"How do I, In any sense of the word, resemble an eel? That would be akin to stating that you are nothing more than an ambulatory house that someone drunkenly slapped purple paint onto."

Amy continues to like her rock very much. However… that somewhat bigger rock somewhat farther away does also look like a very nice rock…

"What, have you never seen one? Mostly the same shape and color, I suppose you're a little spikier."

He stares at Marta for a few moments, jaw clenching, before drawing himself up. "In the interest of not escalating this into a fight in a place we are both strangers to, I am going to forget you said that. Besides which, we seem to be frightening our host/guide. How about we keep things civil for the moment hmm?"

Amy, meanwhile, turns around from her further rock examinations to find her own rock occupied. Corin, Head Shepherd, nods at her, tapping his ancient shearing knife against his hand restlessly.

"Think we can take 'em?"

“They’re dragons… did you see what they did to the demon lord? Besides, I think I can get them to go away without loss of life. Tell everyone to keep hiding, don’t attack them unless they get violent.” 

"You sure? I bet I could get the rams to rush 'em. If we trample the skinny one, the others might run away. And just think, we'd have dragon bones. Think of the knife I could make! Sorry, Lanolin, but you'll need an heir someday." He pats the knife.

“We already saw the little one dismantle a sheep without any trouble at all, l can’t imagine even the little one would be trample-able. Also, they can just…. Fly away from the sheep if they feel threatened. I think trying to trample them will only get all the sheep killed and possibly also the rest of the village.” 

"Rams is quick, I wouldn't bet against 'em! What's your plan?"

“My plan…” how to make it not sound like Amariah is bailing on this town… “is to get them to take me to a nearby city. I figure people there will know how to deal with them, and maybe I get to learn some cultivation there. I figure that would be useful here.” 

"That doesn't sound safer to me, kid! There's scarier things than... well, there's things less scary than dragons that're still dangerous if you're distracted by dragons."

"And you think you could take a dragon do you?" Kirveneren sneers from above them. She takes great joy from the looks of surprise and horror each human has on their face. "True, you might be able to rush the little one but I doubt you would be able to hold even him off for long." She stretches languidly. 

"Let's see. What to do with you. You seem to really like that knife," she directs at Corin, gazing at it with mild disinterest. "Perhaps you should slit your own throat with it." She forces her presence onto his mind none too gently, though softly enough as to not break it immediately, and orders him to do it. Her lips curl in malicious satisfaction as his shaking hand raises and tears fill his eyes just before he plunges the knife deep into his throat and pulls, nearly beheading himself with the enthusiasm of the motion. 

"And you," she glances dismissively at Amariah. "I am generous. You were not swayed. I will allow you to live. But bear this in mind as a lesson. Those who displease me do not receive favorable endings."

“Eek?”

Tore rushes over, but it's too late, the shepherd is gone. Turning to Kireneren he snarls, bypassing the small metal attendant that had been relaying his words with a mental shout mostly directed at the larger dragon that echoes in Amariah's mind. "Have you no sense of caution or honor!? The man was an idiot but no threat. There was no need to dispatch him like that. And did you forget that we're all potentially stuck in a strange land that, might I remind you, we have practically zero knowledge of!?"

"Of course he wasn't a threat," Kirveneren scoffs. "He was a lesson for anyone else who has equally annoying thoughts. He was a precedent and apparently a necessary one. His dishonorable scheming led him to a similarly dishonorable death. It was no less than he deserved."

"And if he had actually followed through with his ill planned assault then I would likely agree with you. There was every possibility that he would have come to his senses or that Amariah here would have talked some sense into him. You cannot condemn someone for the thoughts they have, only for the actions they take."

"I didn't kill him for his thoughts little one," Kirveneren sneers. "He took actions when he tried to sway others to kill us. I won’t mention that you were the primary target. No doubt someone would've followed him. I hardly think it matters that they would not have succeeded. Now they have been shown that. Now no one will try again. I'll not argue this any longer. I do not need to justify myself to you." 

"Very well, what's done is done at any rate. Though I would request a more proportionate response next time you feel the need to defend us."

He was… well… ok, not a friend perhaps, but… a mentor? A protector? And now he’s dead. Amy wasn’t exactly planning to come back, and he could certainly be a bit obstinate, but… now he’s dead. Amy didn’t want him to be dead. But he is. The dragon killed him so easily, and he was a rank three. Amy is only a rank two… how much easier could the dragon kill her, if it wanted? And that’s the problem… anything could kill her. Amy is so unbearably vulnerable. Corin had a husband, and an adopted daughter… what will they do now? By the tree, Corin was the only reason this village has survived this long; what will the village do now? Which means… Amy needs to get out of here. Terrifying though the dragons may be, getting them to take her to town might be Amy’s only shot at survival. 

Marta flies over placing herself between Amariah and the other dragons.

"I do not think either of you understands the meaning of the word. The next to harm a human who is not actively attacking will answer to me."

"I register some confusion as to why people are being stabbed right now, but we have agreement on an intended direction, I suggest we proceed with it. This place isn't a planet, there's a bubble around it. Do we require a ship?"

Ok, now is not the time for hyperventilating. A dragon asked her a question. A dragon she needs to survive. Literally. Deep breaths…

”A… ship? Um? I guess some worlds would have water at their borders, but I would expect you could… fly? If you needed to? Unless, you can’t fly for long and it’s a big world? Then I guess maybe you would need a ship? Or a boat at least. Um. This one is a small world without any sizable bodies of water?” 

He looks over at Verdigris, noting her apparent confusion at Amariah's response before a thought occurs to him and he gazes up at the golden tree dominating the sky. "I do not know how your world works Verdigris, but in mine, there is... a legend, you might say, that the universe, or at least the known portion of it, is held in the boughs and roots of a great ash tree known as Yggdrasil. In these legends, there are different methods that the gods and other beings of power use to travel between the various lands and worlds, including walking onto the limbs of Yggdrasil itself. I wonder," he says, turning his head around and looking at where the surrounding cliffs meet the sky. "if a similar method of travel exists here."

Why does Amariah feel so… sticky? Is that… blood? Oh. This is in fact Corin blood. Lots of it. All over her. Ah?

”Hmm? Sorry? What was that?”

…don’t eat me…

…huh. The blood is… warm? This is really supremely gross.  

"Would you like medical attention to..." She does not look like she knows what a calcium channel blocker is. Though her organs do look human. Flat, even, not transhuman. "temporarily reduce fear? ...Or running water?"