Spoiler (click to show/hide):
Yes, but the caldera and such aren't occupied by the populace, so simply going up and then down into it would suffice. There's also a waterfall on it because they use it for power generation and I wanted all of the geographical features without thinking ahead like a twit.
Picking her up, she is indeed a lot heavier than your sister is, but she's probably no more than equivalent to yourself even though she's more svelte. You can't avoid touching the 'shell' which is more like a folded pile of incredibly thick and heavy scales, that are bunched up on her back to keep them out of the way. You'd seen her deploy them with more of a sliding motion compared to your own skin retraction, but it's probably best not to think about how
exactly her body is put together unless you want to demonstrate something else for her.
It takes a few moments, but you rise a few levels up, before edging around the mountain itself, finally spotting the palace, up near the halfway and above portion of the volcano. A few of the weapons swivel to point at you, a strange flying 'thing' that they can see, but rather than fire, they track for a few moments before you a feel a slight buzz on your communications device and they return their attention elsewhere.