When the sun first stretched itself and slowly made its way up the sky to glower down on the sands of Sunblaze Desert, Ebony was already on the move. He still had about another day's travel before he could cross the wastes, and he was running out of water. Already his canteen only contained a few more sips. There were no oasises in the Wastes. At least, not that any dragon knew of, and Ebony lacked the energy to go searching for one. He concentrated on flying steadily and swiftly, fixing his eyes on the gently rolling horizon. As he topped a dune, a hulking form hove into view, and Ebony gasped. A gennyid lay gently undulating below. The huge, reclusive worms were a rare sight. It was said that once, long ago, dragons had used their thick belly plates as armor.

Ebony eyed the spikes jutting from the creature, glad that dragons had come upon the secrets of metallurgy instead. The gennyid raised its head and looked with all ten of its eyes at the dragon hovering above. The beast roared so loudly that Ebony winced.

"Hey there, fella," he said, and then quickly departed. This was not a nature-observing expedition. Although, if Jet had been there, it probably would have become one. She had an admirable ability to make an journey that was solely for something else into a biology course. Ebony smiled fondly and hoped with all his heart that she was coping well. Of course she was. She was his Jet.

         He was doing this for her. He'd break her heart if he never made it back, so he was going to suceed. No matter how hard it was.