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The dragon spoke, not with words, but with thought. The chiming, musical
words whispered into Aria's mind, cascading through her consciousness like a
crystalline waterfall. "Do not be afraid, I'll not harm ye," said the voice within the mind of Aria. This did little to calm her nerves, however, and she clung to Ilyria as if she would fall apart without the other. Nevertheless, as the flaming breath subsided and the dragon continued to speak into her thoughts with its soothing tone, she relaxed, her shivers of terror subsiding. "What brings you here, little one?" the sound of the dragon's voice was markedly feminine, and sounded sweet, like a warm summer night's quiet noises. "Now, don't be afraid, I already told you I won't hurt you." Aria slowly opened one eye, immediately resisting the urge to shut it again as she saw how close the creature was. Gathering her courage, she stepped away from Ilyria, drawing herself up to her full height. "I'm Aria, and th-" her voice broke off suddenly as she realized how loud it seemed in the huge cavern. Where the dragon's soothing thought-speech had been soft, subdued, her voice was monstrous, bouncing off the walls, echoing back ten times over. She lowered her voice to a near whisper, and spoke again, "I'm Aria, and this is my sister Ilyria." Aria then noticed two things, first, that Ilyria was still clutching at Aria's arm with her eyes squeezed shut, and second, how beautiful the dragon was from this close up. Aria had been here twice before, and both times had only seen the bronze dragon from the far side of the cavern. Now, the dragon was no more than ten feet away, and Aria could observe the enormous body in detail. The bronze scales were alight, set to glow by the setting sun outside the cave. The dragon's eyes were a deep, emerald green. They swirled slowly, as if the eyes were filled with dark green clouds, churning slowly, calm for the moment but ready to spring into violent storm at any moment. Again the dragon spoke, soothing the elven girl with almost no effort. "My
name is Melkira." The name was pure music, sweetly echoing throughout Aria's
consciousness as her voice did around the cavern's walls. This moment is
beautiful, thought Aria, looking in wondrous awe at the magnificent Melkira.
It was only then that her thoughts were drawn back to the still-frightened
Ilyria, and Aria wondered why Ilyria was afraid of this beautiful creature.
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