Dragons and Danishes

[kleineklementine]

"Oh, thank you very much, but I can't say that I'm partial to them," Lyra answered, chuckling at being compared to a dog in this particular context. "But maybe if you have something unspoilt, they would do more good for the children than for a dragon. It was a grim day, but Ashra and I are accustomed to it; something sweet might go a lot further for all the poor people here who aren't."

Lyra's amber eyes blinked, peering into the wreckage of the cart.

"Well, if there's anything left. But if you want to make something new," was she smirking there? it was hard to read expressions on the dragon's face, "I can at least make a cooking fire for you. But you might have to adjust the time for dragon fire."

[Rhindeer]

"That's what I told Ashra!" Ife said, once again feeling quite validated! "I told him sweets weren't unimportant, and that they could cheer people up, and he mocked me! Multiple times. Ah, but I've probably complained enough!"

Turning to the wagon, she raised onto her toes and peered inside. "Everything's definitely ruined, but I did bring some supplies with me to make more. I definitely don't have all the ingredients for everything--I'll have to stop in town to get those--but I can at least make some honey cakes. If you could make a fire, I'd really appreciate that!"

Because so help her, she was going to prove that she and her pastries had value here!

[kleineklementine]

"Making fire is my specialty!" Lyra answered happily. Without notice, she lumbered away to collect some firewood for Ife's cooking fire and returned a few minutes later with her jaws full of scrap wood and logs. She set the wood down a reasonable distance from the cart.

"Hope this will do!" she said brightly. "We'll turn this into a nice, hot cooking fire in no time."

And with that, Lyra took in a long breath and let it out slowly. But when she exhaled, her breath was alight with fire. The wood caught instantaneously, but instead of burning green and new, the wood turned to brightly glowing coal and crackling flame by the time the dragon had finished her breath. The perfect cooking fire.

That trick, of course, caught the rider's attention. Ashra glanced darkly over. Oh, he did not like this at all. He gave the girl a pat on the head and told her they'd resume training tomorrow and paced over to the dragon and the baker. He didn't say anything, just leaned against the cart, arms crossed, and watching.

[Rhindeer]

While the dragon went to collect the wood, Ife went to work collecting what she'd need to make those cakes. They would be rudimentary, and definitely not her best work, given what she had to work with, but they'd still be good--and she could still imbue them with some magic that would make them that much better!

Of course, that involved climbing up into that messy cart to get everything!

By the time Lyra returned, Ife had collected what she needed. She'd brought down her bags of sugar, salt, and flour, and her jar of honey, and had borrowed eggs and milk from some of the other travelers. Worked well for her purposes that one of the groups had a cow and chickens with them!

She was getting everything set up when Lyra returned, and she smiled at her when she saw all the wood she'd brought. "Oh, that's perfect!" she said.

And it was even more perfect when she got it burning, and the fire came roaring to life. It was far better than her own meager efforts would have been!

Already feeling far more cheerful now, Ife opened her mouth to thank the dragon and get to work--

But movement just in her peripheral caught her attention, and she turned--to see Ashra there.

Leaning against the cart and looking like a dark cloud come to rain on her good time.

But right then, Ife was feeling emboldened because she had the backing of a dragon. Ashra's very own dragon, at that! She stared him down for a moment, expression stern, and then abruptly stuck her tongue out at him and flashed a cheeky smile before she turned back to the fire.

Childish, yes, but it felt rather good!

"Thank you, Lyra!" she said, loud enough that her voice would carry to him. "You've been such a wonderful help. Now, it's on me not to let your efforts go to waste! Here goes!"

She summoned her magic then and went to work, and if anyone had looked, they would have noticed she had no bowls or utensils--because she didn't need them! With a flick of her hands, magic drew the ingredients into the air, siphoning out the correct portions while she directed the process like a conductor, setting them to mixing. Eggs cracked, the shells cast aside, and went to join the growing ball of sugary dough floating in the air.

