"A dragon?! Are you crazy? Wait, did you hit your head when you fell? That would explain this... "

Kiara continued her rambling that had been going on for several minutes. Kiara always rambled about ideas that hit her category of "crazy". It was not to say that Kiara scared easily, Anaya had seen her walk straight up to a sleeping grizzly bear, and tap it gently on the nose. Kiara had a limit, sort-of like a giant circle around her. Anything inside that circle, she had deemed okay, and anything outside of the circle was something she had never experienced, or thought was crazy.

"it's not that bad Kia, you're good at sneaking up on me and I've been sneaking up on dragons since I was five." Anaya said, casually walking into a little white lie so Kiara would feel better.

"Since you were five!?" Kiara said "Are you kidding right now? When I was five my mom barely let me out of the house!" Kiara waved her hands about madly with each word, enunciating how...brilliant, she thought this idea was.

"it's not as hard as you think Kia." Anaya said matter of factly. "dragons are like deer, they only come out at dawn and dusk. The rest of the time, they're asleep. So right now... "

"they're asleep." Kiara finish, looking a tiny bit more relaxed now that she knew the dragon would at least be asleep. "but why do you want to sneak up on a dragon anyway? If you've been doing this since you were five, you don't exactly get bragging rights for this."

Anaya's eyes lit up at this question. A chance to get Kiara fully onboard with this plan. "I'm so glad you asked. Have you ever seen a scale on a forest dragon?" Anaya asked.

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"would those be the pointy things at the top of their head, or the bat like things at their shoulders?" Kiara teased, laughing a little and crossing her arms.

Anaya rolled her eyes and continued "Well, most breeds of dragons have two-toned scales, like the water dragon. It has mostly blue scales with a green tinge to it. And depending on the water around it, the scales might get lighter, darker, greener, or bluer." Anaya's face lit up in a way only seen from someone who truly loved what they were talking about.

"That's amazing." Kiara said, seeing how much Anaya cared about this.

"that's not even the coolest part. Forest dragons, have only one color scales." Anaya said, enunciating the last three words like they were the most important thing in the world.

"okay," Kiara said slowly. "and this is amazing because...?"

Anaya laughed and said "forest dragons scales are one color, until they are shed. Then, it's like a kaleidoscope of colors, like constant moving rainbow."

"wow, that's amazing! But with how much dragons shed, wouldn't you already have one?" Kiara asked.

Anaya shook her head and said "the scales are extremely hard to get, forest dragons only shed once every ten years. Unless they're injured, then they regrow any scales they loose, and eat the broken ones." Anaya shrugged and continued "that's why it's so hard to get them." but then a mischievous smile played across Anaya's face. "but guess what year it is in the cycle?"

Kiara rolled her eyes and said with a touch of sarcasm "I'm gonna take a huge guess and go with...hmmm, the tenth year?" then with a laugh, she started grinning too.