The day was calm and warm, the type of day to just relax and enjoy a walk through the wilds. The sky was clear, the sun shone sending its warmth, and a gentle breeze offered a refreshing breath from time to time. These were the kinds of days that brought Fafnear joy. These kinds of days it was not uncommon to find the creature wandering through a forest to soak up the suns rays. That was exactly what it was doing actually. Fafnear had woken early that day, watching the sun break over the horizon the creature took wing in dragon form to find a peaceful place to spend the day.

Gliding over the earth, Fafnear saw a lovely patch of forest that seemed just perfect to spend the day. Angling down, the dragon landed through the trees, leaves and branches brushing against its scales as clawed feet extended under it and touched the grassy ground with surprisingly gentle grace. With the feeling of lush grass under foot, the dragon eased into a more relaxed position, drawing its wings in from their extended flight position and closer to the body, folded, but not tucked in. Relaxed, that was what Fafnear was for the first time in a few days. Taking a deep breath, the dragon took in the fresh air and wonderful smells of an untouched forest, letting the natural smell put its muscles at ease. There it stood for a few minutes, eyes closed, enjoying everything this place had to offer. But, after that time, the dragon opened its blue eyes and started walking. The crunch of grass underfoot and the light noises of the leather wings moving with each step about all the noise the creature made while walking.

It seems hours that the dragon walked though the forest, twisting and winding around trees, over rocks, around bushes. Navigating an unseen road, this dragon simply walked, thinking to itself on any number of things. Eventually the shifter came upon a stream. It wasn't large, just a little stream that added a new level of serenity to this place. The sounds of the babbling water only further put the dragon at ease and even managed to bring a gentle smile to its muzzle. Turning, Fafnear followed the stream for a short time, enjoying the sound of the running water and the occasional chirping bird. Something was off though. A chirping that was erratic and constant. Worried. Coming to a stop the dragon craned its head around to look for the source of the strange chirping. Eventually the blue eyes found the reason this chirping broke the natural calm of the forest. A small blue jay, probably just into adulthood, lay wounded on the ground, wing twisted and side ripped open, the sight was not pretty. Probably managed to escape the claws of another predator, but only barely and not in any condition to live on. The smile on the dragons face slowly turned into a sad frown as it gazed on the poor creature. Breathing a heavy sigh it walked over to the scared creature and bent down, scooping the bird up into its clawed hands before standing once more.

In the distance another being lurks in the shadows. Crouched low, hiding amongst the bushes, a predator watches the dragon. Brown orbs watch the shifter crouch and stand as ears atop the head swivel and pitch forward to listen. A hand, hidden behind the bush, grips the handle of a dagger as it slides it slowly from the belt. By the stream Fafnear begins to hum, back turned to an unknown assailant and the ears of this hidden foe twitch at the sudden sound. As Fafnear hums, its tail sways slightly and wings shift causing the connecting leather to ruffle and settle, all the while the assailant moves closer, darting from shadow to shadow with an eerie silence.

Fafnear raised the hand holding the bird to about chest level, its other hand raising up to the sky as its blue eyes close once again. The gentle humming continues as the dragon concentrates on the dying bird in its palm. Behind it, just on the other side of the bush the attacker pauses, watching the dragons hand to be sure they haven't been noticed. When nothing happens, the attack moves from the bush, dagger held high, aiming for the back of the neck of Fafnear. Just as they are about to strike, a bright white light flashes suddenly, filling the already bright day with an almost blinding light. Because of the sudden light, the attacker dropped their dagger to cover their face, quickly ducking behind a bush to be out of view while their vision returned. Hearing the thud of steel to the ground, Fafnear turned to look for the source, hand returning to its side as it turned. Scanning the area, its blue eyes landed on the dagger laying alone in the grass. Tilting its head, the dragon stared at the dagger, but was quickly distracted by a chirp. Looking down to its palm, the little blue jay sits, looking around in its bird like way before ruffling his feathers. With a gentle smile, Fafnear lifts its hand and opens its claws, allowing the blue jay to fly off, wing fixed and side closed. It would live.

