With a deep sigh, Elisa let herself slide of his back. With a smack, she threw the soaked cloak of her shoulders and decided to hand it from a piece of rock that that came out of the wall. With her hands, she spun her dress around letting al the water splash onto the ground. Once that was done, she looked around the cave for a moment. The whole place was rather clean, not what she might have expected from a dragon.

With a sob, Elisa dropped herself onto a rock the size of a chair. "Thank you for saving me. Would've been wolf meat back there. But.." For a moment she pauzed. "Am I going to be dragon meat now?" It might have been a silly question, but it was worth a shot.

"Hardly," Makan snorted. "I already told you that humans taste disgusting." His gentlemanly demeanor changed slightly. "And considering that this is my home, and you have no place to go, I'd appreciate it if you'd respect it. By nature, dragons are territorial." But even as he said that he dipped into the hot spring, large enough to fit his body, and deep enough that he could rest his head on the rock beside the spring. He closed his eyes, savoring the warmth. "Feel free to look around. Just... don't touch anything."

The sight of the dragon getting a hot bath made her smile just slightly. "I won't I promise. But could you do one little favor for me?" Elisa got up from her rock and walked over to the hot spring. For some reason the water smelled like fresh flowers with a hint of mint. A hot bath would've done wonders for her blue, cold hands, but that would've been too much. "Could you maybe, make some fire for me? Just for my clothes to dry up. And maybe for me to get some sleep as well. My cloak you see.." Feeling slightly pathetic for asking such a thing, she had no choice.

Makan noddex, loathe to leave his hot spring. But he went outside and gathered enough dead cherry wood to last the night. "There's a bunk carved into the wall. I think this place was carved out by dwarves. There were still old furs when I moved in." He returned to his "tub" after lighting the fire.

"Thanks..." Elisa crawled into the bunker and found some old piece of fur. They were kept dry and neat, so she could wrap herself in it. Once beneath a heap of fur, she held out her hands to the fire. Her dress still stuck to her boney structure, so she decided to take it off. Trying to be discrete, Elisa slipped de dress of her shouders and laid it out on the already warm stones around the fire. Whilst crawling back into the heap of fur, she asked:"What is your name? My name is Elisa, daughter of Lord Relicx. I came from the South, where it's always warm. Unlike this place.." She mumbled.

He lifted his head up. "Makan," he answered. "Makan, son of Clefspeare. I myself come from a warm place, far to the east. But I have adapted to the cold. Otherwise, I would have died a long time ago." The dragon lifted his body from the tub, going to his nest, consisting of saplings woven together. His body still ached horribly.

"Nice to meet you, Makan." As Elisa watched him walk towards his nest she looked up. She noticed the blood stained around his wing, giving her the impression that he was in pain. "Are you alright? You seem hurt." Instead of staying where she was, she ignored his terriory threat and walked over to his nest. This, ofcourse, with a few cloaks of fur wrapped around her. Without giving a heads up, she sat on the border of his nest and touches his wing slightly. Her fingers were covered with thick, dark and very slimy blood. "You are hurt!"

Makan growled, not in anger or annoyance, but pain. "I'll be fine," he insisted, moving his wing awsy from Elisa. "I'll apply herbal remedies in the morning." He began licking at the blood, trying to make it clot. However he paid little mind to the human in his nest, focused-- or at least pretending to be-- on his wounds.

Elisa quickly withdrew her hands from his wing, and sat up a little. "Well.. If you need any help.." And as she lifted herself out of the nest she looked back one more time. "Goodnight Makan." It didn't take her long to wrap herself into the fur again. The warmth of the fire and the rhythm of his breathing made her fall asleep.

~~The end of the first day~~

Makan hadn't meant to sound so curt. He was just hurting. When Elisa drifted off to sleep he decided to prepare the herbs that would facilitate the healing process.it took some time to apply the mixture to all of his wounds, but when he was done he felt a measure of relief. Makan returned to his nest. He'd have to take it easy until his wing healed. And he had one more to protect besides himself now. "What have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself quietly.

The next working Elisa had awoken quite early. It must've been the wind howling through the entrance of the cave and the movements of the forest around them. Silently, Elisa removed the pieces of fur scattered all around her. Compared to yesterday, the temperature had incresed slightly. Maybe that's due the sun burning on the roof of the cave. Other than that, her dress had also dried up, which was nice as well. "Makan, are you awake yet?" She mumbled softly, not wanting to recieve a scowl. When there was no sound coming from the huge dragon in his nest, Elisa softly stepped outside the cave to check out their surroundings. Yesterday it was rather foggy and there was nothing more than a hot fire that could peek her interest. Now, on the other hand, she felt a slight hunger coming up.

