Unnatural Growth.[Akeya/Invite, private]

Lumina had left a long time ago when she had come of age, not because she needed to be herself or anything like that, but because she changed in a way that was far from natural or so she thought. Before her "awakening" she had some scales grow on her back and other places but she figured it was a side-effect of her magic, but then a sudden rush of scales and changes twisted her body into something that was barely recognizable from whom she looked like. Claws, wings and vast amount of scales overtook her body as well as the fact her magic went out of control. That was one of the main cause of her fleeing... or more the death that her magic caused. Not a quick death... a slow and horrid one that haunted Lumina to this day, the death of a child crushed by the roots of a tree. Because of this she had avoided civilization for a long time, keeping to the fringes when she had not choice but to. Though she had not had a incident in quite a while she still kept away, keeping to forests and other places of isolation, but today was different her power had spiked suddenly causing the trees to react and grow in a way that was clearly unnatural.

Lumina sat motionless on a outcrop of stone with her eyes closed, focusing on regaining control, around her the plants grew at a rate which cause them to grow to the size of some of the oldest forests on the planet. The growth was not as quick as it was a few minutes ago but it was still at a speed far from normal.

"focus..." Lumina spoke to herself as she sat near motionless on her perch, her kness tucked under her body, her tail laid across her lap. Around her flowers bloomed in all colors, shapes and sizes, but more uniquely they seemed to be giving off some kind of light which rose into the air like pollen. The site was very peaceful, almost mystical in some ways, but Lumina knew that these plants were not friendly to those other then her... those whom were not tied to nature like she was. If she were far from civilization she would be less worried, but she was near magnolia which meant she had to get everything under control.

[outside of the forest]

People didn't know what had happened other then the forest seemed to come alive, the trees and other plants grew large and out of control. several mages had been sent in but failed to come back, people fear the worst and looked for another person whom might be able to stop what ever was happening.

An unusual situation had come into being: not too far from Magnolia Town a forest had suddenly surged to life, becoming a threat to its surroundings and growing faster than any unaided growth would be capable of. Any attempt at finding the cause by entering the forest had resulted in failure so far, and with even mages disappearing when confronting the viridan growth meant that the status had been updated from a mild concern to a genuine threat. Not to say that the lives of civilians and citizens were less important, but if even mages could succumb to the aggressive plantlife it had a lot more power than if it at most could harm some humans without any means of defending themselves.

Akeya having been sent to deal with this strange phenomenon wasn't so much because she was good at dealing with plants, but because with her skill set she would at least have a good chance of escaping alive after finding the source. The exact countermeasures could be thought of once more information had been acquired, which was the dragoness's mission. Whether she'd need help dealing with the plants afterwards... depended on what she would actually find. From what Akeya herself could figure out there had to be some kind of magic source feeding the plants. That in itself wasn't too strange: there were enough plant mages and stories about similar things that it was well documented that plantlife could develop very rapidly and in strange ways if handled with magic, even more so than most animals because plants didn't seem to be as resistant towards having their form altered by magic.

The strange part was primarily that even though the forest in question was attacking people who came too close or even entered, it didn't seem like anyone really was using it for much more nefarious purposes. People could easily just move around the forest, since it was on one side of Magnolia and all they had to do was make a circle around it. While anyone who went inside the forest seemed to be doomed it wasn't impossible for mages to keep the forest from advancing, since even if it was being supported by magic the mages weren't outdone so easily countering the growth with their own magic. Regardless, if someone was actually plotting something with this violent forest you'd expect a better plan, one with more effect... and you'd expect them to actually show a sign of themselves. As long as the forest was just a violent forest there wasn't a lot you could do other than be a distraction. Eventually the Magic Council would ensure that the next group they'd send here would be able to finish the job, and then it'd be game over. And it didn't seem like any crime in other locations was going up in way that suggested it could be linked to the forest...

The other problem was that if it wasn't a malicious act then either there was something supplying the magic without the ability to control it or the knowledge of the damage they were causing, or some non-sentient magic source was causing te problem. Akeya found the latter unlikely, since Fiore, while having plenty of magic, wasn't prone to sprouting new sources of miraculous magic. The abundance of magic here was too stable and old for it to suddenly develop in such a way. Akeya wasn't going to dismiss the idea entirely, but personally she thought it would be something that lived in the forest that only recently gained the power to do something like this, or was the kind of instinctive entity that wouldn't have thought of doing it before.

Standing a good distance from the edge of the forest Akeya looked at it, narrowing her eyes as she inspected the roots, the trunk, the branches... it definitely had more magic in it than most other trees. The dragoness had thought that obvious anyway, but if she went out of her way to prove it now it would be easier later on. The next step, however, would be more difficult: find what was acting as the nucleus. Akeya's eyes could see magic, so she could trace it to the source, but she could already tell that it would require her to go deep into the forest, predictably towards the centre of it all. Akeya's guess was that there really was a case of either no conscious control or no sentience at all, since that would fit the idea of the magic spreading out in the most ideal form, i.e. roughly spherically, quite well. But she'd have to prove it first... Akeya tapped a clawed foot against the ground as she thought about it. From what she could tell the magic was supporting the growth, but it wasn't suffusing the plants to the extent that they'd be able to hurt her while she was still in shadow form. Nodding slightly to herself Akeya stepped forward, merging into a shadow just before she went inside the forest, the plants for the most part leaving her alone since as a shadow Akeya didn't currently have anything like a pulse or need to breathe (although she didn't really need to breathe anyway... she'd taken care of that a while back).

The shadow slithered deeper into the depths of the forest even as Akeya contemplated. The magic here felt familiar... but not exactly the same. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but she could swear that she'd sensed something similar before. Similar, but not similar enough for her to immediately pick it out. Maybe the power source here was related to another power source? Or would it be the same power source? The only thing that Akeya could really say with confidence was that this magic wasn't foreign to her. Something she had interacted with before, with enough interest that even though she couldn't really remember the exact details... she still remember that she'd encountered it.

Considering that Akeya's shadow form was very fast it didn't take long for her to reach the centre of the forest, where she found the source... and the answer to her question of why the magic felt so familiar. Now that she could see Lumina she could also tell why the magic had been too unfamiliar for her to pinpoint it exactly: it seemed that Lumina had gone through the dragonfication process, and also that she wasn't a pure-breed like Akeya, but had become a hybrid. The last time that Akeya had found the smaller dragoness Lumina had been pure rose, something which Akeya had thought suited her quite well. Not that such an opinion was important right now, but still.

The shadow dragoness frowned mentally, still being a shadow physically, when she didn't find the little dragon who had always accompanied Lumina before. That one had helped Lumina be at ease and learn more about the world and herself, so her absence was either meaningless or very problematic. Regardless, it was probably a good time for Akeya to speak up and make her presence known, even though she was currently hidden inside the shadows of the trees around Lumina.

