& @noctefurores
       the dragon had been assumed long gone with the length of time to which she did not see him. missing, or simply void, with little warning given. if the empress was honest, this has happened before ; perhaps not with this particular drake, but with others she deemed her own flesh & blood -- family -- so in a sense, Adrastia had grown accustomed to its happening.        ( it never made the reality easy, but it certainly took less time to heal. )
  a rustling spring breeze was soothing, rather soft over the glistening scales of her hide. about the woodlands does the beast wander with an odd sense of absence within her very being. almost as if she were bored, unsatisfied. after all, the earthen realm could only entertain a creature such as she for so long. without the company of her companion, her reasons for being there were close to none at all. however, it is amidst the breeze that her ears pick up on something most peculiar: a sound, so faint that even she had to halt in her steps to focus. so familiarly inhuman.         ( dragonic, indeed, yet she is skeptical to believe in such trying times. not in this area, or at least, not anymore. ) & so, she remains grounded, head raised up to the sky with scales that flutter idly over muscles. steam wafts from her nostrils, short bellows echo from her chest. for all she knew, she could be talking to herself ---  there was no harm in trying.
