Rance laughed. Slasher snorted and leaned down to nudge the blond man with his snout. Then, of course, the dragon shoved Roma into Rance's waiting arms. He held the long haired man close. It was so difficult not to. "I think Earthslasher and I agree that the possibility is, so far, a pretty unlikely one. It's more likely that you leave us, then the other way around." Rance smiled as he looked down at Roma. "Because you see. You'll always know where to find me, and how. I protect my people, the ones who live on these mountains. And if I'm not here, then most likely I'm at war ... Someplace I never want to see you." But Roma, why there was no way of telling what the man would do!

Roma had lost everyone dear to him. Rance had heard, he'd preferred not to mention it. He didn't want to be added to the list. Not when he'd seen how difficult it was on the other man.

Roma gasped when the scaly nose sent him forward, splashing in the knee-deep water. The idea of leaving someone he was close with was laughable. Though he'd done it before. Shaking his head, he burrowed against the larger body and shut his eyes. "No... I'll be where I like. If there is a war I'll do my side. It would be a waste of life to hide away after I was left alive in the midst of my peoples' murder. Who can boast having such catastrophic power these days, anyway? Being born with them, I have more mastery. I would be useful."

Useful, finally. All he was good for was lighting fires or pulling carts before the death of his people. And now? Now there was a war. Now he could be used. Now he could harm and feel nothing because they were the aggressors, and he was protecting the people that actually cared about him.

He lifted a hand to wrap it around long golden locks. "Useful, yes. But seeing you in battle, it would distract me. I would worry too much for you. I would fear seeing you spit with a sword. Bleeding out while I battle some other foe. " He could have sworn he felt Roma's heart beating hard against his own, but that was probably Rance's mind playing tricks on him. Rance felt so very protective of the other man already. It was instinct. The same kind of feeling that had made him choose Earthslasher's egg as a child pushed him towards Roma with every breath. Intuition, that was it.

Roma closed his eyes, shaking his head and turning so he had a chance to breathe in that familiar scent that had become a source of sturdy, insistent protection so quickly. Concern had driven Rance to waste precious time with Roma, when Roma would no doubt remain young as the man aged, just like all living, breathing beings. "So I'm expected to sit about, waiting and wondering if you will ever come back? That isn't going to happen. If something were to happen to you, you break your promise not to leave me alone, what would become of me? And what would you expect? I'm no... fragile thing, despite first impressions."

Even if he did like to be coddled. Watched over. Worried about. Protected. He did enjoy that feeling of having someone around that was, for once, stronger than him in ways he just couldn't be. Physically.

He did like how Roma turned to him, into him. Rance's people weren't so easily pulled into being protected. They were warriors through and through. They had to be. Dragons were their partners, more then any person. The dragon people had to be strong, with such friends and living such lives as they did, always fighting for their very survival. "I would expect, Roma, that you would wait for Earthslasher to find you. He can speak into your mind, you know. He would tell you what happened to me, and he would take up your protection. Would take you as his own. He promised as much." If anything happened to him, then Earthslasher would be there. Of that, Rance was as certain of as the sky was blue.

"So yes, I would expect you to wait. Because I prefer knowing you're safe and sound, where Slasher can find you no matter what happens to me, then thinking of you in battle where I might not be able to do anything for you. Where we might all meet our ends." With no goodbyes or last words. He lowered his head to bury his face into Roma's neck. Why was the other man already so dear to him? He couldn't understand. Ans Slasher was of no help, urging Rance to simply accept it as fated. The man couldn't help but question it all, wonder about the why and how of it.

Grasping the man's arms, Roma wanted to push him away but couldn't quite gather the urge. He blinked his eyes hard, and the moment he tried to speak, his voice caught. "No." He barked, finding a new will. "I don't need to be constantly saved. If something happens I want to be there. Damn it, I want to see it. I won't be kept in the dark and I don't want to be... caged. Like I can't handle myself. If I can kill demons, then damned if I can't kill humans. You've only seen the power I involuntarily give off and that's not fair to me. You wouldn't... cage up your dragon, though you care so much about him, would you?"

There was no difference. Rance knew his dragon far longer than Roma, was his constant companion and Roma knew he wouldn't leave the creature to wonder what happened.

Rance flinched, but stood form. "You want to die with me then? You want to force me to see your death?" The clan leader growled the words, leaned forward so he could glare down at Roma. "Caging you is the last thing on my mind. You matter ... Impossibly much for someone I've just met. I don't want you to become a weapon of death and destruction! You don't deserve that. You deserve a life of peace."

Bringing the distance between them, he put his lips to Roma's. "Going to war would make you a target for them, our enemies. They would want you alive for what you can do. And they .. they are without mercy for those they cannot understand ... " The treaty negotiations, he didn't believe they could happen. Not truly. He kissed Roma once more, with more force and feeling behind it then before. His arms lifted to grip Roma's in turn, fingers digging with gentle force into skin.