And when all that was done, she made little slicing motions with her hand, and the dough was chopped into smaller and smaller pieces, before she sent them floating over the fire, slowly rotating.

[kleineklementine]

Ashra said nothing, just watched Ife work, arms crossed and leaning against the cart. Though of course he had to roll his eyes when she stuck her tongue out at him. What a baby! As she set to work, though, Ashra’s interest was piqued. Though he would never admit it! He watched the flour and eggs and sugar hover in the air and join together as if by magic. Well, not as if by magic, but  by magic indeed. The dragonrider hadn’t had many interactions with mages, but when he had they had been one of two sorts: grand and pompous and full of prideful notions of their own importance; or simple and woodwise, hermits living in the forest and using the herbs and plants they found their to weave their spells. Ashra was a little dubious of both types, but neither were like what Ife was doing now. But he kept his interest carefully on the inside. Outwardly, Ashra looked somewhere between surly and unimpressed and bored.

“You know they're more than just pies, right? They're magic!” He repeated the Ife’s words from earlier in his head. Well, how should he have known. He hadn’t seen the witch working her pastry arts then, had he?

Despite his jabbing thoughts, the dragonrider said none of them aloud. It was possible - indeed it seemed probable, considering Lyra’s occasional warning looks to him - that he was simply better behaved under the watchful eye of the dragon. Or perhaps he was simply better behaved when there were so many more eyes on him in general. After all, a 'hero' has to set a good example. Who could say?

But finally he opened his mouth to say, “That’s a nice trick,” in just an ambiguous enough way that it wasn’t entirely clear if it was a jibe or a grudging compliment.

[Rhindeer]

"It's not a trick," Ife said as she watched the bread bake, mindful of Lyra's warning that dragonfire burned hotter. "It's an art, and it's work. But it's not a trick, as it's something I am legitimately doing on my own."

Ooh! She hadn't meant to get so defensive, but gods almighty! Why did every word that came from his mouth aggravate her so? Probably because he was just aggravating. Did he realize that about himself? No matter! She quickly tempered her mood before it could bleed into the magic and ruin the batch, but she really hoped he could just keep his mouth shut!

[kleineklementine]

Ashra held up his palms to Ife, but didn't move from his place and his countenance did not change considerably.

"Okay, okay," he said in a way that made it clear Ashra thought she was overreacting. "Just a turn of phrase." Then, ignoring a warning look from Lyra, he crossed his arms again and added, tongue-in-cheek, "That's a nice 'art-and-work-you-are-legitimately-doing-on-your-own.'"

[Rhindeer]

Ife grit her teeth. This took concentration and effort, and he was making it an effort yell at him!

"Can't you just say anything nice for once? Ever?"

[kleineklementine]

"What?" Ashra responded, eyes widening in innocence. "That was nice. I said, 'Nice work.' That's nice."

If Ashra was going to say anything more, he was silenced by a piercing look from the until-then-silent Lyra.

"It really is impressive," the dragon finally chimed in. But when she said it, there was no doubt it was genuine. "Maybe my grumpy rider here should test it. See if it lightens his mood."

Ashra opened his mouth to protest, but a look at the dragon left him scowling, but silent.

[Rhindeer]

...Maybe he should test it.

Ife gave Ashra a sidelong look, eyelids slightly lowered and sly. She had been ready to outright deny him any of her pastries at all, since he was being so mean about everything, but maybe she could teach him to respect her art in yet another way! Since he was sooo keen on making fun of it and calling it useless.

Let's see how useless he thinks it is when he gets some terrible itches he can't scratch in public!

Ife smiled after a moment, and nodded. "That's a great idea!" she said, and with a flick of her fingers, she set one of the pastries apart from the others. While the bulk of the pastries were imbued with calming, soothing effects that would lift the spirits, in Ashra's special pastry, she thought about itches, and how she would love to see how such an attractive, put together, grumpy butt handled that!