As the attackers vision returned, they looked over the bush to see Fafnear standing alone, hand raised it watched a bird fly off. Seeing an opening, the assassin grabs a second dagger and quickly leaps from the hiding spot, a warriors cry sounding from her throat as steel flashes in the sun. Fafnear, having been brought back by the cry of attack, has no time to react to the sudden attack and just barely looks at the figure of a wolf leaping from the bushes. Bearing its teeth the dragon stands firm as steel meets flesh and the dagger is driven deep into the dragons shoulder. Acting quickly now, Fafnear grabs the wrist holding the blade and holds it tight, driving the dagger in deeper to the hilt, but getting a firm hold on the wolfess. Snarling, Fafnear takes in the assassin. A black wolfess with a white underbelly, which could be seen trough the gap in her pants and shirt, and eyes brown as the earth. Long head fur, dyed red, and her tail tipped with the same white as the under belly.

Standing tall with knife embedded in its shoulder, Fafnear was able to hold the female just off the ground, making it difficult for the assassin to get away from the grip. Despite the wolfesses struggling, the dragon was able to hold her tight. Even the dagger was held firm in its shoulder. As Fafnear looked at this wolf, its face relaxed from the snarl it bore and instead became a neutral feature.
"Who are you?"
It asked with an eerie calm. Blood trickled from around the dagger as the assailant struggled in the dragons grip.
"You're assassin!"
The wolfess yells, swinging her other arm up and grabbing the pommel of the dagger as she speaks. Twisting the blade in Fafnears shoulder caused the dragon to loosen its grip just enough to allow the assassin to get free. As she broke from the grip, she twisted the knife to slash toward Fafnears face. Being focused on the wolf now, Fafnear saw the swing coming moved, sliding its leg back and pulling away from the blade, causing the wolf to miss.
"Another. Always another. Never any PEACE!"
The dragon said, speaking more to itself than to anyone or thing. Taking a breath, Fafnear gently placed a hand over the wound, blood oozing forth freely now to stain the white fur that grew from its body. Glancing back at the wolfess, the dragon sighed.

Standing up straight, Fafnear brought its feet together and gingerly folded its arms behind its back. Wings came to rest on its shoulders, joint claws gripping to give the dragon the appearance of wearing a cape. Taking on a somewhat regal appearance with this posture change, Fafnear gazed at the wolfess as she jumped back a few paces in anticipation for an attack that never came.
"And why, pray tell, have you been sent?"
Fafnear asked, as if it was some teacher questioning a student. Blue eyes were fixed solely on the wolf assassin as she snarled and slipped her hand behind her back.
"The last assassin couldn't do the job right. So I was hired and well, im sorry but I needed the gold to survive..."
The assassin spoke, eyes narrowing under the gaze of the dragon before her. With a quick movement, she lets five throwing knives fly despite knowing her throwing was not the best. She just hoped one would hit the dragon, even graze it. However, with Fafnears full attention focused on the assassin, the attack was instantly noticed, as was the bad aim. Taking a simple step to the left, the dragon was able to miss most of the knives, and with a quick move of the tail they missed completely.

With its good arm, however, the dragon reached out and snatched one of the flying knives from the air. Bringing it close to its face Fafnear took a sniff of the knife and chuckled lowly, shaking its head before tossing the dagger aside.
"You should really do your research, poison doesn't work on black dragons. For future reference."
It chastised, smiling as it did so. Clearing its throat, the dragon slides its hand back behind its back to resume the stance it had before.
"Last two, actually. Both were so uncouth, using guns. Bleh."
To accent its words Fafnear shakes its head in disgust at the word gun.
"But, you should have taken another job. Whatever gold was promised is not worth your time and effort."
The dragon continues, speaking in a calm and collected voice despite the alarming amount of blood seeping from its shoulder. The white fur along that half of its body now dyed a deep red.

