"I didn't know Tzaphie-doodle had wings..." Calico mumbled, staring in awe at the boy's heavenly shroud as well as the beautiful blue aura around it. There was an odd feeling there, too, visible to her in the blinding glints from the multifaceted feathers.

Whisper-thin memories, flashing instant to instant; a dusty brown sleeve brushing against silver hair, worn fingers stroking a child's unnaturally cool cheek, and those same fingers, slightly less worn, deftly playing metal and leather and glittering soul lights into a creation as complete (in love if not form) as nature's own.

She also saw, in the way that gods do, that over the whole of Althanas, all that remained of the man were those soothing memories. Sorrow sank the corners of her manic grin, and her quivering eyes silently asked if the poor boy knew.

Such a complex expression didn't translate well to Edgar's face, though, as it always shook like that, and it shook even more with the renewed stirring of their gargantuan guest.

Screaming a cacophony of rage and glittering blood spray, she swiveled toward the small egg-napper with the grating voice. It simply stood, rooted in the shallow surf, and turned its bulbous, crimson, gumdrop of an eye to point at the mother. Whether she felt fear at these resilient pests, mockery in their defiance, or was simply acting out the most essential of instincts, her course was the same. She flattened her body to the beach, blasting twin blades of sand high to either side, and heaved with all of her length that had purchase.

"Oh yeah," Calico chirped toward the howling, serpentine locomotive barreling at her. She raised her gummy, clenched fist like a battering ram and set her lopsided legs into a splashing, stumbling charge. Wind and rank sea breath swelled before the widening maw, to which she answered with the only battle cry that came to mind.

"Choooo chooo!"

In the blink of an eye, the distance closed between the two maternal figures... and reached the negative digits as the abused puppet's body moved past the dripping teeth, over the convulsing tongue, and into the record books for "Dumbest Tactic in Dragon Slaying History". Registering a kind of surprise not normally seen in the animal kingdom, the sea dragon jerked back and upward, choking down the all-too-willing meal.

Yay! Your turn! Calico shouted as she danced away from the bubble, leaving Edgar to experience all those icky esophagus-related sensations on his own. Open your hand and let mommy's holy light pour out.

In the crushing darkness of the beast's throat, Edgar's gummy fist popped open and let loose the small stone his master had plucked from among Kahlina's pre-flight scattering of possessions.

The dragon let out one noisy cough, then, without the slightest trace of light (holy or otherwise), popped out of existence. Amid the low sonic boom of the sudden vacuum and the harsh swell of the now-vacant water, the only other sign of the dragon's existence was its last meal, momentarily suspended in a Superman pose.

Victoriously, the cloaked hero fell from the sky and ate sand.