In all his centuries of life, Renkaryn could not recall having ever felt quite so humiliated.
He growled in frustration, flaming pointlessly at the trees around him. Of course, nothing in this godsdamned jungle was dry enough to burn properly, and the best he got was a few spluttering fires in the dead foliage beneath him.
Growling again, he thrashed around futilely; the vines and branches that held him were too thick, he couldn't get free. Why on earth had he thought it would be a good idea to try and dive into the trees instead of looking for a clearing?
Wings pinned to his sides, held suspended over the ground at an awkward, twisted angle and caged in by the trees he'd felled when he "landed", the dragon gave in to frustration and let out an earth shattering roar, twisting and flaming violently.
Which, of course, only got him tangled further. Damnit.
A dragon. Here? That was rather unusual.
Mist was alarmed by the loud roaring, followed by the blazing of flame. The roar was of not only an angered, but frustrated nature. So, the fearless dark elf had no better idea than to investigate.
He appeared from some of the charred shrubbery. Infront of the dragon. His face signed with fearlessness and neutrality. Yet he bowed deeply to the entangled dragon, before speaking. "Do you require help, noble creature?" Was what he asked, his voice laced with respect. Yet, it was a tone that also demanded respect, if his actions didn't already do that.
Ren twisted from side to side, trying to get a decent view of the newcomer. He couldn't quite manage it, and settled for rolling his ruby eyes back to look at him from the corner of his eye. "I am quite capable on my own, thank you," he snapped.
The whole "noble creature" thing was definately ingratiating though. He thrashed around a bit more and only succeeded in bringing another tree down on his tail. Roaring in pain and pure irritation, he snorted a burst of smoke and subsided.
"On second thought... Perhaps a bit of help would be appreciated," he grumbled eventually.
Mist nodded slowly. "Allow me." He said, before he walked to the nearest tree, pulling a knife from his belt and starting to clamber his way up, using the knife as a makeshift support for easier climbing. It wasn't long before some climbing and jumping from branch to branch placed him ontop of the constricted dragon. The dark elf went to work cutting the vines loose. Some mystical and dark aura hanging around him.
As soon as Ren was cut loose, Mist leaped down from the gargantaun creature, taking a few steps back, sheathing the knife on his belt again. "My name is Mist. adventurer extraordinaire. At your service." He said, with another deep bow.
Thumping down onto four paws, Ren arched his back like a cat and stretched his wings, relishing the freedom of movement.
"Renkaryn," he responded shortly, shaking himself. "And I suppose I am now at yours. I am in your debt, at any rate." He gave a dragonish scowl. it wasn't like he was adverse to this Mist person on principal, he had helped him after all, but he didn't like being in anyone's debt.
"The pleasure is mine, Lord Renkaryn." He stated, standing up straight again. "And, you are not. It was my duty to help." Yet, his voice was lost in the sound of loud trudging. Numerous footsteps headed for their location. Mist arched an eyebrow and turned around.
Unknowing that a warband would soon be upon them.
Ren sank into a crouch, a low growl rumbling in his throat. "It seems here is where I lay you back," he muttered. That was certainly fast. "Get behind me."
The footsteps were growing closer. He didn't know who they belonged to, but he could sense the aggression in the air, and in his experience that was never a particularly good sign.
Mist merely huffed. "Pay me back.." He snerked in response, pulling the massive sword from his back, the bandages slowly loosening and dropping to the floor, revealing the cursed blade. The dormant eye opening and staring at the dragon briefly.
"We stand together." He merely stated. "I am a warrior. I do not back down." He explained with a glance behind his shoulder. "And I'm called Immortalis for a reason.." He said, before looking down the path where the warband would surface, lowering the blade to his side, ready to fight. A small smirk appearing on his lips.
He thought about arguing, then huffed, shaking his head. "Have it your way." He rolled his shoulders, baring his teeth as the scent of the warband became stronger.
The first group appeared on the path, armor and weapons glinting, and he snarled. "Who are you?" he growled, shifting and fanning his wings as far as he could in the cramped jungle, a threat display. "If you mean us harm, I suggest you turn around. Now."
"Oi! Chief! There's tha scaley bastard! 'N an elf! I'm thinkin' 'e'd be quite the slave!" One armoured man shouted, raising his spear and shield. The shield seemed to have an odd texture to it, made from scales. Dragonscales.
Mist sighed slowly at the shout. "Seems they're dragon hunters.. And slavers." The dark elf rested the blade on his shoulder, next to the dragon's skull that was posted on his shoulder. A prize from slaying a corrupted dragon. One that aimed to kill him. It was heavier than the mithril chestplate. But it was also way more durable.
The band formed up, shield next to shield. Their pikes brandished.
"Oh, wonderful," Ren hissed. He flexed his claws into the earth and growled again, a rumbling, hair-raising sound that echoed through the trees far longer than should have been natural.
"If you value your lives, turn back now," he bellowed, arching her head back and glaring down at them. Sunlight caught his scales, giving him a sort of golden halo.
He wasn't so worried about himself, and the elf- Immortalis or not, he supposed he seemed like he could handle himself.
No response came from the warband. They took determined steps forward. Shields raised against the potential dragonfire.
Mist however, started running forward. Picking up speed and using one of the shields as a platform to leap up, blade brandished as he did. The force of the kick on the shield knocking the first soldier down. He relentlessly threw himself into the enemy ranks. Slashing the blade around several breaking formation because of having been killed or forced to foght back. And soon, the elf was facing off against roughly ten dragonhunters. And holding his own.
Ren snorted, impressed. His first instinct was to flame, but he didn't want Mist to get caught up on it.
So he went with his claws and teeth, swooping his head forward to crunch one soldier between his jaws and swiping two more off their feet with a powerful foreleg. Not having a lot of room to maneuver in the trees, he lumbered around to swing his tail at the warband, knocking down a row of fighters. Maybe unconscious, maybe dead, maybe just stunned, he didn't take the risk to check before swatting his right law forward again, pinning one beneath his claws.
"I told you to turn around," he said carelessly.
Mist saw the tail coming in time, bashed his current foe backwards and dropped to the ground, the tail swiping over him. He stood up straight again to see a line of archers drawing at him. He was already covered in the blood of his fallen foes. Body count roughly up to five now. "Fire!" The command resounded and twenty arrows were fired.
And twenty arrow hit the elf in his chest. Knocking him down to the floor with a cough of blood. Lifeless. Yet his grip onthe blade remained solid.
Seeing the elf fall, Ren roared a challenge at the archers and let loose a torrent of flame. He sprang forward again, claws slashing and jaws snapping at anything that moved.
He may not exactly be a sentimental creature, but he had a deeply ingrained sense of honor. Mist had it, as far as he'd seen, these men didn't. In his book, that essentially made them target practice.
"Don't think.. I'm done yet.." Mist spat out as he pulled himself to his feet. Using the cursed blade as ameans to pyll himself up after the scorching heat of dragonfire was gone. "Only.. Seven got through.. Heh.." He murmured as he raised his blade, staggering forward towards the foes that faced off against Ren's anger.
"You're still alive?" The dragon blinked in surprise, then rumbled, "Good."
To his slight surprise, he really meant it. The elf's death would have been a loss, he seemed to be one of the few two-leggers Ren could potentially see standing for longer than a few minutes.
Another soldier ran at him, blade raised and shouting a war cry. He snapped his jaws closed around him carelessly, flinging the broken body back at the remaining fighters.
"Immortalis.. Has a reason.." He grinned as he spat out a chunk of blood, before raising his blade and smacking it down on an armoured fighter that came his way. His speed slower and his strength heavily diminished, but he was stillbreathing. Standing and even fighting at that. He wouldn barely even be able to tale two of these soldiers at once. But he wasn't going to lie down and bleed without at least taking twenty of them with him.
And so he fought with those that tried to finish him. Slicing and dicing through the soldiers that came for him.
Focused on taking out a group of soldiers to his left, Ren completely missed the one with the lance darting in on his right until it was too late. The weapon pierced through his scales- it must have been reinforced somehow- driving into his shoulder.
Whirling with a roar, he snapped the lance in half between his teeth and drove the broken shaft through the wielder's torso. Snapping back into the fight, he winced as his shoulder protested and shouted a warning to Mist: "On your left, two of them!"
Mist turned towards his left flank, lifting the blade and flinging it forward, causing it to slam down in the first attacker's chest and pierce through him. Dropping dead to the floor several meters away, blown back by the impact. The second fiighter ran him through with a blade. Through his stomach.
Mist spat out more blood as he slumped forward on the man's arm with a grin. "Right.. Where I want.. You.." He murmured as he fluidly pulled an arrow from one of the wounds, circling it in his hand before ramming it through the eyeslot of his assailant's helmet.
The foe dropped to the floor, the blade slowly sliding out of his belly again. He started to limp to the other corpse to retrieve the blade again, blood pouring down in his wake. The remainign dragonhunters staked their attack at the display of both the elf and the dragon. They were clearly outmatched. The dragon attacking with duch ferocity and an elf that just kept shrugging their attacks off. They had no chance here.
Ane with thay. The loud screams of retreat sounded and the warband tried to retreat.
Ren snorted. "And good riddance," he huffed. Wincing slightly, he turned to face Mist.
The elf seemed to have sustained several serious, he might go so far as to say fatal, wounds, but was somehow still upright. "You alright then?" he asked gruffly, tilting his head to the side.
Mist pulled the blade from the corpse as he slumped down to the floor, still sitting upstraight. His hands quivering and blood flowing richly down his abdomen. He grew pale, blood more blood running from his mouth. The pain becoming real. He smirked bitterly and disgusted as he started to pull the arrows out one by one. His mind slowly dirfting out of conciousness.
After having removed four of the arrows. Two of wich actually got through the armor, he dropped backwards against the floor. His breathing slow and erratic.
"Oh, storms and crows," Ren cursed. His head darted forward and he sniffed at the elf, then nudged him slightly with his nose.
"Oi, Immortalis. Mist? Can you hear me?"
The elf coughed loudly in response. "These arrows.." He stammered as he clenched his hand around one. "Help.. Pulling them out.." He was too weak to pull the others out. At least four were still hurting him. And the wounds would bleed a lot if pulled out. But. If they remained pierced through his chest, he'd die any way.
"Ah- alright." Carefully, he reached forward with two claws and used the tips to grab the shaft of one arrow and yanked it out. Huh. Okay, that seemed to work. He set about extracting the others as carefully as he could.
"I'm not sure about this, but I believe it's best if you try to remain conscious," he said as he worked. Falling asleep in such a situation was bad for two-leggers, right? Or was that head wounds?
"Heh.." Was the only thing he replied as all the arrows were pulled out, from his armour and chest. He pulled himself up with the help of the ridicoulously large blade, tearing off the bandages from the hilt. "It's just a flesh wound.." He murmured to himself as weakly yanked the chainmail off, pressing the cloth against the bloody wounds.
Ren tilted his head. "I understand that you two-legger males often feel the need to posture, but that is decidedly more than a "flesh wound". We should bring you to a real healer, someone who can help you."
Unfortunately, he wasn't quite sure how to go about doing that.
"You have one around..?" He asked, slumping to his knees with a pained hiss, dropping the bandages again and leaning forward, blood trickling down.
"Not exactly," he rumbled, "but even some tiny village's witchdoctor will do at this point." He darted his head foreward to support the elf.
"Can you climb on my back?" he asked. "I could carry you in my claws, but I don't think that'd be very good for your wounds."
Part of him couldn't even believe he was offering this- but he owed Mist for helping him, and he could respect his power in battle. He would think of it as a favor, a one time thing.
"I.. Can't.." Mist chuckled bitterly, before coughing up more blood, his grip returning to the hilt of the sword.
"First fires," Ren grumbled. "Alright. Sorry about this, it's probably going to hurt." Without wasting further words, he reached out and closed his claws around the elf's midsection, as carefully as he could.
Reading back into his hind legs, he bunched the muscles in his legs and wings and took to the air with a mighty leap, flapping desperately to get them airborne. Taking off from a standstill was never easy, particularly with the obstacle of trees in his way.
But he managed, getting them into the air and circling breifly, trying decide which direction would bring them to a human settlement the fastest.
"Had.. Worse.." Was what he groaned out before he was picked up by the enourmous creature. Hissing in pain silently. Yet a sharp pain shot through his chest as the dragon reared up and toon flight. The force exerted was very painfuk. Announced by a pained cry.
Yet he slumped down in the dragon's claws. His grup unrelenting on the sword. His grip unrelenting.
Ren winced slightly, muttering, "Sorry." He banked into the wind, deciding northeast was probably his best bet. "Try to stay conscious, would you?" he rumbled, glancing down at his passenger- well, more like cargo, with the way he was carrying him.
It seemed Ren was too late to say that. The elf had fainted in the beast's claws. His head slumped down weakly. His body following every movement like a flacid, frail puppet. Yet his grip on the enourmous, cursed blade didn't loosen at all.
Ren swore, colorfully, and flew faster. Why oh why did they have to be in the middle of a jungle when this happened? What were his chances of finding a village- or any sort of settlement- out here? This was next to hopeless-
"Dragon!"
He snorted in surprise and looked down at the alarmed cry, realizing it came from what appeared to be a small human child standing in the middle of a rather large clearing in the trees. A clearing with a scattering of houses.
It would do. He came in for a screeching landing, awkward as he tried to keep Mist off the ground, bending his foreleg against his chest. "He needs a healer," he rumbled to the shocked child and woman- she assumed his mother- who had come to collect him.
To their credit, the humans recovered quickly. The woman nodded and took off into one of the houses, dragging her son with her.
Ren huffed out a puff of smoke and laid his passenger on the ground as gently as he could, poking him delicately with a claw. "Hey. You still alive, Immortalis?"
His eyes were closed. A trickle of blood running down his lip. Yet he seemed at peace. His chest slowly rising and falling. He was still breathing but had lost a lot of blood. He didn't respond to the dragon's inquiries because he just couldn't answer.
The dragon moved to poke him again, starting to get really worried, but suddenly the humans returned, a shriveled looking elder in tow.
"Move aside, let me see," the old...person- he honestly couldn't discern gender the figure was so bent and wrinkled- said sharply, kneeling at his wounded companion's side. "How did this happen?" she or he asked.
Ren explained as quickly as he could, settling down and offering a quick bark of pain as his own wounds protested. The healer looked at him, head tilted, but he shook his head. "Look after the elf, I can manage."
Yet. The old.. Human also seemed to arch quite an eyebrow at the blade the elf still was clutching. The eye wide open and darting around in a frenzied manner. Some of the villagers slowly put him down on a makeshift carrier under the command of the healer. Taken away in one of the biggest houses.
The child that earlier announced Ren's presence looked up at him with an awed and dumbfound look.
Ren shifted uncomfortably, not really liking the attention. And the elder-healer had seemed taken aback by something about Mist, though he wasn't sure what, so that put him further on edge.
His first reflex was to take to the air. He'd brought the elf to help, there was really nothing more he could do here. But he found himself unwilling to leave without knowing he had recovered. Snarling grouchily at the child, he hefted his bulk closer to the house the humans had taken Mist to, trying to get a look inside.
The dragon managed to gaze inside.
Mist was ontop of a bloody table, armor and sword stripped from him. The wounds he had sustained were apperent. And could be lethal to anyone. The elf was still unconcious, yet his wounds were being healed, desinfected and bandaged with great care.
Ren rumbled worriedly, trying not to distract the healer but at the same time wanting some sort of update. "He'll make it, won't he?" he asked gruffly, shifting back on his haunches and sort of fluttering his wings in agitation.
"I am surprised he still hasn't stopped breathing." Was what the genderneutral healer said. "I can only desinfect and bandage and heal superficial wounds. Then it is all up to him to survive. But he has a fighting spirit I haven't seen before." The healer looked back at the unconcious Mist. "A bright fire.." Was murmured as he/she wet back to work.
The dragon nodded. The healer had no idea, she...he?...whatever, hadn't seen the elf in action. Fire indeed.
Getting frustrated with not being able to tell what was going on in the room, Ren gave yet another rumbling growl of frustration and abruptly shrank in on himself, golden light covering his form and obscuring him from view for a moment.
When it cleared, he had lost his scales and wings and stood on two legs. The dragon-turned-human, completely uncaring to any fuss he may have caused, marched into the house.
Much better. He didn't much like waiting on the sidelines. "What can I do to help?" he asked, folding his arms over his bare chest.
"Unless you know some form of healing magic, all you can do is desinfect the wounds and help me bandage him up." Was what the elder woman sneered again. "Where'd you find him, dragon? Elves like him are a rare breed here." The healer let a wrinkley finger run across the undamaged skin on his chest. "Even littered with scars. They are very valuable slaves." The healer was correct. Mist's body, arms, chest and legs were covered with scars. Even his face wasn't spared.
Two enourmous scars, one down his right eye, another that started at the left of his cheekbone, running all the way down to his chin. Over his lips. Scarred by battle. Scarred by torture. A life of surviving by the skin of his teeth. Scars a silent testimony to the trouble he got in.
Unable to help himself, Ren growled at the healer. Even in his human form, the sound was distinctly dragon. He didn't like the way this "elder" spoke of his new companion as though he were goods to be bartered for.
"He found me, actually," he said, reining in his temper as much as he could. "Saved my hide. Twice. I owe him for that." He wasn't completely ignorant of more mundane healing methods, so he grabbed some bandages and set to work.
"Surprising. Most people would run at sight of a dragon." Was what the elder sneered in response, hands glowing green as 'it' started to heal most of the superficial wounds through arcane arts. At the same time, the elf started to stir. The greatsword's eye still looking around in a frenzied manner.
Ren glowered. "Well, once he's healed I'll no longer offend you with the sight of me," he snipped. Deciding to ignore the healer, he glanced warily at the blade. It was starting to put him on edge.
But then Mist stirred and drew his attention. He leaned a bit closer, brow furrowing in concern.
And soon, the elf's opened slowly as he groaned in pain, slowly sitting up. At the same time, the eye on the sword slowly shut.
Mist held his hand on his chest, feeling the cloth bandages and coughing slowly. "Had.. Worse.." He murmured slowly, before he was met with the sight of Ren. yet, he didn't recognise the dragon. "Where am I?"
Ren let out a short, relieved breath which quickly turned into a snort as he tried to hide his concern. "I'm not actually sure," he rumbled. "I set us down at the first village I came to." He jerked his head at the healer. "Where are we then?"
"You.. Set me down?" He asked with a slightly confused tone. His eyes scanning the room, slowly sighing as he saw the massive blase in a corner, before turning to the healer. "The village of Samari." Was what the elder answered.
"Oh, right." Ren shook his head, remembering the elf had been unconscious when he changed forms. Gesturing with his hand to his human body, he said, "I'm Renkaryn. This...person has been healing you." He shrugged. "I offered help, but I'm really not very good with these things."
"Wait.. You're the dragon." Mist said as he slowly stood up. Breathing slowly due to the sharp pain he felt in his chest. He looked at the elder and nodded. "My thanks." He said as he stood up slowly, turning to Ren. "And you too, ofcourse." He looked around the room. "And where is my armour.." He murmured to himself.
That was a good question. Ren glanced around; he hadn't really been able to see what was going on before he'd taken human form and entered the room. "You should lay down, it's around here somewhere," he urged, frowning at Mist.
Mist arched an eyebrow. "Don't be concerned." He said with a nod. "I am fine." Was what he stated. And grabbing at his chest only seconds later and falling to his knees. Hissing in pain. "Completely.. Fine.."
"Storms and crows," Ren spat. He put his hands on the elf's shoulders and forced him to lay back down. "Rest, Immortalis." He looked to the healer. "How long until he can move again?"
With a bitter chuckle, Mist sat down on the table again. He'd normally protest. And walk out with a word of thanks and dissappear. Yet, a dragon insisted he did otherwise. And you just didn't say no to a dragon. Mist looked up at the healer, who frowned slowly. "Several days." Was what 'it' huffed.
"Think you can manage that?" Ren said dryly, quirking an eyebrow at the elf. "Fair warning- there is only one correct answer to that question or so help me I will tie you down."
From anyone else it might have been a joke, but his tone said quite clearly that it was not.
"Doesn't look like I have a choice.." Was what he said with a bitter grin.
Ren actually smiled at that, just a little. "Get some rest," he said gruffly, then turned to the healer. "I'm afraid I don't have coin to pay you for your help," he muttered, "but ask any favor I dragon can fulfill and I will do it."
Internally, he winced a bit. Since Brigid, he'd tried to avoid tangling himself up in two-legger affairs, and now he found himself indebted twice in one day.
Mist nodded slowly, standing up and lying down on whatever was his operating table. Blankly staring up for a second. "I hate this.." Is what he murmured after a brief moment.
The healer looked at Ren, shaking 'it's' head. "Dragons are a bad omen 'ere.." She sneered. "The favour would be your departure when the elf recovers."
Ren snarled. There was nothing human in the sound. "My pleasure, I assure you," he ground out.
Glancing over at Mist, he snapped, "At least you're alive." Immediately regretting his temper, her closed his eyes and took a breath through his nose.
"I will wait outside," he muttered, throwing a glare at the healer. "I would not want to offend you with my presence."
It was only a brief moment later Mist stepped out aswell, armoured and armed again. "They either keep both of us. Or none at all." He slowly snickered. "They're a tad too excited to put chains on me, so let's go before there is trouble." He said with a bitter tone.
The dragon raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure you're alright to travel?" He shot a glare in the direction of the healer's house, grumbling, "I'd like to see them try."
Rolling his neck from side to side, Ren took a few steps back to give himself room so he could change into his natural form. When the glow around him faded, revealing the dragon, he lowered his head and shifted slightly so he was in a rather protective stance near Mist.
"I'm fine.." Was what he muttered. "It hurts. But I had worse." He looked at the door. "They won't try a thing. Let's avoid bloodshed by not waiting around for them to make a move."
"Very well." Ren crouched down, extending a front leg slightly, a sort of invitation. "Climb on then. Now that you can keep yourself upright I don't want to hold you in my claws." Not only would it be less comfortable for both of them, but he was a little worried he might reopen his wounds.
Mist arched an eyebrow. Before bowing to a degree his wounds still allowed it. Respectfully so, before he stepped on the front leg and scaling up the dragon's skin carefully and sitting down at the end of his neck. "Ready."
"Hold on to one of my spines," Ren suggested, straightening up and fanning his wings. this was an odd feeling. He'd never allowed someone to ride on his back before- but the elf seemed to understand that it was an honor, so he supposed that was something.
Anxious to get out of this hostile village, he took one bound forward and leaped into the air, straining a bit to get them aloft. "Is there somewhere I should be taking you?" he asked, twisting his neck around a bit to look at Mist with one eye.
Mist nodded at the suggestion, his hand closing around one of Ren's spines. "Give a roar when I hurt you!" Was what he yelled as the dragon leaped in the air. "Let me get my map!" He yelled, before pulling the backpack from his back, a rolled up paper. He unfurled it with one hand. "There's supposed to be a trading post close by!" He said as he propped the map away again. "To the southwest! Thattaway!" He shouted as he leaned forward, pointing into the right direction.
Ren snorted and gave a sharp nod, then banked in the direction Mist had indicated. "You're not going to hurt me," he huffed, rumbling a chuckle that vibrated in his chest. "Just try not to fall off."
He snapped his wings down, sending them rocketing forward. Maybe he was showing off a little, but it wasn't often he flew with company. It was...interesting.
"I hope I don't!" He shouted. At that. He stood straighter, still holding on to the spine. "I'm honored you allow me!" He said. Before his gut wrenched as Ren sped up. Causing Mist to grin.
Ren bared his teeth in a dragon's grin. "When you're feeling up to it, I'll have to show you what real flying is like," he rumbled.
In the distance he through he saw a dark splotch of civilization. The trading post? "Is that what we're looking for?"
"Maybe when my wounds are healed!" He shouted in response, before looking over to the spot Ren indicated. "Think so!"
With a sharp nod, Ren banked into a shallow dive, bringing them in to land on the outskirts of the trading post. He saw a few humans- at least they appeared to be human- milling around sort of jump or give cries of surprise when they saw him, but they at least seemed less hostile than the village they'd just left.
He actually thought he heard someone say, "Two in as many hours, what are the odds?" which made him tilt his head curiously, but he put it from his mind. He arched his head around so he could look at Mist. "How're you holding up?"
With a loud thud, Mist hopped down from the dragon, stretching a bit. "Pretty good. I'll live."
Ren gave him a sideways look. "I don't pretend to know a lot about two-leggers, but the speed at which you heal seems abnormal to me," he commented, rolling his shoulders and folding his wings into his sides.
"I just bite down the pain." Was what he replied. Before slowly starting to walk to the market. "Are you with me?"
Ren snorted. He didn't entirely believe that, but he wouldn't press for answers. "You sure I'm going to fit in there?" he asked as he followed Mist. "I'm not sure they build these places with dragons in mind-"
His voice choked off when a large black shape- small compared to himself but almost ten feet high at the shoulder- came around the corner of one of the larger stalls. The other dragon was built slimmer than himself, but he thought that was probably because it was still young.
He stopped short, eye ridges rising incredulously. "Huh. Perhaps I was mistaken."
"Well then." Mist arched an ehe row as he was the creature. "Do you know this dragon?" He asked as he looked at Ren.
"No." He shook his head, a little baffled.
The younger dragon had just spotted him. Drawing up short, he dropped his head and raised his hackles, lips pulling back in an instinctive threat display. The young woman walking at his side stopped as well, glancing from the black dragon to the gold one.
"Kit, what's wrong?" Kiara asked quietly, pressing against his flank.
Her dragon shook himself slightly, forcing his body to relax. "Er...nothing. Older male. Bigger male. Instinct, sorry."
She threw him an arch look. "Gods, you're ridiculous," she muttered. Seeing that the gold dragon was looking on guard, she decided to try to ease the tension, walking across the market toward him. "Hello," she said politely when she was in earshot, feeling Kit coming up behind her slowly. "Sorry about that. We weren't expecting to run into another dragon, Kit was a bit surprised."
Ren dipped his head, relaxing a bit, but didn't speak. Without realizing he was doing it, he mimicked the black dragon's stance behind his rider, arching protectively around Mist.
Mist raised his hand in return. At least as wary as Ren was. Ofcourse. He wouldn't let anyone know that he was. "It's alright.." Was what he murmured to Ren, before walking over to the dragonrider. And her obvious mount. "I'd say them being a rare breed. But these are two I see on one day. I'm Mist."
He seemed so casual about it. So laid back. Yet at the same time, he might've been the most wary of the three. He was currently qlso the weakest. Still wounded and all that.
She dipped her head at him. "Kiara. This is Kittsareyn." Kit nodded at them warily. Tilting her head to the side, she offered a friendly smile. "I have to say, I never thought to meet a dragonrider this far south of Adela. What brings you here?"
Ren snorted a bit at the term "dragonrider" though he supposed at this point it wasn't entirely inaccurate.
"Nice meeting you two." He bowed at Kit however, not really deep to not open his wounds again, but deep enough to show his respect. "Me? A dragonrider? You're wrong. I just stubled across this dragon when he was fighting off a warband of dragonslayers." A swift and easy lie that wouldn't even be noticed by the two. Mostly to not hurt Ren's pride. "I got hurt and he offered me help."
"Oh?" Kiara's eyes widened a bit. "I didn't know there were dragonslayers in the area." She shot Kit a worried look.
The black dragon snorted, muttering something under his breath that may have been "damned jungle, knew we shouldn't have come here".
Ren huffed a chuckle. "I don't think you need to worry about them, youngling. Immortalis here took pretty good care of them." After a moment he added, a little grudgingly, "Saved my life, actually. He's being modest." Realizing he'd never actually introduced himself, he added, "I'm called Renkaryn, by the way."
Kit and Kiara nodded at him, then the young woman arched an eyebrow at the elf. "Immortalis? I thought your name was Mist."
Mist shrugged slowly. "You killed more than I did and didn't even get hurt.." He chuckled a bit at the female's confusion. "I'm sorry. It is my name. Immortalis is merely a title." He dusted off his armor. Silently whincing in pain. "So- what brings a.. Dragonrider as yourself here?"
Kiara shrugged. "Delivery." She nodded her head back toward the thick of the marketplace. "Fellow up in Serendipity wanted some goods shipped down here quickly, and he paid well enough."
Her eyes were watching both dragon and elf sharply. The huge gold beast was favoring one side, and she thought she'd just seen Mist wince a bit. "You two sure you're alright? Looks like you could maybe use some rest."
Ren huffed at her and looked away, not saying anything. Honestly, he knew he could definitely use a break, and he was sure Mist wasn't as healed as he kept saying he was. But he was too proud to admit it.
"I see. So. Dragon delivery is a thing now." He chuckled bitterly. Quite honestly. Finding it a bit insulting to use mighty dragons as couriers. "We're fine. Thank you for the offer." He said with a soft grin. He wasn't admitting it because of pride. He wasn't admitting it because of his distrust towards the female dragonrider. And her companion. "Ren. Do you think we can trust 'em?" He inquired. Not hiding the question at all.
"Well, it's a thing for us at any rate," Kiara said with a shrug. "Gotta make a living somehow."
Her eyebrows drew together at the blatant question and she protested mildly, "Oi, I'm standing right here." Kit rolled his eyes and nudged her back, silently telling her to shut up.
Ren looked them both over, considering. "I'm more inclined to trust another of my kind than any of these other two-leggers," he admitted casually after a moment. "And the girl doesn't seem like she'd be too much trouble."
Kiara's eyebrows crept toward her hairline. "Still. Right here," she muttered, crossing her arms and cocking a hip.
"You'd be surprised. Some of us two-leggers can put up quite the fight, me for exemple. But if a dragon, a noble creature like you, follows her willingly. Well. I guess we can trust them." He looked at Kiara and chuckled slowly at the pose. "I know you're here. I was just having a small discussion with Ren."
"Noble creature?" Kit and Kiara repeated at the same time, exchanging a look. She grinned at the dragon, elbowing him lightly. "Hear that, Kitten?"
He groaned and rolled his eyes heavenward, mumbling, "Why do I put up with you?"
"Because you love me," she responded easily. To the other dragon and rider- she didn't care what he said, she could recognize the beginnings of that kind of bond when she saw it- she said, "Well, if you've decided you can trust us, why don't you let us show you to a place you can stay the night? There's a lodging house that actually has a courtyard big enough for dragons to sleep in." To Ren, she added, "And we can get someone to take a look at the wound in your shoulder."
The gold dragon snorted, surprised, and gave her an appraising look. He thought he'd hidden that rather well. Huh. She was sharper than he'd thought.
Well. That was the instant Mist started to feel a bit insulted. Personally. He was raised with dragons being almighty and wise creatures. "I'm sorry for treating dragons with the respect they deserve" He said. His voice a tad more harsh than before. He sighed slowly, scratching the back of his head. "Does that sound good to you, Ren?" He asked his enourmous counterpart.
Kiara raised her eyebrows, muting quietly to Kit, "Touchy." Her dragon snorted agreement.
"I could....probably use the rest," Ren admitted slowly, looking down at Mist. He couldn't help being a little worried about the elf, even though he told himself it was a foolish sentiment.
His ears perked. Probably something about him. Yet. He wouldn't ask avout it. Just cuses more unnescassary concersations. He looked at Ren and nodded, before turning to the other two again. "Seems like it's decided."
Kiara smiled a bit, politely. "Right then, this way." She glanced around and added with a chuckle, "I think we're clogging up the road a bit."
Grabbing one of Kit's spines, she vaults into his back and the dragon set off into the market, not seeming to care very much that he scattered people to the sides.
Ren started after them, then hesitated. Looking down at Mist, he jerked his head at his own back. "You should probably get on. Don't want to overexert yourself."
Mist nodded slowly. How could he even decline that over? He got on one of Ren's front vlaws and scaled upwards, grabbing a spine and swinging himself on top, sitting himself down casually.
The two dragons attracted a fair amount of attention as they wove through the trading post, but nothing too uncomfortable. When they reached a small in sort of on the outskirts of the marketplace, Kiara swung down off Kit's back, patting his flank as thanks for the lift. He crooned at her and nuzzled her shoulder affectionately, then turned to make his way around the building.
"There's space for us back here," he said to Ren, dropping his eyes as he spoke.
Pleased that the younger male was showing submissiveness, Ren nodded at him regally. "I suppose you should get a room," he rumbled, craning his head around to address Mist.
Mist nodded. "Thanks." Was what ehe said before he jumped down, landing with another thud and a silent whimper. "Are you gonna be alright, Ren?" Was what he inquired as he slowly walked towards the inn. Backwards. Still facing Ren.
The dragon chuckled, without thinking stretching his head forward to nose his shoulder. Not the affectionate nuzzle that Kit had given Kiara, but it was something. "I'm fine, just need some rest. As do you." He lumbered away after the smaller dragon.
Kiara was waiting near the door to the inn, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. "You sure you're not a dragonrider?" she said lightly. "'Cause I've been around dragons all my life, and no wild one bonds that quickly to a two-legger he just met. You must be something special, Master Immortalis."
Mist padded the side of Ren's head as he came to 'nuzzle' his shoulder. The old male dragon was quite rough, but it was an affectionate gesture. "Alright." He nodded towards Kit and turned his attention to Ren again. "I'll see yiu later." Was what he said, before turning around and joining at Kiara's side.
"I'm not. I always looked up to them. They were the elite in our village. Heroes. And I was a commander. But not a dragonrider." He said with a bitter chuckle. And now Mir was completely destroyed. And yet he now had become a dragonrider accidentally. Life had a strange way of dealing cards. "Please.. Call me Mist." He said as he walked into the inn, keeping the door open for her.
"Alright then, Mist." She nodded her thanks as she slipped inside. She was a little curious about where exactly he'd grown up to have such strong beliefs about dragons, but she didn't want to pry.
"Hello again, miss," the innkeeper said when he saw her, coming down the stairs.
Kiara raised her hand in greeting and gave him a crooked smile. "Hey. Looks like I've brought you a new customer." She nodded in Mists's direction.
The older man smiled. "Ah, I see. Will you be wanting a room then, sir?"
Mist nodded slowly. "Two days.. depending on my companio., I might stay for longer." He said as he pulled up a small leather purse. "I'm guessing this is enough for now," he said, whincing slightly at the movement, he had to replace the bandages.
The innkeeper moved forward to take the purse, peeking inside and nodding with a smile. "Very good, sir. You got lucky, we only have one room left." He looked to Kiara. "The one next to yours actually, miss." Frowning a bit, he added, "But it only has a single bed. Your companion..."
"Is a dragon," Kiara filled in. She nodded to the door set in the far wall that looked as though it led to the courtyard. "He's out there with Kit now, big golden thing. I brought them here 'cause it's the only place with enough room."
The innkeeper's expression smoothed into a smile. "Ah, yes. Of course. Well, if you follow me-"
"He'll deny it, but he needs a healer too," Kiara cut in, throwing a look at Mist.
Mist arched an eyebrow as Kiara did all of the speaking. He arched an eyebrow. "Taking a page out of your book.. I am standing right here." He said with a bitter chuckle, before looking to the innkeeper. "And I don't." Was what he said. Just as the female dragonrider predicted.
"He does," Kiara retorted, more to Mist than to the innkeeper.
The older man looked back and forth between the two of them, then cleared his throat. "I'll, ah, send for someone," he mumbled.
"Great." Kiara threw him a grin, then turned to Mist again. "C'mon, I can show you to the room while he's doing that." She started toward the stairs.
He rolled his eyes and just left it at that. Women. He looked at Kiara, shrugging slowly. "Alright. Thanks." He said with a slow chuckle.
Kiara gave him a bright smile. "Good." She scaled the stairs quickly and turned left, bringing them to two doors set into the wall that over looked the courtyard.
"Not that they get them often around here, but this place is built to cater to dragonriders," she explained, not quite sure why. She usually wasn't so sociable. Maybe it had something to do with meeting another 'rider who wasn't a member of the Adelan military. She pointed to the right-hand door. "Your room. You should probably just take it easy until the healer gets here."
He followed Kiara ul the stairs slowly. Carefully so. Mist glanced out over the courtyard. Nodding slowly. He didn't know about dragonriders or Adelan military. All he knew was that Ren appreciated him. And that mattered for now. Dragonrider or not.
He softly grabbed her hand, looking Kiara in the eyes. "Thanks. But I am capable of handling myself." He said as he released Kiara's hand again. "Don't worry."
She blinked, a little surprised by the sudden touch. "I, uh, don't doubt that," she muttered. Clearing her throat, she gave him a small smile and a nod. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Mist Immortalis. I'll probably be seeing you around." She turned and slipped into her own room.
Kit and Ren, lying in comfortable silence side by side in the courtyard, raised their heads at the sound and scent of Kiara coming out onto the balcony attached to her room that looked over the courtyard. The black dragon gave a thrum that was almost a purr and stretched his head up to meet her, closing his eyes and crooning when she scratched the ridge above his eyes.
Ren watched them, head tilted curiously. He'd never quite understood the bond some dragons had with two-leggers- had looked down on it, if he was being honest- but the younger dragon didn't seem tamed to him, not exactly. Hm. Intriguing
"The pleasure is mine." Mist said with a soft, respectful nod. "And I also feel we'll meet again. Rather sooner than later." He said with a slow chuckle. And that wasn't because their rooms were right next to eachother. He had the feeling he'd go through a lot with Kiara.
When inside, he pulled off the mithril chainmail, met with the sight of crimson bandages. He pulled a bitter smirk. Seemed he had overexerted after all. He only surfaced from his room after a short while, the bandages around his chrst covered in blood. Not like he had anything to do. Yet he walked and stood as if there was nothing wrong with him.
"How're you two doing out here then?" Kiara asked with a grin, looking between Kit and Ren. Her dragon rolled his shoulders in a shrug and Ren nodded agreement. "Oh, a healer's coming to take a look at Mist," the girl added with a nod to the gold dragon.
He let out a breath that might have been a sigh of relief. "My thanks," he rumbled, stretching his neck up a bit to address her.
She shrugged, saying simply, "You should get that shoulder checked out when the healer is here."
He shook his head. "I am fine."
The girl rolled her eyes and muttered something about stubborn males. Ignoring her, Ren curled up in the courtyard, keeping an eye on the room next to hers.
"She is right, Ren." Mist said as he stepped out on the balcony, having taken his armour off. The bandages obviously bloodied. He put his hand on the support and chuckled bitterly. "I get healed, you get healed."
"Gods!" Kiara yelped, eyes widening when he emerged. She'd known he was hurt but... "How are you even moving?!"
Ren surged to his feet, arching his neck to bring his head closer to the balcony. "You should be resting," he muttered, covering concern with gruffness. "Besides, I'm not hurt nearly as bad as you. This will heal on its own."
Mist grinned bitterly as he pressed his thumb against his chest. "Immortalis." Was all he said to Kiara, before looking over to Ren, leaning on the support. "So will this. But it takes time." He said with the same bitter chuckle as he put a hand on Ren's nose. "And we don't seem the most patient sort."
Ren huffed a chuckle, unconsciously nosing into his hand in a manner oddly reminiscent of a cat. He didn't notice Kiara and Kit exchange a look and a quick grin.
"I suppose not," the dragon agreed, stretching lazily though being careful of his wounded shoulder. A sharp wrap on the door to Mist's room had him cocking his head. "Well, the people around here are certainly punctual," he commented.
Mist's gaze snapped to the door. "It would seem so." He said as he dissappeared in his room again, opening the door.
The healer was a short, rosy-cheeked woman who gave the elf a cursory glance before ordering, "Sit." She shrugged a satchel off her shoulder and began rooting through it for supplies. "Where is it the worst?" she asked, business-like.
Ren snorted, assured that Mist was being taken care of, and settled back into the courtyard. Kit gave his rider a quick nuzzle and moved back as well, saying something quietly. Ren only caught the words, "need rest too." He huffed, putting it from his mind as the younger dragon curled up under the girl's balcony, eyeing him warily.
He chuffed at him, blowing a ring of smoke. "I'm not going to eat you, youngling," he muttered, vaguely amused.
Kit looked away, giving a huff of his own but otherwise not responding.
And Mist did what he was told, sitting down slowly, pulling the bandages down to reveal the grievous wounds. "Take your pick." Was what he answered with a bitter chuckle. He heard the dragons still communicating outside, but payed no mind to it for now.
The healer tutted and set to work, asking questions about what had happened.
In the next room, Kiara could hear the bustling about and Ren and Kit snipping at each other outside. She couldn't help smiling a bit- Kit was even more anti-social than she was, it was interesting to see how he reacted to another dragon.
Mist'd answer the questions truthfully. More or less. Keeping away the part he actually had to free Ren from a couple of vines. He wasn't planning on hurting Ren's pride. He was still a dragon.
Apparently satisfied with her work, the healer order briskly, "You lay down and rest. Keep off your feet as much as you can for the next few days." With a sigh, she ran her hand through her hair and muttered, "I'm going to check on the dragon then."
Ren and Kit had gotten into some sort of odd staring contest, red eyes locked with gold as they battled silently. Neither was even entirely sure why they were doing it, but being dragons- and males at that- neither was willing to back down.
"You seem very comfortable with your human," Ren commented casually, the intensity of his gaze unwavering.
Kit nodded. "Known her my whole life. First thing I saw when I hatched," was all he said.
Neither dragon paid any mind to the healer coming into the courtyard.
Lay down and rest. Hell no. It made him anxious. Antsy. The instant the healer left the room, Mist grabbed the large blade and used it as a crutch to slowly walk over to the balcony. "You two. I'd advice you two would stop doing whatever you're doing and pay attention to the woman that is waiting there." He said, a tad gruffer than usual, before limping back inside and lying down. Complying to the healer's words.
For now.
Ren jerked, surprised by Mist's sudden appearance and disappearance, then snorted. Kit gave a quiet thrum, smug that he had won their little staring contest.
Ignoring him in a manner that in a lesser creature might have been called "prim", Ren turned his attention to the healer. With another snort, he turned his injured shoulder to her. "Get on with it then," he grumbled.
As the healer set to work, Kiara suddenly reappeared on her balcony. "Kit? We have a contact. C'mon, let's go meet him."
The smaller dragon looked up at her. "You need to take a break."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Mother hen. I'm fine, let's go."
Ren watched the exchange curiously, but didn't comment. As long as Mist was healing he wasn't too concerned.
Mist just waited in his room, resting. Resting.
And growing damn impatient.
Kit and Kiara bickered for a few moments more before the girl simply launched herself over the balcony rail, forcing the dragon to surge to his feet so she landed on his back rather than the stone courtyard.
Ren coughed a chuckle as he watched them. Hatchlings. They acted like hatchlings.
"Hey."
The gold dragon blinked, realizing the human was addressing him. "Yes?"
She nodded up at Mist's room. "You two interested in a job? Odds are our contact would be just as happy to employ two dragonriders as one."
He tilted his head, considering. He supposed it depended on the job, but he didn't really care one way or the other. Stretching his neck up and ignoring the healer's muttered commands to hold still, he rested his head on the railing and snorted to get the elf's attention.
Too damn impatient. Mist limped to the balcony again. "I hate sitting around and doing nothing." He murmured to himself as he leaned on the rail. "What job?" Was what he asked gruffly.
The healer threw her hands in the air and stormed away, muttering something about stubborn patients and "not worth the hassle".
Kiara simply raised an eyebrow at Mist, but she wasn't his keeper so she figured he could do as he liked, long as he wasn't collapsing. "Trading caravan needs some extra guards," she said. "They're heading up to Adela, and Kit and I are going that direction anyway. Probably won't be very interesting, but the pay is good," she said, shrugging.
He looked at the healer as she stormed away. Chuckling slowly. He looked at Kiara again. "What's the pay?" Then he looked to Ren. "And are you up for it?"
Ren nodded, arching his back. Huh. His shoulder did feel a little better. "I have nowhere else to be," he said nonchalantly. "And it may be interesting to visit the mountains. It has been many years since I've seen my old hatching grounds."
Kiara gave him a quick look, she supposed it wasn't entirely surprising that he'd been born in the Thunderblacks, then turned her attention back to Mist. "Pay depends on how well we do our job," she told him with another shrug. "Every "mishap" along the way docks our total. But if we manage to get them to their destination unscathed- which shouldn't be too hard- it's twenty gold and a hundred silver pieces."
The pay had actually put her off from the job at first, it seemed way to high- what was the catch? But honestly she and Kit needed the money, the couldn't afford to be picky.
And with another dragon and rider, it seemed much less likely that they'd run into trouble they couldn't handle.
Mist arched an eyebrow at Ren, nodding slowly. Seemed his companion agreed to him. He looked back to Kiara. "Sounds agreeable." He said with a bitter chuckle. "I've been lost for a direction for a long time already. So actually knowing where I'm headed for a change sounds nice."
Kiara nodded, giving them both a quick smile. "Right then. Kit and I can go talk to our contact so you two can get some rest if you like," she offered. Kit twisted his head to eye her, letting her know very plainly that he didn't like the idea of running around for these two practically-strangers.
"Sounds like a plan.." But resting isn't my thing. Limadan sighed slowly as he looked over to Ren. "So. Seems like we're stuck together from now on, eh?"
The gold dragon gave him a droll look. "...I could imagine worse fates," he said after a moment, eyes glinting in a way that was almost teasing.
He stepped to the side to allow Kit and his rider room to take off, watching them bank out over the marketplace and away. Approaching the balcony, he stretched his neck up and tilted his head to the side. "That blood smell fresh," he said bluntly. "Did you reopen a wound?"
Mist chuckled slowly. "So. I'll take that as a compliment?" He said, shrugging slowly at the question.
"I don't think I-" A brief glance down. "Shit. I did." Was what he said, before looking back at Ren, shrugging slowly. "It's a small one. Nothing some bandages wouldn't solve."
Ren gave him a dry look. "As numerous parties have told you today, you should rest. Things like that won't happen if you just sit still for more than a few minutes at a time," he grumbled.
With a shrug, he added, "It's not as though there will be much to do until the youngling and the human chit return."
"And as you might've seen. Resting isn't my thing." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Last time I rested.. I almost died. And worse. Lost several people." He said with a bitter chuckle.
Ren tilted his head further. An unfamiliar emotion seemed to be attempting to take up residence in his chest. Pity? No, that wasn't quite right...
Putting it from his mind, he offered gruffly, "Well, I'm not hurt nearly as badly. I don't need to rest- I can stand guard." He huffed a little awkwardly, glancing away.
"Not that I don't trust you. I get antsy.. Nervous." He shook his head slowly. "I know you'd look out for me. You've done nothing but that the past hours." He smirked bitterly, sadly even. "I just can't even if I wanted to.."
The dragon nodded. "Then just sit up there and keep me company," he ordered brusquely, settling back on his haunches and fanning his wings a bit in the sun. It probably wouldn't do him as much good as a few hours of sleep, but it was better than jumping around.
He only huffed dryly in response. "That was what I was planning anyway.." He said with a butter chuckle. "So. When we're doing this.. Dragonrider thing.. We're gonna have to know eachother. Be synchronised and all that."
"Yes. I suppose so." Ren shifted. He didn't exactly love the idea- but he'd heard what the girl had said before, about wild dragons not bonding easily with two-leggers. She was right. So there must be some reason he found he was more comfortable around Mist than he would have expected, right?
He settled down in the courtyard, neck long enough that even lying down his head was almost level with the balcony. "I suppose, if you have questions, I should do my best to answer them," he rumbled. "And I trust you would do the same."
Mist nodded slowly. Ofcourse, Ren would see reason. He was a dragon after all. Wiser than him. So, it made sense he at least agreed. "I don't really have any questions that come to mind, but I'll answer all truthfully".
"Why are you called Immortalis?" Ren asked bluntly. "I've seen you fight, I've seen you recover from wounds that should be fatal and keep going. How?"
"I recieved that title when I was fifteen." He let out a slow chuckle. "I even had that enourmous blade, albeit not cursed, since I was that young. I could barely lift it back then." He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm an orphan. I never met my parents, so I was young and wandering. A village took me in and the headsman trained me with this sword. After several months.. I defended it from an orc warband. That's when I got the title." He shrugged slowly. "Twice as hurt as now, but I didn't die back then. I'm more resilient than normal. I don't know why either. I just.. Have to put through with it. Defend the people I feel like need defending."
Ren nodded, digesting the new information. After a few moments of silence he simply asked "Cursed?" He couldn't deny that the blade had given him a strange feeling, but he'd attributed it to a rather stressful day.
"I died.. Once." He said with a sad grin. "That's when I lost it all. My little sister.. My family. My village. I was on the forest floor.. Practically sliced in half down my shoulder.." He took a deep sigh. "There was so much blood, my throat was sore and dry. I was choking on my own blood and could see my own intestines. Then I found myself in complete darkness." He glanced inside, towards the bandaged sword. "It told me it wanted to see the world once more.. And granted me a second chance, in return for it to be able to see."
Ren snorted, rearing his head back. He cast the sword- or what he could see of it- a dark look. "You should not trust something that thinks for itself if you can't tell where it keeps its brain," he growled.
"Still," he relented after several long moments. "I am glad you didn't die." If that meant he would be traveling in the company of a cursed blade, so be it. He was a dragon- very few magics existed that could best him.
"I don't trust it at all.. It helped me more than anything else.. Kept watch when I slept. And never once tried to influence me or cut another bargain." He said in response, resting his arm on the railing, a brief silence slowly descending on the two. "Thanks." Was what he said with a bitter chuckle.
Eyeing him, Ren commented, "You didn't seem surprised when I took a human form. Most two-leggers are." Brigid came to mind. He shook his head, pushing the thought away. "I see now that was probably because you are no stranger to strange things."
"After seeing things I saw.. Not much manages to surprise me anymore." He said with a bitter chuckle.
Ren might have said something else, but that was when a clap of wingbeats drew his attention skyward. He snorted and shifted sideways, allowing Kit room to land.
"Got the job," Kiara said briskly as she dismounted, patting the black dragon's shoulder. Then she paused, looking between Ren and Mist. "Ah- did I interrupt something?"
Mist shot Ren a meaningful glance before looking at Kiara. "Not at all. We were just talking." Was what he answered. "When are we leaving?"
"Noon tomorrow," she replied, glancing back and forth between them again, then shrugging. Oh well. Probably god that they were bonding a bit. "You alright out here?" she asked Kit.
The black dragon nodded, then snaked his head forward to grab the back of her tunic and lift her onto her balcony, stretching onto his hind legs to do so.
"Oi! Knock it off!" Once her feet were firmly planted, she whirled to glare it him. "You know I hate it when you do that."
Kit simply gave her a dragon smirked and dropped back into four legs.
Ren gave Mist a look. "It seems like we'll be playing nursemaid more than anything else," he muttered.
"Alright." He said in response. "Thanks for going through the trouble." Yet. He arched an eyebrow at Kit's display, only huffing at Ren's remark. "Mayhaps.."
"I can hear you," Kiara said, shooting them both a glare. Then she turned on her heel and marched back into her room, closing the door behind her. "You're welcome by the way!" Her voice came floating through the wood, a little petulant.
Ren huffed, shaking his head. The sun was sinking in the sky now and he sighed. Looked like he wouldn't be able to soak up the rays after all. "I am not a good judge of two-legger ages," he rumbled to Mist, "but she seems too old for such nonsense. Am I wrong?"
Kit ignored them, padding to the other end of the courtyard and curling up with his tail over his nose, eyes narrowing to contented slits.
Mist arched an eyebrow as Kiara walked in again. Murmuring to himself about getting to know more about her. And Kitfor that matter. They were experienced. He and Ren were rookies. They could be valuable teachers. Then again. If the pay was to believed, it would either be a very long, or a very ardeous journy.
In both cases. Numerous could be learned.
"You two should get some rest," Kit said suddenly, drawing Ren's attention. "Gonna be a long trip to Adela. We have to travel at the pace of a trading caravan."
The older dragon snorted. He hadn't really thought about how frustrating it would be to travel confined to the ground. "I hope these coins you two-leggers seem so enamored with are worth it," he said dryly with a nod to Mist as he settled onto the cobblestone.
"It's good pay, Ren.." Mist said with a chuckle. "We need it for most things." He looked at Kit, nodding and bowing. "Thank you for the concern." He said as he walked in, fetching sometying from the inside. It was nothing but the enormous blade. And a grinding stone. He slowly unfurled the bandages as he sat down on the balcony, starting to sharpen the blade slowly. Peacefully even. The large eye closed. Dormant.
The sun was almost kissing the horizon now. With a rumbling sigh, Ren dropped his head onto his paws and closed his eyes to half-mast. "You're really not going to sleep?" he asked Mist, quiet but gruff, masking most of the concern.
"Maybe.. Maybe not. After eighteen years you get used to the idea that sleeping is dropping your defenses.." He snickered. "I probably will. But not much."
The dragon snorted. "Long as you don't open those wounds up again," he muttered, hunkering down. "Oi, hatchling."
Kit cracked an eye. "I assume you're talking to me?"
"If I'm not up at sunrise, wake me," Ren rumbled, and promptly, to all appearances, went to sleep.
Kit huffed, shaking his head. "Charming," he commented, though whether he was talking to Mist or himself was unclear.
He shook his head. "Not planning on." Was what he said, preoccupied with the cursed sword.
Yet he stopped for a moment and chuckled slowly at Kit's comment. "You should've heard him when we first met.."
With a soft snort, Kit gave a rolling sort of shrug and settled down. "I've never seen one of my kind bond so quickly," he said after a moment, giving Mist a calculating look. It was intriguing, to say the least.
"I'll take that as a compliment," he said as he glanced towards Ren. "I think I impressed him when we fought side by side." He said as he scraped the grindstone over the blade, giving it a sharp glint and scraping away bits of dried blood.
Kit nodded. "Yeah, that might have an impact. But even trained Adelan knights don't always bond with their dragon so well. And you've known him for less than a day." He shrugged again, closing his eyes. "I suppose it will be...interesting to travel with you."
Intriguing indeed.
"You'd be surprised how much people have told me that already," he let out a slow chuckle before focudsing.the blade again. The eye slowly opening. "Have a nice sleep," was what Mist said. Initially to Kit. But also meant to Ren. Providedhe was still awake to hear.
Perhaps it was an odd evolutionary quirk, but Kiara found it to be almost universally true that dragons fell asleep quickly and deeply, but all it took was a whisper of wind in the wrong direction to wake them.
So she was entirely unimpressed when she woke early the next morning, called to Kit, and he remained "asleep".
"Stupid, massive newt," she muttered, shouldering her travel pack and crossing her arms, frowning across the courtyard at her lifelong partner. "Oi! Kit!"
Ren opened his eyes with a low growl. "Why is the small creature yipping?" he asked no one in particular, irritated to be awakened- even though it was about the time he'd planned to geet up anyway.
Oddly enough, Mist wasn't on the balcony. Not even in his room if they'd bother checking. No. Instead. The elf walked up to Ren. Shouldering the large blade, his black armour looking completely pristine now. Aswell as added guantlets and arm and leg plating. Yet he seemed to carry it effortlessly. "Good morning." Was what he said towards the three.
Ren grunted. He was not a morning person. "I thought we weren't leaving until noon," he grumbled, getting to his feet and stretching his back like a cat. He gave Mist a nod though, which was more attention than he usually paid to anyone this early.
"We have to meet the caravan at the edge out the outpost," Kiara explained, climbing up onto the balcony rail. Before Kit could scramble to his feet and catch her, she jumped to the ground, landing gracefully after running a few paces to use up the momentum.
Kit growled at her and she waved him off. "Shush, mother hen." Turning to Mist, she suddenly flicked a few coins in his direction. "Took the liberty of talking to the innkeeper, seeing as you only stayed one night when you paid for two."
"Do all you humans enjoy leaping that much?" He asked rather soberly, arching an eyebrow. Yet chuckling slowly. Hoping Kiara could at least value the humour. The elf raised his hand lazily and caught the purse without luch effort. "Nice throw. And thanks." He said with a curt, respectful nod.
Her lips twitched in a half-smile. "You should see me with a knife." Then she shrugged. "Dunno about the leaping thing. Don't spend much time around humans myself." Sauntering over to Kit, she swung herself up onto his back.
Figuring that was his cue, Ren lowered himself a bit so Mist could climb on without straining himself too much.
He wouldn't lie. She seemed like the type to prefer the company of a dragon over humans. "I get the distinct feeling I'll get to see those flung around soon enough." He chuckled slowly as he grabbed around a spine on Ren's neck and pulled himself up, armour and enourmous blade, seemingly without much of an effort.
"Look at that, you're a natural," Kiara commented with a quick grin. Patting Kit's shoulder, she called, "Follow us," as the smaller dragon took to the air.
Ren grumbled something about not being much of a follower, but leaped after them, pleasantly surprised by the lack of protest from his shoulder. That healer had been pretty good.
"I must be pretty good if you can judge that from me just getting on." He said with a bitter chuckle, grabbing a hold of one of Ren's spines as he took to the air. Getting used to the forces exerted by now.
They probably could have walked to to meet their employer, but Kiara would take any excuse to get in the air. In a matter of minutes they were touching down again, and she waved a hand to hail the leader of the caravan they'd be guarding. He nodded and began making his way toward them.
"So," she said, sliding down Kit's side to land on the ground, bouncing on the balls of her feet, "what do you think?" She looked to Mist, a tiny smile playing at her lips. "Flying, I mean."
Mist arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He inquired as he swung his leg to his other and slid off of Ren, landing with a loud clunk.
She chuckled. "What do you think of flying? Riding dragonback?" There was nothing else like it, as far as she was concerned.
Kit and Ren sniffed the air almost simultaneously, familiarizing themselves with the scent of the caravan.
"Oh," he followed the woman along as he talked, "it is amazing and exhilirating. Yet humbling at the same time."
Kiara grinned. "I know."
This was interesting. Not a member of the military, she didn't get the chance to interact with other dragonriders much, even new ones.
The lead trader, a bearded, burly man who'd told her to address him as Bran, stopped in front of them. "This the other guard you were talkin' 'bout yesterday?" he asked Kiara gruffly, jerking his chin at Mist.
She nodded, waving a hand between them by way of introduction. "Mist, Bran, Bran, Mist."
He smirked at her statement, but couldn't pose a follow up quick enough.
Mist bowed curtly as the two were introduced. "The pleasure is mine, ser Bran."
"Just Bran," the man said, waving the "ser" away. He gave Mist an evaluating look. "You elfkind then?" he asked bluntly.
Kiara quirked an eyebrow. It seemed like a rather pointless question to her, but she wasn't the one running the show.
Mist huffed slowly. "Knife-ears gave it away?" He asked with mild amusement. He had recieved worse racial slurs.
Bran cracked a smile. "A bit, yeah." He shrugged. "My people won't give you problems for it, but some may not be overly friendly neither. Suspicious folk, but that's the way it is. Fair warning."
Frowning a bit, Kiara reached up to pull her hair more firmly over her much less obviously pointed ears. Great. Just great. "Sorry," she said quietly to Mist "I didn't realize."
Mist nodded curtly. "Thanks for the heads up. I hope they'll actually notice my armour, the blade the size of their body or the dragon I am sitting on before being not 'overly friendly' either. Fair warning." He replied, before turning around and returning to Ren.
He looked at Kiara, shrugging slowly. "He didn't call his men and tried slapping chains on me the instant he saw me. So. I had worse. Don't mind it."
