She looks to Ash, waiting for him to ask the question.

He glares.

Ash stepped forward and asked the creature, who turned it's black eyes on him, "We need to find the Iron King. If you lead us to him, we will let you keep the plant in return." The gnome jabbered something, hopped onto the ground after taking the plant and putting it in his pile, and beckoned them to follow.

He follows.

She smiles proudly, nodding to herself. "Just growing that plant is hard enough..." She mutters, looking at the beautiful blue plant. She follows quickly.

They trailed the odd little creature through the wasteland of junk, drawing curious stares from the other residents living there. There were more of those ratlike creatures whose teeth rusted metal, a few scrawny dogs wandering about, and swarms of iron bugs crawling over everything. Once, in the distance, they could get a terrifying glimpse of another dragon, unfurling from a mound of trash. Thankfully, if only shifted into a more comfortable sleeping position and returned to its perfect disguise as a pile of debris.

At last, the mountains of garbage fell away, and the packrat pointed a long finger down a barren plain. Across a cracked, gray plateau, spiderwebbed with lava and millions of blinking lights, a railroad stretched away into the distance. Hulking machines, like enormous iron beetles, sat beside it, snorting steam. And silhouetted against a sky, a jagged black tower stabbed up from the earth, wreathed in smog and billowing smoke. Machina's fortress. Ash drew in a quiet breath. The packrat scuttled away with his plant, chittering with joy.

Ash looked awful, his skin was ashen and there were shadows under his eyes and his hair was damp with sweat.

He growls loudly.

She takes Ash's hand in hers, looking at him. She didn't really know what to say so she stayed silent.

Ash can't even manage a smile. After a while of walking, Ash muttered, "Don't look now, but we're being followed." They had been following the railroad, walking beside it. Streetlamps grew out of the ground, lighting the way. A small, familiar creature scuttled across the tracks, vanishing into the smoke that iron behemoths were hissing.

He growls.