Xander nodded her understanding, looking at Yue curiously before she shrugged. "Well then, I think we're going to be finding out what lurks beneath your waters."

"Good luck with that," Ryan said. Not even the weyrleaders of his home weyr really knew what was off the shore. Where some weyrs had a mix of dragons in the eyries, most of the far northern and far southern weyrs were purely snow-dragons. There were no ocean dragons in the eyries, so nobody really knew what was under the surface within weyr boundaries.

Xander nodded and then grinned when they got to the top, and they could see the lake just ahead. Calypso moved faster than she'd ever seen on land, practically slithering her way over into the water and sinking into it until all you could see was her head, turned to look at Xander.

"Ah, no. I am not going in there. It's cold."

Calypso blew a few bubbles before sinking all the way down to go rummage around on the bottom.

Faith had disappeared to go and retrieve one of the sleeping bags for Xander. She got back just in time to see Calypso disappear into the lake, and she snickered a bit.

"It's not that cold," she commented. "It's a bit chilly this time of year, but it's not really cold-cold." She grinned. She knew very well that mountain lakes were cooler than lakes closer to sea level at any given time of year. She was just teasing her.


"If you want cold, go north," Ryan added, joining in the teasing a bit. "Once the lake is solid, then it's cold."

Xander just glowered at them good-naturedly for their teasing. "I like my nice balmy, gently rolling beachfronts, thank you very much."

"And yet you're pale as bone," Corey said with a grin. "Makes a ton of sense. Of course."

He blinked when Calypso flicked water at him with her tail, her aim precise and deadly. He got soaked in the front, and Xander snickered.

Faith snickered as well, though she still took half a step back. She didn't want to get wet as well.

"I hear the beaches that border the Three Sisters are particularly warm," she teased. "The ones on the Boiling Sea." The ocean and the shoreline were volcanic, which meant that the waters were warmer there than in the other oceans.

Ryan made a face. The Boiling Sea and the desert continent were the furthest thing possible from where he and Yue would be comfortable, and he had no plans to visit either.

Xander's eyes practically lit up. She'd been doing research to figure out what could be found where, and the idea of underwater volcanoes somewhere where they could get to them made her rather excited.

"Well," she said, looking over at Calypso. "We won't be leaving for a few weeks anyway. Now that we're here we're going to sleep for about a day."

"I'm sure we could find you a map that shows the way to the Boiling Sea," Faith added. She saw how Xander's face lit up. "If you go pretty much straight west, you'll hit the coast. The Three Sisters are way on the other end of the Boiling Sea, though, on the edge desert continent." She wouldn't put it past her friend to try to get all the way across the Boiling Sea with Calypso.

It is unnatural for the sea to be that warm, Yue muttered to Ryan.

"You would hate being anywhere near the Three Sisters, or the Hotrocks Mountains," Ryan replied, petting her affectionately. "Which is why we're not going there. It's far too warm there."

Good, Yue grumped. It was unnaturally warm even here in the mountains, and this was much cooler than the last place.

Corey snorted, having gotten the gist of the conversation from Ryan's end. "Guess you two don't like anything warmer than this, huh?" he teased. He couldn't help it.

"I will keep that in mind, after we've had some time to rest." Xander grinned and watched as Calypso sank out of sight.

This lake is shallow, Calypso grumbled. Must we stay here?

I'll ask about bigger ones, dearest. "Any bigger lakes in the area?"

Faith shook her head.

"Not this high up," she replied. "You'd have to go back down the mountain to find bigger lakes than this one."

Lapis looked at Calypso curiously.

How is the lake too shallow? she asked. Perhaps you are just getting too big.

"Lapis, be nice," Faith chided.

"Yue is of the opinion that weather this warm just isn't natural," Ryan said. "Though I can't really blame her, it still hasn't gotten properly cold around here."

Calypso, however, didn't take offense to that. I am used to much deeper water, she said, amusing herself by blowing bubbles in the water. The ocean is much deeper than this.

Xander chuckled and shook her head. At least those two got along just fine. She didn't think they had much to worry about.

"Winter time, it gets really cold. Especially up here. Snows all the time, and there's lots of ice. I think this lake actually freezes over, mostly solid." Corey shrugged. "It gets much colder up here, but probably still not as cold as you're used to."

"Probably not," Ryan agreed. "Summer back home just means less snow and more sun than the winter." He grinned. "Yue wasn't pleased when we left the north. It took her a while to get used to the feel of ground under her feet instead of snow and ice."

Lapis considered for a moment before wading into the water.

It's deep to me, she said. She paddled around for a moment.

Corey snorted. "Yeah, I can imagine. Actual dirt must have been kind of weird for her." He shook his head.

"Then again, lots of snow and ice will be interesting, once we get up there."

Calypso sank to the very bottom of the lake, starting to root around while she was down there, giving Lapis more room to swim.

You are sleeker, she said to the other dragon. I am heavier than you, and wider. So it does not seem as deep to me as it does to you.

"Your dragon would probably end up melting everything he touches," Ryan said, grinning. "I wouldn't be surprised if he just ended up sinking through a glacier or something."

Lapis paddled around for a few more minutes before going back to shore and shaking herself off.

