Quadora, I sense something down there, something odd... "A possible Search? There was nothing back at that hold, and I hate to go back empty-handed... The white turned and reguarded her rider. So, we investigate? Nodding, Quadora said, "Investigate away." With a bugle, the white dove into the sea of green and coming to a landing not far from the smoldering wreckage of some kind of castle. A woman robed in all black with her hood pulled up to hide her face stood outside of it, silently watching them.

"A dragon? Here? The smoke must have alerted them to something..." Kiah thought as she watched the white land and it's rider dismount and approach her. "What is your name?" the woman asked, eyeing Courir as he poked his purple head from inside of her hood. "I am Kiah...and you, dragonrider?" Noting the knots on her shoulder, Kiah had decided to cooperate. Unless she was mistaken, this woman was a searchrider. "I am Quadora, Searchrider for the Tripaldi Special Clutch Zone branch of the FGPC. This is Liazeth." She gestured toward the white, who dipped her head in greeting. With a bow, Kiah said, "Pleased to meet you...May I ask what brings you to this unholy place?"

Quadora blinked when the woman said "unholy place" in her deadpan voice. "Unholy? What makes this place unholy?" The woman pushed back her hood to reveal a pair of pale blue eyes, made hollow with what appeared to be a lifetime of horrors. "This used to be the Black Fortress, a place where cruel men did horrendous experiments upon those unlucky enough to be cursed with a "gift" of some sort. I am one of their victims, and the only one to survive their attempt at covering their actions." Kiah turned and looked impassively at the hulk of charred stone and ashes. "Well..." A little taken-aback at her straight-forwardness, Quadora watched the woman as she examined Liazeth over her shoulder.

"My business here is this, Liazeth and I are on Search for a clutch of eggs currently hardening upon the TSCZ sands, and she thinks that you may make a good candidate for Impression. Kiah, would you like to come back with us and maybe Impress?" With an expressionless nod, Kiah agreed. "I will come back with you, and stand for this clutch, just give me a moment to confer with my friend." She nodded to the rukel upon her shoulder and turned around, pulling her hood back up.

"I must say, you've certainly become formal..." Courir said, grooming the soot from his forepaws. "I wanted to ask you something, Courir. What will you do now, that I'm not forcing you to stay with me? Would you like to come with me to this TSCZ place?" said Kiah, taking him from her hood and holding him where she could see him. "What else would I do! I'll come, someone has to explain to people about your life. Consider me a...traveling herald, to announce and tell the tale of your struggle with yourself, as seen by the valiant rukel who dared to follow and keep it." He puffed up as Kiah snorted. "Valiant? As I remember, you were held against your will..."

"Well, time warps all stories..."

Shaking her head and chuckling mirthlessly, Kiah turned to Quadora and her white, who were to take her to whatever lie in her future, so that she may forget her own painful past.