The hermit nodded to Duncan to accept his thanks and then turned to Gnol. "Bring some ale too when you bring your stories," he said to him, watching him walk away. Soon everyone would leave, all on their own quest. He had done what he could for them, it was up to them now.

Trevor nodded to Gnol. "We'll teach him how to drink when we reach the dwarves. It seemed like everyone was ready. He locked eyes with Mikhal a final time and turned to Noble. "Let's go," he said. "We have a few days of travel ahead of us."

A small, yellow fairy dragon flew towards the Hermits house, her body as long as hand. She dove down when she spotted some people. "Oh, dwarf..." she said as she spotted Gnol, making sure to go around him in a wide circle. Most Dwarves she had met didn't like her kind, which may or may not be related to the shiny things her kind liked to pick up and decorate their nests with, and dwarves generally had a nice stash of shiny things.
"Trevor!" she said when she recognised him, flying around his head.
"Stop doing that," Trevor grumbled, swatting to her.
"You're such a Grumpy McGrumpface again. Where is Mikhal?"
Trevor scowled at the name and pointed to where Mikhal was. The fairy dragon chimed a thanks and continued to fly. 
As she flew over that group she made sure to go around the large dragons too, some dragons were nice to fairy dragons like her, others thought of them as nothing more but flying lizards and didn't mind a little snack. Of course the intelligence of the dragon species was a factor, some were carnivorous beasts whereas others were compassionate plant-eaters. And dragons could be everything in-between. For that reason she made sure to stay away from the group with the three large dragons. Although the yellow one looked at her with kind eyes, the red one had a grumpy look to him. 

The fairy dragon flew around the Hermit. "Mister Oldface!"
"Autumnleaf," the Hermit greeted her.
She landed on his shoulder. "Linda. That's how Mikhal chose to call me."
The hermit nodded. "Linda. Mikhal is there." 
"Thank you." She flew up again and went to her friend. She noticed the two large dragons and decided to stay out of their way until she knew how they felt about her kind, but there were two of the cutest small dragons she had ever seen! They would be able to play together and have fun! And there were three human females, they would all make fine mates for Mikhal if he would be interested in them. And Mikhal seemed to have a new male human friend too, as they were talking.

Mikhal turned to Alan when he asked him for an estimate. "It should be something like that. If we keep up a good pace, I reckon we only have to camp two nights." Suddenly he felt small claws on his shoulder and something yellow from the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look at the fairy dragon who had landed there. "It's nice to see you again."
"Who are your new friends? Where are you going? Can I come too?"
Mikhal laughed at the waterfall of questions. "You can come, we're going to the Dragon Sanctuary-" he smiled when he heard the excited 'ohhh' from the fairy dragon "- and these are Ricky, Rai, Meria and Alan, with their dragon-friends."
"Hello everyone!" Linda said. "I am Linda Demi Autumnleaf."

Fiona had seen the fairy dragon approach, it seemed like a lively one. She let out a small growl when Trevor just swatted at her, but much to her relief both the Hermit and Mikhal were kind to her. 
[i]I'm ready,"[/i] she thought to Rachel.
Rachel nodded, she checked the gear and put her bag on the saddle before getting in. "I hope we won't run into any trouble."
[i]Or fly,[/i] Fiona added with an amused sound.