FEB 3 Saturday.

I slowly step through the flat stone area looking at all the different Dragons trading and talking to each other.

I wouldn't call it bustling but things are happening and everyone seems to be behaving themselves well enough. I do notice a few Dragons arguing over price with each other, but they never come to blows about it, just some snarling and threatening voices.

I also notice several younger Dragons seem to make it a small challenge or game to rile the adult Dragons up by bargaining with ridiculous demands. Often with other young Dragons cheering them on from the sidelines. Still, the entire market is much more calm and civil than I was expecting.

That's not to say I was expecting them to be incredibly violent or anything but it is still better than I hoped for when coming here. I attract a fair amount of attention from the Dragons around me while moving the large emerald I bought, but none seem willing to bother me at the moment.

I do get a few greedy looks from some of the younger Dragons, so I make sure to try and stay within sight of the Dragons guarding the market. As I've been observing others trading I've noticed something interesting about how the Dragons seem to trade with each other.

I've only gotten a rough feel for it but a lot of the trading works more like bartering than anything and I don't think that the gold used really matters that much. That's to say that the gold seems to be valued as a commodity rather than a currency. Let's take a standard bit as an example for this.

In Equestria, a single bit won't buy you that much, maybe a simple bun of bread or some drink. But the value of that bit is based on several things, like interest, society, and the markets in general, on top of the price of gold. None of those structures really exist here.

Gold is simply valued based on the amount from what I've observed, basically the amount of gold is more important than anything to do with an imagined price of that gold. They trade with gold as a resource not necessarily a currency, or at least that seems to be how the Dragons treat it.

I do see the Griffons from earlier talking and trading with a few Dragons and they notice me as well. But much like the Dragons they show little interest and focus on buying things and getting the hell out of here. The Griffons seem really on edge being around so many large Dragons and mostly trade with the younger smaller adults.

After a little walking I stop, seeing an interesting sight closer to the center of the market that seems to get increasingly busy as more Dragons show up to trade. Or seemingly relax and shop after they are done with their other business. The interesting thing I find is from a smaller adult Dragon.

They are around sixty feet from head to tail and have something of a space set up. A few of the Dragons have had stone slabs to put things on or even large stone bowls, but most of them just use the stone ground beneath us. What is truly interesting is what this Dragon is doing.

They sit curled around their things like many others, a few small stone slabs with carved gems on each of them and uncut gems sitting around the slabs on the ground sit on display. They hold a gem with their claws and slowly carve away at it with their other hand's claws to shape it as desired.

I never really thought about it but other Dragons do have cut gems in their piles so someone had to be doing it. The stone slabs have different cuts of gems on them and even some pretty intricate carvings made from different types of gems. As I walk closer the Dragon cuts off a piece of gem and uses it as a snack while they continue to carve away.

They spot me and I look over the Dragon for a moment. Dark purple scales cover most of her body with gray scales covering her belly and underside. Her spines are a slightly deeper gray than her underbelly and her wings have an interesting color to them, that seems to reflect light a bit while in the sunlight.

Her eyes look me over and she smirks with fewer teeth than others have shown me. "Pony, interested in getting that carved?" The female voice is lighter than others I've heard but still has a slight rumble to it. Her words are also less pushy than the others I've heard as I walk around, there is still some inherent impatience there though.

I looked at the emerald that I bought for a very cheap price. I've seen much larger gems being traded here but this is all I really need for my plan, it would help if it was carved though. I need to make a camp somewhere and I need protection while I'm sleeping, that's why I bought this gem in the first place, to make a shield with it for my campsite.

Even while uncut a gem this large would be able to protect me after being enchanted, cutting it is an unexpected but welcome choice though. I take out a bit of my saddlebags and show her. "How much for a cube shape? Preferably without losing too much material." I ask back and decide to be a bit more polite to her as she's done the same so far.

She holds out a claw and places the other gem to the side while looking at the emerald after I pass it over to her. "Hmm, how clean do you want the cuts? Those can take a while to get right, and I won't be here all day." She says with some professionalism while inspecting the emerald closely.

I notice her claws seem longer than other Dragons, maybe an adaption? Or just her growing them out? I shrug a little. "Rough is fine, but I'd like it to be decently clean," I answer back after a moment of thought. If this doesn't go well I can just go buy another gem, it's not like it will cost much.