"I was quite sure that you had died or disappeared. Has the dragonfication hindered your ability to keep your plants in check?"

Lumina could feel the plants reacting to something moving her way, she did try to stop them like she did with the mages, she could tell that they would do no harm to whomever it was. she figured it was another mage come to end the rampant growth and it was clear they would make it all the way here. Lumina started reigning in all the plants around her, she didn't want to seem a unwelcoming host... well no more then she already did. It took almost the entirety of the time presence took to get to her to get control of the plants around her, her grasp on them was tentative but enough that they would obey. She knew that they had arrived, Lumina's magic was suffused throughout the forest so it was pretty easy to track things at the moment. But while she knew they were here, where was the better question. Lumina's simply sat still keeping the plants calm, she had remained motionless for quite sometime, so still that a bird had taken up her shoulder.

"I was quite sure that you had died or disappeared. Has the dragonfication hindered your ability to keep your plants in check?"

Lumina didn't move at first, she knew the voice but it took her a second to place it, not more than a second though. Lumina opened her eyes and scanned the shadows, Akeya another Dragoness like herself, well not quite Akeya was on a completely different level then herself. Lumina remembered Akeya seemed to enjoy what she was. Lumina on the other hand almost felt it a curse, the change had displaced her entire being and sense of self.

"Death is simply part of the cycle of life, i would return..." Lumina was almost completely sure of her words, the time frame on the other hand was something she was unsure of. "control of my magic was based off of control of my body, while my control was not perfect before it was enough that i could easily keep my magic in check, but..." Lumina held up a clawed hand. "when this happened it was almost as if the body was no longer mine, i was just a guest in it... or perhaps a unwelcome intruder..." Lumina smiled weakly "while i have more understanding of my body, its still not enough to keep control all the time..." Lumina's face turned red, "more so at this time of the..." Lumina shook her head and stood up. "Do you intend to stay in the shadows Akeya... It has been some time since we last met, surely you do not see me as a threat." Lumina Wrestled with her magic a bit more, slowly she was winning hearing from someone from the past made her want to prevent any harm from befalling them.

Akeya was quite surprised when it seemed that there was still a reaction to her presence even in her shadow form. Considering that her shadow form neither possesses any of the usual biological signs of life nor disturbed the air or the ground, the only explanation was that these plants could either sense magic or pick up on presence itself. Akeya could kill her presence and hide her magic as well if necessary, but it didn't seem like the plants were actually going to attack her, and if she had already been noticed there wasn't as much use in trying to hide herself completely, although she would stay in shadow form to ensure that she wouldn't easily be attacked.

When it came to Lumina... It appeared the younger dragoness was uncomfortable with her current situation. From the way that she answered Akeya's call it was also clear that she did indeed not actually intent to harm people with her plants, instead having lost control for the most part when her body began to turn into a dragon's. At least that meant that Akeya might be able to get rid of this aggressive forest without having to kill the source, which in a rare change of pace she actually didn't want to do. With most targets she would have found their weakness and used it to send them to the afterlife, but Akeya would rather that Lumina didn't die. At least her fellow dragoness was fairly trustworthy to act as an ally rather than an enemy. Honestly when she had disappeared Akeya had actually been worried for her instead of just immediately dismissing her as a lost cause, although she hadn't tried finding her for the simple fact that she didn't know where she'd even have to start with that endeavour.

"Death is usually the end of life. Although if you're able to reincarnate I guess you'd see it different." From Akeya's perspective death was final for the vast majority of living beings. Reincarnation might be possible, but since reincarnations tended to be completely different from the original she didn't think that meant that death was suddenly part of the cycle of life, except perhaps in an abstract manner. Well, not that that was too important right now... she had to help Lumina regain control and get this forest to stop attacking travellers and other people who get too close.

"From the way you are talking I'm assuming that you didn't actually want this transformation to happen. Which is also why it's feeling like you're unwelcome in your own body. Because you are rejecting it yourself." Which, in all honesty, somewhat annoyed Akeya. She had hoped that Lumina would be able to accept going beyond being merely human and turning into a mighty dragon. It seemed she had overestimated Lumina's willingness to accept her draconic lineage... which meant it was Akeya's job to make sure she realized this was the better option after all. The shadow dragoness stepped out of the shadows, looking pretty similar to before except a bit taller and with her draconic traits more prominent. She folded her arms as she looked at Lumina, openly studying her.

"You were a dragon from the beginning. This human form you've been using might have been comfortable, but you were never human. Being attached to your human form might be a reflexive reaction, but you should realize that this merely means you're returning to what you truly are." She narrowed her eyes. "I was born as a human with the blood of dragons flowing through my veins. I managed to awaken that blood, which allowed me to step onto the path of becoming a dragon myself. You however have always been a dragon. I hope you don't believe that being human is somehow better than being a dragon, because I'd have to take that as a personal insult of my ancestors and my own choice."

"And even if you truly didn't want to be a dragon..." Akeya shrugged. "You don't have much of a choice at this point. I'm aware that isn't a very comforting thing to hear, but the truth is also important. You've been rejecting your current state, made yourself feel as if this body wasn't yours, and in return you've been harming innocents because your plants have been outside of your full control. It might be possible to find some method to turn back, but there's nothing which indicates it actually possible, and I personally don't feel inclined to help you since quite honestly I'd prefer it if you joined me on the path to becoming a full dragon." Akeya raised one eyebrow."I hope you haven't forgotten what we were doing before you disappeared." With which Akeya was referencing to Lumina... basically wanting to date Akeya, which Akeya still found strange since she herself simply wasn't that romantic a person. "Having another dragonkin around would be nice, so from my point of view it'd be both more efficient and more pleasant if you accepted your new nature and instead made the best of it, in the process regaining your control over your plants."

Akeya glanced around, quickly studying their surroundings before turning back to Lumina. "And where is your little sister? I'd have expected her to help you come to terms with the situation, so I'm assuming that she wasn't with you when the transformation begun." The little dragon had been more knowledgeable about the situation about Lumina herself, and from the looks of it she had also been a little bit more mature than Lumina when push came to shove. At least, that's how Akeya remembered that particular dynamic and she trusted her own memories pretty far. "As for you being a threat, your plants are currently a potential threat. I wouldn't go so far as to say that makes you a threat as well but it does mean that I'll have to stay wary in your presence until you've regained full control over your plants, at least enough for them to no longer attack people on sight." Speaking of the plants, Akeya was ready to start slicing them up if they got too close to her.

