"I don't think I really understood what the word 'scale' meant until I came to Nodd.

I've seen some strange and large things in my time here, wild Runners, for example, can be easily reach 12 feet tall. The lighthouse in the sand is tall enough to see the entire continent from its gallery.

But even these things seem small compared to this.

No one actually understands dragons. I've heard tell of these creatures almost since day one of my time living in Nodd, and every story claims to explain something about them, but I doubt many people have seen as many as I have. I've seen them crawling out of volcanoes, slithering up from the ocean, crawling over mountain peaks, and, in the case of the grand lady I saw during my first solo Border repair job, falling out of the sky.

I have no idea what a creature this ancient and this large could possibly be doing in the desert, but I stand at a respectable distance as she passes, watching in wonder as she makes her way across the cool sand in the weak, Winter morning light. She lands directly on the Border, a place that repels most other creatures, and even people. After hunkering down in the still cold sand, she sweeps the area, questing for something with her black eyes. She either doesn't see me, which I very seriously doubt, or she doesn't care about me, something I very much believe.

I won't pretend to understand animals, there weren't many in my home, and I haven't had much reason to be around them intimately since coming to Nodd, but I don't believe dragons are animals. They are absolutely not as smart as people, since they can't understand our languages and don't have one of their own, but they're not peacefully dumb either, like hounds and grazers. I wouldn't doubt they could be won to a person's side, actually. Watching the big gal stare into the distance with intent, I think that if you had the power and the know how, you could probably not break a dragon, like you can a Runner, but that you could win one to your aims, the way you can with an allback or hunting beast. If you stopped feeding one, giving it a comfortable life, they were apt to turn on the hand that used to feed and love them, but they could be a mighty ally, with the right application of intent.

I keep my staff low, my tail wrapped around the marker, and look the way she is. She has her gaze fixed on something to far for me to focus on, whatever she's seeing. It's tempting to wave, but I keep myself from doing so. If my theory about not quite befriending dragons was correct, it was not my place to test it.

After a few minutes she rises from her crouch and begins to move her huge body down South along the boarder. She's taking the same route I am so I sit in the marker and think about what I should do. If I don't want her to notice me, I should probably keep out of sight. If she senses that I'm following her, she's not gonna be happy about it. I could head back North and let Lilly know that I couldn't complete my mission.

Before I can finish pondering this though, she tucks her legs under her body and flaps her wings, taking off back into the sky, and continues making her way along the Border, gaze fixed ahead, wings barley moving as she soars in what's probably a Magical updraft. When that thought occurs to me, I suddenly begin to wonder why I haven't seen more dragons /on/ the Border, only around it. If this timeworn lady can make use of the Magic that flows from this place, surly the rest of her kind could as well?

I add this question to my growing list that I intend on presenting to all my superiors when this maintenance duty is over. I'd been at it for almost a Year, and in a few months, once the Year was done, I'd return to my 'home base' and see what they'd have be doing next. But before my next assignment though, I'd get a three month break. Now that I'd seen as much of Nodd as I had, I had questions that needed answering, and luckily, I knew all the right people to ask."

World: Knights of Nodd.
Characters: Garish and the Sand Skinned Dragon.
Media: Easy Paint Tool SAI and Microsoft Paint.
Art, ideas, partial design, and character © me.

-Topknot