ring around the rosie

A real volcano, in Alacritia, and she was only discovering it now. Or had she walked by here before? She felt like she had, because how the hell does anyone miss a frickin volcano? Cantering up the side of the massive hillside, completely disregarding the possibility that she might break an ankle running across the rubble. Tongue lolling from one side of her steel maw, she just kept running. Was there lava in the volcano? What would happen if she fell in? Was there a dragon? Did he have treasure? Could she steal some of that treasure? She needed some more trinkets. When was the last time she found something neat? Damn, it had been a while. Skidding to a halt at the very last second, she nearly went careening over the edge. 

Peering over the lip of the chasm, she realized that would have been a very bad thing. There was, in fact, magma down there. Good thing she wasn't that dumb. It was pretty warm here, especially in the spring. That must have been because of the volcano. Suddenly, she wondered if there were hot springs. Those were great. So warm, and they really loosened up sore muscles. Her head swung around frantically, searching for a telltale puff of steam somewhere. Nothing. A loud sigh trickled from her maw, and she frowned. Well, alright. 

Dropping heavily onto her haunches, she shook out her unruly, coarse ruff. She must have looked like she'd grown right out of the ash and stone, with her tufty, thick mane and oversized teeth, not to mention her not so average height. Compared to her brother, she was downright puny, but to most, she was pretty big. She looked like a tough creature, but she definitely wasn't. Sacha, the name meant 'Defender of Mankind'. She had made it synonymous with 'Dork', and that was okay.