The fire crackled in front of Nidian as he sat opposite of Ashdinea, the muck and grime washed away from his undressed wounds. The sun had set an hour prior and they had settled down for the night not far from Nomad's Haven. He picked up a stick and poked at the burning wood.

  "I think I am owed some answers."

  Nidian's head quickly lifted as he heard her speak. "About what?" He set the wood aside and ran his hand through the grass next to him.

  Ashdinea shifted her body closer to the fire, her scales brilliantly illuminated by its flame. "Why they were searching for you. Was it the journal?"

  The young Daemorian clenched a fistful of grass and made direct eye contact with her. His lips pressing tightly together. She was one of them, his gut told him to not speak a word. Then again she didn't seem to be aware why the cult was after him. Was she different from the rest? Was she not involved with the them at all?

  "I know you're hesitant about sharing that with me but if I intended to do wrong to anyone I would have been just like the others you met back there. I wouldn't be asking, I'd be taking it from you by force. You can trust me Nidian. I'm no different than I was when you met me. I just want you and everyone in Nomad's Haven safe."

  Nidian ambivalent about the premise of the question, tried to dodge it. "Why are you so concerned about the safety of a Maverick village? Why were you hiding among them?"

  Ashdinea hung her head somberly. "Because they're family to me..."

  Nidian couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy for the dragon, "How's a Demraxite come to pity a bunch of Daemorians?"

  Her head lifted, her focus shifting back to her interest in his knowledge, "How do you know that term?"

  Nidian still didn't want to share out of instinct but he began to feel like he owed it to her despite his irresolution. "It was the journal back in the cave when you saved me. It's a record of history pertaining to them. How they appeared throughout time. Their reign bringing death and misery. The term was used several times."

  "Is that why they were after you? They wanted something in it? Did they need you to translate it?" She quickly followed up.

  "They thought I was able to translate it. But I don't know most of the languages used in it. And they weren't too happy with me when they found out."

  Ashdinea grew more restless, her head looming over the fire almost, "If you can't read it then how do you know that?"

  The Daemorian fumbled his fingers and looked at the ground. "Malles translated it for me... He was helping me so we could figure out if there was a way to stop them before another town got attacked. A foolish thing to hope for I know..."

  The dragoness withdrew, her ears went flat at the mention of his name. Nidian looked up to see the display of sorrow. The flames had begun to flicker as the gentle psithurism in the trees around them accompanied their shared silence. Nidian pushed to his feet, groaning in pain as he limped over to grab some more wood laying on the forest floor.

  Behind him Ashdinea had nestled her head between her forearms, staring somberly into the ashes. He dropped his wary manner of treading around the azure beast against his better judgement and dragged his sullen body next to her, dropping the wood on the fire. He slowly reached a shaky hand out to guide himself down to the ground next to her head. He could hear the rushing torrents of air in her subtle breaths.

  They both glanced at the fire as it began to consume the added fuel. Without thinking and driven by his empathy his fingers fell upon her forearm. He looked over at her to see if she had noticed as quickly as he did to see her returning the surprised gaze.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Sorry I.. I just... I should have said it earlier but. It's not your fault either. We can only do so much... As strong as you may be you're only one of you. You've been carrying a whole village's safety on your shoulders for Navi knows how long. I think you did a pretty good job..."

  She looked back at the fire and slumped, "They love Ae. They wouldn't love me."

  Nidian picked up a tiny stick and snapped it, tossing the two pieces into the blaze as he crossed his legs and leaned back. "And what makes you say that? How would you know?" He optimistically inquired.

  "Nidian I saved your life and the first thing out of your mouth was "please don't eat me." I think I have a pretty good idea." She huffed, the irony of it nearly funny to her.

  The boy glanced away, puffing his cheeks as he was put in check. "Okay... fair point. But I wasn't exactly able to make calm and collected judgement calls at the time you know? I mean I'm sitting here now right next to you aren't I? Talking about feelings, which is pretty crazy. Ae never did that. You're a lot more gushy as a dragon. Is that normal? Not that it's bad! I actually like this version of you more. Makes you less scary honestly."

  She didn't respond, Nidian biting his tongue in worry that he had said a little too much. But while her head and face remained stationary he stiffened as a rustling approached from behind. He looked over his shoulder as her tail snuck up on him. The cold firm surface pressed into him. He threw his arms over the top as it pulled him inward closer to her. He froze solid as it tucked him against her shoulder. His legs bunched up ready to kick against the extremity that pushed him. His eyes flitted in alarm between the tail and her face. The slightest tug at the corner of her lips. He slowly loosed the tension and rested against her. The fire eventually captivated the both of them, putting on a display of pops and crackles as it ate through the wet wood.

  "Soo... what now?" He looked up at her.

  Ashdinea shifted slightly and turned her head toward him, "I don't suppose you still have the journal do you?"

  Nidian scratched the back of his neck, ruffling his cardinal feathers. "No.. When I was taken into custody by the cult Balak took it from me and put it in his rank rags he calls a fur coat."

  Her eyes grew concerned, her gaze slowly tip toeing away from him. "Shit..." she muttered under her breath.

  Nidian leaned forward to try and reestablish eye contact. "Don't worry I'm sure we can get it back from him. I don't think he'd be dumb enough to risk pissing you off now more than he already has."

  Ashdinea cleared her throat and suddenly stood up. "Yeah...I guess we'll see. I'm going to go grab a drink from the creek real fast. Be right back. You just stay here and keep off that leg. We got a lot of walking to do tomorrow."

  She lumbered off rather quickly, leaving Nidian puzzled but not questioning it much. He shrugged and picked up another stick to play with the fire again. Despite how bizarre recent events had been the past hour had felt borderline normal. He felt at peace for the time being.

  Now that the dragon had departed for a minute the chirping of crickets returned, a hoot or two from an owl. All other life had gone into hiding in her presence while he had sat there holding casual conversation. It was a thought that had not gone by without acknowledgement.

  The thumping of her foot steps gave him an early warning she was returning only a few minutes later. The moonlight gleamed off her scales as she came up the hill and laid back down in the silhouette she had left in the grass.

  She seemed slightly distraught. "You'll head back into town tomorrow. I'll have you talk to Torrel. We're going to need to figure out a plan."

  "Just me? What are you going to be doing? What about the journal?" Nidian pulled his stick back and watched the glow at its tip fade and release a trail of smoke.

  "I'll be near the pond I took you to. Big choices being made, life changing ones. Fitting place to do it." She responded with a sigh. "Trying not to worry about the Journal right now..."

  Nidian set the stick down and beamed up at her, "Can you not just- become human again?"

  Ashdinea shook her head, "No. It's not the easiest thing to do and I'd rather remain capable of fending off the Demraxites if one shows up. Torrel's going to have to know the truth..."

  "We can wait if we need to. No one's going anywhere. I'm sure we have time to figure out how to tell him. I know it's probably not the easiest news to break."

  Ashdinea deeply sighed and broke his hopeful smile, "Nidian you might have been too preoccupied with your thoughts to notice but I killed that Demraxite. And you; a high profile individual escaped. Their first act of retaliation is going to be targeted at Nomad's Haven."

  " Well wait...can't you handle them though?" Nidian felt his skin crawl at the idea of witnessing another attack from those monsters.

  Ashdinea didn't sugarcoat it. "There's dozens of them and only one of me. We're all going to have to leave Nomad's Haven."