Is there anything interesting down there? she asked, curious. Anything sparkly?

Corey snorted. "Yeah, he probably would. He'd probably enjoy it too, giant freak that he is." But he grinned, watching his dragon get bored and start trying to stalk a deer off in the distance. It was rather hilarious.

Calypso hummed an affirmative, starting to dig up things buried in the rock and mud, bringing things up to the surface slowly.

So long as you do not try to take any yet, I can leave them up here for you to look at, she told the other two females firmly. She may have been the youngest, but she would be the biggest and she could squish them.

Ryan watched as well, holding back a few chuckles.

Yue looked a bit interested at the thought of new treasures and went to settle herself by the shore. She was old enough to behave herself and not touch the pile. Besides, she was the eldest of the group, and had no doubts that she could fend off the others if she had to.

Lapis settled herself down, too, but she was just slightly quivering in anticipation. She watched the water get murky as Calypso stirred up the silt at the bottom of the lake.

Faith snickered a little as she watched Vyren trying to stalk a deer.

"Think he'll realize that it won't be quite that easy?" she asked the others, keeping her voice low so as not to spoil the dragon's fun.

Calypso stirred up things a bit more, getting enough to be suitable for a first drop-off, and came back up to the top. She carefully piled the things on the shore. Although still muddy, it was clear she'd fond some silver, gold, a few other metals, and a few small semi-precious stones.

Then she disappeared into the water again, starting to gather more things to bring back up.

"He's not even hungry," Corey said with a grin. "He's just bored, and he saw the deer." He shook his head, amused, and watched.

Vyren actually got pretty close, managing to sneak up within a hundred feet of the deer. But then it bolted, and he stopped, looking for a new source of entertainment.

"You have such a bizarre dragon," Faith teased as they watched Vyren.

Lapis was immediately getting as close to the pile as she could to look at the treasure without actually touching it. Faith didn't wear much jewelry, so Lapis very rarely got the chance to be so close to precious metals.

Yue just rolled her eyes at the younger dragon, but even she was eying the pile of metal and stones a little bit.

Calypso didn't surface again for a few minutes, and then she added more to the pile with a warning look to Lapis. But, since she hadn't stolen anything yet, she figured they were good, and left to go see what else she could dredge up from the bottom of the lake.

Corey couldn't help but laugh as Vyren jumped up on top of a little rise, looking for anything interesting. "Yeah, he's weird," he agreed with a grin, fondness clear in his tone and eyes. "That's okay, though."

What? Lapis asked as she backed off again. I didn't touch anything. She still looked at the pile, impatient for Calypso to root through it so that the leftovers would go up for grabs.

Yue rolled her eyes at the younger dragons. They both seemed to be a bit spoiled, but what dragon wasn't? Still, she felt that they could use a bit of patience, especially Lapis.

Calypso rumbled to herself but brought up the last of what she could find down there, for the time being. She rooted through everything quickly, having already been thinking over what she wanted, and took her things to the other end of the lake. And then let the others at it.

Vyren ambled over a minute later to see what all the fuss was about. So far, he hadn't really found anything in particular he wanted, and he didn't really understand what the females found so attractive about the shiny things.

Lapis immediately sifted through the pile, pulling out bits of gold and silver for herself. Once she had a couple pieces of each, and a few of the semi-precious stones, she backed off to let Yue and Vyren look. She bounced over to Faith to show her rider what she'd found.

Yue ignored the gold entirely. It would clash with her eyrie back home, where everything was blue and white. Instead, she picked at the silver, looking for interesting shapes. There were also a few stones that Calypso had brought up that would look nice, so she took those, too, and then went to show Ryan.

Vyren looked at what was left and what the females had carried off, snorted in disgust, and went to go bug Corey. He was bored, and he demanded attention and entertainment. Plus he was a lot bigger than his rider, so he was allowed.

Calypso went through her things with Xander, amusing her rider by telling her what else she'd found down there, like fish and things she'd disturbed with her digging. But Xander still refused to get in the water, and instead put away her new shiny things to take back home later on.

Faith had already told Lapis to take the metals back to her eyrie.

But... I don't want to leave you behind, Lapis replied. She sounded scandalized, as if the thought of going to her eyrie without Faith was blasphemous. You have to come with me.

"Sweetling, you've been in your eyrie without me before," Faith said.

But you'll be out here away from the weyr and the eyrie, Lapis pointed out. Faith rolled her eyes.

"Alright, alright, fair enough," she said. She scrambled up onto the dragon's back. "We'll be back," she called to the others.

Yue was still going over her own treasures with Ryan. She really didn't need his input on how to decorate her eyrie, and with what, but she liked his opinion on such things once in a while.

Ryan nodded to Faith briefly before turning back to Yue.

Corey ended up going into the lake up to his knees so he could scrub off Vyren, letting him roll around in the water and against the sand and mud before cleaning him off. The dragon liked it, at least.

"Least we've got a while until dinner," he said to himself, still throwing water at and over Vyren. This might take a while...

Xander put away all the things so that Calypso could decorate when they got home again. The two already had a little collection going, with no discernable theme yet. They'd get there.

Eventually.