Shian narrowed her eyes at the tiny human that still insisted on nonchalantly writing on the piece of paper in front of him as if her words meant little. His only saving grace for this rude gesture was that he spoke in High Tounge to her. That and the room she was standing in was almost too small for her. She had to crouch a bit and lower her head to not make it obvious that she should probably be in her less intimidating biped form.

"I'm telling you, I am the only gifted living in between Heather and Summit. There have been anchors in the tundra daily for many months and there is a single guard outside of Kirascent!" Aaron finally lifted his head to look up at her.

"So why tell me, Mighty Dragon? If there is a problem, let the fiends handle it. Why are you here in Tazoon and not bothering them? Or your own council?"

Truthfully, she had asked them first. The dragon council insisted that the matter was not theirs and berated her for bringing such a 'trivial' matter to their attention. The relationship between dragon and fiend simply extended to the fact that dragons would not eat them. Not come to their aid if they needed apparently. The Lunus were too set on remaining in Dralk no matter of world matters. Shian did not want to elaborate on this however.

"Both have not the means or the manpower, now I ask the Empire." The man had a strange look on his face at her answer, one of puzzlement. Or disbelief.

"You ask a *Captain* of the Tazoon Guard who has his own patrols to run. on the affairs of the Empire?" Shian hissed.

"I could not find Trueheart. Is he not your Governor and a council member of the Empire? He seems to find odd times to be away, leaving Tazoon's safety -and the heart of the Empire- to you. Therefore, you are the one I bring this matter to." The human frowned at her.

"I'm sorry Mighty Dragon, but we are pressed as thin as we can go. I've already sent the meager 'extras' I had from my own patrols to Delgarath who is hurting a lot more. We have no one else. If you have any friends, perhaps they can help you patrol. It wouldn't hurt you to set up your own patrols instead of asking for Emipre help." Aaron Legendweaver sighed and leaned back in his chair, regarding Shian a bit more warmly, "If it's of any consolation though, Saenethra has sent word of your victories. Kirascent is thankful for your duty."

Duty? It wouldn't have to be if you would wake up and see! Why would you *not* send someone to help fight if the Aegis agents were here? Have been here for months. Had this issue been helped, maybe she would not have had to send her own children away... Now was not the time for sorrow and self pity. So she called up rage to replace this emotion, lest the naka catch on that the Lunus standing in front of him was feeling 'weak' feelings. Shian rumbled a growl, unimpressed with the half-hearted attempt to console her.

"Last week, the resources were blighted. It took a team of five to find all the stray blights. That was only two anchors. What if all three show up at the same time and take the land or Kirascent itself? I know of only one gifted there."

"The fiends will fight, just as everyone else has when the Aegis are at their door." Shian grinned wickedly.

"Like Feladan?" The human glared fiercely at her at this statement. At least she had finally found a soft spot to poke at. Now I have your full attention don't I? How many of these refugees did you have to put up with in your city I wonder?

"They fought bravely," Shian mocked, "But in the end, thier city was taken and overrun because of sheer number and force."

Aaron jumped out of his seat, pushing it back enough that it hit the wall and fell over with a loud noise and knocking a few books off the bookcase.

"Get out of my office!" He snarled, "I've already told you, we cannot issue you anything. Now if you don't mind, I need to file death reports on most of the couriers I've sent to Delgarath. That, dragon is my priority!"

As you wish, Shian thought at him evilly and snorted light, hot air out of her nostrils, easily blowing the stacks of papers on his desk everywhere and backed up to get out of the tiny, cramped building. She smiled to herself as she had probably just done more damage to him than outright killing him. Gifted healing was quick and relatively easy. Reorganizing hours of paperwork, not so much.

She glided to the portal in the warm air, happy to be outside again. It did little to brighten her mood though.

As a hatchling, she wanted nothing more than to grow up and fight the war. Nothing would have made her happier than to fight the hoards of Aegis back alone from a guard point much as she was doing now. Oh how far she had come.

The portal energies released her in the cool, windy air of the snowy mountain. It was good to be home.

With a flap of her wings, she was airborne once again and going along her patrol route, stopping to give Pahkis a tiny bundle containing food her guild leader had given her. Perhaps the fiend would appreciate it more than she would.

The eagerness to fight was before she wanted children though. Before she wanted nothing more than to help them through their training or ROP when they were old enough, much as her own A'mea had done.

Now she was forced to plop her remaining hatchlings off at a pad and have them grow up on their own because there was no one else standing in between the Aegis and Kirascent. She would do anything for her children.

It wasn't too terribly horrible, all things considered. There were pleanty of dragons that had to grow up on their own without help and no doubt Nidhogg would help them sometimes. That didn't make it any easier to admit that her love for Istaria and sense of duty as a gifted won over her desire to be a proper mother.

There was no way she would abandon her home. Not with what was at stake. She then noticed a small, blue figure running along the path below her. She spiraled into a quick decent, a pretty good idea of who it was. He should not be out here.

She landed in front of him on the path. What in the world would he want her for?

"Greetings, Shian. I have been looking for you."

"What do you want, biped?" C`gan laughed.

"Are you going Saphire on me now, Shian?" Shian relaxed, sorry at snapping at him. He certainly didn't deserve this misplaced ire.

"Sorry, I'm in a bit of a foul mood." Shian ended up recounting her issue with the rude biped at Tazoon. C`gan smiled.

"Good luck, I've been trying to present a number of issues to Empire. Like the fault line running half the continent. It's like talking to a brick wall." Shian smiled feeling strangely better that this was seemingly normal behavior for the Imperial Officials.

"Well, you're the only other skilled lairshaper I could find at this hour. We're digging out the Delgarath mine and could use your help. Tagath's not good at high level lairshaping yet." Shian bristled a bit. She didn't approve of the dragon's choice to pair up with this biped. It was dishonorable. C`gan however, she had admired after seeing him take care of the grumpy Saphire when she had a broken wing.

"Delgarath?" She had heard of that place before, but where? "Oh!"

That's right. The small area that's having issue with the creatures coming up from below. Shian put her nose next to the small human and let him lay his hand on her nose. The word 'pact' ran through her mind as the human was known for leading large projects such as this.

"I will join you, C`gan. I look forward to digging and ripping those sorry creatures right out of the ground with the fury of the Lunus and lay waste to them all. Then maybe, I can get them to listen."

Shian lifted her head and looked back to the south momentarily where no doubt, there was an anchor waiting. "Let me finish my rounds first and I will join you in getting that mine dug out."