Lumina didn't speak or react to most of what Akeya said, she was listening but as soon as Akeya returned to her solid form Lumina tightened her grip on the plants around them. As Iron wood was her grip on the plants by the time Akeya finished speaking, so much so that alot of the smaller, weaker plants died, wilting instantly and turning black. Lumina didn't feel sad at this she knew they would go on to feed others and they in turn would die and do the same. Despite what happened to the plants, Lumina didn't have control over death, all she did was choke the life from them. Lumina let out a breath as she expanded her grip, carefully making sure that she didn't slip up. After a bit lumina sighed with relief, she had made the immediate area safe as well as a bit away too.

"Life feeds on death, its a cycle that never ends and most likely never will." Lumina stood stretching as she did, her wings spanned out with her stretch before returning to their resting position. "its not so much i don't want the change as the change was so sudden... and painful, not only that but as you can see i lost control of my magic, which is why i ran. you may not like humans, but i still would rather not hurt anyone because i can't keep control. I don't need help stopping the change, i am aware this is what was suppose to happen, i need help gain control again." Lumina have looked ragged in the past always covered in dirt and other refuse, but her she stood with gleaming ruby scales covering most of her body with wings that seemed to be made of velvet. Her clothing consisted of a binding for her chest and a loin cloth, the cloth on them was ragged and clearly quite old but it did the job.

Lumina hopped down from the rock and approached akeya, narrowing her own ruby colored eyes. "So have you come here to burn the forest and end the cause?" Lumina knew the answer had most likely started with that, but now she was just poking fun. She cocked her head to the side, "As for Mayu she took off a while back to deal with something herself, each of us has our own... issues. Shes still alive i can tell you that, I can feel her in the earth and air." Lumina had left the question about how Lumina had been pursuing akeya's scaled booty till last, she had figured up and poofing had ended that. "and yes i do what we were doing before i left...what of it?" Lumina raised a eyebrow.

Akeya took note of how Lumina seemed to be troubled by her words. That wasn't too surprising: the Rose Dragoness was going through some rather heavy stuff right now, so of course she wouldn't like being reminded of it, and in general she'd be more easily aggravated by everything. What did surprise Akeya, however, was that Lumina's aggravation included the plants around her dying. She'd have expected Lumina's strong emotional state to result in another sudden growth in the plants, possibly an even more aggressive growth. For the plants to start dying instead must mean that Lumina is draining them of their life force rather than making her magic go wild. Which, all things considered, was probably an improvement but still made Akeya wonder about what kind of powers Lumina exactly possessed at this point. Both growth "Thedecay? Maybe only the plants that she herself had created...

Well, regardless, that wasn't important right now. From the looks of it Lumina was calming down somewhat as well, the plants around them (the ones which hadn't just been drained of life) seeming to become calmer and no longer showing hostile traits. That was good, since Akeya would hate to have to fight here when she instead could solve the issue by just making sure Lumina regained her control. The shadow dragoness raised an eyebrow when Lumina explained that death was part of the cycle by feeding new life. That was true, but Akeya was pretty sure that still meant that the originally living things stayed dead... She could argue with Lumina about that later. For now, just help the other dragoness out so the people of Magnolia were no longer in danger.

"I'm glad that you are accepting the change rather than rejecting it, but I suspect that one of the reasons that you lost control over your power is that while consciously you realize this should happen, a part of you might still be resisting, if only out of shock. And as you said yourself, the change was sudden and painful, so you might need to put some more effort into adjusting to your new form before your control comes back." Akeya was pretty convinced that some part of Lumina's trouble with controlling her magic came from some kind of conscious or unconscious resistance. Akeya's own transformation hadn't been the most pleasant, with wings and a tail forcibly forming on her back, but her control had carried over rather smoothly. Maybe it was another example of the difference between a pure dragon and a mixed breed dragon? Akeya could tell that Lumina was no longer a pure Rose Dragon, which was a bit of a shame. Maybe being a mixed breed resulted in her powers being less balanced and stable, so during the shocking transformations they went haywire and Lumina would have to train to control them.

"The mission is to keep the plants from harming anyone. Destroying the forest is not the actual objective, only if necessary. That doesn't mean I couldn't do it anyway, but I am pretty sure you would prefer it if I didn't take that option." Lumina's teasing tone somewhat flew over Akeya's head as the shadow dragoness instead gave the earnest and true answer. The plants were a threat, so the threat would have to be dealt with. Whether that would be through annihilation or pacification was entirely up to her. Normally she might just have decided to go with the annihilation since it would be rather easy to just burn the forest down, but as a Rose Dragon Lumina would disapprove of that almost certainly. "You should be able to pacify this forest with some more effort into regaining your control, so we'll focus on that instead." Akeya's tail swayed from side to side. "This'll work best if you're calm and with a positive mind." The next part might help with that somewhat...

"I hope she'll return at some point. She knew a lot about your situation, so her presence would be helpful, but not absolutely necessary." Mayu was quite the useful little dragon, having known about Lumina's past more than Lumina herself. Well, she would most likely return soon: Lumina and Mayu had been quite close, and there was little reason for that to have changed unless Mayu had disapproved of Lumina becoming more than just a Rose Dragon.

The next part, about what Lumina had been doing... "I'm curious if you are still hoping for that, or if in the meantime you have changed your mind regarding me. As I mentioned before, it would be pleasant to have another dragoness about, especially one who's in the middle of her transformation just like myself." Dragons were solitary creatures, so being separated for prolonged periods of time wasn't too strange. Of course they still liked having their mates nearby, but they weren't as needy as humans in that regard. So far as Akeya was concerned if Lumina still wanted to continue with her courting she was completely free to try. "You have changed quite admirably, so that's a plus as well. Although I must warn you that things have changed in Blue Pegasus as well. Quite drastically, and you'll have to accept that you're not the only one who gets to play with me." She smirked. "Of course, you'll still be of the highest rank, since as a dragoness you deserve that, but you'll still have to live with sharing."

"Now, for regaining your control... would you rather do it here, or should we go to another place and leave this one be? Without your influence the plants here can't keep up their behaviour forever, since plants aren't meant to behave like this. I could be wrong, but I'm quite sure that once your magic is gone the forest will rebalance itself into something more natural and harmless." Akeya could see that Lumina's magic was influencing the forest, but she couldn't actually see whether Lumina's removal would have that kind of effect. Plants shouldn't be this active, so it made sense to her that they were using Lumina to be able to move this much. Then again, they could be capable of staying active independently, or removing Lumina might just kill the entire forest outright.

Lumina chuckled about the comment about accepting her change, she had been told a while back something that fit the situation quite well. "Know the things you can change, know the things you can't and know the difference between the two."  Lumina smiled again and walked behind akeya, circling like a predator. "Not quite, the changes to the plants are self sustaining but given a bit of time i can stop them from being hostile." Lumina reached out and ran a clawed finger across Akeya's scales. Lumina's eyes wandered as she passed in front of Akeya, "So you mentioned that Blue Pegasus has changed?" Lumina asked as her finger ran across Akeya's chest dipping down a little before she removed her hand completely. "although that story can wait..." Lumina stepped up and rubbed her against the side of Akeya's, something she wanted to do but didn't know why. "yes... if youll have me..." Lumina's skin flushed almost as red as her scales, around the two plants sprung to life growing quickly. It didn't take her more than a few second to regain control, her mental grip returning and subduing the plants. Lumina pulled away with a small curse and focused on preventing any others from going.