Naturally, all of this good posture and calm speaking did not go unnoticed by the assassin. Growling deeply, the wolfess backs further away from the dragon, putting more distance between them. As she did so, once more her hand found its way to an article of clothing, a pocket this time, and she grabbed another tool. Gripping it in her hand she snarls at Fafnear.
"Why won't you fight back?! Your life is in danger!''
The wolfess demanded, obvious confusion and frustration in her voice.
"Fight? Does it anger you that I won't fight back?"
Replied Fafnear, another chuckle escaping its throat. The laugh seemed to anger the wolf, as it was then she chose to throw the next item, one that didn't require much accuracy. Throwing a small round capsule at the dragons chest, she quickly covered her own muzzle with a mask. The little sphere slammed into Fafnears chest, causing it to break open and a cloud of dust explode forth, filling the area immediately around Fafnear with this powder. Of course, the sudden action caused Fafnear to inhale a large amount of this powder, filling its lungs with the stuff.

Fafnear exhaled harshly to try and remove the powder from its lungs, but with the wounded shoulder and loss of blood, the powder soon took its effect. The powder entered the blood stream quicker than it should have and Fafnear began to feel its effects. Its vision blurred terribly, and its limbs weakened causing the dragon to lose its posture a bit in order to keep balance. With a flash of a grin, the wolf ran toward the dragon.
"It doesn't bother me if you wish to be stupid or unfocused... It just means I get to eat tonight!''
She yelled out as she rushed the dragon, leaping at the last second to throw a kick into the dragons head. With its vision blurred there was no way for Fafnear to tell if the wolf was getting closer, and the weakened limbs would have made it impossible to dodge. Gritting its teeth Fafnear took the hit in its full force directly to the skull. The force causing the dragon to spin with the kick, though it was careful not to lose its footing, opting to slide its clawed feet along the ground as it pun away from the attacker. After the hit the wolf landed with a spin of her own, twisting to face Fafnear for another attack with a pair of daggers drawn from her belt, only to find the dragon still standing, though hunched over and breathing hard.

The hit caused Fafnear to place a hand on its head to keep its skull from rattling off its shoulders. With skull ringing the dragon started taking even, controlled breaths as it tried to clear its vision, and even tried to shake its head to shrug off the kick, though it didn't work. Still breathing heavy and even, Fafnear looked up and stared at the wolf through blurred vision.
"No, someone doesn't ask such a question when they look to take advantage. No no, they never question good fortune."
Fafnear remarked as it stared at the wolfess. For some unforeseen reason, the comment makes the dragon smile. The hunched over, bleeding, weakened, and sight impaired victim of this fight could only muster a smile at the situation. This simple act completely caught the assassin off guard and she dropped her fighters stance to just stare confused at the spectacle before her.
"How.... How are you still standing? Unless..."
The wolf thought aloud, her mind racing with thoughts about this. There was something her employers did not mention, and she was starting to see what it was. In her wonder she could just watch her target as it began to breath heavily, inhaling slowly then exhaling with a harsh force. In and out this went on for a good while, the assassin to wrapped in her own thoughts to take advantage of the situation.

Finally, a harsh exhale brought forth a fine frost from the dragons mouth and quickly evaporated, something that did not go unnoticed. This breath was soon followed by a cough from the dragon and a large plume of this frost escaped the dragons maw, this time hanging in the air a bit longer before dissipating in the warm air.
"Oh gods that is much better."
Fafnear spoke, again more to itself, as it brought itself up slightly from its hunched position, vision clearing to near perfect. Some fuzziness remained. The weakness in its limbs began to leave, and over all the dragon was just about purged of the toxin it had inhaled. Seeing this, the wolfess dropped her weapons and backed away in amazement at how quickly the dragon was able to rid itself of her toxin.
"You're... You're immortal!"
She cried, fear present in her voice as her knees grew weak.
"Hush you! Not so loud!"
Fafnear called in a low growl.
"Do you want the world to hear you?"
It adds in a tone that carried annoyance, like the assassin just found out about some crush more than a giant secret like immortality. Closing its blue eyes, Fafnear holds them tight and presses its fingers against the eyelids for a moment before moving the hand away and opening its eyes, vision finally clear completely. Glancing over to the assassin Fafnear finally takes notice of the frightful stance she has taken.
"What's got you in a fright all of a sudden?"
Fafnear asks, tilting its head in a confused manner.

