When Izotz felt Azazel tensing up so much at the mention of meeting a male, the Frost couldn't deny that he was afraid the female would run away. He knew very little about what exactly stressed her, beyond the male gender. But that was why he'd left the offer open; if she didn't want to meet the Paragon he had in mind, he would simply go by himself later. While he was waiting for Azazel to answer, the Frost made sure to give her an encouraging smile, although his awkwardness and anxiety could also be seen. He wasn't used to handling Paragon that were this fidgety.
Much to his relief, Azazel did agree to go meet the Paragon in question. Izotz sighed inwardly over that, and his smile got a little more confidence after Azazel gave her answer.
"Great!" He was going to add that the Paragon stayed in a den a little bit outside the usual perimeter, so the area was quiet, but Izotz thought against it. He figured that the less he said, the less he would end up scaring off the little female, even more so than she already was.
"You can walk on the side closest to the wall, if you don't want the others down in the clearing to see you," Izotz offered as he got up slowly to start making his way down the slope that lead down to the clearing and beyond.
"There's not a lot of Paragon around this time, but it's up to you." The attention would probably make the female feel even more anxious, so the less Paragon saw her, the less they would scare her.
Slowly, Izotz guided Azazel down the slope and a little ways away from the main dens and clearing. Not a lot of Paragon were hanging in the clearing, and those that did looked pretty relaxed, just stargazing or snoozing off. Izotz felt a few eyes looking in his direction, but he tried to use his bigger body to hide the smaller Azazel that was walking with him. Now wasn't the time to announce that they had a new member: that would be done in the morning, another thing he didn't know how to handle well for Azazel's sake. Izotz couldn't tell if attention also freaked out the Sailfin, or if it was really just the male gender.
As they eventually got closer to the edge of the forest outlining the Hive, they passed by a small den that was closed off by a small curtain of leaves, which didn't look like a usual den compared to the others. Despite that, Izotz continued a little past it until he reached one of the biggest dens, at least in terms of entrance. It was also covered by a small natural curtain, and it was right next to the forest, giving it a unique area.
"Here we are," Izotz quietly said as they reached the den, and the Frost was inwardly hoping Azazel's anxiety level wasn't going overboard.
"I'm just warning you that he's a little... grumpy, but that's just because he's old," Izotz warned, giving a small laugh as he mentioned how it was an "old" thing.
"But don't be shy," he added as he turned back to the curtain and slowly made his way inside.
The inside of the den was spacious, enough to host quite a few Paragon in it alone. Further down the den was a large Sandshark Paragon that was snoozing away on his own. Izotz saying the Paragon was old had been an incredible understatement. The Sandshark looked more than just old, and more along the lines of ancient. His scales were obviously battered and discolored, the skin looked looser and older, and the spikes across his back, head and tail were almost blunt to the point of being harmless. The image of that Paragon alone was enough to prove that breeding was far beyond his time and that his prime had long since passed.
Approaching slowly, Izotz eventually stopped a few feet away from the Sandshark, craning his neck down towards the Sandshark.
"Balthazar?"When the Frost called his name, the Sandshark shifted slightly in his nest, his head eventually slowly raising up. Eyeless, the Sandshark craned his neck slowly towards the Frost, a loud sniffing noise following as he tried to figure out who was in the den and who had decided to wake him up so late. After the identification was over, the Sandshark growled quietly with displeasure.
"Aren't you busy sleepin' like everyone else?" Balthazar asked, his voice old, raspy and crackling as he spoke his words slowly.
Izotz gave a small sheepish smile that, fortunately for him, the elder couldn't see.
"Something came up."Another grumble from the Sandshark, who quickly caught on to the "something". Craning his neck even more, his sniffed again a few times as he caught on an unidentified scent.
"You, in the back," he called out to Azazel, the only one who was accompanying Izotz.
"Come closer. What's your name?" he asked, the same way an old grandfather Paragon would call one of his small hatchlings.