Ren was pissed, but if Mist wasn't going to fight then he wasn't either. He did bare his teeth though, dropping his head next to the elf protectively.
"Yeah, but...still, it's a shitty feeling to be resented or coveted or whatever for what you are," Kiara muttered, returning to Kit as well. Her dragon nuzzled her shoulder and she smiled, stroking his cheek.
Mist wasn't pissed at all. He was positivly fuming. If that man wasn't hiring him, uncaring for their numbers, he'd have literally ripped his face off. But. He was still in control. His expression didn't change one bit from the stoic look. He looked at Kiara, shrugging. "You get used to it after a while. Controlling your anger that is." He said with a bitter huff, before looking to Ren. "Hope the armour and the sword doesn't make me too heavy."
Ren gave him a droll look. "I have lived over four centuries in this world. It that time I have literally moved mountains. No, Immortalis, you are not too heavy."
Kiara covered a small smile with her hand and Kit rumbled a chuckle. "One thing about having a dragon for a companion- they will always put you in your place," she muttered. Kit flicked his tongue across her cheek and she screwed up her face, shoving his head away playfully.
Ren rolled his eyes, mumbling, "Hatchlings."
Mist arched an eyebrow. "A simple 'no' would've sufficed." Was what he answered before pulling himself up. "Are you going to follow them by foot or by air?" Stipid question.
"Actually I figured we should take shifts," Kiara replied, stepping up onto Kit's foreleg and then his back. "One of us walks with the caravan for a while and the other circles overhead."
Thinking of the rather tense meting with Bran, she offered, "I could stay on the ground first."
"Up to you, Ren." He said with a pad on his neck. "You're the one working here." He said with a low snicker.
The dragon started to shrug, then remembered that he had a passenger and that probably wasn't the best idea. "I could stretch my wings," he decided. With a brief nod to Kit and Kiara, he launched himself into the air.
Barely a minute later Bran gave the order for the caravan to move out. Kit followed a few horse-lengths behind the wagons, both in an effort not to scare the creatures pulling the wagons and acting as mounts and so Kiara wouldn't have to socialize all that much.
Seeing them start to move, Ren widened his circling, instinctively searching the earth before them for possible danger. "The human hatchling may have been right," he muttered. "This may be rather boring."
Mist rested his chin on the back of his hand. Elbow resting on one of Ren's spines. "As expected. Try to gain some more height. We got tactical advantage there ."
Ren nodded and gave a sharp flap, sending them rocketing a hundred feet higher. "How long should it take them to reach the desert on foot?" he asked, tilting his head back to glance at Mist.
"I guess two days." Was what he said with a gruff voice. "Caravans are always slow."
Ren huffed an agreement. He widened their circle again, watching the line of the caravan below them.
Kiara glanced up when a glint of gold caught her eye. Kit grumbled, and she could feel him shuffling his wings anxiously. He wanted to fly. "Give them an hour or two," she murmured, patting his neck.
"Scout ahead a bit. Fly somewhat lower zo we can take in more details." Mist said as he sat up. "Why, actually?" He inquired. "Why do you allow me to stick with you?"
Taking his advice and swooping lower, Ren turned the question over in his head for a few moments. "My kind are...we are not exactly social, but we are not meant to be alone, either," he said slowly.
He had the same instincts as any dragon, and one of those what to find a pride. The dragons used by the Adelan military found that companionship with each other and their riders. Wild dragons found it in the Thunderblacks.
He snorted. "Perhaps I have simply been alone too long. I have no need of a pride, but...I find I enjoy your companionship," he rumbled. "That, and you fight like a berserker. Which I can respect." There was a hint of teasing in his tone.
Mist smirked slightly. Patting the side of his neck. Appreciation for his words. "Like a berserker.. Might be true. I get incredibly pissed the more pain I feel." He said with a bitter chuckle.
Ren chuckled quietly. He found he liked the patting thing- it didn't feel condescending, as he would have expected, and he was starting to understand why the black dragon crooned the way he did when Kiara did it to him.
"Well, I suppose that's one way to channel your energies," he noted dryly. The caravan below them was slowing. He tilted his head in confusion as they came to a full stop. "Should we see why they're doing that?"
"Land infront of them. And don't spook the animals." He said in response, peering around for what might've happened, his hand fingering the hilt of the blade slowly.
Kiara and Kit met them at the front of the caravan as Ren touched down. "Kit smelled something," the girl said briskly by way of explanation.
The gold dragon sniffed experimentally. His lips curled back. "Orc," he rumbled.
Kit nodded. "I thought so, but I wasn't sure."
Bran, having come up to them cautiously, glanced between the two massive animals. "We in trouble?"
Kiara shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe not. Could just be a tribe lives around here and we're passing through their territory. Or we could be walking into a warband."
"Bran. Get your people to keep their eyes to both sides of the road. Kiara. Kit, would you two be kind enough to take therear guard while me and Ren function as the vanguard. If they come from the right side. I will dispatch them with Ren. Under no circumstances do you engage the enemy unless they come from the left. That way, we can meet them atrack from both sides. If they charge from three or four sides. I will take right, Ren takes front. Same for you and Kit, Kiara." Mist sighed slowly. "In short. I want to make sure we aren't ambushed form one side as a ruse. To grant their bulkhead more punch in our back. Is that clear?" He inquired, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sir, yes, sir," Kiara said, giving him an only half-mocking salute. Kit snorted and set off to trot to the back of the caravan.
Bran nodded briskly at Mist and started barking orders. Ren waited a moment or two for the traders to pull themselves together, then started slowly moving forward, nostrils flared and eyes flicking warily from side to side
Mist joined Ren's side wihout a word, walking next to the dragon, pulling the enormous sword from his back and ripping the bandages off. The eye opening and the monstrous iris widening as it shot around. "Another eye." Was what he said to Ren. Not giving the slightest shit about what the traders might think. He did look like quite the villain with hisblack armour and cursed sword.
Ren shot the sword a wary look but said nothing. "If they really are a warband, they're keeping abnormally quiet," he muttered, senses searching the trees around them. They were reaching the edges of the jungle, but the foliage was still thick enough to hide enemies, if they were smart about it.
In the back of the caravan, Kit was growling quietly, a steady, low sound that Kiara could feel rumbling through her legs. She leaned forward and laid a hand against his neck in a silent, soothing gesture.
"I know orcs." He sighed slowly. "They lay in wait and charge with a warcry. People forget that they were waiting for that for roughly thirty minutes." His hand tightened on the hilt. "And if they don't charge, our journy will still be boring."
Ren gave a coughing sort of laugh. "If that's the thinking, I suppose we should thank them," he muttered, ruby eyes glinting.
Kit suddenly stopped. Not needing to ask what was wrong, Kiara twisted in her seat at the junction of his neck and shoulders. Her eyes met another pair that gleamed at her, animalistic, from the trees. Her hand went slowly to the dagger at her hip.
Her dragon gave a sharp, warning cry that sounded something like the caw of a hunting hawk.
Ren froze. "From the rear," he hissed, spinning around.
"Mayhaps.." He said, before he turned around at Kit's cry, grabbing a spine of Ren and throwing himself on the dragon. "Ten meters in the air. We guard the sides and front now." He stated with a cold and calculated voice.
Ren nodded, taking off. He threw the youngling and his rider a quick look, but figured they could handle themselves. And if they couldn't, well, that was their problem at the moment.
The orc launched himself at Kit with a roar and half a dozen others came at the caravan from either side. In one breath, Kiara threw her dagger and it sank into the first attacker's throat. He choked and fell, and she turned to address the others as Kit leaped forward, slashing across two with his claws.
"Flame!" Ren called when he thought of it, hoping Kit would understand. "Jungle's too wet to burn- use your fire!"
"Ren. Get the left side." He let out a slow snicker, before jumping down without a second thought. The enormous cursed blade raised. He heaved a lout cry and charged into the flankers frol the left. Slashing, hacki.g and.head utting his way through. Tearing through their ranks in a manner most ravenous. Easily taking them on. Easily slicing thiugh the opposition. Being outnumbered at least fifteen to one.
And he was getting hurt, a spear through his shoulder, several scratches on his face, several knives lodged i.to the armour, yet he didn't relent. Taking on the entire left flank on his own.
Taking his own advice, Ren lunged forward in an effort to back Mist up and roared, releasing a torrent of flame at their enemies. The jungle was too wet- too humid rather- to really burn, but the warband was essentially cooked in their armor.
Kit took his cue from the older dragon, letting out short, targetted bursts of flame rather than the singular torrent Ren seemed to favor. Kiara balanced easily on his back and ran down his spine, hurling knives into throats and backs before leaping off and darting through the fallen to retrieve her blades.
Mist let out a slow grin as he literally heard the scream and the hissing of boiling and charring flesh. The same grin on his face caused him to tank a warhammer to his cheek, smacking him off of his feet with a loud crack. The orc ambushers stopped and stared at him as he slowly rose to his feet again, simply cracking his jaw in place and spitting out some teeth. He tightened his grip on the blade and resumed his relentless assualt again.
Soon. Standint amidst of the orc corpses, pulling the spear from his shoulder with a pained his. Turning around to see whether his allies were still fighting.
Ren and Kit had taken care of most of the remaining orcs like it was child's play. Kiara handled the stragglers, and held out a hand toward the small fires that had actually managed to light in the wet foliage. With a snap of her fingers the flames died.
Kit gave her a sharp look at the use of magic, but she ignored it. "Sound off! How we doing?"
"Wounded. But clear." Mist replied in response, starting to pluck some knives, axes and arrows from his armour. Only a few of those actually having made it past his armour. " He shouldered the large blade as he slowly walked back to the front. Bleeding from his thick lip and his mouth. His face also adorned with several cuts. His cheekbone hd been sliced through aswell as smacked against with a hammer.
Ren grumbled in concern, lowering his head toward his rider and huffing.
Kit and Kiara made their way to the front of the caravan, cursory checking over the people and goods they were guarding. Nothing seemed to damaged, though she was sure Bran would give her an earful about the scorch marks on the side of one of the wagons.
Kiara let out a low whistle when she saw what had become of the left flank. "Damn, you don't mess around, do you- gods above!" Her eyes widened and she yelped when she caught sight of Mist. "What the- oh my gods, you need some serious healing. Come here."
She was babbling. She knew she was doing it, she always did when she started to get nervous, but she couldn't help it.
Mist smacked the blade in the ground, slumping down against it with a shit-eating grin on his face as Kiara started babbling. "It isn't half as bad as it looks.. Though some help is welcome.."
Kiara rolled her eyes, grumbling, "Men, I swear to gods..."
She sighed and reached for a pouch at her belt that had a few essentials, including a healing salve she'd picked up in Serendipity. "C'mere, this might help." She gave his wounds an evaluating look. "Any of those bad enough to need stitching you think?"
With a pained grunt, he loosened and took off the chestplate, placing it against the sword. He ripped the bandages to shreds, arching an eyebrow. "Most likely all of them. Got a needle and some thread?" He inquired with an arched eyebrow. Thinking of doing it himself.
Kiara bit her lip. "No, I don't, but..." She let out a breath. "Look, this'll hurt like hell, but it's actually better than stitching. I could cauterize them."
She almost hated to offer, but it wasn't like they'd have access to a real healer any time soon.
Mist chuckled slowly. "That could also work." He shrugged slowly. "Whenever you're ready." He said as he grabbed a stray stick and picked it up, clenching it between his teeth.
Kiara bit her lip, stepping closer. "Okay... Look, I'm really sorry about this." Channeling her power into her pointer finger, she dragged it along his wounds, starting with his torso and searing the flesh closed.
Ren winced at the smell of burning flesh and growled, but he knew it was better than bandages in the long run.
Mist nodded slowly before he smacked his head against the blade, biting down on the piece of wood with pained cries. His flesh being scorched shut. It would leave scars. No doubt. But it was better than bleeding out.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Kiara muttered over and over. Finally, the only cut left was the one on his face. "I'm really really sorry." She closed it with a touch and stepped back, watching him warily. "A-are you okay?"
Ren carefully nudged his rider's shoulder, a concerned sort of clucking sound rising in his throat. Kit gave his own rider similar treatment, worried about how much magic she'd been using.
And lastly. The one on his face. A new scar stretching across his cheel. A burn scar. That made three. He bit through the piece of wood as Kiara went to work on his face, spitting out the reminders when she was done. "Thanks.." Was what he replied, his right eye forced shut due to the blunt impact from the hammer. Having swollen his cheel quite a lot by now.
Mist gently put both his hands under Ren's chin and rested his head on the dragon's nose. "I'm alright Ren." Was what he stated, glancing at Kiara again. "Don't apologise.. You helped." He sat up and tapped the cheek. "You left a mark." He chuckled slowly. Trying to at least lighten the mood with some bad jokes.
Ren gave a soft croon, letting his tongue flick out to scrape across the mark on his cheek.
Kiara winced again, but offered a small smile. "We should get you something cold for that," she murmured, gesturing to his cheek. Her lips twitched. "Can't help you there, I'm afraid. My talent is in fire. I'll go see if maybe there's something in the cargo Bran wouldn't mind us using-"
She turned and suddenly gasped, pain shooting through her side. Kit growled, ducking his head to catch her when she staggered forward. "Blood," he hissed. The scent of the burned and dead orcs had clogged his senses before, he hadn't noticed it until she was so close.
Kiara nodded. "Big thing with an ax- I didn't feel it hit me, I thought it missed." The hand she'd pressed to her ribs came away bloody. How had she not noticed she'd been hurt?
Mist slowly pushed himself back to his feet. "I'm fine.. Thanks." He said with a soft chuckle, only whincing in pain. "Laughing hurts." He arched an eyebrow at Kiara suddenly dropping on Kit's head. Carefully, he picked herup and rested her to the ground, pulling a small dagger from his belt and holding it up. "Ren. I want this glowing hot." He stated, pretty much the same idea Kiara had for him.
Kit growled, but it was a better option than letting Kiara use her magic again. "I'll do it," he muttered, breathing a concentrated spindle of flame onto the blade.
His rider pushed herself up onto her elbows, hissing as her side protested. "Look, it's fine. I didn't even feel it before, just give me a bandage and I'll be good to go."
Ren snorted. He a quick movement he gripped the hem of her shirt and jerked his head, tearing it. She yelped a protest, but her voice sort of petered out when she actually got a look at the cut. It was messy and deep, and she realized she must not have felt it because her body was literally beginning to shut down from blood loss.
She gritted her teeth. "Fine."
"And you were complainin' about men earlier?" Mist said with a cunning smirk, flicking the glowing hot blade in his hands, shaking off a gauntlet, he put the side of his hand between Kiara's teeth. "This is gonna hurt. A lot. So, you'd better bite down." Was what he murmured, before swiftly pressing the flat end of the knife against her side, cauterizing the wound carefully.
She tried not to bite him, she really did. But it was an instinctive reaction to the pain- and it had the added benefit of muffling the string of curses she wanted to shout.
Kit winced, lowering his head next to her and crooning softly, feeling frustrated an helpless. The older dragon shuffled his wings, glancing from their little group to the rest of the caravan.
Bran was approaching and Ren growled a warning, snaking his neck forward to block the two-leggers and youngling. The man looked irritated, and that was not what any of them needed right then.
"Got a nasy bite there.." Mist groaned in pain as she managed to draw a trickle of blood from his hand. Yet the elf seemed to to keep his cool. Even when he heard Ren growl at Bran's approach. "Leave him, Ren." Was what he said, finalising the procedure and pulling his hand from Kiara's teeth, shaking it. "Got me good there. Don't worry.." Was what he said as he slowly stood up. "Kit. She's yours." Was what he said as he pulled the woman up again straight again. Supporting her untill Kit took over.
When he did, Mist turned to Bran. "You and your men alright?"
"Really sorry about that," Kiara muttered, leaning against Kit and giving a wincing look at Mist's hand.
Ren subsided with a grumble, allowing Bran to step a bit closer. "We're fine. Lost some of the cargo, but not enough to make a dent in the profits." He gave the dragons a wary look. "Lost them to the fire, actually. So if you lot could keep a bit of a tighter leash on your beasts-"
Kit and Ren growled in unison, hackles raising. Kiara reached up a hand to soothe her dragon, glaring at Bran.
"Dragons aren't beasts, Bran," she snapped. "They're our partners. If you have a problem with how they operate, you take it up with them yourself."
"I said.. Don't mind it." He said with a gentle smirk, before looking over to Bran at his complaints.
He walked over and put an arm around the leader's shoulders. "Walk with me, Bran." He said with a forced smile. Making it even more intimidating. Practically dragging him along to where he had fought. Once they reached the massacre, Mist sighed. "Twenty orcs against me. And I got a small group. Now imagine these 'beasts', or our lifepartners, not present and you and your little gang of untrained peasants fighting a warband of highly trained and battle hardened orcs. You'd have lost a bit more than cargo." He let out a bitter chuckle.
"Now. My lord. Do you have anything cold I can use to subside this bruise on my face?" His voice constantly dripping with bitter anger.
Bran swallowed. "I don't appreciate the insinuation," he growled, but it sounded forced. "Oi, Calen!"
One of the other traders looked up at the shout. Bran walked toward him, saying something about "that trick of yours".
Kiara, Kit, and Ren came up behind Mist. "Think you got your point across there, draga?" Kiara asked with a small smirk, still leaning heavily against Kit's side.
Ren snorted at the term, but before he could comment Bran moved toward them and said gruffly, "Here." He tossed what appeared to be a flat stone at Mist. "Calen's got a bit of a talent for ice magic. That should stay cold for a while."
"Good. Then you are a wise man made to see logic." The sarcasm was dripping from his voice as he released Bran, looking over at the three joining him. Frowning at the word 'draga', judging from Ren's reaction, he knew what it meant.He vaught the stone without even looking up at it. "Inform Calen of my thanks." He said as he pressed the stone against his face. The coolness soothing the throbbing pain ever so slightly.
"Draga?" He asked Kiara as he pulled himself ontop of Ren with only one arm.
Kiara scrambled up onto Kit's back a bit less gracefully. "An alpha male in a group of dragons," she explained. Gesturing to the gold dragon, she said, "For example, of these two Ren would be draga."
When Kit gave a protesting snort and Ren preened she rolled her eyes. "Oh gods, shut up you two, I was giving an example. He's older and bigger, Kitten, get over it." Looking back to Mist, she added, "It's their word for it, not a two-legger one. The alpha females are called cana, if you wanted to know."
Mist nodded slowly. "Intruiging," a shit-eating grin appeared on his face. "And is there any flirty ulterior motive to you calling me that, Kiara?" He inquired with a chuckle, patting Ren's neck. "Back up we go." He said.
Her mouth actually dropped open. "Wh-wha- I didn't- I wasn't-"
Ren, laughing in that rumbling-rocks way of his, launched himself into the air before she could get a full thought out.
"I was not flirting!" Kiara shouted once they were well into the air. A few of the traders glanced over at her with odd looks and she flushed bright red.
"Shut up," she growled to a chuckling Kit, urging him back to the rear of the caravan as they set off again.
Mist also let out a loud laughter at her reaction, followed by a whince of pain and an 'urk' sound as Ren went airborne again. He heard the shout coming from the cana, not being able to help himself from chuckling, once more, whincing in pain.
Feeling his rider's twinges, Ren craned his neck back. "You alright?" he muttered, not used to be so concerned for someone else's well being.
Kiara was grumbling to herself about arrogance being an inherently male trait, and her blush had yet to die down. After some hour or so of trundling along, Kit ventured, "Maybe they'll switch with us for a bit. I need to stretch my wings."
The young woman nodded, tapping his shoulder in assent. With a quick bound forward he took to the air, circling in an ever higher circle to come up on Ren's flank.
"Yeah. I'm fine Ren. My jaw hurts like hell when I laugh." At least it was less swollen now. Thanks to the cold rock. He arched an eyebrow as he noticed Kit and Kiara on their flank after several hours, nudging Ren's.neck to get his attention. "Something wrong?!" He shouted towards Kiara.
"Nah, we're good," she called back. "Just thought we might switch shifts for a while. Kit wants to stretch his wings."
Ren rolled his shoulders back in a shrug. "Doesn't matter to me, as long as I don't have to talk to those traders," he muttered.
"Seems we got a deal!" He shouted in response, before looking down at Ren and leaning forward slightly. "Bank left. We walk and guard the rear."
Ren nodded, starting to do as he said.
"I really wasn't flirting!" Kiara shouted as they flew by. "You're too old for me. You've got white hair, Grandpa!"
Ren gave a quick snort of amusement despite himself when he heard Kit mutter, "How long were you sitting on that one?" and the girl's growled, "Shut up."
"Too old?!" Mist stood up straight on Ren's neck. Seemingly to easily balance himself. "I'm not old! Dark elves naturraly have white hair! Get down here and call me old again!" He shouted in return with a grin. Just toying around a bit.
Kiara grinned, sending Kit into a shallow dive with a tap from her leg. "Careful there, Grandpa, don't want you to break a hip," she teased as the black dragon swooped low over Ren and then soared away.
The older dragon snorted, shaking his head. He glanced back at his rider with a glint of mischief in his ruby eyes. "Things seem pretty quiet down here," he noted casually, jerking his head after the other dragon and rider with a meaningful look.
"It does. At your lead." He said with a smirk, slowly sitting down again.
With a chuckle Ren took to the air again, rising quickly up behind the smaller dragon.
Kit snorted and banked sharply, taking advantage of his smaller stature and consequential speed when he felt Ren approaching. Kiara gave a startled laugh, clutching to one of his spikes when he looped up and back over the gold dragon, ruffling Mist's hair with the wind from their passage.
Growling playfully, Ren nipped at Kit's tail as it flicked past his nose, not hard enough to hurt but enough to put a stutter in his flight.
"Ren. I'm gonna hitch a ride." Was what he said to the dragon, before standing up and jumping up as Kit zoomed past, grabbing a hold of one of his spines and pulling himself up and sitting behind Kiara. "So I am old, eh?! Playing hard to get, more like! Was what he yelled, before grinning. "Sorry for the increase in weight, Kit. I just had to make a statement." At that, he jumped up and backflipped. "Ren!" Was what he yelled, trusting the gold dragon to catch him.
Kiara started, twisting around to look at him with wide eyes. She was impressed despite herself. Kit simply chuckled, tilting in his flight slightly as Mist jumped off to give him a bit of a boost.
Ren soared up underneath him easily. "You might not want to make a habit of that," he commented dryly. "I can't guarantee you won't land on a spike or something, and I doubt that would be comfortable."
Mist just grinned slowly. "We'll have to get a saddle for you, then. If you don't mind. It certainly decreases my risk of being impaled accidentally," was what he said as a serioud note to Ren. Not even joking.
The dragon snorted. "The human girl seems to have managed pretty well without one," he pointed out.
Kit and Kiara came up beside them, hearing some of the conversation, the black dragon keeping an eye on the caravan below. "True enough, but I'm not gonna make myself a eunuch if I slip too far sideways on one of those fancy jumps," Kiara pointed out, quirking an eyebrow.
Ren tilted his head at her, not quite catching her meaning, and Kit chuffed a laugh. "That was actually pretty impressive by the way," his rider added, throwing Mist an almost admiring look. "I couldn't make jumps like that until I'd been riding for years."
"Beats having your crotch impaled by a spike." Was his charming retort to Kiara, before he shrugged. "I'd appreciate it. But the choice is yours, Ren."
The elf looked at Kiara, not really big on praise, he shrugged slowly. "Thanks. Just came as natural to me."
She made a face at him, but responded with a sincere, "Well, it was impressive."
"I'll think about it," Ren relented. Before he could say anything else though, Kit drew their attention to the caravan with a snort.
They were slowing down. Glancing at the sun, Kiara realized it was nearly kissing the horizon now. They must be making camp. "We should probably get down there," she noted with a small sigh.
Mist nodded curtly at her compliment. Deciding to just take it as it was. "Thank you." He said, before patting Ren's neck. "Thanks for the consideration." He said, before sitting back again, nodding at her statement. "You heard her, Ren."
The dragons swooped into an almost synchronized dive, learning to move and fly with each other without getting in each other's way. They landed a few lengths away from the now stationary group of wagons, which had been set up in a sort of circle with the traders all protectively inside.
"Makin' camp for the night," Bran called to them, perhaps a tad unnecessarily. Kiara gave a sharp nod, jumping down off Kit's back.
Mist also slid off of Ren's back, stretching his back before whincing slightly in pain. His shoulder still hurt quite a lot. He nodded slowly. Not sure whether they were expected to sleep between the wagons or woth their dragons. Either way. His cursed sword would keep watch if he slept.
None of the traders seemed anxious to offer them a place in the caravan, so Kiara set about making herself comfortable sitting in the curve of Kit's body. She threw a slightly concerned look at Mist when he winced. "You alright?"
Probably a stupid question. She'd cauterized his wounds herself after all.
Movement from the traders caught Ren's attention and his head jerked up when one of the men made his way cautiously toward them. He raised his hands peaceably when the dragon glowered at him, but stood his ground. Ren gave a short huff, vaguely impressed by his will, but didn't relax his guarding stance.
"Name's Calen," the man said gruffly, eyes flicking from the larger dragon to the riders and back again. "Just wanted to talk, if that's alright."
"Pretty good." He said with a soft smirk, pulling the blade from his back and putting it against the ground. His ears twitched as he heard footsteps, someone slowly, almost sneaking to them. He looked up at Ren. Seemed like his dragon had noticed the same. He stepped forward towards the man. "Mist."
Gruffly Calen held out what looked like a flask of...something. "Figured you'd have more use for this than the rest of us," he muttered. "Should help with the pain a bit. Not particularly strong as far as healing goes, but it's better than nothing." He shrugged.
Kiara watched curiously, head tilted. She honestly hadn't expected any of the traders to bother interacting with their guards, particularly after Bran's little fit about the dragons singing the wagon.
Mist took the flask and nodded curtly. "My thanks, Calen, I wish you a good night," was what he stated and turned towards Ren. "Kiara. Catch." Was what he said, throwing the flask over. "I think you're needing it more than I am."
Kiara caught the flask on reflex with a nod and a small smile to Calen. He nodded back and made to return to the other traders, throwing a glance at her over her shoulder.
Kit caught the look but his rider didn't seem to. She was focused on Mist. "I have one injury, you have a couple dozen," she argued, holding the flask out to him. "I'm really not hurting, you should take this."
"Don't need it.. Wait.." He had also noticed the look Calen threw them, holding his hand out for the flask. He'd catch it when thrown over and soak his finger in it, before putting the finger in his mouth. Extremely wary for any kind of poison.
Kiara tossed him the flask. Tilting her head, she attempted to interpret his expression. "I don't think he'd try to poison us. They still need us to get them to Adela, yeah?"
Ren huffed. She made a decent point, but he wasn't a trusting creature by nature. Raising a forepaw, he sank his fangs through the softer scales in between his toes, wincing as he drew blood. "Here," he rumbled, shaking a few drops of blood onto the ground. "Pour so it on that. Dragon blood reacts with most poison, we'll be able to tell."
"Well. A dark elf on the market fetches at least ten times the amount this caravan would profit."Mist let out a bitter huff as he leaned down above the dragon's blood, pouring some of the contents in it. "It wouldn't be a first time I have been poisoned."
The liquid produced no visible reaction. Ren snorted. "I think he was telling the truth."
Kit rumbled an agreement, and Kiara nodded at Mist. "You really should take that, then. It may help." Not wanting to pry, but also unable to help her curiosity, she asked slowly, "Poisoned?"
Kit had curled around her, head resting on his front paws, but at the question his head tilted a bit curiously. Ren found himself curling around his rider and the younglings, partially blocking them from view of the rest of the caravan protectively, though he wasn't quite sure where the impulse came from.
Mist nodded slowly and emptied the flask in one swig, before looking at Kiara. "A multitude. Poisoned arrows. Spiked drinks. Poisoned flasks. Gasses. You name it." He said with a slow shrug. The past was the past. And at meast the flask seemed to help.
He sat down against Ren's flank, sighing slowly and closing his eyes briefly.
Ren curled up a little tighter, a soft thrumming sound that was almost a purr starting up in his chest.
Kiara blinked. "I'm sorry," she murmured. Something about the casual way he said it made her heart ache for him a bit. She put that from her mind- she doubted he'd welcome the sentiment.
"If you wanna get some rest, Kit and I can take first watch," she said, stretching her arms over her head and leaning into her dragon's side.
"You asked. I merely replied. No harm done." Was what he said with a nonchalant shrug. "No time to wallow in self-pity." He opened his eyes, looking up at Ren. He stood up and grabbed the blade. Flinging it upwards. With surprised cries from the traders, it slammed into the roof of one of the biggest wagons, the eye opening and looking around frantically. "It doesn't look like it.. But it can see everything. You don't need to take guard as it wakes me up immediatlywhen it sees something."
Kiara quirked an eyebrow. "Alright then." Settling back against Kit's flank, she chuckled and noted, "You really do like to make an impression, don't you, draga?" She jerked her head toward the blade- and still startled traders- meaningfully, smirking a bit.
Ren cast his own look toward the sword, then hunkered down, resting his head on his forepaws and letting his eyes slide halfway closed. If Mist said it was safe, then he believed him.
"It's one of my strongpoints." Was with he said with a soft snicker, leaning against Ren. "Tells people not to mess with me." He grimaced slowly, resting his head against the dragon's flank, closing his eyes.
The dragons shifted a bit to settle themselves and Kiara curled up on her side, her back to the curve of Kit's body. "You sure that thing'll keep watch?" she muttered, but a wide yawn made it clear to Kit that she wouldn't be able to stay up much longer even if she tried.
"Rest," he rumbled at her, nudging her side with his nose. She batted at him sleepily.
Ren huffed a bit. It was intriguing to watch the way they interacted. "Relax, youngling. You'll need to be sharp tomorrow," he muttered, curving his head around to eye Mist as he spoke. "That goes for you too, Immortalis."
Mist looked over to Kiara, closing his left eye and placing his fingers against it. "There we go.." He murmured to himself, the eye on the sword recieving a golden hue. The same as his eyes. "It will. Do not fret." Was what he said, leaving his left eye closed, resting against Ren.
He looked up at the dragon's face, nodding slowly, before closing his right eye.
"Neat trick..." Kiara murmured, already fading. Kit thrummed at her, folding his wing to cover most of her body. With a nod to Ren and Mist, he too settled down to sleep.
The older dragon chuffed, letting his eyes slide closed. "Wake me when you rise," he told his rider sleepily.
He didn't respond to Kiara, allowing her to just fall asleep. Kit doing the same. Mist just remained awake for some moments, even after Ren told him to wake him up. And, with a slow sigh, Mist slowly fell into a shallow sleep.
To Kit's surprise, he was the first awake of their little group, or at least appeared to be. For a few moments he was foggy, wondering what had woken him- the sun was just starting to rise, and as far as he could tell there was no imminent sense of danger.
Then he felt his rider shift against him and he looked down at her. Ah. Of course. Kiara's brow was furrowed and she curled into him, childlike, murmuring in her sleep. He nudged her gently with his nose, then frowned.
She was warm. Hot enough that he could feel her temperature through his scales. Damn. "Ren," he hissed quietly. "Mist. Oi, someone wake up."
Mist's right eye shot open at the first hiss Kit made. With a sharp nudge from his elbow against Ren, Mist stood up and hurried over to Kiara. "Kit." He said as he kneeled down before the dragonrider, his left eye still closed. "What's wrong?"
Ren sort of jerked awake, blinking groggily. "Wha-?"
"Does she feel warm to you?" Kit asked the elf, worry clear in his tone. The young woman tossed in her sleep, breath sounding a little labored. "I told her not to use her magic," the dragon growled. "I told her."
Ren stretched his neck over, sniffing curiously. "Is she sick?"
The younger dragon shook his head. "Maybe. I don't know, it's hard for me to tell if she's too hot..."
Mist put a hand on her head. Looling up at Kit briefly. "Kit. Keep your composure. Getting wound up won't do any good."
Kit seemed about to reply, but before he could Kiara started in her sleep and blinked her eyes open. For a moment she was confused, wary, and she tried to jerk away from the foreign touch but only succeeded in cracking her head against her dragon's side.
Slowly, the world settled into focus and she gave a soft groan. "Mist?" She pushed herself into a sitting position, still feeling a little fuzzy. "What the hell? You nearly gave me a heart attack, Immortalis."
Kit huffed at her, instantly shoving his nose into her side and sniffing worriedly. "You alright? I think you're running a fever-"
Ren tilted his head. "Now, how is that keeping your composure, youngling?" he rumbled.
"Kiara. How're you feeling?" He asked. She was burning with fever. "How's the wound?" He said, genuine concern on his face, ignoring Kit or Ren's reactions.
"Wound? Oh, that." She put a hand to her side, sitting up. "It's fine. I'm just-" She sort of swayed, putting a hand out instinctively to steady herself and catching at his shoulder. She winced. "Just a bit of fever. I'm fine."
Kit snorted in irritation and Ren tilted his head. It seemed this was not the first time something like this had happened. "How often does this happen?" he asked briskly.
Kiara blinked at him, shivering slightly. Oh great, now with the shivering. "It's not...common, exactly," she mumbled, ignoring Kit's indignant huff.
Mist immediatly grabbed her as she swayed. Shaking his head. "You're far from fine, Kiara." He sighed slowly, getting the same idea as Ren. "Will this subside?"
Kit gave a slow nod. "It's not as bad as last time, and she just needed rest then." He sighed. "Would you mind flying today? If she's like this and she passes out, I don't want to have to catch her when she falls."
"I told you, it's fine! It'll go away in an hour or two, don't worry," Kiara protested. There was something both awkward and kind of nice about having them worry over her, but she put that thought from her mind, pushing gently away from Mist and giving him a grateful smile.
Kit snorted, shaking his head. "I told you not to use your magic," he hissed at her. She scowled, waving him off.
"I'll take first flight with Ren." He nodded at Kit, before standing up slowly as the woman pushed herself away from him. "Just be careful." He said as he gripped one of Ren's spines, pulling himself up. "Let's go."
Nodding, Kiara scrambled- rather less gracefully than she would have normally- up onto Kit's back. "Thanks," the black dragon said gruffly, giving them a sharp nod.
The caravan was just about ready to set off again, and Ren snorted, fanning his wings and taking to the air without another word. "If she's an invalid, she shouldn't be doing a job like this," he muttered when they were high enough to circle above the group.
"She's capable.. When she doesn't use magic as her dragon said.." Was what the dark elf tought out loud, sitting back and folding his arms. "Payed any thought to the saddle thing yet, Ren?"
The gold dragon let out a low huff. "I suppose if you must," he grumbled. They were heading to Adela, after all. He supposed that was probably the place to find someone to make a dragon saddle.
Taking up a rear position on the ground, Kit was paying more attention to his ride than to their surroundings, so it was rather lucky that there didn't seem to be any major roadblocks for most of the day.
After a while of flying, Ren glanced down at the caravan. "We'll be into the desert by tomorrow morning at this rate," he noted carelessly.
"I don't want to force you." He said, smacking his crotch protecter. "But I'd rather keep this in a functioning state." He noted bluntly.
He nodded at Ren. "Seems like it."
Ren rumbled a laugh. "Yes, I suppose that's a valid concern," he conceded.
The caravan seemed to be slowing beneath them around midday. "Should we land?" he asked, twisting his head around. It looked like Bran had called a break.
Mist looked down at the caravan with a bored expression, leaning back slightly. "Your choice," was what he decided on.
With a roll of his shoulders, Ren decided, "I could rest my wings," and banked into a quick dive to bring them to the ground.
Kiara, who'd been nearly passed out along Kit's neck, started at the sound of their landing. "Wha-"
"We're taking a break," he dragon supplied for her, twisting his neck around to look at her with concern.
She nodded, stretching her arms over her head. She still felt a little off, but she thought her temperature had dropped. "Oh. Good, I'm hungry."
"Alright." Mist mumbled in response, grabbing one of Ren's spine as he dove to landing, next to Kit and Kiara. "You look awful." Mist noted as Ren stood next to Kit.
"Aw, I'm blushing," Kiara snipped sarcastically, sliding down Kit's side to sort of stagger to the ground. "I'm fine," she said for what felt like the umpteenth time, running a hand through her hair and fishing around in her pack for something to eat.
Ren snorted. "Are all human females this stubborn?" he asked Mist, apparently genuinely curious.
"Not at all. Some are. Some aren't." Mist said as he still looked at Kiara with a close eye. Making sure she's alright.
Kiara wrinkled her nose at the gold dragon. "Here, eat something," she said to Mist, tossing some rather hard bread and a strip of dried meat at him.
Kit was keeping one eye on the rest of the caravan and one on his rider. "Bran says we'll be in the desert tomorrow," he muttered after a moment, tilting his head as he listened.
Kiara gave him a sugary smile. "Your favorite place," she teased.
The dragon huffed. "Sand. Sand everywhere. You don't have scales, you don't understand the struggle of preening all that sand out."
Ren chuckled despite himself, shaking his head.
Mist caught the food easily, slowly nodding. "Thanks." He said as he bit off a piece of the meat, followed by some bread. He looled down at Ren, then back Kiara. "How. Or rather.. What do they eat?" He asked, unsure about whether he jusyhad to let Ren hunt for his own food.
Figuring what he meant, Ren answered, "I will hunt when we stop for the night, do not concern yourself with me."
Kit huffed, nodding, and added, "If we eat a big enough meal, sometimes we don't need to eat for days at a time."
Kiara patted his side, looking up at Mist. "They're pretty self-sufficient creatures," she said with a crooked smile, taking a bit of food herself. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she started eating- it seemed the fever had really taken it out of her.
"I thought so. I wasn't sure however." Mist snickered slowly. "Good to know I won't need to haul around chunks of flesh the size of my sword." At that, the elf went back to eating. Not even complaining in the slightest that the bread had teeth-shattering capacity. And him missing two now. Truly a seasoned warrior. He did remind himself to visit a healer to get his teeth back. Stored them safely in a leather pouch.
He smirked slowly.
Ren huffed a chuckle and Kiara rolled her eyes, lips twitching up on one side. She didn't even notice one of the traders approaching until Kit made a low sound that wasn't quite a growl in the back of his throat, bringing his tail around to prod her in the side.
She looked up to see the man from the night before- Calen- standing a few yards away from the dragons, eyes flicking warily between them and their riders.
She gave Mist a befuddled look, then turned her attention to the trader. "Something the matter?"
He shook his head. "Oh. No, uh- I just...thought I'd extend an invitation." He waved back in the direction where the rest of the caravan was taking a break. Offering a shrug and a quick flash of a smile, he said, "Doesn't seem right to have you lot all huddled off by yourselves." He shrugged again, looking a little uncomfortable.
Ren snorted, a little confused, and glanced down at his rider. To his slight surprise, Kiara seemed to have the same reaction, not answering but instead looking at Mist, waiting for his reaction before she gave her own.
Mist leaned back slightly, stretching his hands, fingers popping as he did. Not really sure what Calen wanted. Mist looked around, arching an eyebrow at the three spectators. He slowly shrugged. "They make the first move. No use in spitting in their face." He concluded as he nodded at Calen. "Thank you for the invitation. I'll be there shortly." He said with a curt nod.
Kiara tried for a small smile and a nod of her own and the trader murmured, "Good, then," and moved back to the others.
The young woman blinked, a little bemused. "Huh. Well, at least one of them's friendly," she murmured as she got to her feet, more to herself than the others.
Ren snorted. He didn't trust "friendly" thought perhaps that was just him being overly cautious. Still, he wasn't anxious to let the two-leggers get too far. "Watch yourself," he rumbled to Mist.
"Well?" Kiara appeared to be waiting for the elf, head tilted at him slightly and a very small smile on her lips. "You coming?"
Mist looked over to Kiara with an arched eyebrow. "They're making the first move." He rubbed his chin, swinging his leg over Ren's neck and sliding down with loud clunking. "Wich is positive." He looked at Ren, pressing his hand against the dragon's neck, gently pushing against him with a smirk. "Don't I always?" He said with a slow chuckle.
Then he looked at Kiara, slowly nodding. "At least allow me some time to dismount." He grumbled slowly, before joining at her side.
"Oops, sorry. Didn't realize I was going too fast for you, Grandpa," she teased, actually unable to help herself. With a wicked grin, she turned on her heel and made her way over to where the traders had clustered together.
Some of her playfulness subsided as conversation died down at her approach. She cleared her throat, feeling awkward- then Calen gave her a quick, beckoning wave, gesturing for her and Mist to join him. She accosted the silent invitation warily, sitting cross-legged on the ground and keep a distinct distance between herself and the others.
"I'll make you eat those words.. One day." He said in response, glancing over to Kiara. Rolling his eyes.
Mist also didn't miss the lack of conversation as they approached. Ofcourse they were wary. And ofcourse, there were bount to be racists. He answered Calen's wave with a nod, heading over and sitting down next to him, crossing his knees and resting his hands on his hips. "Good afternoon." Was what he said, an attempt to break the ice.
There were a few nods and murmured greetings, then conversation started to pick back up again. Kiara simply sat in quiet, scooting a little closer to Mist unconsciously. Well, seemed to her like they should stick together, at least for now.
"So how'd you two end up on this job anyway?" Calen asked, and she realized he must have been talking to them.
"Oh! Uh...I was coming off another job and ran into Bran, who saw I had Kit with me." She shrugged, not really sure what she felt comfortable sharing and what she wanted to keep her mouth shut about.
Mist ran his hand through his hair, "then she pulled me in." He said with a bitter grin, having noticed Kiara's movements. Understandable. He also didn't trust anyone but her. For the time being.
Kiara gave him a mock pout. "Don't act like it's some big inconvenience," she teased, bumping his shoulder with hers.
Calen looked between them, eyebrows raising. "Then you'd never met before this job?"
A little taken aback by the question, Kiara shook her head. "Uh, no. Not really."
"Huh." The trader's mouth twitched up on one side. "Would've thought you'd known each other longer, what with the way you stick together."
The young woman flushed a bit, glancing away. Alright, so she was a lot friendlier to Mist than she was to the others- she couldn't help it. Dragons were hardly stupid creatures, so just by virtue of being with Ren he'd proven himself trustworthy in her eyes... Also, if she was being honest, she liked him. It was rare that happened with another two-legger.
Mist chuckled slowly, giving a playful punch against Kiara's shoulder in return. "Well. Ask her why she'd stick around a, to her opinion, old man." He glanced at Kiara with a shit-eating grin, before turning his attention to Calen again.
"I'm friendly and trustworthy." He snorted slowly, glancing towards wherever Bran was. "If you don't fuck with me." He looked back at Calen with a friendly smile. "No offense. I'm glad for the invitation."
Calen quirked an eyebrow and gave him a quick, dry smile in return. "Noted," he muttered. "And yeah, no problem. Figured the lot of us owed ya for saving our necks with those orcs." His smile became a little more genuine and friendly.
Kiara shrugged. "That was mostly Immortalis here, don't be giving me any credit," she said, leaning back on her hands as she started to relax a bit.
"It's what we get payed for." Mist shrugged slowly. "I'm just glad to be of service." He said with a slow sigh, looking at Kiara. "Don't sell yourself short, you handled yourself quite well."
"Yeah, except for getting gored in the side without noticing, somehow," she muttered, still feeling a little inadequate about that.
Some of the traders seemed to be standing, gathering their supplies. She supposed their break was coming to an end. Looking to Mist, she asked, "Do you wanna keep flying, or do you wanna switch?"
"Eh. Not even half as bad as me." He said with a chuckle, before turning towards Kiara. "Your choice.. Or Kit's."
"Kit will probably want me to stay on the ground," she mumbled. "Worrywart." With a sigh, she teased her fingers through her hair and glanced up at him with a small smile. "If Ren doesn't mind it'd probably be better if you guys took the air again. I don't wanna deal with Kit's griping."
"Fair enough." He said as he slowly stood up again, stretching as he got to his feet and extending a hand to Kiara. "Come on, let's go."
Kiara took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. "Thanks," she said with a quick grin. Then, to Calen, "Oh, and thanks for the- hospitality."
The trader nodded at her with a quick grin. "Yeah, sure. You two should break with us when we stop for the night." For some reason she caught him giving her an up-and-down sort of look, eyes lingering on their still joined hands.
Flushing, Kiara snatched her hand back, not realizing she'd still been holding onto Mist until that moment. "Right, uh. Let's go then." She turned and made her way back to the dragons, willing the blush to die down.
Mist also glanced at Kiara. He didn't really mind the lingering contact, but he did wonder what Kiara would think of it. As she abruptly pulled back and swiftly turned around, Mist couldn't help but grin.
Cute. Was what he tought as he slowly paced behind her, lazily climbing on Ren again after padding his neck in greeting. "We're taking flight again. Problems with that?"
The gold dragon shook his head with a snort. "No, fine by me." He gave Kit and Kiara a nod as the girl climbed onto the younger dragon. "See you when we break for the night," he said, launching himself into the air.
Kit huffed and set off after the caravan as they started moving again. "You feeling alright?" he asked Kiara, tone far too casual. "You look a little red."
She glowered. "Shut up."
Mist tapped above his eyebrow with his index and middlefinger. "Later." He simply said as Ren lunged up in the air. "You noticed that aswell?" He asked Ren, leaning forward and resting his shin on the back of his hand.
Ren gave a huffing sound. "The behaviors of humans elude me," he grumbled in response. Rolling his eyes back to give Mist a look, he commented casually, "You certainly seem to have noticed." They circled lazily over the caravan as it moved toward the edge of the jungle.
"Heh." Mist made a similair huffing noise in response. "They're a mystery to me aswell." He snickered in response. "Though.. It is charming."
The dragon craned his neck back a bit to give him an interested look. "She seems to be intelligent and competent enough," he commented. "And judging by the change in your scent around her you find her at least somewhat physically appealing. And apparently charming." His ruby eyes glinted. "You could make a worse choice in mate."
Mist chuckled. "You read me like an open book. And here I thought I was good at reading someone's expression." He grinned, padding the side of his neck. "Perhaps, Ren. But, I'd like to get to know my potential 'mate' a bit better first."
He snorted. "Two-leggers. You put too much thought into these things." It was a little unclear whether he was teasing or not.
The caravan trundled along for a rather uneventful couple of hours, until the sun was just starting to kiss the horizon, then Bran called a halt.
Stretching, Kiara slid down off Kit's back. "Gods, I need to walk some tomorrow," she grumbled. "I'm so stiff!"
The dragon gave her a droll look. "You do realize we'll be in the desert by then, yes?"
She scowled, swearing under her breath, and he rumbled a chuckle.
"Oh.. I'm sorry, Ren." Mist let out a bitter chuckle. "I'd prefer to know the woman I'm spending the night with.. Naked. And unprotected." He grinned as he patted the dragon's neck, leaning forward. "I'm soft and squishy under this armour." That wasn't really his reasoning. Sure, it was nice not to recieve a dagger between the ribs during 'nightly activities', but, not the main reasoning. He sure hoped Ren would understand at least this.
"Seems like our cue to land. You'll be alright hunting?" He inquired as he sat up again.
He nodded, bringing them in to land. "Youngling," he called to Kit without preamble. "Feel up for a hunt?" He could sense no immediate danger in this area, and it had been a while since he'd hunted with a partner. It may be good practice.
The black dragon glanced at Kiara, apparently judged her well enough to fend for herself, and nodded. The young woman gave him a pat and a swift kiss on his scaly cheek. "Watch out for each other, will you?" she said, looking between the two dragons.
Mist put a hand on the dragon's head. "You play nice." He said to Ren, before jumping down and landing with a clunk. "And. If you come across something particularily good. Save some for me. It'd be a hell of a change from the usual dried meat." He said with a bitter grin.
Ren rumbled a chuckle. "Will do." With a nod to Kit, he took to the air, the younger dragon following a moment later.
Kiara stretched her arms again, cracking her neck. "Hey, you complain about the food I provide and you can just get your own," she told Mist with a crooked smile, eyes glinting a bit.
Mist chuckled slowly, jerking his thumb at the dragons who took off. "What did you think I just asked?" He looked towards the caravan. The massive blade still jammed in one of the carts. But the eye had closed since dawn. "And don't you tell you prefer stale bread and dried meat over fresh roast."
She wrinkled her nose at him, laughing a bit. Her eyes followed his look and she asked curiously, "Don't you want to get that thing back?" giving a nod toward the sword.
The traders were setting up a quick camp, using the wagons for shelter more than anything else, and someone had got a fire going in the center of their circle. At her glance, Calen caught her eye and waved to them, beckoning them over.
Kiara glanced back to Mist with a questioning look. She wasn't adverse to ingratiating herself with the people they were supposed to be guarding, but she had to admit it was easier when she wasn't alone.
"Not untill I got to fight." He said with a slow shrug. "It's placed up there pretty good."
Mist nodded as Kiara glanced at him, putting a hand on her shoulder with a nod. Tapping off, he walked with large and powerful strides.
A few of the traders followed Calen's lead in nodding and greeting them when they made their way over. Kiara offered a small smile and sat gratefully when the friendliest trader offered a slightly secluded spot sort of next to him but a little back from the fire someone had sparked.
"Figured we'd cook something, while we have the chance," he explained as a few of the group set about putting what looked like it must once have been a small rodent on a spit over the flames. She realized one of them must have hunted it while they were travelling.
Mist nodded slowly, glancing over at Kiara. "I told you I wasn't the only one." He said with a chuckle, looking back at the fire. "Nice catch. Shot it?" He asked. If wichever hunter indeed shot it, he'd have quite the marksman ability.
Kiara stuck her tongue out at him, not caring how childish the gesture was.
"Dain did," Calen said in response to the elf, nodding at another of the traders who acknowledged the "nice catch" comment with a wave and a quick grin.
"You two traveled the Moraki before?" he asked, scooting closer to the dragonriders and Calen.
Kiara nodded vaguely. "Once or twice. Never for longer than a day or two, though."
Mist chuckled at the childish gesture made by his colleague.
He looked at the trader. Dain, nodding. "Not a pleasant experience." He murmured to himself.
"Better on dragonback, though," Kiara noted with a quick grin. "Long as Kit doesn't spend the whole time bitching about getting sand in his scales."
That got a few chuckles. Another trader whose name she didn't know leaned in curiously. "So...they are intelligent, then?" he asked. Kiara stiffened a bit- she knew he wasn't trying to be rude, but it still irked her. "I mean, they can speak?"
"Kit's smarter than I am," she replied shortly. Under her breath, she added to Mist, "Don't you dare tell him I said that."
Mist nodded slowly. Seemed like he was a tad more patient. Yet, he allowed Kiara to speak, rather than him. She was the epxerienced dragonrider. He was only still a novice.
He slowly grinned at Kiara. "Convince me not to."
"Oi." She shoved his shoulder lightly, glaring but laughing. "Watch yourself, Immortalis. I bet I could take you." A bald faced lie, but they were just playing.
...Right?
Mist grinned slowly. "In your dreams, perhaps, Kiara." He chuckled slowly. He dared to say he would be able to take her on with even both his hands bound on his back. But. Yeah. It would come across ver as rude and agressive.
And that wasn't really something they needed right no.
She wrinkled her nose at him, but Calen's voice prevented her from snipping back a retort. "Ya know, if you like, there's room in the circle for two more. Seems awfully inhospitable of us to make you two sleep out in the cold- well, you know what I mean." He smiled a bit.
Kiara blinked, startled by the offer. "That's..kind," she said slowly. "But I don't wanna leave Kit..."
Mist nodded slowly at Calen. They were friendly, but he was still wary. "These dragons are our brethren. We trust eachother with our lives. So I also decline the kind offer, Calen. No offense." He said with a bitter chuckle. "You'd be surprised how warm one can make you at night."
The trader shrugged. "Suit yourselves. The offer stands, if you ever change your minds."
Kiara smiled and nodded gratefully. "Thank you. The gesture is appreciated." She stood with a small sigh, arching her back and reaching her arms over her head in a stretch. "I'm heading back to the boys," she told Mist. With another smile for Calen, she said, "Thanks for the food and conversation."
He nodded and sort of waved at her as she turned to go, pausing beside the elf. She didn't want to make him come with her if he didn't want to go, but she felt sorta bad just leaving him with the traders.
Mist nodded curtly. "Thank you for the kind gesture." He glanced at Kiara as she stood up, getting up himself aswell, with a deep groan. "I'm going to walk for a bit. I will join you and the dragons soon." At that, he tapped her shoulder and casually started to walk in the other direction.
Kiara shrugged, watching him go, then shook herself a bit and returned to Kit and Ren, beginning to settle herself in against the black dragon's side.
Ren's eyes found his rider walking away and he huffed a bit, tilting his head and glancing at the young woman for an explanation.
She shrugged, familiar enough to dragons' body language to know what he wanted. "Said he was going for a walk. I wouldn't worry, he won't be long, probably."
Mist sighed as he reached the end of the caravan, stretching slowly. A brief moment he could introspect on what all just happened. Hell. He became a dragon rider several days ago. People he looked up to. Something he wanted to be since he was still fifteen years of age.
Fortune started to turn for him at last.
With a slow smirk, Mist walked back to Ren, Kit and Kiara, glancing at the sword, closing his left eye again and pressing his fingers against it.
The cursed blade's eye shot open and frantically looked around.
"You look pleased with yourself," Kiara said with a smiled when Mist returned, glancing up from laying out her bedroll beside Kit.
Ren automatically leaned toward his rider, tail sweeping around to close the circle of dragons and riders off from the rest of the caravan.
"Do I?" His hands dropped down and found occupation on his belt, nodding at Ren as he closed the circle. "Found any good eating, big guy?" He asked with a grin.
The dragon nodded with a rumble, curling up and dropping his head onto his paws. "There are some quite large cats roaming these jungles, make a good meal."
Kit nodded in agreement as Kiara settled into his side, yawning. "I have to say," the girl murmured, "Tha whole freaky eye-sword thing is pretty handy. Nice not to have to stay up on guard all night."
"Fought one of those. They're pretty ferocious." He snickered and pressed his hand against Ren's nose, looking over at Kiara, slowly chuckling. "Be glad I keep this eye shut, it'll cause you nightmares if I look you in the eyes with it. And that's not only because it looks ugly." He smirked as he sat down against Ren's flank.
She arched an eyebrow at the rather cryptic comment but shrugged. "I'll take your word for it," she muttered, curling up against Kit's side.
Ren huffed a quiet laugh and curled his body a little tighter, sleeping nose to tail with the younger dragon.
Mist closed his remaining eye as he slowly fell asleep against Ren's belly, still sat up straight. With all his armour. Judging from the rate he fell asleep at in this pose, it was obvious he had slept like this, with armour aswell, a lot of times.
Kiara woke early, a nightmare making a scream catch in her throat but years of hardened instinct preventing it from actually slipping past her lips.
Irrationally irritated, she got to her feet and rolled her neck, trying to judge the time. The sun wasn't up yet, but it wasn't full dark either. Just before dawn then. Glancing at Kit, Mist, and Ren, still asleep, it seemed, she paused a moment before creeping quietly away.
Maybe a walk would make her less jittery.
"Where are you headed?" Mist asked, his eyes still closed. If he hadn't just spoken, one would swear he was still asleep. Breathing softly, snoring ever so slightly and slumped against Ren.
Yet the eye of the sword was focussed on her, staring intensly at her.
Yelping quietly, Kiara's eyes flickered from the elf to the sword until realization dawned. "Gods above, don't do that," she protested, frowning first at Mist, then at the blade. "Nearly scared me to death."
With a sigh and a shrug, she muttered, "Just going for a quick walk. I'll be back before sunup."
"Sorry. Just curious. I'll keep an eye on the rest of the camp." Was what he said as he stirred slightly and repositioned a bit against Ren, the eye indeed losing interest in Kiara and looking over the rest of the camp.
She gave him a crooked smile and a nod of thanks before moving off around the edge of the caravan, toeing the line of the jungle proper.
Sensitive hearing picking up Mist's voice, Ren stirred slightly in his sleep, tail curling in. "We under attack?" he rumbled quietly, bored, without opening his eyes.
The eye shot to Ren briefly. "We are not." He said in the same trance still, his voice had been emotionless and toneless the entire time, even now. "You can keep sleeping." The eye glanced back over the camp and back into the distance.
That was all the assurance the dragon needed, and he slipped back into unconsciousness with a quiet huff. Kit twitched in his sleep, tail flicking out, but otherwise seemed undisturbed.
Kiara meandered her way around the caravan, eyes skimming the trees as the sun finally began to peek above the horizon. Gradually, she turned her winding little path around to return to the dragons and Mist, yawning as she did.
Mist slowly sat up and opened his right eye, pressing his fingers against the left one. He muttered something to himself and his left eye opened aswell, a trickle of blood running from the eye he immediatly wiped it away, not liking to idea to explain himself and the strain it put on him.
Ren cracked a massive yawn and stretched like a cat, fanning his wings. Kit started to wake, realized Kiara wasn't with them, and his head shot up in a panic. "Kiara?"
"I'm here, I'm here," she assured him, hurrying toward the group when she saw they were starting to stir. Her eyes flicked to Mist and she asked wryly, "You actually awake now, or is this more of that freaky trance thing?"
"I'm awake." He snorted with a slow stretch against Ren, patting his belly as he slowly got to his feet again, wiping the blood from the back of his guantlet, originally from his left eye, on his cloak.
Stretching and yawning, the dragons came fully awake and flared their wings to catch the first rays of sunlight that filtered through the trees. Ren sniffed, thinking he scented blood for a moment, then put it from his mind. Perhaps someone had cut themselves in the night.
"Hungry?" Kiara asked, crossing to her pack and rummaging around. "I've still only got travel rations, but it's better than nothing."
"Breakfast would be nice." He stood up and stretched his back. "I think I'll have to go hunting soon aswell, however. Kinda hate leeching on you." He smirked slowly. "Owing you a favour isn't a thing I want."
She looked up and gave him a crooked smile. "You don't owe me," she said, tossing a portion of the rations at him. "Us dragonriders should stick together, yeah? Don't worry about it."
He caught the supplies with ond lazy hand. "True. But it still feels that way, y'know."
She did, actually. she'd never liked feeling indebted either. Shrugging, Kiara set about eating her own meal and stood. "Well, if you go hunting and share your kill we'll call it square, deal?" she said with a quick grin.
"Deal," he set about to eating his own breakfast, regarding the caravan as they also woke. "I'm going to nees to sword when I go hunting," he murmured to himself as he rested his gaze on the sword.
Kiara followed his gaze. "I'm sure the traders won't mind," she noted. "It's kinda creepy, you have to admit."
Bran seemed to be in a hurrying, because he was rushing the caravan to get ready to move out. Downing the rest of her breakfast, Kiara boosted herself up onto Kit's back.
"Who flies first?" Ren asked, dropping his head to bring it closer to his rider's level, looking between him and the other pair.
"Oh. It's horrendous." Mist answered with a grin, he looked to Ren, then back to Kiara. "We'll take first flight?" He asked as he pulled himself ontop of Ren.
"Fine by me." With a smile and a jaunty salute, she said, "Happy flying," as Ren bounded forward a few paces and took to the air, circling above the caravan as he waited for them to set out.
Kiara and Kit fell into their familiar guard position at the back of the train of wagons.
"Think we can grab my sword while flying?" Was what Mist asked Ren after a short while, grinning slowly.
Ren gave a dragon's grin. "I don't see why not," he replied before suddenly flipping them around and diving down toward the caravan, tilting so he was flying on his side as they swooped past the wagon the blade was embedded in.
