Hikaru was a big man.  Six and a half feet tall with a broad back and round shoulders, even in armor his strength was evident.  Big was something of a theme of Hikaru's.  He carried a red jade sword thirteen inches wide and seven feet long sheathe across his back.  His red jade armor was layer after layer of smoothly overlapping plates. A black cape hang down the back of it, recently mended and still faintly blood stained.  His horse, it seemed, was even larger than he was, a battle hardened clydsdale stalion that would have made him look normal sized where he not riding in front of two normal sized people on normal horses.<br/><br/>With his helm under one arm, Hikaru's spiky red hair rustled in the spring breeze.  His softly golden skin caught the sunlight and seemed to gleam.  His one good eye, the blue of cool flames.  These things combined marked him a dragon blooded of the lineage of Hesiah, immaculate dragon of fire, as surely as his panoply of red jade.<br/><br/>Hikaru stroked his steed's neck.  “Patience Stepper, we'll find you a safe pasture with grass to roll in soon enough.”<br/><br/>He looked down at the jade and orichalucm compass filling the palm of his hand and gave a soft sigh.  For two days now it had pointed—not towards the elemental poll of earth-but almost straight north.<br/><br/>He glanced back at his friends, then eased Stepper back 'til he road beside petite, beautiful Reika, who had the grace of a doe, the mind of a sage, and the soul of a warrior.  He held up the compass.  “I don't suppose there's anyway we can get this thing to tell us how much further we have to go?”<br/><br/>He glanced back at Yori with his left eye—the one he still had rather than a scarred eyesocket under a patch.  Six years younger than he and one of the best shots in their now broken legion, he pondered how their relationship would soon change.  The three had been friends for three years now.  It had started as a game, one of them keeping watch while the other made playful love to Reika.  The only survivors of their wing, perhaps the sole survivors of the entire ninth legion, they had made a pact to keep the blood of the dragons alive.<br/><br/>What would it be like to be able to relax and actually make proper love to Reika instead of frantic, needy passionate gyrations while hidden from the eyes of their soldiers and their supoerions.  What would it be like for the two of them to please her together?<br/><br/>“What do you think, Yori?  That's a powerful hearthstone.  Perhaps there's a pleasure palace waiting for us at the end of this trail.”