The assassin suddenly drops to her knees, bowing before the dragon Fafnear and causing it to get and even more confused look on its face.
"Please, holy immortal, spare my life! For I was only fulfilling a contract!"
The wolfess pleads, head held low and ears pinned back against her skull as she silently prays to be spared the wrath of an immortal. The dragon sighs loudly.
"Would you hush with that!"
Came the responce, causing the wolfess to look up from her bow. What she saw was the dragon shaking its head and checking the stab wound from earlier.

Moving the fur aside, Fafnear looked down at a now closed wound, only a small red line remained from earlier and even that was slowly fading. Sighing in what seemed an aggravated manner the dragon let the fur go to rest back over the now non-existent wound.
"Damn, I was hoping it would hurt more, longer."
The dragon spoke in a low tone, almost sad by the fact this usually crippling blow was now gone. With a disappointed look, it gazed down at the wolf assassin who was near laying on the floor and sighed.
"Get up child, you're in no danger from me. That contract though, what are it's terms?"
Fafnear asked, standing up straight once again as it spoke. As stood as the dragon stood at its full height once again, the elegance returned to its form. The wolf assassin, however, stood as she was told, but her head hung low and her ears remained flat in shame for having attacked this creature so readily.
"Return with Fafnear dead, or I will be deprived of food, tortured then killed."
The assassin replied, her voice weak and quiet as opposed to the loud aggressiveness she had been using before. This answer caused Fafnear to nod once and huff. Crossing its arms over its chest, the dragon began to pace in front of the assassin, each step causing the wolfess to flinch as she readied herself for the death that was coming. After a few passes Fafnear stops, once more looking at the sad figure before it. Turning to face the assassin Fafnear raises its hands and the wolf closes its eyes to avoid seeing which death would come to her.

SNAP!

The wolfess flinches, closing her eyes tight, and then pauses, feeling with her mind for what might have happened. Standing in silence she could feel nothing different. No wounds, nothing seemed to be leaking blood. Slowly, hesitantly, she opened a single eye to gaze out at Fafnear. Standing before her the dragon held out a single hand, palm up, toward the wolf. Looking in this clawed hand, the wolf noticed something white. Opening her other eye she gazed at the hand in awe. Sitting there was one of Fafnears pronged horns.
"Take this to them. Tell them I put up more of a fight than you expected. The horn is real, so it will pass any spells to determine its authenticity. You tell them I'm dead."
The dragon explained, and then demanded. The wolfess stood speechless, gazing wide eyed at the horn, then up to the face of the immortal. Her mind raced from what happened, and yet nothing seemed real.
"You.. You're saving me? After I harmed you? After I tried to kill you?''
She questioned wildly, unwilling to believe someone would so readily spare the life of a hired assassin, especially after such damage had been done. With a gentle smile Fafnear took a slow step forward and placed its free hand on her shoulder.
"Don't look so sad."
Fafnear said, placing the pronged white horn in the wolfs hands.
"True power isn't always in killing others."
It said, still smiling as it removed its hand from her shoulder and turning to walk away.

The wolfess could only stare as the powerful being walked away from the battle like one would walk away from a coffee shop after hanging out with an old friend. Looking down at the horn in her paws, she finally felt the weight of the thing as if to remind her that this did just happen and she was, in fact, still standing to tell the story. Slipping the horn into an empty pouch on her belt she quickly gathered her weapons and took off running in the other direction, heading straight for those who employed her to gather her reward and safe her own life. But, as she ran, she could not help but think on those last words the shapeshifter had spoken to her.
'True power isn't always in killing others.'