The pastries were done just a moment later, and Ife floated Ashra's fresh-from-the-fire sweet over to him. "Cheer up," she said with a sweet smile.

[kleineklementine]

Ashra did not particularly appreciate being spoken about in the third person when he was standing right there. And he especially did not like the budding friendship between his dragon and this insufferable woman. That was the last thing he needed. It was bad enough that they were stuck with this caravan for the next handful of days. Nothing good, he would swear by it, would come from an alliance between Lyra and Ife.

Of course, he couldn't say any of this. Because it would be admitting already that the girl got under his skin! And that Lyra could get his goat! No no, Ashra Blackspire would play it cool. Ife's antics were far beneath his concern. He had to oversee the safety of all the people here, afterall. Much more important.

If only that smug smile of hers didn't grate on him so much!

To give neither of them the satisfaction of getting the better of him, though, Ashra took the cake from Ife. He would never admit it aloud, but it did smell good. And magic or not, he wasn't unhappy to have a warm, fresh cake to eat. He couldn't let Ife know that, though!

Ashra bit nonchalantly into the cake. It tasted wonderful; light and sweet and flavored with honey. But he kept his expression neutral. He chewed, took another bite, but nothing happened. Ashra eyed Ife, feeling rather smug that he would be able to tell her that the cake hadn't worked. So much for her 'sugar magic.'

As he looked at her, though, he slowly felt something change. Suddenly he was distracted by the curve of her neck. How smooth her skin was. The way her hair fell in wild, tight curls. Before he knew it, he was imagining knotting his fingers into that hair and...

Ashra shook himself out of it, looking alarmed. And concerned.

Suddenly, he felt very uncomfortable. But he wasn't itchy at all.

"It's... it's very good," he fumbled awkwardly, trying and failing to recompose his expression to a disinterested neutral. "You're right. I feel more... uh... cheerful already."

[Rhindeer]

It was an effort not to watch Ashra too intensely, and without a doubt Ife failed it. She stared at Ashra expectantly, a wide grin on her face, and it took every inch of willpower not to bounce in place because he so had this coming! His (mild!) suffering would be sweet, indeed!

And oh, look at him, being so smug and nonchalant! Come on, Ashra, take another bite...sometimes it took a few bites to kick in...

And then, there it was.

Ife could see the very moment when it hit! She saw the way his expression changed, from smug to distracted to concerned, and she had to bite her lip to hold in her triumphant giggle.

What's itching, Ashra?! she thought in delight, and if he hadn't been such an ass to her earlier, she might have felt horrified at her own sadism! You want to scratch it, don't you, BUT YOU CAN'T. Not in publiiic! That'd really ruin your surly image!

Twirling a kinky strand of her hair innocently as he got out those stuttering words, Ife beamed at him. "Are you? Oh, that's wonderful to hear! You look strange, though. Is cheer a foreign feeling to you, or...?"

[kleineklementine]

"Um, yes, I guess must be," Ashra muttered in answer to Ife's toying question. But his eyes strayed, following her fingers as they twirled one of the tight curls of her hair. He was silent for a moment, watching her and looking distinctly uncomfortable. Then without realizing it, he suddenly found himself looking at her lips.

Oh gods, what had happened to him!?

Ashra tried to recall the grumpy, annoyed, frustrated way she'd made him feel earlier. But it kept slipping through his fingers. She hadn't really been that bad, really. He'd been too mean to her. Sure, it had been foolish throwing that pastry, but she'd been so brave doing it. And her defiance to all of his suggestions - and really, hadn't he been awfully pushy? and rude! - well, he liked a woman who stood up for herself. He liked...

Suddenly Ashra's expression changed and he shifted nervously. "Well, very good. I think it will do everyone good, a bit of sweets. I, er," Ashra tried to make his voice all business, tried to make it surly, but didn't really succeed. "I should go talk with the guards about the night's defenses. Nice trick," he concluded, trying to salvage himself a little, with a wave to the fire and the cooking cakes.