"And as you can see it quite easy for me to lose focus..." Lumina turned back to Akeya, "and your presence is clearly not helping." lumina sighed and sat back down, "from what i can tell its kinda like being in heat, but its being magnified by being mid change." Lumina sighed again and leaned back to the ground. "from what i can tell its not just other dragons that can set me off but some plants... bad part is roses are common..." Lumina racked her brain, trying to think of a way to regain control completely.

Akeya nodded as Lumina mentioned an old proverb, although the rose dragoness's version was a tad different from the original. Akeya herself was a fan of hoarding knowledge and lore (like any intelligent and self-respecting dragon or mage, really) along with beautiful things, so she repeated the proverb, albeit the original version.

"Serenity with which to accept the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other." The truly most original version that had been recorded was a prayer to some deity or another, but Akeya felt that citing it to yourself as that which you should aim for rather than praying for some deity to give you those traits was the better option. It was a very good proverb though: those who couldn't accept the fact that there are limits to their powers they have to accept tended to come to bad ends, often doing great harm in the process. Those who couldn't bring themselves to act when action was needed lived lives of guilt and regret, or otherwise became cynical and uncaring in an effort to protect themselves, turning blind to the world and others. As for one without the wisdom necessary to see what they could and couldn't do, what they should and shouldn't do... Akeya had read in a book that if you had to choose whether someone possessed a good heart (read, solid and thorough understanding of ethics and morals and a strong inclination to follow the resulting rules) or a good mind (read, highly developed intelligence and ability to perceive and comprehend) you should almost immediately choose for the good mind. Akeya had no trouble accepting this, since a cold-hearted but logical person like her could quickly see how someone who tried their best to do good could bring about great damage in their ignorance, whereas a truly intelligent and wise person would limit the negative consequences to what they thought was necessary and could actually get away with.

This not even counting the fact that while someone of adequate intellect and wisdom could be persuaded to do good, there was little one could do to make a good-natured idiot smarter. You could teach them about the world, have them learn a few tricks that could help, but with how tricky the mind of a sentient being was a mind with limited capacity simply could not be brought to the same level as a mind which inherently had much greater potential.

When Lumina began to circle her Akeya followed her fellow dragoness with her eyes, those emerald orbs focused on Lumina with their usual sharp intensity that made you feel as if there was a physical weight pressing on you. Akeya trusted Lumina more than most, if only because with her enhanced senses and attention to detail she had been able to confirm that the Rose Dragon did in fact harbour some strong feelings for her, at the very least on a physical level. Still, Akeya was by nature a predator to the core, so having another predator circle around her as if seizing her up had the shadow dragoness on guard. She couldn't really hide that from Lumina, since the dragoness wasn't stupid, but on the other hand she was pretty sure Lumina wouldn't have expected anything otherwise. This wasn't the first time the two of them met, after all, and anyone who knew Akeya knew that she was suspicious and wary of nearly everyone, regardless of blood relations or reputation. Not even an insult to Lumina: simply Akeya's own nature, just like how Lumina's nature had her react strongly to Akeya's presence.

"Self sustaining? Your magic must somehow allow them to generate energy in some way then. Normal plantlife, even that of an unusual shape, wouldn't be able to move independently."

Akeya felt the claw go across her midnight blue scales, the shadow dragoness raising an eyebrow towards the rose dragoness even as she tried her best not to react too violently. Suspicious nature or not, she did want Lumina to feel like Akeya was still treating her as an ally and mate, partially because it was true and partially because it would be easier for Lumina to regain control if she felt more comfort in the presence of another. She would have to learn independent control as well, but that could come later.

"Time and neglect, followed by desperate attempts to revive it." A very short summary of what had happened, but not incorrect. Akeya had kept doing her own thing, fulfilling missions and training with private research on the side. She hadn't interfered with the rest of the guild after everyone she had found interesting had left, and the guild as a whole couldn't withstand having all the people of interest leave. Recent attempts aside, Blue Pegasus's place as one of the bigger guilds was brought into question at this point. Akeya could explain in more detail later though, as she was more interested in the way that Lumina was... frankly most likely following her instincts as she tried to court and seduce Akeya, rubbing herself against the shadow dragoness even as Akeya's eyebrow went a bit higher. She didn't mind the action, but she had to wonder just how long Lumina must have been keeping all her urges bottled up.

"So it seems. We'll have to figure out how to deal with that before we can leave here." Akeya commented rather dryly as Lumina was distracted from her own urges due to the plants threatening to grow out of control again. At least Lumina did a good job of retaining control, although the comment on how roses also could set the rose dragoness off made Akeya blink before she gave Lumina a smirk. "That is unfortunate indeed. What kind of attempts have you made so far at restoring your control?" As she talked Akeya stealthily brought her tail up, carefully curling it around Lumina's waist before pulling the rose dragoness closer. Col-hearted or not, Akeya still could do things for her own amusement and interest. "Maybe if you're in heat you'll feel better after you've been given the opportunity to release some of the pressure..." She nearly murmured this, inviting Lumina to lean closer in an attempt to hear it.

Lumina rolled her eyes as Akeya gave the correct version of what she had said, she loved how Akeya always knew more than she did. Not that Lumina was stupid, not by any means, she was just uneducated. most of what she knew were from genetic memory, she understood that a lot of her knowledge was her mothers... but it was more than that it seemed to go further then that, she could sense memory's from someone vastly older. Lumina looked at Akeya some more, she did find her pleasing. she found herself staring to the point that she space apart of what the Shadow dragoness had said.

"em what?" Lumina blinked herself to her senses. "Oh well they are functioning like humans do, pulling energy from the air and earth, most of them already have a great sum of energy stored." Lumina crossed her legs and set her arms on them. "In other words they wont change back just adapt to keep active. Everything that they did already photosynthesis, water gathering and root growth will pull energy over time. i doubt they will remain highly active unless threatened, think of it like a Venus Flytrap. Remaining still until something interacts with it, once again i doubt they will be dangerous unless they feel threatened." Lumina sighed, she kinda felt her explanation was circular but didn't know how to word it better.

Lumina sighed at the news of Blue Pegasus, she had a feeling she would not have a home there. She was about to respond to the last think Akeya had said when she felt something, it felt like a ting of something. It was suddenly hard to focus, something was crying out... in pain. Lumina bolted upright, she scanned the area around the two, the "crys" got louder... and closer.