She tilts her head a bit and some smoke slowly flows from her nose. "Fifty, and I keep all the extra gem bits that I cut off." She says with more firmness than her last words. Her claws run over the gem a bit, each claw nearly a foot in length making it impressive that she was working with such small gems accurately.

This seems to be one of the more friendly dragons I've seen so far, but I am here for information so after some thought I take out a notebook. She raises a brow at my actions and looks curious. "Seventy, and I get to watch you work while asking some questions." I offer with calm and level words while keeping a friendly enough tone.

She looks more curious now but nods slowly after a few moments. "I won't always answer, but you have a deal, Pony." She says with a larger smile and I start to count out the correct amount of bits before giving them to her. I dump them in her outstretched hand and she places them to the side in a pile. "Good, ask away, but let me work." She says simply.

I look around a bit before moving a little closer to her and take out my sleeping bag along with my tea kettle. I make myself comfortable on the ground while she watches me for a few moments with her eyes narrowing somewhat. "You have any good tea? I'm willing to trade?" She offers a bit abruptly with clear interest as I start to fill my teapot with water.

I raise a brow but nod. "A few types, and maybe. But why do you want tea? No offense but it's not what I'd expect you to want." I ask back genuinely curious about her reasons. It would take her a lot of tea to make a drink after all and it's just not something I'd think they would want.

She moves the emerald closer to her eyes and brings out a single claw while holding the gem steady. As she slowly moves her claw down I watch with curiosity and amazement as her claw just smoothly slices the gem like it's made of clay. If that's not some form of magic I'll eat my damned cloak.

The first cut is pretty smooth but not perfect, it does let her sit the emerald on the now flat side to better work with it. "Food." She answers bluntly with a chuckle. "We may be Dragons, but we also like good-tasting food, and it lasts longer. Anything that can spice food up is worth its weight in gold, and tea works like just another seasoning." She answers with a focused voice.

I open the only paper notebook I took with me and start to make several notes on that. I also ignore her last words by focusing on the interesting information. Again tea is not something I'd ever really think about for a dragon, but with the lack of plants in the Dragon Lands spices would be hard to come by and they can't really grow them either.

After making some notes I answered her. "Well, I have some actual seasoning, I'm willing to look after you're done." I don't commit fully as she continues her work but she seems a bit pleased with my answer. Like the other Dragons, she doesn't really hide her expression. "What are the best seasonings to trade, anything of particular value?" I ask as it could be helpful.

I like seasonings as well and brought several seeds with me to grow whatever I needed. Trading with spices might be a good alternative to gold considering it costs me nothing to make. She keeps making small cuts on the gem, shaving off material while snacking on the pieces that are cut off.

"Ssssss, not really? You Ponies complicate things." She chuckles softly like it's a joke, which it might actually be for her. "The stronger the better, it means we need less to taste it. It depends on the Dragon though." I've noticed that she's been pretty relaxed with me and is actually being helpful with her answers, but still has that slight tone that makes it clear she rather be working in silence.

I make some more notes on that and start to work on a sketch of her as she works. "Ok, what are the actual rules in the Dragon Lands? Do you have any firm ones, or is it more just depending on the individual?" I ask wishing for clarification on how things work here.

You can learn a lot about a place based on the rules alone and I'd really like to stay out of trouble here. She pauses a bit and looks at me as I relax, drinking tea while drawing and watching her. "You are an odd one, look at you, you don't even bother to look afraid." She laughs a bit and smiles more showing her teeth and I smile back politely.

She goes back to her work and continues. "Well, officially? No killing, ever." She says seriously. "That one is Dragon Lord Torch's main rule. Even ponies like you can't be killed." She cuts off a larger piece of gem and eats it for a moment. "At least, inside the Dragon Lands, outside is not his territory." She explains blandly.

I pick up on the meaning right away. You can't kill here, but in another nations territory is a different story. "I presume that's not commonly done? I don't think even you all want to anger a nation, or more than one." I reason and she nods after raising a brow at my calm reaction.

