Crystal Time

It was a normal thing, finding Eden wandering around where he shouldn’t be, which was basically anywhere that wasn’t his home in the eyes of his dragon, Azazel. Eden was sick majority of the time so it was Azazel and Eden’s other dragon’s responsibility to make sure he stays safe, even if they can’t force him to stay inside and in bed. So here Azazel found himself with his rider, somewhere in the middle of the mountains, in the middle of nowhere Azazel knew, doing whatever the hell it was his rider was doing. “What are you doing…?” Azazel’s smooth voice cut through the many noises of the mountains and Eden turned to him. “What does it look like I’m doing?” Eden’s tone was snarky and almost irritated as if what he was doing should have been obvious, even if it wasn’t really. The bipedal dragon tilted his head as he watched his rider digging around in a specific spot before nudging the vernid out of the way so he could dig instead. Eden let out a disgruntled noise but didn’t stop his dragon from taking his place and it wasn’t long before Azazel stopped, his clawed hand clutched around something and he lifted it. “Is this what you were looking for?” It was a crystal, not very big but not tiny either, Eden snatched it up and studied it before wiping the dirt from it with the thin cloak he wore. “Yeah.”

It was nice to finally know what exactly Eden was doing, he was digging for crystals. This explained the hour they had been up here with Eden shovel hole after hole. The dark dragon watched as his rider put the crystal in the pouch he had brought before he paused for a second, hands out as if to balance himself even though nothing was shaking and he was on nothing that would cause him to lose balance. Instantly Azazel was by his side, allowing his rider to rebalance himself by leaning on the dragon. “You shouldn’t be up here…” Eden huffed as the world stopped spinning. “I’m fine. Let’s go.” The pink vernid pushed himself off his dragon's support and continued to walk and Azazel trailed cautiously behind him.

It was clear Azazel didn’t approve of Eden being out, let alone so high in the mountains. In all honesty however there wasn’t really much he could do, even if he wanted to do something. Yes, he wanted his rider to be out of the mountains and safe at home but he wasn’t going to force the frail vernid to go back. “Abaddon isn’t going to be too happy when she finds out where you’ve been…” The biped dragon’s tone was almost monotone, not a threat, just a sentence, a fact. “Yeah, well, Abaddon doesn’t have to know where I’ve been.” Eden’s words were a hiss, growing very irritated, very quickly at his dragon but he kept moving. Azazel however, didn’t seem fazed. “She always knows where you’ve been.” And he would receive the brunt of the choice words Abaddon would angrily hiss but he left that part out. Azazel stopped to stretch his wings before refolding them and quickly catching up to his rider. “I need to find more of these crystals.” Ignoring his dragon’s second sort of warning he changed the subject back to what he was up here for in the first place. “Right…” Azazel had no idea where to find any sort of crystal in the dirt, in the mountains, so he followed his rider dutifully waiting for his body to give out once again. Azazel turned his attention away from his rider, the fluffy mane-like thing around his neck seeming to bristle in anticipation. Eden’s ears flicked back, sensing his dragon's unease and listening intently for what might have grabbed his attention.

The ground was red here, hard dirt caked over the landscape in a strange shape. There was grass here and there, a tree or two perhaps but not much else. The two newcomers hadn’t noticed the other dragon and his rider and seemed perhaps just as startled as Eden and Azazel. Zuri tilted her head slightly at Eden when the rider’s ears immediately pinned to his head, a not so friendly sign she deduced. “State your business.” Azazel’s usual monotone voice held a sharper edge now, he needed to know whether these dragons were friend or foe and then he had to decide how he was going to get his sickly rider back home if these two dragons did indeed turn out to be foe. He was big enough to support his rider's weight but not big enough to ride if push came to shove. While he was paying attention to both dragons Zuri took note that most of his focus was on Suzaku, which was fair in a way, Suzaku could appear more threatening than himself but neither dragon wished the other harm. “We were sent to find crystals.” He gestured to a crystal that was still in Eden’s hand. “Like those.”  Eden pulled the crystal further away from the newcomers. “We’re not here to take them from you…” It was Suzaku that spoke this time and Azazel’s attention snapped fully onto her. “Best not.” His tone had returned to its normal monotone, not sensing a threat from these dragons any longer. “Zuri’s pretty good at digging. If you show him where to dig, he can get it done quickly and we can split the crystal.” Zuri smiled encouragingly, agreeing happily to Suzaku’s offer.

Eden still eyed the dragons with suspicion but he moved away from the tiny hole they had been digging out, he nearly stumbled again, over nothing and again Azazel was there to catch him. If Zuri or Suzaku had seen it, they had chosen to remain silent. Zuri moved forward, closer to the hole and as if the dirt was listening to her, it began to move without Zuri actually making digging motions. Eden watched, trying his hardest not to show any reaction, good or bad to how easy the bi-pedal dragon was making it look. However, his face betrayed him and when Suzaku glanced at him, she tilted her head at his look of what could easily have been irritation. She snorted quietly in amusement. Eden himself didn’t have any earth dragons but maybe he should take some time to invest in getting one. Azazel, Eded and Suzaku continued to watch as Zuri worked, tunneling deeper and deeper, the dirt lifting out of the hole and piling itself neatly on either side of Zuri. Eden’s eyes seemed to light up as more and more crystals began to show themselves. They would for sure get home before Abaddon realized they were up here in the mountains, without her protection. When Zuri had deemed enough crystals had been uncovered she stepped back away from the hole. “Go ahead, grab what you need.” Suzaku was the first to speak and she smiled a little when Eden eyed her with clear suspicion. “You found the vein first. We just helped you uncover it a bit.”

Azazel urged his rider forward carefully and helped him fill the kind of small bag, slung over the rider’s shoulder. Even with the bag full to the brim there was still plenty of crystals left for the two strange dragons to have more than enough to take home themselves. Eden glanced back at Zuri and Suzaku one more time for turning and heading down the mountain. Azazel gave them each a polite nod, a quiet thank you before he followed his rider, quickly catching up to him as he wobbled, just a little. Zuri and Suzaku took the time to grab as much crystal as they could before they too were heading back down the mountain and then home.