Then Ashra hurried away. But he didn't run off to find a private place to scratch. He went directly to the old guards to sort out the defenses that suddenly seemed Very Important!

Lyra, who knew the rider nearly as well as she knew herself, watched curiously as he fumbled around before quickly taking off. Very peculiar. She turned her head to look suspiciously at Ife.

"What did you do to him?" she sounded, for the moment at least, more curious than angry. Though she might have been a tiny bit sterner than before.

[Rhindeer]

Ife couldn't help it. The moment Ashra was out of earshot, she dissolved into giggles. She clapped one hand over her mouth to muffle the noise and hugged her belly with the other as she doubled over, laughing so hard tears sprang to her eyes. Gods, it was so mean, and she felt a little guilty for it, but it wasn't like it'd last long! Just a little something to nip some humility into him!

It was Lyra's voice that brought her back. Trying hard to stifle her laughter, she looked up at the dragon and flashed her an impish smile.

"Oh, don't worry! It's nothing serious! I just may have given him a bad cases of The Itchies," she said, biting back a snicker. "I don't think my happy magic would work on him, he's so set on being a skeptic! So...just a little something to make a believer of him."

Straightening up, she smoothed out her dress and added, in case Lyra was concerned, "It won't last long! Maybe just a couple of hours."

Of course, that was true...for a spell that worked correctly.

And she cast a look in the direction Ashra had gone--and then blinked, because there he was, talking to the guards as he said he would, and...not scratching. Not even squirming.

That was odd.

[kleineklementine]

If it was possible for a dragon to properly frown, Lyra would have been frowning at Ife. Despite her earlier sympathy with the woman, the dragon did not seem amused by what Ife had to say.

"I thought you were trying to convince him that your magic was a gift to be used to uplift people," Lyra reminded her sternly. "That seems like a strange way to do it."

Lyra's long neck turned to watch Ashra talking with the guards, then she looked back to Ife, perhaps a little closer to her now than she was before.

"I know my rider isn't always the most friendly of people, but he did save your lives today."

Perhaps Lyra was being too stern, but something about the way Ashra was acting... She didn't think that it was 'the Itchies.'

[Rhindeer]

Ife's mirth quickly faded under Lyra's chastisement, the truth of her words hitting her--and making her feel guilty.

He did save their lives, at risk of his own. And he didn't have to. And despite how cold and mean he was, that...that did show he wasn't without compassion.

And this...did definitely stray from what she wanted to use her magic for...

Fighting meanness with meanness...

Gods, she'd lost sight of that, hadn't she? Stooped to his level, given into his taunts.

Her shoulders slumped, and she glanced down at her feet. She had definitely not thought this through at all, getting swept up in the cycle of petty anger and bickering.

"No...you're right..." she said quietly, deflated. "You're absolutely right. I...I was angry, and..." And she had no excuse for what she'd done.

[kleineklementine]

"We all get angry. We all make mistakes." Lyra's tone was more gentle now, seeing Ife's change in demeanor. Humans. Always so temperamental and fickle in their emotions and moods. Well, at least these two were!

"It's no reason to ruin the rest of the sweets. You still can help out making everyone else cheerful," the dragon added warmly, nodding to the cakes still hovering near the dragonfire. "It'll be good to make everyone feel warm and happy before they settle in for the night."

Lyra had to resist telling Ife that she could always go apologize to the rider. She had a habit that Ashra frequently complained about of talking to humans like they were children. From Lyra's perspective, she thought they ought not act like children if they didn't want to be spoken to as such! But she decided to play it safe for now.

[Rhindeer]

"This is true," Ife said, as with a flick of her hand, she drew the other pastries from the fire and let them hover in the air as she looked for a clean place to set them. "Maybe I could even offer Ashra another. A...good one. It probably won't cancel out the itchiness, but at least he'll be happy about it."