Mist grabbed one of the spines and braced himself as Ren dove towards the caravan. With a grunt and the sound of cracking wood, Mist snatched the blade from the top of the wagon, some tatches flying from the wagon. He let out a slow chuckle and hung the blade over his his back again. The instant he touched the hilt, the eye shut itself again.
Ren gave a rumbling chuckle, quite pleased, and heard Kiara call laughingly from the back of the caravan, "Showoff!"
"Jealous," he retorted, flicking his tail at Kit's nose as he gave a sharp beat of his wings to send them soaring back up.
Mist turned to Kiara and grinned slowly. "You decided to watch!" Made up Mist's retort as he sat up again. "That went surprisingly well."
"I'd say so," Ren agreed smugly. He kept them fairly low, making swooping circles above the caravan as they began to arrive at the edge of the trees. With a sigh, he muttered, "Looks like we'll be sleeping in the desert tonight."
Privately, he'd agreed with Kit's earlier complaints; getting sand out of the cracks between his scales was a pain.
"Seems like it." Mist gruffed in return. Last time he was in the desert wasn't a pleasant experience. It was too painful.
The caravan called an early break- though it was not yet midday, they had reached the section of land where trees turned into scrubby bushes, and then nothing but sand, the jungle giving way to desert. It seemed Bran wanted to take advantage of the small pool of water at the edge of the trees while they had the chance.
Seeing this, Ren banked into a shallow dive and came to land next to Kit at the back of the wagon train, huffing at the scent of hot sand. "Is anyone pleased about the next leg of our journey?' he grumbled, already irritated.
Kiara chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Is complaining so much a dragon thing, or a male thing?" she quipped, sliding off Kit's back to stretch her legs.
"Dragon thing." Mist mused as he remained ontop of Ren. "Besides, I've heard one woman complaining more than these two together." He let out a soft chuckle as he stretched his arms slowly and slid down the dragon's back. "It's not ideal, but, we have to do it."
Kiara wrinkled her nose at him, but she couldn't really argue with that. "A job's a job," she agreed with a shrug.
Already she was too hot. With a sigh and a longing glance at the water, she decided after a moment, "I'm gonna try to wash some of this dust off. And take advantage of actually having water around while I can. Kit, could you-?"
Before she'd even finished the question, the black dragon settled beside the pool and fanned his wings out to create a sort of privacy curtain. Slipping around him, Kiara began to strip to her underthings and slid into the water with a contented sigh.
Ren blinked, thoroughly bemused by humans' habits. "I don't suppose you expect me to do the same thing?" he asked Mist dryly, tilting his head at his rider.
"No. I don't expect you to." Mist looked at the two with a grin. "I'd prefer being dry underneath this armour rather than soaking wet." He snickered slowly. "Even if I wanted to go in, I wouldn't trouble you."
Ren huffed a chuckle. "I'm not sure how she expects to dry off," he mused, tilting his head. "Won't the sand stick to her?"
Smirking to herself, Kiara called to them, "Fire mage, remember? I dry off just fine."
Kit gave a grumble at that, shifting in agitation. "Is that really a good idea with what happened last time?"
"You worry too much."
"I worry exactly the right amount."
"Kit."
"Kiara."
"Hatchlings," Ren muttered, rolling his eyes. "I'm surrounded by hatchlings."
Mist chuckled, "fair enough." He looked at the small arguement rising between the two, then at Ren's comment, causing him to give the dragon a sharp elbow against his scales. "Oi. Am I a hatchling to you, then?"
"Comparatively? Yes," Ren chuckled, flicking his tail gently against the elf's side in retaliation. "I have flown these skies for over four hundred years- how many centuries do you have under your belt?" he rumbled, eyes glinting teasingly.
"Roughly one third. My life expectation has been exceeded by thrice the amount already. Does that count?" He inquiredwith a soft grin.
The dragon tilted his head at him, distracted and a little disturbed by that comment. "What do you mean by that?" he rumbled quietly.
Kiara really wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but they were close enough that she couldn't help it. she made an effort to splash around a little more in an attempt to drown out their voices.
"Hm? Being bound and abandoned in the woods by my so-called owners a long time ago." He looked up at Ren, his expression neutral. As if he just said something normal. "Did I break the mood?"
If he'd had eyebrows, he would have arched them. "Maybe a little," Ren replied dryly. His tail curled around Mist's feet in a small, rather protective gesture quite unconsciously.
Kiara was doing her best to pretend she hadn't heard a thing, climbing out of the pool and wringing water out of her hair. "Kit, some fire please?" she asked, far too cheerfully.
The dragon obeyed without a word, simply sighing at her before exhaling a jet of flame in her direction. With a flick of her wrist she kept the flame from actually touching her so it billowed around her for a moment in brief inferno, drying her off almost instantly.
Mist shrugged slowly. "Sorry. But. That's just how it is. I barely remember it properly." He looked back to Kit and Kiara, snickering slowly. "How long have you been able to manipulate fire?"
Giving a soft sound that was almost a croon, Ren lowered his head and nudged his nose against Mist's shoulder.
Kiara glanced over with a smile as she pulled her clothes on and Kit folded his wings back to his side. "Long as I can remember," she said easily. A frown tugged at her brow and she muttered, "It's only been the last few months that my magic has started to...fight back, I'd guess you'd say."
In fact, she was a little weak on her feet as she made her way back to the other pair, putting a hand on Kit's flank to keep her balance.
Mist rubbed Ren's snout as he did, chuckling slowly. "Fight back? I'm no expert on magic at all.. But I've never heard a mage being fought by her own magic." He put his hand on his chin, rubbing it slowly. He really had to shave.
"I've heard rumours of a legendary pyromancer when I traveled through Serend-something. She runs a bookstore there. Perhaps she can help you out?"
"Serendipity?" Kiara offered with a quick smile. The expression faded and she shrugged. "Maybe. It wouldn't hurt to check it out when this job is over, but..." She trailed off, looking away, and said softly after a moment. "It's- it's like a sickness. You know how sometimes your own body can fight too hard against an infection, make you weak, sometimes worse? It's...sort of like the magical version of that."
At least, that was her best understanding of what her father had told her.
"I don't really know about all that." Mist snerked bitterly. "I'm not magically gifted, so I wouldn't know. Her name is Ameterasu. I think you'll find her easily if needed." He shrugged slowly. Only rumours he had caught. Perhaps it was a valuable piece of info. Perhaps it was worth nothing. Either way, he shared what he knew.
She smiled, eyes softening a bit so they looked more green than black. "Thanks for the tip," she said.
Hesitating for a moment, she finally let out a sigh and murmured quietly, "I heard what you were talking about with Ren. I'm...sorry that happened to you." Shifting awkwardly, she ducked her head.
The gold dragon huffed, letting the tip of his muzzle rest quietly on Mist's shoulder.
Mist shook his head slowly. "The past is the past. I cannot undo what happened. That is a reality I have to live by." He sighed slowly, idly rubbing Ren's nose. "Besides. I'm still here and kicking. No need to dwell on it."
The dragon thrummed deep in his throat at the attention and Kiara nodded slowly. She supposed that was actually a rather healthy way to look at it.
"Right. Well." She cleared her throat and reached out as though to lay a hand on his shoulder, then seemed to change her mind and gave him a playful, friendly punch on the arm. Kit snorted, muttering something about how she was more awkward around other two-leggers than he was, and she glared at him.
Flushing a bit, she muttered, "Do you want to share the flying shift this time? It'll actually be easier to see danger from in the air once we're in the desert."
Mist smirked slowly at the punch. "Don't hurt yourself. This armour's tough." He let out a slow chuckoe, before nodding at Kiara. "Sounds like a plan."
Kiara rubbed at her knuckles, which did sting a bit from striking his armor, even lightly. "Alright then." She flashed a quick smile and vaulted onto Kit's back.
The younger dragon huffed a sigh, glaring out at the sands ahead of them. "I hate this damned desert."
Ren rumbled an agreement but didn't say anything, hunkering down to bring himself closer to the ground so Mist could mount.
Mist threw himself on Ren's back, giving an acknowledging pat on his neck. "Let's go, Ren."
The gold dragon took off first, circling away from the caravan to give Kit room to actually get into the air before falling in to flank the younger creature.
Below them, Kiara saw Bran give the signal to move out and let herself sprawl forward on Kit's neck. "Gods, we're gonna be glad to be up here when the heat really hits," she commented with a quiet chuckle.
Mist sat back on Ren. Having a way too laid back attitude to be travelling by dragonback. His eyes lazily drifted across the horizon, looking for any kind of trouble that might be brewing.
As far as Kiara could tell, it was endless sand dunes stretching ahead of them. With a sigh, she said after a moment, "I know I shouldn't complain- in this line of work it's probably a good thing...but this is going to be boring."
"Beats becoming a glorified pincushion a weak ago," Mist chuckled as he looked over to Kiara. "The worst is.. The sun and heat make you slow. Boredom even more so. Just try to remain vigilant."
She screwed up her face. "I know, I know..." Another sigh as she let her eyes sweep over the desert below them.
Ren chuffed, shaking his head and muttering something about hatchlings and a lack of patience, though privately he was rather bored himself.
Mist had to admit. It was boring. And he knew what exactly could happen. He forced himself to stat vigilant, but boredom and exhaustion tends to take it's toll after several hours.
It seemed they got luck after a few hours of flying and no threatening movement. Kit suddenly snorted though, drawing Kiara's attention to the caravan. It seemed Bran had called a halt.
She frowned. That was odd- she would've thought they wouldn't stop until nightfall. But perhaps the heat was too much down on the sand.
Mist snerked slowly. "Let's see what's going on," he leaned forward slightly, shifting his weight on Ren to see just what was going on. "Take me down, Ren. Land as close to Bran as possible. If it means.bad news, I'd rather still be sitting here."
Ren nodded and started to glide in for a landing.
"We'll stay up here for a minute," Kiara called to them. "Keep a lookout from above."
The good dragon snorted in acknowledgement and brought them down onto the scorching sands near the head of the caravan where Bran rode in the foremost wagon. He looked around, sniffing- so far he sensed no immediate danger.
"Bran!" Mist's voice thundered across the desert as he landed, "what's wrong?"
The trader started, then shaded his eyes to look at them. "One of my men can't take the heat," he called back, gesturing over his shoulder. "We're just trying to get him into a wagon."
Not seeing any danger from above, Kit and Kiara came in to land near Ren. Seeing the activity in the middle of the caravan, the girl murmured, "Someone pass out or something?"
"Unfortunate," Mist nodded slowly. "Stay hydrated." He said as he looked off into the distance. It was true. It was abundantly hlt.
Kiara's eyes caught on the figure being lifted into the wagon and she furrowed her brow. "Calen?" Well, it made a kind of sense- if he was an ice mage, the heat would probably affect him more than most.
Concerned, she slipped down off Kit's back and moved toward the crowd around the second wagon.
Both dragons exchanged a look and shuffled their wings in a shrug.
As soon as Mist also noticed it was Calen, he slid off of Ren's back aswell, following Kiara to the wagon.
"Here, let me help." Kiara gave a hand to the two men lifting Calen into the wagon. The mage shifted and groaned slightly.
Glancing over at Mist, she gave a small smile and a sheepish sort of shrug. "Wish I could help more, you know? Fire magic doesn't do much good for heat stroke."
Mist nodded slowly, pulling the still cold rock from his pouch. "I thought this'd help me in the desert. But Calen." Mist stepped in the wagon after Calen, pushing the cold rock in his hands. "Don't you die on me." He murmured under his breath.
The mage groaned again and his fingers curled around the rock. He seemed to calm a bit.
Kiara smiled at the elf, making sure Calen was shaded from the sun before stepping back. "He should be fine," she murmured to Mist. A pause, and then she added, "That was kind of you."
Mist smiled softly as he got a response from the ice mage, before hopping down from the wagon. He shrugged slowly. "He has been kind to us aswell."
She nodded, biting her lip and giving the man a last quick glance before moving back toward where the dragons waited. "I wonder what makes an ice mage decide crossing the Moraki is a good idea," she muttered to herself, shaking her head slightly.
"I wonder what makes anyone decide this such a good idea." Mist fell in, glancing at Kiara.
She chuckled, throwing him a crooked smirk. "If you're asking about me? Decent pay," she replied easily, stretching out her hand to pat Kit's muzzle as they approached.
Ren lowered his head toward Mist automatically, but his eyes were wary, shifting across the sands He'd thought he'd heard something...
He pulled himself on top of Ren, not noticing what he heard, but noticing his wariness. "Ren?"
The dragon rumbled a low growl, wings fanning out slowly. "Youngling," he said sharply, looking at Kit.
The black dragon picked Kiara u unceremoniously by the back of her tunic and dumped her onto his back, ignoring her protests. "I hear it too," he hissed, eyeing the sand.
Ren raised his voice, calling back to the caravan, "Nobody move! Stay still, and stay quiet." He glanced over his shoulder at Mist. "And you stay on my back."
"Sand demons?" Mist inquired with a whisper. Not sure if Ren knew them under the same name. But if it were the things he tought them to be. It was very bad news.
"If by that you mean those massive worms that spring up out of nowhere, then yes," Ren murmured, trying to keep his voice low enough not to startle the traders.
Kiara swore softly. Normally, she and Kit would have just flown away. But they were guards, they couldn't just leave the caravan. "Nobody move," she hissed, leaning forward on Kit's neck. She didn't know much about the creatures, but she knew they could sense vibration.
And a big enough one could give even a dragon some trouble.
Exactly what he meant. It was bad news. Ofcourse it was. Mist kept as quiet and as silent as possible. Not moving an inch.
A sudden shout from the middle of the caravan made Kiara twist around in her seat, eyes locking on the trader who had called out. He was pointing at a sand dune that seemed to ripple.
Her eyes widened and she spat, "Oh, fuck me." That was definitely a big one. Kit growled nervously, looking to Ren and Mist for direction, instinct urging himt o follow the older dragon's lead. Should they attack first, or hope it hadn't noticed them?
"Go for it." Mist said to Ren. Patting his neck. "We can't allow these things. Even if it's just for Calen's sake."
That was all he need. Lunging forward, Ren swept a claw through the dune. He felt something like flesh give and the sand suddenly exploded, sending him leaping into the air.
Not one to be left out, Kit sprang forward and sank his teeth into the thing's body, growling. Kiara shouted, sending a jet of flame from her palm at it. Internally, she was stunned. The damned thing was huge.
At the same time as Ren lunged forward, Mist pulled the enormous blade from his back, the bandages shredding. To him. Everything went silent. Everything went slow. He could hear his own heart throbbing. His eyes turned to a radiant red, blood running down his cheeks. His sclera completely black. Everyone, attuned to magic or not, could feel the deep thrum of the sudden shift of influence from an unholy force.
Mist turned on Ren's back and jumped forward with such strength that Ren would feel it. He raised his blade and cliced through the sand demon like it was nothing, tearing through it with his whole body.
As he emerged. He was covered in blood and guts. The enormous worm dropped dead behind him, bleeding profusely.
The caravan went silent, staring. Kit backed up a step, a low, wary rumble thrumming in his chest. Ren craned his neck back to look at his rider, concerned.
Kiara blinked. "Mist?" she murmured after a moment, fighting an instinctive fear of the sight in front of her.
Mist panted slowly. His eyes slowly regaining their normal colour again. A thob of pain shot throigh his body as his eyes went wide. First the blade hit the sand, then with a cushioned thud, Mist dropped forward into the sand.
Ren's neck immediately snaked forward, his teeth catching at the back of Mist's armor a second before he hit the ground in an attempt to soften the fall. He curved protectively around the elf, growling worriedly.
Kiara slipped off Kit's back, shoving her stunned surprise and the tingle of fear away to deal with later. "Someone bring water," she demanded curtly, moving forward and murmuring assurances to the gold dragon as she knelt by Mist's side.
"Hey." She put her hand on his shoulder to roll him onto his back. "Mist? Can you hear me?"
Still being covered in the guts and blood, blood slowly trickled from his left eyelid. He didn't react to Kiara's patting or the calls.
One of the traders, she thought the hunter from the night before, warily moved forward and handed her a flask. Heedless of the gore, Kiara slipped an arm behind the elf's shoulder and attempted to tip some water into his mouth.
Ren huffed, shifting closer and stretching a wing out to provide some shade from the sun. "Come on, Immortalis," he muttered, concern a clear undercurrent in his tone.
He still didn't seem to react. He was still breathing, and if checked, his heart would still be beating faintly. The armour he was wearing was pretty damn heavy.
The blade that was wrenched into the sand. It was a slight change but the corruption seemed to have taken more of the sword. The eye shooting around. Thick veins in the sclera and the pupil narrowed. The corruption around it writhing slowly.
Swearing quietly, Kiara said sharply to the man who'd brought water, "Come on, help me get him into one of the wagons."
The trader hesitated, then knelt and tried to lift his shoulders, but he was too heavy with the armor for just the two of them to lift. "We have to get him out of this," Kiara muttered, struggling with one of the shoulder straps.
Ren growled softly but made no further protest, eyeing the blade in the sand. Warily, he closed the tip of two claws on it and yanked it free, looking around for the wrappings that were usually present. They must have torn off somewhere along the way...
Ren would feel the corruption slowly crawling up against his claw, as if the sword was looking for theits owner and identified Ren as such. After a short while, it ceased the writhing and pulled back once more. This wasn't its owner. The wrappings were discarded somewhere to the side.
Mist still was unconcious and not reacting to the fuss around his physical body.
Recoiling from the feeling of the blade, Ren quickly tossed the thing in the direction of the caravan. Traders shouted and leaped away, but it landed harmlessly in the back of a wagon.
Kit, despite everything, snorted and muttered wryly, "Nice throw."
Kiara and Dain- she remembered his name now- managed to wrestle Mist out of most of his armor and hoist him into the back of the wagon, the girl casting a wary look at the blade as they did.
Boosting herself up beside him, she looked over her shoulder and started to see Bran. He was scowling, arms folded over his chest. "He alright?"
"I don't know," she answered honestly. Correctly interpreting the look on his face, she said, "It's safe to keep moving. Ren and Kit will guard, I'll stay with him until he wakes up."
The gold dragon rumbled a protest, but quieted some when Kit slunk up to his side and butted his nose into the larger male's shoulder. "Let me know the moment he wakes," he said gruffly to Kiara, and took to the air as the caravan started to move again, Kit joining him a moment later.
The blade was thrown in the back of some wagon and remained there. Misg still didn't react. Still in a comatose state.
The wagon set off with the rest of the caravan. Kiara leaned over Mist and again tried to get him to swallow some water, using another splash in an attempt to wash some to the blood off his face.
Damn. She wasn't a healer, what the hell was she supposed to do? She bit down panic and unconsciously began murmuring to him, simple little reassurances and pleas for him to wake up.
With a slow groan, Mist opened his eyes again, his left eye hazy and bloodstained, another trickle of blood running down from it. "What.. Happened?"
"Oh thank gods." Kiara let out a sharp breath of relief, running a hand through her hair. "You just- you killed that sand worm, then you just sort of- passed out," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder and offering the flask again.
"Do you think you can sit up?"
"I.. Can't move.." He let out a slow breath, having one hell of a headache.
"Okay...okay." She slipped her arm under his shoulder and tried to prop him up, calling out toward the sky, "Ren, he's awake!"
The gold dragon immediately banked into a dive, landing just behind the wagon as Kiara asked, "Are you hurt anywhere?"
He smirked weakly at Kiara. "Thanks.. And I don't think I am. I just.. Don't feel any of my limbs.."
Her stomach lurched. "Well that's not good," she said, tone light but brow furrowed in concern.
Ren stretched his head forward to judge the elf's legs, eyes flicking over his form as he huffed, worry plain even in his scaly expression.
"It'll fade.. I think.." He closed his eyes weakly. "I'm tired.."
"Okay. Well- drink some more water," Kiara urged, holding the flask up for him again. Should she try to keep him awake, or let him rest?
Gods, she wished she knew more about healing.
He nodded slowly, before sipping weakly from the water. "Thanks.."
"Here." Kiara shifted around so he could lean against her. Ren huffed and nudged his legs again. "Any feeling returning?"
"No.. Not at all." Mist frowned weakly. "Where's my armour?"
"In the back of one of the other wagons," Kiara answered. "Dain and I couldn't lift you with it on."
Ren snorted, drawing his head back and narrowing his eyes. "It's that sword, isn't it?" he asked abruptly, gaze flicking venomously toward the blade. "Whatever happened to you- it was the sword."
Mist nodded faintly. "Thanks.." He let out a slow cough, his left eye starting to regain more of a normal texture. He glanced at Ren. "Likely.. I became.. So mad.. So angry.. I can't describe it, but a red mist slowly descended on me." He groaned slowly. "That's pain.. Starting to feel my legs a little bit.. Where's the sword?"
"Oh, here." Kiara twisted around to grab the hilt without thinking. Ren hissed quietly, remembering the strange feeling the blade had given him and tried to warn, "Don't-" a second too late.
And the same feeling was given to Kiara, the corruption writhing in her hand and touching her to identify her as its master. And it subsided all the same. For she was not its master. The eye opened slowly and looked down at Mist, wantonly.
Yelping, Kiara snatched her hand back and the blade clattered to the bed of the wagon. "What the hell?!" she exclaimed, looking at Mist with wide eyes.
"It won't harm you," was what he exclaimed, looking back at the blade, "give it.. Please."
"A-alright," Kiara mumbled, gripping the hilt gingerly again and lifting the sword to pass it over, pressing the blade into his hand. "Is...that helping?"
Ren simply watched, eyes narrowed in concern.
Mist closed his eyes slowly as the blade was put in his hand. It seemed to weigh a lot. Even heavier than his chestplate. The corrupting slowly writhed in his hand as the eye of the blade slowly closed again. "It panicked and forced me into some kind of berserker rage.. I'm temporarily maralyzed as a drawback.."
"Gods," Kiara muttered, frowning. "Is that- isn't there a way to fix it?"
"Waiting it out.." Mist said as the blade slipped from his hand, he lookdd up at Kiara and chuckled slowly. "I'm going tl sleep now," he gave her a crooked grin. "Try to hide enjoying holding me like this next time.." At that, his head slumpbed back weakly.
Her mouth dropped open and she flushed incredulously. "You-!"
He was out.
Grumbling, Kiara looked at Ren and muttered, "He's luck he's hurt, or I'd shove him out of the back of this wagon."
The dragon chuckled, shaking his head, and rolled his shoulders. "Keep an eye on him, youngling. I'll fly with Kittsareyn for a while." He took off in a while of heat and sand.
After several hours, Mist would groan loudly and reqch for his head. He still had the headache. But. At least he seemed like he could move. More or less.
The elf sat up. Incredibly sluggish so.
"Easy there." Kaira braced his shoulders, peering at his face with concern. "How you feeling, Immortalis?"
"Like trampled piece of shit in a desert way too hot.." He let out a bitter and pained chuckle. "Probably also look that way."
She gave him a crooked smile. "Nah. Dashing as ever. C'mon, drink." She pressed her flask into his hand before turning to sit on the edge of the wagon and whistling to get the dragons' attention before calling, "He's up again!"
"I'll take that as a compliment." He looked at the flask briefly, before nodding. "Thanks." He said, before he took a swig from the flask. Tasted like leather. Ofcourse it did.
Ren came down to land again, this time Kit joining him. "You're moving, at least," he noted with a touch of relief in his tone.
Kiara looked back at Mist, giving a small smile and a wink. "Immortalis, yeah? Figure it'd take more than that to keep you down for long."
"As frustrating it may be for foes.. I don't stay down, no." He chuckled slowly, before coughing painfully. "Don't make me laugh.. Really."
She winced guiltily and reached a hand out to him, muttering, "Sorry, sorry." Biting her lip, she asked a little helplessly, "Is there anything I can do?"
He waved dismissivly. "It's.. Alright." He sat forward slightly, resting his head in his hands. "Damn headache."
Almost automatically, Kiara began rubbing little circles between his shoulders, putting gentle pressure on either side of his spine. It usually helped her with headaches, though she had a feeling his were going to prove a bit more stubborn.
"Bran says we're stopping soon," Kit told them, glancing around the wagon at the sun touching the horizon. "Once it's full dark."
"That.. Feels good." Mist murmured silently as he closed his eyes again, his movements extremely sluggish. He yawned slowly.
The young woman hesitated a moment, then continued rubbing his back, reaching up with her other hand to knead lightly at the nape of his neck. "Headache any better?"
Ren, feeling helpless and not liking it, shuffled his wings anxiously and glanced around the caravan. "Do you need food or something?" he rumbled, looking back to Mist.
"Slightly.. But you're loosening up my muscles.." He said with a soft groan. "Where'd you learn this?" He inquired, glancing at Kiara, before back at Ren. "I'm fine, Ren. Thankw for keeping guard.."
The dragon subsided with a low grumble, nodding at his rider though he still watched him with concern.
Kiara smiled softly, not even realizing the expression crossed her face. She shifted around behind Mist so she could work his shoulders better. "My mother," she replied absently. "She had a kinda stressful job, and she used to get these wicked tension headaches. When I was little I always wanted to help, as much as I could, so I just kind figured it out I guess."
Kit gave her a quick glance, surprised. They didn't talk about her mother much.
"Oh.. Damn." He leaned forward more, his neck popping loudly as he did. "She sounds like a good woman." Mist murmured silently. The closest thing he had to a mother was already dead and gone since his fifteenth.
Her lips curved into a wistful little smile. "She was." Kiara moved her hands over his back again, frowning slightly. "Gods, you have knots on knots, do you know that?"
"I'll probably have knots on those knots aswell." He said with a slow snicker. "Don't be afraid of being too rough there.." He said with a slow chuckle.
"Ooh, tough guy," she teased, pressing into the muscles of his back with the heal of her hand. "I was wondering where you went, draga."
Ren gave a coughing little chuckle, shaking his head at them.
Kiara stuck her tongue out at him, rather childishly, and said brightly to Mist, tone playful, "I hope you know I expect you to return this favor when you're feeling better."
"Yeah.. Like that." Mist groaned slowly. "Recovering from destroying a creature that could've killed us all.." Mist glanced at Kiara, chuckling.
"I will.."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're a big hero," Kiara said playfully with a quick grin. For some reason she found herself blushing a bit at his reaction of her ministrations.
She glanced away and cleared her throat, trying to hide it, and let her hands move to the small of his back as she kneaded absently.
The wagon slowed, then jerked slightly as it came to a stop. Kit and Ren stopped walking and shook themselves almost in unison, fanning their wings to the setting sun. "Think you can move yet?" the gold dragon asked, tilting his head at Mist.
Mist let out another groan, grinning slightly. "As long as you know-" he felt her hands trailing down his back and arched an eyebrow, wanting to say something as he turned to Kiara. And suddenly the wagon jerked to a stop, Mist lost his balance slightly and dropped forward, against Kiara. And cruel fate had it that their lips met.
Mist quite immediatly pulled back. "I-I'm sorry, Kiara." He stammered as he looked to Ren. "Yeah. I Think I can."
Kiara's eyes went wide and she just stared at him, too stunned to actually move away. She knew it was an accident, but... There was a flash of heat that ran through her that had her blushing.
Kit and Ren had dissolved into coughing guffaws, both dragons apparently highly amused by their riders'. "I'd say so," Ren chuckled, crimson eyes glinting wickedly.
Scowling at the black dragon, Kiara puled herself together and shuffled away until her back hit the side of the wagon, mumbling, "Accident, don't worry about it."
Mist gave Ren a foul look before he glanced Kiara. "Yeah. Accident. Never happened. What accident?"He murmured as he started to pull his armour on again, with the nescessary clunking. Albeit he was more clumsy with it this time around.
"Uh- here, let me help," Kiara mumbled, scooting forward to offer a hand automatically. She seemed to be fumbling just as much as him, though, so she wasn't sure if she was actually doing any good.
"You know, with the noises I was hearing back here I'd figured you were taking layers off, not putting them back on."
Kiara started and jerked away from the elf, glancing out of the wagon to see Calen had appeared, arms folded over his chest while he smirked at them. "See you're feeling better," she commented wryly, sliding to sit on the edge of the wagon.
"Yeah. I actually came back to thank you two," the mage said, flipping the rock Mist had returned to him into the air and nodding at them. He seemed to be much more comfortable around the dragons now, ignoring the rather irritated looks they were giving him.
"No, no. That strap doesn't go the-Ouch." He remarked dryly, his arm stuck in quite the uncomfortable location. "Other way ar- Just loosen the strap and let me do it, alright?" He grinned bitterly. Before looking at Calen, arching an eyebrow as he proceeded to pull on his armour. "I'm glad you're alright."
Glancing at the elf guiltily, Kiara mumbled, "Sorry, my bad," and scooted further away. "I'll just, um... Kit and I'll go secure the perimeter." She practically fled to the dragon, vaulting up onto his back and giving his flank a nudge with her heel to urge him into the air.
Ren chuckled and shook his head slowly as Calen gave Mist a quick, crooked grin. "Me too." The trader gave him a look up and down. "How you feeling yourself then?"
"Even though it's all pain.. Nice to get some feeling back in my limbs." He snerked bitterly as he stood up and hopped down from the wagon with a clunk. "Did the others fill you in on what happened?"
He nodded, watching curiously as Ren automatically snaked his head forward to press his nose against Mist's side. "They were a little vague on the details. Some of them say it seemed like a demon possessed you or something."
The dragon growled low in his throat and shot him a glare. The trader raised his hands peaceably, backing up a step. "Hey, I didn't say I believed them!"
Mist ran the metal hand over Ren's snout as he looked to Calen, nodding slowly, before punting at Ren. "Calm down, we can trust this guy." He said as he turned back to Calen. "And that's.. Pretty accurate." He qhrugfed slowly as he jerked his thumb at the blade in the wagon. "It has a mind of his own, but. Well. It doesn't show any interest in anyone but me."
Though he cast the blade a wary sort of look, Calen shrugged and said, "Hey, you saved our hides, apparently. Doesn't really much matter to me how you did it."
Ren huffed, subsiding, and gave Mist another quick nudge before drawing his head back and glancing up at the black shape circling above them in the fading light. The wagons had been moved into a circle, most of the traders gathering inside.
"We should find a place to bed down," he rumbled. "It gets cold out here at night."
"It was my pleasure." Mist grinned, "not that I can remember it." He shrugged dismissivly. It didn't really mtter anyway and he wouldn't annoy or possibly frighten Calen with the exact details of what happened.
He scratched Ren's chin before he pulled away. "Any suggestions?" He asked Ren.
Calen shrugged and told him, "You're always welcome to join us," with a nod to the circle. A quick smile and he ambled away to join the other traders.
Ren huffed. "Kittsareyn and I would not fit in there even if we wanted to," he rumbled. His eyes skimmed over the sand, settling on a dune just slightly behind one of the wagons. With a small sigh and a muttered, "Sand. Everywhere," he started toward it, flicking the tip of his tail from side to side like an irritated cat.
"Thanks for the offer, Calen." Mist nodded curtly, before looking at Ren. "That's why it's called a desert." He smirked slowly.
The dragon flicked the back of his head lightly with the tip of his tail. "Watch it, Immortalis," he growled playfully, settling himself into the curve of the dune.
Kit and Kiara made one last circle in the air and landed not too far away, the young woman reaching her arms over her head and arching her back so her spine cracked in several places as Kit padded toward the other dragon.
"Be happy we're not in the jungle, Renkaryn." Mist said with a teasing tone and a shit eating grin. Mist turned to Kiara and Kit. "Anything noteworthy?"
Ren snorted at him as their companions approached. Both dragon and girl shook their heads. "Quiet as the grave," Kiara said, letting out a breath and flopping onto her back on the sand. Opening her mouth like a baby bird, she said plaintively, "Somebody feed me before I expire."
Kit swept his tail through the sand, tossing a clump of it into her open mouth. She sputtered and sat up, swearing colorfully.
"Great comparison, Kiara." Mist said with a slow snicker. The following scene caused him to laugh. Rather loudly, "great minds think alike, Kit." He said with a grin still.
Still spitting sand, Kiara folded her arms and glared around. "I'm feeling attacked right now, and I don't appreciate it."
It was nearly full dark, and with the sunset a chill was quickly taking over the desert. She shivered a bit and huddled against Kit's side as the dragon gave Mist an appreciative nod
Mist grinned slowly as he walked up to Ren, returning the nod towards Kit. He turned to Ren. "Can I trust you to keep me warm, big guy?"
The dragon grumbled more for the form of the thing than anything else and raised one wing in silent invitation.
Kiara smiled a bit, rather fascinated. It seemed she was watching the bond between them grow every day. A slightly different sort of bond than the one she'd built with Kit, but she didn't think it was any less meaningful.
Mist nodded as he turned around, flinging the blade from his back and throwing it high up in the air, closing his left eye at the same time. The eye on the blade opened and with a loud thud, it smacked into one of the wagons. "There we go." He turned to Ren again and sat down against his flank, before nuzzling himself closer against his dragon, closong his other eye.
Shuffling closer together than they normally did to share heat, Kit and Ren curled up around their riders and closed their eyes, folding their wings in to cover the two-leggers.
Already dozing, Kiara murmured sleepily, "Should you really be doing that sword-eye thing? You can barely move as it is."
Mist let out a silence snore in response, having already fallen asleep. And the wings covered the two of them, so the eye couldn't see them. And thus, Mist didn't even know Kiara was talking. As he could only sense things that the eye could see.
Huffing in quiet amusement, Kiara curled closer into Kit and let her eyes slide closed, murmuring a lazy, "Night, boys."
Ren rumbled a sleepy reply and Kit nosed her side gently before letting his head drop forward to rest on his paws, and he was out in minutes.
Mist opened his right eye as the sun was rising, stretching slowly and pulling a mortified expression. "Sand. Sand everywhere."
Ren woke at his rider's shifting and chuckled darkly. "Now you feel my pain, Immortalis."
The older dragon's voice woke Kit and he yawned, jaw cracking as he looked around sleepily. It seemed they were among the first to rise, the caravan was still pretty quiet. "Kiara." He nosed her side. "Up and at 'em, girl."
Kiara groaned and rolled onto her side, heedless of sand sticking to her everywhere. "I'm up, I'm up," she muttered, eyes closed and unmoving.
"Nevermind the sand demons or the heat.. This is the absolute worst." Mist said as he pressed his fingers against his left eye again, sealing the connection between his eye and the sword's. He stood up and stretched slowly.
"Agreed," both dragons said in unison, then cast each other slightly surprised looks. Standing, Ren and Kit did their best to shake the excess sand from their scales.
Which of course sent it raining down on their riders, Kiara still curled up on the ground. The young woman yelped and jumped to her feet, raising her hands to protect her eyes. "Oh, come on! Wasn't last night enough?"
Mist saw the two dragon's plan, his eyes going wide. He wanted no part in this and dashed forward. But, the effort was for nothing. "Goddamnit Ren!"
Chuckling, completely unashamed, both dragons gave their riders innocent looks. "Sorry, didn't see you there," Ren said, rather cheekily for a four hundred year old, prideful creature.
Kiara climbed to her feet, brushing as much sand off as she could and swearing. "Now you feel my pain," she grumbled to Mist. "Welcome to the great and honorable calling that is being a dragonrider."
Mist nodded at Kiara before looking at Ren. "There will be retribution, Renkaryn." Mist said, pointing at him before pulling himself up on the dragon, pulling the plated boots off and emptying them.
Ren actually froze for a moment, stunned by the audacity. Then he growled playfully and whipped his head around to glare at the elf, giving another shake to dislodge the sand. And possibly his rider.
"This means war, Immortalis."
"You're on." Mist said as he grabbed a tight hold around one of Ren's spines, keeping himself seated on the dragon.
Ren gave another brisk shake, grumbling something about Mist being lucky he was still recovering.
Kiara laughed as she watched them, shaking her head. "And you say we're the hatchlings," she teased the gold dragon, eyes glinting as she folded her arms and leaned back against Kit's chest.
Mist grinned broadly, sliding his boot back on. "I'll pour the other one out next to you." He said as je pulled off the other plated boot, leaning over to pour the sand out away from Ren. "Call it a truce."
He looked at Kiara and chuckled. "I never said so."
"I'll call it a temporary truce," Ren countered. "Once you're back to full strength, I shall have my revenge."
Kiara shook her head and swung up onto Kit's back, throwing Mist a quick wink. "I know you don't think I'm a hatchling," she chuckled.
The caravan seemed to be properly waking up now and she glanced over her shoulder. Already the air was heating up. The desert. Great.
Mist patted Ren's head after he pulled the boot on again, "bring your worst." He said with a chuckle before turning to Kiara, arching an eyebrow. Was she referring to the incident yesterday?
It was the arched eyebrow that made her realize just how that sounded. She flushed, dropping her eyes and said quickly, "I- I didn't, ah- I didn't mean- ahem."
Kit was chortling at her and she decided to cut her losses, looking away and clearing her throat. "Never mind. Let's just...guard. Be guards. Which is what we're being paid for."
"Articulate," Kit commented quietly, and she smacked at his neck.
Mist ran a hand through his hairs and nodded. "Alright. Who's taking first flight?" He inquired. Dropping the subject for now.
"We'll go," Kit said, shuffling his wings. "You should take it easy for an hour or two."
Ren huffed a noncommittal sort of agreement at that, rolling his shoulders and nodding.
"Heh. Take it easy." He murmured to himself, leaning back slightly. As soon as Kiara and Kit took off, Mist sighed. "Ren. I might be stupid asking you. But it's obvious, isn't it?" He inquired as he nodded to the figure of Kit in the air.
"What is?" the dragon asked innocently, twisting his head around to look at him. "That you've apparently sent the girl into some sort of tizzy?"
"Tizzy? You're a powerful and ancient creature that has moved mountains, and you choose that word?" Mist chuckled slowly. "But yeah. Is it that obvious?" He looked up at the two with a smirk.
"What?" Ren huffed, indignant. "It seemed appropriate. And yes, I'd say it's fairly obvious." He followed the elf's look as the caravan set off, then glanced back at him.
"And you?" he asked cheekily, tail tip flicking back and forth. "Feeling some sort of tizzy?"
Mist nodded slowly, before looking at Ren. "I'm not sure. She is attractive. I won't lie. Perhaps a bit bashful, but she's kind." He shrugged, "should I make a move?
The dragon stuck his nose in the air primly. "I seem to recall someone saying that he preferred to know a potential mate better." Then, with a small chuckle and a shrug, he rumbled, "Like you said: she's kind, attractive- at least you think so, which I believe is the important bit. To a dragon, it's pretty simple to go from there."
Although he was starting to understand it may be a bit more complicated process for two-leggers. "Just don't piss her off," he chuckled. "Human or not, I'll admit she can hold her own." He glanced back at Mist and added, "Don't tell her I said that."
He looked at Ren and nodded. "We've also been through a lot."
Mist grinned. "Why would I piss the woman off I'm trying to get something going with?"
Ren shrugged again, rumbling another chuckle. "I'm unfamiliar with human mating rituals, but I've seen a few females react badly to advances. At least with dragons she just bites you and then it's over with."
Circling above the caravan, Kiara had been quiet, contemplative, which really wasn't like her. Kit didn't comment on it, but he did keep casting curious glances at her over his shoulder. The caravan was trundling steadily, and he could just make out the edge oasis that indicated they were approaching Essyrn on the horizon.
Mist smirked slowly. "At least they're clear about it." Mist sighed slowly. "Ren. You think you can occupy Kit for long enough this evening?" He glanced down at Ren.
The dragon threw him a wink, the gesture surprisingly human. "I believe I can manage that. Perhaps we'll go hunting for smaller sand demons." Although he doubted that the youngling would be completely oblivious, he was confident enough that he could convince Kit to leave their riders be for a while.
"Good. I owe you one." Mist said with a smirk, knowing too well that Ren would most likely make him regret those words.
"I'l hold you to that," Ren chuckled.
Above, Kit and Kiara stalled for a moment, then banked into a shallow dive, swooping over Bran's wagon before soaring back in an arch to land beside their fellow guards.
"I don't think we're stopping today," Kiara said when they were in earshot. "Bran wants to get through the desert as quick as possible, so no midday break."
Mist looked at Kiara and nodded. "Then we'll have to march through. The sooner we're out of this damn desert, the better." He answered with a grin.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," she girl grumbled with a quick, wry grin. Glancing at Ren, she asked, "You wanna stretch your wings? It's definitely cooler up there."
Kit muttered something that sounded like "lucky bastard" and eyed the sand beneath his paws with distaste.
Ren glanced back at his rider. "Up for a flight?"
"Anything to get out of this dreadful heat." He noted as he padded Ren's neck, nodding.
"Enjoy it," Kiara said with a wistful sigh. "We'll handle things down here."
Ren nodded and took to the air, spiraling up over the caravan in ever widening circle. The cooler temperatures and the wind provided by his flight were a great relief, as was the blessed absence of sand.
"First Fires, I hope that Bran person decides to stay the night in the oasis," the dragon muttered, indicating the looming patch of green that was creeping ever closer from the horizon.
"Thanks. Just a little while further," Mist tried to console the pair with this, before Ren took flight. He closed his eyes at the torrent of wind. "That's a relief." He murmured to himself as he looked down at Ren, "I think he is. He might be a first class asshole, but he knows he can't exert his men too much in the desert."
"Well, I suppose that's something at least," the dragon muttered.
Below with the caravan, Kiara was reintroduced to just why she hated the desert so much. Wanting to give Kit a break, she periodically climbed down from his back and walked along beside him, cursing the sand and the sun and herself for taking the damn job.
The good news was that no more sandworms appeared, or really anything else dangerous. One of the traders almost stepped on a scorpion, but that was the extent of excitement they had before the sun was sinking down, kissing the horizon, and the caravan was breaching the edge of the oasis.
"Finally," Ren grumbled, coming in to land on the blessed green and wait for the caravan to catch up.
Mist hopped down from Ren, putting his hands on his belt and looking around. "Seems clear," he turned to Ren, "remember what we discussed." He murmured to his dragon, before turning to wait for the caravan.
Ren rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Yes, yes, I remember, Immortalis," he rumbled eyes holding a rather wickedly teasing glint.
The caravan came trundling up with many sighs and groans of relief from the traders as they set about driving the wagons into a circle. Most of them ran to the small trickle of stream that poured from somewhere further into the oasis, refilling canteens or simply splashing water onto hot, sandy skin.
Kiara and Kit, bringing up the rear, were no different, the girl scooping a handful of water over her hair while kit drank before turning to throw Ren and Mist a quick smile. "And how are you two doing, all nice and cool?" she teased tiredly.
"You just stay hydrated," Mist said, grinning at her. "Keep the teasing for later." He walked to the edge of the oasis, sighing slowly, glancing over to Bran. "Any idea how long before we're out of the desert?"
"Three days from Essyrn," came the curt reply. "And we should be passing by the city just before noon tomorrow."
Several groans met this announcement and he snapped at the men to shut up. Taking a few swigs from her recently refilled water flask, Kiara, Kit trailing behind her, ambled up to the other dragon and rider.
"Better than a week, which is what I thought it was going to be," she murmured to Mist.
"Three days." Mist nodded curtly, before turning to Kiara, he had all the info he needed. "Hm. Three days are still quite a lot, but, we'll get there." He said with a slow sigh. "I just hope the other two days also have an oasis like this to spend the night."
She gave him a crooked smile. "Maybe, but I don't know if we'll get that lucky." Turning to move back toward the dragons, she asked out of sudden curiosity, "You ever been to Essyrn before?"
Kit was pacing in a small circle, apparently intending to bed down. Ren nosed his shoulder to get his attention. "You up for a hunt?"
The younger dragon blinked at him. "I...guess," he said after a moment. "What are we going to hunt out here?"
"Sand demons." A quick, smug look at Mist.
Kit perked up, a challenge lighting his eyes at the idea.
"Don't count on it." Mist said bitterly, before turning around to Kiara. "Never been. Why?" He asked, seeing the smug look Ren gave him and ignoring it. Damn dragon.
She shrugged. "Just curious. We probably won't see much of it, but it really is a beautiful place." Scowling, she added in a mutter, "On the outside at least."
Kit gave her a look, nodding at Ren and opening his mouth. Before he could say anything, Kiara laughed and waved him away. "Go on, have a bit of fun. You won't be able to hunt during the day anyhow, may as well take the chance."
With a croon and an affectionate nuzzle, the black dragon spread his wings and took off. Ren bid Mist farewell with a perfectly innocent, "Don't get into trouble while we're gone," and launched himself after him.
Kiara shook her head, watching them go. "Guess that means it's just us for a while," she said with a small laugh, glancing at Mist. Then her cheeks pinked and she hurriedly backpedaled, "I didn't mean- um, obviously it's not just us, the traders and all...ahem."
"I see." Mist said, bdfore looking at Ren with a grin. "You know me. I always do." He said with a bitter chuckle, before the two went off. He knew exactly Ren was hinting at but chose not to persue it. He turned ro Kiara as she spoke, nodding slowly. "I was actually hoping to speak to you. Alone." He noted as he took several sreps at the edge. "Walk with me?"
"Oh." Her eyebrows went up a bit, but she shrugged and agreed easily, "Sure." As long as they stayed relatively close, there shouldn't be any trouble with Bran and the caravan.
Falling into step beside him, she tilted her head up to look at his profile. "What's on your mind then?"
He coughed slowly. This is never easy. "You and I. There's.. You probably noticed. Something happening." Real smooth. He mentally kicked himself for bringing it up like that.
Her pace stuttered. "O-oh." Well, he certainly didn't beat around the bush. "I, um, noticed," Kiara admitted after a few moments, looking at the ground in front of them.
She'd sort of thought she'd been imagining things, but she'd noticed.
Mist sighed slowly as he stopped in his tracks. "Sorry. I'm bad at these things, Kiara." He grit his teeth, dwallowing slowly. This sentence caused a man who faced a warband of orgs and goblins alone, a man who had already died once, to muster every piece of courage he had in him. "But I'm feeling the same way."
Blinking at him, Kiara came to a stop and turned to face him. "I'm...not good...at this stuff either," she said slowly. Unconsciously, she lifted her arms to wrap around her middle, biting her lip and glancing away. "But, um... If you're- feeling something. And I'm...feeling something-"
Oh dear gods. Why was this so difficult? Her face felt like it was on fire. "Wh-where does that leave us?"
Mist sighed slowly. "In.. Love?" He asked. Kicking himself mentally more for making it sound so cheesy. He was still a man. A warrior who was fearless even in the face of death.
He stepped forward, gently touching Kiara's shoulders with his hands.
Kiara swallowed and licked her lips nervously. "Love is...big," she said quietly, meeting his eyes. She found herself tensing automatically at his touch, but didn't pull away. "It's...a lot more difficult than people think." Her father had taught her that, if nothing else.
Shoulders relaxing a bit, she took a very cautious step toward him. "I'm- not so good at love."
He shook his head. "I don't know the correct term.." He muttered to himself.
Mist let out a faint, awkward laugh. "What makes you think I am?"
She gave a shaky sort of chuckle at that. Sobering, she sighed, "Mist, I..." Kiara bit her lip again, glancing down. Gods, why were words so bloody difficult all of the sudden?
Okay then. Screw words. Tingles and butterflies didn't mean anything unless they actually did something about it, tried to figure out what the hell this thing was. Taking a sharp, fortifying breath, she snapped her eyes back up with a glint of determination and rocked onto the balls of her feet to press her lips to his.
It was rather quick and clumsy, as far as kisses went, but it still sent a spark shivering down her spine. She pulled away quickly, barely giving him time to respond, flushing and taking a step back.
Maybe a little more than butterflies after all.
Mist was at least having an equally difficult time to find the right words. He also preferred to keep his mouth shut this moment. Wich ended up being a pretty good choice when he felt Kiara's lips on his own. The dark elf flustered with a thid, deep purple shade on his cheeks. He took a step closer to Kiara once more, gently squeezing her shoulders as he went to kiss her.
Yet he was hesitating, his face inches away from Kiara's their noses brushing. As if he was waiting for her permission.
Her face felt very warm and she realized vaguely that her breathing was a bit more shallow than normal. For a long moment she simply looked at him, literally nose to nose. Then she let out a quiet breath and closed her eyes, tilting her head back so their lips brushed together again. Not a proper kiss, just a touch, hesitant and questioning.
Mist returned the silent stare for the entire duration,breathing slightl laboured through his nose. His eyes closed to sliths as he felt Kiara's lips on his, wich were cracked and rough due to the desert's drought and heat. He softly pressed forward against Kiara's lips as he fully closed his eyes, his hands still on her shoulders.
Her own lips were dry, and unthinking she flicked her tongue out to wet them, going stock still when she inadvertently traced the line of his lower lip. Kiara's breath hitched and her hands came up to rest lightly against his chest- or at least the chest plate of his armor- and she cautiously repeated the gesture with more awareness.
Mist's hand slid from her shoulders down to her back, gently embracing her. He felt her tongue trailing his lower lip and gently sucked on Kiara's upper lip pulling her closer in the embrace.
"Mm..." The noise was partly spurred on by surprise, partly by the little tingle of pleasure that ran up her spine. Blushing, Kiara let her hands slid up around his neck and rocked forward onto her toes. It was a little awkward to work around the armor, but she found she didn't really mind, not with his hands almost seeming to brand the skin of her back through her tunic.
Mist slowly ran the metal gauntlets up and down her back, pressing gently forward in the kiss, his tongue occasionally brushing against her upper lip.
Swallowing nervously, Kiara parted her lips into the kiss, sliding one hand up to run her fingers rather hesitantly through his hair and moving the other to cup his cheek.
Mist opened his mouth in the kiss aswell, gently going to explore Kiara's mouth, letting out a slow, aporoving sound as she felt her hands on his face and through his hair.
Her breath hitched again and a soft, rumbling hum that was rather reminiscent of the noise a pleased dragon made rose up in her throat. She let the kiss linger a few moments longer, exploring, then pulled away, breathing rather heavily.
"Well. Um. That- that was...nice," she murmured, staring at him with wide eyes.
Mist rested his forehead against hers, opening his eyes as she broke the kiss, he looked her in the eyes. "What.. Did this mean?" He asked. The question directed to himself as much as it was directed to Kiara.
"I-" She licked her lips again, searching his face as though that might offer some sort of answer. "I don't know," she admitted quietly. "But I think..."
Her hand was still on his cheek and she brushed her thumb over his skin, smiling softly. "I think maybe I'd like to find out."
Mist chuckled awkwardly. "That sounds like a plan.." Was what he murmured, still holdong her close. Enjoying the closeness between the two.
Kiara gave a small, slightly awkward smile and stretched up to press another quick peck to his lips. "We, um... We should probably get back," she murmured, voice soft with reluctantance plain in her tone.
Mist snickered slowly, before chuckling softly. "Why should we? We're still in the oasis.."
"Oh. Um-" Well. She supposed he had a point. Smiling a little nervously, she let her hands slide down to clasp around behind his neck.
"What do you suggest we do then?" Kiara murmured, feeling flushed and maybe a little giddy.
Mist hummed in thought, then looked at Kiara. "Perhaps more of this?" He inquired with a soft murmur, before pressing his lips gently against Kiara's again.
That didn't seem like a bad idea to her. She returned the kiss gently, her hands slipping down in an attempt to better grip his shoulders. A small noise of frustration escaped her when she was hindered by his armor.
Mist let out a breathy chuckle, breaking the kiss slowly. "Hindered by the armour?" He inquired with a soft smirk.
Kiara flushed a bit and nodded, giving a small, crooked smile. "Maybe a little..."
"That's an issue.." He said with a sly grin, "since I can't strip down without attracting attention.. And putting on a show for everyone."
She smirked. "Fair enough." She let her head tilt to the side to press a quick kiss to the side of his neck, then stepped away, putting her back to him and glancing over her shoulder at him. "Then what do you say to making good on that promise to return that shoulder rub?" she asked. "I mean, if you're worried about attracting attention- that seems pretty innocent."
The little glint that had entered her eyes was decidedly not innocent.
Mist arched an eyebrow. What the hell was she planning? Scratch that, he had a pretty solid idea of her plans. He grunted slowly in response and pulled the metal guantlets off hastily, throwing them to the ground and putting his hands on her shoulders. "So.. What do I do?"
Chuckling quietly, Kiara turned her head a bit to look at him out of the corner of her eye. "Just start by rubbing little circles with your thumbs," she coached, leaning back into his touch just slightly.
There was definitely a difference with the gauntlets gone, a pleasant warmth that still somehow had her resisting the urge to shiver.
Mist nodded slowly, starting to do as she told, pressing his thumbs down and making small, circular motions. He did look like the epitome of concentration when he did so.
"Oh..." Kiara let her head fall back a bit, surprised by how good that felt. She must have been tenser than she'd realized.
"Not bad for a beginner," she noted lazily, eyes fluttering to half mast.
Mist arched an eyebrow. The sound she just made. He wanted to hear more of that. With a soft smirk, he slowly started to rub her shoulders, more determined this time around.
"Ah- mmm..." His fingers found a particularly persistent knot and she leaned back into his hands. "Okay, that's pretty good," she admitted, voice just a little bit breathy.
The same smirk was still on his face, only widening slightly as she moaned, he pressed down on this particular nod for a longer time, testing a bit to see what various reactions he would get.
Kiara squirmed a bit under his hands, making a small sound against closed lips. "M'kay," she murmured after a moment, slipping away from his touch and turning to face him with rather hazy eyes. "You keep that up and I'm not gonna care much what kinda show we're putting on," she muttered. "So...maybe we should stop."
She really didn't want to stop, but she wasn't exactly interested in drawing the caravan's attention.
Mist nodded slowly with a deep breath, trying to force himself to calm down aswell. He himself had gotten pretty worked up aswell. And he knew Kiara's words rung true. He wouldn't give a single damn if people found them out, if they went on like this.
He sat down with a loud clunk and chuckled slowly. "Perhaps an occassion will pass by." He muttered.
Settling next to him, Kiara hesitantly let her head rest on his shoulder. "Or we could make one," she offered quietly.
A small smirk and she tilted her head back to look at him. "Something tells me you've had a bit of practice with that already. Don't tell me Ren just spontaneously decided he wanted som bonding time with Kit," she teased gently.
"How would we go about that?" Mist asked with a slow chuckle.
Mist arched an eyebrow and nodded with a slow smirk. "I'd have been too nervous if they were around.."
Chuckling, Kiara agreed quietly, "Kit's sort of like having a big brother. A very big brother. He can be a little...protective." Tilting her head slightly and press her lips to his neck, she added teasingly, "But I can't imagine that makes the great Immortalis nervous."
Mist chuckled slowly, putting his arms around her waist. "Perhaps so. A warrior's greatest bane aren't his scars, wounds or mistakes, it are words." He said with another soft chuckle. "A travelling poet told me that.
"Smart guy," Kiara noted, pressing a little closer when his arms came around her. Her eyes flicked back toward the caravan and she gave a quiet sigh.
Looking up at Mist with a lopsided little smile, she said quietly, "It's not gonna be easy to get any time to ourselves for a while you know." She wasn't great with this stuff- whatever this was- under the best of circumstances. The more she thought about it, the more nervous she was getting.
"Yeah.. I know that." Mist said with a soft smirk, "these three days just keep getting longer.." He murmured to himself with a bitter chuckle.
She sighed and let her head fall back a bit. "It won't be so bad," she said quietly after a moment. "I mean- I don't know about you, but the desert's uncomfortable enough as it is. I can't imagine it'd be too appealing to have too much, ah...physical exertion out here."
She paused a moment, then added with a smirk, "Not to mention all the uncomfortable places you might end up getting sand in."
"Still.." Mist murmured as he glanced back to Kiara. This was some spur of the moment thing. He was aroused, sure. But, probably, hopefully, it would be over in the morning. And it wouldn't seem all that bad. He knew himself.
He went really silent at her remark. Nodding slowly. "And I thought getting it in my boots was bad.." Was what he eventually broke the silence with.
Chuckling, Kiara muttered, "Yeah, I think boots would be the least of our worries."
She shifted around so she was crouched more in front of him, reaching up to lay her hands on his shoulders to give her some balance as she stretched up to kiss him again. A small, frustrated sort of noise rose up in her throat as she sat back with a sigh and a grumbled, "Stupid desert."
Mist shivered at the very thought. It would be plain dreadful.
He held her by her shoulders, unsure why Kiara chose to approach it this way. Clumsy and uncomforrtable. He chuckled at her remark, however. "My point exactly."
Her lips twitched a bit and she shook her head, leaning forward to press another kiss to his cheek, still sort of working out the kinks of how to go about doing so.
Settling back against his side, Kiara drew her knees up and rested her chin on them, looking up at him sidelong. "Speaking of getting out of the desert," she started slowly, "where will you go? After this job I mean."
"I don't know," he returned the glance, "where will you go?"
She shrugged, smiling crookedly. "That's never really a question I ask myself," Kiara admitted with a short chuckle. "I just...go. Kit thinks it's the fae blood, gives me wanderlust."
Her mouth snapped closed suddenly and she shot him an almost wary look. It wasn't like her fae heritage was a secret, exactly, but it hadn't been something she'd wanted to just blurt out like that.
Mist looked at her with a smirk. Her discomfort was obvious. Then again. He didn't really care. But well. "What was that? I didn't quite hear that. Think I got some sand in my ears.." He coughed slowly. "I'm also a wanderer. But that's because there was nothing left for me to stay in the ruins of Mir." He smiled at Kiara. "Let's wander together.. And if we decide we get sick of eachother for the time being, we fly seperate ways."
Kiara wrinkled her nose at his teasing, but the expression quickly softened. "That...sounds pretty good, actually," she said softly after a moment of consideration, giving him a small smile
Mist chuckled and pressed a soft kiss on the side of her head. "Leave the good ideas to me.." He said with a chuckle.
She shoved his shoulder lightly, mock scowling at him. "Don't let it go to your head, Immortalis," she muttered, scrunching her nose up at him.
Wandering...together. It had been just her and Kit for so long that the idea seemed almost fantastical. But- not bad. Definitely not bad.
He smirked. "So formal all of a sudden.." Mist chuckled slowly as he bumped his shoulder with hers, before standing up slowly. "I'm going to see if the caravan is fine, wish to join me?" He asked as he extended his hand for Kiara to stand up.
"I suppose we should," Kiara said with a small sigh, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet. "Just- real quick, before we go back."
She rocked up onto her toes to kiss him, letting the touch linger for as long as she dared before she broke away and gave him a rather mischievous grin. "Okay. Now we can go."
Mist arched an eyebrow at the sudden, elongated kiss, closing his eyes and holding her close.
As she broke the kiss, he let out a slow, sighing breath. "Keep doing this.. And I swear by my title that I'll press you against a wagon.." He murmured as released Kiara
That sent a little shiver down her spine and her eyes darkened slightly. "Don't tempt me," she murmured, brushing past him with a deliberate little swing to her hips as she made her way back toward the caravan.
He watched her go with a low grunt. You know what. Fuck it. He wasn't going to wait three days. He closed his left eye, pressing his fingers against it and establishing the link between his eye and the blade. The traders were gathered around a fire and having dinner.
Mist slowly jogged over to Kiara, grabbing her from behind and sushing her. He picked her up and placed her against the closest object he could find to keep them out of sight. More or less. Calen was in the group. So was Bran. Everyone seemed to be gathered around the fire. If they were silent, they might actually pull it off.