"Fire..."

She could feel plants dying by the hundreds, fury welled up within her. She could see the glow now as a ball of fire drove its way to her. she could feel the cause... a mage... no mages their were quite a few of them. only a couple of them were as par with her own strength... with one exception... inside the fireball stood a woman, a cruel smile on her face... Lumina's hands clenched so tightly that her claws burrowed deep into her palms.

"Human's can never leave well enough alone can they..."

Lumina heard her own words and found them strange, like someone else had spoken them. Memorys that she knew were not her own flooded her mind, ones of trees so tall that they touched the sky, Energy so think it have a physical form and spirits wandering freely... and then fire... burning it all to ash...

The woman stopped at the edge of the clearing and regarded the two dragonesses. "well now to other mages beat us to the center i see..." the woman sighed. "ah well pity you two di... no... no your the source. that makes things even better." the woman held up a hand, which became alight with fire. "Time to die." the comment was almost singsong in it tone.

Lumina's fury boiled to a climax. "Human... you have sealed your fate..." Lumina Rushed forward to attack the woman, only to have some of her lesser minion get in her way. this day would make for a good fight.

Akeya tilted her head to the side just a bit as Lumina tried to further explain how the plants would keep functional after she left. It would have been better if they could expect the plants to return to normal once Lumina's magic left, but this could still work. If they spent most of their time gathering energy and would only actually move when absolutely necessary it should be possible for the people of Magnolia Town to work around the issue. Granted Akeya could still go back to the idea of getting rid of the plants, but she was pretty sure that Lumina would rather they left them alive. Not that she expected the other dragon girl to have a lot of sentimental value in them, but Lumina was a lot more emotional than Akeya and she was a plant-type dragon to boot. For her plants would be very important, more important than for pretty much anyone else in the near vicinity (other magical nature creatures would also have a lot of appreciation for the plantlife, but those tended to be very rare, difficult to locate and even more difficult to interact with). No, it would probably be for the best if she just reported that the plants would become more manageable and that the source of the outgrowth had been stopped so the situation wouldn't actually escalate further.

The shadow dragoness was still waiting for Lumina to reply to her more blunt invitation when she felt magic in the distance, magic with the element of fire. Akeya frowned as she sharpened her senses, zoning in on the source of the magic. Considering the fact that they were in the middle of a forest which had grown rampant, fire magic was an ominous sign, especially since they didn't actually want the forest destroyed. The shadow dragoness didn't immediately head for the source, instead waiting next to Lumina as she tried to get a better grip on the situation. Some other mages had arrived and were trying to deal with the forest (at least, that was the easiest explanation) but since Akeya had been sent to deal with the issue and it hadn't even been an hour yet either the higher ups were showing severe doubt in Akeya's prowess or this was a trap to take care of the cold-blooded assassin. Or this group of mages had nothing to do with any of the Council's machinations and had simply decided to help get rid of the forest out of their own volition. She'd have to decide fast which one it was, and what to do about it...

The intruding mages then arrived in the clearing, the leader apparent by sheer magic might and the fact that she was the one throwing fire around like it was nothing. She was also the only one who bothered to speak, but what she said was enough to get on Akeya's nerves. This one was clearly some kind of glory hound, and the moment that she found an opportunity to lay claim to the achievement of dealing with the issue of the rampant forest she was already taking it. Akeya's words wouldn't have any effect here... the woman didn't look like she would actually care, and as long as she treated Lumina and herself as the source of the issue she could get away with killing the both of them. After they were dead she would either make up the lie that Akeya had already been swallowed by the forest by the time they arrived, or she had been convinced to aid the dragoness producing the forest and the fire sorceress had no choice but to put her down.

While Lumina charged forward to face the first layer of enemies Akeya had disappeared. She hadn't just gone invisible: it was as if she had never been there, with not a single sign of her presence of existence. The fire mage of course got suspicious about that, so she tried throwing some fireballs to see if she could catch Akeya. The fireballs only hit the surroundings, igniting the forest and making it clear that if the fight wasn't concluded soon all of them would have an entirely new issue to deal with. The fire mage clacked her tongue in annoyance, but then turned back to Lumina, keeping an eye out for the 'invisible' dragoness while also preparing to back up her allies in taking care of the plant dragoness.

Akeya meanwhile had turned into a shadow, combined with a spell to turn herself invisible and her skills at suppressing ehr magic and hiding her presence. She slithered closer to the fire sorceress, leaving no sight, no sound, no scent and no mass that would otherwise allow her opponent to notice her presence. Positioning herself behind the fire sorceress Akeya concentrated. She'd have to take the woman down with one blow: she was clearly on her guard, so if Akeya didn't catch her off guard and then took her out she would be a real danger. Her magic power was significantly more than that of Akeya or Lumina, so in a straight up firefight they would be at a disadvantage even if the fire sorceress didn't have a lot of weaker mages to aid her and act as mooks. No, Akeya would have to be very decisive with this move.

Still in her intangible and invisible form Akeya narrowed her eyes, stalking the fire mage while Lumina held off the enemies on her own. The girl certainly knew how to fight, which suited Akeya just fine since it meant the fire sorceress couldn't just ignore her in favour of trying to smoke Akeya out. Bringing up one hand made of shadows Akeya pulled it back, then swung it forward at the same time that she formed it like a blade. Only when her hand was about to hit the fire sorceress's neck did Akeya regain her mass and form, still invisible and giving the woman no more than a split second to feel something behind her before Akeya's hand chop hit the side of her neck, smashing against the nerve there to leave the woman staggered and dazed. Which made her a perfect target for Akeya to follow up on, her tail lashing out to crash into the pyromancer's temple like a weighted whip. The pyromancer's legs wobbled and her eyes lost focus as the nerve strike in combination with the harsh follow up was enough for her to lose her grip on consciousness.

Akeya grabbed the fire sorceress with the hand she hadn't used during her lightning fast assault before she actually hit the ground, quickly lifting her and throwing her towards one of the other intruders to send the unconscious woman and her follower crashing into the ground, the follower having spun around with crackling runes surrounding his hands before he hesitated as he saw that the projectile was his own leader. Akeya herself once again turned into a shadow as she sneaked about, avoiding the projectiles and attacks being thrown about as she searched for her next target. She wondered what the intruders would do once all of them noticed that in the beginning of the fight their commander had been knocked out.

The attackers didn't have time to pay attention to what happened behind them. They had to much on their hands just dealing with the ball of rage currently assaulting them, they tried their best. Lumina felt many blows hit her, all kinds of attack hit her but very few doing any kind of real damage. She felt another blow bounce off her scales, she rounded on the attacker, her eyes full of fury. the attacker was a young man whom shrunk at her furious gaze, Lumina lashed out with her foot kicking him square in the chest. A large force hit her from behind, Lumina's hand dipped into a small pouch and pulled out a seed which she flung at the next attacker. This one was a young girl barely out of her childhood, her eyes went wide as the seed hit her chest and exploded into a flurry of vines, which prevented her from attacking further.

