies. On one hand, if there's just one, there's just one, but on the other hand, if there are multiple, then maybe they could be turned against one another and the bad guys could take out the bad guys! But then there is not just one, so, hmmm.

"Not Twilights, only simple necromancers. But still a plague upon the world, for that."

"Oooo. Okay. And what do necromancers do that's bad?"

"They pervert the natural order of the world by raising the dead as their slaves. Their magic is mockery of life, and there is no creature more foul."

"... That's rude of them!! Especially if some people want to rest!!" She puffs up, annoyed. "If a necromancer attempts to raise you I will bite them for you," she adds, firmly.

"I thank you for that, young one. I can see the future of the flight is in good hands."