And then she winced, realizing how terrible that sounded. "Actually, cancel that. That just sounds way worse than what's already going on with him."

[kleineklementine]

Ashra couldn’t help it. He was listening to the guards concerns, or trying to listen, but he just couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering back to Ife. Ife working over her fire. Ife talking with his dragon. The way she moved. The way her face lit up when she spoke. The smell of the honey cakes wafted through the air of the camp. It was a comforting, warm smell on its own - even without the magic - and Ashra felt increasingly drawn to it.

Drawn to her.

“But what about the night watch?”

Ashra heard the question from a million miles away, his hazel eyes following every move of the sugar witch. When it finally occurred to him that the question was directed at him, he looked back at the two aging guards with a start, finding both of them watching him expectantly.

“Er…”

“Well, will it still be enough, havin’ just one of us keep the watch?” one of the guards asked in a tone that made Ashra suspect he was repeating the question. “We’re just two an’ we can’t both stay up all night. Should we recruit some of the men, then?”

“Oh, yes,” Ashra answered, trying to shake his mind back into the right mode. “Yes, that’s an excellent idea. Can’t have anyone falling asleep on the job. Lyra and I will take the first watch. But you’re right, we should recruit some of the men. Best to have three or four on the rest of the watches, until we can be sure those raiders won’t return.”

The two old men might have been replying, but Ashra’s gaze and attention were already sliding back to Ife. What was wrong with him? He felt… good, and uncomfortable. It made him uneasy, uncomfortable like an itchy sweater that just doesn’t fit quite right. And yet…

Suddenly Ashra realized the guards were looking at him again.

“Right, well, you two find some volunteers,” he said, trying hard to sound authoritative and put-together, “you know the party better than I do, so…”

The men exchanged glances. They could see easily enough where the dragon rider’s attention was. They’d been young men once. They shuffled off to find recruits, but the older of the guards paused as he went. “Still unmarried, that one. Best of luck, lad.” He clapped Ashra heartily on the shoulder, then trundled off.

Ashra stared open-mouthed at the man's back as he walked away. What did he mean?!

[Rhindeer]

While Ashra dealt with his own problems, Ife put the final touches on her good pastries and went about distributing them. She had made sure to create at least one pastry per person, with a few left over, and most in her company accepted them. A few declined, because they were more into savory than sweet, but she hoped they would help those that did accept them. It wouldn't erase the trauma of the day, but it would at least make it easier to cope with! A little positivity to light up the darkness!

She was coming to the end of her rounds as she approached two older guardsmen and offered them their sweets--and there was something different in the way they looked at her, and at each other. They grinned, exchanged conspiratorial glances and approving nods, and it all left Ife feeling strangely confused.

"...What? Is there something on my face?" she asked, those looks making her abruptly self conscious, and she wiped at her nose and the corners of her mouth just in case. But one of the guards laughed and clapped her shoulder.

"No, lass, don't worry about it. We were just admiring you. It was a brave thing you did today, you know. Anyway, you can give my pastry to the dragon rider," he said, patting his belly. "I don't need anymore, but I'm sure the lad would appreciate it!"

Again with the sidelong glances! Ife's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "If you're sure...?"

"I'm positive. Go on. Gods know the boy could use a little more meat on his bones!"

Sigh. That was exactly what she didn't want to do. She didn't want to deal with the prickly brat. But, she supposed she'd eventually have to. She could just avoid him the entire trip, but that sounded immature, and someone had to be the mature one here. If she avoided him while everyone else loved him, that would just make her look surly and asocial! As unfair as that was!

Bidding the pair a good evening, she turned with the rest of her sweets--packaged up in paper and bundled into a sack--and headed for Ashra, who was standing some distance away.

She took a deep breath before she approached him from behind, bracing for the awful. And then she cleared her throat loudly to get his attention, so she didn't startle him. "Ashra?"