Lumina continued fighting for a few minutes more, her fury had abated, most of her attackers where children. She wondered what honeyed words had been whispered into their ears to have them act like cannon fodder. Lumina relaxed as the group turned and ran, she saw the few people she had bound struggling to get free. She sighed and waved her hands at the plants, this released they occupants, whom then ran from view.

"well that was fun..." Lumina patted herself down and looked around, the found that the main fire mage was still lying on the ground. "well well..." Lumina looked around at the scorched areas, she pursed her lips, it would be many years until this area recovered and some of the fires were still burning. she sighed and waved her hands again, this time weaving magic into the large plants. She watched as several plants changed and scrambled off, she had created them to fight fires. "To the earth with you..." Lumina knelt down and placed a seed on the fire mages chest, which burst into growth. Lumina stepped back as the plant grew into a tree, she had effectively ended the woman's life as a human, her spirit though would now live inside the tree. "well then now that she has been paid back for her slight against nature... i believe its time i let nature take its course... Please come out of the shadows..." Lumina used on of her claws to shed the remainder of her ratty clothing, making her intentions quite clear.

Akeya let Lumina take care of most of the assailants, if only because the rose dragoness wasn't showing any signs of slowing down and Akeya didn't want to get caught up in the chaotic fighting that was going on as a result of her fellow dragonkin's fury. The fact that most of the attackers were either children or nearly children didn't give her much reason to act either: anyone who knew Akeya would be aware that she wasn't exactly warm hearted enough to refuse to harm children, but even so children were usually weak and easily dealt with. And since she still had to give the appearance of being on the side of the Magic Council and the good guys she'd be better off not giving anyone any reason to believe that she had been harming children when Lumina could do such a good job of it by herself. Lumina was currently a rogue mage, if only because she had abandoned civilization to deal with her nature as a dragonkin before finally returning. While her harming children wouldn't exactly paint the prettiest picture either at least with her they could play the card that she was still getting used to being part of civilization again and that she was busy reforming herself.

That didn't mean that the shadow dragoness didn't do anything at all. Circling around the fight she waited for some of their adversaries to move too far away from the rose dragoness, at which point she would promptly attack them from her invisible state, sweeping their legs out from underneath them with her tail and then striking their shoulders hard to keep them from easily moving their arms. At this point killing was inadvisable, so she'd settle for hindering their ability to fight while still giving them the ability to run away once it became clear that they wouldn't be able to take down the rose dragoness and the invisible enemy that was punishing any attempt at attacking Lumina from further away. It wasn't a very difficult task, since the fire mage that Akeya had 'assassinated' had been the main challenge. In a straight up fight she probably would have been a real handful, so it was a good thing that she hadn't been able to detect the shadow dragoness until it was too late. All these youngsters were more suited as cannon fodder than actual enemies, due to them not having fully matured or trained a lot.

In the end the fight didn't last much longer, barely a few minutes as Lumina swatted most of the opponents down with ease or restricted their movements, Akeya remaining hidden and knocking down any children who turned themselves into easy targets of opportunity, whenever possible giving the impression it was the animated plants which had lashed out. The only reason the fight lasted that long was because neither Akeya or Lumina actually wanted to cripple or kill the children, and that there were enough of them that even with two dragonesses outclassing them it took a while to knock every single one down individually. At the end all of them were running away, Akeya keeping an eye on them to ensure they were actually leaving the forest while Lumina freed those she had tied up. The fire sorceress must have bribed some street gangs in Magnolia and promised to recommend then to influential people: street orphans and miscreants would be easily bought and deceived, especially with some displays of power. Whether the fire sorceress had been expecting them to die or she hadn't thought the danger to be at a level where their life was at risk Akeya couldn't say for certain, although from the way the woman had talked she wasn't the friendliest of people. Maybe not the most moral of people either.

Regardless of what the fire sorceress had been planning, it seemed like her plan would cost her dearly. After having ascertained that all the kids had left Akeya watched as Lumina used the woman's body as nutrients for a new tree. An unusual way of killing someone, although fitting in its irony of how the woman who wanted to burn the forest down would now serve as the origin of one of its biggest trees, flesh and magic both consumed to fuel its rapid growth. Not very effective kin the middle of combat, but a good way to deal with enemies who had already been incapacitated but who couldn't be allowed to live.

As Lumina called out to her and exclaimed that she would accept Akeya's offer the shadow dragoness circled around the rose dragoness, still not having left her intangible and invisible form. The battle had been easy once the main threat had been taken by surprise: indeed, Akeya had done exactly as an assassin ought to do if combat was unavoidable, and the results had spoken for themselves. But Lumina was correct that with all threats gone they could get back to what they were doing before the annoying humans had gotten in their way. Sneaking closer Akeya checked to make sure her stealth was still thorough. Her magic suppressed, her form intangible, her presence dispersed, her signs of life nowhere to be found, no sound made and no scent given. Like a true spirit, invisible and untraceable by all, Akeya moved closer until she was right behind Lumina, her hidden emerald eyes observing the other dragoness's exposed form. It didn't look like any of the attacks made by the children or the flames thrown by the pyromancer had managed to mar her, which was good.

Lumina would get next to no warning before suddenly a pair of scaled arms were wrapped around her from behind, one midnight blue limb around her midriff and the other crossing her torso to grab her shoulder. At the same time a familiar form presses against her from behind, Akeya's tail curling around one of her legs even as she extended her tongue and slowly ran it along Lumina's ear, her large draconic wings curling up around the both of them.

"It's good to see that you are still in good health and good shape. You'll need it."

Lumina smiled as she felt her mate make her move, "The next idiot whom interrupts us dies..." She leaned back into the shadow dragoness's body, giving herself away to her companion and thankfully nobody interrupted them.

Several hours later...

Lumina was up and about doing her own thing, though a bit sore either from the fighting or her fun with Akeya. Somehow she felt much better, more balanced somehow, she figured that Akeya had acted as a stabilizer or something. She wandered about manipulating the plants, creating herself some new clothing, somehow her scraps didn't survive her taking them off. Lumina smiled knowingly that she had been a little... vigorous in taking them off, not that it mattered in the long run. plants could produce fibers that she could use to mold new clothing, though it would mean they would need water and sunlight like a normal plant, her body would provide the other nutrients. she was just about done making a top for herself, she had used a red flower and molded them into a semi-transparent tube top thingy, she kinda liked the thought that Akeya could always see her. She blushed at her own thoughts and secured the top on herself, then started on a dress for her waist, using the same red flower she made a cute bottom. This part was only partially see through and only up to her upper thigh for that matter, Akeya had already seen everything anyways and if she wanted to go back she had to be somewhat presentable. That thought made her frown, she had to fix the top, it didn't really take more than a wave of the hand a a small burst of nutrients and the top became solid colored. Lumina sighed, Had she really just tried to doll up? She shrugged and itched her leg, it didn't relieve it.

