Once again, Friaz was left as night guard. It felt odd, to be mortal. He hadn't been like this ever before. The world somehow seemed more real that it used to, as if the colors were once dulled, and suddenly had sharpened themselves. It was strangely uncomfortable, and for some reason for the past few hours he had been losing concentration and feeling weaker and weaker, like he just wanted to… well, actually, he didn't know what he wanted to do. He just wanted to feel stronger, like he normally did. Also, his powers seemed to be weakening as he started to feel weaker. Once he swore that he lost his abilities to levitate, down by the river, and almost fell in, right before he caught himself. I don't like this, don't like it at all. How can they live like this? he glanced over to where Artemis and Fang slept. I'm like them now… this is so strange…
Somewhere, close by, a faint rusting snapped Friaz's thoughts back to the moment. Who's there?, he called mentally into the brush. No answer came to him. He tried again. Still nothing. The rustling came a little closer and off to his left. Friaz turned to face the unseen thing, and tried to ready his energy, but found himself unable to draw sufficient energy to do anything. For the first time in his existence, he was terrified. Not the detached fear he had felt before, but absolute, genuine terror, that clawed at his mind. He tried to call out using his voice this time. "Who… Who's there? Show yourself!" In compliance, a tiny head, that was long, slender, and scaly, popped up a little further than a foot away from Friaz. The cape recoiled, surprised.
"Hi!" The tiny head called to Friaz, and wandered out of the bushes, into the fading campfire. Friaz saw that the creature was tiny for it's species, only about seven feet from foot to tail, but that was only for its species. It was still almost as big as the cape.
A mixture of dread and relief washed over Friaz as he wrapped his arms around the blue dragon's thick neck. "Oh, Icewing! You scared me…"
Icewing recoiled from Friaz, as terrified as he had been a moment before. "Friaz? What happened to you!? This is the first time you have ever hugged me, and I could have sworn you just said I scared you. What the heck?"
"Oh, Icewing, I'm mortal! It's terrible! I think I'm losing my abilities, and I couldn't even sense you this time! I feel so weak and confused…" Icewing gave Friaz a look of disbelief, then his face saddened when he was Friaz was not joking at all.
"But… you can still predict, can't you?" Icewing was mortified when Friaz shook his head. "This is horrible!" Friaz just nodded. "Well, I'll tell you something. You are tired, that's why you feel so weak. You need to sleep."
Friaz looked puzzled. "Sleep? Like what they're doing?" He motioned to Artemis and Fang.
Icewing looked them a moment, curious. "Who are they? Travelling buddies while you're here?"
"Never mind that. I'll explain after I get some… sleep? That sounds so strange… How do I… sleep?"
"Um… dang, now that I think about it, it's kinda hard to explain. Well, I guess you just… Hmm… Well, get in a comfortable position, first… then just… close your eyes? No, you can't do that… Let me think…"
Friaz tried to lay down on the ground, yet still managed to hover, somehow. "Is this… comfort? I don't feel any better than when I was upright."
Icewing sat, thinking for a moment. "Umm… Hmm… well, I guess you gotta try to shut down your concious thought, and let your body recharge… I don't know what sleep is really, now that I think about it."
Friaz sat up, and thought with him. "shut my systems off and let myself recharge? I can try that…"
"Okay, you try it. I'll stay guard for the rest of the night. I rested before coming here, anyway." Friaz sat cross-legged and his eyes seemed to go impossibly black, so it looked like they were absorbing the light. He slumped foreward, and was soon sleeping, or whatever a flying cape calls it.
Icewing regarded the girl and the wolf, wondering what Friaz could have to do with them this time. He couldn't wait for morning, to get his questions answered.