He hated that he nearly melted under Rance's powerful body. His words, Roma didn't agree with, however. He pulled back and met Rance's eyes though the gaze pinned him. "We're supposed to fight for our peace. If we don't fight, we don't win. And then we're imprisoned. Do you think they could keep me imprisoned for long if they were to catch me?" To make his point known, Roma's hands warmed and sent electrical currents through Rance's body, gentle, rather than painful. "This can kill in an instant if I wanted it to..."

He shivered. Rance realized that he looked down at Roma through delightfully half closed eyes. He shook his head, forced himself to pay attention to the discussion at hand. "They would probably find a way." Rance leaned into Roma's touch. It was beyond him to pull back. It was like the other man had cast a spell upon him. "Please Roma, would you promise me to ... stay at a distance from the true battle? If it ever comes to that, would you stay on Earthslasher's back? He could keep you safe, even amidst the worst of circumstances." A compromise.

Roma was that stubborn. A smile made the corner of his lips twitch up. Rance pressed his forehead against the other man's. He closed his eyes. The compromise would make him all the more vulnerable. Something Rance had no intention of mentioning to the blond, because he intended to do battle upon the ground ... More vulnerable to attacks, more exposed then ever and without Slasher at his back for once in his life, but all of it would keep Roma safe.

Roma smiled, pulled himself away from Rance, and raised his hands. "No." He pointed to the sky. "You need your dragon, and I need some sense of freedom. I will not be a fool and find myself in the middle of a battle but I can be of use elsewhere. I can call upon rain, blizzard, and use my fire to dry lakes and ponds that others may need. I could electrify bodies of water if need be. Behind the scenes I could be just as formidable as anyone else. And you would be glad to know that I would be nowhere near harm. But Rance, please... I've lived my life in the midst of dangerous beings, I've been hurt in more ways than you would want to imagine. I'm no glass figurine, to be so easily broken, you have to understand that if you want me to remain." He closed his eyes, only opening them when he was sure he was standing on his own solid, sturdy ground.

Rance felt him leave. His eyes snapped open, golden and flashing. He turned in the ankle deep water so he could face Roma once more. "And how do you think you'll travel? No." He shook his head. "I can survive without Earthslasher by my side if it means your safety. That ... Please understand my point of view, Roma. I found you alone in the forest, terrified. Wary. And just a little while later, I feel the same tug towards you as I once did towards Slasher, here." He nodded towards the dragon.

"I have no idea what you can truly do. And you don't seem to know how to wield any weapon save your abilities. Letting you wander around a battlefield alone, unprotected, is completely senseless. Mages always have someone to guard them when they cast their spells. Why shouldn't you? " His words weren't quite connected. Rance took a few steps forward. His hands lifted, reached towards Roma. But he let them fall. The other man had walked away, stepped away.

"Why are you threatening to leave me, so soon after saying you wouldn't? After making me promise not to do so?"

Roma sighed, gesturing to the water gently, and a tendril of ice formed. It rose, encircling them both like a living thing, blooming frost flowers like large roses. "I would never threaten you." Roma said, and his other hand clenched around the electrified handle of a short blade. "But you seem to believe that nothing I do will be good enough. That I apparently am less than a mage? You have never encountered my people, you have no idea what my power extends to. It is all destructive, enough so that I could kill demons with little effort. My protective shields are impenetrable. My ice is permanent. I can block out the sun with a request to the water in the air above us."

He stepped forward, gently sliding the electric blade down Rance's arm enough to leave a lingering tingle. "This could ruin even powerful beings. And ice? I mastered it long ago." The tendrils' rose-like leaves broke away and shot into the water where Roma let it melt and create colder water. "But I promise you, I will not threaten you. I will promise you. If I am forced to avoid battle, something that you seem so intent on running blindly into, I could never live with myself. Nor could I live with someone that finds me... inadequate."

Glittering ice made him tear his eyes away from Roma. The graceful sweep of each arc shone in the light, and flowers like none he had ever seen before. All the while, Roma's words filled his ears. Swept into his mind. He couldn't imagine what a whole race of people like Roma would have been able to do, working together. And yet they had perished. Scarring the other man irreparably. A pleasing shock made him turn to Roma again.

"You aren't invulnerable, despite all your abilities." He shook his head. "I never said I thought you were inadequate. Never! Roma, I also don't want to do battle. I want a life of peace, but it ... Such a thing is impossible for me. As my clan's leader, I must charge into battle so others might know that kind of life. I would be content wandering the land, exploring every inch of it. But I can't." He looked to the blond pleadingly. Rance was surprised to find tears pooling at the corners of his eyes, when he lifted his fingers to see why they were wet.

The clan leader wiped them away. "Fine, follow me into battle if you want. But know that if you die, two lives will follow your own. Have that on your conscious!" He had said, hadn't he, that the way he felt for the other man was akin to his love for his dragon? He didn't think Roma understood it. Nor did Rance for that matter, but that he wouldn't even bring up.