"again... really?"

The itching intensified in a very annoying way, but the zones confused her. right now her scales covered mostly all the same parts as it did Akeya but she was still getting new scales on her legs. Lumina wandered over to the rock she had been sitting on and inspected her legs, her scales had progressed farther up her thighs almost all the way up her hips, she also noticed that her feet had changed back into a more human looking foot.

"Erm... Akeya... somethings... off..." Lumina flinched as a sudden shooting pain shot up her legs. "ow... what the hell..." Lumina didn't understand was this suppose to happen. "Did you change hurt like this?!?" the pain was growing stronger with every second, she tried to stand but only manage to tip over. She wouldn't feel the ground or anything she had already passed out from the pain. Her legs had fused together and seemed to be growing longer, no more than a few seconds had her legs vanished completely and her weight had increased by alot. By the end of the changes ended Lumina had more of a serpentine form than anything, unknown to Lumina there were several sub-types of rose dragons, mostly based around their homes. As lumina had mainly resided inside forests till this point her body took the form of a Forest Rose Dragon.

After they had their fun Akeya studied their surroundings while she waited for Lumina to finish her work here. This wasn't a bad place to be, but if they wanted to be done with this entire situation they'd have to actually get moving. Akeya was more careful with removing her own clothes, so those were still intact. Which made sense, since Akeya wasn't actually capable of making new clothes (to be more exact, she couldn't make clothes that lasted: shadows were only a temporary solution) and while she herself didn't actually care whether she was seen in the nude or not she was painfully aware that civilization had other opinions on the matter. She had to admit, however, that she felt more relaxed than before. She had found one of the few people who she actually found worth looking after (namely Lumina, a fellow dragonkin), got to take care one of those arrogant humans who thought too highly of themselves without her being able to do anything about it, and after that got to unwind in one of the most natural and primal of methods. All in all, if they managed to leave this place without any other incidents this would have been well worth the trip to Magnolia Town.

She looked at Lumina, who seemed to be absorbed into making new clothes for herself. The shadow dragoness raised an eyebrow when she saw that the rose dragoness was going for some rather risqué clothes. She had a good idea what was going through Lumina's mind right now, but she'd have to explain to her fellow dragoness that the humans wouldn't be appreciative of the gesture even though most of them would most likely never have another chance to look upon the graceful form of a naked female dragonkin. So far as Akeya was concerned a human female couldn't compare to the reptilian grace of herself and Lumina, although she supposed that the humans wouldn't be very eager to agree with that, if only because of that absurd pride of his where they had to assume they always were either the best or had the potential to be the best. The only creatures which humans were willing to accept as more beautiful than themselves were the elves, and they usually described those as just being enhanced humans.

Fortunately it looked like Lumina herself had already realized that she'd be better off making her clothes more practical and suitable for public use, so the shadow dragoness returned to keeping an eye on their surroundings in case some other human decided to try their luck. From what she could tell her theory that Lumina would be better at controlling her plants once she had found some release and emotional stability had been correct, so maybe they could deal with any new assailant without anyone dying. People would already be asking what happened to that female pyromancer that Lumina had turned into a tree, so the less corpses they left behind from this point on the better. Akeya walked over to the tree that Lumina had formed out of the sorceress, studying it up close as her enchanted eyes picked up on the magic coursing through the tree. Whatever it was that the rose dragoness had done hadn't actually gotten rid of the magic that the woman had possessed: rather, the magic was now the tree's, most likely giving it unusual longevity and potential for growth. As long as the humans or some other creature didn't destroy this glade this would become quite the tall and ancient tree indeed, although most of the humans wouldn't live long enough to see that. That stray thought made Akeya somewhat curious what this location would look like one or two hundred years from now, when she was still able to visit and see the results of the ages while pretty much any human who was alive at this point would already be dead, if not claimed by violence or disease then by time itself. Magnolia might still be standing, but depending on how the world developed that settlement might end up abandoned, to be devoured by this new forest with its unusual growth.

Those thoughts were interrupted when Lumina called out, the shadow dragoness looking back around only to frown as she noticed that something was wrong. Lumina's magic was intensifying, gathering and condensing even as the rose dragoness complained about the state of her legs. Hurrying over Akeya shook her head in response to Lumina's question.

"Growing my wings was a painful experience, but you should already have gone past that initial phase." After the wings Akeya's growth had been quite gradual and without many complications, which Akeya had always attributed to her dragon blood. Once her body had adapted to the draconic traits, further changes had been accepted without much resistance. She sometimes wonder whether this was also why the magic tattoo of shapeshifting had worked so well for her.

However either something strange was happening with Lumina or her body wasn't quite as compliant on the issue of transforming into a dragon. Which didn't really make sense, since Lumina was supposed to be an actual dragon who had been given a humanoid body at first to help her from those who would have wanted to eliminate all rose dragons. Akeya couldn't do much but watch as Lumina cried out, then fell unconscious as the pain overwhelmed her. The shadow dragoness had to admit that she was somewhat surprised when Lumina's legs began to melt together, the flesh reforming as if wet clay. This certainly wasn't like Akeya's own transformation, and she blinked when Lumina's legs turned into a long serpentine tail, turning the rose dragoness into a draconic lamia in contrast to Akeya's quadruped dragon type.

Kneeling next to the fallen Lumina Akeya explored her new tail gently with her scaled fingers, checking to see that it was indeed her new lower body and not some kind of trick. However it looked like her body had indeed decided that this was the next step in her dragonfication, so Lumina would have to get used to moving with a tail instead of feet. Akeya patted Lumina's cheek to try and wake her up, and if that wouldn't work she'd snap her fingers and pull on the tip of the newly formed tail.

Lumina didn't just pass out she was seeing the memory's of one of her "ancestors", a rose dragon vastly old she could not identify the age. Sitting on a large stone in the middle of some unknown planes, she wondered whom eyes she was seeing through, she looked to around a bit but the froze.

"How..."

She was a bit confused she always saw someone elses action, Lumina looked around a bit then down at her own hands. She was pretty sure that these were her own actions, what confused her was her legs, they were serpentine.

"ok so not me but how do i have free thought and control?"

"Thats because young one while this is a memory it is also a reality."

Lumina's eyes snapped upwards to the dragon she had seen when she had first arrived. The dragon was looking directly at her with large amber eyes, which caused her own eyes to widen.

"what? thats... confusing..." Lumina looked down at what was in place of her legs,[color=#00ff00"its not even accurate, i have legs not er... this."[/color] She motioned to her lower body.

