Las figured that she might as well let the dragon pull her, she felt that she could very easily resist, and that gave her confidence.

  The questions piling on her mind were close to being answered. She was curious and the Sea was coming close, Entering it was always an experience.

  She centered herself and opened her eyes.

  *** *** ***

  Rei could feel something connecting to him, he felt that he could pull on it and assumed that was part of whatever magic the Female Kobold used on him.

  [Rei] “They better use names as identifiers … “

  The dragon was pulling what he imagined as a rope connecting him, his tiny ‘not-sand’ asteroid offering him grip.

  He couldn't see anything of the Female, but could feel something getting ever closer, until suddenly, she was right there in front of him, like a fish you just pulled out of murky waters, a blink and miss deal that he did miss, like he was not supposed to perceive it.

  One moment no kobold, the next, a Kobold.

  [Rei] “That was weird … “

  [Rei] -Hey there Traveler, welcome to my humble home, Rei is the name, may I have yours ?-

  The dragon offered a bow and a sly smile, like a Fey offering deals with the stupid rules they had that somehow needed to be followed.

  His voice was that of an Old Time Radio Host, his Intent to pass the charisma of a sly conman, but friendly all the same.

  He was standing up in a weird way, that somehow looked natural even when it was clearly not.

  His bow was making him curve into himself, its limbs somehow longer than normal and its tallows blunter.

  *** *** ***

  When Las opened her eyes, she didn't know what to expect. There were a lot of possibilities in her mind, but none came close to the sheer impossibility in front of her.

  The Dragon had an Island … How did he have an island ? It's not an Ancient, it does not feel like one, it can't be divinity, as his island is his alone, but how could he have such Mastery, such ease?

  She didn't even know where to begin, just seeing it was enough to give her pause, and when listening to him, she got so much meaning, her mind immediately did a spin trying to fit the amount of context behind his actions.

  The voice was a weird sound that was not his, it was copying someone speaking behind some sort of arcane device where the sounds got changed, the context behind the device, its use, who used it, why that was, why he was choosing to do that, his Intent behind it

  And that was just the voice, the extra amount of content she had to parse to make sense of his words.

  Traveler's as of an adventuring party, the Weaver of stories classic introduction, and what is the Weaver of stories, the context behind a game and that kind of entertainment.

  All that needed to make sense of the Intent behind him asking for her name, the intonation, the smile, the comical bow.

  It was a joke, a layered joke, a simple greeting with more and more content behind, content that she could keep digging even more.

  All of it for a simple greeting and introduction, all of it for inane conversation.

  And his own name, the most important part, what should be the heaviest, meant nothing, it literally was a name he thought he could sound, nothing else, no story behind it, no nothing, just a silly choice of ‘ease of use’.

  He was doing it on purpose, there is no other explanation for it, he was playing a game, he was showing off to her, establishing superiority with a simple greeting.

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  But two could play this game.

  Las opened her mouth, focused her mind and put as much context as she could behind the simple words.

  [Las] -Greetings Rei, I am Las-

  She also did a Bow, looking at him with an observant expression.

  *** *** ***

  The dragon listened to the voice, and behind it, a lot was happening, a wall of context and meaning.

  He didn't know if it would even work, he didn't know if his imagined sounds were going to cut through, if the meaning behind his words would reach her, or if the Language problem would still be a problem, he was glad it wasn't, but now he needed to figure out what communication in this place looked like, and for her simple greeting, it looked … DENSE.

  Las greets Rei, appreciates the welcome to his domain and accepts the offered knowledge of his greeting, and, as an equal, she offers her greeting.

  Testing one another like he offered to do with her.

  The dragon got all that in a simple word, the intent behind, the context and that was only the greeting.

  From the looks of it, laying on this place would be exceedingly difficult, as the other person would know the context behind what you said and you Intent with it.

  I am Las had her whole story behind it, who she was, the ones that gave her life, those she lost, the hunger that took away all she had, her savior, teacher and matchmaker, her beloved, who she is and what she sees herself as.

  Where she came from and where she is at, her pride in it.

  The dragon got all of it in the same spam as he listened to the words.

  But his mind did not try to comprehend at the same time, it was used to a deluge of information.

  As soon as the general context passed through, all the rest got shoved outside.

  On the island, a bunch more Sand just got made.

  The dragon blinked a few times, briefly parsing through the new Sand, feeling it, understanding the general points of what she wanted him to know.

  [Rei] -Tough life … congratulations i guess, but … what was that ?-

  The dragon asked, grabbing a handful of Sand that quickly got molded into a stool so that he could sit, his eyes blinking with genuine curiosity as he looked at the memories that were just made, examining it like it was an interesting new trinket.

  *** *** ***

  Las was close to strangling the dragon, he barely even flinched when she shoved most of her life on his face.

