Campfire Stories

[MadEmperor]

Grav chuckled, "Oh, no, I literally just woke up right before you. I just wake quickly. It's unfair, I know."

"Couldn't go back to sleep if I wanted to."

[DragonSong]

"Anxious?" Kiara asked with another yawn, sitting up slowly. Kit grumbled a bit, but didn't open his eyes. She reached over to pat his flank absently.

Looking around, she muttered, "We should probably break camp soon. Start heading for..."

She trailed off as it struck her that she didn't actually know what they were heading for. They'd had such clear goals for all the time they'd been traveling together, and now, suddenly...they didn't.

[MadEmperor]

Grav sat up after her. After a shrug, he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well... I know it's more than a bit early for this, but..."

He felt incredibly awkward as he continued. "That last close call has me really wanting to see my family. With all this craziness, I haven't even had a chance to sit down and write to them. They're probably worried, but Kit can get us there faster than any letter can get there."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, Grav." She blinked, then smiled and reached over to grip his shoulder lightly. "Of course you should go see your family. I'm sorry, I didn't even think--"

She shook her head. Her own relationship to her blood family was so strained that it hadn't even occurred to her someone might actually want to see theirs. But of course he did.

"You're from the coast," she mused, dropping her hand again. "Yeah, Kit could probably have us there in a couple of days."

[MadEmperor]

Grav smiled warmly. "If you're sure you're okay with it. I'd say we could tell them we're still just friends, but my mom is too much like Kit; she'll know," he chuckled.

"Once she gets over me riding in on a dragon, anyway." He grinned.

With a cackle, he climbed to his feet and reached down to pull her up. He was still quick, but no longer inhumanly fast or strong; he was just... a normal human. Though, he sort of missed the tail.

[DragonSong]

Kiara snorted and took his hand when he reached down to help her up. "Oh, trust me, after everything else we've dealt with, meeting the parents isn't high on my list of primal fears," she chuckled as he pulled her to her feet.

"Liar," Kit rumbled without lifting his head or opening his eyes.

Kiara shot him a dry look and huffed. "To be fair, my family is currently in the process of trying to blackmail me into joining and faerie court for the sole purpose of serving as a bargaining chip for the Autumn King. So." She looked back to Grav with a crooked smile. "As long as your mom isn't gonna try that, we should be alright, yeah?"

[MadEmperor]

"Oh, no, nothing like that," he chuckled, a smirk crossing his lips. "She will, however, try to fill you up with so much food you can't move anymore. It's a sickness, but an enjoyable one."

"I hope dad's not out at sea. I think you'll like him." He smiled.

The smile fell. "And I need to ask him a few things about the day he found me."

[DragonSong]

Kiara's expression softened a bit and she reached up to cup his cheek gently for a moment. "We can always wait for him, if he's not there," she offered softly.

She had two months left until she needed to give her grandfather an answer. They had some time. Not much, but some.

[MadEmperor]

Grav smiled sadly, as if reading her mind. "You don't have much time before your grandfather's ultimatum, are you sure? Dad is sometimes gone for weeks, and occasionally even months."

[DragonSong]

Kiara nodded. "It'll be fine—if I need to, I can use the amulet to get through and just tell the whole court to go fuck themselves," she said with a smirk and a shrug.

Kit snorted, finally lifting his head. "I thought we just got out of a fatal situation."

[MadEmperor]

Grav gave her a look. "Yeah, let's... call that plan B."

He moved to get breakfast ready so they could get going. Gods, he couldn't wait for his mom's cooking; they hadn't had anything worth eating since they left Aria. Thinking about it made his mouth water.


The next few nights weren't as pleasant. Grav was plagued by dreams about the death he avoided and about suddenly mutating again. The former were especially frightening. But between were strange dreams of an unfamiliar estate full of strangers that somehow also weren't strangers at all, of fighting Kiara, and of running from someone or something. And there was another nightmare, of what he could not remember.

[DragonSong]

It seemed exhaustion had done its part that first night; the following few were mildly harrowing. Kiara woke in a cold sweat multiple times—once to a scream that it took her a few moments to realize came from her own throat.

That particular night, Kit found himself soothing both humans, nuzzling and curving tight around them as Kiara moved to tuck herself under Grav's arm and cried herself quietly back to sleep.

Not all her dreams were so traumatic though. There were some that were just...confusing. Flashes, brief images of a massive locked door, of Grav in half-plate with a sword that wasn't Brightedge, of faces she didn't know but of which she felt suddenly, fiercely protective.

It only took three days from them to approach the coast, and Grav's home—which served to be enough to put the odd dreams from Kiara's mind in favor of more practical anxieties.

[MadEmperor]

[ Continued Here ]