Mist pressed himself close to Kiara. "Not a sound.." He whispered slowly, also keeming an eye out for two returning dragons.
A small noise of surprise escaped her when she was suddenly grabbed and Kiara reflexively raised a hand to strike out before she realized it was Mist holding her. Giving a little squeak of protest at being picked up, she nonetheless fell quiet when he shushed her and stared at him, wide eyed.
Then he was pressing in close and her breath was hitching in her throat, heart skipping erratically against her ribs. Eyes flicking over his face and seeing that he'd done that thing again, linked his sight to the sword, she nodded slowly at his words.
[Throwing "M" up to be safe]
((I was planning on PM'ing you about that. xD))
While he couldn't, and wouldn't, wait for three days or even longer, it still didn't mean he would hurt Kiara or do it any other way than gentle and tender. He pressed a soft kiss against her lips, after he murmured something about his armour. For her to take it off, silently.
Kiara leaned into the kiss, reaching up to let her hands trail over his shoulders. Fumbling a little, she started to undo the straps of his armor.
Lucky for her, it was a lot easier to get the stuff off than get it on, apparently. One shoulder plate freed, she slowly bent to lay it on the ground as silently as she could, wrapping an arm around Mist's neck to pull him with her, not breaking the kiss.
Mist followed Kiara down, pulling at the straps of his other shoulderplate as he did. Putting his freed arm around her waist to pull her closer, closing his eye briefly in the kiss.
Now kneeling with him, Kiara did her best to remove the armor on his upper body. She skimmed her hands over his shoulders and chest as the pieces came away, exploring with a feather light touch as she left a quick trail of kisses from his lips to the edge of his jaw.
Mist caught his chestplate and pushed it down in the sand, giving Kiara's ear a soft nibble, his hands resting on thr small of her back, breathing softly, yet a tad audible.
Biting down on a soft sound of encouragement, Kiara set to work on the armor covering his legs, a little more hesitantly than before.
The sand and patches of grass muffled the metallic sounds as she peeled it away. Mist's attention to her ear had her turning her head to the side with a soft sigh, eyes fluttering as she offered him better access.
Mist smirked slightly at her, gently pressing his teeth down on her earlobe. "Y'know.." He whispered, "elves really have sensitive ears.. But it seems humans have aswell.." He stopped teasing her ear for a second and glanced down. "Bck of my knees, Kiara.." He murmured softly as he pressed himself closer to her.
She shivered as his teeth grazed skim, mumbling, "I didn't even know I was sensitive there..." Maybe that was a bit of her fae blood showing through.
Following his guidance, she reached around and blindly fumbled with the straps behind his knees for a moment before she managed to get them off. Then she paused, realizing the advantage leaning over his shoulder to get at the straps had given her, and tilted her head up.
A little hesitantly, she pressed a kiss to the edge of his ear, letting her tongue flick out slightly as she pulled away, gauging his reaction.
Mist let out a short, light and perhaps a tad too feminine of a whimper as she suddenly kissed his ear and flicked it with her tongue. He was surprised he even could make such a sound, but discarded the thoughts and pressed soft kisses against her cheeks as he slowly eased the armour down, before putting his hands back on Kiara's rear, pushing her back against the wagon again.
Delighted with the reaction it got, Kiara kissed his ear again, then nipped lightly, seeing how far she could push. Her back thumped quietly against the wagon and her breath hitched, hands sliding up to press lightly against Mist's back as she tilted her head to trail soft little pecks from just behind his ear to the side of his neck.
Mist let out another rather unmanly whimper. Immediatly regretting having told Kiara that his ears were very sensitive. It really made him look less like the dominant male he wished to preserve. But with the ministrations paid to his ear, it was difficult to stay in that role.
He let out a soft, breathless grunt as he felt Kiara's lips against him, slowly starting to tug at her tunic.
Breaking away for a moment, Kiara helped him pull the tunic off over her head and let it fall to the sand. Her breastband suddenly felt quite restrictive, but she wasn't quite brave enough to take it off just yet.
Smiling wickedly, she leaned back into him to nip at the shell of his other ear, teasing in a whisper, "I thought we were trying to be quiet?"
A delicate shiver slowly ran down Mist spine as she felt Kiara's lips around his other ear. Letting out a ragged groan. "You vixen," was what he murmured with a soft smirk, putting his hand down on her chest, "I'm following your lead, Kiara."
Kiara turned her face into his neck to muffle a soft moan at his touch, arching up into him almost instinctively. "I feel like you're still overdressed," she mumbled, trailing her lips down to his collar and tugging at the hem of his shirt meaningfully.
Mist smirked slowly as he leaned back slightly and pulled his shirt off, for Kiara, before pressing forward against her again with a soft kiss.
Kiara blinked, barely given a moment to take him in before she was kissing him again. "That's just not fair," she grumbled when she broke away for a moment of air, casting an incredulous look at his bare torso.
Mist smirked slowly, a myriad of scars were visible. "Like what you see?" He whispered as he flexed slightly with the same grin. He had quite the buff build, years of training and carrying the armour.
She gave him an arch look. "Oh, I don't know," Kiara muttered. "You have me half naked and pressed against a wagon. I think I like what I see."
The quip was more a cover than anything else, trying to distract herself from her now positively racing heart and the heat the was spreading over her skin.
Mist pressed a soft kiss on Kiara's chin, "good," he murmured with a soft chuckle, "your turn.."
"O-oh. Um..." She swallowed, hard, and slowly reached around to undo the back of her breastband, letting the cloth slip down into the sand.
She tried to resist the urge, but still Kiara found herself folding her arms over her chest and shrinking away from him a bit. She wasn't a shy person by nature, but this was uncharted territory for her.
Mist smiled softly. "You're beautiful," was what he whispered as he tried to edge hery away from her shrinked and shy position with a soft series of short kisses on her lips.
In the meanwhile, his hand slowly made it's way down her belly, slipping gently into her undergarments.
Blushing furiously, Kiara nonetheless allowed herself to be coaxed out of her shell a bit, letting her hands drift to grip his upper arms and leaning into his kisses.
She sucked in a sharp breath as his hand traveled south and went still. "Um, Mist-" Her voice was rather squeaky and she cleared her throat.
Well, she had to tell him sometime. Better now than...later. "Mist I'm a- I mean I've never-" She swallowed and bit her lip, eyes flicking down as her blush darkened.
"Silent.. We don't wanto be found out here.." His concentration on Kiara was momentarily broken as the eye on the blade looked around. No one was coming, nor did anyone seem to notice them.
He looked back at a furiously blushing Kiara and swallowed slowly, nodding. Having caught the last of her words. He pulled his hand back again. "I.. Didn't know.." Mist whispered, "This shouldn't be your first time.. Not here.." He looked back at Kiara and pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead. "That doesn't mean I can't pleasure you.." He whispered huskily.
((If you're getting too uncomfortable, PM me.))
['S'all good, thanks for checking (:]
Kiara blinked at him, momentarily confused. Then his implication became clearer and she turned scarlet. "O-oh. Um..." How was she supposed to respond to that?
"Okay," she whispered slowly, licking her lips nervously and staring at him with rather wide eyes.
Sand demons and orc war bands she could handle. This was terrifying.
((That was also a warning since I'll gradually push it further and further. Alright?))
After another soft, lingering kiss, Mist went down on Kiara. "As quiet as possible," he reminded with a soft whisper. Closing his right eye, he pressed a soft kiss on Kiara's left breast, taking her nipple in his mouth and gently dabbikg hisbtongue nipping against it.
[Gotcha!]
Drawing in another sharp breath, Kiara's hand flew to her mouth to muffle the sound. Her other hand found it's way to the back of Mist's head, fingers tangling in his hair, silently urging him on.
Mist looked up as he felt a hand on his head, giving her a soft gaze with his right eye. He released her breast and moved down, pressing a gentle kiss on her bellybutton, lingering there for several moments.
Trying to force her breathing to even out, Kiara shakily ran her fingers through his hair, the gesture really more to soothe herself than anything else. The muscles in her stomach tightened and she squirmed underneath him a bit, feeling heat begin to pool in her core.
Mist looked up at Kiara, waiting for some kind of confirmation or approval, his right eye still having the same soft gaze in it.
Taking a deep breath, Kiara curved her spine to lean down and kiss the top of Mist's head. Her hand slid from his hair to the hem of her breeches and she pulled slowly, slipping the fabric down around her hips.
Mist pressed another soft kiss underneath her belly button, before he sllwly moved down. Pressing another soft kiss on her sex, looking up at her with his right eye to see her reaction.
She had to cover her mouth again, eyes going wide and breath coming in ragged pants. For a moment Kiara simply held very still, trying to rationalize the foreign sensation with the jolt of pleasure it sent through her.
Then, slowly, she met Mist's gaze and nodded, skin flushed and chest rising and falling rather quickly.
Mist smirked slowly at her reaction and the slow nod, pressing down another kiss. And another. Planting a soft series of kisses before softly flicked his tongue against Kiara's slith, slowly running his tongue across the length of her lavia.
Kiara's head fell back and her spine arched, eyes clenching shut as she pressed one hand against her mouth and clutched desperately for an anchor with the other.
Her fingers found Mist's hair again, burying themselves in it. A very small whimper escaped her at the movements of his tongue and her hand clenched, nails scratching at his scalp.
Mist briefly interrupted his ministrations as he felt Kiara's sharp nails over his scalp, "gently, Kiara," he said with a soft smile, before pressing his lips against her sex once more, this time, pressing his tongue forward to lick between her labia, putting one of his hands on her breast and gently massaging it, his other hand resting on her leg.
"S-sorry." She forced her hand to relax, but then he was at it again, kissing, licking, and both hands flew up to cover her mouth in an effort to muffle a soft moan. She squirmed under him slightly, back thumping lightly against the wagon as she squeezed her eyes shut again, panting against her palms.
"It didn't hurt.." panted briefly before closing his right eye again and heading back to softly licking and kissing Kiara's slith. And he halted momentarily as he heard the stronger reaction. Seemed like she was pretty sensitive at this particular spot.
Mist slowly pressed his tongue forward, prodding against her clitoris with his tongue.
"Mmn-!" Kiara had to bite down on her hand to keep her voice in check. Her legs were trembling, heels digging into the sand in a rather futile attempt to find purchase.
Quite without her permission, her hips gave a little buck while she panted, starting down at him with wide, hazy eyes.
Mist looked up at her again. Such a delightful expression. It caused Mist's right eye to soften in a smile. Still having his tongue pressed against her core and mouth pressed against her sex, he started to hum against her slith, gently licking her clitoris.
Kiara threw her head back, breathing raggedly. She couldn't look at him, not with everything else that was going on down there. It was too much. Her hips bucked forward again and she gave an almost animal whine, the sound muffled against her hands.
And Mist didn't relent, the hand on her leg slipped down anf he started to softly stroke the part his mouth didn't cover. Still gently massaging her breast with his other hand.
Every little touch sent another wave of pleasure through her and she whimpered, the trembling in her legs spreading to the rest of her body. Gods, she never knew she was so sensitive!
Maybe almost too sensitive, because a well timed lick combined with the attentions of his hands had her reaching her peak. Kiara clenched her eyes shut and arched her back, biting down on her hand hard enough to draw blood.
Then she went limp, panting desperately as she collapsed back, eyes still closed.
Mist looked up at Kiara, pulling back after her orgasm and.sitting up to hug her closely, silently panting heatedly himself.
Kiara weakly threw her arms around him, leaning against him while she desperately tried to get her breathing and heart rate back under control.
"You..." she murmured quietly when she could remember how to speak. "That, um...thanks." She winced. Dear gods, she was awkward.
Mist chuckled slbreathlessly, pressing a soft kiss on her cheek. "Don't.. Thank me.." He murmured with a soft pant. He had gotten quite aroused during the entire time.
She nuzzled into his neck, one of her hands trailing from his back over his shoulder to rest against his chest, feeling his heartbeat. "Mist..."
Very slowly, Kiara let her hand trail down. Her breathing was still sharp and ragged, but coherent thought was starting to reestablish itself. "Don't you- do you want-" She flushed, letting her fingers stop at the hem of his breeches.
Soft fingers touched the hem of his undergarments. It send a jolt of pleasure through him. Just that single touch elicited a silent, muffled groan from him. He nodded faintly. "I won't lie.." He murmured breathlessly as he pressed a kiss on her lips.
Kiara swallowed nervously, nodded, and leaned into the kiss. Nipping gently at his lower lip, she slid her hand under the fabric of his clothes and hesitantly wrapped her fingers around him.
Mist slowly pushed his tongue past Kiara's lips, groaning in her mouth as he felt soft and slender fingers wrapping around his length.
Pleased with the reaction she got, Kiara started to move her hand, stroking up and down hesitantly at first, but with slowly building confidence.
She let her tongue flick up to meet Mist's, tilting her head and lifting her free hand to slide her fingers through his hair.
Mist panted slowly in Kiara's mouth, closing his eyes gently as Kiara stroked him softly. Softly pressing his hips forward against her. He broke the kiss and muttered her name in a whisper.
Growing a little bolder, Kiara smiled and pressed a quick trail of kisses down his neck to his chest, then dipped lower, keeping up the rhythm of her hand all the while. Glancing up at Mist through her lashes, she mimicked him from earlier, pressing a kiss to his navel.
Mist bit his lip as he sat back, looking down at Kiara with soft and muffled groans and whimpers. He put a soft hand on Kiara's head and gently wiped away a streak of hair, still panting ever so softly.
Kiara curled her fingers around the hem of his undergarments and pulled down, still watching him all the while. She pressed another kiss just below his navel, almost teasing, looking up at him with a very small smirk for the reactions she was getting.
Mist's head slumped forward with another muffled groan. "Kiara.." He muttered her name in delight, his eye reduced to a slith due to pleasure.
A rather smug smile flashed across her face and she leaned up to catch his lips in a brief kiss, murmuring softly, "Quiet, remember?"
Kiara's eyes flicked down and her cheeks colored. Taking a quick, deep breath, she ducked her head and wrapped her lips around him, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to figure out just what the hell she was doing.
Mist faintly answered to the kiss, weakened by the tentalizing pleasure.
The instant he felt Kiara's breath on his member, he threw his head back with a breathless whimper, gritting his teeth. As he wrapped her lips around it, he let out a ragged but muffled groan, his girth throbbing at the same oace as his rushed heartbeat.
Kiara reached up to grip his hips gently and started to bob her head up and down, cheeks very red and her eyes still closed. She was halting and inexperienced, pulling away every few moments to gasp a breath.
Eventually, she figured out if she wrapped her fingers around him again she didn't have to work her mouth so much and she started to fall into a rhythm, pumping with her hand while she took him into her mouth.
Mist softly stroked Kiara's head as she bobbed up and down, his other hand mressed against the floor and clawing in a tuft of grass. He let out soft and silent whimpers, gasping silently. "H-holy fuck.. Kiara.." He hissed between his teeth.
Well, apparently she was doing something right. Unable to smirk, Kiara hummed a little smugly and glanced up at him, increasing her pace a bit. Her free hand moved to cover his, fingers curving around his wrist.
The humming caused him to whimper once more, he felt Kiara's hand on hers and tolk a hold if it, lacing their fingers together. His hand remained occupied on the top of her head, resting there. He grit his teeth. "Kiara.. I'm close.." He bit out under his heavy pants.
Humming again in acknowledgement, Kiara started working him at a near furious pace, experimentally moving her tongue around his shaft as she took him as deep as she could manage. She squeezed his hand, flicking her eyes up to look at his face.
Mist's head slumped back, groaning lowly, biting his lips. "Kiara.." He softly whispered as he started tremble slowly, his member starting to twitch inside Kiara's mouth.
And with a low, muffled groan, his eyes pinched shut, he came inside Kiara's mouth.
She wasn't surprised, exactly, but she still had to fight the instinct to flinch back. Eyes closed, she swallowed as he finished and sat back, wiping automatically at her mouth with the back of her hand.
Kiara just looked at him for a moment, breathing a little shaky, then leaned forward to kiss him softly, almost questioningly.
Mist looked down at her with a soft pant, before he felt her lips on his, not even caring in the slightest that she just swallowed.
He pressed a soft kiss against Kiara's lips.
Kiara hummed softly into the kiss, letting the touch linger, then pulled away with a small sigh. Shifting away from him a little, she fumbled with her breeches, pulling them back up around her waist, and glanced around for her tunic.
"Well, that was...nice," she said after a moment, looking at him with rather red cheeks and a small smile.
Mist nodded slowly as he pulled his underwear on again, starting to strap himself into the armour once more.
"...Mist?" Kiara turned to him, mouth open to ask a question- but for the life of her she couldn't quite figure out what it was, so she just sighed and mumbled, "Here, let me help with that," and moved forward to assist with the armor.
Mist arched an eyebrow at her, "what's on your mind?" He asked, before she told to help him, he nodded with a soft smile. "Thanks, but, did you want to ask me something?" He said as he rolled his shoulders and adjusted some straps.
Kiara fiddled with one of the straps on his chest plate, then sat back a bit and glanced away, biting at her lower lip. "No. I mean, I did, I guess, I just can't figure out how to- it's not a question exactly."
Blushing at her own fumbling, she ducked her head and muttered, "I just... I'm not usually- I'm not the kind of girl to do this sort of thing." She waved a hand around to indicate their rather hurried little tryst, tucked behind a wagon with a whole caravan a stone's throw away. "I'm...just a little confused, I guess," she admitted in a mumble.
Mist nodded slowly, standing up and offering her a hand up. "This isn't normally my behaviour either.." He said with a slow sigh, "spur of the moment." He murmured to himself.
"Yeah. About that." She took his hand and let him pull her up, but she kept her gaze on the ground, rubbing the back of her neck s her brow furrowed. "See, it's been my experience that...people usually regret spur of the moment decisions..."
There was something soft and vulnerable in her tone that she cursed herself for being unable to hide.
Mist wrapped his arms around her and clunked her against the armour, perhaps a tad harder than he had intended. "That was spur of the moment.. My feelings aren't," he murmured softly at Kiara.
Wincing slightly as she thumped against the metal, Kiara nonetheless returned the hug cautiously. "I believe you," she murmured after a moment. "It's just... Feelings change, Mist."
And she was scared. Scared that he'd change his mind but, if she was being honest, even more scared that he wouldn't. Scared and excited- she wasn't sure if it was a feeling she liked.
"I know they do.." He chuckled slowly, "but, I'm a dark elf.. I'm not sure about humans, but any kind of elf normally sticks to their partner.." He said as he rubbed her back softly.
"Oh. Huh." That was new information. She supposed she'd just sort of assumed that most men were like Aeolthaine- even if she knew it wasn't logical, or fair.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure about most humans either," Kiara said quietly, leaning back to look at him with a lopsided smile. "But then, I'm not entirely human so- who cares?" She stretched up to peck his lips.
Mist smirked at the soft peck. "Sounds good." He said with the same gentle smirk, "let's get back to it." He nodded.
Her eyes flicked in the direction of the caravan and she sighed softly. "Right. We should."
Kiara stepped away from him, biting gently at her bottom lip. "Um- maybe I should go back first?" she offered hesitantly after a moment. "You could wait a minute, then follow. I mean...they might think..."
Normally what people thought didn't bother her, but with this? She was feeling a little self-conscious.
Mist put a hand on her shoulder, "we always slip out and remove ourselves from the group. Arriving seperatly would make them more suspecting," he nodded towards the black figures in the sky, "and I meant getting back to them."
"Oh." She flushed, realizing she'd been so distracted by the situation- well, him- that she hand't noticed the dragons approaching. "Yeah, right."
Smiling, Kiara placed another quick kiss to his cheek before moving toward the most open spot in the oasis, assuming that's where Ren and Kit would land.
The dragons touched down with a massive sandworm clutched between them, looking quite pleased with themselves.
Mist followed Kiara, waving as the two settled down, arching an eyebrow. "You got something nice?"
"Should feed the whole caravan for a day or two," Ren replied smugly. Bumping Kit's shoulder, he added, "The youngling wasn't bad."
To Kiara's surprise, Kit accepted the half-compliment with grace rather than a snarky comment, nudging the older dragon playfully back before stretching his neck down to give her a nuzzle in greeting.
She smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. Then Kit's nostrils flared and he noted, eyes puzzled, "You smell...strange."
Ren laughed, not even bothering to hide it, looking at Mist with a wicked glint in his eyes.
"Is that thing even edible?" Mist asked, puzzled. He was almost eaten by one, more or less, but. That didn't matter for anything.
Mist looked at Ren's laugh, noting the glint in his eyes, he shook his head slowly. Not wanting to discomfort Kiara.
Ren rolled his eyes and shook his head in response. It didn't matter if he said something or not; arousal had a very distinct scent, and the youngling would figure it out eventually.
As if on cue Kit's eyes widened suddenly and he drew his head back, looking between Kiara and Mist. "Oh."
"No," Kiara said firmly, pointing her finger at him. "No, it wasn't- we didn't-" Face scarlet, she threw her hands in the air and stalked toward the flat area the black dragon had been eyeing to bed down before, calling back, "You know what? We am not having this conversation. Ever."
Kit gave Mist a interested and slightly calculating look, then trailed after his rider. Ren looked at the elf. "So. I take it things went well?"
Mist witnessed the scene between Kiara and Kit with a sigh. They'd work it out, eventually. he just didn't want to discomfort Kiara. He looked at Kit, unsure what to say. "Don't be too hard on her." Was what he settled with.
He turned to Ren. "Yes. And no. We're both pretty confused." He answered.
"Hmph." Ren shook his head and huffed with something like fond exasperation. "Two-leggers. Always making things so complicated."
He moved to follow after the other dragon and rider. "Come on. Let's get some rest, I'm sure the caravan will want to move out at first light."
Mist nodded slowly, grabbing one of Ren's spines and pulling himself up. "It's complicated Ren. I don't like it either." He murmured under his breath.
"Why's is it complicated?" the dragon rumbled, at least having the decorum to keep his voice down. "You seem to get along fine. Judging by the way your scents have blended the attraction is pretty mutual. What's the problem?"
"I think she's scared, Ren." He sighed slowly, "but I know I am. The last person I connected to.. Died in my arms."
"Oh." Ren stilled for a moment.
He really wasn't very good at this. Slowly, softly, he murmured, "I'm sorry, Mist." A pause, then he added even more quietly, "Doesn't mean you should give up though."
He shook his head slowly. "Don't." He said with a slow sigh. "And that doesn't mean I will."
Deciding to leave it at that, for now, Ren nodded and settled himself near Kit, who was curled even more tightly around his rider than usual.
Kiara glanced up at them as the dragon settled in and offered a small, much shyer than usual smile.
Mist looked at Kiara and Kit, feeling a bit.. Troubled, for a lack of better wording. "You two alright?" He asked, concern clear on his expression.
"We're fine," Kiara said with a pointed look at her dragon.
Kit snorted but didn't say anything, just curling a little closer around her.
Rolling her eyes, Kiara looked at Mist and gave a small shrug, muttering, "Told you he was protective."
Ren chuckled a bit at that.
"He has any right to be." Mist stood up on Ren's back and stretched, "I'll protect all of you." He murmured, more to himself than to anyone else, before hopping off of Ren's back.
Both dragons gave him a slightly odd look at that, then nodded briefly in acknowledgement. Kiara smiled at him, curling up against Kit's side.
"Get some sleep," she urged quietly. "Got three more long days of travel ahead of us,"
Mist nodded slowly as he sat down against Ren. Seemed like she wasn't ready to sleep together either yet. Well, all in good time. The last thing he wanted to do was pushing Kiara.
He closed his right eye and rested against Ren.
Kiara fell asleep before Kit, and the dragons exchanged a meaningful look, then glanced down at their riders. The younger creature looked up at Ren questioningly, and the gold nodded.
Apparently satisfied with the silent communication, Kit curled himself up and went to sleep.
Mist looked at the two dragons, arching an eyebrow. "What's the plan, Ren?" He asked softly.
"Nothing," Ren rumbled, curving his head around to lay it on the ground. "He just...wants to make sure you're not going to hurt her, that's all." It was a protective impulse he was understanding more and more every day he spent with Mist.
Mist looked at Kit with a soft nod. "I'll make sure she won't be harmed. And I certainly won't," he muttered as he closed his right eye briefly, "I promise."
The black dragon huffed a sleepy acknowledgement, shuffling his wings a bit. Ren chuckled quietly, closing his eyes. "That girl's gonna have more protection than she knows what to do with," he muttered.
Mist petted Ren's side in ackowledgement as he leaned in further, dozing off to sleep after a short while.
Kit was curled so tightly around his rider that when she started tossing and turning in her sleep just before dawn she almost immediately woke him. He glanced down at her, huffing sleepily. "Kia?"
Brow furrowed, Kiara arched her back and made a small whimpering sound. She was having a nightmare. "Kia," he said a little louder, nuzzling her side.
Now Ren was blinking awake, disturbed by the noise.
Mist was still sat against Ren, eyes closed, sleeping slowly. Yet the eye of the blade turned towards the four. "What's wrong?" He asked in the same like trance state.
"One of her nightmares," Kit rumbled. Another nudge to her side and Kiara's eyes flew open as she drew in a sharp breath.
"Wha-what?" Blinking, she looked around, taking in the dragons and Mist, then relaxing when she remembered where she was. "Gods," she groaned, rubbing at her temples and yawning. "Wha' time issit?"
"About dawn." Mist answered without any kind of emotions, the blade staring down at them.
Kiara blinked, confused by his tone, then groaned quietly. "Right. You're doing that freaky sword-sleep-trance thing." Standing, she stretched lazily with another yawn. "You should probably get him up, Ren."
The dragon nodded and nudged his rider's side. "C'mon, Immortalis. Caravan will be moving out soon."
The eye of the corrupted sword slowly closed again and Mist rose with a low groan, stretching slowly, opening both his eyes. "I'm up.. I'm up."
"Morning," Kiara laughed. "Here." She dug some rations out of her pack and tossed them in his direction. "Eat something, then we can saddle up."
Kit snorted at her and she rolled her eyes. "It's a figure of speech, Kitten."
Mist caught the rations with a nod, standing up slowly, looking up at Ren. "That reminds me." He murmured towards Ren with a soft smirk.
The dragon narrowed his eyes at him. "Yes, yes, I know," he grumbled. "There's probably some place in Adela we can find someone to fit a dragon saddle."
Kit snorted softly at that and Ren whipped his head around to snarl at him in warning.
"Alright, alright," Kiara stepped in between them, scowling. "Put the fangs away boys, come on."
Both dragons subsided, grumbling, and she shook her head at Mist, rolling her eyes.
Mist returned the gaze at Kiara, shrugging slowly, before pulling himself on to Ren. "So. Question of the day. First flight?" He glanced around, "I think we can also just both go and scout from the air." He said after a short while.
Nodding, she swung herself up onto Kit's back. "I think we should both fly. Cooler up there, and we get a better look at the oasis, easier to see what's coming."
Ren huffed a quiet agreement and Kit nodded.
Mist nodded, "then let's go." He grabbed a tight hold of one of Ren's spines and nodded.
The dragons took to the air with two quick bounds, spiraling up in lazy circles over the caravan as the traders prepared to move out.
"Well, at least you'll get to see Essyrn from up here, if nothing else," Kiara called over to Mist with a quick smile.
"I'm curious now," he shouted in reply. The elf glanced at their lokg journey ahead and sighed. This was going to be a long and hot day.
As the sun climbed higher the air grew exponentially warmer. Even flying only offered a modicum of relief from the heat, but after several hours the caravan was nearing the walls of Essyrn and Bran seemed to call for a halt.
"You wanna take a pass over the city?" Kiara asked as Ren and Mist circled by them. "Kit and I can keep on guard duty by ourselves for a bit."
"Won't we cause panic if we do?" He asked with a puzzled expression.
Kiara shrugged. "Long as Ren doesn't do anything too threatening- you know, roaring or flaming or something- it should be fine."
"Damn," Ren murmured wryly. "That just takes the fun out of it."
"It really does," Mist fell in with a smirk. "Let's not. Might cause trouble for the caravan." Was his decision after a short while of pondering.
Ren shrugged- he didn't particularly care either way- and Kiara gave a quick, "Suit yourself," as she urged Kit into land.
The gold dragon touched down a moment after his younger counterpart, taking a moment to appreciate the grass of the oasis under his claws as a change from the endless sand with a low rumble.
Mist nodded in acknowledgment at Ren's rumble. "I want to get out of here aswell, he blurted out as he shifted for a more comfortable position.
"Three more days, keep your pants on," Kiara laughed, sliding down to the ground. When Kit gave her an arch look at that, she scowled and flushed, calling the dragon a few choice names.
"Hey." Calen hailed them, moving closer. "You lot want interested in roasting that sandworm your boys brought in?" he asked with a grin, nodding over his shoulder where the other traders were eying the carcass of the thing in the back of one of the wagons.
Mist smirked at Kiara. "I can't begin to fathom how often you have a wrong choice of words," he said with the same soft smirk.
Mist's head snapped towards Calen and he nodded. "Calen. How're you doing?" He asked as he recognised his voice. Before frowning. "Again. I question the edibility of that.. thing."
Sticking her tongue out at Mist, Kiara turned to Calen with a grateful smile and nodded. "Yeah, I'm in." Over her shoulder, she added to the elf, "They're actually not too bad, once they're cooked at least."
Calen grinned, rocking back on his heels and nodding. "I'm doing alright, thanks. Think it was the shock of the heat, before." He quirked an eyebrow. "So should I save you a place?"
"One of them tried to eat me.. I guess I can call that payback,".he said wth a chuckle as he fell into sgep with Kiara, nodding at Calen. "Let's go."
Kiara chuckled quietly as they followed the trader to a place around the small fire that had been started. Someone had apparently already carved the serviceable meat off the dragons' kill and was currently spitting it over the flames.
Sinking onto the ground, Kiara let her hands run over the grass with a small sigh of appreciation. Not as good as a real meadow or glen, but definitely better than sand.
Mist clunked down next to Kiara, rolling his arms as he sat down, folding his legs and resting his hands on his knees.
Almost automatically, Kiara leaned into his side a bit, seeking contact. The scent of cooking meat- even sandworm meat- made her stomach grumble.
Calen chuckled and she wrinkled her nose at him. "Oh, don't tell me the rest of you aren't hungry," she muttered petulantly, folding her arms.
Mist was pretty hungry. Hesitant at first, just the scent caused his stomach to growl a tad louder than Kiara's, pretty loud. He grinned slowly. "My stomach wants revenge on these things," he said with a soft chuckle, putting an arm around Kiara's shoulder.
Kiara noticed Calen's eyebrow inch up at the familiar gesture, but he didn't address it. "Then avenge yourself," he chuckled, passing portions of the meat to both riders.
Kiara dug in quickly. She really was hungry. While sandworm wasn't exactly the most appetizing meal- a little tough and tasteless- it was still better than the endless parade of travel rations they'd been eating.
Mist nodded with a smirk, accepting his portion with a soft 'thanks'. Carefully sniffing the slab of meat. It smelled pretty edible.
Noticing Kiara digging in, he shrugged. What was the worst that could happen. Besides, he was too hungry to pass this up. Like that, he dug in aswell.
"Not bad, right?" Kiara said with a quick grin, glancing up at him sidelong.
"Beats the rations," Mist said with a chuckle, before bumping shoulders, proceeding to eat.
"And there's plenty of it," Dain noted as he plopped down on their other side with his own slab of sandworm meat. "Thank your dragons for us, by the way."
"You could thank them yourself," Kiara noted. "They won't bite." Her lips curved up, eyes glinting, and she added, "Probably."
"Don't let her fool you," he chuckled slowly, "they won't." He chuckled slowly, "they're probably more mature than us."
"Probably," Kiara admitted with a laugh. She saw Calen and Dain relax a bit and realized they may have taken her teasing to heart.
Mist smiled softly. "You want to thank 'em in person, don't you?" He asked with a soft chuckle.
Grinning crookedly, Kiara twisted and waved to Kit and Ren, jerking her head to them to encourage them to come over.
The dragons exchanged a look, shrugged, and ambled closer to the caravan. Calen and Dain glanced at their riders, eyes wide, and Kiara chuckled quietly. "They're really not so bad, once you get to know them."
"Or get your ass saved by them when you become a glorified pincushion," Mist added with a soft grin.
Ren chuckled quietly and nudged his nose against the elf's shoulder affectionately.
"Well. Um..." Calen glanced around, then offered a small smile for the dragons. "Thanks for the grub, then."
Kit snorted softly but nodded in recognition of the thanks and Ren blinked, dipping his head very slightly.
"You two aren't...hungry?" Dain ventured slowly.
Kit shook his head. "Ate last night, caught a smaller one before that one," he said, jerking his head at the roasting sandworm.
Mist softly ran his hand against Ren's snout, smirking gently, before he went back to eating. "Thanks, Ren," he glanced at Kit. "You too." He said with a soft smile.
Both dragons nodded again, Kit perhaps a tad belated as he simply looked at Mist for a moment.
"Well, this should actually be enough to get us through two more days, if we ration it right," Calen noted, gesturing to the meat.
Kiara wrinkled her nose. Better than travel rations maybe, but it was still sandworm. She wasn't sure how she felt about eating it for two days straight.
Mist smirked as he saw Kiara's expression, "it's an improvement, Kiara," he said with a soft chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah," she conceded in a mutter, scrunching her nose at him. "Still. That's an awful lot of sandworm."
Ren huffed quietly, shaking his head in rather patronizing amusement.
Mist chuckled slowly as he put his plate down and sat back with a low stretch.
"Only for a few more days," Calen said, far too brightly in Kiara's opinion.
"Alright, alright," she chuckled. "I get it, guys. Count my blessings, and all that."
"Yeah. We'll pull through," Mist said with a soft sigh, closing his eyes briefly.
Kiara nodded, finishing off her meal and leaning back against Kit's chest. "Thank gods for an oasis, that's all I'll say," she murmured, letting her eyes slide closed to enjoy the brief moment of peace.
"It's a welcome change." Mist agreed with a nod.
Curious, Kiara tilted her head at him and asked without thinking, "Where are you from then, originally? Not the jungle, right?"
Ren blinked, realizing that he'd never quite gotten around to asking that particular question.
Mist glanced at Kiara and shook his head. "I've been with my so called master since birth. I don't really remember it. I was abandoned in the woods for some reason and grew up in a village named Mir. Where I was raised a warrior," he let out a bitter chuckle. "Mir was raided by a warband of orcs, I died there." Mist nodded at the wagon with the blade, "that ressurected me."
Silence met that pronouncement. Kiara just stared at him for a long moment, and suddenly she had a powerful urge to cry.
Taking a breath, she reached over and laid her hand over his gauntleted fingers, not looking at him. She didn't say anything, just squeezed gently. In a similar gesture, Ren wrapped his tail around his rider's side in silence
"Well." Calen blinked, then cleared his throat. "That...sounds like hell."
Mist looked at Calen, shaking his head, "My time in Mir was happy. I was fifteen at the time I died," he grit his teeth, "it was worse than hell to see the entire village razed.. Everyone I loved, dead."
More silence. No one quite knew what to say to that.
Then suddenly one of the traders came trotting over, breaking the silence with the all too cheerful announcement that Bran had given the order to move out again.
Kiara found herself rather dazed, just staring at Mist as around them the caravan began to pack up. Impulsively, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck,, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.
Ren moved just a bit to block them from view, hiding the shift by nudging Kit's shoulder as the black dragon stretched his wings lazily, further shielding them. It seemed like a rather personal moment.
Mist put a hand on Kiara's cheek with a slow sigh, pulling her in closer for a soft hug.
Kiara leaned into the embrace, nudging her head against his gently and letting out a soft breath. Then she pulled away, brushing her hair behind her ears and ducking her eyes.
"We should get moving," she murmured. It was only then she realized she'd kept her grip on his hand.
He nodded slowly, "would be good to not be left behind." He said with a chuckle, gently squeezing her hand.
"Probably, yeah." She smiled softly and impulsively leaned in to peck his cheek again, then stood, arching her back in a quick stretch.
She turned to climb onto Kit's back, then paused. Glancing over her shoulder, she said quietly, "Mist, if you wanna talk...I'm here. Ren's here. Even Kit's here, if you're really desperate." She tried for a slightly lopsided smile.
"Appreciated. But those scars," he pulled himself up on Ren, "they don't heal. I just have to live with them," he said with a bitter smirk.
He looked down at the dragon and patted his neck, "I got friends these past days, meeting you wasn't half bad, Ren."
The dragon craned his neck back to huff at him affectionately and rumbled, "I should hope so."
Kiara swung up onto Kit's back with a nod, quiet and thoughtful. "Let's hit the air then," she murmured.
Ren nodded and fanned his wings, taking off with a quick bound and Kit following close behind.
Mist smirked gently, padding him firmly once more, nodding at Kiara. "Let's go," he answered, before Ren took off into the air again.
Unfortunately, it didn't take them long to leave the oasis. Kiara and Kit sighed in unison as the ground below them shifted back to sand. Sand, sand, sand everywhere.
Ren chuckled wryly, shaking his head. "The desert. Nobody likes the desert."
Mist nodded. "Why would anyone like the desert?" He asked no one in particular, wrinkling his nose.
"Well, there are some people that live here," Kiara noted with a chuckle. The entire population of Essyrn, for example.
"I doubt it's the same here as inside the city." Mist replied as he glanced at Kiara.
She nodded, lips twitching up on one side. "Yes, but there're tribes who actually live in the desert. Crazy people, if you ask me," she muttered.
Kit chuckled. "You know, some might say the way we live is crazy."
Kiara made a face at the back of his head. "Alright, enough with the perspective, you. It's not like you like this place anymore than I do."
"I'd say I'm pretty fucking crazy," Mist fell in, shrugging and smirking slowly.
Kiara laughed and even Kit huffed in amusement. "Well, at least you're in good company, yeah?" she said lightly, looking over at him with a crooked smile.
"Among friends I'd gladly lay my life down for," he gave the two a sincere smile, Ren an acknowledging pat. "I couldn't wish for better company."
Ren crooned quietly, arching his neck in recognition of the touch.
Smiling at Mist softly, Kiara replied, "I appreciate the sentiment. But try to hang onto your life for a while longer, yeah?"
Mist gave Kiara a pretty broad grin, thumping his fist against his armour. "Immortalis," he answered with a chuckle, "I don't know how to stay down. Even if I wanted to."
She rolled her eyes, but her smile stayed in place. "Fair enough." Her gaze drifted down to the caravan, watching as the wagons trundled along below them.
Mist also returned to watch the caravan. "It's surprising we haven't seen a sand demon yet. Those things resembled them closely.. But they were too easy to kill." Mist said as he peered down on the caravan. "Sand demons normally are smaller. And tougher."
Kiara frowned. "I'm not sure I've ever even heard of sand demons before you mentioned them," she noted. "What are they, exactly?"
"Another reason to hate the desert," Ren grumbled.
Mist nodded at Ren's statement. "They are rare. But they feel vibrations through the sand from miles away. You can call them the sharks of the desert. Roughly twice the size of a man, adjustable jaw makes it so they gan swallow a horse whole." He noted with a shudder. "They are armored. Very though to get through. And they tend to hunt for fun, not only food."
Kiara screwed her face up. "Oh, ich. Gods, I'm glad we didn't run into one of those."
Ren snorted derisively. "We could have handled it," he said with easy confidence.
Must shook his head, "I honestly doubt it, Ren. Those things can leap into the air and dive back into the sand." He let out a slow sigh. "I'm pretty sure those things are the reason we get payed a lot."
The dragon just snorted again. "Nothing is immune to fire, not if you make it hot enough."
Kiara kept her piece, but she was frowning a bit, watching the sand below them more warily now. "Either way, I'd rather not have to find out," she muttered after a moment.
"I don't think we'd have the time to react fast enough, " Mist said with a sigh. "But. Enough of this. Just stay wary."
"Right." Both Kit and his rider were on guard as the sun crept ever closer to the horizon, and by the time Ran called a halt for the night Kiara was so tense she thought she might vibrate apart.
"Oh thank gods," she muttered, urging Kit down to land with Ren coming in beside him. "Sleep. I need sleep."
As Bran called for a halt and the dragons came to a rumbling stop, they were met by a loud, ear-splitting mixture of a howl and a roar. Lamenting even. Mist sighed slowly. Ofcourse.
He walked over to the wagon his blade was still slammed into and pulled it out, stepping several steps away from the caravan, into the desert. "Kit. Ren. Kiara. No matter what happens or what you see, you stay with the caravan and defend it," Mist said with a slow sigh. "Don't you dare to try and help me, for your sake. I don't want to hurt any if you," he slowly trodded into the desert with heavy steps, shouldering the enormous blade.
Seemed like another suicide mission. And he was always the first to volunteer. "How much do I get for my left arm?" He inquired softly to the blade.
The horrid cry had both dragons narrowing their eyes in discomfort, snarling, and Kiara covering her ears and she searched wildly for the source. She barely registered Mist's command before he was off, grabbing the sword and heading out into the sand.
Her eyes widened. "Oh, like hell!" Without a word to Kit and Ren, she vaulted off her dragon's back and took off after him.
"Kiara!" Kit lunged forward but Ren knocked into him with a low growl.
"You heard Immortalis," he rumbled. "We stay here and guard the caravan. Mist will send her back, she'll be fine." He hoped.
"Mist!" Kiara grabbed for his armored shoulder as she neared him, scowling. "You can't do this alone," she hissed, eyes snapping fire.
Mist glanced over his shoulder as he felt Kiara's hand on it. "Get back to the caravan," he pulled a small amulet from beneath his armour and pressed it in her hands. "Keep this." He smirked faintly, "gives me a reason to return." He took several steps into the desert.
"It follows vibrations. I'll lead it away from the caravan. Slowly, the sclera of his eyes started to turn black. "Get back to Kit and Ren. Now."
Curling her fingers around the amulet, Kiara stood stock still as she watched him go, shaking her head mutely.
It followed vibrations. She wanted to follow him, but she didn't are move. "You can't do this alone," she repeated, an edge of panic to her voice. "Please, Mist..."
Mist shook his head slowly, "I'm sorry Kiara. This is the only way this can end remotely well. I have to do this," he said, before taking a deep breath. "Kit![/b]" His voice thundered across the desert, "take Kiara and don't land within the next 20 minutes!"
At that, he turned around again, the corruption from the blade slowly crawling up his left arm. With a deep sigh, he started to run through the sand, stomping his feet down with loud clunks, as hard as he could.
"You think he'll listen to you- what the hell?!" Kiara yelped as claws closed around her middle like an iron cage and she was yanked into the air. "Kit, put me down!"
The black dragon didn't respond, just circled above the caravan warily while Ren sank down with a snarl on his lips, guarding from the ground.
Mist nodded at Kit before he started running.
After a solid twenty minutes of stomping his way through the desert, he was at a considerable distance from the caravan. Behind a dune to hide himself from sight. Thank god. He didn't want anyone to see just what this'd look like.
Mist grit his teeth, it was painful, the corruption burrowing a way in his arm, writhing beneath his skin. Before it burst out and attached itself to his armour.
From the caravan, it felt like the air got heavier, pure dread slowly emanating from the spot Mist had run off to.
And after a solid half hour, Mist's figured appeared, limping towards the caravan again, his left arm bloody and oddly shaped, holding the paw of a creature that was twice his own size.
Ren breathed a heavy sigh of relief and lunged across the sand toward his rider as Kit came in to land.
The traders were yammering, asking what had happened, if it was coming back. Kiara ignored them, slapping at Kit's leg for him following Mist's orders before she was chasing after Ren toward the elf.
He looked like he should've been death, his left eye was completely shut, his face covered in blood and various cuts and scrapes, loads of blood spilled from the armour, both running from his torso and his left leg, leaving a bloody trail in his wake.
His right eye was pitch black, his iris a deep shade of crimson. The corruption around his left arm writhing slowly, more blood trickling down as it slowly took what was promised to it, Mist's left arm.
Growling, Ren darted his head forward to sniff at Mist, eyes narrowed in concern. "What did you do?" he rumbled, eyes snapping to his arm and then back up to his face.
"Oh my gods." Kiara's step faltered as she drew closer, then picked up again. "You idiot," she hissed, an edge of panic to her voice. "Where are you hurt? Let me see- oh gods, Mist..."
"I.. Managed to kill the sand demon.." Mist said with a slow, exhausted sigh. "The blade is currently taking my arm.. As promised.." His grip irregularily tightened at the grip, he seemed to be in a bad shape. "I think my leg.. Is snapped in two.. I also got stabbed through my gut.."
He smiled weakly. "I'm tired.."
"Fuck." Kiara just stared at him for a moment, then forced herself to snap into action. "Ren, go back to the caravan and tell them we need some sort of stretcher."
The dragon opened his mouth to protest and she snapped, "Now." She wasn't exactly yelling, but there was a raw anger in her voice that had him obeying silently. Centuries old and incredibly powerful he may be, but he wasn't stupid enough to mess with a female that pissed off.
Turning back to Mist, she muttered, "I'm going to take your armor off, alright? Sit, and try not to move too much, and you can also explain to me what the hell you mean taking your arm as promised."
With a loud clunk, Mist dropped back on the sand, releasing the hilt of the blade, wich immediatly latched on to his hand and proceeded spreading its corruption through it. He was too tired to tell her he'd be alright.
And he wouldn't lie, it was the first time in years that he actually wasn't sure he was going to be 'alright' after this.
"Alright." He answered in response, letting out another pant. "I couldn't handle that.. Thing alone.. So I sacrificed my arm.."
Dropping down next to him, Kiara hurried began undoing the straps of his armor, eyes darting warily toward the blade and...whatever it was doing.
"What does that mean, you sacrificed it?" she muttered, frowning as she worked off his chest and shoulder plates. "Of course you couldn't handle it alone! Why didn't you at least take Ren with you?"
"Even if I died, I would've managed to lead it away from you guys.. And wound it enough to let it leave you alone." He said with a soft hiss of pain as Kiara fiddled with the armour.
"You're an idiot," Kiara muttered again, scowling as she laid most of his armor out on the sand. "And you still didn't answer me- what do you mean you sacrificed your arm?"
"You can call me whatever.." He said with a chuckle. "I offered it up to the sword.. It gave me power in return."
"Offered it...so it's going to- eat your arm?" she demanded incredulously, staring at him for a moment before she ducked her head to take a proper look at his wounds.
"Essentially.. Yes. I won't lose it.. I can still use it.. It's just that I now can't physically get rid of it.." He said with a slow breath, the armour around his left arm wasn't able to be taken off, merging with the corruption and melting together with his skin.
"Oh gods, Mist..." Kiara murmured. She reached out to touch his arm, then hesitated. "Why didn't you let us help you?" She knew he'd probably just say something else about protecting them, but she couldn't stop the words from spilling out of her mouth.
He put his right arm on her head and softly bumped heads with her, smiling weakly. "Because I'm an idiot," he murmured with a soft whimper. "An idiot.. Who doesn't wanna see.. Friends in trouble."
She sniffed, reaching out to gently tangle her fingers in his hair. "We don't wanna see you in trouble, either," she mumbled, biting her lip and clenching her eyes shut to fight back the sudden urge to cry.
She could hear some traders approaching, hopefully with some sort of stretcher so they could get Mist back to the caravan.
"I'm.. Selfish like that." Mist said with a pained chuckle, slowly losing conciousness as he leaned down on Kiara, closing his eyes slowly, "let me sleep.. Just for a little bit," he whispered weakly.
"Mist? Mist!" Kiara wrapped her arms around him, sort of cradling him against her. She wasn't sure if she should let him pass out. Did that mean he had a head injury?
"Hey, take it easy." A hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Calen and a few other traders, Ren with them. "Let him sleep, let's get him in a wagon."
Mist let out a slow sigh, faintly sounding like the word 'sorry', before he fully leaçed against Kiara, eyes closed.
Holding the elf as gently as she could, Kiara looked up to meet Ren's eyes and saw her own worry reflected there. In silence, they helped the traders get Mist onto the stretcher and the gold dragon dragged it back tot he caravan.
Bran simply waited until they managed to get him in the back of a wagon before giving the order to move out again. Kiara gave Ren's neck a pat- it was as much reassurance as she could muster up- and mounted Kit so they could take to the air, circling above the caravan while Ren trailed after Mist's wagon rather like a lost puppy.
The hilt slipped from his hand as he was picked up, yet the blade immediatly latched on, not wishing to part from its wielder.
In the wagon, the writhing flesh corruption slowly crawled up his arm, digging into his flesh. Mist still was unconcious.
Ren, feeling helpless and hating it, leaned his head forward into the wagon and huffed, nosing Mist's good arm gently.
Damn sword. He kept casting it glares, but he didn't dare try to remove it.
As Ren did so, he stirred slightly, before groaning in pain and gritting his teeth. Whatever the blade was doing. It was painful.
Days passed. Kiara and Kit did their best to remain professional, even convincing Ren to take a few shifts flying above the caravan instead of trailing behind the wagon where Mist was still lying unconscious.
Kiara spent as much time as she could manage in the wagon with him, getting him to drink water when she could and talking quietly to Ren.
It was a sort of haze of heat and worry for the girl and the two dragons, and not even the caravan's approach to the edge of the desert could break it.
Several hours after they crossed the desert's border, Mist's eyes shot open and he swiftly sat up straight, his arm having been completely consumed by the corruption.
"Mist!" Kiara started toward him, then stopped, awkwardly reaching out for him with one hand while she perched on her knees in the back of the wagon.
Then she breathed a quiet, "Thank gods you're awake," before turning to shout, "Ren!"
The gold dragon came rocketing out of the sky, landing just behind the wagon with narrowed eyes and a concerned rumble. He didn't say anything, just stuck his head forward and nosed at Mist, checking for injury.
It didn't get through, her shouting, the hand reached out for him, he looked at the metal claw that replaced his arm with wide eyes. His skin colored a pale shade of the usual dark grey.
Not even the nudge of Ren's snout came through, initially, before he blinked slowly and looked around. "How long have I been out for?"
"Almost three days," the dragon rumbled. "Kiara or I has been with you the whole time. That- thing..." He glared at the sword. "It wouldn't let go of you."
The young woman just stared in silence, the abruptly slid to the edge of the wagon and jumped down onto the ground. "I'll...get some food or something," she mumbled, voice thick.
The last thing she needed was for them to see her cry.
Mist nodded slowly, clenching the black claw. He couldn't feel his arm. Seemed the corruption had completely taken it. As per agreement. He smiled faintly at Ren, "as I expected." He answered, watching Kiara as she went, feeling a sharp sting in his chest.
Heartache. It's been such a long time.
He glanced back at Ren. "Sorry," was all he could muster.
"You should be," the dragon growled, worry and a feeling of helplessness translating into frustration. "Crows and storms, boy, what could you possibly have been thinking?"
In contrast to his sharp tone, he nudged his head forward again and nosed the elf's shoulder, giving out a tired and letting his eyes slide closed.
Mist nodded slowly, grabbing Ren's snout softly and resting his head on Ren's, closing his eyes. "I truly am. I needed you and Kit to guard the caravan.. I didn't want you to see me the way I was aswell."
He took a deep sigh. "It was nightmarish."
Ren gave a soft croon and nudged his nose into his rider's chest. "Damned stupid thing to do, all the same," he muttered, though most of the bite had left his tone.
Kiara, returning to the wagon bearing some bread and a full water flask, paused, not wanting to interrupt them.
The gold dragon heard her approach and shuffled slightly to the side, beckoning her closer with a flick of his tail. Kiara moved up to the back of the wagon and held the food and water out, keeping her eyes downcast in the hopes that it would hide the obvious signs of tears.
"Try to eat something, you need it."
"I know." He made a soft sushing sound, "I know."
Ren stepped aside and Kiara entered, he looked down at her, putting the corrupted hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for watching over me," he said, sighing slowly. "And sorry."
She started slightly and stared at his hand as though it was some entirely foreign thing, eyes rather dazed and glassy.
"Of course," Kiara mumbled, blinking and looking back to his face. "And- I know you're sorry."
It didn't make her feel much better though. Sitting by his side, watching some force she couldn't control eat away at him, had put her scarily in mind of watching her mother die.
"I need to get to Kit," she said softly, pulling away from him. "Eat. And drink that water, I mean it." She turned and moved a little away from the caravan, whistling for the black dragon who came diving down from his constant circling of the wagons.
Damnit. That really broke his heart. Her tired look, exhausted behaviour. He could tell she cried. He grit his teeth slowly, before he put his still elf arm on her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug, closing his eyes. "I hate to see you like that," he whispered softly, before breaking the hug.
He nodded as she stated she needed to get back to Kit, sighing slowly. "I will, I'll get outside as soon as I can."
"You need rest," Kiara and Ren said in unison. The girl forced the best smile she could manage.
"We're out of the desert now, literally. Just- take care of yourself for a while."
Mist nodded slowly, sighing, looking at his arm again. "Perhaps I can.. Learn to control it," he whispered to himself, glancing at the sword. It never showed sighs of wishing to take over his body. It never showed signs of dominance or anger. Mist himself struck the deal and offered his arm, rather than the sword.
Perhaps there was a way. He smirked faintly, taking a swig from the water, "I hate staying down."
Kiara didn't say anything, just swinging up onto Kit's back and patting his side to urge him into the air.
Ren shook his head, eyes flicking from his rider to the sword. "Well. I suppose if any two-legger has that kind of fortitude it's you, Immortalis."
He took a bite from the bread. "I know," he said as he chewed the piece before swallowing it. "What happened to that sand demon's corpse?"
The dragon shook his head. "Bran ordered us to move out before anyone could really investigate it. then Kit had to take on most of guard duty because the girl and I..."
He trailed off and looked away with a huff. "We never went back to look for it."
Mist shook his head with a sigh. "Doesn't matter, I'm just glad you're fine." He scooted forward slightly, putting a hand on Ren's nose. "You're tired, aren't'cha?" He felt another sting in his heart, "you and Kiara."
Ren huffed. "I'm nearly half a millenia old, a few days without sleep doesn't bother me." Well. Much. "The girl is tired though," he agreed in a slightly quieter voice. "We...talked. While you were out. She's actually quite intriguing. I approve."
Mist arched an eyebrow. "I wasn't asking for your approval." He pushed himself up to his feet, hopping down from the wagon, shaking the corrupted arm. "I'm feeling fine," he glanced at Ren, halting any arguments against this. "Take me up to Kit and Kiara, she needs to sleep," he said, before downig the last of his water and putting the last piece of bread in his mouth.
He grumbled but complied, crouching down so Mist could climb onto his back. "She's just a stubborn as you are, or nearly," he warned. "Not gonna be easy to convince her to take a break."
He shrugged slowly, "she told me to take it easy. I'm taking it easy. Now it's her turn," he said with a slow sigh. "Besides, I've been on my ass for three days."
Ren shrugged, launching into the air. "It's not me you have to convince, Mist."
Seeing the other dragon approaching, Kit swooped closer. "Problem?" Kiara called. She frowned when she saw Ren was carrying his rider. "I told you to rest."
Mist quirked an eyebrow, "I've rested for the past three days. You rest," he sighed slowly. "Please, Kiara. I'll keep guard for now." He did come across as a tad too desperate in his own eyes.
Something in his tone made her falter a bit, then Kiara straightened her shoulders and shook her head. "No. I'm fine. If you're not going to rest, I can at least work with you so when you pass out someone's there to back you up."
There was just a bit of bitterness in her tone.
Mist shook his head. Then it had to be the other way. "I wasn't requesting. Kiara. Go rest now." He said, his voice harsh and commanding this time around. "I got Ren to back me up, if need be. You're no use when tired. You only endanger yourself and possible others. Go. Rest."
Normally, Kiara probably would have admitted his logic made sense and caved.
But she was tired, and angry, and horribly sad. And her reflex was to snap back against the command in his tone.
"You don't own me, Immortalis," she spat. "I'll do what I damn well please."
Ren growled and Kit rumbled worriedly, "Kia..."
"No." She leaned over her dragon's neck and urged him forward, trying to circle away from Ren and Mist.
Mist nodded at Ren. "You can keep up." He noted. Trusting Ren enough.
"I dont own you, Kiara," he stated with a sigh, gritting his teeth to hold back his own tears, "I care for you. And I know you well.enough to say with certainty that you don't want Ren nor Kit to be hurt because of your fault."
She flinched as though he'd physically struck her.
"That's not fair," Kiara muttered, gritting her teeth and glancing over at him with suspiciously bright eyes. "That- was a low blow."
"Kia, I'm landing," Kit murmured. She made no protest as he banked into a shallow dive, swiping a hand angrily across her eyes.
Ren let out a sharp breath. "Well. I told you she's stubborn."
"Hurt myself more than you with saying that," he muttered to himself. He let out a soft sigh. "I know Ren. But right now, even if she is mad and sad, she needs to sleep."
"I'm not arguing," the dragon rumbled easily, watching Kit land below them and urge Kiara into one of the wagons. "Even she knows she needs rest, she's just not happy about it."
Mist nodded slowly, sitting back. "Has anyone mentioned how long we still have to travel?"
"Two days, I think. Just to get us through the plains," Ren replied, nodding to the land below them that had changed from sand to scrubby grasses that were growing ever taller.
"I see, two days huh."' Mist let out a faint smirk. "I'm glad you all saw this side of me in time. We can part after those two days. Both you and Kiara if desired."
Ren snorted, honestly surprised by that. "I'm not going anywhere, Immortalis," he rumbled. He didn't even have to think about it.
He really couldn't speak for Kiara though.
"Then it's just you and me, Ren," he noted, "I'm not going to put Kiara through this. Even though it breaks my heart."
The dragon was silent for a long moment. Then he noted quietly, "You're welcome to try, Mist. But I think that girl's even more stubborn than you are. She may be harder to shake than you think."
"I know you are resilient Ren. I'm scared she'll end up hurt,".he sughed. "I get in loads of trouble."
"Perhaps it's not my place," Ren said slowly. "But she's not some wilting maiden. She seems to know how to handle herself."
"I know, Ren," he sighed slowly. "Still. I am concerned."
The dragon huffed a sigh. "Wish I had the answers, my friend." He fell silent, watching the caravan- and Kit and Kiara, trundle along below them.
Mist also remained silent, merely looking over the horizon. "Am I too harsh," his question broke the brief silence.
"About what?" Ren replied, twisting his head to glance back at him. "Kiara?" He shrugged. "You're trying to protect her. Even she understands that."
"I think so too," he sighed deeply. "Still."
Not quite knowing how to reassure him, Ren fell silent with a comforting sort of rumble.
It wasn't too long later that Bran called a halt below them and Ren circled above the caravan a few times before coming in to land.
Mist slid down from Ren as they landed, petting the corrupted hand on his flank, before lingering in the touch and looking at said hand, shaking his slowly after a brief moment.
Ren gave his hand a look as well, then flicked his eyes to his rider's face. "Does that hurt?"
"Not for the moment," he answered, clenching his fist and turning around. "It will, no doubt. When I exert myself."
Huffing, eyes narrowed, Ren let that be. It wasn't as though he could really do anything.
Before he could say anything else though, one of the traders came forward and gave them a wave. Calen.
"Good to see you up," he told Mist with a smile, eyes flicking to his hand and then away quickly.
Mist nodded, subconciously leaning against Ren with the arm behind his back, trying to keep it from sight. "Thanks. How did the rest of the journey go when I was out?" He inquired with a frown. No one really did give him the details.
