"I'm just worried about you is all." She played with a piece of her hair nervously. "A human hasn't been in Goltheria for centuries, You are going to attract quite a bit of negative attention." She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "I still feel terrible for dragging you into all of this." She pulled her knees up to her and wrapped her arms around them.

She tried to think. She wanted to show him her world, he was an artist, he would appreciate the beauty of this place far more than anyone else. But did he want to see all of that or just get home? Astrid had no idea how the portals worked. Could she even get him home?

"Well, why don't you go and do... whatever it is you do to relax?" Alexander suggested. Astrid looked like she needed the down time. "I won't get into any trouble, I promise." He would probably park himself in a corner and draw for a while. He'd seen plenty of things that day that he could sketch, and it would keep him busy for a while. He wouldn't bother anyone.

Astrid nodded. It was a good idea. "Alright." She got to her feet and wiped dust from her legs and backside. She pointed to a door on the far wall. The door was huge, dragon sized. But upon closer inspection one would find a small human sized door on the massive door. It reminded Astrid of something she had seen in the movie Alice in wonderland. Astrid liked her human form, so it only made sence that she had a human sized door. "Out there is a lake, i am going to go for a swim. If you need me just come on out okay?"

Turning around she walked across the huge room and walked out the small door. once she was out of Alexander sight, Astrid let herself turn back into her dragon form. A long sleek serpentine creature covered in shimmering blue scales. A mane of blue hair snaked down her spine and clusters of horns jutted from her brow. She had two sets of stumpy legs stretched out along her long body and a large blue gem was stuck to her forehead. She was a water elemental dragon. Elemental dragons being some of the rarest types of dragons.

She snaked her long body down into the lake and swam around to try and clear her thoughts. Water always relaxed her

Alexander nodded when she said that he could find her if he needed her, but really, he was going to sit in a corner and draw. If he was lucky, nobody would even see him, or pay him any attention if they did.

Reaching into his bag, he rooted around for a while before pulling out his notebook and a rubber-banded bundle of pencils. The pencils were all different shapes, sizes, and grades, to make different effects. Picking out a standard no. 2, he flipped to a fresh page in the notebook and started to draw. The sketches would be a bit rough, without the subjects in front of him, but it would be alright for now.

Astrid stayed floating about in the lake for a long while. She eventually uncurled herself and swam back over to shore. Carefully putting her large head on the ground, her big blue eyes peered in through the open human door. She just wanted to make sure that Alexander was alright. She smiled to herself when she saw him drawing.

She had had enough of a break and turned herself back to her human form. unfortunately, she was standing there completely soaked now that she had been swimming. The clothes clung to her petite frame and made her shiver.. She sloshed her way back into her room and walked over to where Alexander was sitting. "Found plenty of things to draw did you?" She asked with a grin as water dripped down her face.

Alexander jumped when she spoke. He'd been so focused on drawing that he hadn't heard her come back in. He blinked and shook himself back to the current reality and looked at her.

"You're all wet," he observed. Setting his pencils down, he flipped a couple pages in his notebook and handed it to her. They were all pencil sketches, so none of them would be ruined by a little water.

Astrid smiled. "Sorry i didn't mean to startle you... And i told you i was going swimming silly." She carefully took the notebook, just touching the edges, she didn't want to ruin anything. "It's great." She smiled and handed it back before grabbing a towel from the small dresser next to the couch. After wrapping herself in the towel she looked for a dry outfit. She only had a few outfits, Astrid was an oddball by dragon standards. She liked humans, and she liked trying to be one. Most dragons didn't even bother learning how to change forms.

"So what else did you draw?" She asked since she only looked at the one picture, for fear of getting them all wet.

"Not much," Alexander replied. He'd chosen to draw something detail-heavy on purpose, to keep him busy. "You can take a look through, though, see if there's anything you like." If there was something she liked in particular, he'd make a note to ink and color it later, somehow, if he was able to get his hands on such things here.

Astrid flipped through the pages. Her fingers kept flipping back to the one of the giant tree they had sat under. It was so vivid and the leaves almost danced across the page with the wind. A smile bloomed on her face as she handed the sketch pad back to him. "They are all quite good." Then she paused and thought a moment. "Have you ever drawn a waterfall?" There was a beautiful one not too far away and if he wanted to she'd definitely take him to it.

"I've tried, before," Alexander replied, gathering up his pencils again. They would need to be sharpened soon, and most of them could only be sharpened with a knife, such as the flat-tipped pencil, and the triangular one. "Water is really hard to draw, since it's so fluid... There's a lot of motion in it, even when it's still, and it's hard to catch that on paper." Not that he hadn't tried before... but it had ended up looking more like a mudslide than a river.

Astrid nodded trying to understand, but she wasn't really one for drawing. She pushed her wet hair from her face and looked at him as he packed up his things. A sigh escaped her as she looked around her. "I'm not sure what to do. Is there anything you want to see here?" she raised an eyebrow.