  And to make matters worse, she just saw him making the Dream Sand, it was literally memories, memories discarded into the Sea, but that made no sense.

  Why would it make an island ? Why didn't it sink? She was looking for the bottom of the island, but once again, She was looking for something she could not comprehend, it stretched down forever but she knew that it was finite.

  It could not be bottomless, for not even thousands of thousands of lifetimes were not enough to fill the endless bottom of the Sea … so How did he do it ?

  Her musings were interrupted by a question, so much less context behind it, but the little that was there, made her even more confused.

  What was the context ? What was the Sharing ? Why did she push her life to him ?

  Is he just clueless ? … No, that can't be, is he doing everything on raw talent ? Did he make an island with nothing but luck ? But where would he find so many memories to give ?

  How did he make the memories not sink ?

  Feeling frustrated and petty, Las answered back.

  [Las] -What what?-

  *** *** ***

  [Rei] “She Is being a bastard”

  The dragon thought when he heard the question back, packed with so many questions that it made a cacophony of doubt in his mind.

  [Rei] -Can you stop ? I'm trying here-

  The dragon was anxious and tried diplomatically.

  Too bad he was also quite afraid and that made the Anger already there to spur him to action on a rant.

  [Rei] -What's wrong with you people ? I was just hunted by your bunch of bastards-

  The dragon was getting bigger.

  [Rei] -I finally clawed some self determination and power that finally made you people reconsider Killing me for leather or some shit-

  He was getting too close, Las was taking a step back, but anymore and she would fall on the Sea.

  [Rei] -And now you shoved me back in this Dream Place with your mind fucking magic and not just that, you now keep trying to swindle me with your obvious greater experience ? FUCK YOU-

  And the dragon flicked his tail, throwing Sand on the Kobolds smug face.

  Her face of pure surprise made him smile.

  *** *** ***

  [Rei] -Can you stop ? I'm trying here-

  She listened to his words and finally understood why Kow was so frustrated and afraid. She just made the same mistake as Kow, only this time, in the opposite direction, she overestimated the Dragon.

  She could feel his Fear, it was such a surprise for her, it was a great amount of fear, as great as when she first fell into the Dream Sea, afraid to be gone forever in an endless nothing, afraid of what would happen and if he could even do something to stop it … and it was expertly Hidden by an amount of will and experience that she could only imagine as instinctual for the dragon to do it.

  And when She gave him back her questioning, he thought she was trying to interrogate him, extract as much information as she could, making use of his lack of knowledge about what was going on … He actually didn't know what he was doing.

  [Las] “I fucked up …”

  Before Las could even apologise, the fear was washed away in a wave of anger.

  As soon as she felt the anger, Las was preparing, shield at the ready and her anchoring to the real world Solid, the dragon would try to kill her for her disrespect.

  There was so much anger boiling on him, that she thought it was a repeat of their first Encounter.

  He was getting even bigger, his domain giving him more and more authority, she … she could actually die here, and it would be all her mistake …

  The anger was ever increasing, his voice caring only the sharp Intent of what he meant.

  [Las] “He is confused, he knows nothing …”

  Every word the dragon said carried his history, and it was a short one.

  He was in the Dream Plane before, but only as he almost died, he didn't know what this place was or why he had so much in his mind, he just shoved all out to parse through later.

  Her team hunted him just as he was starting to understand how to even move, afraid of not even being capable of running, afraid of losing his life on his second day of awareness, a second day that came after surviving an unsurvivable wound to the head.

  He discovered he could control his own body, he clawed some power back, and fought against them in what he thought was a Life and death battle.

  He didn't even know what Intent was, he learned during the fight.

  And when he finally calmed down after discovering he was not as helpless as he thought and her team no longer considered him an easy prey, he offered diplomacy.

  He had an absurd distrust of anything related to his mind, and that made sense, if what she was getting was his story.

  [Las] “And I fucked up badly … Has should be the one here …”

  His anger was burning, and She could see why, it was burning the mountain of fear he felt, he burned it all with his anger, until nothing was left except action.

  But for all that anger compelling him to act, Las had her expectations broken once again.

  The attack never came.

  Las blinked a few times when Sand made its way into her face, her reflexes dulled for that was no true danger in the dragon's Intent, she was waiting, waiting, waiting … and it never came.

  [Las] “All that … and you just threw Sand on my face ?!”

  Las spent the next moments blinking and looking at the Dragon that was now seated in the Sand, she could feel his anger boiling hot, he was fuming, and he was seated in the Sand like a child grumbling about unfairness.

  Las could not contain it anymore, she started giggling.

  [Las] -Hahaha, you are just as silly as Belove … im … im sorry for that, you are just … Weird-

  She put all the necessary context behind that word, what her team expected and what they got out of the Dragon.