"Pretty uneventful, really." Calen shrugged. "Hot. Dry. Sandy. Your girl and her dragon took out another sandworm, smaller one, but that was the most excitement we got."
Ren nodded, realizing he'd forgotten to mention that.
Mist arched an eyebrow. "My.. Girl?" He inquired, doubt in his voice.
"Yeah." Calen blinked, then backpedaled, "Um, isn't she? I just sorta figured, what with how close she was sticking to you when you were out..."
Mist.let out a slow sigh, "it's complicated, Calen." He said as he looked up at the trader with a sheepish smirk.
"Huh." The trader arched an eyebrow, but didn't press. "Well, your complicated has been passed out in that wagon for an hour now, if you wanna check on her." He nodded at one of the back wagons of the train where Kit was curled up.
Mist nodded slowly as he stood up straight. "Let's go, Ren," he said with a glance to the dragon, walking past Calen with a 'thanks', heading to the wagon.
He nodded at Kit as he reached the wagon, "how is she?" He inquired as he glanced inside.
The black dragon lifted his head slightly at their approach. "Tired," he rumbled quietly, nodding toward the bed of the wagon where Kiara was curled up, almost childlike, brow furrowed in her sleep.
Mist nodded as he slowly sat down on the edge, trying his best.not.to.wake Kiara. "I won't disturb her, then," he whispered to Kit.
Nodding, Kit cast his rider a soft, slightly concerned look before laying his head back down on his forepaws. Ren sat next to him, shuffling his wings as he settled down.
Stirring just slightly, Kiara's small frown deepened and she arched her back, then settled again, curling up even tighter.
Mist watched her briefly as she stirred, but soon found his attention turning back to the horizon. He was glad she could get some sleep.
A small sound escaped Kiara as she slept, an almost-whimper, that might have contained the word "Mother" but was a little too soft to tell.
Kit sighed unhappily, looking at her. "She's been getting nightmares," he rumbled quietly. "They never used to happen this often before-"
Another whimper from Kiara, this one clearly "Mist" and then a softer "please".
Mist nodded at Kit as he stood up again, pulling his right arm's armour and his chestplate off, putting them in the cart before he stepped in, putting a soft hand ln Kiara's shoulder.
The young woman stilled at the touch, then sighed softly and unconsciously curled toward him, drawn to the contact.
"How are you feeling then?" Kit asked the elf softly, looking between Mist and his rider.
Mist glanced at Kit. "I'm fine,"' he looked back down at the sleeping Kiara,."thanks for asking."
At that, he laid himself down next to her, softly embracing her. Hoping to.comfort her during her haunting nightlares.
Miraculously, Kiara almost immediately seemed to settle. There was still a distinct line between her brows, but the whimpering and shifting had at least stopped.
Glancing up at Mist, Kit rumbled, almost reluctantly, "She really does care about you, you know. That's why she was so angry."
"I know," Mist whispered in response. He intwined the claws of hisbcorrupted hand with her fingers, resting his chin on her shoulder and closing his eyes briefly. He wanted to teach her that she didn't need to fear the corruption. He still controlled the arm.
A small breath escaped Kiara's lips and she instinctively pressed back against him, her fingers tightening around his. "I'm sorry," she whispered, still asleep. "I'm so sorry...please don't leave."
Kit snorted, staring at his rider in mild surprise.
Mist made soft sushing sounds as he slowly ran his normal thumb across her cheek. "I'm not leaving," he murmured silently.
Ren snorted softly at that as Kiara settled again, her breathing evening out slightly. He gave his rider an arch look, wondering if he really meant that or if the elf still planned to leave the other dragon and rider at the end of this job.
Mist didn't notice the look Ren gave him, too focussed on having Kiara sleep properly.
Deciding to just let their riders have the moment of peace, the dragons settled down a bit closer to the wagon and let out almost simultaneous sighs. Kit's eyes slid closed and Ren cast another glance up at the two-leggers before doing the same.
Mist also let out a soft sigh, pulling Kiara closer as he did. He couldn't help but fall asleep slowly himself.
Thoroughly exhausted by the last few days, Kiara slept pretty soundly until just before dawn when she started to toss and turn again, giving a soft little whine and suddenly gripping Mist's hand tightly.
Mist woke slowly, saueezing Kiara's hand and pulling her.closer, pressing a soft kiss on her cheek.
With a quiet, jerky gasp, Kiara blinked awake, blearily registering the feeling of being held and starting to struggle before she recognized the claw-like hand holding hers.
"Mist," she breathed out, relaxing. She was too tired to remember she was angry with him.
Mist slowly sushed her as she struggled against him. She relaxed as.she knew it was him, causing Mist to smile softly. How cute.
"Just sleep," Mist murmured softly as he gently squeezed her hand.
Blinking sleepily, Kiara gave a rather bleary shake of her head and started to try to sit up, mumbling, "Wha'time issit?"
What time was it actually? "Almost morning," he murmured after a quick glance, softly pressing for her to sleep some more.
She sighed, allowing him to pull her back down but protesting tiredly, "We'll be heading out soon, we should..." A yawn. "We should get ready..."
Mist pressed a soft kiss in her neck, "we still have time," he murmured silently.
Kiara let out a soft, shuddering breath at the touch, eyes drifting closed again. She was just so tired...
"We really can't sleep much longer," she protested quietly, giving a valiant effort to keep her eyes open and failing.
Mist let out a soft breath against her neck again. "The dragons'll wake us when needed," he whispered in response, pulling her closer.
"Mm..." Twisting in his hold, Kiara turned so they were laying face to face and tucked her head up under his chin. At this point, she was half convinced she was dreaming.
"You scared me," she mumbled sleepily, pressing a little closer against him. "I though you weren't going to wake up."
"I'm sorry," he murmured softly, "it had to be done." Mist smiled softly.
A fully awake Kiara would have argued that, but as it was she just frowned and mumbled something incoherent, one hand clutching impulsively at his upper arm.
Mist still smiled softly and closed his eyes again, breathing slowly as he tried to get back to sleep again.
Kit and Ren, slowly waking with the gradual rise of the sun, saw their riders curled together and looked at each other, silently agreeing to just let them sleep as long as possible.
Even when Bran gave the order to move out, the younger dragon snarled quietly at the trader who approached the back of the wagon, apparently intending to grab something.
The sound woke Kiara slightly and she gave a hazy groan, burrowing a little further against Mist.
Mist didn't seem to wake up at the snarl, letting out a soft snort in return, but just softly enforcing his grip on Kiara.
The wagon lurched into motion and Kiara was suddenly startled fully awake. Eyes wide, she tried to bolt upright but found herself held quite securely against Mist's chest.
"Mist? Hey, Mist." She really didn't want to wake him, he probably needed the sleep, but she knew she and Kit at least needed to get moving.
Mist snorted as he opened his eyes slowly, "five more minutes," he murmured faintly, before actually waking up and releasing Kiara. "Morning.." He muttered as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head.
"Morning." She just stared at him for a moment, frowning as she tried to work out who exactly they'd wound up sleeping so close together. It seemed she was still having trouble working out what she'd dreamed and what had actually happened.
"You should get some more sleep," Kiara said briskly after a moment, turning away from him. "Kit and I can handle things for a while."
Mist put a soft hand on her shoulder and gathered his armour with his free hand, the corrupted hand, starting to pull it on. "No, I've rested plenty." He slowly sighed. "I'm recovered enough, Kiara."
She shrugged, ducking her head so she wouldn't have to look at his face. "If you say so," she murmured, sliding a little closer to the edge of the wagon but not moving completely away from his touch.
Mist let out a slow sigh. "Talk to me, Kiara," he softly squeezed her shoulder. "I'm right here."
Her brow furrowed and she twisted her head to look at him over her shoulder. "For now," she challenged. "Until something else happens and you decided you have to protect us and run off alone to get yourself killed."
"I had no choice," he said with a soft sigh, "I didn't want to endanger you. Back there.. I didn't have a sentient mind.. I just killed what was infront of me." He grit his teeth slowly, "I didn't want any of you to see me like that."
Very slowly, Kiara let out a low breath, tension leaving her shoulders. "I know," she murmured, twisting slightly to look at him better. "I get that, Mist, I do. But- you could have at least taken Ren. If things got bad, he could have flown away. And, more likely, he could have really helped! You wouldn't have had to-"
Her eyes flicked to his corrupted arm, then down, and she gave a sharp sigh. "I thought you might be dead," she mumbled, blinking rapidly.
"I know.. But that meant endangering Renkaryn. Those things are viscious. And flying away would've only led it to the caravan."
He squeezed her shoulder gently and took her hand, putting it against his chest, "Immortalis, remember?" He said with a faint smile.
"You'd better be," Kiara muttered, putting a bit of growl into her voice to try to hide the threat of tears.
Curling her fingers into his shirt, she tugged him forward so she could press a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. Not complete forgiveness, but definitely a reluctant acknowledgement.
Then she leaned away with a quiet quiet sigh. "C'mon. We've still got a job to do."
Mist let out a sad smile, before putting on his armour. The tears she tried to hide, well, they were heard clearly in her voice, even when she tried to hide it with a growl.
"We do," he murmured as he stood up, readjusting the straps on his right arm, then readjusting the blade on his back, pressing a hand against Ren's flank as he fell in step next to the dragon.
Kiara swing herself up into Kit's back, forcing herself to relax as she felt her tension translating through to her dragon. "We can take first flight," she offered, brisk and businesslike.
Ren shrugged, looking btween the elf and the human. "Doesn't matter to me." Now that they were on the plains, the sun was considerably more forgiving.
Mist nodded. "I'll see you later," he answered in response, not mounting Ren, deciding he'd walk today aswell.
Dragon and girl nodded in reply and Kit jumped into the air.
Watching them spiral up for a few moments, Ren noted casually, "You can ride, you know. You're still getting your strength back."
Mist shook his head with a soft chuckle. "I'd rather walk for now. I don't want to forget how to," he looked up at Ren. "That would be ridicoulous, no?"
"Fairly," the dragon agreed with a chuckle, glancing down at him. "Suit yourself then. Just don't get lost in this stuff." He flicked his tail through the tall grass to emphasize his point, snorting.
Mist glanced at Ren, chuckling. "Make sure you don't get tangled into something again."
Ren glowered at him. "We will never speak of that," he sniffed, tail flicking back and forth like an irritated cat. "I don't care what you decide to tell people about how we met, but it will not be that."
Mist couldn't surpress his laughter as he put a hand on Ren's flank again. "We can skip straight to the fight if you wish," he said, still grinning broadly.
"Yes." The dragon nodded sharply, giving a soft huff of amusement. "I like that version. We'll go with that version."
"Then we have an agreement," Mist smirked broadly. "I'd offer to spit and shake hands.. But that will be difficult."
"Probably," Ren agreed, huffing a chuckle. "Not least because dragons can't spit. Unless you want a burned hand."
"Actually," Mist looked at the corrupted hand, "apparently, this thing can resist even hellfire." He looked back at Ren. "You wanna test that sometimes?"
The dragon gave him an arch look. "Perhaps," he conceded. "It may be useful in a fight." With a snort, he added, "But perhaps we should wait until both you and your cana are back to full strength, yes?"
Mist nodded slowly. "Perhaps," he said as glanced up at Ren again, grabbing his spine and pulling himself up. "Enough walking."
Ren chuckled quietly and allowed Mist to get settled before he started off in a slow but steady lope behind the caravan.
Glancing around, he noted, "First Fires willing, we should be out of the plains by tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest."
"First fires\" Mist asked Ren, frowning slowly.
"The flame that began the world," Ren replied, as though it should be obvious. "When there was only darkness, the First Fires came into being. All dragons come from the Fire, somehow or another."
Mist nodded slowly, "so these First Fires, are they a deity or a happening?" He inauired with a soft smile.
He considered that for a moment. "Both, I suppose. The First Fires aren't really an entity, but they're sometimes called Mother Flame, which I suppose would be more of a deity than anything else."
Mist nodded slowly. "Do all dragons worship these flames?"
"Every one I've met," Ren replied, nodding. "It's a story passed down to us even in the egg. Actually, it may be more of a racial memory, I'm not entirely sure."
Mist nodded slowly. "I see," was what he murmured, looking at the skies momentarily.
Following his gaze for a moment, Ren craned his neck around to look at his rider. "What about you then?" he asked abruptly. "What do elves worship?"
"You'd be better off asking another. I am a tad special," he sighed slowly. "As a dark elf, I was taught to believe in Nocturne, lady of the night. Dianurne, her sister created the day. But where there's light. There is bound to be darkness. Nocturne made the night. And from that. Everything else grew." Mist chuckled, in Mir. I was taught how dragons were ancient and wise and stood in tiuch with the gods. We looked to them for our advice."
The dragon chuckled quietly. "Wise teachings," he rumbled. Shrugging, he added, "I've heard of cultures that revere my kind in such a way- I assume it has something to do with our powers of flight and flame. Fire is power given form, and the heavens are frequently regarded as the realm of the gods."
He nodded slowly, eyes narrowing a bit in thought. "Yes. Creatures that can connect with both realms must seem divine," he noted without a hint of modesty.
"What was that? I didn't catch that. Your pride was crying out in joy." He said with a soft chuckle.
Ren huffed at him and twisted his neck around to nip lightly at his leg, a playful bit that could probably barely be felt.
"You know, it was only a few days ago you were showing me proper deference," he noted with a smug little sniff.
Mist grinned.and pressed his hand playfully on the bridge of hs nose. "A few days ago, I didn't even expect I'd become a dragon rider."
He snorted. "Neither did I. Actually, I used to look down on others of my kind who entered into such a partnership."
Tilting his head, he mused, "Though now I believe I have a new respect for this...relationship, shall we say. It is far more nuanced than I would have thought."
Mist nodded. "I think I understand. I've been a lonewolf all my life. It's.nice.knowing someone has your back."
"Yes."
Though he certainly wasn't as pissed as Kiara still seemed to be- though the dragon had a feeling there were a lot of other factors at work there- Ren still wasn't thrilled with Mist's solo act.
"Got your back. Someone you could count on to help you in dangerous situations," he muttered rather pointedly.
He glanced down at Ren. "I apologised, Ren. Do you think I enjoy this?" He grit his teeth as he clenched the corrupted claw into a fist. "I lost my arm. I can't feel anything."
He sighed slowly. "Don't tell Kiara.."
Snorting, the dragon craned his head back to look at him, eyes narrowed in concern. With a sigh, he rumbled reluctantly, "I won't. But you should."
"I will.. In time," he said with a soft sigh. "I'm really hurtin' her now," he murmured softly.
Ren shuffled his wings awkwardly, rather unsure what to say. "She know you're trying to protect her," he muttered eventually. "I think...maybe she just needs some time."
Mist shook his head. "It's still hurting her," Mist replied smiling sadly at Ren. "I'm an idiot."
"Well, that goes without saying," the dragon said lightly, trying to joke.
With a sharp huff, he sobered and shook his head. "Just give her time, Mist." A beat of silence, then he added far too innocently, "Or you could always attempt seducing her again. She seemed to be in a pretty good mood after that."
Mist nodded with a faint smirk, before looking down at Ren and snickering. "She'd have to stop being pissed before I can make that happen."
"And we have circled back to give it time," Ren noted, vaguely amused. "She seems to have a dragon's temper- runs hot, but easy to cool again. Just wait it out."
"You were the one advicing I'd try and bed her," Mist noted with a grin. "Regardless of time."
"Well, depending on your skills as a bedmate, I assume the amount of time required for her to forget her anger may vary," the dragon said, lightly taunting.
Mist chuckled slowly, smirking faintly. "Are you doubting me?"
Ren gave him a dragon's smirk and taunted meaningfully, "Talk to me tomorrow morning, Immortalis."
Circling above the caravan, Kit notice that Bran had called a halt before his rider did and snorted to get her attention as he began his descent.
"Just where would we be able to do.it?" He asked with a soft snort.
Ren shrugged, unconcerned. "I don't know, get creative," he suggested as Kit came in to land a few paces away, shuffling his wings.
Kiara gave them a curt nod and slipped off her dragon's back, patting his flank as she started preparing to make camp for the night
"Oh, how I've tried," Mist lamented mockingly before Kit landed.
He turned around and arched an eyebrow at the curt nod and the silent treatment. He sighed slowly and slid down from Ren, falling into step next to Kiara. "Need help?"
It took her a moment longer than was really warranted to answer, "Sure." Kiara nodded toward the pack she'd left in the back of one of the wagons. "Help me grab the bedrolls?"
Her tone was carefully polite, no ice or fire or really much of anything in her voice.
Mist nodded. Not even a witty remark or a joke. She was still angry. Understandable. With a silent nod, he turned around and went to collect the bedrolls.
When he returned, he arched an eyebrow. "Where do you want these?"
Kiara reached for one, starting to say, "I'll bed down with Kit-"
Then she paused, looking at his face. Letting out a slow sigh, she allowed some of the tension to leave her shoulders and murmured, "Why don't you set them over there?" She jerked her head toward the patch of grass the dragons seemed to have claimed for themselves.
After a beat of silence, she added very quietly, "Ren and Kit can guard better if we sleep together and they curl around us."
Mist shook his head and put down the bedrolls, putting the corrupted hand on Kiara's. "We need to talk, Kiara. And I know you're still pissed and hurt. And I deserve it," he murmured softly, "and if you want, I don't mind sleeping apart- well. I do mind, but you get the message."
She just looked at his hand. It was safer than meeting his eyes. "Yes, I'm pissed, and I'm hurt," Kiara murmured quietly. "But I'm not stupid or young enough to think that holding onto that is going to do either of us any good."
She sighed, running her free hand through her hair. "I just- I wish you'd trusted me more, Mist," she said after a moment, biting her lip.
"I trust you completely Kiara. That is why I knew I had to ask you to stay back," he softly squeezed her hand. "It was.disgusting.. I had no mind. No reasoning.. I just killed what moved," he grit his teeth slowly, "I don't want this either." Mist answered as he put his flesh hand on her cheek, softly trying to look her in the eyes. If she did, she'd notice tears.were actually gathering in his eyes. "I can't feel anything through this thing," he muttered as he now looked away.
"I don't want any of this," he whispered faintly.
Kiara let out a sharp breath and tilted her head into his touch, heart aching. "Oh, Mist..." She reached out to cup his face in her hands, turning him back to look at her.
Leaning forward, she hesitated a moment, then pressed a quick, soft kiss to his lips.
He didn't answer the kiss, just shaking his head and stepping back from her, "I'm sorry."
Letting her hands drop back to her sides, Kiara bit her lip and stared at him. "Please don't push me away," she whispered, blinking rapidly in an effort to hold back tears. "Pleas, Mist..."
Mist sighed deeply. "Come 'ere," he murmured softly as he stepped forward with his arms extended. "I won't," he said as he hugged her softly, "I just don't want to see you hurt.."
Kiara wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest, breath hitching as she swallowed around the lump in her throat.
"M'sorry," she mumbled. "I know you were just trying to protect us, and I- I haven't exactly been making this easy..."
Mist smiled sadly as.he pressed a soft kiss on Kiara's head, hugging her closely. "Don't," he murmured softly.
Drawing in a shaky breath, Kiara twisted her head to look at his corrupted arm. "You- you really can't feel this?" she murmured, hesitantly wrapping her fingers around his wrist.
"I can't," he answered with a slow sigh as he put it on her cheek. "It's cold. Dead."
Kiara laid her hand over his for a moment, just staring at his face in silence.
Then she sighed, reaching out to cup his cheek, and murmured, "But you're not." Hesitantly, she leaned forward to kiss him again, just a quick brush of her lips against his.
"You can feel this." It was phrased almost like a question, but her tone held no uncertainty.
Mist smiled faintly. "That.. I can feel that," he whispered as he pressed forward for a tender, and.longer kiss on Kiara's lips.
She leaned into the kiss, eyes falling shut. "Good," Kiara murmured when she broke away for a moment.
Her eyes flicked to the caravan, then to Ren and Kit very pointedly not looking at them as they set about bedding down.
Letting out a shaky sort of breath, she reached up to hold his face between her hands and kissed him again. There was more fire to it this time, and she tilted her head into the touch.
Mist's eyes widened in surprise.at the sudden passion the put forth. He pulled her closer after a moment of hesitation, letting the kiss linger.
After.a short while, he broke the kiss with a soft pant. "We shouldn't get.. Worked up like this," he murmured softly.
"Probably," Kuara agreed, voice just as soft. But she didn't stop kissing him, moving her lips to his jaw, then trailing down his neck.
"Damnit, Kiara," he murmured with a soft breath as he rested both hands on her rear, giving it a soft squeeze. "We need to find somewhere secluded.."
She squeaked softly at the touch, then pressed closer against him. "Grass is pretty tall out here," she said in a rasping sort of whisper. "If we just...take a short walk..."
Ren and Kit exchanged a look, rolling their eyes and tucking their heads under their wings in an effort to block out their riders.
Those words were all he needed to hear as he picked Kiara up and put her over his shoulder, walking away from the camp.
After a short while of stepping, he put her down again and kissed her passionatly, softly pulling her down with as he went to sit down.
Not expecting that particular move, Kiara gave a quiet yelp when he picked her up, clutching at him to steady herself. Then she relaxed with a soft laugh, waiting until he put her down to speak.
"Feeling a little impatient, draga?" she mumbled against his lips, eyes glinting.
Mist let out a soft grunt as he turned and pushed Kiara against the ground, standing bove her. One hand pulled her leg up by the back of her knee, the other stayed on her ass. "I've been waiting for this.." He growled in response as he started to lick her neck slowly.
Kiara squirmed under his touches, giving a soft whimper at the foreign feeling that sent fire racing across her skin. "Me too," she admitted breathlessly, tilting her head back to bare more of her neck.
Smiling wickedly, she reached up and ran her finger over the edge of his ear slowly.
And the gesture of tilting her head back got rewarded, his licks became heavier, slower but, far longer. The ministrations were briefly interrupted as he let out a soft whimper because of his ear.
He softly tugged her tunic. "Clothes," he murmured softly under his breath.
Smirking, Kiara murmured, "You're going to have to move back a bit then," pushing his shoulder lightly so she could work her tunic off over her head.
Tossing it away, she tugged at his shirt plaintively, leaning up to kiss the edge of his jaw. "Your turn."
Mist leaned back slightly, starting to pull off the straps of his armour, discaring his chestplate and right bracer to the side, pulling off his shirt as she pulled it, before leaning down again and pressing another passionate kiss on Kiara's lips.
Breath starting to come a little harder, faster, Kiara leaned back and braced her palms on the ground behind her, kissing him back fiercely.
A little hesitantly, she lifted a hand to the hem of her breeches and started to work them down over her hips, arching her back to get as much contact between them as she could manage.
With some clunks, Mist pulled off his legplates and boots, discarding them to the side aswell, trying to keep his lips on Kiara's as he did.
With a soft grunt, he pressed his hips against Kiara's, stroking his member across her crotch.
"Mm!" Gasping into the kiss, Kiara tore herself away to hide her face against his shoulder, shuddering as little waves of heat shot through her.
"Oh gods, Mist," she murmured, eyes clenched shut. She turned her head slightly to nurse at his neck, then stretched up a bit to nip at his ear, giving her hips a gentle buck against him.
((Perhaps noteworthy, Mist has been 'sterilised' when he was sold into slavery. So, he can't have children. Though, he's hurt in his pride, that's why he asks Ren to wear a saddle. He isn't castrated, though.))
Mist let out a slow grunt as he felt Kiara paying soft attention to his ear, followed by a soft breath as he felt Kiara's hips bucking against him. "Ready," he asked breathlessly.
[Noted!]
Kiara hesitated a moment, then let out a shaky breath. "Yes," she murmured, soft but determined. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him again.
Mist nodded slowly, softly panting still as he angled himself properly and slowly pushed forward against Kiara, letting out a shaky breath as he entered his fellow dragon rider, shuddering at the sensation.
Eyes going wide, Kiara clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a sudden cry of- not quite pain, definitely discomfort.
Breathing raggedly, she clenched her eyes shut and let her head rest against Mist's shoulder, adjusting to the feeling. As the discomfort started to fade, she gave a cautious roll of her hips.
As soon as he had fully pressed his hips against Kiara's, having slid inside of her as far as he could, he remained still, panting slowly, his hand wrapping around Kiara's shoulder. She had to take intiative now, he didn't want to hurt her.
Yet the slow roll was met by a soft groan.
Panting sharply, Kiara rocked her hips up again and moaned quietly as the sensation, clutching at his back. "Hot," she whispered, pressing frantic kisses up his shoulder to his throat. "So hot, Mist..."
For a fire mage, it was surprising to her that the sheer heat was almost uncomfortable. She whimpered, rolling her hips again and gasping.
Mist let out a slow grunt in response, "it's hot.. Alright.." He grunted breathlessly as he caught Kiara's lips in another furious and heated kiss.
Responding almost frantically to the kiss, Kiara threw one arm around his neck and the other around his waist. Growing bolder, she curled her other leg up over his hip and bucked against him, breath escaping her in a stuttering moan as she did.
Mist put his hand on the leg around his hip, slowly starting to move back against her.as he licked Kiara's lips, before.pressing.his tongue in her mouth, groaning and.panting slowly as he picked up the pace.
Kiara let her lips part and flicked her tongue to meet his, starting to shiver lightly as they fell into a rhythm.
"Oh- oh my gods," she gasped out, tearing away for a moment of air. Diving back into the kiss, she moaned quietly and arched her back, tangling her fingers in his hair as she slowly surrendered control.
Mist held his tongue in her mouth as they turned around, Kiara was on top now. Mist's hand ran up her leg and squeezed her buttock again, before lightly spanking it. He broke the kiss momentarily, but he kept thrusting inside Kiara at a soft pace. "Kiara," he bit her name out, "you feel amazing.."
Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood in an effort to keep her voice in check, Kiara started to lift her hips and fall on him.
"Mist," she breathed, leaning down to kiss him, bracing her hands to either side of his head. "I never thought- oh gods." She panted, a low groan rising up in the back of her throat. "So hot," she whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut. "So good, Mist..."
Mist let out a louder groan as Kiara started to match his movements, letting out soft grunts and heavy pants.
"Fuck.. Kiara," he murmured with ragged breath. "Amazing.. Fuck.." He breathed heavily as he closed his eyes, resting.his head back.
Increasing her pace, Kiara rocked her hip against him and suddenly froze, a little cry slipping out of her lips. Something had happened, some touch that had felt even better than the previous ones.
Cautiously, she rolled her hips again and got the same result, gasping. "Oh-! Th-there," she panted, groaning. "Gods, right there, Mist. Please..."
Mist ceased his movements as he felt Kiara freeaing his place. "Did I hurt you?" He whispered the question. Looking down with an expression mixed with desire and confusion.
He let out another soft grunt as she suddenly moved again, followed by a ragged chuckle, pressing a soft kiss in her neck as he angled himself to find the sweet spot, slowly starting to thrust in and out again as he found it.
Breathless and suddenly unable to speak, Kiara clutched him to her, small moans and whimpers tearing out of her with every movement of his hips.
Tilting her head to press fevered kisses over his throat, she felt tension and heat coiling ever tighter in her core. "Ah- gods, I- I can't..." She groaned, biting lightly at his neck as she felt herself creeping closer to the edge.
Mist let out soft groans that turned just a tad louder as he felt Kiara clenching down on him. Becoping a tad less rythmic, more frantic in his movements, trying to constantly hit the same spot, but only succeeding a few times.
Mist groaned loudly as he put both hands on Kiara's rear, squeezing it as he guided her tempo with frantic breaths.
With a sharp gasp that turned into a cry she muffled against his shoulder, Kiara reached her peak and tightened around him, shaking in his hold. She locked her arms around him and let her head fall back, eyes clenched shut as she desperately tried to get her breath back.
Mist let out another groan as he rested his head back aswell, gritting his teeth. "Shit.. Kiara," he bit out with loud panting, bouncing her up and down during her climax.
"Mist..." She bent to trail kisses from his neck over his chest, his unceasing movements making her shudder and groan as she weakly tried to roll her hips to match him.
"I can't.. Any.. Longer," he said with a shaky voice, panting loudly. His movements starting to jar slightly. Only to become more frantic.
Drawing in sharp, panting breaths, Kiara tilted her head to nip at his ear, then drew her tongue along the outer edge. She pressed her hips flush against his, moaning quietly, "Then- then let go."
Mistblet out a soft, elongated moan at the sudden ministrations to his ear, gritting his teeth. With jarring movements, he pressed Kiara all the way down, groaning loudly as he climaxed inside of Kiara. "Oh.. Fuck," he panted out heavily, shuddering as his eyes fluttered shut.
Kiara gave a keening groan and wrapped her arms as tight as she could around his shoulders, shivering as she felt him pulse inside her.
"Gods, Mist," she whispered, clumsily pressing her lips to his neck and feathering kisses over as much skin as she could. "You- I- gods."
"Damn.. Kiara.. You're amazing," he murmured in between pants as his arms wrapped around her shoulders to hug her softly, enjoying the close warmth of her naked body ontop of his.
He also didn't make any move to pull out yet. He was also still quite hard.
She shook her head, giving a wan smile. "I- I didn't really do anything," Kiara muttered, nuzzling his neck lightly.
With a little shift of her hips, she bit down on her lip to muffle a small moan and her eyes fluttered. "You- you're not...done?" she guessed, feeling very much out of her depth.
Mist let out a breathy chuckle, "still." He murmured in response, softly pressing his hips up again. "Unless you want me to be," he answered with a soft kiss on her head.
Kiara shook her head quickly, then blushed at her own response. "No. Um, I- I don't mind," she mumbled, ducking her eyes.
Carefully, she rolled them over so he was on top of her, arms wrapped around his shoulder. Tilting her head, she kissed his lips gently, giving a slow roll of her hips.
Mist smirked faintly, with a soft gesture, his hand rested on her upper leg, the corrupted arm behind her back.
He returned the kiss, softly sucking her lower lip as he moved his hips to meet Kiara's movements.
Kiara moaned quietly into the kiss, flicking her tongue out to trace the line of his upper lip as she started to fall into rhythm with him.
"Mist," she murmured against his mouth, panting softly. Confidence growing, she gave him a smoldering sort of look, eyes flashing fire, and challenged, "Harder."
Mist.grinned softly at the challenge and pulled out slowly, "as you wish," he answered. He sat up slightly and rolled Kiara on her front, putting both his hand and the claw on her rear and spreading it slightly, pressing his member against her, thrusting forward all of a sudden with a loud groan, before pulling back and repeating once more. Building up the pace with forceful thrusts.
"A-ah!" Kiara buried her face in her hands, bucking her hips back against him wantonly. "Oh gods, Mist, yes, yes," she whimpered. Already overly sensitive to him, it didn't take much to make her a writhing, moaning mess.
((It was cana, right?))
Mist let out a deep grunt as he leaned forward. "That's some fire you got there, Cana," he whispered huskily in her ear before he sat up again the forcefully thrust inside of her again. Groaning deeply and panting heavily. His grip occasionally clenching down on her butt.
[Haha, yep!]
Kiara gave a low growl in response, arching her back and throwing her head back. She twisted her neck to look at him over her shoulder, eyes half lidded and smoldering.
"You like it," she panted out. Then another thrust had her head dropping forward again and her hair falling over her shoulders, revealing the tattoo between her shoulder blades. She trembled desperately, giving soft moans and gasps as he took her.
Mist put his hand on her shoulder as she sat and spoke up. "So do you," he answered with a grunt as he pushed her down against the ground again. Not unnescessarily forceful. But clear in the dominance he had over her now.
And he only seemed to grow more agressive with his thrusts. Faster and more forceful.
With every thrust his name was knocked from her lips, intermixed with soft curses. "Holy gods, Mist," Kiara hissed, then gave a low groan.
Something almost animal seemed to rise up in her and she bucked back against him desperately, biting out, "Fuck me, Draga."
She would probably be embarrassed by this later, but in that moment she really couldn't give a damn.
Mist grit his teeth as he squeezed her shoulder, closing his eyes as he kept forcefully pounding her. Panting heavily. "That's what.. I'm doing.. Cana." He groaned out with another deep breath.
Kiara gave a keening sort moan as once again she felt herself climbing toward her peak. "M-Mist, I'm- I-"
With a sharp, almost wailing cry she tumbled over the edge, clenching around him as her body jackknifed up, pressing her back against his chest. Her hands reached back, grasping for his hips and pulling him tighter against her, as though trying to force him deeper.
((I made the thread on remnants if you hadn't noticed yet))
"Fuck.." He gasped out as Kiara pulled his hips desperatly closer. One of his free hands caught her around her chest and held her up as he jackknifed, following the gesture she made.to try and push himself as deep as possible.
[Just replied (:]
"Oh, fuck, Mist," Kiara rasped, eyes squeezed shut. One hand reached back to tangle in his hair and she twisted her head around to catch his lips desperately, shuddering against him.
Mist flicked his tongue out in the rather sloppy kiss, using the thumb of the hand on her ass to spread it slightly, desperatly trying to get deeper.
He let out a soft groan as his eyes fluttered shut. Rolling to the back of his skull as he gyrated against Kiara. His member pulsing inside of her and releasing his second climax deep inside. "Hnngh.. Kiaraaaaa," he groaned out her name.
A third climax followed on the heels of her second at that and Kiara clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a scream.
Whimpering, she all but collapsed in his hold, shaking desperately and murmuring his name in a quiet, endless chant.
Mist let out a soft, shuddering breath in the afterglow of his climax, still holding Kiara against him. With a soft grunt, he put the hand that was previously on her rear on the floor, rolling over with Kiara to hug her closely, pressing soft kisses on her forehead.
Panting rather desperately, Kiara curled back against him as much as she could, letting her eyes drift closed and twisting to pepper little kisses over his shoulder.
"That was...I..." She couldn't actually find words, so she settled for another kiss, this one softer, gentler.
Mist was also panting heavily, hugging Kiara closely in the tall grass. "Amazing.." He murmured to finish her sentence, returning the soft kiss, still breathing heavily through his nose.
Kiara nodded, letting her eyes flutter closed. She shifted around a bit, making a small whimpering sound as he slid out of her, and turned so that she was laying properly against him, chest to chest.
She trailed her lips along his jaw to his neck, nuzzling into him. "Mist..." She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to say, but she felt like she had to say something.
Mist wrapped his hands around her, pressing his lips against her head, chuckling slowly. "I love you too," he murmured in response.
Her heart stuttered in her chest and she went very still for a moment. Then she pressed closer to him, slipping her arms around his neck.
"Are- are you sure?" Her voice was very small, muffled against his chest.
Mist softly ran a hand through her hair, "why else would I state so, Kiara?" He sighed slowly. "I love you."
Kiara bit her lip, glancing up at his face for a moment. "I- I...love you," she murmured, then swallowed hard and dropped her head again, face flushed.
That...was actually easier to say than she would have thought.
Mist smiled softly, huffing softly and nuzzling at the top of her head.
Kiara began to relax, molding herself against him. "We, um...maybe we should get back to the boys?" she murmured, a light shiver running though her as a breeze started to cool the sheen of sweat that covered her skin.
"Yeah.. We'd freeze here.." Mist answered with a slow sigh, pressing her closer momentarily.
She nodded, reluctantly twisting to glance over her shoulder toward where she'd tossed her clothes. "Don't really wanna move," she admitted with a small chuckle.
"You and me both," he answered with a soft hum. "But it's getting cold.." He murmured as he sat up slowly, rubbing the back of his head, starting to gather the pieces of his armour again.
Kiara nodded again, sitting up and leaning over to gather her clothes, shivering again as another breeze swept through the grass.
She pulled her tunic and breeches on and moved to stand, then gave a small, sharp cry and winced as her body protested, sore in places she just wasn't used to being sore.
Mist looked up at her with a soft frown. "You alright?" He asked as he still was pulling on his armour, with loud clunks.
She nodded quickly, getting to her feet with a few winces. "I'm fine. Just- a little sore. I didn't realize it would-"
She flushed and dropped her eyes, clearing her throat. "C'mon, let's get back."
Mist chuckled slowly as he pushed himself to his feet again aswell, putting an arm around Kiara's shoulder. "Yeah. Let's."
Kiara froze, a little surprised at the touch despite everything that had just happened, then relaxed against him as they made their way back toward Ren and Kit.
The dragons were asleep, or at least pretending to be, curled nose to tail.
Mist let go of Kiara as they reached the dragons, pressing a soft kiss on her cheek, whispering 'good night' under his breath, before he carefully stepped over Ren's tail.
"Good night," Kiara murmured in response, watching Mist for a moment before she turned and picked her way over to Kit's side and her bedroll.
Mist said down against Ren's side with a silent clunk. Closing his eyes slowly. Pressing his fingers on his left eye. The eye on the corrupted sword opened slowly.
Kiara curled up against Kit's side and buried herself in her bedroll, casting another glance at Mist before she let her eyes drift closed.
Mist slumped forward slightly, falling asleep at last.
Ren woke first just as the sun was rising, lifting his head and blinking in the growing light. "Youngling," he called quietly, questioning as he twisted his neck to look at Kit.
The black dragon huffed and gave a little nod, shuffling his wings to show that Kiara was still asleep, curled against his side. Ren nodded again and ducked his head down to nudge Mist gentle. "Oi. Immortalis, up you get."
Mist stretched and yawned slowly, putting hisbhands on Ren's snout. "I'm awake.. I'm awake.." He murmured as he opened his eyes. The corrupted blade closing.its eye again.
Ren huffed again, nudging Mist's cheek once before drawing his head back.
Kit had woken Kiara and the young woman groaned, arching her back in a stretch as she sat up. "Mornin'," she mumbled sleepily, patting Kit's flank and waving absently toward Mist and Ren.
Mist got to his feet, pressing.his hand against Ren's nose with a chuckle, before arching an eyebrow.at Kiara, before smirking. "Good morning, sunshine," he answered with a soft and teasing chuckle.
She rolled her eyes at him, grumbling a sleepy insult as she used Kit to clamber to her feet with a groan. Her brow furrowed a bit and she winced slightly, her body protesting and sore in odd places.
"I'm not surprised you're tired," Kit grumbled. "Didn't seem like you actually got much sleep last night."
Kiara flushed, slapping at his shoulder and glaring.
Mist pulled himself up ontop of Ren, stroking the white stubble on his chin. "I should shave," he murmered to himself, beforeblooking at Kit and Kiara, before.glancing at the caravan. "Three guesses what I'm about to ask."
"If anyone heard you?" Ren replied cheekily. Kiara went quite red at the implication and climbed quickly onto Kit's back, eyes down.
"We, uh, we can take first flight," she muttered, still staring at the younger dragon's scales.
Mist couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at Ren's comment. "Did you?" He shook his head. "Did anyone else?" He added. The second really did matter more. He didn't really care whether Ren or Kit heard it. Ren was one he trusted with his life. So he didn't care for him knowing. And Kit. Well. Same for him but with Kiara. Though the rest of the caravan.
Yeah, that would be annoying.
"Of course we did," Ren replied, as though that should be perfectly obvious. Kiara mumbled something that sounded like "dear merciful gods" and buried her face in her hands, cheeks scarlet. Kit gave an awkward little cough.
The dragon shrugged. "Not sure about the caravan. Human ears aren't as good as our, and we only heard the...more enthusiastic moments."
Kiara groaned in embarrassment, dropping her head onto Kit's neck and muttering, "Sorry."
Mist nodded. "I see." He answered as he patted Ren's neck, letting out a soft cough. "Damn your sensitive hearing," he murmured with an awkward chuckle.
Apparently completely unbothered, Ren just huffed a chuckle.
Still blushing furiously, Kiara muttered, "We'll, um, we'll get flying then." She urged Kit to take off.
The gold dragon watched them for a moment, then glanced back at his rider. "So is it safe to say she's no longer angry with you?"
Mist glanced at Kiara with a soft chuckle. While he was just a tad emberassed, he wasn't ashamed as she was. It was quite adorable. And after all, Ren urged him to do so in the first place.
Mist followed Ren's gaze, before he looked down on the golden scales. "I am pretty sure."
"Hmph." Ren gave him a dragon's grin as the caravan started moving and he set off after them. "Well done, Draga."
Kit and Kiara didn't speak for a few minutes, both feeling awkward. They had shared everything since the girl was three years old and the day Kit had hatched- it was strange to now have a part of their lives that was so separate from each other.
Mist couldn't help but smirk faintly at the remark. "You're quite the smug bastard for a dragon, aren't you," he retorted with a slow chuckle.
"I'm quite the smug bastard for just about any creature," Ren retorted shamelessly, then gave a quiet growl as his claws snagged in the tall grass.
Above, Kiara caught movement down on the plains. Circling Kit, she peered closer. A group of riders, traveling perpendicular to the caravan. She bit her lip- if they just kept going, it probably wouldn't be an issue...
"And only you can make it sound like you're supposed to be proud about it," came Mist's retort. A teasing undercurrent in his tone.
Mist didn't notice the riders. As his view was obstructed by trees and wagons.
The riders were getting closer. Kiara frowned and urged Kit to land, coming down just in front of the caravan. "Hold on a moment," she said to Bran, who'd frowned and opened his mouth to- presumably- yell at her.
"Mist, Ren." Kit loped back toward them and she beckoned them closer.
The gold dragon tilted his head. "That was fast," he muttered as he approached.
They stopped. Why did they stop. Mist stood up on Ren's back to get a better look on things as Kiara approached. He frowned and looked at her. "What's wrong, Kiara?" He asked, sushing Ren under his breath.
"Group of riders are getting closer," she said briskly. "They may not be anything too dangerous, but I figured if they see two dragons on guard, they may be less likely to try something."
Mist nodded slowly, sitting back down. "You heard her Ren, to the front."
The dragon nodded, falling into step beside Kit and moving to the front of the caravan.
Kiara was tense, eyes flicking around warily. The last time she'd run into riders on the plains, it definitely had not ended well.
Mist seemed to lean back on Ren lazily. Having a casual outlook. Glancing towards Kiara and back to the riad again.
The caravan was trundling along slowly again, the riders now visible as they steadily approached. Kiara leaned forward on Kit's neck, giving Mist and Ren a quick nod as the younger dragon moved to flank the other side of the train of wagons.
Mist nodded at Kiara, before he glanced forward again, his hand reaching for the hilt on his back. "Shit," he murmured as he realised his sword was in some wagon somewhere.
Ren glanced at him, realized the problem, and let his pace slow to come up beside one of the wagons further back where the blade was buried in the wood.
"Hopefully you won't need it," he muttered. "But just in case..."
With a dry clack of wood and a soft sheen, Mist pulled the corrupted blade out, resting it on the corrupted shoulder. "Thanks," he muttered silently.
Ren nodded, eyeing the now far too close for comfort riders.
Kiara felt every muscle in her body tighten and she sat up straighter, watching as the rider in the lead approached Bran. The leader of the caravan hailed him and started to talk.
Kit and his rider glanced over at Ren and Mist, expressions wary.
Mist returned the glance, before looking back at the horsemen, analyzing their armour and weaponry. If they were carrying.
Like many plains tribesmen, these riders seemed to favor light clothing, spears, and swords. Kiara's eyebrows went up as she heard Bran begin to speak in what seemed to be their native language. She tossed a look at Mist, shrugging slightly.
Mist let out a soft breath as he realised they weren't all carrying blunt morning stars, maces, bludgeons and so on. If they did. They would be slavers. And Mist did hate slavers with a passion.
He relaxed on Ren's back and nodded at Kiara.
Bran said something that was apparently funny and the rider laughed, nodded, and wheeled around to rejoin his troupe.
Kiara let out a sharp breath and let her shoulders slump in relief as the group rode away. Kit wove his way back around to come up beside Ren. "Looks like that went well," Kiara murmured with some relief.
Mist nodded slowly. "Glad it's.something that doesn't try to kill us once in a while," he said with a bitter chuckle.
Kiara's mouth twisted up on one side in a wry smirk. "Well, we had to be due at least one, right?" she said softly as the caravan set off at full pace again.
Glancing to Ren, then back at Mist, she asked, "You two want to take a shift in the air?"
"It's a nice change of pace," Mist agreed with an annoyed snort, before looking down at Ren. "Tell me, you magnificently smug bastard. You want to take.flight?" He asked, a teasing hint in his voice.
Ren preened a bit, completely unashamed. "I could stretch my wings." He gave Kit and Kiara a nod before bounding forward a few steps and taking off to circle over the caravan.
"Then let's go," Mist answered.before Ren bounced forward and took.to the air. "We'll switch in an.hour or so!" He called out as Ren made attitude.
Kiara gave them a jaunty little salute as they climbed higher, content to drift to the back of the caravan with Kit.
"Mating seems to have done wonders for her disposition," the gold dragon noted casually, eyes flicking from the train of wagons out of the plains and back again, still wary. One band of riders may have been reasonably friendly, but the next might not.
"I get the feeling you're proud of me for that." Mist answered with a faint grin.
Ren chuckled as he curved in another wide arc. "Perhaps mildly impressed."
Below, Kiara had slumped forward on Kit's neck and let her eyes drift closed, just for a moment she told herself.
"I'm happy I managed to," he answered with a soft chuckle, patting his neck. "I just love her," he murmured to himself.
Ren huffed quietly at that. "I'll admit I'm unfamiliar with elven customs," he murmured after a moment. "Do your people mate for life?"
"Dark elves normally do. We commit ourself to one other person." He shook his head slowly. "Most of us do." He added.
"Hm." The dragon fell quiet, evidently contemplative. He decided not to mention the heartache that was bound to cause- just because the girl was half fae didn't necessarily mean she would live any longer than a human.
Guessing his thoughtd, Mist sighed. "That's why we two-leggers have difficulties letting go. That's why Kiara was scared and angry."
Ren huffed again, shaking his head. "I'm passing no judgments, Immortalis," he rumbled. "Who you choose for a mate is none of my business."
He glanced down at the other dragon and rider, then added, "Though I believe this one is not a bad choice at all."
Kiara was fully asleep now, Kit craning his neck back every so often to nudge her back into a centered position so she wouldn't slide off his back.
"I would've reacted the same," Mist answered with a sigh. "Someone you hold close, determined to walk towards certain death." He let out a bitter sigh. "It's scary."
Ren was silent for a moment, then he rumbled, "At least you understand why she was upset- why we were all upset, Mist." He gave a quick shrug and muttered, "Better to be suicidal than stupid, I suppose."
The day seemed to pass much more quickly than the ones they'd spent traveling through the desert, and soon enough the sun was dipping ever lower toward the horizon.
Mist nodded slowly. "I know. Don't worry." He said with a soft sigh. He patted Ren's neck as the sun slowly was setting. "Take us down."
The gold dragon nodded and dipped into a dive, coming to land at the head of the caravan as the wagons were stopping and beginning to circle around.
Kiara was awake now, had been for a while, but she was thoroughly embarrassed that she'd been exhausted enough to sleep in the first place. She hailed Mist and Ren as they came in to land, but ducked her head quickly, not urging Kit to meet them.
Mist answered with a slow and lazy wave, before he yawned slowly, stretching his arms and standing up on Ren's back, perching his hand above his eyes to look forward. "Bran planning on stopping?" He asked himself.
Ren huffed. "Seems like," he muttered. The caravan had almost completely formed their little circle now, and he picked his way toward the other dragon and rider.
Mist nodded slowly, sitting back on Ren as he slowly navigated his way over to Kit and Kiara.
"Hey." Kiara gave them a quick nod. "Spot anything interesting up there?
"Except for you," Mist gave her a soft grin, "nothing."
Her cheeks went pink and she ducked her head, coughing awkwardly. Ren chuckled and Kit rolled his eyes.
"We, um- let's get something to eat," the young woman muttered, scrambling down off Kit's back.
Mist also chuckled softly, grinning faintly as he hopped off of Ren's back, falling in step next to Kiara.
The dragons seemed content to curl up in the grass as their riders made their way toward the group of traders.
"Hey." Calen and Dain waved them over as a fire was lit and Kiara offered a small smile, waving in turn as she picked her way across the circle.
Mist raised his hand lazily at the greeting, nodding at the two curtly, before he sat down somewhere in the circle, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms.
The caravan's guards were given their portion of the food and Kiara tucked herself against Mist as subtly as she could manage.
"We should be in Adela tomorrow," she murmured quietly. "Then it's one more day to the trading post, according to Bran."
Mist pressed a soft kiss against her temple, before putting an arm around her waist, nodding slowly. "I see," he took a bite from the rations. "Almost there."
Kiara flushed at the kiss, catching a few looks from Calen and some of the other traders, but she didn't try to move away.
"Almost," she agreed, giving him a small smile. Then she wrinkles her nose at him and reached up to cup his cheek. "You really need to shave," she teased lightly. "You're getting scratchy."
"The only thing I got with an edge is that sword," Mist smirked and jerked at the hilt sticking out from his shoulder. "And believe me, I tried."
"Well, then I guess you'll have to invest in a smaller blade," Kiara said, tossing her hair primly. Lowering no her voice a bit, she teased, "Cause you're not kissing me until you're less scruffy. It itches."
"I guess I'll find a dagger somewhere," Mist answered with a soft shrug. "As if you'd keep that up.." He returned the low-voiced tease.
"Hmph." She turned her face away, sniffing. "Just try me, Immortalis."
She heard Calen give a soft chuckle at that and blushed, realizing belatedly that they weren't exactly being very subtle.
Mist grinned, shaking his head and looking at the campfire for a second, stretching his free arm, before nudging Kiara closer as he heard Calen's chuckoe and saw her hlush from the corner of his eyes.
Finishing her food, Kiara cleared her throat and climbed to her feet, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. "I'm gonna turn in," she murmured, brushing Mist's shoulder as she moved to walk away.
Mist stood up with a soft grunt as she brushed his shoulder, understanding it as some sort of gesture for him to follow her. The elf nodded at the group. "G'night. Don't let the grass snakes bite," he said with a soft chuckle, before falling into step next to Kiara.
The traders murmured their own "good nights" and Kiara threw a wave in their direction. She glanced at Mist as he fell in beside her, smiling a bit. "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to," she murmured, though she was glad he had.
"But, I do want to," Mist retorted with a soft sigh. He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.
Blushing again, Kiara muttered something indiscernible and pressed a little closer to his side as they came up on the dozing dragons.
"C'mon, let's get some shut eye," she said with a sigh, moving toward Kit. Then she paused. "Um...do you want to...?"
Instead of finishing the question, she rolled out her bedroll beside his between the two dragons and looked up at him questioningly.
Mist nodded slowly. Before looking at the bedroll she rolled out. He smiled softly. "Ofcourse," he said with a soft peck on her lips.
She smiled slightly and curled down into the bedroll, teasing, "I meant what I said, Mist. You're too scratchy for kisses."
Mist chuckled softly. "Ofcourse.."
Kiara crinkled her nose at him, beckoning for him to lay beside her as she curled onto her side and let her body start to relax.
Mist pulled his chestplate off and put the blade next to the bedrolls. Laying down next to Kiara and hugging her closely. Closing his left eye as the corrupted eye opened again.
Smiling gently, Kiara snuggled back against him, laying her hand on his arm. "G'night," she murmured, reaching out with her other hand to pat Kit's nose.
The black dragon huffed sleepily at her and Ren shifted to curl a little tighter around the two-leggers.
Mist ran his hand across Ren's neck softly. "Good night,"he murmured softly to the dragon. He then turned back to Kiara, hugging her closely.
Kiara "hmm"ed quietly and twisted her head to press a kiss on Mist's shoulder before letting her eyes drift closed and her body relax. She was asleep in a matter of moments.
Mist also closed his other eye, letting out a soft, content snort as he squeezed Kiara softly, before falling asleep himself.
For once, Kiara was awake before either of the dragons. She didn't move though, content to stay lying against Mist for as long as she could manage.
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon and she gave a soft, contented little murmur and turned in the elf's arms to lay face to face.
Ren grumbled in his sleep, lifting his head slightly and yawning as he started to come around.
Mist was still fast asleep. He looked pretty peaceful as he slept. His mouth was opened slightly and a trickle of drool had gathered on his cheek. He was also snoring lightly. Peaceful and stupid.
Giggling quietly, Kiara reached up to run her finger's through Mist's hair, unable to help herself. "I thought elves were supposed to be elegant," she murmured to herself.
Ren, still half asleep, snorted quietly and rolled onto his side with a thud that made the grass shiver.
Mist let out a loud snort, proceeding to make smacking noises with his mouth as he felt Kiara's hand. Nuzzling against it in his sleep.
Kiara chuckled quietly and nudged his shoulder. "Mist. Wake up," she urged, carding her fingers through his hair again.
With a lazy yawn, and more smacking, he opened his right eye and wiped the corner of his mouth. "Mornin'," he huffed softly.
"Morning," Kiara laughed softly, laying her hand on his cheek for a moment before moving to sit up, rolling her neck and arching her back in a stretch.
He sat up next to Kiara, rubbing his face with several deep breaths. "Slept well?" He inquired with a sleepy murmur.
"Mhm." She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair before moving to stand with a small sigh. "How about you?" she asked as she stepped to Kit's side and prodded the black dragon awake.
Mist pulled on his armour with a soft sigh. "Pretty good," he said as he opened his left eye aswell, the corrupted blade's eye closing again. He picked the sword up and gave Ren a soft thud with his shoulder.
"'M up, I'm up," Ren grunted, shaking his head and fanning his wings as he lumbered to his feet.
Kit grumbled as Kiara woke him and rolled to his feet, nuzzling his rider sleepily.
"Sure you are," Mist chuckled as he patted the side of the golden dragon, glancing at Kiara with a soft smile.
Kiara gave him a small smile in return as she swung up into Kit's back. "Here." She tossed Mist some of the last of her travel rations. "Should hold you over until the next time we eat."
"Speaking of," Kit rumbled, "we need to go hunting again soon." Ren nodded a sleepy agreement.
Mist caught the rations before he pulled himself ontop of Ren. "Thanks." He answered, sinking his teeth into the stale bread.
"You want first shift in the air?" Kiara asked, arching her back again and taking a bite of her own rations.
Ren huffed and rolled his shoulders as Mist settled onto his back, forcing himself to actually wake up.
Mistbm glanced down at Ren, nodding his head towards the dragon. "Ren. Wanna fly?" He inquired with a soft chuckle as he grabbed a spine to remain seated on the dragon as hebrolled his shoukders to wake up.
"If you're up for it. You're the invalid," Ren taunted. Kiara chuckled and rolled her eyes, patting Kit's shoulder.
"Oh. Ohohoh. You did not just say that," Mist chuckled slowly. "So be it. War." A faint grin crept on his lips. "Now get your scaley ass in the air."
Ren huffed and challenged, "Bring your worst," as he leaped into the air. Kiara rolled her eyes as she and Kit started to move with the caravan.
"Heed your words, Renkaryn," Mist answered with a teasing hint in his voice. As they bound into the air, Mist snickered. "Your worst enemy. I shall find you some vines," he said, out of earshot of Kiara and Kit.
The gold dragon snorted indignantly, glowering at him over his shoulder. "That is a low blow, Immortalis."
"This is war, Renkaryn," he patted the dragon's neck. "And don't you forget," he said with a soft chuckle.
"You have no idea hat you've gotten yourself into," Ren growled playfully. "Dragons hold grudges."
Below, Kiara and Kit moved from the back of the caravan to the middle, eyes watchful even though the plains around the wagons were empty for some distance, or at least seemed to be.
"So do dark elves," Mist answered with a soft grin. "All out war. No holds barred."
Ren smirked. "I'd warn you to sleep with one eye open, but that seems to be a habit of yours," he rumbled, banking left to circle over the caravan.
"Nothing escapes me," Mist chuckled softly, glancing around over the caravan. It did seem the coast was indeed pretty clear.
They were nearing the edge of the plains when Bran called for the caravan to come to a halt. Ren snorted softly, nodding down. "Looks like they've called a break."
Mist nodded slowly. "Let's take a rest," he answered, rolling his shoulders.
The gold dragon landed, circling a little around the edge of the caravan to meet Kit as he came the other direction.
"How's it look up there?" Kiara asked when they were in earshot.
"Looks clear," Mist answered with a soft shrug.
"Good." Kiara nodded, running a hand through her hair. "I have to say though, I'll be happy to get into Adela proper. The plains make me a little...twitchy."
Though that was probably due to a few uncomfortable run-ins they'd had in these grasses.
"At least you didn't set them on fire this time," Kit grumbled. She scowled and slapped at his shoulder.
Mist chuckled soflty. "I get the feeling there's an interesting story here."
Kiara flushed. "Not that interesting. I was traveling through the plains, ran into some trouble, lost my temper...and I accidentally set them on fire..."
Mist chuckled soflty, "Kiara. The burner of tufts." He answered with a teasing smirk.
Kit opened his mouth and Kiara swung off his back, grabbing his muzzle to clamp it shut. "Yep. That's me. Great mage, burning grasses," she chirped. No need to go into the specifics of what had actually happened, the people that had died...
They were slavers, she reminded herself firmly, frowning.
Mist arched an eyebrow. No witty remark. Not allowing Kit to speak. She normally never did such a thing. Well. Not that he had noticed. So something was wrong, he sighed slowly. "Alright. I'm here for you," he answered, before patting Ren's flank.
"And did Bran in a sudden wave of generosity give a break, or is there an angle to this?"
She shrugged, releasing Kit's muzzle and patting his flank as he grumbled at her. "Not sure. Probably just doesn't want to run us all into the ground before we get to the outpost," she muttered.
"Well, if we have some time, perhaps the youngling and I should go hunting," Ren mused, glancing out over the plains.
Mist nodded slowly. "Possibly." He folded his arms before sliding down.from Ren, patting.his side. "You go hunting," he said with a soft smirk.
Ren nodded, gave his shoulder an affectionate nudge, then launched himself into the air, calling Kit to him with a sharp, draconic cry.
Kiara watched her own dragon take off, hand fiddling with the collar of her tunic. Her fingers brushed something and she started. "Oh. Mist." She moved toward him, pulling the amulet he'd given her days ago out from under her clothes. "Do you...want this back?" she offered quietly. "You told me to hang onto it, but seeing as you're pretty much healed now..."
Mist looked at Kiara, arching an eyebrow. A soft smile forming on his lips as he saw her pulling up the amulet. "I'll take that back," he said with a soft smile as he closed his hand around the amulet. "Thanks. It means a lot.to me."
"Can I ask what it is?" Kiara said quietly, tilting her head and trying not to let her curiosity show too much in her eyes. She didn't want him to feel like he had to answer if it was too personal.
"The amulet my.. More or less mother, gave me'" he answered with a.soft nod. "The woman.that freed mebfrom the woods and raised me in Mir. Her husband taught me how to fight."
"Oh." Her eyes softened and she reached out to touch his arm, then drew her hand back quickly. "She must have been something special," Kiara said quietly, wanting to be comforting but not quite sure what to say.
"Both were," Mist smiled softly, obviously trying to fight back the tears. "And I failed to save them," he answered with a shiver in his voice as he turned around, not willing to face Kiara like this.
"Mist..." She reached out for him again, hesitated, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing against his back.
"I'm sorry," Kiara whispered. "I'm sorry, but it wasn't your fault, Mist." Sure she didn't actually know what had happened, but she knew him, she was sure he'd done everything he could.