"Correct, it's dangerous and not really worth it. The other rules are less actual rules and more, understandings. You steal a Dragon's hoard and they will come for you, or they and their family will." She heavily emphasizes family and it catches my attention. "So, what is a pony doing here? Not many of you are brave, or foolish enough to come." She asks casually.

I look confused at that for a moment before smiling. "No killing, I guess a fight is still possible then, maybe even some more minor injuries," I say and watch her eyes flicker to me in surprise before going back. "A bit of trading, and learning more about you all. Is family important to you?"

She nods and ignores my first comment. "Very. You can't trust others, but family is family. Blood runs thick." She uses some words I don't understand. "Blood runs thick, it means family is more than just who you know." She flips the emerald and I can see she's leveled off a second side of it very accurately for using claws.

"Wrong a Dragon and you have an enemy, wrong a dragon and you anger a family, or at least part of one." I quickly add several notes and remember to keep her words firmly in mind. It seems there is a form of structure and law here, even if it mainly comes from consequences and violence.

It does make some sense as they have to at least function as a whole to keep this territory to themselves. Others might not want this land for anything but its resources, but that is more than enough for a war to happen. I'll need to be careful who I deal with then, and how I deal with them. "What is considered wronging a Dragon?" I ask after a few minutes of making notes and finishing up my rough sketch of her.

She scratches her neck a bit in thought. "It depends, it is not so... Rigid. Some things matter more to others, or an elder said that once to me, seems right though." She shrugs a bit. "No stealing and no large injury is good enough for a Pony though." She answers with a slightly shorter tone. I can see she's getting a bit tired of my constant questions by now as she works faster.

I could ask more, but she's been much more helpful than other Dragons so it's best not to push my luck. "Thank you, last few questions so I'll just say them all. Your name and age? Do you know of any elder Dragons that might be willing to talk to me? And when is this market open?" I give her a sincere thank you as she has been very helpful to me and I'll probably try to talk to her again if I can, before just laying the rest of my questions out for her saying things bluntly.

She finishes a third side of the emerald but again pauses to look at me while tilting her head. "You are by far the weirdest Pony I've met. Talking to an Elder? You?" She laughs a little but it doesn't come off as insulting, simply humorous to her. "I can't help you there, all the ones I know are lowly bastards." Despite her words, she puts some respect to the word elder.

She motions with a clawed hand. "This mess is open every day, not everyone comes through." She looks around and I notice that the gathering has grown to a few hundred Dragons by this point. "I'm here every few days or so." She moves to the fifth side of the emerald, speeding up her work. "Six hundred and eighty-two, Aurora, and you Pony?" She introduces herself after a fairly long pause.

I mark her age and nod my thanks. "Nice to meet you, Shade," I answered before putting away my things after standing up with a stretch. "I have some pepper I could trade, some of your carvings look well done." I take out a small bag of ground black pepper I brought for seasoning.

I have a few peppercorn seeds to make more as they can be good fresh as well. She looks inside the bag after I toss it to her and sniffs the inside before moving back with a snort. "Ah yes, this one is nice. Take any of the smaller ones, only one though. This is a more common one to pass through." She explains before moving her tail out of my way.

I walk up to the stone slabs and start to look at some of her carvings. After a little looking I find a Griffon Carved from ruby about the size of my hoof, I marvel at it for a moment. "You are really accurate with those claws, how long have you been doing this?" I compliment her honestly as the ruby carving is small and yet she is very accurate.

The carving is still a bit rough, but it has all the limbs and even the wings carved out of red gemstone, forming a Griffon lying down. She finishes the emerald and keeps the bag as I put away the carving in my saddlebags. She blinks a bit hearing my compliment and nods slowly. "A few centuries." She says with a confused tone my compliment having seemingly surprised her.

I nod and pick up the cube-shaped emerald. The sides aren't perfectly smooth but it's still very accurate and well done, forming a very even cube with the sides properly lined up, worth every bit I paid. "Looks good, you do good work. One last thing, how do I tell if a Dragon owns a cave? I don't want to walk in on a sleeping Dragon." I ask seriously.

She again looks slightly unreadable at my kind words. She raises a brow at my question though and shrugs, "Check? Many leave markings, an x in the wall, that sort of thing. But ya, just check." She moves back to her earlier work and it's clear we're done with our deal.

