Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hlal-son nods his gratitude and leads the way down to the opening, which is actually far larger than it first appears to be. Even in his dragon form, he fits through the crack with ease.

"I don't know... this passageway is confusing... most of it has been worked to some extent, but a great deal of it is still in it's natural state. It is almost as if they did not wish to do anything more than was absolutely necessary to render it usable. Can you see anything more from your vantage point?" This is not so odd a request as it first appears to be, for Hlal-son towers over the smaller dragon by several yards.

Finally they make their way into an enormous chamber that must have, up until recently been submerged under water. The carvings here are easier to make out. Dragons in flight, dragons at play, dragons of all types and some which no longer seem to exist. Through out is all though, there are smaller humanoid creatures intermixed with them. Tall thin, elegant creatures with slanted eyes and large gracefully tapered ears. Large ramps lead upward towards a second gallery which is lost in the darkness.

"Dear Father! The whole mountain must be hollow!" murmurs Hla-son in a soft awe-inspired voice.

Hlal-son is obviously relunctant to leave, but he knows Luceil is making a great deal of sense.

"So..." he says as they carefully make their way back outside. "Have you thought about what you did yesterday? Any suggestions as to what your punishment should be?"

Hlal-son shakes his great head. "Bad question, Luceil. Coriander would never do something so rash... she's not got that much initiative. Trouble is. You did not do it on purpose. And I really do not know how to respond to this. You uncovered for us a marvelous find. Though, I suspect Paladine knows of it's existence. Why he would hide it from us, I have no idea. And no one was hurt... well, a few were but none truly seriously. A few days of rest and most of them will be right as rain. And the only things which were truly damaged beyond repair were the fish holding ponds that Silveria had dug out to help with the feeding of the young. Truth be told, I suspect you probably have been punishing yourself far greater than you truly need to be punished. Still, a show must be made, to remind everyone that even heroes need to think twice about the things they do."

"Very well." says Hlal-son stopping just inside the entrance. He turns to face Luceil with a decisive nod. "All the younglings seem to think you are right up there next to your father right now. Word has gotten out that you tried to stop that flood and Silveria herself says that you quite possibly bought her the necessary time in which to sound the alarm. I do not wish to belittle what you attempted to do but your punishment is to spread the truth of the matter. When questioned you will tell everyone who asks what caused the flood as well as how close ye came to getting killed in trying to stop it. Igniska says that ye were quite dazed when you washed through and had you fallen from that height to the rocks below, you would have ended up either like my daughter is now... or no longer with us. Of this I am sure. Does this sound like a reasonable punishment to you?"

Hlal-son smiles sadly at him. "That is it... and in some ways you are a hero, Luceil. You tried. You could have run. Do you know what the meaning of a hero is?"

Hlal-son walks out into the sunshine and points to the gash at the far end of the gorge.

"A hero, Luceil, is someone who knows the odds are against him but who runs into the fray anyway... seeking to minimize or eliminate the harm in anyway he can. And had you ran, Silveria would not have been able to raise the alarm as quickly as she had. Her call to evacuate the river pulled most of the younglings to safety with but seconds to spare. The only ones who were hurt were those who decided to dawdle and refused to listen to her words."

Hlal-som smiles at him and sends him down to the library for a supply of wax tablets, styluses and Coriander. He also wants him to find Silveria and ask her to send up a crew of responsible young adolescent dragons, who would follow instructions to a "T" concerning the excavation.