[center][img]http://i57.tinypic.com/2116trp.png[/img][/center]

“Sounds like a plan.” 

Ran grinned as cheerfully as possible while Jasper patted his back. He resisted the urge to tease the girl a little. It was tempting though giving how she was blushing earlier. Before he knew it, the rest had entered the house, so only Inadi was left outside with him. The older human continued sitting on the ground. He was so jelly donut tired! 

He groaned a little as Inadi pulled his sleeve, but he got up anyway. He grinned. “Lotion would be great. Not sure there is any here.”

The older of the two lapsed into silence and merely nodded in response to Inadi’s comment that they should wait and observe. The two men continued walking quietly till they entered the place. Immediately, Inadi was greeted by Mr. Cuddles, so Ran took the time to observe the rest of the guests quietly. Upon recognizing a familiar face, he grinned and waved. He was about to greet Ise, when Jasper approached him with a cup of water in hand. He beamed and turned to face the pale-skinned human instead.

“Thanks, Jasper!” 

[i]Whoomp![/i]

A huge black whirlwind knocked him off his feet and the glass flew out of his hand. He sucked in his breath and closed his eyes when he saw the mouth opening. A papery tongue ran up and down his cheek making Ran burst out laughing. Grateful for the distraction the illustrator cracked his eyes open and began stroking the not so tiny baby dragon. 

“Nice to see you too Ise. You too, Cobalt!” 

He allowed the baby dragon began nibbled his ear playfully. “Colby! You’ve grown so much.”

Suddenly, Inadi began shouting, and the black baby dragon whined loudly in response. All the tension in the room was stressing it out. Ran cuddled Cobalt’s head while whistling softly, but the dragonet continued threshing around. He raked his brains for a solution. 

“Ise!” 

He gasped as he remembered some of the things he learned back in Aven. Ran quickly grabbed Cobalt’s snout, and he pulled it down till the baby was looking him in the eye. He continued staring into the dragon’s black ones till finally Cobalt lowered his head and curled up on the ground. He stepped to one side, so Ise could attend to the baby. 

Ran waited for several moments as he continued stroking Cobalt’s forearm. Seeing that no one was speaking up after Lelia asked her question, he decided to say something. He hoped someone else will take over from there. “I know a lot of you don’t sound too happy to be here... for good reasons.”

He broke off and looked at Inadi in particular. His reddened a little. He wished someone – like Riley or Ace or even Harper – would speak. He shifted his weight to his other foot then continued speaking. He hoped he wasn’t upsetting the rest. “But Toby’s right, guys. I think we need to give them a chance to answer our questions, right Lelia?” 

He cleared his throat and tried to laugh a little in an attempt to ease the tension. “I mean. I don’t know about you guys, but I trust Ise. She always has a good reason for doing things. So… err… so let’s hear them out? Peace ya?”