"I was too weak.. Too slow.." Mist bit out bitterly, the hug only causing several reluctant tears to roll down his cheeks. Teeth bared as he fought back against the sobbing that ached in his throat. "It was my fault.. I was too weak.."
Her heart broke for him and Kiara tightened her arms around him. "You were a kid," she murmured. "You were so young, Mist. What could you have done? It's not fair to blame yourself like this..."
"I could've killed all of them.." Mist answered, teeth still bared. "All of them. I could've torn through their ranks.." His fists clenched slowly. "And when I rose again.. I could find all those orcs and goblins.. And kill them.. Exterminate them.. As the pest they are.."
And slowly, his bitter sadness turned to seething hatred.
Kiara stiffened a bit. "Mist?" She slipped around to stand in front of him, laying her hands on his shoulders and trying to meet his eyes. "Mist, you're starting to scare me a bit," she said quietly, biting her lip and looking up into his face with concern.
Crimson irisses, black sclera. Face contorted into anger, yet tears sill spilling down from his eyes. "I should've killed them all.." He murmured faintly, not even noticing Kiara infront of him.
"Mist!" She shook his shoulders, really getting nervous now. "Sweetheart, look at me," she begged, not even realizing she'd used the endearment. "It's okay. It's okay, love. Please, just look at me."
His eyes widened momentarily as he gazed Kiara in the eyes. The black and red slowly dissipating again. "K-Kiara?" He asked. A confused expression having replaced the dark anger. As if he just woke up from a trance.
She let out a sharp sigh of relief, head falling forward to thump lightly against his shoulder. "Don't scare me like that," Kiara mumbled, a little shiver running through her.
Mist hugged her closely. "I'm sorry," he whispered softly.
"It's okay," Kiara whispered, turning her head to nuzzle into his neck. "Just...I didn't realize that could happen when you weren't- I dunno, in combat or something."
He shook his head. "Mostly when I get angry.. I didn't want you to see this," he whispered, his voice laced with grief.
She reached her hand up to pet his hair, then let her hand slide down to rest against his cheek. "It's okay, Mist," she murmured. "I want you to trust me, even with things like this. Especially with things like this."
Mist nodded faintly. "I'm sorry," he whispered softly, resting his head against the hand on his cheek, closing his eyes briefly.
Kiara smiled softly. "Don't be sorry," she said quietly. "Just trust me, okay?" She leaned up to peck his cheek, then twisted her fingers around so she could hold his hand, dropping her arm and leaning into him slightly.
"Tell me something else about Mir," she suggested suddenly in almost a whisper. "Something good. Something happy."
He gave her hand a soft squeeze and nodded softly. "Everyone was friendly.. Everyone in the village.. We were small and frail. But we looked out for eachother," he smiled softly, "always."
She smiled at him, leaning her forehead against his and kissing his cheek. Not really knowing what to say, she just let the silence reign for a few moments.
Mist closed his eyes at the touch and sighed slowly, just holding Kiara in silence.
After a few moments just enjoying te closeness, Kiara pulled away with a sigh. "Come on, let's get something to eat."
He nodded softly. "Lead the way," he said with a faint smile.
Kiara laced her fingers through his and moved back along the caravan to where the provisions were kept and hopped up into the back. She patted the spot beside her with a smile.
Mist pulled himself up on the back of the caravan with a clunk and a loud grunt.
Handing him some food, Kiara drew her knees up to her chest and took a bite of her own provisions. "Do you want that?" she asked rather abruptly. "What you had in Mir, I mean. A- a family."
It was a thought that had been circling around in the back of her head. Traveling with Mist and Ren was one thing, but she wasn't sure if he would ever want...well, more.
Mist let out a soft chuckle. "I.. Don't known," he answered, letting out a sad sigh. "I'm not sure how.. Or why.."
Kiara bit her lip and dropped her eyes. "Sorry. I didn't mean to- didn't want to make you...sad."
"I'm not," Mist said with a faint smile. "Well I am. But.. I never really thought about it.."
She stayed quiet for a few moments, then let out a soft breath and leaned into his side slightly. "Well, you've got me," Kiara murmured. "For as long as you want."
Mist smiled faintly, wrapping the corrupted arm around her shoulder. "Thanks," he whispered.
"Mm..." Kiara turned her head to kiss the edge of his jaw, wrinkling her nose at his stubble.
"I'll tell you one thing, I cannot wait to have a real bath," she chuckled lightly, letting her head rest on his shoulder.
Mist smirked slightly as he closed his eyes. "A bath sounds very nice now," he murmured in agreement.
Kiara gave another little hum and let the silence and comfortable contact last for a few more moments before she sighed and pushed herself to the edge of the wagon.
"C'mon. Half a day left of guard duty, then we get paid and we're free."
Mist took in a deep breath as he enjoyed just their closeness for a brief moment, interrupted by Kiara who decided their break was over.
Mist nodded and dropped next to her with a soft clunk, rolling his shoulders.
She leaned up to peck his cheek, saying softly, "We'll take flight for a while," before she danced away and whistled for Kit.
The two dragons were just returning, evidently having hunted their fill. They circled the caravan once and landed next to their riders.
Mist nodded slowly. "Alright," he answered with a soft smirk, walking over to where Ren had landed. "Got anything good?" He asked the gold dragon as he touched down.
"Few antelope," the gold dragon nodded. Kiara murmured quietly to Kit as she climbed onto his back and Ren lowered his head to nudge Mist's chest.
"Ready to be done with this job?" he huffed with a small, rumbling chuckle.
"Ready from the instant we reached the desert," Mist answered with a soft grin, putting his hand on the dragon's head.
He chuckled, nudging his nose into his hand before he snorted and jerked his head back to indicate Mist should mount up as the caravan started moving again, Kit and Kiara taking to the air.
Mist nodded, without a word, he pulled himself ontop of Ren, patting his neck. "Let's go, big guy."
The dragon huffed and lurched into motion, following after the train of wagons.
The sun was barely touching the horizon as the trading post came into view and an audible, collective sigh of relief traveled through the caravan.
"Oh, thank the First Fires," Kiara muttered as Kit flew in to land.
Mist leaned back on Ren with a soft grin. "Seems like we made it, huh," he murmured with a soft chuckle of relief.
Ren nodded, giving a satisfied sort of rumble. "Seems so," he said as the caravan spread out into the trading post, wagons starting to be unloaded and traders calling orders back and forth.
Kiara and Kit padded up beside the other dragon and rider. "You two mind getting our pay? We can look for a place to spend the night," Kiara offered, laying along her dragon's neck.
Mist glanced at Kiara and gave her a short nod and soft smile, "alright." He glanced down at Ren, padding the side of his neck. "Come on, big guy."
She smiled back, nodded, and then Kit was lumbering off.
Ren snorted softly, shaking his head, and moved around to the front of the caravan where Bran was still barking orders. He didn't say anything, not particularly wanting to lower himself to speak to the man.
"Bran," Mist's voice was cold and distant. "Concerning my and Kiara's payment." His voice was loud and demanding. Stern, but he wasn't yelling in the least bit.
Bran was the type of man who needed short orders that held his attention, or so Mist judged him to be.
"What?" The man jerked around to give him a narrow eyed look, then waved his hand. "Oh, yes, yes. One moment."
He lumbered away, ducking into a wagon, and returned with a smallish coin purse. He tossed it to Mist with a grunted, "There. With my thanks."
Ren snorted quietly and flexed his claws, eager to be away.
Mist caught the purse, arching an eyebrow. Juggling the puree in his hand for a second, he ppened the leather purse, inspecting the payment closely, putting a handbon Ren's neck. "Wait a second," he murmured under his breath.
Huffing, the dragon stilled at his touch, though he let an impatient rumble build in his chest.
A few streets- or what could pass for streets in a trading post- over, Kit and Kiara had found the seemingly sole inn of the place. The girl dismounted and poked her head inside.
"Oi. Bran." Mist looked up from the pouch. "I don't think your added thanks are worth Kiara's pay and four fucking silver of my pay," he said as his voice grew colder.
The trader's shoulders stiffened. "Oh?" he said far too innocently. "My mistake." He flicked a few more coins in the dragonrider's direction. "I docked some for the damage that sandworm did to one of my wagons."
His eyes narrowed. "And for a lack of disclosure at the beginning of this little working relationship."
Ren didn't quite understand humans, but he did not like this.
"Oh. Now he's gone and done it, Ren." Mist pulled a bitter grin and slid own from the dragon. He trampled over the coins flicked to him. "Remember last time I had to take you for a talk, Bran?" He asked with a mockingly friendly tone. The corrupted arm slowly clenching a fist. "And now. I'm not as patient. Seeing as I LOST A FUCKING ARM TO SAVE YOUR FAT ASS!"
He took a deep breath as he pulled the trader down from his caravan without any real effort. "Now. I'm awfully sorry for yer fucking damaged wagon. I'll pay up for it. But first," he grinned softly, "I'm dragging your ass back to the Moraki desert and let you have a little tussle with a fucking sand worm." He folded his arms, the smirk fading. Leaving only his cold and menacing gaze. "So pay the fuck up, or I'll personally drag your ass back to the Moraki desert."
Quite plainly scared speechless, Bran was frozen for a moment. Then he gave a jerky nod, scrabbling at his pockets and pulling out another fistful of coins.
The few traders in earshot had frozen as well, rather wide eyed. Ren lowered his head to Mist's side, a low growl rumbling in his throat as Bran handed over the coins.
Mist took the coins and started counting again, nodding to himself and giving some back, "that's what we were promised," he said as he held the pay of himself and Kiara in his hand. "Seven silver for the damage to the wagon?" Mist asked as he held out the accorded amount to Bran, not even lookikg to the other traders. Growing more friendly again. He was pretty easy-going and reasonable when someone was not busy trying to screw him over.
"...Yes," Bran said after a long moment, taking the coins. He was still scowling. "Go on then. You have your money, beat it."
Ren gave a snarling growl and took a menacing step forward as his tail lashed back and forth.
Mist rolled his eyes. "Y'know Bran. Friendly gets you a long way," he stepped forward, pushing his forehead against Bran's m. Eyes wide in unspoken threat. "You always trying to have the last word, trying to fuck me over is getting on my nerves." Mist letbout a soft snarl. "I'd kill you right now, but then I'd get troubles with the guards here. And I don't want that. They don't need to suffer your arrogance."
With a smack of their foreheads, he pushed Bran back. "I want to say it was a pleasure," he glanced over to the other traders. "But honestly. Why the fuck are you guys working with this son of a bitch?" He asked, before turning to Ren, patting his neck. "Let's go."
No one seemed to know how to react to that. Ren snorted and set off, tail still lashing like an irritated cat.
The gold dragon followed Kit and Kiara's scent to the inn they'd found, and paused outside when he saw his younger counterpart lounging in the courtyard.
The young woman glanced up from cleaning Kit's scales and gave them a bright smile, completely oblivious. "Hey there," she murmured, moving toward them.
"Spineless cowards," Mist remarked before he followed Ren, leaving Bran in the dirt.
He waved as Kiara approached, his face still sour. The entire happening with Bran had left a foul taste in his mouth. "Here," he murmured as he gave Kiara her pay. The full amount.
Her smile faded to a concerned frown as she took the money. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly, eyes searching his face.
"Just pissed from Bran being the piece of shit I expected him to be," Mist answered. "Just. Left a taste in my mouth."
"Hm." Kiara frowned slightly, then rocked onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. It was meant to be quick, but somehow she found herself letting her tongue flick out to trace the line of his lower lip before she pulled away.
Her eyes glinted. "Taste any better now?"
Kit snorted and rolled his eyes.
Mist closed his eyes in the kiss and let out a soft huff. "Yeah," he answered as she broke the kiss. He gave her a gentle smile.
Kiara smiled in return, ignoring the exasperated glances the two dragons exchanged, and nodded over her shoulder at the inn. "C'mon. The room's not much, but at least it has a real bed, and we get two meals."
"Luxurious," Mist answered with a soft chuckle.
"Indeed." She gave him a crooked grin and turned to walk into the inn, nodding to the proprietor before she turned down a hall and made her way to the room she'd rented.
It really wasn't much, small and rather bare, but it was certainly better than nothing.
"An actual bed," Mist noted with a good amount of sarcasm, glancing at Kiara with a smirk. "I'm just glad it's we at least have a ceiling."
"Hey, we're out of the desert. I'm not complaining." She smiled and flopped onto the bed with a sigh. She patted the spot beside her. "C'mere."
Mist arched an eyebrow and nodded, sitting down next to her. "I'm glad we are," Mist answered with a soft sigh as he rolled his shoulders.
Kiara nodded with a quick grin and let herself lie back on the bed and close her eyes. "I know we should get something to eat, but I'm just so damn tired," she said with a small laugh.
"Hmm, I mean. We get the free meals," Mist pondered audibly. "Perhaps we should go get it, I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
She groaned dramatically and forced herself to sit up. "Yeah, you're right," she agreed with a sigh and a quick smile.
"Come on." Kiara stood and stretched, then moved to the door.
Mist nodded and stood up again with a loud clunk, following her closely.
Kiara led them back out into the main room and quickly found the bar, boosting herself up onto a stool.
"Sausage?" one of the servants offered, and she nodded quickly.
"Oh, thank gods, real food," she laughed, throwing Mists a quick smile.
"Beats rations," Mist started, before grinning. "And definitly sandworm," he sat on a stool next to Kiara, turning slightly and looking around the bar. Only two types that could potentially spell trouble. A hooded man in the corner, alone and silent. And a band of mercenaries who seemed to celebrate something.
Nothing he couldn't handle.
"Wise words," Kiara chuckled, raising a mug of cheap ale to toast him. Her eyes flicked around the room, taking in the other patrons.
"One night here," she said under her breath. "Just one night, then we'll head into Adela proper."
He raised his own mug with a soft chuckle, before taking a swig. He nodded softly at her proposal. "One night," he confirmed.
Kiara opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by a familiar voice calling a friendly, "Hey!"
She twisted on her stool and gave Dain and Calen a small wave. "Hey there. How goes the caravan?"
The ice mage shrugged, pulling himself onto the stool on her other side. "Not sure. We quit this morning." She could have sworn he winked at Mist.
Mist turned around aswell, his hand at reflex going for the hilt of a dagger on his hip. He smirked as he saw Calen and Dain. Gripping around the hilt. He wasn't sure why they were here. To try and beat him up for trashtalking Bran?
However, his grip relented and he smirked at Calen. "Wise decision," he answered as he fully turned around, leaning against the counter. "How'd you get in touch with that guy anyway?"
They shrugged and said in unison, "Good money."
"When he actually pays," Dain added with a sour look. "Sorry about all that, by the way. He probably though he could take advantage cause you two are new."
Kiara arched an eyebrow and looked to the elf. "What exactly happened?"
Mist shrugged slowly. "So, he's dumb enough to think ripping off dragonriders is a good idea?" He asked with a slow snicker, before looking at Kiara. "Didn't want to pay the full price."
She scowled. "Jackass," she muttered, leaning against Mist encouragingly for a moment.
"Well, I managed to get it out of him," he looked at Dain and Calen. "You the only two that left?"
Calen shrugged. "Maybe. Probably. I haven't been with him long, but most of the others are pretty loyal."
Kiara wrinkled her nose, taking another swig from her drink.
"Well. He lost two good people," he raised his cup towards Calen and Dain. "Hope you'll find other work."
They both smiled and nodded, toasting him in return.
Kiara flashed a quick, crooked grin and flagged down the server. "Another round, on me," she said.
Calen and Dain protested that, but she waved them off.
Mist smirked softly, letting Kiara do as she pleased. He knew he couldn't change her mind, so rested back.
Kiara found Calen and Dain to be pleasant company, but her energy was flagging. She tried to participate in conversation as the men grew progressively more drunk, but her eyes were fluttering and she found herself leaning into Mist tiredly.
Mist pressed a soft kiss against her temple. "Do I have to take you to the room?" He asked with a gentle smile.
Kiara laughed softly. "Maybe," she joked,leaning further into him. "Any complaints?"
"Not at all. Why would I?" He asked with a soft chuckle as he pulled her closer. "But you're getting very tired now."
"I'm fine!" she protested through a yawn, reaching for her drink again. Calen and Dain chuckled.
"Get some rest, lass," the ice mage encouraged.
Kiara wrinkled her nose and grumbled, "What are you, my mother? Said I'm fine."
Mist smirked at Calen, before turning to Kiara, "bottoms up, then whe hit the hay," he encouraged her aswell.
"Alright, alright," she grumbled, downing the last of her drink. "Come on then, let's-"
As she got to her feet she swayed, and had to reach back to grab the bar and keep her balance. "Whoa." It seemed exhaustion, travel rations, and alcohol were not a good mix for her system.
Mist smirked and swigged down his own drink, putting the mug down and standing up. He picked Kiara up and pulled her over his shoulder. "Dain, Calen. Good night and stay safe." He said as he turned around with Kiara on his shoulder.
The now ex-traders laughed, waving to them, and Kiara wriggled in his grip.
"Oi! Put me down, you ass," she laughed, smacking lightly at his back.
Mist chuckled at the soft thumping against his armour. "That is mister Ass to you," he said pointedly, before letting out an amused snort as he walked up the stairs, shifting his gripnso he was carrying her bridal style. "Better?"
"Hmph." She crinkled her nose at him, trying to pout but somehow ending up smiling. "I can walk on my own," she sniffed, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck nevertheless.
"And I can carry you," Mist answered with a chuckle. "So your point is?" He asked with a soft grin as he opened the door with hus free hand. One he had gotten from supporting Kiara with his knee and arm momentarily instead of both his arms.
The younger dragonrider squeaked and clung a little tighter to him, tipsy and giggly. "Alright, alright, Draga, I get it. You're all big and strong, blah blah."
"As long as you know," Mist replied with a soft grin as he softly put her down on the bed.
Kiara mumbled something about "stupid males" and curled up on the bed. She reached for Mist though, wrapping her fingers around his wrist and tugging lightly in an effort to get him onto the bed with her.
Mist let out a soft grunt as he was pulled onto the bed, he hovered above her as he let out a soft chuckle. "I need to take the armour off, Kiara." He murmured with a soft smirk. "It's uncomfortable to sleep with."
She smirked back at him and let her hands slip up to the straps at his shoulders. "I can help with that," Kiara offered coyly, still feeling rather fuzzy-headed from the alcohol.
"It'd be my pleasure," Mist answered with a grin as he pulled.off the shoulderpad. "Straps on my back, love," he ushered with a soft murmur.
Kiara's fingers flitted around at his direction, undoing the straps with significantly more ease than her previous attempts.
With that done, her hands skimmed down to his waist and pulled him against her slightly. "Wanna return the favor?" she murmured quietly with an arched eyebrow.
Mist slowly put the chestplate on the ground, before smirking. "You're drunk," the smirk widened. "What favour, undoing the armour?" A soft chuckle left him as he leaned down to undo his legplates and armoured boots.
Kiara scowled at him. "Not drunk. Tipsy," she protested, pouting. She wriggled underneath him and arched her back. "Help me get these off," she muttered, tugging at the hem of her tunic. "It's too hot."
"Ofcourse," Mist answered.with a chuckle, before he turned around slightly, the loose plating his legs clunking softly. He put his hands on her shoulders and nodded, slowly pulling it over her head.
A sigh of almost relief left her and Kiara leaned up to kiss him softly as she twined her arms around his neck. "More, Mist," she whispered, suddenly arching up into him more. "Please?"
He rested his hand on the hem of her undergarments, pressing a soft kiss to her lips before pulling those off aswell.
Kiara let out a sharp exhale and cupped his face between her hands, pulling him down for a kiss. "Yes," she whispered. "I want you, Mist. Please..."
Mist arched an eyebrow and followed her down, the loose legplates clunking slightly. He momentarily enjoyed the kiss before breaking it softly, bumping his forehead against hers, "but first, I'll have to take off this armour."
She growled, playful but still a little impatient. "Then do it quick," Kiara muttered as her hands reached down to fumble with the loose plating she could reach.
"It would be easier if you didn't try to fasten the straps again," Mist answered with a soft chuckle as he gently pushed her hands away and pulled off the straps, letting the legplates clunk against the floor, hurriedly pulling his boots off, before turning to Kiara.
"All done."
"Good." Kiara grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to her, crashing her lips onto his with a sudden ferocity that even surprised her a little bit.
Mist let out a soft chuckle in the kiss. "Impatient, aren't we?" He said as he broke it momentarily to pull her up ontop of him, smirking softly.
She shoved at his shoulder. "Oh, shut up and screw me, draga," Kiara growled. She slid her knees to either side of his hips and kissed him again.
The grin widened. "Whatever happened to please?" He inquired as he stroked himself across her folds. Deciding to tease her this way.
Kiara moaned quietly and dipped her head to nurse at the curve of his neck. "I'm not gonna beg, Mist," she whispered against his skin. "I know you want this as much as I do..." She ground her hips against him slightly in an effort to prove her point, catching his ear gently between her teeth for good measure.
He arched an eyebrow as he slowly ground against her. "I won't lie, yet I also want to hear you say it." A soft smirk spread across his face. "Repeat after me; 'fuck me, plea-oh fuck.." Mist let out a soft whimper as she bit his ear playfully. A buck of hips. "Careful.." He whispered, yet he smirked. "Still have to ask it.." He whispered huskily.
Kiara grinned for her small victory, then groaned when he bucked his hips against her. She was practically shaking with the effort it took to resist giving an answering buck of her hips.
"Fine," she whispered. Her lips trailed along the edge of his ear. "Fuck me..." She flicked her tongue out in a long, drawn out lick to the tip of his ear, wiggling her hips. "Please."
A shuddering "oh shit" left him as she licked across his ear. "That was less hard than I am right now," he whispered with a soft grin, before angling himself properly and pushing Kiara down with both hands on her behind.
The younger dragonrider squeaked softly, then gave a low, throaty laugh as he pushed her down. "Who's eager now?" she whispered, nipping playfully at his ear and wrapping her legs around his waist as she nudged her hips forward against his.
Mist let out a soft grunt as she rocked her hips forward. "You gotta move aswell, Cana, don't let me do all the work.." He bit out as he pushed Kiara up to force her back down again.
Kiara shuddered as she rocked up on him, then down again. She gave him a mock pout and murmured, "You made me ask. Maybe I wanna see you work for it."
Still, she gave another roll of her hips to grind against him and gasped softly.
Mist squeezed her buttocks softly, letting out a ragged and breathy chuckle. "I thought you'd enjoy.. Being on top," he answered with a soft smirk. He pressed his hips up against hers, before pulling back again, starting to repeat the movement at a steady pace.
Kiara rolled her hips to meet his, chest rising and falling quite rapidly as her breath started to catch in her throat every time their hips came together.
She bent to kiss his neck, then let her lips travel up to tease the edge of his ear. "Harder, Mist," she urged in a whisper.
Mist let out a soft grunt as he felt Kiara nibbling the outline of his ear. Harder was what she wanted, harder was what she got. With deep and irregular panting, Mist started to pick up the pace.
Kiara arched her back and groaned. If she'd been less tipsy, she probably would have worried about someone hearing them- but as it was she couldn't care less.
Leaning back and bracing her hands on the bed behind her, she tightened her legs around Mist's waist and bucked her hips into his with a soft, needy sort of moan.
Mist's breaths came in sharp draw as he rested his head back, rolling his hips underneath Kiara, his hand still on her buttocks. "Kiara-," he grinned faintly between two deep groans, "faster.."
A sharp gasp turned into a breathless chuckle at his urging and Kiara rose to the challenge. Her pace picked up and she groaned again as she bounced on his lap. "Oh, gods, Mist, it's so good," she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Oh fuck," a ragged breath left him as Kiara sped up, causing him to thrust upwards to meet her in her movements. He let out soft groans as he grit his teeth.
"M-Mist-" Kiara's voice cut off in a breathy moan and she leaned up to wrap her arms around his shoulders, still relentlessly grinding their hips together.
"Close," she gasped out as she tilted her head to nibble the edge of his ear. "Gods, I'm so close- please, love."
Mist groaned softly as he pushed his hips back against Kiara, before letting out a soft chuckle, "already?" He inquired breathlessly as he tried to pick up the pace even more.
She groaned and buried her face against his neck. "I can't- can't help it," Kiara whimpered. "I just...oh-ohhh!"
Her back arched as she came around him, panting and moaning softly. She didn't stop moving though, not anywhere near ready to be done with him.
"Don't hold back," Mist whispered with a breathy tone. He grit his teeth as she arched her back in pleasure. Yet Mist did not relent in his pace nor movements. He kept the same rythmic thrusts up, groaning softly.
Kiara gave a soft whimper and ground her hips into his fiercely. "Yes," she breathed into his neck. "Dear gods, yes. Don't stop, just- don't stop."
She dipped her head to kiss the center of his chest, her hands running up and down his back so her nails scratched lightly at his skin.
Mist let out several soft pants. "Not.. Planning to- Oh fuck, Kiara," he bit out as his movements hitched and became a tad more frantic and less rythmic.
Groaning, Kiara tilted her head back to graze her teeth along his ear. "Let go, Mist," she whispered. "I want you to fall apart inside me..."
He rested his forehead against her shoulder. Letting out a slow, elongated groan as he he made a forceful slam against Kiara's hips, trying to keep a pace up, even when he was undergoing his own climax, coming inside of Kiara.
Feeling his release inside her had Kiara peaking again- some vague corner of her mind wondered if alcohol could have possibly made her more sensitive than usual- and she bit down on his shoulder with a high, keening moan.
"Th-that's it, sweetheart," she breathed. "Oh gods, you feel so good, Mist."
Mist rested his forehead against Kiara's shoulder. Erratic bucks of his hips as he ground out the last waves of his orgasm. After a short while, he stopped his movements and took a deep breath. "Oh.. Fuck.. That was.." He let out another soft breath as he rolled his hips underneath her with a faint smirk. "Ready for round two?"
"Ready and waiting," Kiara panted, eyes glinting smugly. She tipped back a bit to lay on the bed and pull him on top of her. "C'mon then, Immortalis." She leaned up to kiss his neck and nip at his ear.
Mist let out a soft, yet mischievous smirk as his ears twitched at the title. "I'm going to enjoy hearing you scream that," he gave a breathy whisper in her ear before he pulled away and flipped Kiara on her stomach.
He put both hands on her ass and gave it a firm squeeze as he rubbed his girth between her buttocks several times, before swiftly thrusting inside her slith again. A low growl following his movement.
"Ah-ah..." She groaned and buried her face in her arms as she bit down on her bottom lip with a muffled curse.
Kiara arched her back and bucked her hips back against him, egging him on. "Gonna have to- work harder than that to make me scream," she goaded, glancing back at him over her shoulder, eyes glinting a challenge.
Mist gave a muttering growl in response to her taunting, squeezing her ass again as he only sped up, groaning deeply under his breath.
Kiara gave a sharp wail as his intensity picked up and bucked back against him. "Gods, Mist!" She clenched her eyes shut and groaned. "Like that- just like that, give me everything you have!"
Mist let out a soft, breathy chuckle. His grip on her buttocks irregularily clenching. And his pace only increased. "Fuck," he muttered breathlessly.
She felt herself approaching the edge and let out a few sharp moans that blended into a soft wail as he started to rail into the deepest parts of her.
"M-Mist- oh gods," Kiara whimpered. Then he was pounding into that perfect spot and her hands clenched in the sheets.
Her back arched and she screamed. "Fuck, Immortalis!"
Her wails and screams only spurred him on mre. He grit his teeth as he kept thrusting inside Kiara relentessly. Finding what would be her favourite angle and abusing this to the fullest. A loud moan left Mist in turn as he climaxed. Yet he didn't even slow down, he just kept pounding her.
"A-ah, ahh!" Kiara didn't get a chance to wind down from her climax before she was climbing again, near sobbing with the pleasure of it. She ground her hips back against his desperately with sharp pants, her lashes fluttering as she started to feel a little lightheaded.
Mist let out a sharp pant. "Keep up, Cana," he groaned out with a low growl and a soft, breathless chuckle, still pounding her at the same spot, panting loudly.
"I can't- I can't, Mist," she whimpered. Much less gracefully than she normally would have moved, Kiara pulled away from him and twisted around so she could face him again, pulling him down on top of her, into her, and throwing her legs around his waist.
"Need your help," she admitted with a low groan. "C-can't...my arms were going to give out..."
Mist frowned softly as Kiara pulled back. He let out a soft and surprised groan as Kiara pulled jhim in again, legs locking around his waist. Hebleaned down to give Kiara a deep and passionate kiss as he started to move his hips again.
Kiara twined her arms around his neck and kissed him back heatedly. She shivered slightly with each thrust of his hips and turned her face into the curve of his neck to nip lightly at his skin.
"I'm...close, again," she breathed, eyes clenched tight shut.
Mist nodded softly, not registering her words properly due to the intensity of his thrusting. "Kiara.. Gods.." He murmured between pants.
With another sharp cry Kiara peaked yet again, clenching around him and throwing her head back. Her hands moved up to tangle in Mist's hair and her nails scratched at his scalp. As he continued to thrust into her, he seemed to prolong her climax, sending waves of pleasure surging through her.
As Kiara arched up, Mist leaned down to kiss at her throat and move down to her chest, at the same time still quite effectivly ramming inside of her.
"O-o-oh, oh, Mist! Holy- oh gods!" The lightheadedness was back and Kiara was actually sobbing as her whole body seemed to light up with the sensations pulsing through her. "I can't, I c-can't, you'll make me faint," she gasped out.
Teeth grazed past her nipple as she cried out. Yet he didn't slow down, letting out soft growls and groans of pleasure. "Kiara," he softly groaned out her name. "Fuck," he breathed wordlessly.
"Mist, Mist..." Kiara whimpered out his name as she felt herself going boneless, unable to do anything by lie there and take his attentions. She shivered and mewled quietly with each thrust, her vision starting to sort of swim at the edges.
"Love you," she gasped out. "Love you, I love you."
Mist wrapped his arms around her back before she could slump down, moving up t softly kiss her lips as he kept the same.pace going. "I... I lve you too.." He groaned between deep and irregular pants.
Kiara groaned against his lips, shudders wracking her whole frame endlessly. "I-I...I-"
Yet another climax ripped through her and her eyes rolled back in her head as she screamed loud enough to make her throat raw.
Mist grit his teeth as Kiara screamed out her orgasm. He made one last forceful slam into her and closed his eyes as his climax hit aswell. He panted heavily. "Kiara-" he swallowed heavily and panted deeply. "That was-" he closed his eyes as he leaned down to softly press kisses on her lips. "Amazing.."
Kiara was speechless, nodding shakily in agreement with him as she weakly returned his kisses. Her arms wrapped tight around his shoulders and she buried her face into his chest.
"Just...let me sleep like this," she requested softly, eyes sliding closed while she panted.
"I'm too heavy to sleep ontop of you," Mistbstarted softly. Yet he didn't move yet.
"Don't care," Kiara grumbled. She nuzzled into his neck and kissed the curve of his shoulder. "I like feeling you cover me."
Mist let out a breathy chuckle. "Fine," he murmured as he rested ontop of Kiara, pressing a soft kiss against the side of her head, closing his eyes slowly.
Kiara smiled and snuggled closer to him. Absently, she ran one hand over his corrupted arm as she let her eyes drift closed.
"Love you, Immortalis," she murmured softly.
"Love you too, Kiara," hebmurmured softly as he drifted off.
She was asleep in a matter of moments, thoroughly exhausted. The warmth and rather comforting weight Mist's body over her provided kept her asleep well past when she normally would have woken.
When the sun started to peek into their rented room, she just murmured in her sleep and shifted closer, hiding her face under Mist's arm.
Mist let out a gentle and steady snoring, shifting slightly as Kiara did.
Outside, the dragons had apparently had enough.
Kit stuck his head into their window and snapped, "OI! Rise and shine!"
Kiara shrieked and tried to bolt up, but was stopped by Mist's weight on her.
Mist let out a soft groan and rolled off of Kiara, rubbing.the back of his head as he sat up. "Good morning, Kit."
The dragon snorted a laugh and a smug, "Morning," as he withdrew his head.
Kiara groaned and rubbed her temples. "I'm going to kill that overgrown lizard."
Mist let out a soft chuckle and pushed himself up, strolling over to the window and leaning on the frame, uncaring for his nudity. He glanced down to ascertain Ren's whereabouts.
The gold dragon was sunbathing, but he raised his head when he saw his rider. "Sleep well?" Ren asked cheekily, tail flicking like a playful cat.
"Obviously," Mist smirked at the dragon. "How about you, big guy?"
The dragon rolled his eyes and gave a dramatic sigh. "Didn't get much sleep, really. Seems there was some couple rutting quite loudly, kept me up."
Kit chuckled and Kiara went scarlet and dove under the covers with an embarrassed a squeak.
Mist grinned and shook his head. "Tsk tsk tsk," he started. "Some people." He snerked, before a grin spread across his face. "Is that jealousy I detect in your tone?"
Ren snorted. "Hardly. Now hurry up and get some clothes on. I'm ready to leave this place."
"You sure?" He still grinned, but pushed himself away from the window, sitting down next to Kiara on the bed. "Morning, dear," he said.
Kiara peeled her head out from under the covers to scowl at him. "Dear? Really?
She groaned and hid again. "I'm never coming out. The whole inn probably heard us!"
Mist let out a sincere laugh as he patted his hand on where he believed Kiara's head was underneath the sheets. "Even if they heard, they got no idea who it came from."
She poked her head out enough to look at him balefully. "Really? Because if anyone else from the caravan decided to stay the night here they definitely heard "Immortalis" at some point," she grumbled.
Kit had lifted his head to the window again, possibly to tell them to hurry up, and he gave a soft snort. "Kia, I'm pretty sure most of the outpost heard that."
Flushing scarlet, Kiara grabbed a pillow and chucked it at the dragon's head. He retreated, chortling.
Mist shrugged softly. Honestly, he didn't care either way. He glanced at Kit with a soft smirk, however. He wasn't helping at all. But he couldn't surpress the smirk.
Kiara scowled at the elf, sitting up with a huff and a muttered, "Well there's no need to look so pleased with yourself."
She knew she was being a little ridiculous, but she found she didn't really care. "Hand me my tunic, would you?"
Mist let out an amused huff, still having the same soft smirk on his face. "Alright." Mist said as he stood up again and pulled up a piece of clothing he believed to be her clothing, dusting it off and handing it to her.
Kiara took the clothing and started dressing herself with a few grumbles. "You're laughing at me," she muttered, narrowing her eyes at the elf.
"Laughing at who?" Mist asked as the grin froze, his eyebrow arching slightly.
[oh, whoops! Typo, sorry 0.0]
"Me," Kiara repeated, hopping around on one foot as she pulled her breeches on. "And I'm not sure I appreciate it."
Mist arched an eyebrow, picking Kiara up in his arms as she hopped past. "I wouldn't dare do that," he answered as he pressed a soft kiss against her forehead.
Kiara squeaked and wrapped her arms around his neck as he scooped her up. "Smooth talker," she accused quietly, crinkling her nose at him and pecking his cheek.
"Ofcourse, still the truth," he answered with a soft chuckle.
Her expression smoothed into a soft smile and Kiara nuzzled her nose against his for a moment. "Love you," she murmured.
"Even if you are an idiot sometimes," she added with a smirk, wriggling in his arms. "Now put me down so we can get something to eat, yeah?"
"Love you too," Mist answered with a soft murmur, pressing another peck on her lips. "Can't help it," he whispered, before putting her down with a chuckle and heading to dress himself aswell.
Kiara smiled crookedly and leaned back against the door frame as she watched him dress. Her eyes flickered to his corrupted arm and she bit her lip, brow furrowing slightly.
Gods, she wished she could do something to fix him. It wasn't fair he'd been punished for protecting them.
Mist rolled his shoulders as he pulled his armour on again, back turned to Kiara. He glanced over his shoulder and smirked. "Enjoying the view?" He inquired with a soft chuckle.
She cleared her expression and smirked right back. "Maybe." Kiara let her eyes roam up and down his form quite obviously, then shrugged. "What? It's a nice view."
"I didn't say I mind," Mist answered with a soft chuckle as he sat down on the bed and started to pull his boots on.
Kiara laughed quietly under her breath and tilted her head at him. "Someone's pleased with himself," she teased lightly.
From out in the courtyard, one of the dragons- Ren- suddenly piped up, "Would you two hurry up? Don't tell me you're at it again..."
"Hey, someone who works hard to preserve their body is allowed to be proud of it," he smirked softly, before glancing out the window, adjust the last strap and standing up as Ren called.
"Think fast, big guy!" He called in response, charging at the window and auite literally flinging himself outside.
The gold dragon snorted, a bit surprised, and surged to his feet. His head snaked out to clamp his teeth lightly down on the back of Mist's armor, like a mother cat with a kitten, then twisted around to deposit the elf on his back.
"Moron," he snorted affectionately, shoving his nose against his rider's shoulder.
Kiara, leaning against the windowsill, laughed and shook her head. "Kit, c'mere please," she called, much more demurely than was usual for her. Making a point.
The black dragon huffed and trundled over, stretching his head up so she could swing herself out to slide down his neck, careful to avoid his spikes.
Mist smirked slowly, resting his head against Ren's nose. "You know me," he gave the dragon's chin a firm, affectionate rub.
Ren snorted again and flicked his forked tongue out to scrape against the tip of Mist's nose, then twisted his head around to look at Kit. "Ready to fly, youngling?"
Kiara arched an eyebrow. "You know, Immortalis and I haven't eaten yet, and we don't have a dragon's metabolism."
Kit shrugged, shuffling his wings. "We can stop in an hour or so and the old man and I will hunt."
Ren glowered. "Watch yourself. I'm in the prime of my life, thank you very much."
"Bah, your breath," Mist said with a soft chuckle as Ren licked his bose, gving his nose an affectionate rub before he twisted his head, glancing at Kiara with a nod. "We should eat," before he looked back at Ren. "I can hunt aswell, if needed. Place some snares and such." He mused softly.
"Here." Kiara tossed him what was left of her travel rations. "That should hold us over," she muttered, peering into her pack. Yeah, they really did need to hunt.
"Oh, Ren." She glanced up. "If you were serious about a saddle, I know a blacksmith in Ketra who's good with fitting dragon armor. He could probably make something."
Mist caught the ations and nodded. "Oh joy," he said with a soft smirk as he held up the rations.
Mist glanced at Ren, waiting for his answer.
Kiara crinkled her nose at the elf and muttered, "Cheeky."
The gold dragon huffed. "I suppose it doesn't make a difference to me," he muttered after a moment. "At least it gives us a direction."
The girl nodded. "Right then. C'mon, Kitten." Kit snorted and stretched his wings, bounding forward and taking to the air with a quick leap. Ren followed, circling as they rose higher into the air.
Mist started to eat the rations, shrugging softly at Kiara's notion. He looked down at Ren, squeezing one of his spines softly. "You sure? This armour is pretty thick?"
"What?" The dragon snorted and twisted his neck to give him a smug look. "You think I can't take the weight?" he growled playfully.
Mist knocked against the codpiece. "I meant this. You sounded pretty uncofmortable about wearing a saddle."
Ren rolled his shoulders in a small shrug. "I won't say I love the idea, but I can compromise."
He glanced at Kiara, before looking down at Ren, leaning forward and whispering. "Where the fuck are your ears," he murmured softly, before sighing. "Look. I'm-" he grit his teeth. Bad memories surfaced. "I'm already infertile," he managed to whisper. Pain apparent in his voice.
The dragon was ready to make a snippy comment about ears, but that drew him up short. "Oh..."
He didn't really know how to respond to that. With a huff, he cranes his neck around and said softly, "Really...I don't mind a saddle, Immortalis."
He glanced to Kiara, then lowered his voice a bit more. "She doesn't know?"
"Still, it doesn't really serve a purpose," he replied, shaking his head. "I haven't told her yet.. But it isn't easy," he took a deep breath, "it's kind of like a scar.."
Ren was quiet for a few moments. "She seems to have accepted your other scars, Mist," he pointed out gently. "And you know it's going to come up eventually."
"I know.. It's just.." He grit his teeth and squeezed one of Ren's spines subconciously. "It was back when I was a slave.. It's not easy talking.." Gods help him, he had to start fighting back tears now.
"Mist." The dragon craned his neck to look at him, then suddenly let out a sharp breath. With nothin more than a sharp call to Kit in a dragonish tongue, he swooped into a dive and landed in a clearing in the trees that had been thickening below them.
Ren twisted to nuzzle his rider's chest, fanning his wings slightly in an attempt to sheild them from the other pair's view and save some face. "S'alright, Immortalis," he muttered gruffly.
Mist didn't even as much as flinch as Ren took a sharp dive. He shook his head as he felt Ren prodding against his chest. "It hardly is.." He hissed bitterly. "As if I was clipped like a fucking chicken," the same spite in his tone. "Since it would've been an inconvienience.." He let out a dry, and extremely bitter chuckle. "An inconvienience," he muttered softly, his tone now made him sound defeated.
"I'm sorry." Ren didn't know what else to say, letting his forehead nudge against the elf's.
Kit came in to land several lengths away. "Everything alright?" Kiara called from his back, frowning slightly.
Mist soflty shook his head against Ren's. "I'm a mess. I got more scars from memories than I got physical ones.."
He didn't even have the gut to even answer to Kiara's question now.
"Talk to her," the dragon urged quietly. "Maybe she can help." The girl was young, sure, but she obviously adored his rider. She could at least listen to him, if nothing else.
He craned his head around and replied, "I just thought Kit and I could take the chance to hunt, now that we're in the forest." His tail curled around to tap reassuringly at Mist's leg.
Mist nodded faintly. "I'm scared, Ren." He whispered in reply, before taking a deep breath and turning to Kiara.
"She loves you," the dragon murmured in reply, low enough that the other two wouldn't hear him. "I've heard that can conquer a whole lot."
Kiara slipped from Kit's back and patted his flank, wishing him luck on his hunt quietly, apparently oblivious.
Mist glanced at Kiara qnd nodded. "Have a good one," he murmured to the dragon, before approaching the other rider, unable to look her in the eyes.
The two dragons took off and Kiara watched them go for a few moments, smiling. When her eyes moved back to Mist though, her expression immediately became concerned.
"Mist?" She moved toward him and reached out almost unconsciously. "Is something wrong?"
He took a deep sigh and looked her in the eyes. "So many things I still have to tell you," he replied with a sad smile, grabbing her hand softly. "So much scars I have to explain," a tear ran down his cheek, but nevertheless, he let out the same smile. "After a while, I'll have explained all of them. But now, it's just difficult."
Kiara's eyes widened slightly. "Mist..." She reached up to cup his cheek in one hand, squeezing his fingers lightly with the other.
"What's wrong?" she murmured, brushing her thumb along his cheek to wipe away the trail the tear left. "Talk to me."
Mist let out a bitter chuckle. This really was painful. Painful and emberassing. "I'm-" he started with a soft sigh. "I'm about as fertile as a a rock. A small present from my so-called owners.." He murmured softly.
For a long moment she was quiet.
Then, with a small sigh, Kiara lowered herself to sit on the grass and pulled Mist with her. "I'm sorry," she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry..."
She pulled away to search his face, brow furrowed in concern. "Are you- do you...hurt?"
Mist shook his head. "It doesn't hurt.. I just can't have children.." He let out a soft, but oh so bitter chuckle again. "It would be an inconvenience if the slaves reproduced.. Or even worse, if the mistress of the house got pregnant.." He let out a bitter grin to match the chuckle.
Kiara's eyes started to itch and she blinked rapidly to clear them. She needed to be the strong one right now.
"I'm sorry," she said again, leaning into him and tightening her embrace. "Gods, I-" Her hands clenched into fists behind him back. She didn't know what to say.
"I just felt you had to know," Mist replied as he swallowed heavily, resting his head against Kiara's. "There's still a lot of these things, Kiara. Scars.. A lot of them.."
"Mist..." She stroked the back of his head gently and she pulled back a bit to see his face, offering a small, slightly shaky smile.
"I love you," Kiara murmured. "You, Immortalis. Your scars are a part of who you are, so I love those too." She leaned in to kiss his cheek.
With a small exhale, she added quietly, "Besides- chances are I couldn't have kids anyway. Most half-fae are sterile." She twisted her head to kiss his cheek again, then his nose, then his lips.
Mist's eyes widened slightly, before he nodded slowly. "I love you too," he replied, offering her a sad smile. "You'll know them all, one day.." He murmured softly, pressing his forehead againsg hers.
Kiara offered a small smile and nudged her forehead back against his, then kissed the bridge of his nose.
"...Tell me something else," she murmured after a few moments. "Every time you tell me one of your scars- tell me something happy, something from Mir, maybe."
"I had a little sister there," he replied with the same sad smile. "I'm sure she is alive and happy somewhere now."
"She got away?" Kiara let her head drop onto his shoulder and tucked herself into his side. She covered his hand with hers, then laced their fingers together.
"She has," Mist answered. "I had to make sure she escaped."
She nodded slowly. "What's her name?" she asked quietly.
"Wild," he answered, chuckling softly. "An applicable name.."
"Wild," Kiara repeated. She smiled. "I'm sure she's happy, somewhere," she murmured.
With a small sigh, she leaned away from him to stretch her arms over her head and arch her back. Glancing over at him, she said hesitantly, "I- I'm glad you told me, Mist. I know that couldn't have been easy..."
"It isn't," Mist answered, looking at her with a gentle smile. "Thanks for listening," he answered as the smile turned a tad sadder.
She smiled and leaned over to kiss him gently. "I'll always be here to listen, love," she murmured quietly, nuzzling her nose against his.
"I'm glad," Mist replied as he briefly closed his eyes.
Kiara kissed his forehead, then stood with a soft sigh. She glanced around, head tilted as she listened to the forest around them.
"C'mon." She held her hand to him with a small smile. "Why don't we try to find some water while the boys are hunting?"
Mist nodded and grabbed her hand, getting on his feet again. "Sounds like a plan."
She smiled, lacing their fingers together, and leaned in to peck his cheek lightly. "I love you," she murmured softly, then started off into the trees.
Kiara followed the sound of running water to a small, clear stream. She sighed and knelt at the bank, pulling a flask from her hip and dipping it into the water to fill it.
Mist let out a soft smile. "I love you too," he murmured.
Mist kneeled down infront of the stream, cupping his hands together and lowering them, sipping from the water before immediatly spitting it out again. "Don't-" he said as he pushed Kiara's flask away from the stream. "It's not clean," he said as he stood up, following against the current.
Kiara started and glanced at him with a furrowed brow. She stood and followed him, sniffing the air.
"Something's off," she muttered. "Maybe a dead animal in the stream?" That didn't seem quite right though.
"I think so," Mist teplied as he snorted softly. "But it tastes disgusting."
Kiara, still frowning, knelt to dip a finger in the water, then licked it. Her eyes went wide.
"Oh no." She shot to her feet, hand going to the dagger on her hip. "Dragonsbane," she hissed. "Someone's poisoned the water with dragonsbane."
She turned on her heel and started off, calling back, "We have to find Ren and Kit. Oh gods, this is so not good."
"Dragonsbane?" Mist inquired with an eyebrow. The name spelled nothing but bad news. But he was unfamiliar with it. Either way, he needed to take action.
He nodded at Kiara's words. "Any idea where they are?"
"They flew northeast," she muttered, moving in that direction. Kiara glanced over her shoulder, an edge of panic to her voice. "Mist- even just a few mouthfuls of that water could knocked them out for hours. It wouldn't take much to-"
She swallowed and broke into a run.
"Shit," was all he could reply as he trailed behind her. Keeping up with the loud clunking of his armour.
A sudden roar seemed to almost shake the earth and Kiara froze. That wasn't Kit- too deep, too big. Ren.
A jet of fire suddenly bloomed over the trees, followed by another, higher pitched roar, then a cry of pain. "Oh no," she breathed, then she was sprinting in the direction of the flames.
The instant Renkaryn's roar reached Mist's ears, his eyes widened. Teeth visibly grit.
He put a hand on the hilt of the blade, sliding it from his back as the bandages around it completely shredded, the eye open. The iris small and frantic. Veins visible in the blade's sclera.
His eyes changed, irisses red and sclera black. He surged forwards at speeds that seemed superhuman.
Kiara was almost left behind as Mist suddenly charged forward. The dragons' roars ringing in her ears, she sprinted after him.
It wasn't long before they broke into a gap in the trees. For a moment Kiara was frozen, eyes wide with shock.
Ren and Kit were pinned to the ground, chains flung over their backs and pinning their wings to their sides. It didn't stop them from lashing out with claws and teeth, but she could see that they were weak and hazy from the dragonsbane, and the group of men jabbing at them with spears were most definitely getting the upper hand.
But what shocked her most were the dragons in the air. Three of them, a bit large than Kit but not quite Ren's size, scaled in reds and blues, with thick leather collars around their necks. They held a net of metal filament between their claws.
"Kit!" She sprang forward, blades drawn.
Mist charged forward, dragging the enormous blade behind him with a roar that rivalled even Ren's in volume. One of the spearmen turned around to him and tried to stab him trough the gut. Yet, his spear was less resilient than Mist's armour and the shaft broke as he tried to.
And a split second later, he fell to the ground with a pained and frantic yelling as his arm was not sliced, but torn off.
After that, he charged at the remaining group.
Kiara barely had time to register Mist joining the fray before she was leaping at one of the slavers. Because she figured that's what they had to be- no Adelan in his right mind would try to capture a dragon.
See their riders seemed to galvanize the dragons a bit. Kit thrashed under his chains and flames with a roar. Kiara threw her hand out and curled the fire into a whorl around three of the men, feeling magic race through her system.
Ren shrieked and bucked against his chains. Something snapped and he whipped his head around, snapping his jaws closed on a spear and cracking it in half.
And the one who possessed Ren's spear was cut in half, from the head down to the waist, before Mist slammed his lifeless corpse aside, already covered in quite a bit of blood.
He let out low snarls and soft grunts as he reached Ren, turning the blade and charging forward at three men at the same time, slicing through them with the blade. An arrow scraped past his cheek before he flung the massive blade forward at the archer. Having him drop dead to the floor with the massive blade sticking out of his chest.
Ignoring the screams around her, Kiara whirled just in time to see Mist fell the archer. "Mist!" Gods she hoped he could hear her in his current state. "Cut the dragons loose, I can't do it!" Her knives weren't anywhere near up to the task.
"Get the little one out of here!"
That made her start and spin on her heels just in time to see two of the collared dragons lifting Kit into the air in the net. The black dragon writhed and flamed, but she knew her partner well enough to see that he was barely conscious at this point.
"Kit!" She screamed and sprang forward, driving her blade between the shoulders of the man who'd been shouting orders.
Mist let out a loud roar. He did hear her. But in this state of mind, veins visibly throbbing on his forehead, it didn't even register. He smelled blood and he only wanted to kill more.
He hacked, slashed, thrusted, punched, tore and even bit his way through the ranks, leaving a bloody massacre behind him.
The slavers fell apart in a panic, the few who managed to escape Mist's wrath leaping for the dragons or taking off into the trees, no longer holding the chains that kept Ren pinned.
The gold dragon surged to his feet and tried to leap into the air with a roar, aiming for the dragons towing Kit- but he suddenly collapsed back with a pained cry. His left wing hung uselessly at his side, a spear driven deep into the joint, still held by one of the slavers.
Mist turned around to glance at Ren, seeing the filth on his wings, his teeth grit.
He dropped the blade and stormed forward, tackling the man to the ground and getting ontop of him. He raised his fists to punch at the slaver's face, turning it into a bloody mess and completely crushing his skull. And he didn't relent, even when the man was already dead.
"Mist. Mist!"
Ren shot his head forward, weaving slightly under the effects of the dragonsbane. "Immortalis! Wake up!" He shoved his nose into his rider's chest. "They're dead, Mist," he panted. "They're all dead."
Well. Not all of them. Kiara was standing over the body of a slaver, panting, shoulders hunched, and staring at the disappearing form of the two dragons flying Kit away. She seemed to be sort of hugging herself, trembling in shock.
Mist snarled loudly and pushed Ren away, quite the amount of brute force behind his shove, before he sat back, looking at the flattened face. Slowly, his eyes regained their normal colour again and he stood up, looking around, before resting his gaze on Kiara. He grit his teeth and walked over. "Kiara," he ushered softly as he rested a bloody hand on her shoulder.
Ren huffed a sigh of relief- and his legs gave out from under him. He collapsed with a wince as his injured wing flopped uselessly at his side.
Kiara turned very slowly at his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes were wide, face pale. "M-Mist..."
She held a knife in her left hand. Not her own. Her right hand was pressed against her side.
Red trickled down her side from where the blade had slid between her ribs. She swayed, and collapse to her knees.
Mist's eyes widened as he saw the wound, hands immediatly shot underneath Kiara's armpits to catch her fall. He glanced at Ren as he also collapsed. "Shit," he murmured, unsure what to do. "You'll be alright," he murmured, before looking at Ren. "Both of you-" he said, a hint of desperation and panic to his voice.
Teeth bared in a pained snarl, Ren managed to drag himself forward to his rider's side. As bad as his wing was, thankfully it seemed to be his only real injury. "What happened-" The scent of blood hit his nostrils and he took the girl in. "Shit."
Kiara's breath was coming sharp and shallow, her vision going fuzzy at the edges. "Fine," she muttered, gasping. "I- I'm fine." She tried to push herself up, then cried out and clenched her eyes shut, pressing her hand more firmly over her wound in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood.
"Kit," she rasped out. "They took Kit...we h-have to..." She coughed, a spot of red appearing at the corner of her mouth.
Mist picked her up, gently. Her coughing up blood made him realise there was only one way. He glanced to the blade and walked over, kneeling down besides it with Kiara still in his arms. "Keep looking me in the eyes," he murmured towards her as he put his hand on the sword. "This is going to hurt, but it'll patch you up.."
Kiara whimpered quietly as he lifted her, but she did as he said, meeting his eyes. Her gaze was a little hazy, and it seemed to be taking much more effort than it should have to keep her eyes open.
Ren twisted around to watch them, eyes narrowed in concern. "What are you planning?" he asked quietly.
"My ear is a small sacrifice," Mist answered, "one or both of her lungs are perforated." He took a deep sigh and closed his hand around the hilt, a slick slab of flesh dropped on her chest from the sword. It crawled towards the wound and slipped in, starting to mend the trauma to her internal organs.
Kiara heard that. "N-no-" she tried to protest, shoving at him weakly, but it was too late.
She gasped as her body started to heal, shuddering at the foreign sensation and clenching her eyes shut.
After a short while the glob of flesh poured out of the wound again before closing it, slipping back unto the blade. A qigh lf relief left Mist. "How are you feeling?"
Still shivering at the sheer strangeness of the feeling, Kiara slowly tried to sit up.
"Dizzy," she murmured after a moment. That was probably from blood loss. "But...okay." Her eyes flicked up to Mist's face- and she burst into tears.
Sobbing, she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him. Ren snorted and drew his head back from the two of them, startled.
Mist sushed her sofly, holding her close. A soft chill ran up his spine as he felt tendrils slowly crawling up to his left ear, before enveloping it. He expected a lot of pain, but didn't feel a thing. The tendrils dissappeared again, a golden ornament around the ear. It seemed just a piece of jewelry he wore and wasn't actualiy that uncommon dark.elves.
"We're gonna get him back," Mist murmured, forgetting about the ear.
Kiara nodded, gasping as she tried to force the tears away. "I c-couldn't stop them. I promised him I'd protect him, and I..."
She hid her face against Mist's chest with a choked sob. "A-and then- that damn sword! You..." She sniffed and lifted her eyes to search his face. "What did you give up this time?" She was almost afraid to ask.
"We'll get him back Kiara," he murmured, gritting his teeth. "As I live and breathe, we will save him." He ran a hand through Kiara's hair as she pressed against his chest. He shook his head softly. "Doesn't matter.. You survived. That's all that matters, regardless off the price."
"But it does matter." She sniffed and turned her face into his neck again. "I don't want- I can't be the reason that thing has a hold on you." Kiara grit her teeth to hold back more tears, furious with herself for crying at all.
She had to focus on something else. Anger seemed like a good bet. Her fingers curled into fists, nails biting into her palms. "If they hurt him, I'll-" Her voice cut off in a choked sob.
Ren gave a low rumbled and stretched his head forward to nudge her back in as close to a comforting gesture as he could manage.
"Not now," Mist murmured softly. "Not now. We all survived this," he squeezed Kiara softly. "Now we get Kit back," he smirked sadly. "And we'll show those bastards."
She sniffed and nodded, pulling away slightly to wipe at her eyes. "Okay." Kiara nodded slowly. "Okay."
Ren snorted and raised his head, peering out over the trees. "They went northwest." He glanced down at his little two-leggers. "We need to get moving if we want to catch them."
"Can you keep up with that wing, Ren?" He inquired as he stood up, pulling Kiara up aswell.
The gold dragon snorted. "I'll be fine." He spread his wings- and gave a sharp cry of pain.
"Or not," he hissed through gritted teeth. "I don't- I can't fly, Immortalis. I'm sorry."
Mist nodded soflty. "Don't exert yourself, stick back and we go on foot," he glanced at Kiara. "They won't expect us to chase so soon since they also still think you are heavily wounded," he glanced at Kiara.
She nodded sharply and forced herself to her feet. Kiara was itching to go, to fly, to chase after Kit as fast as possible, but she forced herself to calm down.
"Mist, do you have bandaging?" Her eyes flicked over Ren's wound. "I can bind that, I think. Make it easier to move."
"I don't," he replied, pointing at the bare, cursed blade on his back. "It got all shred to pieces."
She nodded sharply and started shredding the hem of her tunic. "Then this will do. Ren, hold still. This is probably going to hurt."
Kiara bound his wing as efficiently as she could, though it left her in half of what her tunic had originally covered. Ren gritted his teeth and bore the pain.
"Alright," the dragon huffed when she stepped away. "We need to get moving."
"The growl means 'thank you'," Mist mused, aiming to at least lighten the mood even a little, before heading out.
"We'll get him back, as long as my heart is pounding," he started to reassure the pair.
Kiara just nodded, face pale and fists clenched at her sides. Ren padded beside the two, grumbling about the inconvenience of walking.
"We won't be able to catch them like this," Kiara said after a few moments, tone expressionless. "We need to know where they're headed."
"Ren's nose," Mist answered, before snorting. "They are bound to have a stronghold nearby. Else they wouldn't try to capture Kit and Ren."
The dragon nodded, raising his head again to sniff the air. "I can track them for days if I have to, youngling," he told Kiara quietly, nudging her arm.
She bit her lip. "What if Kit doesn't have days?" Her voice was barely even a whisper.
"He will," Mist replied. "I think he's too valuable to kill," Mist answered. And if they did, they had better said their prayers, because he was going to kill them one by one. And extremely slowly.
"Scales." Kiara wasn't looking at either of them. "Teeth, blood, claws. Even dragon pieces are worth a fortune." She wrapped her arms around herself, hunching her shoulders. "They- they could- they wouldn't have to kill him," she whispered.
A low growl started up in Ren's chest.
"They use dragons," he replied, "Kits strength and firebreath here are his advantages," he answered. "Besides. Each spot on him will extend all their suffering with another ten minutes."
"Mist..." She glanced at him, then wrapped her fingers around his wrist. "What- what happened back there...you can't control it, can you?"