Roma sighed and closed his eyes, stepping forward and letting the ice fall back into the water to disperse. "Do you believe that if you were to die, I would live on? If you tied me to you so permanently, the loss of yet another would ruin me. I realize I am not invulnerable, but I am better than you think." He pressed his hand, cool, against Rance's chest and pulled his fingers down.

"If you want me to be with you wherever you go, throughout your life, you have to understand that the commitment comes with my own freedom. I can come with you if it would help save the innocent. And if one of us were to die in battle, then let us both. I refuse to commit to something---or someone---that I am not going to follow through every trial of the darkest underworld." At this point he'd follow the bull-headed clan leader through every hellish world he could find.

He lifted his hand to cover Roma's. Rance hadn't expected to hear such words. Not from the man before him, not after such a short acquaintance. It was different for him, for his people, when they found just the right person. "This isn't what I expected from you, Roma." Rance wrapped his other arm around the smaller man. It felt so wonderful to have Roma tucked tight against him. Like no other feeling in the world save flight, to his mind.

"I wouldn't tie you to me. And the choice ... It really does lie in your hands. Believe me." Slasher kneaded the earth. Rance leaned down to take in the other man's scent. All he could expect was the same answer the land bound always gave him. Even if Roma was different ... He wasn't that different.

Roma let himself be pulled forward, mentally winded and tired. He closed his eyes and almost fell asleep where he stood, but instead rested his forehead against Rance's chest. He was just short enough to do that comfortably, it seemed. The world was a tough one, for everyone involved, and relationships had to move fast. Rance seemed to know that for a fact despite Roma's reluctance in the beginning. Of course, in the beginning he'd seen Rance as a threat, someone that wanted either something he had or something much more.

"I'm not reckless." He said steadily after a moment's dedicated thought. "It's not as though I'll blunder blindly into some fight somewhere. If you care, I would be careful. I wouldn't break a promise not to leave but you have to trust me. And have faith in me, for once, let me have someone's faith." He didn't know how that felt, after all.

"Of course I care." His arms tightened around the other man. That, he had thought, was clear enough. Rance lifted his head to glance at his dragon. The large green settled to the ground with a grunt and a snort while Rance reveled in Roma's warmth. He still knew so little about Roma, and yet ... Here they were, planning and arguing over how they would deal with going to battle. he didn't want to see Roma there, where any might see him, capture him ...

Rance sighed and closed his eyes tight, as if that could keep his imagination from laying his fears bare. "Alright, do what you want. Do whatever you want." He pressed his lips to Roma's cheek. It surprised him, how soft the skin was. "But always come back to me." There was more pleading then command in the last sentence. The clan leader wasn't one used to pleading.

There seemed to be a sense of familiarity bred between them in the short time Rance had found him. Roma liked that, feeling like some section of home had found him again, but this time, he was more useful, more cared for. He smiled and tilted his head up, placing a soft kiss against his neck. "Alright, I'll come back. I don't go back on my promises." He stepped backward and glanced at the green-scaled dragon nearby. He wanted to try flying again sometimes, since it seemed it would be a necessity if he were going to stay around Rance. But he couldn't quite form the words.

"I'll be around." Roma said, stepping further into the water and ducking down, pausing to lift the dark tunic over his head and throw it onto dry land so the color wouldn't possibly fade, and dove under the cold water, feeling the heat of the afternoon leach out of him and the mix of nervous and fearful sweat wash off his body and out of his hair.

Rance smiled. He watched with appreciation as the other man dove into the water with practiced ease. "I'll be on the mountain." He felt well rested, and relaxed. More so then he had when Slasher had carried him towards Roma. There was a smile on the clan leader's face as he clambered onto the green dragon's back. Earthslasher took flight with a few powerful bets of his wings. Waves washed away from the shore with the force displaced air. Being in the air again, the freedom of it, made Rance yell out happily. He urged Slasher to arc through the sky, to swirl upside down so he could stare at the lake and catch sight of Roma again before they darted off towards the mountain village the clan leader called home.

Deeper into the lake, it was clear as a nighttime sky, and it felt as though he were floating. The rush in his ears was wonderful, and drowned out everything within his body, his heart beating and his blood rushing. Eventually, however, he had to come up, and when he did he could see the dragon, Slasher as Rance called it, beating powerful wings in the air. It looked as free as the water felt---maybe it was. He hadn't really opened his eyes to see the world from above, but the thought made his heart stutter in his chest. Being up so high was frightening, feeling as if he could be swept away in an instant if he didn't hold on for dear life.

He let himself drift on the top of the water, watching the area he had seen the dragon take Rance. He did want to see what was up there. No doubt they would want to fly, and he wouldn't force them to walk. Tuning over, he paddled to the shore and laid himself out on the dry grass, hair spread out in a halo as he watched for Rance. Would he come back soon...? The sun soaked into him, the rustling nearby oddly... comforting as he closed his eyes.