It’s a stunning day in the Radiant Empire, with the sun beating down on the small group of dragons making their trek through the woods. The forest is dense, with thick pine trees on either side of the dirt road they’re using to navigate the natural labyrinth. It would be boiling if it weren’t for the large branches shading the path and the soft breeze weaving between the trunks.  

Word has reached their group of a new, recently discovered river filled to the brim with salmon. The fish are making their way inland from the ocean in order to spawn the next generation of fish. It’s a difficult location to reach, largely hidden by the ancient trees of the forest, but they’ve been told that it’s more than worth the journey. After all, it’s a once in a year opportunity for them to completely gorge themselves on fresh fish, many of them plump with eggs.  

Songbird is particularly excited, preferring fish over all other foods. She eagerly trots around Myr and Io as they walk, chirping and squawking all the while. Yggdrasil does his best to ignore the other Warden’s behaviour, rolling his eyes even as Io and Myr start to encourage her by bowing playfully.  

A second layer and Songbird and Io and sprinting down the path with Myr quickly flapping after them. They kick up a large enough cloud of dust in their wake that Yggdrasil ends up sneezing thrice in a row, screwing up his face in disgust. With an annoyed sigh, he picks up the pace and breaks into a swift trot. Someone needs to make sure the idiots don’t end up getting themselves hurt because he’s the only one paying attention.  

As if the Gods are reading his mind and choosing to spite him specifically, a scuffle breaks out ahead. Myr shrieks angrily at something, a blast of flames coming from his mouth and lighting up the area, followed closely by something roaring in pain. Io pounces at whatever it is they’re fighting with, snarling loudly.  

When he reaches the other three dragons, he’s less than happy to see that they somehow managed to stumble into a grizzly bear. A very, very angry one at that.  

With an outraged roar, Yggdrasil unleashes a torrent of ice directly into the face of the angered beast. The blast strikes it square in the head, startling the animals and causing it to quickly retreat a few steps back. Io is quick to bite down on one of the bear’s front paw, crunching through the tendons and bones with a single snap.  

Songbird is quick to pile on, the massive teeth of her maw sinking into the back of the bear’s neck and wrenching its body back in order to bare its neck. Io quickly takes advantage of the situation, lunging for the bear’s throat and thrashing until the flesh gives way and a mouthful of fur, skin, muscle comes tearing free.  

With the trachea now exposed to the air, the bear’s body gives a weak twitch before falling limp. Myr makes a pleased rumble at the sight of a large pile of fresh meat, sniffing at the corpse. It’s a large amount of food, and Songbird will no doubt want to strip the fur from it to take home to her home in the Frigid Empire.  

Unfortunately, out of the four dragons only Io is a carnivore, with Myr occasionally choosing to indulge in some meat. There’s far too much on the body for Io to consume alone, regardless of their large size and Myr isn’t too interested in the slightly frozen remains.  

Deciding that it’s best to simply store the food for after they’re done raiding the river, both Songbird and Io begin digging in the dirt beside the path. When it’s a large enough hole, Myr and Yggdrasil start dragging the corpse across the ground before dumping it inside. After confirming that the hole is almost big enough, all four begin tossing dirt on top of the body.  

Once their treasure has been completely covered with dirt and will, hopefully, be safe from any passing scavengers and is protected from the heat of the midday sun, Songbird leaves a scent mark beside the pile to ensure they can find it again later. Myr even assists by placing a few flowers over the top of the dirt mound, as if that will help it to blend in to its surroundings.  

The cat travelling with them wanders over to the large lump of dirt, jumping from the grass and onto the very top of the pile. It circles around a few times before settling down to take a nap on top of their fresh kill. No doubt it will keep their dinner company until they return from fishing.  

The group go to continue their way down the path toward the river and, for a fleeting moment, Yggdrasil is hopeful that the other three dragons have learnt their lesson and will refrain from running off... only to proven wrong moments later when Songbird once again sprints off with Io and Myr hot on her heels.  

He huffs, icy breath drifting from between his split lips, and then proceeds to race after his annoying companions. His size makes it difficult to gain the same speed as the rest of the group, and so it takes him a while to catch up with the rest of the dragons given his lumbering pace. Luckily, he’s just in time to grab the back of Io’s scruff before they can fall off the end of the path and into the raging river below.  

Io gives him a rather sheepish look, but Myr and Songbird look entirely unrepentant, even if they were dangerously close to plummeting to a very wet fate. Despite this, they’re all more than happy to get to work catching a month’s worth of fish in a single afternoon. In the end, they’re so full that they can’t be bothered dragging themselves back home, choosing to sleep in a cuddle pile to the peaceful sound of running water.