Of water and flames (private Ardent, Arkhor)

Laying back against the shore, Ardent let out a gentle sigh, enjoying the sunlight upon her scales. It truly was an escape, to come to the beaches of Verula, and bask in the warmth, with the water just a tail's reach away. Rolling to a more comfortable position, she stretched herself out, her scales slowly changing from a dully grey-silver to a gentle black, slowly growing deeper in colour the more heat she took in. In her little cove, she didn't have to worry about another dragon stumbling upon her, as she was technically still in Ki'Sha territory, and there was really no reason to patrol the oceanic borders. After all, the Lakara was just as likely to attack them as the Stormcallers, mainly due to the fact that they wouldn't be able to do anything with tracts of desert, just as the Ki'Sha would have no reason to attack them… even if they could find them.

Eyes slowly slipping shut, it took mere moments for her heartbeat and breathing to slow, as she relaxed into the baking sand and drifted into a rather peaceful and deep sleep, her body sprawling out as she did so. Of course, in her state, she failed to detect the slight disturbances in the sand as a sand-raptor, a sub-species of drake that burrowed through the sand after its prey, slowly made its way towards her… Even thought it was less than half her size, all it needed was a single clear shot at her neck, and she would be a goner…

Meanwhile in the ocean sprawling in front of her, Arkhor was trying to catch a certain tricky Marlin, being one of the fastest fish in the sea it was difficult yet they where considered a great prize if caught and taken back to the tribe. Without realising he had left the Lakara borders, dashing towards the fish as this was the best chance he had to catch it close to the shore. With his maw missing and claws failing to grab hold of the sliver speeder he failed to notice how close he was to shore. Causing quite a splash as he rolled onto the sand, panting as he felt dazed sighing in annoyance. There was no way he was going to catch it now, turning his snout towards the mainland he noticed a seemly sleeping dragoness on the sand, widening his eyes he tried to remain quiet hoping that he didn't disturb her.

Cracking open a single eye, Ardent noticed, after a few moments of staring, that she wasn't alone. It hadn't been enough that he had been splashing around like mad in the shallows, probably trying to catch a crab or something, but he was now just resting there, on the shore, watching her. A small snarl coming to her maw, she rolled herself over onto her belly, just in time to catch the sand-raptor against her shoulder, instead of her neck, turning an otherwise fatal blow into a severely injuring one. Letting out a surprised, and pained, screech, she was borne back down into the sand by the creature, which was snapping and clawing viciously, attempting to wrap it's jaws around her neck, or, failing that, claw her head apart. A few moments of desperate scuffling insured, before something clicked inside her, as she snarled, a large star, about the size of Arkhor's head, appeared behind the sand-raptor, and quite literally smashed into its back, over and over, burning flesh and smashing bone, even as the beast screamed in pain, to which Ardent replied by wrapping her own maw around its neck and quickly twisting, shattering it in a heartbeat.

Throwing the carcass aside, she quickly went limp where she was lying, her paws flopping against her chest, before brushing over something odd. Summoning a shard of energy, she glanced down, somehow unsurprised to see one of the creature's hind talons, still glistening with a layer of potent toxin, lodged under her scales, and buried into her skin. Not even bothering with the Lakara, who, most likely was still sitting watching, she twitched lightly, as the toxin started to work into her bloodstream. "I shouldn't take days off…" She mumbled quietly to herself, sending one last glance towards Arkhor before going limp, unconscious.

Gasping as he watched the strange sand crature attacking the dragoness, rolling onto his feet as he stood up moving closer as he wanted to help yet stopping as she successfully killed the attacking foe. Frowning slightly as he watched her faint, dashing over towards her yet remaining weary. Noticing the talon in her side he guess it was a toxin within her bloodstream. Growling slightly in annoyance, removing the talon from her scales he quickly pressed his paw against the wound yet using his powers to heal the wound and targetting the bon within her. After what seemed to be hours he collapsed after successfully healing the wound only flopping onto his side panting.

Ardent let out gentle whines, a clear venom slowly dripping from the wound as Ark healed it, her body expelling the toxin. It was incredibly painful for her, her body forced to regrow flesh and heal at a far higher than usual rate, leaving her just as exhausted as Ark was at the end of it, a light sweat on her scales, which were far warmer than usual. Slowly, after a few more minutes of pained groans and whimpers, one of her eyes opened. She knew she should have been dead, with how quickly the toxin would have circulated in her blood stream after her tussle… but she was fine. The Lakara… Looking down at him, she had little enough strength as it was, only able to roll herself to her side, a wing flinging out over him. "Thank you…" She said weakly, before her head turned to the dead sand-raptor. Summoning a single star, all she could manage, she pulled the carcass closer, and cut a ragged line down its belly, pushing the star inside, letting it cook… they both needed the meal… "How… you doing…?"

Panting slightly as he felt weak, replying as best he could "N...no.. problem... I'm glad your okay... I'm alright... just a little wiped out..." he chuckled lightly looking exhausted, "C...could... you help me move a little closer to the water?... I can't reach it from here..." frowning slightly as it was clear his scales where beginning to look dry.