Verbena quickly turned around and faced the owner of the voice and growled menacingly with an arched back and flattened ears. 'If you try to hurt Irin I will attack you," she snarled and did not care that the woman the treat was aimed at could not hear and understand the words.

"Calm down, I'm not going to attack a dragin or a rider," the thin woman assured and dusted a bit of snow off of her unusually thin clothing. "I apologize for the tribesmen, they consider all creatures food. They did not see that the dragons had riders, but I guess they never heard of the concept either."

Though Verbena did not lower her guard, Celia looked to the woman and blinked. A small amount of hopefulness rose in her heart. "Are you," she briefly hesitated, "by chance, Asha?"

The strange woman blinked then spun on her heels and faced the younger female, "yes, I am Ahsa. You have heard of me? I did not realize I was all that well-known in any field." A small, almost excited expression spread across her face. "How may I be of service?"

"My name is Celia, rider of Verbena the Green. My companions are Xan and Irin the Blue. We are looking for the rays of sunlight to return the sun to the world. We heard that you grow plants. If the Ulven used a ray of light to do the same thing, then there was a good chance that you also had one of the lost rays of light." Celia stated.

"Celia, you just gave away our entire plan when there is no way for us to get away if she attacks us," Xan frowned. "You could have at least been discrete about our mission. What if she decides to try and steal the ray of light we have? She is a siglya, so she must have plenty of magic tricks up her sleeves."

"You're the ones that are finding the rays of light!" Ahsa gasped, "This is wonderful! I was hoping to meet you!" She loudly giggled in excitement.

Xan blinked in confusion, "So that's it? No epic battle or chase? You are going to help us, just like that?" He gave the woman a suspicious side-eyed glance "this cannot be real. There has to be a trick here somewhere."

"No trick, I assure you," Ahsa smiled a bit. "I will take you to my home, where I keep the ray of light for safekeeping."

Though Celia smiled and nodded, Ahsa's words did not convince a wary Xan as easily. "I am not sure we can just trust her like this," Xan said, "she is a siglya, and not all magic users are trustworthy."

"What does siglya mean?" Celia looked between the other two humans, "I have heard the word said multiple times, but still have absolutely no idea what it means. Can one of you please help me out?"

"Siglya is a word for someone that uses magic, especially if they are proficient in it," Ahsa explained. "There are different levels of proficiency, but usually those with an overall magic level of at least six or more out of ten are considered siglya. My overall magic level is six, so I personally barely qualify."

Celia looked to Xan and blinked a bit, "Xan, you have magic, so doesn't that also make you a siglya? Why are you so judgmental against Ahsa when you have magic just like she does?"

"I am nowhere near strong enough to earn the title of siglya," Xan glanced over to Ahsa with a slight frown. After a pause, he sighed and looked down, "Celia, you are right that I should not use magic as a judge of character. Most people in Roahla have and are able to at least use a spark of magic." When he finished speaking, he looked to Celia. "I am too quick to judge that people are against me."

"Thank you for giving me another chance," Ahsa replied with a slight smile and a nod. "May I look at your dragon? Plant magic may not be exactly my forte, but I may be able to speed up the healing process a little bit. I also have some healing elixirs in my home when we get there."

Xan glanced back to Irin for assurance. In response to Xan's silent inquiry, the dragon nodded to him and limped over to Ahsa. After he approached, he carefully laid down to allow her to view the spear wound. The wound was no longer bleeding, but the blood from the wound stained the snow around the opening.

Ahsa briefly studied the cut and hummed to herself, "It does not as bad as I originally thought. Luckily, your ice armor took most of the attack before it pierced your skin. It only hurts because a few muscles were bruised in the impact and there is a cut." She paused and held up hand glowing with grey energy. After she said a few words, the magic shifted to a green color, she pressed the energy into the wound.

After Ahsa removed her hand and dismissed the remaining magic in her palm, Irin's wound briefly glowed on its own. When the magic faded, the wound appeared to have at least healed a bit. A scab had formed over the remains of the wound, but it still needed time to finish healing.

"That should do it for now," Ahsa nodded to herself, then gave the male dragon space to investigate the cut.

Irin scented the wound, then exhaled a puff of air onto the injury. He looked to Ahsa, then nodded slightly in approval of her work. 'Thank you,' Irin responded to the magical female.

