As Amaris waited, she used the time to not only catch her breath physically, but also delve a bit deeper into the bond between her and her little dragon king - just over a month she had been bonded, but as her soul brushed his, she could sense that for him, it seemed longer. He had grown as if he had never left Helovia, both his body and his mind seemed to retain memories and evidence of a much longer time passing since their departure. The dragonmare felt a sadness, followed by a swift pang of fear - what if he continued to mature, and grow old, and die prematurely? A month old their bond may be, it was soulbinding to the point where she could not recall how it felt to not have his presence right there, with her, beside her, within her and surrounding her at all times, -- you worry too much, his sardonic purr rumbled through her cranium, causing one of her ears to fold and twist atop her gilded crown. Helovia my hatch-lands. My soul linked here, but also linked to you. You blood linked to bronze-dragon-father. Dramyrth's sheer confidence that his explanation was the reason for this curiosity helped Amaris some, but she was still enough of her own person to hold some shred of worry and doubt about it all (much to her bonded's silent amusement).

The first to approach her was also on the mainland, much to her surprise. The dragonmare turned her bodice to face the curiously marked dunskin, taking in his tall stature, his age. The markings upon him tugged on memories - had she not met one of Volterra's own son or daughter before she had bonded Dramyrth? Was this another of his skull-marked spawn? Amaris had hope that this was the case, for the youthful steed before her was on the cusp of stallionhood; he was tall and lanky with his youth, with the promise of more muscle and bulk still to come as he grew and embraced the heavy genes his father no doubt bestowed upon him. But how much time has passed? His presence at least confirms that Volterra was still alive within the last two or three years? she voiced the thought to her bonded, but Dramyrth was utterly distracted. He had not had the opportunity to interact with many other companion dragons, and so the young blue who accompanied the approaching steed captured his attention. A warm trill rumbled from his gullet, as he swooped and circled high above, keen to show off his fit, glittering physique. If only I could look as good, the dragonmare thought, though she did not begrudge her bonded his vanity - she simply still had a thick wintry coat upon her pelt in the height of TallSun, so her appearance was no more than shabby and unkempt, with sweat darkened almost every area she had fur, and it wasn't how she would normally present herself, and least of all draw attention to herself on the borders of a herdland.

"Well met Astarot," her soft, musical voice purred with its draconic lilt, "and Zafir," she nodded to the blue as well, who seemed as interested in Dramyrth as Dramyrth was in showing off for her. "I am Amaris, and that is Dramyrth-" as she spoke his name, a jet of heat spouted high above them, followed closely by a stream of frosty snow. Amaris huffed a small sigh, but it was with amusement that her lips pulled into a playful smirk as she admired his antics (she was, after all, half dragon as well, and prone to getting easily distracted by shiny things).

Then a great many things seemed to happen.

A golden streak dashed across the skies, and said streak was not Dramyrth but -"Vadir!" Amaris exclaimed as she recognised the golden queen, but then everything turned to chaos as a battle of golden dominance immediately ensues. Dramyrth trumpeted in outrage as his body was seized by the queen and taken into a rough dive, but he gathered his senses swiftly enough, and made to so entwine his claws, tail and wings with Vadir that one of two things could happen - either they both crash to the ground, or they both relinquish their hold enough that they can each fly away unharmed. Dramyrth remembered Vadir from his hatch-day, and while he would very much like to dominate her, he is not so foolish to believe he would win such a fight right now - so he is seeking to prove himself her equal (after all, it takes two to tango, and he was certainly mature enough to feel those primal urges and meet Vadir's lustiest desires should he prove himself worthy to her). Fall together or fly together, his scattered thoughts trickled from his mind to Amaris', and she tore her gaze away from the clash of the golden ones to look upon the titanic brute who approached.

It was easy to be distracted from her worry (about the dragons fighting somewhere in the background, about the whole time-dilemma she was in, about everything) with him, Volterra, the dragon-obsessed child she had met first in the darkest corners of the Deep Forest, so easy that she surreptitiously summoned a green dragon-soul from the magic of fire and light that dwelled within her to greet him as well. "Volterra," she purred happily, approaching him to bump her nose against his in warm greeting. "And Vérzés," she crooned, adopting a thicker draconic lilt to pronounce his name in the tongue her draconic ancestry would use. The green soul light fluttered around, greeting them all with a haunting song, before settling alongside Vérzés upon Volterra's broad back (should they permit it, if not, she would simply return to the otherland that Amaris' magic called her from before anyone could blink).

As the golden king and queen did their own thing, Amaris allowed her attention to return to the (now verified) son of Volterra, as well as Volterra himself. "It's difficult to explain.. I left Helovia barely half a season ago -- it was winter -- to visit my father and his dragon-kin, to speak to them about Dramyrth and tell them about my mother.." even as she said it she knew it didn't sound believable, but the evidence was right there in front of them - Amaris was drenched in sweat due to the winter coat that clung stubbornly to her hide, she had not grown or aged the years that Volterra clearly had. But, how to explain why Dramyrth continued aging and not she? "Dramyrth fell into a strange hibernation, the bond between us became hazy - we just didn't seem to be in synchrony. I carried him back here, hoping returning to the lands would help him, or failing that, the gods might hold a solution." She threw a glance to where the golden royals carried on their battle. "I didn't realise how swiftly he had grown until I crossed the Threshold and felt the full force of the bond again." Her eyes, deep pools of molten gold, looked fiercely into Volterra's.

"When I left, my cousin, Tandavi was Sultana here. I need to find her again. She was also known as the Fire Dancer," Amaris' sharp gaze pleaded with Volterra's and Astarot's, as the joy of seeing him again (alive!) was sapped by the anxiety and concern that arose from before. "How much time has passed, Volterra? How much have I missed?"

Amaris