Stay, she had commanded.

Hero huffed a cloud of green smoke from his nostrils, but grudgingly remained on his perch. He scratched his neck with a claw, took a two second nap, then began plucking a nearby flower apart. It lost its allure when it became devoid of petals. He flopped on the branch and huffed again. The little dragon was hopelessly bored.

He understood that she needed alone time, she had to like bathe or something—he couldn't remember exactly—but any reason to leave him alone was not a good enough reason for him. It would be different if it were lunchtime and he were hungry enough to hunt, but it wasn't and—OHOMYGOSH HORSES????? WAIT NO??? NOT HORSE???? ??????? FISH????? BUT LIKE HORSE???????

The little dragons mind faltered as he tried to comprehend the sight before him. It was a stallion he had never seen before and a mare—fish? Fish-horse? He didn't know—it looked kind of pointy and scary, but didn't act threatening. He sent visions of his sight urgently through the bond, causing an annoyed rebuttal from Agnodice. She quickly changed her mind, however, when she saw the fish-horse.

She wasted no time.

It only took seconds for the doctor to arrive, flustered and eager to see the unfamiliar specimen. Hero joined her happily, flying from his branch to her withers and pointing her in the direction of the fish-horse and stallion. The duchess and her dragon approached with all the grace they could muster, which wasn't much when their curiosity was piqued. They moved hastily, just in time to hear the foreign, throaty growl of the fish-mare.

"Not all of us are warriors. However, we have no shortage of the type," Agnodice noted, arriving in a flurry of flowers and petals that had fallen from her hair. She offered a dip of her head to the dark stallion, an unfamiliar man, though he smelled of the Falls.

"I'm Agnodice, a Caretaker of the Falls," She offered, her gaze trailing to the fish-mare, watching the water around her turn blue. She looked away only when her companion tugged forcefully at a chunk of her mane and appeared on her poll, pushing her curvaceous ears out of the way to trill at the strangers. "This is Hero, my companion," Agnodice stated reluctantly before turning her attention back to the mare and the blue stained waters around her. Her scaled body looked wounded through the water, and the blue liquid seemed to seep from her body. Blood? Agnodice bit her lip, weaving her leonine tail anxiously around her hocks. If it was blood, could she even be any help? Could her flowers heal other species? Well, she was interested in finding out, at least.

"Is that—is that your blood?" She asked softly, her features turning from their normal, stoic apathy to genuine concern as more of the wispy blood liquid mingled with the water. "Can I help you?" She asked after a moment, stepping closer to the mare and praying she was a friendly creature.

agnodice & herophilos