<strong>Eshalu - dealing with the dragon</strong><br/><br/>Reliyian's easy manner with the winged dragon helped put Eshalu's mind at ease. Or at least still her pressing concerns of their safety. "These wilds are a hungry place and its many inhabitants usually predatory. The Great Mother has favoured you and brought you to a place where no harm will come to you unless you first invite it," she told the dragonet, "you are welcome to share in what we have. I could not imagine that you eat much and because you have asked for hospitality, the roots of this land enjoin us to offer it to you."<br/><br/>She shared Reliyian's curiosity, but remained detached. Only Reliyian had the knowledge to make much sense of their new visitor. Having ascertained that this was most definitely not a dragon from the legends of her people, she remained at a loss to label it. Any permutation of 'lizard' could not quite grasp how strange and wondrous it was. And, of course, it had nothing of the size and ferocity of a wyvern.<br/><br/>"Why have you come here?" Eshalu queried, "There is nothing here but Cold Ones and great spiders. If you treasure your life, you should not have come this deep into a place that wishes ill on all that are living."<br/>