"It is the least I could do after my hosts foolishly assaulted you," Ahsa assumed what the bow meant as she nodded a bit to him. Then, she glanced to the unconscious men that remained still strewn about the snow. "Before we depart, These men need to be put back into the igloos so they do not die out here of frostbite." She activated her grey-colored magic and raised her glowing hand into the air.

Immediately, greyish blue magic surrounded each of the unconscious tribesmen and gently lifted them off of the ground. With a second flick of her wrist, each of the men floated into the largest igloo. Once all of the humans were disposed of, the magic in Ahsa's hand dispersed.

"Now then," the female siglya looked to Irin, "If you would like, you can ride in my wagon so you do not have to disturb your wound while we travel."

Irin paused as he contemplated her offer. After he mentally debated the options for a few moments, the dragon nodded to her, 'I will ride in your cart, but I do not want magical assistance to get onto it.'

"I'll help you over there," Ahsa activated her magic and began to use the same spell used on the men on Irin.

As Irin barked a bit in warning, Xan jumped between them. "Wait!" The male rider exclaimed and held out his arms. "Irin said he wanted to climb onto his wagon on his own, without magic."

Ahsa blinked, then dispelled the spell, "Apologies, I cannot understand dragins as you can." She frowned a bit. "I will go and bring the cart closer then. The less he moves, the better." With a bit of magic, she easily walked atop the snow towards the ice cart at the edge of the settlement.

Celia blinked and looked at the snow where Ahsa had previously stood, but could not find any hints of footprints. To the female rider's surprise, Ahsa left no trace of her passing in the snow. Celia glanced down to the knee-deep snow she currently stood in, then to Verbena and Irin. Though the dragons, thanks to their wide paws, did not sink deep into the snow, still left footprints on the powdery snow.

The gentle sound of snow crunching under a sled accompanied by the echoes of footsteps grabbed Celia's attention. When she looked to the source of the sound, she noticed Ahsa approaching on the back of an unfamiliar beast sculpted from unblemished ice. The creature wore a saddle and reigns made of an animal's pelt that attached it to a large cart with skis instead of wheels.

"All aboard!" The siglya grinned as she pulled the creature and the sled to a stop near Irin. "There are a few things in the back, but they can stand being crushed. If you do break or bend anything, I will just magically fix them later. Don't worry about the cart breaking, I made and fortified it with magic. It looks fragile, but it will easily hold a dragin's weight."

Irin sniffed the oily pelts that carpeted the cart, then slowly climbed onto the cart. He groaned a bit in pain as he turned around settled himself atop the vehicle. He faced the rear of the vehicle, both so he could easily get back off the cart and watch behind the group for danger. Though, if he was honest, he laid down that way for more for first reason than the latter. Even though Irin was a bit large for the cart, he still fit inside, even if he had to curl his tail around himself.

"Xan, you can ride with me if you would like," Ahsa looked to the male human, "Or you can ride in the back with Irin, or fly with Celia and Verbena. You can go wherever you prefer."

Xan paused, then approached the back of the cart and seated himself on the small space at the edge of the cart next to Irin. "I will sit back here with my dragon," he spoke in a slow voice as he settled onto the pelt-covered wagon. After he made himself comfortable, he gingerly placed a hand on Irin's side.

"All right then! Let's be off!" Asha whipped the reigns of her ice animal, and the cart jerked forward.

Celia looked at Verbena, "are you ok to travel more?" She glared to Ahsa, who seemed well-rested, unlike Verbena, who had already done a decent amount of traveling during the night.

'I will be fine,' Verbena attempted to encourage Celia to climb onto her back with her tail. 'I can keep going.' Her firm mental tone boomed in Celia's mind, and the human could feel a strange, nearly-indescribable feeling inside the young dragon. Verbena felt protective over the male dragon, but other, more complex feeling added intensity to the feeling that Celia did not recognize. 'Let's go before we get left behind.'

Celia glanced to the cart as it sped away at an unnaturally swift pace, then leaped onto Verbena's back. Before Celia could completely secure her grip, the dragonet took off into the sky and followed the rest of the group.

Author Notes:

Do you trust this strange 'Ahsa' character?

Please post your thoughts in the comments!