Alexander thought about it for a moment. What did he want to see?

"Why don't you pick something?" he suggested. "I don't know what there is to see, and you do." And she would be a much better judge of what would get him into trouble and what wouldn't, so he would just stick with her. He really didn't want someone to get annoyed and step on him or something.

Astrid sat and thought for a moment. What was her favorite part of being a dragon? What would she want to show her only friend? "Well, honestly, My favorite part of being a dragon is flying. Well, that and being able to practically breathe underwater..." She looked at him a bit timidly for a moment. "I can take you flying if you want?"

That surprised him.

"Really?" Alexander asked. "You can fly?" That was practically like letting his inner child out to play... Aside from the fact that he didn't like heights much. He didn't like feeling like he was about to fall and meet with a rather underwhealming death on the ground.

"That would be awesome."

Not that the thought of falling was about to stop him.

Astrid's cheeks flushed. "Well, yeah. All Dragons can fly. I mean, I don't have wings, but i can fly." She put a finger on her chin and thought about it for a moment. "Like the oriental dragons that humans know about. I kind of fly like them. It just uses energy or magic i think you call it." She got to her feet and smiled as she held her hand out to him. "I can show you my favorite places." Her grin grew.

Alexander stood up as well and took her hand.

"I want to see the places you love," he said. His fear of heights might assert itself, but he might be able to wrestle it into submission long enough to enjoy the flight. Maybe.

((ack, sorry it's so short~))

Astrid grinned as he took her hand and then she led him over to the small door she had used earlier. Once outside Alexander stood before a huge lake, crystal clear casting mirror images of the huge willows around it.

She let go of his hand and started to slowly back away. She put her hands together and held them to her lips. "Please just don't freak out when you see me."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again they seemed to glow as her body changed shape. Scales shimmered their way onto her skin as her body stretched and took a new form. Horns jutted from her brow, and a large gem protruded from her forehead.

Once in her true form, Astrid stood before Alexander and lowered her head. She looked just like the drawing he had given her. She was nervous about what he'd say or do, she didn't want to scare him.

Alexander followed her outside. He wouldn't lie, he was kind of looking forward to seeing her as a dragon. Up until now, it hadn't really sunk in. He stood back and watched as she changed form. It was quite possibly one of the most graceful and yet unsettling things he'd ever seen, and when she was finished, he was thoroughly impressed.

"Amazing..." he breathed.

Astrid smiled and slid her head down onto the ground in front of him. She looked substantially different from her family. She was long a sleek, her neck wide enough for an average sized person to straddle comfortable. Her big eye looked at him as a smile crossed her face.
"Climb on." Her voice sounded, but her mouth made no noise. Almost like she was speaking to him in his head. "Climb on and i'll take you flying."

((sorry its short. >.< ))

Alexander hesitated for a moment. He was so much smaller than she was... One slip, and she could easily crush him. Quickly, he shook that thought away and slowly got closer to her. He would just have to trust her not to accidentally kill him, or drop him, or anything like that.

He quickly discovered that there was no comfortable way to ride a dragon.

Astrid took it slow, taking a few careful steps at first. "Just hang on tight." She took one more step before her body bolted into the air. She kept an eye on Alexander to make sure he was still hanging tight. She stayed low, not wanting to freak him out with extreme heights. But low to her was just above the tree tops. But the trees were all over a hundred feet tall. She loved the feeling of the wind on her face and through her hair. Astrid just hoped Alexander wasn't too scared.

Oh, he was holding on. At this point, Alexander doubted he'd be able to let go even if he wanted to.

'Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit...' He was freaking out, but it was more like being on a thrill ride than actual fear. He was making it a point not to look down at all. If he did, he didn't think he'd be able to control his fear at all. For now, he was alright, if a little overwhelmed. He'd probably be okay.

Astrid picked up a little bit of speed as they climbed up the side of an enormous mountain. Then she slowed down and came to a graceful landing on a small clif face next to a waterfall cascading to a lake about three hundred feet below them. The area was small so as soon as her feet touched down, Astrid turned back into her human form.

It didn't really give Alexander ample time to climb off of her, so after her fast transformation he would have most likely ended up on top of her. Astrid's face turned red. "S-sorry." She stuttered.

Alexander held on even tighter as Astrid started to go higher. He still refused to look down, elsewise he would probably be sick in some way. That's why he was completely surprised when Astrid changed form again, and he fell to the ground. Granted, it wasn't that long of a fall, so he was alright, but it still knocked the wind out of him for a moment or so.

"I'm okay," he wheezed.

Astrid sat up, her face still red. "Sorry," She said again. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked at him. She felt bad, hearing him wheezing. "A-are you sure you are alright?" she gently put a hand on his shoulder as she sat there next to him. She wanted to keep him from falling of the ledge that he was rather close to so she kept a grip on his shoulder. "Maybe i shouldn't have taken you flying." She mumbled after a moment, now worried she had done something wrong.