The forest around her was comparable to a rain forest: thickly occupied by several tropical bushes and trees. A few meters in, Elisa noticed several bushes with berries and other fruits. Although she knew it wasn't wise to eat any without asking Makan's opinion, but she went ahead and picked several. She held up her dress to carry her bounty around the cave. "That seems like enough.. Let's see if our grumpy dragon had awoken yet." And Elisa made her way back to the cave.

As she neared the entrance, Makan lifted his body up out of the cave. In the morning light, his scars were more visible, but his scales shone more brightly. "I see you helped yourself to the fruit trees," he said. "Just so you know, some of them are poisonous to humans." With that he moved to a large, flat rock, spreading his wings and laying down on the smooth, warm surface in order to catch the sun's warmth. Although warm-blooded, dragons did this anyway, to wake up and energize faster. He closed his eyes, soaking up the sun's rays.

"Oh gosh you scared me.. " Elisa stepped closer to the dragon and sat right night to his head. His warm breath did frighten her a little, but as he noted humans did not taste very good, she enjoyed the company of.. Something. "Well, I was hoping you'd help me out selecting with ones." And she lowered her dress so his left eye could see what she was holding. In the meantime she let her eyes scan over his wing, noticing it looks alot better that in had yesterday.

Makan sighed. "Well, I can do that," he said. "Wouldn't want you to escape being eaten and burned at the stake to have you poisoned by berries." He moved so there was room for Elisa on the stone. He could still sense traces of fear in her voice, her scent. He knew it was only natural for people of this part of the world. In the East and Far West, across the ocean, the people respected dragons. But here, they were something that was to be feared and hated.

When Makan had selected the good from the bad, Elisa did her best memorizing the ones she was ought to eat. This because she could be here for quite some time. Although she tried to find out why he was keeping her here. Was she his captive? Did he feel lonely? Or did he just have a pure heart and couldn't let her die in the forest? With a deep sigh, Elisa started to lean in on the neck of the dragon with her back. Even though it wasn't his stomach, his breathing was prominent and made her move up and down. He was so friendly, Elisa felt like she was at home, but with a slight fear lingering at the back of her mind. In silence, she ate a couple of berries whilst staring at the water in front of them.

Makan was surprised at how willing she was to lean on him. Regardless, he didn't move until his metabolism had jumpstarted. He moved down to the water, diving in and disappearing for some time. He came up with a fish wriggling in his jaws. The morsel itself was about the size of Elisa's torso, and made a quick snack. He repeated the process until he was full, and came ashore. He shook off like a giant dog, growling when his wing-arm aggravated him. Makan took a sniff. The cherry trees he'd planted were in bloom, but not for much longer.

The moment Makan left, Elisa got up and examined the cave for a moment. When she sat on her knees next to her hot spring, she let her fingers run through the water. It was night and hot, already cleaned by the constant flow of the river below them. It was now or never, if she wanted to take a bath. It wasn't before long that she had undressed herself, laid her clothes a bit further so they wouldn't get wet, and slowly lowered herself into the deep spring. Although she couldn't stand up, she found a little step at the edge of the spring where she could sit on. Enjoying the warmth, she let her fingers run over her bare skin, noticing something strange. The water actually made her entire skin amazingly soft and glow just slightly. "What a weird spring.." She whispered to herself.

Makan returned to the shore, unsure of where Elisa had went to. He clicked his teeth, the dragon version of a shrug. He was slightly surprised to find her bathing, but he paid no mind; after all, he wasn't wired to be disturbed or turned on by the human body. He went to his nest, closing his eyes. It was nice to have a full belly, and he especially loved fish. He curled up, feeling warm. His body had to heal, and the quickest way to do that was rest.

The water had cleaned her skin to the fullest: it was lighter and having a healthy glow. Feeling clean and all warmed up, Elisa got out of the tub and noticed her dragon friend had returned to the cave. Strangely enough, she did not notice. A light blush appeared on her face: "Did he see me.. Naked?" Her head shook quickly whilst drying herself with the old cloak. When again fully dressed Elisa made her way to Makan. "Ofcourse he wouldn't care about that. I'm no.. Female dragon. Right?" "Are you going to sleep?" She took a seat on te edge of the nest. "How about I take a look at your wing?" A wooden jar filled with some slimy mixture stood next to her, probably the herbal remedy he made yesterday. At least then she had something to do..

"I was wanting to, yes," Makan answered. When she asked about his wing, he seemed hesitant. "Dragons' wings are extremely sensitive... they need to be because it's all skin, and no feathers." He saw the mixture in her hands, and hesitantly extended his ripped wing. The tears were healing from the base of the wing out. "Just... be careful. It's still painful."