The half-dragoness laid out on the bench, draped languidly with her various limbs dangling lazily, like a leopard snoozing in a tree. Her tail curled and flopped back occasionally, and her hand traced abstract patterns over Peridiath's naked skin, and the slitted fire-amber eyes watched the flush of excitement slowly fade from the human flesh. When Peri slid out from under her grasp, Drache rolled onto her belly and stretched sinuously, her wings fanning the steamy air before settling sloppily along her spine. The very longest wingbones crossed at the bottom. The half-breed yawned, knowing that the sweltering lull of the baths, as well as the delicious fog of sexual satisfaction, was clouding her judgement. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Peri speak to the attendant and raked the claws of one hand through the steam idly while she waited. When Peri returned, Drache sat up to make room on the bench looking down at the other human. Her brow lifted at the odd request relayed to her through Peri. Record? Either this patron had a great deal of faith that Drache would make an accurate account of her mission, or was exceedingly unwilling to meet in person to hear a report himself. It seemed quite unusual, but then, what was ever usual in the life of a half-breed? At least if she found something she would rather keep for herself she could always elect to not record it. [color=ed1c24]"I'll do my best. I'm already in the habit of keeping a log of my travels, not that anyone will likely ever read it."[/color] She winked, her smile slightly rueful. The hybrid cupped the goblet by the bulb, claws clicking against the glass as she sipped. Her hot breath steamed the curved side as the blood-red liquid swirled across her tongue. It was a fine vintage, and to her pleasure it was a dry wine rather than a sweet one, as she did not like sweetened foods. By the time she had finished the glass, Drache had prepared mentally to emerge from the lazy mist of the baths and head out of the city, her original plans drastically changed now. Standing, she turned to bid a farewell to Peridath, only to find the woman hovering close already. Surprise flashed in Drache's eyes. [color=ed1c24]"I should hope to find you to bring these tomes back since I have no other way to contact your mysterious patron..."[/color] she reasoned, as though deliberately ignoring the personal nature of the comment. In spite of their activities today, it was only at Peri's apparent concern over her safety that Drache seemed uncomfortable. She was hesitant to return the fervor that Peri put into her embrace, but did finally curl one arm around her naked waist, a wing curling around to settle over that as well. She didn't miss the guilty look that flicked across Peri's face, but didn't bother trying to puzzle out what it meant. [color=ed1c24]"Thank you,"[/color] the half-breed replied, both to Peri's farewell comment and for their lovely late-morning tryst. [color=ed1c24]"I look forward to seeing you again, Peridiath."[/color] When she left, she didn't look back. -- Drache didn't leave Pyresia immediately, rather after trading her token back in for her clothes and leaving the Baths, she walked and flew down the tiers of the city, making a few stops along the way. One was to a Cartographer so that she could purchase a map of the area where she was supposed to be going. With as many flying citizens as a city with Pyresia had, maps made there tended to be extraordinarily detailed, though the map-maker shrugged nervously when a disappointed Drache grumpily asked him why none of his wares went quite far enough north to show her the area she wanted. The half-breed also took a look in the bag Peri had given her, inspecting it and the blank books, opening them and letting the fresh pages shuffle under her fingertips as she thoughtfully inhaled the scent. If keeping a record was part of the job, she wanted to be prepared. She picked up small leather case with different coloured ink in small vials inside, a new pen, and a lead pencil. She had rations in her pack, but ate a quick meal of some grilled seafood fresh from the harbour before finally opening her wings and lifting off into the sky. She let the strong wind off the sea dictate her height, tacking back and forth in a similar zig-zagging pattern used by the ships down on the water. She was still in the lands depicted by her map when the sun began to set, and though she wasn't yet tired from the flight, having made judicious use of the winter airstreams and thermals to keep her migration easy, she wasn't exactly in a hurry. The weather was good enough that Drache didn't even bother pitching her tent when she found a likely spot to camp. It would have been tricky to do anyways on the rocky lip of an escarpment. Before nightfall she admired the fossils of some sea creatures captured forever in the sedimentary rock and tried to imagine what this spot must have looked like eons ago when it was underwater. She hadn't the tools to prize any from the rock, nor the desire to carry such a heavy burden around, but she marked the spot on the map anyways. Most of her gear was still in her pack when she woke with start. She must have been more tired than she thought if she'd gone to sleep with the campfire still flickering. As someone who could see in the dark and light a fire with, literally, a breath, she usually didn't see much need to keep one going. As instructed, she had been logging her first day into both her own journal and the logbook she'd been given, and the pages of both fluttered gently, several pages having turned under the breath of the wind while she dozed. Her tail gave a nervous twitch at the scale-prickling feeling that she wasn't alone. The brightness of her campfire felt like a beacon to anyone lurking near and she wanted it doused right away. Rolling off her blanket, she lifted her hand to grab a handful of dirt, but the motion alone snuffed the fire. It happened so quickly, the power to control her favoured element springing out of her fingertips to douse the flame. It was too bad she hadn't the time to enjoy that small triumph. It was only when her own campfire was producing nothing but a rising pillar of smoke that she realized she could still sense fire nearby. How strange! Some other sense had awoken and she couldn't wait to explore it. Her eyes acclimated to the dark quickly and the half-dragon kept low as she peered around, using her hands to search out her bedroll and her books so she could stuff them back into her pack. If nothing showed its face, she decided to go investigate the source of the fires nearby. She was too awake now to sleep anyways.