I make a mental note of her appearance and name for later and start to move to the edge of the market again. The emerald is now cut more than well enough and I have a lot of new information so I leave for now. As I walk out I notice that the newer Dragons are trading different things.

Some trade food, mostly fish but also a few animals. None of them are sapient from what I can tell, there are a few odd creatures I don't recognize though. I also see some selling trees and wood, or carved slabs of stone of different types, even some marble.

One is even selling ore, I don't know what type though. I do get to watch for a minute as a Dragon melts some ore in a large stone bowl with their fire breath, the larger adult apparently smelting it down. I want to watch more but they glare a bit at my staring and I need a campsite before it gets dark. I can come back another day for something like that.

I start to make my way out of the large valley this odd market is in and start looking around the area from a rocky hilltop. With many valleys and mountains of rock in every direction from where I am, many lava tubes and caves around as well. Most of the larger ones have obvious signs of someone living there though.

By large I mean LARGE, big enough for the adult Dragons. I suppose such large caves are much rarer to find so are more commonly occupied, but scattered around are uncountable small caves and crevices. After walking along a rock ridge for around half an hour I find a smaller valley.

Its caves are too small for an adult Dragon so I started looking around for a suitable place. The reason I want to camp in a cave is simple, it is much safer to do so. I can't be easily spotted and with this gem, I can easily make such a location very defendable and safe enough to sleep in while letting my guard down a bit so I don't stress myself out.

The first cave I find has a few markings, and I can sense a source of life magic inside it deeper inside. I move on and find a cave that will work perfectly for me after looking at several others. It's behind a few rock outcroppings and mostly hidden from sight, the entrance is also only twice the height of a pony.

I see no markings and can't feel anything alive inside so I cast a light spell and walk in. The inside is very simple, a roughly two dozen-foot tunnel that descends at an incline before opening up into a flattish cavern. It's around twenty feet across and is a rounded cavern that a Dragon probably dug out sometime in the past, considering the claw marks around the walls.

It seems dry and there is a layer of dust covering everything so it appears to be completely unused. I turn to my shadow after deciding on this cave for a camp. "Up for lunch Girl?" I ask and Entropy leaves my shadow a moment later looking a bit on edge.

It only takes me a moment to realize she might not have liked being that close to so many Dragons for so long. I give her a reassuring look, "It's ok Girl, they just look scary, they aren't that bad." I sit down and start to pet her while feeding her some treats. "Thank you for being brave and watching over me," I say while smiling at her.

She leans into my pets. "Scary, teeth." She ruffles her feathers before hopping up to sit on my back as I lay down in the cave I'll be calling home for a few weeks. "Green, pretty." She looks at the large emerald as I place it down on the floor, I keep petting her for a minute to comfort her.

"It certainly is, and that Dragon was nice enough to make it pretty for us." I try to get her more comfortable with the idea that Dragons aren't too scary. She stays silent but tilts her head a bit so I leave her alone to think about it and start enchanting the large emerald.

My goal is simple for now, I'm going to make a shield over the cave entrance and probably set up a better camp as well. I might as well be more comfortable while I'm here. I look around the small cavern and start to think of ideas while carefully enchanting the emerald to hold and gather magic.

The shield is simple enough to enchant the emerald, and I walk to the entrance of the cave before placing the gem behind some rocks so no one can see it from outside. The shield is invisible to sight but I don't think a Dragon will be trying to break in, at least not without good reason.

I walk back a bit to the midsection of the small tunnel and take out a Razer Vine seed before dropping it near a wall. I grow the vine without needles and have it cover around ten feet of the tunnel ceiling. That and the shield should be good enough for most threats that could bother me.

I walk back down into the cavern and start to plan out the area more in my head. I wonder if I could fit a fireplace in here? Maybe a spell for the smoke?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I like the idea that Dragons are rough and tough, but not cruel. They may be a more primitive and brutal society, is STILL a society. It needs some structure, consequences, and rules to function.

It doesn't matter if those rules and consequences come from social interactions or an authority figure doesn't matter really. It just needs them to actually work well. But that's just my thoughts on all this.

Anyway, someone gave me an idea for Aurora, so thank you very much to that person, I hope you liked how I did them, and have a good day.