"ah i see so your change is early. No that is your body as of now the body of a forest dwelling Rose dragon." The dragon huffed, a cloud of smores came erupting out of her nose. "Don't worry about it dear there are many types of Rose Dragons, the sturdy Mountain Dragons, the huge Hill dwelling ones, the island butterfly type and finally the Serpentine forest dweller."

All Lumina could manage was blink at first, there were so many different types that it had caught her off guard. Lumina frowned as she tried to imagine all of them, as if she had always known she recalled quite a few. "what? but ho-"

"Because this is a place for our kind to remember whom they are... what they are and what they will be." The voice was smooth and sweet, Lumina turned to face the speaker. "we have not seen many of our kind in quite some time, we grew worried. has the rose faded from history?" she marveled at the butterfly like wings she had.

"That would be tragic i think." Another voice chimed in this one was gruff and gravely, she spotted him staring down at her from a smell nearby cliff. He was very bulky, every muscle was defined and clear. By the process of Elimination she looked for that last which she found up a tree.

"So this place exists but only in my own memory's..." she pondered for a second, Lumina looked up as the area developed even more, not more dragons appeared but she could tell that many had been here. "Are you... alive?"

"in a way" all of the dragons answered in unison, they all looked at each other and a silence ensued. Lumina watched as the dragons looked at each other, they were just like people in her eyes. She couldn't help but laugh at the them, which drew their gaze to her.

"Wow i figured this would be some kind of... i don't know super one time thing... but your all just normal." Lumina smiled and walked... no slithered, she looked down at her lower half, it had felt weird for a while. Now though it felt natural like she had been born this way, the she twitched her tail and felt it. "hmm odd."

"not quite love, i gave you the memory's to move properly, I also gave you our names." Lumina turned to the Tree which the serpentine Rose Dragon sat nestled. The others gave of words of protest which only drew a tongue from her.

"Camilla, Eraina, Eric and Regius..." Lumina started with the Serpentine then the hill, then the Island and ended on the mountain. Before Lumina could start she was awoken she blinked and looked around only to have her tail fondled... "nnnooo stop that." She righted herself and examined herself. "hmm well we should go lead the way."

While Lumina was stuck in whatever dreamlike state had managed to catch her Akeya couldn't do anything but wait and guard her inactive body, picking her up and carrying her back to the large tree which now dominated the middle of the forest quite splendidly. From what she could tell Lumina was still alive and breathing, with no sign of actual inner turmoil, poison or anything else which would have required immediate action. She just seemed to be... asleep, in a strange way. She didn't wake up no matter what Akeya did (while Lumina's new form was heavier than before Akeya could still carry it, using her own draconic strength. The more surprising part was that even after having been picked up and carried Lumina still seemed to be fully asleep), which left Akeya with no choice but to wait to see if the situation would change. If this took too long she'd have to see if she could force Lumina to wake up, but she'd rather not do that. If this was a magically induced state trying to force the issue might not work or even make matters worse, and if it wasn't magically induced then waking her up suddenly could leave her really confused, which wasn't the most pleasant of states to be in. Akeya wasn't so soft that she would refuse to wake her up, but she'd rather see if Lumina would wake up by herself first.

While waiting for the Rose Dragoness to either stay asleep or open her eyes Akeya quickly scouted the surroundings, only to conclude that there still was nobody in the vicinity. It seemed like they had some time to see what would happen to Lumina, which was good. Returning to the side of her fellow dragonkin Akeya began to idly play with the tip of Lumina's tail, moving it back and forth between her scaled and clawed fingers in a rather idle manner. She wasn't the type to fiddle, finding it a sign of a lack of self control usually (she had heard rumours that fiddling with things helped with concentrating and thinking, but so far as she could see it didn't actually have much of an effect and it wasn't really a feasible thing to do if you were on an important mission where any kind of unnecessary movement could backfire). The main reason she was doing it right now was because she was honestly surprised by the changes to Lumina's body and was somewhat experimenting with it. She herself hadn't even experienced something like her legs forcibly turning into a long tail, so she was somewhat worried about the skeletal structure, the muscles and the nerves. Fortunately some further examination revealed to her that however Lumina's legs had been made to meld together, her anatomy was still flawless, the structure of her legs smoothly having been turned into the anatomy of one large tail. Although Akeya couldn't really explain where the additional mass had come from other than just magic. Maybe the plants around Lumina had helped supply the required nutrients?

When Lumina began to wake up again Akeya calmly kept playing with the tip of her tail as if it was the most normal thing in the world, even though Akeya was one of the few creatures who was aware that playing with a dragon's tail like that could have some very private meanings and results to it. She'd just spend a good while trying her best to exhaust Lumina in a most enjoyable manner, so she didn't think the Rose Dragoness would mind too much if she didn't act as prudish as most people did. As she somewhat expected Lumina was more bothered by the sensations than by the fact that Akeya was doing something like that in the first place, pulling her tail away from Akeya's teasing hands so she could escape the shadow dragoness's strange sense of humour and inspect her own body.

"I never had anything like this happen to me while I was stepping onto the path of becoming a dragon, but I'm assuming it's a direct result of you being a Rose Dragon." Akeya stated it as an observation rather than a question, already pretty sure that she knew the cause of this. There weren't a lot of options anyway, so no reason to beat around the bush about it. When Lumina mentioned that they should move the assassins nodded and stood up again, looking at Lumina before pointing towards the direction Magnolia Town was in.

We'll circle around a bit to look less suspicious, but that way is Magnolia Town where we'll be going. If you can use those plants of yours to help keep track of which direction that is we'll be able to move quickly without issue." With that she began to walk, expecting Lumina to follow behind her without complaint. Normally one might wonder whether Lumina could even use that tail to walk, but she had already shown an unusual degree of familiarity with her new body while inspecting it. Whatever strange side effects being a Rose Dragon had, it looked like it had some advantages as well, such as quickly adapting to your changed body. Even Akeya had some issue with her tail and wings once they showed up: the ability of flight hadn't come naturally to her, even though once she had gotten the hang of it it felt pretty damn natural and pleasant.

Leaving the spot of the battlefield behind along with the clearing and the giant tree Akeya began to lead Lumina towards the edge of the forest in the complete opposite direction of Magnolia Town, wanting to circle around the forest once they got out. "I'll explain that you were caught by a powerful enchantment which trapped you and which caused the forest to rise up around you and eliminate any and all intruders. It wouldn't be the first time that someone tried to keep someone else trapped by having the plants act as defenders, so it shouldn't be difficult to convince them, especially since I seem to be the only one to ever escape. If they ask, tell them that I managed to find the links that bound you and resulted in your mana feeding the forest, but that the ordeal had an effect on your body. Got it?"