"I can," he replied with a soft grit of his teeth, "I can activate and deactivate it on will. But it makes me incredibly pissed off."
Kiara swallowed heavily, but she slowly pointed out, "You didn't try to hurt us though. Me and Ren. That- that's gotta count for something, right?"
"It was to protect you," he answered with a soft sigh. "I'd rather die than hurt the ones I cherish."
She fell quiet, leaning into his side a bit as they walked. Ren prowled along beside them, eyes narrowed to wary slits.
Mist.put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a soft m, comforting squeeze, before looking up at the sky. They were gonna find him. He was sure of it.
They walked until sunset, and finally Ren twisted his head to look at the two-loggers and huffed out, "We're not going to do him any good if we're exhausted. You two at least need some rest."
Kiara shook her head quickly. "No. I'm fine, we can keep going."
The dragon snorted and threw Mist and mildly exasperated look.
"I'll walk," Mist answered, looking up at Ren. "Can you carry her with that wing?"
He huffed and rolled his eyes, but nodded. "As long as she doesn't put weight on it."
"Oh, no!" Kiara frowned and shook her head. "Look, boys, I'm fine, really-"
Ren cut her off by darting his head forward and grabbing the back of her tunic between his teeth, twisting to plop her onto his back, careful of his injured wing. "Shut up and hold still."
Mist nodded. "Alright." He glanced at Kiara before she was put down on Ren's back. "Don't argue with him. You'll lose."
"Fine." Kiara huffed and gripped one of Ren's spikes so she could balance herself without jostling his wing.
Mist nodded, glancing back to the path ahead and sighing. "An estimate of how long it takes before we find him, Ren?"
The gold dragon shook his head with a low, irritated growl. "A dragon can fly a hundred miles in a day. On foot, it could take us days to catch up."
"But they still have quite the delay of a prisoner like Kit," he answered. "So an estimats?"
Ren snorted and murmured, "The youngling is a scrapper... Maybe a day, then." He nodded to Mist. "You were right before, they wouldn't have tried to take us if they didn't have a hideout nearby."
Kiara suddenly sat up a little straighter and looked around. "Hang on," she murmured. Her eyes widened.
"I know where we are." Without another word, she vaulted off of Ren's back and took off into the trees.
The gold dragon snorted in surprise, head rearing back. "First Fires, I wish she'd stop doing that," he muttered as he started after her.
"Oi, Kiara!" Mist called out as he chased behind her with quite loud clunking of his armour.
Kiara came to a sudden stop just as the line of trees suddenly ended, coming to a stop up against a crumbling stone wall.
The remains of an ancient temple loomed over the forest, gates and archways weathered away, but the basic shape still intact. The young woman held up a hand to signal for the other two to stop.
Ren sniffed the air and bit back a growl. He looked at Mist, nodding. The men who had attacked them were here.
Mist nodded at Ren in reply. "We move in at the cover of night," Mist replied. Gesturing for Kiara to get back to the two of them.
She nodded slowly and slipped back to stand between the elf and the dragon. "The trees are thicker on the west side," she murmured. "We can hide there until sunset." Which should be in an hour or so.
Mist nodded. "They'll most likely set guards. I trust your handywork with the knives to take care of those."
Kiara gave a sharp nod. "Not a problem." She led them easily through the trees, not even seeming to look where she was going, moving with the ease of muscle memory.
Ren gave a soft huff and followed her into a small glen, glancing around. "We probably shouldn't risk a fire," he rumbled.
"Perhaps as a distraction, but away from our current distraction. Our advantage is that they don't expect us." He replied as he looked around the small clearing.
Kiara didn't seem to be listening, pacing around the clearing with a furrowed brow.
Ren watched her as he settled back on his haunches with a wince and a glare to his injured wing. "What's your battle plan, then, Immortalis?"
"As soon as it's dark, we sneak in and find Kit. We pull him out and you collapse the entrance so they don't set chase soon. Because they are ready to chase us instantly aswell."
Kiara suddenly seemed to snap back to attention. "Should Ren go?" she asked, looking between the elf and the dragon. "I can use my magic to collapse the entrance- I'm not sure he should be straining that wing."
Ren snorted and glowered at her, growling, "I'm fine."
"She's right, Ren. The sooner that wing is healed, the faster we can get away from these guys," he said with a soft, genuine smile to Ren. "It's your choice, big guy. But I'd prefer if you kept guard here."
The dragon growled, eyes flaring. "I'm not an invalid," he grumbled.
Kiara stared him down. "Maybe. But you are hurt, and the last thing we need is for you to get in the way."
Ren snapped his jaws together and glowered at her. "Watch your tone, youngling."
She lifted her chin, eyes snapping fire right back. "Or what?"
Ren hissed at her. "Immortalis," he snapped. "Talk some sense into your mate."
"Both of you, calm the fuck down and save it for the scumbags down there," he replied as a low growl of his own rose in his chest. He glanced at Ren. "You don't threathen my mate, Ren." He said, his tone going almost primal. Possessive and even dangerous. Eyes dangerously cold. He however gave the same stare to Kiara. "And you do not provoke my partner, Kiara." The same tone as he used with Ren.
He let out a soft sigh. His tone growing more normal again. "We're here to save Kit, let's not forget."
Dragon and girl both gave him almost identical looks of surprise, but subsided. They kept shooting each other rather peeved glances, but their argument died fairly quickly.
"I can...serve as backup," Ren relented eventually. "I will go with you, but- I'll hang back." He growled in irritation. "It won't do us any good if I just get hurt worse."
It was a testament to how worried about Kit she was that Kiara didn't jump on that to point out she'd been right. She just nodded, wrapping her arms around her middle and staring into the trees.
Mist nodded slowly. "Good. Now we just wait," Mist said as he put a hand on Kiara's shoulder and gazed up at the evening sky.
"Right." Kiara sighed and her shoulders slumped a bit, then she shook her head and forced herself to straighten up. "We wait."
It was torture. Every second felt like a lifetime, and she just couldn't hold still, pacing around the clearing and worrying at her lip. Finally, the sun started to set.
Mist slowly ran a wetstone across the edges of his sword as he waited for sunset.
As soon as the sun dissappeared, he flicked the blade in his hand and rested it on his shoulder. "Let's go."
Kiara and Ren nodded and the girl set off, leading them back through the trees to the ruined temple. Ren allowed himself to catch twigs and underbrush in his scales as he moved, trying to dull the glimmer of golden scales somewhat.
Mist followed Kiara closely. His arm gave him some new power when he had it taken over. He wondered if the same counted for his ear.
But he felt he'd find it out soon enough.
Once they were close enough, Kiara paused. She looked to her companions. "Your call, Immortalis. There's a hole in the western wall, we could try to sneak in there or go for the front gate."
"We should keep a low profile," Mist answered with a soft snicker. "Can Ren fit through?"
She eyed the dragon's bulk. "Maybe."
Ren shrugged, ignoring the twinge of pain from his injured wing. "Let's just get moving. If I don't fit, we'll come up with something else."
Mist nodded softly. "Let's go," he stated.
Kiara nodded and started creeping toward the entrance. Ren followed as subtly as he could, but there was only so much the massive gold dragon could do to keep himself hidden from view.
They needed to move fast. Beckoning for the boys to follow her, Kiara darted for the entrance, daggers drawn and jaw clenched.
With a soft sheen, Mist brandished the large cursed blade and followed Kiara closely.
Miraculously, Ren managed to fit himself through the entrance.
Kiara led them into the crumbling temple, and they didn't get far before she heard the clank-scrape of chains on stone. Her heart lurched into her throat and she took off down a hall toward the sound.
Kit was chained to a wall, tail and neck hung low with exhaustion and wings splayed awkward and useless at his sides. His sides heaved with pants, blood dripping down between his scales.
Kiara saw red. With a shriek, she launched herself into the room.
The instant Mist saw Kit's blood, his eyes gained that glint again. But now, it wasn't just that. A thick and disgusting aura of bloodlust hung around him. He sprinted over to Kit, shredding the chains to pieces with his bare hands.
The black dragon collapsed with a cry. Shakily, he tried to raise his head and panted at Mist, eyes hazy, "Kia- help Kia."
Kiara had drawn the attention of the slavers quite spectacularly, engaging three of them with her blades as they came at her.
Ren swept into the room with a rumbling growl, knocking humans aside with his tail and spitting fire. He darted forward and snaked his head under Kit's, lifting the smaller dragon up to lean against his uninjured side.
As soon as he knew Kit was under Ren's care, Mist turned around.
His eyes wide and menacing. It caused the slavers infront of him to back slightly. One of them whispered they were facing the devil. At which Mist could only let out a soft chuckle. "I'm worse," he said with a soft whisper as he dropped his blade.
He was going to kill each and every one of them barehanded. It would be too painless and merciful with the sword.
Kiara was lost to rage- not to the extent Mist seemed to be, but in a more human way. She whirled from one opponent to the next, slashing at any exposed skin she could reach. A stray arrow clipped her shoulder but she barely even felt it.
Meanwhile, Ren was attempting to push his way back out into the open air, clawing and biting and flaming at anyone who came too close as he ushered Kit along.
Most of the slavers seemed to be occupied by the demon that was Mist. Several arrows stuck from his armour. Yet they didn't stop him from his murdering spree. They only provided him with sharp edges he could use to stab.
He was covered in blood, but none of it was his. He tore through their ranks as a demon. Killing brutally in the most bloody and painful ways possible.
Kiara suddenly screamed as she was slammed onto her back, two slavers pinning her down. They knocked her blades from her hand and she bucked desperately, but they were just stronger than her, holding her in place.
Mist heard the cry and immediatly turned around, gripping one of his assailants and throwing him at Kiara, hitting one of the men keeping her down and forcing him off. He charged forward, slamming his hand forward to grip his face, the index of his claw perforating the man's eye and finding grip in the socket as he pulled him off Kiara and smacked him against the floor, blood splurting up from the claw.
Gasping, Kiara shot up, scrambling to get her feet under her. "M-Mist." She staggered forward and tried to grab his shoulder.
A sickening grin was on his face as he drive his finger further and further, the slaver screaming in agony. Yet, after a short while, something audibly snapped and the slaver slumped down weakly.
He looked up again, seeing the remained of the opposition staring at him with wide eyes.
"Mist." Kiara wrapped her hands around his arm. The anger was fading when she'd seen Ren lead Kit out of the temple. Now she was just tired.
"They're done. Please, let's just go." She needed to see Kit, to take care of him.
"Take care of Kit, I'll wrap up here," he replied. His voice was deep, warped and filled with anger. "They will pay for each drop of blood.."
She stumbled back, a flash of fear sending a chill up her spine. Without another word, Kiara bent to grab her daggers and ran for the exit.
She didn't look back. She wasn't sure she wanted to see what would happen.
After roughly ten minutes, Mist emerged from the entrance, covered in blood and gore. "That trash is dead."
Slowly the glint in his eyes faded and the aura dissipated. He slumped forward slightly as he grabbed his head. "Shit," he murmured, before looking up at Kiara. "How is Kit?"
The second she saw her dragon Kiara gave a soft cry and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Kit winced and hissed, then crooned, closing his eyes and hugging her tight against his chest.
Ren immediately started forward when he saw Mist collapse. His head snaked out to sniff at him in concern.
"He's pretty bad," he rumbled, since neither Kit nor Kiara seemed quite ready to answer. "Tendons in his wings have been severed, I think some ribs are broken, and he's lost a lot of blood."
Mist leaned against Ren's snout, nodding softly. "They won't bother us. Nor anyone that might follow in their footsteps if they see-"' he cut off his own sentence and sighed slowly. "We need you and Kit healed."
For once, the gold dragon didn't protest an implication of his own weakness. He just nodded, nudging his head under the elf's arm to help him stand.
Kiara was crying quietly, having peeled herself away from clinging to Kit's neck to run her hands over his body as she walked around him, checking his injuries.
"There's- there's a town about three days walk from here," she murmured. "It's the closest place that might have a healer-"
She paused and her eyes suddenly flicked down. She started to reach for a pouch on her belt.
Seeing the movement, Kit twisted his neck around with a sharp hiss of pain at the jostling. "No." He nosed her shoulder. "It's too much- you're not supposed to use your magic."
She shook her head and swiped angrily at her eyes. "I can't leave it like this, Kit," she whispered. "You both need help, three days is too long to wait."
Mist pushed himself up again, holding his hand on Ren's head, deciding not to interfere with Kit and Kiara.
Stepping away from the black dragon, Kiara said sharply, "Don't let him strain himself," as Kit tried to lunge after her.
She pulled a small, carved wooden charm from the pouch on her belt and held it tight in one hand. She closed her eyes. "Aeolthaine, Aeolthaine, Aeolthaine."
For a moment nothing happened. Then the air in front of her started to shimmer, to sort of bend around itself. Something seemed to step out of nothing, and then there was a rather tall, slightly bewildered looking male figure standing in front of her.
He glanced around. "Kiara? Why have you summoned me?"
Mist arched an eyebrow, hanging back with Ren as the figure appeared.
Kiara swayed on her feet as she felt the magic taking its toll on her body. Aeolthaine moved forward to catch her as her legs started to buckle.
"Kit," she murmured, eyes fluttering. "Kit's hurt."
Ren watched with rather wide eyes. "I haven't seen one of his kind in decades," he said softly to Mist.
The fae creature's eyes snapped up, flicking over the black dragon's injuries. "You." He beckoned to the elf. "Hold her, keep her conscious. I'll help Kittsareyn."
"His kind?" Mist inquired as he stepped forward with a nod, taking a hold of Kiara and kneeling, holding her close to his chest. "Kiara, stay with me," he murmured softly. "We'll get out of this.."
"The fae," Ren rumbled, still watching Aeolthaine warily, at the same time Kiara rasped out, "I'm...fine. Just tired." Her lashes fluttered against her cheeks.
Aeolthaine moved around Kit with his hands outstretched, magic glowing at the tips of his fingers. The dragon's wounds started to close up as he passed his hands over them, not completely healed but looking as those weeks had passed in the healing process.
Mist raised an eyebrow at the fae, he was quite powerful. He felt a hiss passing through his head. The blade didn't like this person. At all.
And the fae would most likely feel a disgusting aura raising around him.
Aeolthaine suddenly started and turned, one hand resting against the joint of Kit's wing. He stared long and hard at Mist.
Then, in a flash, he was in front of the elf. Ren jerked his head back and hissed in surprise, wincing as he jostled his wing. Kit tried to scramble to his feet behind him.
"You." The fae held his hand out to Kiara. "Release my daughter and back away."
"Da." Kiara groaned quietly and tried to sit up. "It's fine, really." She was panting lightly, and her skin was far too warm.
Mist glanced at Kiara and ushered her back down, softly sushing, before he looked up at the fae, unphased, his eyes narrowed. "Where were you when she was dying earlier?" He inquired as a soft growl raised from his chest.
Ren growled low in his throat and curved himself protectively around the two dragonriders. Aeolthaine seemed entirely unphased, giving the dragon a droll look.
"I cannot sense such things," he replied evenly. "I only came now because Kiara summoned me." He glanced at the girl and his expression flickered just slightly. "I don't know who you are, but something corrupt has a hold on you. Now, release the girl."
Panting, Kiara tried to push herself up. "Da, stop it," she murmured. "Please."
"I don't care whether you can sense it," Mist said as he gritted his teeth, subconciously hugging Kiara closer. "I sacrificed my flesh to save her.. But you were nowhere near," he bared his grit teeth. "You have no right to tell me what to do."
Kiara wrapped an arm around Mist's neck and pressed her forehead to his temple. "It's- it's okay," she murmured. "Calm down, please..." She twisted her head to look at her father. "Da, please. Everything is okay, we needed your help for the dragons."
Aeolthaine sighed and knelt to be on level with them. He was still staring warily at Mist and Ren growled again.
His eyes snapped up to meet the dragon's. "Hush, youngling," he said evenly. For once, Ren seemed to actually be struck speechless. He looked back to Kiara, then to Mist. "Please," he said quietly. "Give me my daughter. She needs help."
Mist glanced down at Kiara, nodding softly and closing his eyes. He glanced up at Aeolthaine, releasing his protective hug on Kiara.
The fae creature pulled Kiara into his own arms, waving Kit's nose away as he leaned over to sniff at his rider.
"No, I'm fine-" Kiara tried to protest, but Aeolthaine was already passing his hand over her body, magic glowing in his palm. She shuddered and her eyes fell shut, suddenly unconscious.
Ren snorted, rearing his head back. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to mend the damage she's done to herself," he replied evenly. His eyes flicked up to the dragons and Mist. "You shouldn't have let her use magic. Particularly not after such a serious injury."
Kit blinked and looked to Ren and his rider. "Injury? What happened?"
Mist looked at Kit, shaking his head. "She was hurt. A perforated lung. I managed to save her," he answered as he looked up to Kit.
The dragon growled, though the sound was more anxious than aggressive.
Aeolthaine suddenly raised his head with a sharp exhale. "She needs to sleep," he murmured, shifting his grip on Kiara so she was cradled against his chest. "And she can't use magic, not even a spark, for at least a week."
Kit nodded. "I'll make sure she doesn't."
"Good." He turned his attention to Mist. "Now. Who are you, exactly?"
Mist glanced down on the Fae. "Mist. Also known as Immortalis," he replied as he sat down with a soft clunk of his armour. "And, as you have noticed, carrier of a cursed blade."
"I know what you are, drow," Aeolthaine replied calmly. "Trees whisper to each other, and your name is one spoken in a hush. I meant, who are you to my daughter?"
Kit shuffled, winced, and prodded the his back with his nose lightly. "He's been a good friend to us, sir," the dragon murmured. Ren huffed, rather irritated that one of his own mind would willing show such deference but not quite willing to argue the point.
"I'm sorry," Mist answered with a soft shake of his head. "You do not know what I am. Even I don't," he replied with a snicker. "And I am her lover," he deadpanned.
The fae creature arched an eyebrow. "I...see."
He frowned, looking between Kiara and Mist. "She is...awfully young for such things."
"She's nearly twenty," Kit pointed out gently. "She's not so young anymore, Aeolthaine."
His frown deepened and he fell silent, as though considering that. Ren cleared his throat and shuffled his wings awkwardly, then winced.
Aeolthaine glanced up at him. "You are hurt as well."
Mist frowned softly. "How long has it been since you saw her?" He glanced up at Ren.
"And yes, he is hurt," Mist answered with a soft sigh.
"Several moons," Aeolthaine replied with a small frown. He stood and carefully passed Kiara over to Mist's hold. "Here, I will heal your friend."
"I don't need-" Ren started to protest, then winced as even a small movement jarred his wing. "Fine."
Kit lowered his head close to Mist and Kiara. "He doesn't always see time well. He still sees Kia as a child."
Mist nodded and hugged her closely, softly stroking her head with a soft sigh. He glanced over at Kit and nodded softly. "I see."
When Aeolthaine stepped back, Ren cautiously stretched his wing. "Huh." He blinked at Kiara's father. "Thanks."
He nodded and looked back to Mist and Kiara. "I should be on my way. Remember what I said about her magic."
Kit tilted his head. "You won't stay until she wakes up?"
Mist frowned. "You're her father," he started. "At least stay untill she wakes up," he took a deep sigh. "That's the least.."
Aeolthaine shifted uncomfortably, but he seemed unwilling to back down from what he perceived to be a challenge. "Very well."
He sat gracefully, folding his legs under his body. Kit blinked, a little surprised, but his attention was really on Kiara.
"So." The Fae tilted his head. "Ah...how long have you...known my daughter?"
Ren coughed. First Fires, was he really trying to have this conversation.
"Several weeks," Mist replied with a soft sigh. "Perhaps it's quick, but we've been in situations concerning life and death before," he explained as he instinctivly pulled Kiara closer.
"Hm." He tilted his head and watched the protective gesture with interest. "I will not try to take her from you, Immortalis. I know she can make her own decisions." His mouth twisted and he added, "Not always the best ones, but they are her choices to make."
As though on cue, Kiara stirred fitfully in Mist's arms.
He severely doubted the man could. He sighed slowly as his corrupted claw clenched into a fist with soft scraping. "I will protect her," he answered, before feeling Kiara stir in his arms, he glanced down and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead, before sighing slowly.
"How are you feeling?" He murmured.
"I'm...okay," she said slowly, trying to sit up a bit, "When did Da leave- oh." Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Aeolthaine. "You- you're still here."
His lips twitched up on one side. "Yes."
Mist glanced at the man. "After some urging, he insisted on staying untill you woke." He smirked softly, before looking back down at Kiara. "You have things to catch up to," he decided as he released Kiara and stood up.
"Oh. Um..." She sat up and glanced uncomfortably at her father. "Well...thank you."
Ren cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should find a place to make camp?" he suggested quietly.
Mist nodded slowly at Ren, putting a hand on his neck. "Give them a moment, they'll catch up," he whispered before trailing the fingers of his claw along the golden scales as he walked past
The dragon nodded and bent to nudge his shoulder lightly as he followed him.
Kiara watched them go and opened her mouth, almost wanting to call them back. Then she sighed and shook her head, getting to her feet so she could look over Kit. "How are you, sweetling?"
He rumbled and nuzzled her cheek. Aeolthaine cleared his throat.
"Kiara. We should talk."
When they reached a clearing in the forest, away from the temple, Mist sighed slowly. "I'll gather some firewood."
Ren nodded. "I can hunt." He glanced back and cautiously lifted his wing. "I need to make sure this works properly now anyway."
Mist nodded slowly. "Bring something good, I'll try to find some herbs."
The dragon nodded again and took off. His ascent was a little lurching, but he at least managed to get into the air.
It was nearly an hour later when Kit followed their scents to lead him and Kiara into the clearing. Aeolthaine was nowhere to be seen, and the young woman dropped onto the grass with a sigh, holding her head in her hands.
Mist prodded his claw in the fire, "Ren's out hunting," he started as he pulled the chrystalline arm back, finger glowing hot. "How'd it go?"
"It was..." Kiara trailed off, biting her lip.
Kit cleared his throat. "I'll go see if I can help Ren, shall I?"
Her eyes snapped up to him. "You're still hurt, don't strain yourself."
He rolled his eyes and gave her an affectionate nuzzle, murmuring very quietly something that sounded like "talk to him", then took to the air.
Kiara huffed, frowning as she watched him go. "After all that, I really don't want to let him out of my sight," she admitted softly.
Mist glanced at Kit. So he and Kiara needed to talk. He looked at her and patted the ground next to him.
She made a face at him, but scooted over to sit beside him. "So... Da told me some stuff," she muttered eventually, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them.
Her eyes flickered over to him. "What did you think of him, by the way?" she asked quietly, maybe a little bit trying to avoid the subject.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, sighing. "What stuff?"
He frowned at her and arched an eyebrow. "I don't really know, he's.. Estranged to the workings of the world. He knows a lot. But knows so little."
"That's...a rather astute observation," Kiara noted with a crooked smile. Then she sighed.
"There's, um- something he told me. About my magic." She bit her lip, frowning.
Mist squeezed her shoulder softly. "Go on," he murmured as he rested his head on her shoulder.
She took a breath. "There's a way to...fix me. To make sure my magic isn't going to- to burn me out."
Kiara tilted her head to rest against his, closing her eyes. "But there's a price. I mean, of course there is, nothing is ever easy, right?" She laughed bitterly.
"Then we'll pay it," he said with a soft murmur. "I'll help any way I can."
"No, it's not-" She huffed out a sharp breath. "It's not a price you can pay, Mist. It's...it's something I'd have to do on my own. Decide if it was worth it."
She glanced away, still gnawing at her lower lip. "I could...become like him. I don't entirely understand it, but he could sort of- override the human part of me, make the fae part dominant. But..."
Kiara dropped her head onto her knees, muffling her voice a bit. "I wouldn't be the same. Fae don't- don't have emotions the same way humans do, at least not usually. I'm not sure I'd even be me anymore."
Mist nodded slowly. "So.. I'd lose you." He said, letting out a soft sigh. "If it's for your sake," he smirked softly. "And if it comes to that, I'll just seduce you a second time," he let out a soft chuckle.
Kiara's head snapped up to look at him. "But-" Her eyes started to itch and she sniffed, clenching them shut. "But what if you couldn't? It's not like I'd forget you, or forget that I l-love you- but I wouldn't be able to anymore, not the way I do now."
She twisted to wrap her arms around his neck. "I don't wanna lose you."
He pressed a soft kiss against the side of her head. "I love you. And it'll hurt," Mist sighed softly, bumping his head against hers. "A lot. But I don't want you to hurt yourself."
"Then- then I just won't use magic." She ignored the little voice in the back of her mind that pointed out that's what she'd been trying to do for the past few months.
"I can't do it." Kiara pressed herself a little closer to him. "I can't, Mist. I love you, I can't risk losing that."
She didn't have to decide this second, right? Aeolthaine hadn't made it seem as though she had some sort of deadline. Of course, the fae weren't very good with time, but surely he'd have been clear with something like this.
Mist closed his eyes, nodding softly. "I don't want to get you hurt," Mist replied as he hugged.her closely. "Whatever choice, I'll support you."
Kiara sniffed and curled herself around so she was tucked against his side, her head resting on his shoulder. "How did I get lucky enough to find you?" she murmured, closing her eyes.
A shadow was cast across the clearing and the thudding of wings heralded the dragons' return, but they circled above them, evidently testing the waters.
"I'm pretty rare," Mist answered with a soft grin, before looking up, arching an eyebrow. "You ever tasted my cooking?" He inquired as he waved for Ren and Kit.
She gave a watery little chuckle and bumped her head against his lightly. "Oh so modest," she teased quietly.
Ren and Kit came in to land, hovering a few paces away. Kiara snorted softly and quirked an eyebrow at Mist. "I have to say, it's gotta be better than travel rations."
Mist gave her a soft peck on the cheek before he stood. "I'll make it demonically good," he said with a grin as he jerked his thumb at the hilt of his sword.
Kiara gave a groaning laugh at that. "You shouldn't joke about that," she pouted as she got to her feet, still chuckling a little.
"Beats crying about it," Mist replied with the same smirk, before casually waving at Ren. "Caught anything good, big guy?"
The dragon rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "Mostly deer. There really isn't anything else around."
Kit moved to Kiara and nuzzled her cheek. She smiled and stroked his neck, obviously happy just to be near him again, though her eyes still flickered with worry and anger as they passed over his now healing wounds.
Mist shrugged. "That's alright," he smirked softly as he rested his hands on his belt and stepped forward to Ren. "You guys already had your fill? I don't imagine dragons preferring cooked meat over raw."
Ren curled his lip but Kit piped up, "I do."
Kiara laughed at the expression on the gold dragon's face. "He cooked his food before eating. Wastes time," Ren grumbled.
"Well, to me, it just sounds like I don't have to cook several entire deers," Mist answered with a chuckle, before clapping his hands together and rubbing them. "But first, skinning."
Ren huffed and twisted around to grasp his kill- a large buck- between his teeth and drag it forward. "I hope you don't expect me to eat the scraps," he rumbled.
Kiara rolled her eyes. "We could tan the hides or something. Don't worry, it'll get used."
"Unless you wanna eat the scraps, you won't eat the scraps," Mist assured with a pat on his jaw.
"Hrrmph." Ren nuzzled his hand slightly, then turned away, cracking his jaws in a wide yawn that Kit soon echoed.
Kiara smiled at them. "Why don't you boys get some rest? It's...been a long day."
Ren grumbled something about female worrying, but curled up on his side around them, Kit laying down to complete the circle.
Mist pulled up the deer and went to skin the creature without a word, gathering the scraps and organs unusable at a rock.
After an hour, he stood up and pulled up a massive chunk of flesh, starting to slice it down to bite sized bits.
Kiara had started a fire- using flint, for once she was heeding her father's warnings about her magic. she sat hunched over the flames, prodding the growing embers with a stick in an effort to make the fire grow.
She glanced up at Mist and wrinkled her nose. "We're gonna have to find a spring or something, because you need to wash up after that."
Mist nodded. "True," he answered with a chuckle as he approached with two sticks, the bits of flesh pierced on them. Several herbs and plants wrapped around it. "Now just wait," he said, "I'll clean up the mess."
"I can help with that," Kiara protested. She started to get to her feet, but Kit's tail swished out to catch her ankle and force her back onto the ground with a huff.
"Rest," the black dragon grumbled without opening his eyes.
Mist put the sticks down above the fire, standing up and stretching his back. "You make sure our dinner doesn't burn," Mist added with a soft chuckle, before turning around to clean everything up.
Kiara rolled her eyes and grumbled something under her breath, but she set up a little makeshift spit and kept her eye on the roasting meat.
After several minutes, Mist let out a soft yawn as he trudged past the fire agai., sitting down next to Kiara. "Hope you weren't planning on eating mine."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Oh no, you've caught on to my scheme," she teased, bumping his shoulder.
The smell of cooking food seemed to wrap around her like a blanket and her stomach growled loudly. She blushed, ducking her head.
"That sounded like a wolf," Mist answered with a soft chuckle, putting a hand on Kiara's shoulder and patting it firmly.
"Shut up." She glowered at him and shoved his shoulder. "I'm hungry- I got stabbed yesterday, cut me a break."
Kit gave a sleepy growl of protest at the reminder and Kiara reached out automatically to pat him reassuringly.
"I made you dinner, didn't I?" Mist answered as he leaned back at the shove with a soft chuckle.
"Hm." Kiara pulled her spit out of the fire and sniffed at the food. "I suppose you did," she relented with a playful smile. "You know, you're going to make a very nice housewife some day," she teased.
"Oi," Mist grinned as he took his own spit, his teeth sinking in the flesh. He pulled a shred off and chewed momentarily, before swallowing it. "I'll stop cooking, huh."
"I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it!" Kiara laughed quickly, leaning into him as she took a bite of her own food. "This is really good, Mist," she added after a moment, taking another bite.
Mist grinned. "You damn well don't mean it," he answered with a soft chuckle. "And I aim to please," he replied. "But let's just keep quiet and eat quickly so they can have a more peaceful sleep," he jerked his head at the dragons.
She nodded as she finished off her meal, tossing the remnants of her spit back into the fire.
With a soft huff, Kiara leaned against his shoulder, then frowned. "You're armor isn't the most comfortable thing to lay against," she told him softly, eyes glinting.
Mist yawned slowly as he also finished his meal, pocking the stick in the fire before leaving it there. He glanced at Kiara with a soft huff and started loosening the straps of his armour.
She grinned at him and leaned in to peck his cheek, chirping quietly, "Thanks."
Quietly as she could, Kiara climbed to her feet and started to pick her way over the dragons' tails. "I meant what I said before, we both need to clean up. I'm gonna go look for a stream or something, alright?"
Mist nodded slowly. "Alright, though we should be getting some sleep aswell," he replied in a soft whisper.
"I know, but I can't sleep all..." She waved a hand at herself, still splattered with blood and dirt. "I feel gross, I need to clean up." She smiled at him, then slipped away into the trees.
Mist nodded slowly. "I'll wait here," he replied with a soft murmur.
Kiara gave a wave over her shoulder to acknowledge that she'd heard him as she moved away.
A little over an hour later, the younger dragonrider was picking her way back into their little camp, hair wet and looking very recently cleaned.
She smiled and slid over to sit next to Mist, kissing his cheek. "Hey. Miss me?" she teased lightly.
Mist chuckled, turning to press a soft peck on her lips. "I was considering on bunking down with Ren's paw for the night, but you're softer," he smirked. "And prettier."
"Well I should hope so," Kiara chuckled.
Ren, apparently only half asleep, rumbled, "I take offense to that."
She glanced at the gold dragon and rolled her eyes. "C'mon." She laid down and pulled Mist with her, wrapping his arm around her waist. "I think we all need a good night's sleep."
Mist smirked soflty. "All offense intended," he replied with a soft murmur. "Go to sleep, big guy. Tomorrow's another day," he yawned slowly as Kiara pulled him down. He hugged her closely. "Goodnight," he whispered. "And to you too Ren.. And Kit if you're also listening."
The black dragon seemed deeply asleep, but his older counterpart rumbled a wordless acknowledgement.
Kiara smiled. Despite everything, in that moment at least she felt safe. "G'night, Mist," she murmured, snuggling back against him. "Love you."
Mist let out a soft snort to her words, he was already fast asleep. A gentle snoring only affirming this.
The sound of the elf's snoring was becoming familiar and Kiara smiled a bit to herself as she drifted off, oddly comforted by it.
Mist occasionally pulled her closer in his sleep.
At sunrise, Mist let out a soft groan as he stirred awake. Blinking softly as he raised his head slightly.
For once not the first one awake, Kiara shifted as she felt Mist move slightly and pressed back against him sleepily, murmuring, "Jus' a few more minutes..."
Kit was sleeping lightly, and he raised his head at the soft sound, giving a quiet little snort as he blinked his eyes open.
Mist pressed a soft kiss on her cheek, pulling her a littke closer as he rested his head down again. "Alright," he murmured softly, glancing over at Kit with a yawning nod.
The black dragon nodded at him as he stood and shook himself, then stretched his paws forward in a catlike stretch. "I'll wake the old man."
"I heard that," Ren rumbled, eyes still closed.
Kiara listened with a small smile and rolled over to face Mist, snuggling against his chest. "My boys," she laughed quietly, not bothering to open her eyes. "What would I do without you lot?"
"Stop talking in your sleep, big guy," Mist murmured with a soft smirk.
He pressed several soft kisses on Kiara's head, smirking softly. The past day seemed like just a distant nightmare.
Ren flicked his tail out with surprising accuracy and clipped the side of the elf's head. Kiara blinked her eyes open just in time to catch it and she laughed softly, voice rough with sleep.
"Morning," she murmured, reaching up to cup Mist's cheek. Her fingertips inadvertently brushed against the earring he'd gotten the previous day. She frowned slightly at the reminder- that all seeped so distant.
"Oi," Mist murmured, "those aren't manners at all, Renkaryn," he said with a soft yawn as he brushed the tail off, before meeting Kiara's eyes. "Morning," he replied with a gentle smile.
Her smile turned into a smirk. "You need to wash up," she teased, shoving at his shoulder. "You stink."
Kit chuckled and Ren climbed to his feet with a yawn. "There's still game from last night," the gold dragon noted, evidently quite single-minded in the morning.
"True," Mist hummed, then chuckled. "It didn't stop you from snugging up to me," he said with a soft smirk, before sitting up and glancing at Ren. "Someone's in a foul mood. Had a bad night?"
"My wing is sore," the dragon grumbled. Kiara's playfulness vanished and she sat up, looking between the two dragons.
"You're both alright, aren't you? You're not straining yourselves?"
Mist pushed himself to his feet, pulling his armour on. "Anything permament?"
Both dragons shook their heads almost in unison. "Just need a bit of rest, that's all," Ren rumbled.
"Good, then rest," Mist urged as he stretched softly. "I'm going to see about that washing up."
"There's a stream that way," Kiara said, pointing, as she got to her feet and stretched. "Ren, Kit, let me take a look at you."
They both grumbled but didn't give much other protest as she approached, running her hands over wounds to see how they were healing.
Mist nodded, yawning softly and walking to where Kiara pointed, dissappearing in the shrubbery.
He returned ten minutes later, hair slicked back with water. He sat down near the campfire and pulled out a small knife, starting to shave above the remnants of the fire.
Kiara had climbed up onto Ren's back- despite the gold dragon's protests- to better look at his now healing wing.
She glanced up when Mist returned. "I still don't think he should fly for a day or two, but things look they're coming along alright."
Mist flicked the knife from his chin, nodding slightly as he rubbed his now smooth shaven face. "Good. How are you holding up?"
She gave him a small smile as she slipped to the ground. "Tired, but alright. You?"
Mist sheathed the dagger again, smirking. "All good. And all smooth," he said with an overexaggerzted wink.
Kiara chuckled and stepped forward to wrap her arms around his neck, leaning up for a kiss.
She hummed and smirked at him when she pulled away. "Mhm. Much better."
Kit rolled his eyes an Ren gave an exaggerated cough.
Mist smirked softly and returned the kiss, before looking up at Ren. "I'll get to making breakfast."
"Good, then we can get moving," the dragon rumbled in response.
"Anything I can do to help?" Kiara piped up, keeping her arms around the elf.
"Check if we have any bread left," he replied. "Or go pick some fruits."
She arched an eyebrow. "Yes, sir. The little woman will go pick some fruit," she grumbled, crinkling her nose at him.
Kit chuffed a laugh and gave Mist an almost pitying look. "Yeah, she's not gonna let that go."
Mist snorted softly. "You asked whether you could help," he rolled his eyes. "I'm absolutely positive you have more knowledge than me about plants and fruits. Besides, if we do end up eating something poisenous, it's.not my fault." Mist shrugged with a soft grin.
"Oh." She calmed a bit when he proved he did in fact have decent reasoning behind the request, then flushed at her own quick temper. "I'll um- I'll be right back then." She scurried away into the trees.
Mist let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. "You want to do something else, then?"
Kiara was already out of earshot, but she returned fairly quickly with a few armfuls of edible herbs, nuts, and berries.
"Here." She sat down and started to sort the food into piles. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing."
"We still have some meat left," Mist answered with a nod. "We'll be able to stay here untill Kit and Ren get better."
She nodded and shuffled a little closer, leaning back against Kit's flank. "It's nice here. I don't mind the break."
Ren snorted, grumbling, "Break...fine, don't need a...overprotective..."
Mist nodded slowly, before looking up at Ren, shaking his head. "It's not overprotective. You just need some rest."
"Maybe the youngling does," Ren grumbled. "I'm fine. I could walk, if you don't want me to fly."
"Quit griping," Kiara brushed him off. "It's only for a day or two."
Kit huffed and nuzzled her shoulder and she reached up automatically to rub the edge of his jaw.
"Remember when we faced off against those dragonslayers together, Ren?" Mist inquired as he glanced up at Ren again. "I almost got killed, you told me to rest," he smirked. "Now I will tell you to rest and protect you while you're down."
The gold dragon glowered at him but his protests subsided and he hunkered down onto his haunches, dropping his head to rest on the ground beside his rider.
"Fine. If you insist."
Kiara smiled softly as she watched them, leaning a little further into Kit and scratching his nose.
"'Atta boy," Mist said as he rubbed Ren's snout, before leaning back against the dragon's neck.
"Hrmph." Ren snorted at him, blowing his hair back from his face. "Not a boy, Immortalis."
Kiara chuckled and got to her feet with one last pat to Kit's neck. "Alright. I can't just sit still, I'm gonna try to get some training done."
Mist smirked at Ren. "I know, big guy," he said as he pressed his head back against the dragon, before looking at Kiara, "speaking about training," he raised the corrupted arm. "Ren, care to test this thing's resistance for a second?" He asked as he looked up at the dragon.
He looked back at Kiara, "if you need help," he said with a soft smile.
"Wait a second." Kiara frowned at them both as Ren nodded, lifting his head. "You're not going to- are you planning to intentionally flame at him?"
The gold dragon blinked at her. "Well, if we don't know what the arm can withstand, it's not as useful as it could be, is it?"
She growled and rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up. "Males. First Fires, I swear you're all morons." She stomped away toward the trees, calling over her shoulder, "Don't come crying to me with intense burns!"
Mist looked at Kiara, smirking. "Problem with that?" He asked as he got to his feet, stretching lowly, ignoring Kiara's scene for the time being.
"Alright Ren, to limit forest fires, open up," he said as he stood infront of the large dragon.
Kit sort of shuffled around, watching with interest as Ren nodded and cracked his jaws open slightly. his scarlet maw began to glow, then a thin stream of flame billowed between his teeth.
Kiara was familiar with the snapping, crackling rumble that a flaming dragon elicited and she tried to ignore it, drawing one of her blades and mentally marking a high branch as her target before cocking her arm back and throwing.
Mist took a deep breath and clenched the claw into a fist, before pushing it inside Ren's mouth without much ceremony.
The dragon only let the flame last a few seconds before arching his head back and snapping his jaws closed.
"Well?" He eyed Mist with some concern. "How do you feel?"
Mist pulled his hand back, the chrystalline arm glowing hot. "I don't feel anything," Mist answered as he shook the hand. "Though, I'll have to find a lot of water to cool this off."
"Perhaps that pond?" Kit suggested, not even bothering to raise his head. He'd watched the process with interest, but now that the show was over he yawned widely and closed his eyes, evidently taking advantage of their downtime to bask in the sun.
Kiara finally glanced back over her shoulder, huffing out a small breath when she confirmed that Mist wasn't hurt but otherwise trying to appear disinterested.
Mist nodded, "Good idea, Kit," he replied as he held his arm up, walking over to the pond and submerging the arm inside.
Clouds of steam rose with loud hissing as he pushed the arm in.
"Hey."
Kiara came up behind Mist, head tilted to the side. "Happy now?" she murmured, crouching beside him. Her knives were sheathed back at her sides, notches in the surrounding branches evidence of her practice.
"Hm?" Mist glanced up at her. "Well. Happy's a strong word. More in the terms of.. Statisfied. Now I at least know an estimate of what this thing can take." He sat back, smiling softly. "Done training?"
She shrugged. "I can be. Just...checking on you." Her cheeks flushed a bit and she cleared her throat, looking away.
Clearing her throat, Kiara got to her feet. "Come on, Immortalis. Train with me, no point in getting sloppy." She held a hand out to him.
Mist slapped his still normal hand in hers and pulled himself up. "Powertraining or you want to hone your technique?"
She shrugged. "Either or. I'm really just trying not to go soft, what with all the lazing about we've been doing."
Her eyes flicked to his sword and she grimaced slightly. "Not sure I could really help you though. I've never been much of a fencer, and I don't even have a blade big enough to contend with that."
"True," Mist replied with a soft hum. "So powertraining," he smirked softly. "Want to play a weight on my back?"
Kiara laughed, tilting her head at him. "How does that work, exactly?"
"Just sit or lie down on my back while I do push ups," he answered with a soft grin. "It's pretty simple."
"Hm." She smirked. "Alright. Drop and give me twenty, soldier," she barked lightly, teasing.
"Twenty's me waking up," Mist replied with a soft grin, before turning around and getting into position. "Whenever you're ready."
Another small chuckle and Kiara climbed onto his back, a little awkwardly. "This is weird," she muttered, shifting around to get herself situated. Her hands moved to grip his shoulders gently, steadying herself.
"You sure you can do this? I'm not used to anything smaller than Kit carrying me..."
A soft chuckle left Mist as he lowered slightly. "Don't make me laugh, damnit," he replied as he pushed himself up completely, holding steady for several seconds, before lifting the claw and resting it on Kiara. "This thing.. Is cheating," he explained as he started the excercice.
"Alright." Kiara tilted her head. "Just- don't push yourself too hard, alright? I don't wanna break you on accident."
"I can take some punishment," Mist groaned in reply, pushing himself up and down.
A playful sort of smirk spread across her face and she chuckled low in her throat. "I'll keep that in mind," she purred rather suggestively.
Shaking her head, Kiara shifted around on his back a bit. "You know, I get how this helps you, but I'm not really getting any training over here."
Mist arched an eyebrow, but decided not to persue it.
He took a deep breath, grunting slightly. "True," he said as he pushed himself up completely. "Suggestions?"
"Hmm." She let herself sprawl along his back, arms folded over his shoulder blades. "Well, do you have an objections to me doing some target practice while I'm up here? Promise I won't slip and cut you." She tilted her head to peck his cheek.
"Feel free," Mist grunted with a soft smirk, glancing up at the peck on his cheek, before focussing on his training again.
Kiara leaned up to resettle herself into a seated position, scooping a few twigs from the ground as she did. She spent a minute or two whittling them into a point, then took aim at a tree branch several yards away and let fly.
The movements added just another challenge to his training.
After a short while, he held still, oanting softly as sweat trickled down his nose. "That's about.. Enough.." he panted as closed his eyes with a soft grunt.
"Gotcha." Kiara slipped off his back and twisted around to kneel in front of him. Her eyes flickered over his face. "Want me to get some water or something?"
Mist sat back with a soft clunk, panting slightly but shaking his head. "Thanks-" a deep breath, "but I'm fine."
Kiara rolled her eyes. "Come on," she murmured. "We have to fill up the waterskins anyway, just come down to the pond with me."
"You go," Mist replied as he swallowed heavily, before letting out a soft breath. "I'll catch up."
"Mi-ist." She drew his name out into almost a reprimand, frowning at him. "Here. I can help you back to the boys at least." She ducked to slip his arm over her shoulders, muttering, "If you were getting that tired, you should have said something sooner."
Mist let out a breathy chuckle as he got to his feet with Kiara's assistance. "Just got to catch my breath," he stated.
"Hm." She stood beside him, acting as a crutch as he got his breath back. "Kit, toss me the waterskins would you?"
With a grunt, the black dragon hooked a claw through the straps and tossed them in their direction, Kiara reaching out to catch them as he did.
After several deep breaths, Mist stood up straight, without Kiara's support. "All better," he said with a still slightly breathy voice.
She gave him a rather dry look, but muttered, "Alright. We'll just take it slow, yeah? Come on." She moved off toward the pond.
"Don't worry," Mist replied with a soft snort. "We got all the time we need."
"I'm not worried about that," she scoffed. "I'm worried about you, you big idiot." She leaned into his side for a moment before moving away toward the bank of the pond, bending to fill the waterskins she held.
A soft chuckle left Mist as he pulled her closer when she leaned into him. "Alright, alright."
Kiara smiled softly and reached up to circle her fingers around his wrist, tugging him down next to her. "C'mon, get your armor off and wash up a bit." She splashed a bit of water at him playfully.
"Oi," Mist grinned as he was pulled down. "Careful now," he said as he started to work on the straps.
"Careful of what? This?" She smirked and splashed at him again, eyes dancing teasingly.
As soon as the chestplate dropped off, Mist dodged the splash and grabbed her shoulders. Turning her around and pushing her down in the pond with a smirk.
Kiara's eyes widened and she squealed as she was shoved into the water. Surfacing with a splutter, she glowered and shoved a wave of water at him.
"You're an ass," she informed him, wringing her hair out. "Gods, now my clothes are all soaked..." She pulled her tunic up over her head and tossed it to the bank, conveniently smacking Mist in the face with it.
"Ha." She smirked and planted her fists on her hips. "Serves you right. Leave that out to dry, would you?"
"I told you to be careful, he replied with a soft chuckle, before he felt the wet tunic slapping in his face.
He pulled it down and snorted softly. "Fine," he said as he walked over to the nearest tree and hung it over a branch.
"Thank you, darling," Kiara chirped, tone sugary sweet. Her breeches soon followed her tunic, landing in a wet heap on the bank, and she ducked her head under the water, scrubbing at her hair for a moment before surfacing again.
"You getting in or not?"
"So, that was your true intention," Mist grinned as he removed the rest of his armour. "You just wanted to see me without the armour."
"Sweetheart." She arched a wry eyebrow. "If that was what I wanted, I could've just asked." She smirked. "I highly doubt you would've said no."
She tossed wet hair over her shoulder, putting her back to him quite pointedly.
"You know me so well," Mist answered as the cheek dripped frop his voice.
With a loud clunk, the last of his armour slid to the floor. Soon to be accompanied by his clothing as he stripped down. He slipped into the water and let out a soft chuckle, putting his hands on Kiara's shoulders as when her back was turned to him, pressing a soft kiss on her cheek.
Kiara gave a soft sigh and a small shiver at the little kiss. She twisted her head to look at him, a smile twitching her lips up on one side.
"Hey there," she murmured playfully. "Awfully forward, aren't you? Going around stripping and kissing girls in ponds."
"Don't tell me you don't like it," Mist answered with a soft grin.
"Well, I never said that," Kiara purred, twisting around to plant a soft kiss on his cheek. She wrapped her arms languidly around his neck and nuzzled against him.
"Sure sounded like it," Mist answered with a soft chuckle, putting his arms around her waist, pulling her up for a soft kiss.
She hummed softly against his lips and reached up to hold his face between her palms, thumbs smoothing over his cheeks. She traced the lines of scars over his face gently with a faint trail of kisses before moving back to his mouth.
Mist flicked his tongue out to trace her lips softly.
Kiara parted her lips for him, eyes fluttering closed. "Love me?" she murmured, pressing a series of soft kisses to his bottom lip.
"Ofcourse," Mist murmured softly, softly kissing back against her.
She smiled softly. "Promise?" Her hands moved down his chest to grip his hips gently.
"I swear," Mist murmured as he pressed a kiss in the crook of her neck.
"Good." Kiara tilted her head to bare more of her neck. She nudged her hips against his cautiously and turned her head to kiss his ear softly.
Mist surpressed a soft groan. The claw made his way down below her ass and lifted her leg up slightly for easier acces. He softly rubbed his member across her folds, grunting softly.
She whimpered quietly, shivering at the sensation and smoothing her hands up and down his arms. As odd as the corrupted arm had felt on her skin at first, now she realized she wasn't just used to it, the difference in texture against her skin was strangely stimulating.
"Mist Immortalis," she breathed against his ear, gently hooking her leg over his hip. "Make love to me?"
Mist squeezed her ass softly and smirked, pressing a soft kiss in the crook of her neck. "As you wish," he breathed before thrusting forward against her.
"Ahh-! Mmn..." Kiara gave a moaning sigh and tilted her head to kiss him, arms wrapping right around his neck and shoulders. "Gods, you feel so good," she breathed against his lips, nuzzling her nose to his. "I wish we could do this all the time..."
"We gotta keep silent for the boys," Mist murmured with a breathy chuckle, softly rocking his hips forward, gently nibbling her nether lip. A soft groan left him when he pulled her hips closer. "Yeah," he agreed with a deep grunt.
"R-right...gotta...keep quiet- ohhh."
She bit her lip and turned her face into the curve of his shoulder to muffle a moan. She bucked her hips against his, pulling herself up along his body for a better angle and digging her nails into his back as she clung to him.
"Oh, damn.. Kiara," Mist silently breathed with a soft grunt, rolling her hips with his hands against his own.
Kiara whimpered softly and pressed a trail of heated kisses up his neck and along his jaw to focus her attentions on his ear, rocking her hips into his to the best of her ability.
"Mist," she breathed, nipping lightly at his ear. Another quiet groan escaped her. "Gods- more," she pleaded quietly, not caring how needy she sounded. "Please, more..."
Mist grunted softly as he felt the nipping on his ear, it was still one of his most sensitive spots. He smirked softly as he gave another soft roll of his hips. "More what?" He asked, forcing his hips up slightly, trying to find the most pleasurable angle for her. "More this?"
"Mn- ahhn!" She clapped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle the sounds she was making and shivered delightedly.
"Yes," she breathed, dipping her head to kiss and lick at his ear again. "Yes, that. Just like that," she murmured, grinding her hips into his.
Another soft grunt resounded. He gripped her buttocks firmly and started to make slower, yet more forceful thrusts against her. At the same spot her reactions made clear was the best.
Kiara groaned, biting down on his shoulder to muffle the sound. "Gods, oh gods," she panted. Heat and tension started to coil in her core and she gave another little whimper as pleasant shivers ran up and down her spine.
"Mist," she whispered heatedly, biting gently at the shell of his ear. "Just a bit more, please- I'm s-so close."
Mist panted softly, squeezing her ass tighter to pull her up and down to meet his thrusts. "Fuck," Mist whispered as he felt her teeth on his ear. "Just let go.." he murmured as he kept the pace and angle up steadily.
She keened a moan, tossing her head back and arching her spine as she bucked her hips into him, following the guidance of his hands. "O-oh- Mist! Mist!"
His name tore from her lips in a cry, all intentions of keeping quiet forgotten, and her body clamped down around him as shudders rippled through her.
Mist recognised the gesture and leaned forward, forcing his lips down on hers as his lips bucked forward, aiming to muffle her moans and cries.
Kiara moaned into his mouth, clutching at him desperately as she rode through the aftershocks of her climax, shivering against him. Eventually she pulled away to gasp a breath, dropping her forehead onto his shoulder.
"Oh my gods," she breathed, shivering. "Mist..." Biting her lip, she rocked her hips against his cautiously. "You didn't..."
Mist let out a breathy chuckle. "I'm not.. Done yet, indeed," he breathed as he pressed a soft kiss against her jawline. "Silence is.. Golden," he murmured as he bucked his hips up again.
She scoffed. "I think something golden...is what we're trying to avoid," she huffed, then bit down on another groan and hid her face into his chest. "Oh fuck," she breathed. She could feel herself climbing again already.
Mist couldn't help but let out a breathy chuckle, before grunting, movements growing a tad more frantic. "I'm close," he groaned softly, pressing his lips against Kiara's head. "So.. Close.."
"Then... let go," Kiara panted, clutching at his shoulders so hard her nails bit into his skin. "Give me everything, love." She twisted her head to catch his lips in a kiss in an attempt to muffle the low groan that ripped from her.
"Kiara," his voice was raspy as heblet out another groan, before answering the kiss softly, parting his lips for her. He thrusted up one last time, a shiver crawling down his spine as he came, errupting inside of Kiara with a soft, elongated groan.
Feeling his release inside her had her peaking again and Kiara moaned heatedly into his mouth as she shivered against him.
Mist broke the kiss to take a deep breath. His movements were jarring, yet he kept thrusting to ride out his own climax. "You like that," he panted softly, squeezing her ass gently again.
Kiara nodded frantically, sort of going limp in his arms as he continued to thrust against her. "Yes," she breathed, lashes fluttering against her cheeks. "Gods yes, I like that."
"Damn-" Mist panted softly, "you.. Feel amazing," he closed his eyes as his thrusts slowed down and ultimately stopped.
"Mmm..." Kiara pressed a few lazy kisses along the column or his throat. "You're perfect," she purred, kissing the shell of his ear softly.
"Hardly," Mist replied with a soft snort, followed by a pant.
"You are," she persisted stubbornly. "Don't care what you say." She sort of nuzzled into the curve of his neck and shoulder, slowly allowing her legs to slide down from around his waist.
"Let's agree to disagree," Mist murmured in responze, softly putting her down again.
"Mph." Kiara pressed a few lazy kisses over his shoulder, then let her head rest against him with a small sigh.
"We should get back to the boys soon," she murmured a little reluctantly.
Mist nodded softly. "Probably," he replied with a murmur.
She eyed the bank and their clothing with some distaste. Reluctantly, she moved away from him and started to climb out of the pond. "C'mon, then, we should get dressed of we don't want a pair of scandalized dragons on our hands."
Mist chuckled softly. "We wouldn't hear the end of it," he answered as he climbed out behind Kiara, starting to get dressed again.
"Ever," Kiara agreed with a snort. She turned to him, adjusting her tunic, and reached out to comb her fingers idly through his hair before letting her hands trail down to help with the straps of his armor.
He smirked softly at her assistance. "Thanks," he murmured when he adjusted the last strap, getting to his feet and pulling the blade up from the ground.
"Mist..." She hesitated, biting her lip, then leaned in to press a quick, fierce kiss to his lips.
"I love you," Kiara murmured, not quite sure why she felt compelled to say it. Some strange urge that seemed to come from the center of her chest. "Just- yeah. That's it. Okay then."
With a quick shake of her head, she stepped back and started back in the direction they'd left Ren and Kit.
He turned to face Kiara, frowning. And honestly, he was rather taken aback by her sudden outburst. He smirked faintly. "I love you too," he answered with a soft chuckle.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him, reaching back to take his hand and lace her fingers through his. "Right. Good. Okay then." She bumped his shoulder lightly.
Mist smirked softly as he fell into step next to her, squeezing her hand softly. "You nervous or something?"
She huffed out a breath. "I don't know. Maybe. I just have a...weird feeling. And I keep thinking about..." She trailed off, then admitted, "What Da said. I dunno, it's just tying me up in knots, I guess."
Mist gave a soft hum and nodded. "Understandable. But he is trying to look out for you."
"I know." She rubbed at her temples with a sigh, then shook her head. "Whatever. As long as I don't use my magic, I don't have to worry about it."
Which honestly might be harder than she made it sound. Her magic was a part of her, it was like she'd been told she now have to go about her life voluntarily blind or deaf.
Mist nodded softly, althougj je realised just how difficult it would ne for her.
Kiara leaned into Mist's side a bit as they walked, then pressed a quick kiss to his cheek just before they reached the dragons and she moved away from him.
"You two certainly took your time," Ren muttered as they approached.
Mist rolled his eyes softly. "How's your wing?" Mist inquired.
"Better." The gold dragon fanned his wings out, rolling and flexing his shoulders. "Should be able to fly today-"
"Oh no." Kiara fisted her hands on her hips and glowered, first at Ren, then at Kit who had gotten to his feet and shook himself as though preparing to take off. "Both of you need at least a day to recover. We'll walk if we have to move."
Both dragons grumbled, giving her rather sour looks.
Mist sghed softly. "Relax guys," he said as he walked forward, putting his hands on Ren's snout. "She's right. And tomorrow's another day."
More grumbling, but Ren's forked tongue snaked out to scrape across Mist's palm and Kit gave his rider a reluctant nod, nuzzling her shoulder when she approached.
"We've still got a ways to go until Ketra," Kiara mused. She glanced to the elf. "If that's still where you intend to go for Ren's saddle."
Mist sighed softly. "I don't really know now."
She hesitated a moment, then turned to look at him, leaning against Kit's shoulder. "Then...where would we go?" A small smile twitched at her lips. "You travel on dragonback now, Immortalis. The world is yours to see."
"I've never thought about it," Mist replied with a weak smile. "I got no idea."
"The Thunderblacks," Kit said suddenly.
Kiara and Ren looked at him. He shrugged. "He's a dragonrider, isn't he? He should at least see them. See our wild kin."
Kiara tilted her head to the side. "That's not a bad idea."
"I've met wild dragons before," Mist replied. "I was raised to see them as godlike deities," he snorted softly as he tapped his corrupted shoulder. "I used to carry a dragonskull here, from one that attacked me, but it's gone now."
"But have you ever seen those mountains?" Ren asked, tilting his head to the side. "I was hatched in the Thunderblacks- we're a different breed there. Fiercer. Wilder." He tilted his head. "Perhaps it would do you good to go. It's a destination, at least."
"I didn't oppose the idea," Mist said with a soft chuckle as he padded Ren's snout, before standing up straight.
"Then we'll need to stop somewhere for supplies," Kiara murmured. With a wry look to the dragons, she muttered, "At least you two can hunt, otherwise we'd never be able to feed you."
Ren snorted, giving her an offended look, but Kit just laughed and bumped the older dragon's shoulder. "Oh, lighten up old timer."
Ren growled, tail twitching playfully. It had been a long time since he'd sparred with another male. "I've warned you about that, hatchling," he growled, then jumped at the smaller dragon.
Kit yelped and rolled to avoid the mock attack, swatting at Ren as he passed. Kiara's eyes widened and she scurried out of the way, grabbing Mist's arm to tow him with her into the relative safety of the trees.
"I said you two need rest!" she shouted at the dragons in exasperation.
Mist's eyes widened as he saw Ren jumping Kit, he knew it was playful, but when two dragons started to frolick. Well, he had to stear cleer. He felt a tug on his arm and immediatly turned to follow Kiara, narrowly avoiding a stray tail that would've slapped him right in the face.
"Damn idiots," Kiara muttered, shaking her head at them with a frown. She gave Mist a wry smile. "I swear, dragons can be more destructive when they're playing than when they're fighting."
"I almost had my skull bashed by Ren's tail," Mist answered, recalling a shimmer of gold. He smirked softly. "I'd almost swear he did that on purpose."
Ren- with a dragon's hearing- caught that and chuckled, swiping his tail passed the two-leggers even as he pinned Kit with his front paws.
"I have no idea what you mean," he chortled.
Kiara laughed, ducking his tail, and called, "C'mon, Kit, he's left his belly wide open! You can do better than that!"
"Oi!" Mist called out as he stepped backwards to dodge the tail. "Don't make me come over there, Renkaryn!" He called with a joking tone.
"Or what?" Ren retorted.
Kit took advantage of his distraction to claw at his belly with his back legs- not hard enough to make him bleed, but enough for the gold dragon to hiss and jump back.
Kiara laughed and grabbed Mist's arm, just in case. "Oh no. Enough of my boys are wrestling already, thank you very much."
"Oh, you don't wanna find out, you fossil!" Mist called back with a grin, standing his ground next to Kiara.
"Oi." Holding kit down with his front paws, Ren twisted his neck to give him and arch look and flicked his tail out to tap his side. "Don't think I can't take you both, hatchlings," he growled, ruby eyes glittering.
Mist smirked softly. "I ain't gonna frolick with you, big guy." Mist answered with the same soft smirk.
"Probably a wise choice," Ren admitted with a low chuckle
Kit took advantage of his distraction to wriggle free, scrambling to his feet and crouching down like a playful puppy in front of him.
Mist folded vis arms, shaking his head with a snort. "Go get 'im," he said.
Kiara laughed as the dragons continued their playful sparring, pulling Mist a little further back into the trees.
"The way they're carrying on, they won't be able to fly for a week," she muttered, shaking her head.
Mist nodded with a soft sigh. "Yeah," he answered.
He glanced at Kiara, grinning softly. "Maybe we need to.. Erhm. Frolick aswell," he said as the grin broadened.
She laughed, shaking her head at the almost boyish mischief he seemed to exude. "What, again? Already?" she teased. "Someone is certainly feeling, ah...playful."
"Ofcourse," he replied as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pressing a soft kiss on her temple. "I've got something I'm sure you'll enjoy playing with," he whispered.
A little shiver ran up her spine and Kiara smirked at him. "That so?" she purred, leaning into his chest. "And I seem to recall something you said earlier- what was it? I can take some punishment?" Her tone was still light and teasing, but the fire lighting up her eyes was very real.
Mist couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Try me," was all he whispered in response.
"Oh, sweetheart." She grinned and leaned up to kiss him, quick and fierce. "I plan to."
She glanced back over her shoulder- the dragons were still distracted- then took his hand and moved a little further into the trees. "C'mon. Let's get some distance."
Mist nodded swiftly, following her closely.
Once the noise of the dragons' roughhousing had faded, Kiara slowed, then turned to face Mist as she led him into a small glen.
Her lips twitched up on one side and she held a hand out to him, lashes lowered slightly. "C'mere."
Mist took her hand and stepped closer, softly rubbing his nose against hers, before pressing closer for a kiss.
Kiara smiled, crinkling her nose happily before she answered his kiss with enthusiasm. Her hands slid to the straps of his armor, rather well-practice in loosening them by now.
Mist helped her in pulling loose the armour, lowering it all silently to the ground. Once his greaves were discarded, it was obvious just how playful he was.
Helping him lower the bits of metal to the ground, Kiara smirked slightly and knelt, gripping his hips to pull him forward a bit.
Her eyes flicked up to fix on his face and she leaned forward to kiss him through the fabric of his trousers.
Mist smirked softly and took a step closer at her urging. The bulge twitched slightly when she pressed her lips against it, accompanied by a soft groan.
Mist put a hand on her head, wiping away a stray streak of hair, returning the gaze.
Humming quietly, Kiara mouthed him through his clothes for a moment, her thumbs rubbing gently circles over his hips. Then she hooked her fingers into the hem of his trousers and pulled down, kissing a quick trail from the center of his hips up to his navel as she did.
Another soft gasp left him, before he grinned. "You gotta take off the pants first," he whispered with a teasing tone, looking down on her with the same grin.
A soft grunt followed his breath as she trailed kisses across his abdomen. "You tease," he breathed.
She smirked up at him with a purred, "You love it."
In a quick motion, she jerked his clothes down and leaned in to run her tongue over him, a soft, rumbling sort of hum starting up in her chest.
Mist opened his mouth to make a retort, but it was interrupted by a soft croon. "Damn," he murmured.
Kiara hummed smugly, eyes flicking up to his face, and took just the tip of his shaft between her lips, suckling gently. Her hands smoothed over his hips in rhythmic strokes as she slowly leaned in to take in more of him, tongue swirling around him as she did.
Mist let out an exhilirated breath, closing his eyes. He couldn't help but buck his hips slightly against her. "Fuck," he managed to bite out.
Feeling quite pleased with herself, Kiara started to bob gently along his length, using her hand to stroke what her mouth couldn't cover.
Then, rather abruptly, she pulled away. Eyes glinting, she leaned back on her hands and purred, "Well? If you want more, come and get it."
Another soft breath left him. "Just like tha-" he frowned as she suddenly pulled back. Honestly puzzled.
A soft, yet menacing grin spread across his lips as he stepped forward, putting his hands on her head. "You asked for it," he said, prodding his member against her lips.
Kiara hummed and parted her lips to nurse at the tip of him, eyes glinting wickedly. She let her tongue swirl around him, torturously slow as she worked herself forward until her nose brushed his stomach. Her hands gripped his thighs, nails digging in as she gave a soft sound at the effort.
His breathing picked up slowly, panting when he felt her nose touching his abdomen. A shuddering breath left him as.he opened his eyes. "I'm surprised you.. Managed that," he groaned.
Kiara leaned back, sucking at him as she did, and muttered hoarsely, "Me too, honestly."
Then she was back at it, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow as she tried to relax her throat as much as possible so she could take him in to the hilt. Sharp little breaths were panted through her nose and she bobbed along his length, then pulled away to gasp a breath.
"Don't think...I can do that for long," she half chuckled, giving him a crooked smile. Tugging at his hips to try to pull him down with her, she added, "But I could give you something else..."
A deep grunt left Mist as she pulled back for the second time. "Fhu-" was all he bit out as as he came, either in her mouth, or on her face if she proceeded to pull back.
He panted softly as he dropped down infront of her, smirking faintly.
Kiara managed to turn her head in time so most of his mess ended up in her cheek. She wiped it away with a hand, head tilted curiously.
"Huh. Thought that would take longer," she mused, smirking at him a bit. She leaned back in her elbows, wriggling easily out of her tunic as she did. "Sure you can do this, Immortalis?" she teased. "I wouldn't want to tire you out."
"You caught me off guard," he answered with the same faint smirk. He pushed himself on his knees, putting his hands on Kiara's shoulders and smirking. "This time, I won't finish untill you climax at least twice," he breathed, teeth grazing across her earlobe.
"Oh, really-?" A soft squeak left her as his teeth grazed her ear and she shivered, biting her lip. "Then- then I guess you should get started," she laughed breathlessly, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and tilting her head to kiss his neck.
"Oh, I was planning to," Mist pressed his hips forward, rubbing his member across her folds. "Impatient, hm?"
"Mmmnn..." She shivered and squirmed underneath him, rocking her hips up into his with a soft mewl. "C'mon, Mist," she panted. "Don't- don't be a tease."
Mist only chuckled in response, before he slammed his hips forward all of a sudden, burying himself completely inside. He panted softly and pulled back, starting with a slow and rythmic tempo.
"Ah-ahh!" Kiara tossed her head back with a gasp and clenched her eyes shut. "Oh gods, Mist," she whimpered, her nails digging into his upper arms. "Just- just like that..."
The corrupted claw trailed down to grip her ass tightly, pulling her into his thrusts. He let out a soft snarl and pushed his lips down ln Kiara's.
She gave a gasp that was muffled against his lips, rocking her hips into his as she fell in rhythm with him. The feel of his claw on her skin made her shiver and she bit at his bottom lip, sucking gently as she arched her back to press her chest against his.
Mist let out a soft croon, his other arm snaking under her arms and around her back to press her close, still thrusting against her, slowly starting to build up speed and force.
Kiara panted softly, sliding one hand up to bury her fingers in his hair as she pressed a series of kisses to his bottom lip.
"My draga," she whispered. "C'mon, show me what you can do."
Mist smirked, slamming himself in at a quick pace, he leaned back slightly to find a better angle for Kiara, grunting softly.
"Oh- aahhh! Yes!" Her back arched and she slammed her hips into his desperately, panting and moaning as her hands searched for an anchor and ended up tangling in her own hair, eyes slamming shut.
"Close," she gasped out. "Oh fuck, I'm so close, Mist!"
"Good," Mist snarled, "don't hold back." He let out another deep grunt as he forced himself deeper and deeper with each thrust.
Sharp little cries were gasped out of her as she felt herself climbing higher and higher, then Kiara's back arched, head thrown back, and she screamed Mist's name as she came, clenching around him and shivering through the pulses of her climax.
Mist grit his teeth and took a deep breath, not relenting his movements in the slightezt. "Like that, Cana. Just like that," he muttered under his breath.
As she started to come down from her high, Kiara whimpered quietly at the little pulses of pleasure Mist's unrelenting motions sent zinging through her.
"Gods," she panted. "I k-keep expecting it to...to fade. Still so good..." She leaned up to grip his shoulder and pull him in for a kiss.
Mist let out a breathy chuckle, his movements hitching slightly. He pressed down for a fiery and passionate kiss, hips clashing with hers.
Kiara groaned into his mouth, her hands sliding down his sides to grip his rear and pull him tight against her with each thrust. Her lips parted and she grazed her teeth over his bottom lip.
Mist squeezed her rear when he felt the grip on his. It caused him just to speed up even more, panting softly against Kiara's lips.
Another moan tore out of her and Kiara wrapped her legs tight around his waist. "M-more," she gasped out. "Harder, draga."
"As you wish," he grunted deeply, making more forceful slams against her now, eyes fluttering shut.
"O-oh, oh, oohhh!" Kiara whimpered and writhed up under him, one hand traveling up to tangle in his hair as she kissed him fiercely. "I- I'm gonna come again," she gasped. "Come with me..."
Mist grunted softly, "you first," he breathed. "As promised," he grunted out, being very close to his limit.
Even if she'd wanted to hold out, she couldn't. With a high, keening cry Kiara reached her peak again, nails scratching as his skin as she slammed her hips up into his frantically.
It wasn't before long that Mist also came. He mad one last forceful slam against her, gritting his teeth before groaning deeply as he came inside her, squeezing her ass firmly as he did.
His release drew another moan from her and Kiara went limp in his arms, panting, eyes closed as her head fell back.
"Gods," she rasped out. "Just- gods."
"No," Mist breathed, "Immortalis." He let out a ragged chuckle, withdrawing from Kiara with a soft kiss on her cheek. "How was that?" He asked as he sat back with a soft pant.
She sat up slowly and leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. "Immortalis," she agreed with a soft smile.
She tilted her head back to see his face, breath still coming rather quickly. "Amazing," she murmured. "It's always amazing, Mist."
He smiled softly, resting her forehead against hers. "Happy to please,"
A soft crooning sound rose up in her throat and she snuggled a little more comfortably against him, her hand trailing absently up and down his inhuman arm.
Mist pulled Kiara closely, closing his eyes with a soft sigh.
Kiara reached up to touch his cheek softly and pressed a small kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Love you," she mumbled, tucking her head back against his shoulder with a quiet sigh.
Mist pressed his lips against her scalp. "Love you too," he murmured softly.
Another quiet, contented sigh and she raised her head reluctantly. "We should get back..." she murmured, pouting a bit.
Let's hope the boys didn't kill eachother," Mist replied with a soft chuckle.
"Oh, they're fine," Kiara laughed. "Kit couldn't even if he tried, and I think Ren would miss his plaything."
"He's a big, smug bastard like that," Mist agreed as he pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. "Let's go.."
She nodded and stood- just a little shaky- to gather her clothes. "And I just got clean too," she tutted to herself as she dressed, crinkling her nose at the feel of fabric over sweat-slicked skin.
Mist smirked as he stood up. "You know it was worth it," he replied wheç he started to get dressed again.
"Well someone's sure of himself," Kiara chuckled, twisting to face him and loop her arms around his neck.
She smiled and pecked his lips. "But you're right."
"And rightly so," Mist answered with a chuckle, resting his hands on her hips. "I love you," he murmured, pressing a soft kiss on her lips.
Her smile widened and she kissed him back almost delicately. "I love you too."
She rested her head against his chest for a moment, arms around his middle. Then she sighed and pulled away with a reluctant, "We really should get back."
Mist hugged Kiara closely, letting out a soft snort. "We should," he smirked. "Help me with my armour?"
"Sure." She smiled and bent to help gather his armor, working at straps and buckles.
Mist chuckled softly as he pulled on the armour with her assistance. "You're getting quite good at this."
Working a buckle on his leg plate, she grinned up at him. "At least I don't tie things in knots anymore," she said lightly.
"Ah, yes," Mist smirked. "The knot."
"Oh, shut up," Kiara laughed, springing up to quiet him with a kiss. Her hand slipped down to take his and she turned to make her way back to the dragons, chirping, "C'mon, then."
"Fine," Mist answered as he broke the kiss after a short while. "I won't mention it anymore," he offered with a small smirk, squeezing her hand and falling into step next to her.
She grinned at him and bumped his shoulder lightly, a soft, contented smile fixed on her face as they entered the clearing where the dragons seemed to have finished their play fight, sprawled out and now basking in the slowly sinking sun.
Mist couldn't help but surpress the chuckle at the sight.
Truly. They behaved exactly like cats.
Kiara grinned and pressed a hand over her mouth. "I think they might be asleep," she murmured, creeping forward and leaning around in an attempt to peer at Kit's face.
Mist nodded softly, still slirking and keeping still.
Without opening his eyes, Kit flicked his tail around to wrap around Kiara's ankle and jerked her off her feet so she crashed to the ground with a "Oof!"
"Hey!" She twisted and smacked at his side. "Jackass."
Mist smirked. "So far for being asleep," he stated, walking over to Ren and pushing a hand against his side. "Mind if I join you, big guy?" He asked the golden dragon.
Ren gave a sleepy rumble and lifted his wing in wordless invitation.
Mist gave him a soft pat at that. "Much obliged," he said with a warm smile, sitting down under the offered wing and closing his eyes briefly.
"Well, if you won't let us travel, we planned to take advantage of the rest," the gold dragon rumbled, shuffling closer as Kit curled around so they formed a circle around their riders.
"Oh, quit complaining. We'll head out tomorrow," Kiara murmured, rolling over to settle against Kit's side.
"That's a good thing," Mist replied to Ren's remark, another soft pat against his side. "Don't lie, you like this," he murmured softly.
With a huff, Ren relented, "I don't hate it."
Kit and Kiara both chuckled, snuggling a little closer together.
"I'll take it as a positive note," Mist murmured in response, yawning slightly. "You're surprisingly soft like this," he murmured with a grin.
"That's 'cause the scales on our underbelly are softer," Kit informed him, eyes still closed.
Ren rumbled. "Yes, just spout off all our secrets."
"I like it, Ren," he pushed his ginhers against the softer part. "Don't be so pissed off about it."
Ren gave a soft grunt that was almost a chuckle and nudged his rider petulantly with a grumbled, "That tickles."
"But is that a complaint?" Mist inquired with a soft snicker.
"Not exactly," the gold dragon muttered, almost petulantly.
Kit huffed a laugh and curled a little closer, pressing the now dozing Kiara toward Mist with his nose and leg so she was curled between the elf and the dragon.
"I'll give you a belly rub once," Mist said with a chuckle, before laying down and hugging Kiara closely, giving Kit a soft smile, before closing his eyes.
"We'll see," Ren chuckled, curving his tail around protectively as Kit crooned and nuzzled both two-leggers before laying his head beside his rider and- to all appearances- going to sleep.
Kiara just smiled a bit, listening to what was happening around her but not feeling a need to participate in conversation. One hand trailed up absently to pet at Mist's hair as she began to drift off.
"Just a pet?" Mist asked with a hushed murmur, pressing a soft kiss on Kiara's nose, before closing his eyes.
"Don't push your luck, Immortalis," Ren murmured, nudging his rider's side. "Get some sleep, now."
Mist grinned softly. "Alright," he retorted as he rested his chin on Kiara's head, starting to drift off.
The dragons shifted a bit more, heads resting beside their riders and tails curled together as they formed a living wall around the two-leggers.
Kiara slept fitfully, brow furrowed as she twisted and murmured in her sleep, giving soft whimpers the longer it went on.
Mist, being quite the solid sleeper, didn't wake from this. Though when he subconciously fell Kiara's trashiçg, he pulled her closer and snorted softly, before proceeding to snore gently.
Where normally Mist's embrace would have calmed her down, now it only seemed to make things worse. She began actively fighting against him- or the perceived danger of her dream- squirming in his grip as her whimpers turned to soft cries.
As she got rowdier, Mist stirred and one eye lazily opened. He leaned back sleepily and put a hand on Kiara's shoulder, shaking her gently. "It's just a bad dream, love," he murmured softly as he tried to wake her up.
With a muffled shriek Kiara bolted awake, lashing out at Kit and Mist both, eyes wide and terrified. The black dragon jerked his head back, startled from sleep, and snorted. "Wha- wass'appening?"
Gasping, Kiara blinked and looked around. She started to calm down as she realized where she was, wrapping her arms around her torso and shivering. "Mist..." She looked at him with wide eyes. "I- I'm cold..."
She was never cold. With a soft whimper she leaned into him seeking warmth.
Mist nodded faintly, putting a hand at the back of her head to pull her even closer against his chest. The corrupted arm pulling her body closer. His leg hooked over hers and made sure she was completely pressed against his larger figure. He pressed a soft kiss on her head. "It's alright, Kiara. I'm here, love."
She nodded, cuddling as close as she could. "Sorry. I didn't hit anyone, did I?" she murmured, glancing from Kit to Ren, who had raised his head slightly to observe the small commotion.
"Don't worry about it." The younger dragon nuzzled her back, gold eyes clearly worried though his tone was calm. "Another nightmare?"
Kiara nodded again and turned her face into Mist's chest, shivering more violently now.
"It's alright," Mist snorted with a soft sigh, closing his eyes again. "I'm here. We're all here.."
Kiara gave a small nod and curled a little tighter against him. "M'sorry," she mumbled again. "Just- everyone go back to sleep, didn't mean to wake you..."
"It's alright," he pressed a soft, sleepy kiss on her forehead. "I love you," with those words, he drifted off again.
"Love you too," she murmured, drifting off as well. The dragons were awake a while longer, but eventually succumbed to sleep themselves.
And if the rest of the night repained uneventful, Mist would wake with sunrise, opening his eyes weakly and glancing down at Kiara.
Ren woke only a few moments after his rider, lifting his head and cracking his jaws open in a massive yawn.
Kiara was dead asleep, no movement except for a shallow rise and fall of her chest. Her skin was uncomfortably cool to the touch.
Mist frowned softly. "Kiara?" He asked faintly, shaking her gently.
She didn't respond, only groaned quietly and shivered, curling closer against him.
Kit raised his head at the sound and huffed. "What's going on?"
"She's cold," Mist replied, sitting up to cradle her. "Kiara? Wake up.."
Instantly the black dragon was on his feet, head snaking forward to nuzzle at Kiara's side. "Kia?"
Another violent shiver was her only response.
Kit drew his head back with a snort, eyes worried and tail lashing anxiously. "She didn't use any magic yesterday, did she?" he asked quickly.
Ren craned his neck around to better look at the two-leggers. He sniffed, then looked to Mist. "She smells sick."
"She didn't," Mist answered as he looked up at Kit, holding her close. A soft sigh left him. "Come on, Kiara."
Again no response.
"Kia, please." Kit suddenly sounded very young, even with the low growl forever present in a dragon's voice.
Ren huffed and closed his eyes, then was suddenly enveloped in golden light. When it faded, he had taken human form. "Let me see her," he rumbled, kneeling beside Mist.
Kit snorted and jerked his head back, eyes wide. "What in- you can-?!"
"No time." Ren waved him off, then tilted his head at his rider, reaching out to lay his hand over Kiara's forehead.
Mist nodded slowly at Ren, holding Kiara out for him.
The dragon-man took her, frowning as he felt her body temperature. "Can't we just have one day without a crisis?" he grumbled.
Scarlet eyes closed and he dipped rather suddenly to press his mouth over hers, letting out a sharp breath, fire racing down her throat.
Kit snorted in surprise again, but before he could say anything Kiara gasped and opened her eyes and Ren pulled back sharply.
Coughing, the young woman blinked and looked around dazedly. "Wh-what-?" She looked at Ren and her eyes widened. "Who the hell-?! Mist!"
"It's just Ren," Mist answered with a soft sigh of relief. "How are you feeling, Kiara?" He asked as he leaned over her, concern and relief clearly visible on his face.
"Ren?" She blinked at him as the dragon smirked and and gestured for Mist to take her as he pulled away. "But- how-"
She shook her head and looked from a worried Kit to an equally worried Mist. "I'm...tired. What happened?"
Mist took her in when Ren gestured for him to do so. "He can do that," Mist assured with a gentle smile. "You didn't wake up.. Felt rather cold to the touch.."
"Oh." She offered up a rather shaky smile. "That's probably not great, huh?"
"What happened?" Mist inquired, still looking down at her.
Kiara shook her head and closed her eyes, turning her face into his chest. "I don't know," she murmured, voice very small.
"Kia..." Kit pushed his nose gently into her back. "You can't keep doing this. It's killing you."
She shook her head again, but Ren spoke up softly, looking at Mist instead of the girl. "The youngling's right. If she doesn't let her father help her, she's not going to survive much longer."
Mist smiled softly, taking a deep breath. "It seems like there's no choice then," he glanced down at Kiara. "Is there?"
She struggled to sit up, glaring at the two dragons- well, the dragon and the man-dragon...which was still weird for her to think about.
"I just won't use my magic-"
"That's not working anymore!" Kit had to turn his head as an angry jet of flame burst from his maw. "You haven't used any magic in days, and it still happened!"
"Easy, young one." Ren put his hand on the other dragon's shoulder, frowning. He looked to Kiara. "You know he's right."
Mist looked down at Kiara aswell, he was completely composed, deciding to listen and make a calm and reasoned judgement.
Though the hand that held her around her shoulder was shivering and squeezing her rather hard.
Kiara could feel tears of frustration starting to burn her eyes. "This isn't fair," she whispered, dropping her head.
Kit sort of slouched and huffed out a breath, stretching his neck forward to nuzzle her cheek. "I know," he rumbled.
She wrapped her arms around his muzzle and pressed a kiss to his scaly cheek, taking in short, shivery breaths in an effort to not burst into tears.
Ren got to his feet and touched Mist's shoulder gently. "Should we give them a minute?" he whispered, looking and feeling rather awkward.
"N-no." Kiara turned around and grabbed for the elf's wrist, her other arm around her dragon's neck. "No, it's fine. Don't go."
Mist nodded and got up to follow Ren, before feeling the tug at his wrist and glancing at Kiara, before nodding. "Remember what I promised you. I'll make you fall in love with me all over again."
"You'd better." She tugged at his wrist to pull him down for a kiss, clenching her eyes shut. "I- I need to summon my father," she whispered, now trying desperately not to cry.
Mist hugged her closely for the kiss, closing his eyes as he felt tears welling up aswell. As she broke the kiss, a tear rolled down his cheek. "I promise," was all he could manage to say.
A sob caught in her throat and Kiara clutched him to her for a moment, then eventually let him go. "I love you," she whispered, cupping his face in her hands. "I love you so much-"
The sob managed to work it's way past her lips and she tore away from him, swiping at her eyes and kneeling to rummage through her pack for the amulet.
Ren and Kit exchanged looks, both dragons evidently feeling awkward and saddened by the situation. The elder sighed and backed away slightly so he had room to take his true form, then pressed his nose into Mist's shoulder. Kit's tail came around to touch the elf's leg gently as he watched his rider.
Crying quietly, Kiara choked out, "Aeolthaine, Aeolthaine, Aeolthaine."
It only took a few moments for the summoning to work, her father shimmering into existence in front of her. He took one look around and seemed to understand.
His eyes flicked to Mist and he nodded. "This is the right choice."
"I'll make sure you love me twice as much after this," Mist answered, his throat aching from the sobs he desperately held back.
He stepped back as she turned around, bumping against Ren's snout. And rather to hug him close, Mist put a hand against his neck and looked away, closing his eyes.
"Just get it over with," Mist hissed to Kiara's father, not daring to look up, hoping to hide his tears.
"Mist-" Kiara started back toward him, reaching out, but her father's arm came around her waist, his free hand touching two fingers to her forehead.
With a sigh, her eyes closed and she slumped in his arms, unconscious. Kit growled, but didn't move, not sure what he could do. What he should do. A low growl started up in Ren's chest but he was just as frozen.
Aeolthaine gently laid Kiara on the ground, murmuring something in a language neither dragon understood. There was a soft glow that wrapped around the girl's body, but it faded quickly and he stood.
"It may take a few hours for her to awake," he told his audience. His eyes flicked from the dragons to Mist. "I understand this was hard for all of you, but it is what's best for her."
When he heard Kiara calling out for him once again, he did look up, his eyes signed with hurt. Though he smiled warmly at her. "It'll be fine," he managed to say, before Kiara was knocked out cold.
"Just shut up," Mist grit his teeth as he looked at Kiara's father who had done whatever ritual. Tears now fully streamed down his cheeks. His left eye had gone to the familiar red on black. It seemed not only rage made this pop up. "I know.. You don't have to go around repeating it. It's painful enough already."
For a moment Aeolthaine actually seemed to show a hint of regret, or perhaps pity. Then the emotion was gone and he just nodded.
"Look out for her," he murmured, then he was gone.
As though snapping out of a spell, Kit darted forward to curl around his rider, nuzzling her side. She looked...like Kiara. Whatever her father had done seemed to have no visible effects.
Except- perhaps the point to her ears was a bit more pronounced, the tiny scar in her hairline had faded, a few other minimal changes. She was still Kiara, but without the small imperfections that had made her seem more human.
He didn't reply to the last notion of Aeolthaine. It went without saying he would take care of her. Even tough she would most likely not love him, Mist still loved Kiara dearly. He glanced down at her notionless corpse. "Take care of her, Kit. I'll be right back."
At that, he glanced at the edge of the clearing and slowly walked towards the edge.
Kit barely nodded to him, still sniffing and nuzzling Kiara with concern.
Ren half turned to follow his rider, rumbling a quietly worried, "Mist..."
"It's alright, Renkaryn," he answered. "I just.. Need a moment."
The gold dragon huffed, unconvinced, but he didn't press the issue, just gave Mist a quick nudge with his nose.
Kit had curled so tightly around Kiara she was obscured from view, eyes clenched shut and a worried rumble thrumming constantly through his chest.
And like that, Mist dissappeared into the woods.
He returned roughly an hour later, panting softly. And having worked up a sweat.
Ren, curled up just a little ways from Kit and Kiara, raised his head when his rider returned. He didn't saw anything, but the concern was plain in his eyes.
Kit almost didn't seem to notice the elf, his attention still trained on the young woman he was wrapped around.
Who suddenly gasped and arched her back. Kit jerked, head flying up like a startled horse. "She- she's awake!"
"I collected some wood tl get a fire started," Mist saidbas he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. And if Ren would follow the gesture he would notice a pile of logs. Logs too big for any normal human to handle alone.
Mist's gaze snapped to Kit and he rushed over to the two.
Ren barely had time to snort a quiet approval before Kiara woke. He craned his neck around to peer over Kit's back, concerned and curious in equal measures.
Groaning quietly, Kiara pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked around. "Kittsareyn?" She blinked at the black dragon, then smiled. "Goodness, you look as though you've seen a ghost."
Still Kiara, but...not. Her tone was a little different. There was less laughter, less fire.
"Kiara?" Mist inquired softly, resting his hand on his belt. "How are you feeling?"
She gave him as easy smile and got to her feet. "Fine. Good, actually. Better than I have in a while." Absently, her hand reaches out to scratch a worried Kit's brow.
"Were you suffering before this, then?" Mist inquired as a worried look crossed his face. "Do you remember who I am?"
"I wouldn't say suffering. It's like...like I could only see in black and white before, but I didn't know any different- but now I see colors."
She smiled and reached up to touch his face, but there was something almost flat in the gesture. "Of course I remember you, Immortalis."
""I see," Mist replied, glancing at the hand. He sighed softly. "Do you still love me?"
"...In a way." That same distant smile and she leaned in to kiss him softly, then pulled back. "Love is a very...human thing. And I'm not sure I'm so human anymore."
She frowned slightly, considering. "I suppose I should be sad about that. But I'm not."
Mist rested his hands on her shoulders and took a deep sigh. "You also remember my promise," he smiled sadly at her. "I'll make you feel human again."
Kiara simply smiled vaguely and patted his cheek. "You're welcome to try, but don't feel too bad about it."
She stepped away. "I'm fine this way." A small frown and she added, "I am sorry for you though."
Kit was speechless, blinking in stunned silence at his rider.
Mist let out a soft, bitter chuckle. "Like that, huh."
He put his hand on Kiara's. "Don't feel too bad about it.. Awe-inspiring how you've just stopped being human."
Ren rumbled quietly and nudged Mist's back with his nose, trying to be comforting but not sure how.
Kiara just shrugged and moved to swing up onto Kit's back. "You all knew this would happen. I knew," she replied bluntly.
"We knew, for your sake," Mist replied as he put a hand on Ren's snout. "It's alright, Ren." He glanced up at Kiara. "We'll travel together 'till Adela. After that, we can part ways."
She blinked and tilted her head at him. "Are you sure?" Her hand moved to stroke Kit's shoulder absently. "Kittsareyn and I don't mind escorting you to the Thynderblacks. And there might be safety in numbers."
Ren almost growled, but he knew it wasn't the girl's fault, really, that she was being so callous.
Mist nodded. "If you want that," he said with a soft sigh. "To the thunderbacks we go."
"We should probably walk today," Kiara noted with an easy smile for his agreement. "The dragons should let their wings rest another day."
Kit looked to Mist and Ren as she spoke, eyes almost apologetic. But there was also some trlief- at least he didn't have to worry about Kiara burning herself out anymore.
"Alright," Mist agreed, glancing up at Ren, before looking at Kit. He shook his head in a dismissive gesture. He knew what he was getting into. And he loved Kiara enough to lose her for her own betterment. He was in every way prepared.
It just hurt so damn bad.
"Then let's get going!" Kiara said with an easy chuckle. Kit and Ren exchanged a look, then the gold dragon lowered his head to nudge Mist's shoulder.
"C'mon, Immortalis," he murmured.
Mist nodded slowly, trailing his hand along Ren's neck as he walked past, before pulling himself up.
A quiet, apologetic rumble from Kit and the black dragon trundled off into the trees, Ren following close behind in an awkward sort of silence.
Mist didn't say much either. Altough he seemed indifferent at the silence, the normal cold and stoic expression he wore before becoming romantically involved with Kiara had returned.
The only person who seemed remotely comfortable with the silence as they traveled that day was Kiara herself. The dragons exchanged plenty of meaningful looks, and Ren attempted to draw Mist into quiet conversation, but things just felt off.
Their odd little group had fallen into a familiar pattern, and now the warmth that had started to spark between them was muffled. Kit seemed to be the most noticeably affected, steps shuffling as his voice growing progressively more desolate as he attempted to talk with his rider.
It wasn't that Kiara was entirely cold or unfeeling. She just suddenly found that things that had once seemed so important to her now looked trivial. She still cared for her boys, in her own way, but it was a sort of muted feeling, and she couldn't quite figure out why they all seemed so depressed about it. They'd all known what would happen.
Mist had gone back to his usual self. Silent and closed off. Conversation was cut short with even shorter answers. On the inside. He was shattered, destroyed. He had lost the one person he could share everything with. He loved Ren dearly, but that was different. Mist still had so much scars to explain. So much crying to do. Since he never cried in his youth. He never cried growing up. He never cried for losing the ones closest to him.
Right up untill he met Kiara. And now, all that was gone aswell. And he couldn't bring himself to cry. Not like this.
As the sun kissed the treetops, Ren suggested they make camp. Kiara agreed easily and jumped down from Kit's back.
"I'll gather some firewood," she said, moving off into the trees.
The moment she was out of sight, her partner flopped to the ground with a keening sort of call, like a hatchling who'd lost his nest. The gold dragon twisted his head around to nuzzle against Mist's chest. He didn't know what to say, so he kept silent.
Mist absently put a hand on Ren's snot, but left it like that. No rubbing, no scratching. No pad. The drow was obviously lost in thought. Or at least closed off from the outside world.
"Mist." Ren nudged him gently. "Talk to me."
"About what?" He inquired, frowning. "About the obvious things? About how I miss Kiara? About how my heart is shredded to pieces? About how much it hurts?"
He grit his teeth slowly, shaking his head. "There's nothing I can say, Ren. There.is nothing to talk about."
The gold dragon let out a long breath and pressed his nose into the elf's chest. "I am sorry, brother," he murmured, withdrawing his head as Kiara came back with an armful of firewood.
She knelt and arranged the dried branches, then with a snap of her fingers a fire leaped to life and she smiled, pleased.
Mist shook his head. "Don't be. It's been done now." He replied, glancing at Kiara as she returned, he slid down Ren's back and sat down next to her. "Seems like that magic thing is going better, hm?" He asked with a soft smirk.
"Oh, yes." She looked at him and smiled. "I haven't felt like this since I was a little girl. It's nice."
the dragons moved forward to settle themselves a little hesitantly curved around their riders.
Mist nodded slowly. "I'm glad," he answered with a soft smile, before sitting back against Ren.
"Me too." Kiara settled back against Kit with a happy little sigh. Then she suddenly sat up straighter, looking Mist up and down.
Rocking forward onto her hands and knees, she crawled toward him and stretched up to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Mist rested his head back, closing his eyes.
His eyes shot wide open however as he felt Kiara's lips brush his, putting his hands on her shoulders and softly breaking the kiss. "By no means am I complaining.. But why?"
She blinked at him and answered, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Because I wanted to."
Kiara leaned in a little more, brushing her hands over his shoulders to clasp behind his neck. "Don't you want me anymore?"
Mist let out a soft snort. "I thought you didn't love me anymore," he murmured with a frown, wrapping his arms around her waist. "And ofcourse I do," he whispered, pressing another soft kiss on her lips.
"Who said this has anything to do with love?"
The dragons shifted a little uncomfortably- the old Kiara never would have acted so boldly in front of them.
She kissed Mist again, her hands trailing over his chest to his shoulders and back. "And I...I remember loving you," she murmured eventually. "It was...nice."
Mostly though, her body was focused on one thing that she remembered. Silly human emotions like shame or guilt had faded away, and she was only focused on what would make her feel good.
Mist closed his eyes slowly, before pushing her back. Looking quite pained in doing so. "Don't," he warned as he sat up more, gritting his teeth. "You might not feel human anymore. But I do.. And this is just painful."
Kiara furrowed her brow at him, confused. "Why?" She reached for him again, one hand going to grip his hip as she tried to pull herself against him. "I seem to recall that you enjoyed this, before."
A low, warning growl started to rumble in Ren's throat.
His armour clunked as she did so, he snorted softly. "Ren," Mist hissed in return, not threatening, more in a way of 'I got this'.
He turned his attention to Kiara again. "I did. And no doubt would again," he grabbed the hand on his hip, sighing. "But only with the woman I love. And the woman I know that loves me back. And not infront of my brother," he added.
"Hm." She frowned again, not in an angry way, more puzzled. Behind her, Kit seemed to be practically vibrating with the effort it took not to interfere.
"I...see." Kiara sat back and tilted her head at him. "I think...perhaps I understand. Or at least, I remember why you might feel that way."
Rather abruptly, she shrugged and got to her feet, moving back to her own bedroll. "Goodnight, Mist."
Ren let out a huff and dropped his head next to Mist, looking at him with no small amount of concern and frustration.
"I'd only do this out of love for one another, Kiara," he answered with a soft sigh, sitting back againt Ren.
He closed his eyes as she got to her feet, letting out a soft sigh of relief. "Goodnight," he murmured as he slid down slightly against Ren in a more comfortable position again. He heard the huff and looked at his dragon and slid closer to the dragon's head, resting his on Ren's, before closing his eyes.
His forked tongue slid out and the gold dragon licked Mist's cheek with a sandpaper touch, then closed his eyes as well.
Kit curled around his rider, sort of cutting themselves off from the other two as they went to sleep.
Mist followed the exemple and closed his eyes aswell, snorting softly before drifting off.
Finally, Kiara was able to sleep through the night.
Ren woke first, lifting his head and cracking his jaws in a massive yawn.
Mist was knocked backwards since he was sleeping on Ren's head, landing on his back with a loud clunk. "Oi," he murmured gruffly.
The dragon huffed, blinking down at him sleepily. "Sorry," he rumbled, bending his head down and picking Mist up by the back of his armor.
Kit raised his head and shuffled his wings and Kiara sat up from the curve of his body with a yawn and a bleary, "Morning."
Mist let out a soft huff. "That's one rough wake up," he replied with a soft chuckle as he was pulled up. "Mornin'," he replied, pushing himself to his feet.
"I forgot you were there," Ren admitted with a sheepish sort of rumble. Kiara giggled quietly and arched her back in a stretch before rooting around in her pack for a moment looking for food.
"Oh. I'd almost think it was just your poor manners," Mist answered with a soft smirk, patting the side of his head. "I'm kidding, Ren."
The dragon growled playfully and gave him a light shove. "Watch it, Immortalis."
Kiara watched them with a small smile, patting Kit's cheek absently as he lowered his head onto her shoulder with a quiet huff.
"Oh. I'll make sure I watch it," Mist replied, cheek obvious in his voice.
Another growl and Ren flicked his tail at the back of the elf's head. "C'mon," he rumbled. "We're finally fit to fly, according to the halfbreed." It was a casual slur, not really malicious in intent but with some small bitterness for the pain she was putting his rider through.
Even if it wasn't really her fault.
Kit bristled slightly, but Kiara didn't seem to mind it, nodding and swinging up onto the black dragon's back.
Mist rubbed the back of his head, before glancing up at Ren, shaking his head softly. "Let it go, Ren," he murmured, pulling himself up on the dragon's back.
The dragon growled again but nodded, twisting his neck to nudge Mist's leg with his nose.
"Alright, boys, let's move!" Kiara called, urging Kit into the air.
"Let's go," Mist answered, before padding Ren's neck.
The gold dragon launched himself into the air after his younger counterpart. Kit banked slightly to fly beside him, their wingtips barely brushing with each downbeat.
Mist glanced over the horizon. "How long till we get to the Thunderbacks?"
"At this pace? Maybe another day and a half," Ren replied, rising up a bit to catch a better air current, Kit following.
Mist nodded. "Alright," he murmured to Ren, sitting back and going silent again. Lost in thought.
Ren huffed quietly but flew in relative silence for a while.
Kit and Kiara didn't seem to be to anxious to talk either- the black dragon because he was evidently contemplative, his rider... Well, who knew what was going on in her head.
As the sun started to dip, Kit finally spoke up. "Should we find a place to make camp soon?"
Mist looked up at Kit, nodding softly. "We should," he answered, settling back on Ren's back slightly.
Both dragons nodded, scanning the ground for a place to land. The foothills of the Kilanthro mountains had grown much large over the course of the day- eventually, Kit gave a soft call and banked to come into a shallow dive, heading for a small clearing near their base.
Mist granned around Ren's spine as he dove down, slicking his hair back with one hand and a soft sigh.
The dragons touched down and ran a few paces to lose momentum, then almost in unison looked back at their riders.
"How ya holding up?" Ren asked quietly.
"I'm alright, Ren," Mist answered with a soft shrug, padding the dragon's neck.
He snorted, unconvinced, but didn't say anything as Kiara dismounted and started setting up camp.
He slid down Ren's back, stretching his back slightly, before pulling the sword from his back and heading to the nearest tree to start cutting off branches and the likes to get a fire started.
"Do you have any food left?" Kiara asked, glancing at her companions. "I know you two are alright-" a gesture to the dragons- "but Immortalis and I need some food."
Mist pulled up his knapsack, nodding soowly. "I do," he answered, tossing it over to her.
"Thanks." She caught the pack and pulled out a few rations, flicking her fingers at the wood to get a fire going.
Kit huffed. "You'll put me out of a job," he teased lightly, nudging her. She smiled and hugged him around te neck, but didn't say anything.
"Just some stale bread and dried meat," Mist warned as he sat back against Ren.
She shrugged. "Still better than nothing."
Kit huffed. No sandworm jokes. He nuzzled her waist, then withdrew his head and rested it on his paws with a sigh.
Mist nodded in agreement, he wanted to bring up the sandworm. Or the sand demon, for that matter, but shook his head. That Kiara was gone for the time being. He pressed a hand against Ren's flank, scratching it softly.
"We should get some sleep," Kiara said abruptly. "The Thunderblacks are no place to be caught unaware. We should be well rested.
Mist nodded slowly. "Alright," he murmured with a soft stretch of his arms.
"Good night," Kiara chirped, tucking herself into the curve of Kit's body.
Ren snorted and shook his head, still unused to her new mannerisms, her quick shift from one thought to the next.
Mist kept seated against Ren's flank, closing his eyes with a soft murmur. "Night."
The dragons rumbled and curled around their riders protectively as they drifted off.
Mist also soon difted off, only to wake up in the morning with a snort and a lazy yawn.
Ren lifted his head when he felt him stirring, huffing a breath and cracking his jaws in a massive yawn.
Kiara was already up, running a wetstone along the length of one of her daggers.
Mist pressed his hand against the side of Ren's neck, snorting softly, grunting a greeting towards the dragon.
"C'mon, up you get." Ren nudged his rider, trying to prop him into a sitting position.
Mist growled softly under his breath, pushing himself up with Ren's assistance. "Mornin'."
The dragon rumbled a laugh. "And to you. Come on, we should get moving."
"He should eat first," Kiara noted without looking up.
"Fuck-" Mist said as he pushed himself up, opening his back to turn it around, letting out a soft snort. "Empty," he grumbled. "We'll find food later," he concluded.
"As you like." She put away her blades with a shrug and climbed onto a still sleepy Kit's back. "Come on then."
Mist nodded slowly, grabbing at Ren's scales and pulling himself up.
Kit didn't seem entirely interested in moving, but he hauled himself up and jumped rather clumsily into the air, Ren following close behind.
Mist frowned at this, however, and nudged for Ren to fly a bit closer. "Kit," Mist called out. "Are you alright?"
"Fine." The black dragon's response was rather curt, and an instinctive recognition of a challenge of authority made Ren growl quietly.
Kit glanced at him. "Just tired."
Mist sighed slowly, nodding softly. "I.. See." He answered, pretty sure what Kit was going through now. The entire situation was tearing them apart.
The dragons lapsed into silence. Kiara either didn't notice the tension or chose to ignore it- or she just didn't care, sprawled along Kit's neck casually as she watched the landscape speed by below them.
Mist also sighed softly, falling to silence again, focussing on the ride, more than anything else.
It was a long, quiet flight, no one seemed to have much of an idea what to say, and Kiara seemed perfectly content with the silence.
As the sun started to dip, Kit suggested, "Maybe we should look for a place to stay the night."
Mist nodded softly. "I guess we have to-" his attention however was pulled to a cloud of smoke that rose to the orange sky. It seemed like someone else was setting up to camp. He glanced down at Ren, before looking at Kit. "Should we investigate."
Ren gave a rolling shrug. "Your call."
Kit huffed. "May as well. How bad could it be to scare off two dragons?"
Mist nodded. "Let's," hecpncluded,leaning in ln Ren when he banked for landing. "Touch down pretty much ontop of it, big guy?" Herequested with a soft murmur.
"Got it." Ren banked, calling, "Kit, stay up here and keep a lookout."
The black dragon gave a rather irritated snort, but didn't argue as Ren came in for a shallow dive.
Mist ducked against Ren's neck as he dove, he was getting the hang of this.
As Ren set down at the site they wished to investigate, they'd meet up with a campfire that was crackling softly. And a woman who greeted the two with a soft voice. "Greetings, drow, dragonkin." Yet it seemed odd she could precisely guess to Mist's race, given the large silver ornament that hid her eyes. "Are thine companions also to join thou here?" She inquired, folding her hands infront of her as she spoke.
Ren snorted and eyed the woman. She smelled like fire.
"That depends," he replied warily.
Mist nodded slowly at Ren, staying on his back warily. He didn't know the woman, and apparantly, she was impressive enough to camp at a location where dragons frequently passed.
"Thou haveth nothing to fear," she started, unfolding her hands and holding them open, next to her side. "I mean no harm against thy and thou companions."
Ren snorted, but jerked his head toward the dark shape circling above them, signaling for Kit to land. The other dragon swooped down to land a little behind them, eyeing the woman warily.
The woman glanced at Kit and Kiara as they landed. "Greetings, Dragonkin.. And a.. Half-fae? It has been a long time since I had witnessed any kind of fae. What brings thy here?"
Mist glanced at Ren, before snorting slowly. He didn't really know how to answer the question, so he didn't.
Kiara shrugged as she eyed the woman, eyes sharp. "Just traveling. And you?"
"Myself? Merely wandering these mountains," was what she replied. "Thou are quite the unique gathering, if I might add." A soft chuckle resounded. "A drow warring with a cursed blade, a martyr who merely searcheth for a sword to fell himself upon. A human who hath forgotten herself and became something that is naught her nature. And both dragon knights."
Kiara's eyes narrowed as both dragons shifted simultaneously, glancing at each other. For the first time since her father had "healed" her, she seemed...angry.
"I was never human." Her voice betrayed no emotion, but her eyes flashed. "Not completely. How should you know what is my nature?"
"T'is true," the woman agreed with a soft nod. "Yet, thou hath once had human emotions, or am I comprehending this wrongly?"
Mist stepped back with a soft snort. "I'm no martyr either." He replied curtly.
The woman looked in his direction, shaking her head. "Yet thou carry a blade that hath a curse thou know will consumeth thy body. But alas. Yours truly meant no offense. My tongue merely hath slipped."
There was a flicker of something- maybe surprise, maybe something else- in Kiara's eyes. "You know it's going to kill you? I thought you had to make deals for it to consume you," she said to Mist, voice even.
Mist glanced at Kiara, shaking his head. "That's not entirely true. I have to make deals with it. But it is true that I fight over control for my own body each and every day."
The woman fell silent, stepping back to the shelter of her fire. "My sincerest apologies if yours truly hath incited a matter left unspoken." Was what she said, begore going completely silent.
The halfling huffed and tossed her hair, looking away from him with a grumbled, "You could have told me. Although I suppose I would have fretted over that, even though I could do nothing."
Ren rumbled a growl, though he wasn't entirely sure who he was growling at.
Mist shook his head softly. "It doesn't matter. I'm still in control. And I will stay in control," he said as he turned to Kiara.
The robed woman, Valia, looked up at Ren as he growled softly. "Does something troubleth thou, dragonkin?" She inquired as her brow quirked slightly.
"Perhaps." The dragon tilted his head to eye her warily, calculating.
"As such," Valia concluded, joining her hands infront of her again. "May I inquire to thine reasoning for joining the drow and half fae? The other dragonkin is younger, and yours truly hath witnessed younger dragonkin adapting to other races more easily. Yet one as ancient as thyself is more prideful," she glanced at Kit. "I intend no insults with this, dragonkin. I merely judgeth by what yours truly witnesses."
"I really don't see how that's any of your business," Ren replied, a dangerous growl in his voice
Valia looked rather taken aback at her. "Alas," she only concluded, turning around to tend to the fire again. "My curiousity will not be sated."
Yet, she didn't look frightened or intimidated by the growl in his voice. Not at all. She only sounded dissappointed.
Kit huffed and shifted his weight and Kiara looked to Mist. "How much longer do you plan to stay here?"
Mist glanced at Kiara, shaking his head. "We should explore the mountains tomorrow, now we should set up camp," he glanced at the woman, before at Ren. "Who are you?" He inquired with squinted eyes. She knew a lot. She was probably powerful, and as Ren informed, she reeked of fire.
"Avia Infernum, keeper of the first fire," she answered as she joined her hands infront of her again, approaching Mist.
"Hm." Kiara jumped down from Kit's back, moving to stand at the dragon's side protectively. "If you insist," she said with a nod at Mist, ignoring the woman.
Mist glanced at Ren as the woman stated her name. "First fire," he started, "wasn't that?" He inquired, before looking to the woman and back to Kiara. "Better to. We don't wanna know what creeps around there during the night."
He glanced back at the woman, who was still infront of him. "Oi," he started, getting mildly discofmorted by her presence.
The dragon shrugged and gave a noncommittal grunt, one eye on the woman and the other on Kit and Kiara.
Mist glanced back at Ren when he rumbled, before looking back at the woman, taking a step back, rather spooked by her silence.
Valia cracked a soft smile. "I can understand this Drow hath some kind of appeal, dragonkin," she glanced up at Ren. "He is quite powerful, but regardless, that demonic blade shan't hesitate to devour him."
Mist snorted softly. "It won't. Besides, I can't even get rid of it if wanted." He walked over to Kit and Kiara to assist them in setting up camp.
"I hath feareth such," Valia murmured, shaking her head and returning back to her own fire.
No one seemed anxious to engage the strange woman. Kit curled up around the fire Kiara had started and Ren trailed behind Mist, settling in with a huff.
Mist sat down next to the fire, sighing softly and padding Ren's flank as he settled down. The woman sat down next to her own fire, glancing up at the sky as if she was waiting for something.
"So," Mist started with a soft sigh. "I'm all out of supplies."
"There are villages scattered around these mountains," Kiara said easily. "We could find one in a day or two, easy."
Mist nodded curtly. "Sounds good," he answered, before hearing his own stomach churn. He sighed softly. "It's gonna be a long night."
"Maybe she has food," Kit muttered, jerking his head toward the odd woman.
Mist shrugged softly. "I'd prefer not to ask," he snorted slowly. "She gives me a bad feeling."
"I'll hunt," Ren murmured, getting to his feet and giving a whole body shiver that rattled his wings.
Mist got to his feet aswell, before a roar resounded above them, followed by a dragon that dropped a deer from relatively low height next to them. And the dragon seemed to be at least twice Ren's size. The creature landed however, by the fire of Valia, glancing down at her before extending it's massive head and lick at her raised hand, before nuzzling his snout against it.
Valia patted his snout, before stepping back and gesturing for the dragon to take off again, which it did with a mighty slam of his it's wings, that caused both their fires to extinguish. Yet mere seconds later, the fires magically flakkered to life again. Valia sat down on the same rock again. Once again, looking as if she was waiting for something.
Ren and Kit both growled, crouching protectively by their riders until the other dragon left. Kit seemed very small suddenly, though he was by no means a small creature.
"Holy shit," Mist murmured as he stepped back, closer to Ren, obviously awed. "I didn't realise.. There were even bigger.."
"Bigger means older," Ren murmured, tail flicking in agitation. "We never really stop growing... He must be ancient."
Mist nodded with a soft nod, before swallowing. "I.. I have the feeling she," Mist nodded faintly at the woman. "Is even older.."
Kit shifted uncomfortably and curled a little tighter around Kiara. "I propose we leave as soon as the sun rises," he muttered.
Mist nodded curtly. "A good idea," he replied with a soft snort, glancing over to the woman who seemed to stare off into the distance. "Ren, care to help me with this deer?" He inquired with a soft snort as he sat up, pulling the cursed blade from his back.
The dragon rumbled an affirmative and took the animal between his paws, easily- if a bit messily- skinning it.
Mist wiped his face from the blood and gore that inevatibly got on his face, starting to pull out the guts and organs out, snorting softly.
"What?" Ren blinked at him innocently. "You said you wanted help."
"I didn't say anything, big guy," Mist answered with a grin on his bloody face. "Don't get too excited. You're properly helping," he let out a soft chuckle as he pulled up his sword to pull off the nastier pieces of organs and cut the meat off of the bones.
Another amused rumbled and he snaked his head forward, forked tongue flicking out to lick the blood off the elf's cheek.
Kiara crinkled her nose and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling just a bit.
Mist smirked softly as he put a hand on Ren's chin, scratching it before getting back to work, slicing the pieces of edible meat off and placing them on a rock.
"You two should get some rest while you can," Kiara murmured as she curled up onto her side to sleep.
"You don't need to eat?" Mist inquired as he glanced at Kiara.
"Mm." She seemed to consider that for a few moments, then shrugged. "I don't...feel hungry. But I suppose it would be good to keep my strength up."
"Indeed it is," Mist answered easily, looking around for two flat, moderate sized rocks. After a short while of searching, he more or less found what he needed, placing both in the fire, before putting two slabs of meat ontop, waiting for the rocks to heat up and start frying the meat.
"That does smell good," Kiara admitted, inching closer.
Mist smirked softly as he sat down by the fire. "Let it fry," he answered. "And it does, doesn't it?"
Ren snorted derisively but Kit gave an appreciative rumble as his rider scooted a little closer to the fire and the food.
After a short while, Mist flicked a knife from his belt and poked it in the meat, snorting, before picking up one of the akeshift plates with his claw. "I'm fairly certain this is burning hot, but I don't think you care?" He inquired as he held the tablet out to her.
"Not at all," Kiara said with a smirk, taking the stone and picking at the food with her bare hands.
"Thought so," Mist answered as he grabbed his own stone table, using the knife to start eating. The corrupted arm making sure he didn't get burned.
Kiara seemed content to eat in silence, Kit curling around her while Ren shuffled his wings to get comfortable and drew the remains of the deer closer to gnaw absently at the bones.
Mist glanced at Ren, a stray piece of gore, due to his gnawing, landed on Mist's face. The elf snorted and smirked. "I'm thinking you're doing this on purpose," he stated, before putting another piece of meat in his own mouth and wiping his face again.
The dragon huffed and licked his rider's face again. "Now what would give you that idea?"
"You," Mist answered with his mouth full, "your personality." He snickered, before swallowing. "Tell me I'm wrong, Renkaryn," Mist said as he pointed the knife at Ren momentarily, not threatening, but pointing something out to add strength to his argument, before proceeding to eat.
Ren just grumbled and flicked his tail against the back of his head lightly.
Mist whinced and rubbed the back of his head. "Thank you kindly for proving my point," he answered with a faint chuckle, before tucking into his meat again.
Kiara rolled her eyes at them as she finished off her own meal and curled up between Kit's front paws. "Get some rest, you two. Still have a ways to travel tomorrow."
Mist nodded in agreement, finishing his meal aswell, putting the rock down again. "Yeah," he started, his mouth full, before swallowing. "We do," he replied as he pushed himself back against Ren's flank with his feet.
The dragons curled around their riders protectively as they settled in to sleep.
Mist closed his eyes and slumped down in his suit of armour, taking a deep breath before snorting. "Good night."
There were murmured replies from the others, then they all seemed to be asleep fairly quickly.
Mist stirred and twisted occasionally in his sleep, murmuring inaudible words and such. He woke several minutes after dawn and rubbed his head, sighing softly.
Ren and Kit still slept, but Kiara was already awake, methodically dragging a wetstone alone the length of one of her daggers.
"Mornin'," he gruffed out with a yawn, before getting to his feet again.
Yet, as he did, an arrow whizzed past his cheek, making a tiny cut. His eyes widened and he immediately pulled up the blade.
Kiara was in her feet in a moment, barking a sharp cry that had the already wakening dragons surging to their feet, wings flared and growling.
Mist turned on his feet immediately, slinging the blade from his back and holding it in one hand, another two arrows thudding against his chestplate, having none of the desired effect.
And what they saw seemed like a band Ren and Mist could recognize. Dragonhunters. From the same outfit they fought when they were together.
Massive shields drew up infront of the arches, spears brandished.
Mist grit his teeth, his eyes changing to the black and red he normally had, an aura of dread started to portrude from him, seething slowly. And the drow threw himself on the enemies, swinging the massive blade around like it was nothing.
Suddenly the real advantage of Kiara's changed state made itself known.
As Ren roared, hurling himself into the fray, and Kit spat fire at the first line of attackers, the young woman raised her hands and shouted.
The dragons' fire seemed to flicker, then suddenly doubled, trippled, leaping higher and burning hotter as she bent it to her will until flames encircled the makeshift camp, bending and dancing with every minute flick of her fingers.
And Mist merely charged through the fire, the scorch marks apparent on his armour and face. He pulled through, as he always did, shouting loudly and tearing through his foes like they were nothing.
But the superior power of Kiara, the brute force of the dragons and Mist fully enraged couldn't fight the advantage in numbers the dragonslayers had.
And between the normal soldiers with armour made from dragon scales, large shields, spears and bows, there was one man, fully clad in a pristine golden armour. A large pike in his head.
It was most likely their commander.
Mist immediately saw the glint and charged forward, aiming to cut the man down the middle. Yet his foe was fast. Faster than him. Faster than anyone's eyes could see.
And soon, a golden lance was thrust through his chest and the drow slumped forward, eyes wide, blood splurting from the wound and from his mouth. He slumped forward, before being thrown down to the floor, the pike pierced through his heart.
The other soldiers, spearmen and archers, while suffering heavy casualities, still pushed their line to approach the remaining two dragons and kiara.
Everything was happening so fast. Flashes of gold and midnight scales, flames leaping, shouted spells and hurled blades, claws and fangs ripping through armor, wings flaring, teeth bared-
Then everything slowed down.
Kiara froze, staring. She suddenly couldn't move. "M-Mist..."
Ren shrieked a challenge, springing forward to crouch protectively over his rider as he decimated the front line with claws and fire. Kit took to the air, flaming from above.
And Kiara still couldn't move. Her heart hammered against her chest and she could hear it thundering in her ears. She was shivering. Why was she shivering?
A little bit of music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hubGBR2FkR0)
--------------------------
Mist coughed up more blood, his eyes glazing over faintly.
And the golden dragonslayer snorted haughtily, glancing up to see Ren leaping for him. The golden warrior dissipated in a flash of lightning, only to reappear behind Ren, raising his extended hand, lightning errupting from the tip aiming for his belly, where the scales were weaker, Acacius' hand would bypass the scales if he hit Ren.
But something stirred.
Something ancient stirred, Mist being the epicenter of the black fog that slowly hissed into existence. The tendrils around his blade seemed to warm and writhe, before circling around the lance lodged in his chest. They crawled up and entered the wound.
And with a soft, bellowing laughter, Mist slowly shambled to his feet again, holding onto the blade latched to his arm and chest. "Now.. Now you've done it~" he mused, voice warped, sounding as if he wasn't the only one speaking.
And he charged forward once more, throwing himself on enemy lines even more ferocious than before. Arrows pierced his armour, swords penetrated his body and lances slid through him, but he merely pulled them out and proceeded to rampage, tearing the opposition apart and changing the battle fundamentally.
Suddenly she could move again.
What was that? It didn't make sense, she knew how resilient Mist was- why had she frozen like that?
She didn't have time to think about it. With a sharp battle cry, Kiara flung herself forward toward the gilded warrior, wrapping an arm around his neck and aiming to jab her dagger into the gap in his armor.
Another loud and bellowing laughter resounded as Mist happily tore through the dragonslayers, leaving a wake of corpses in his field. And soon, the last man standing would be Acacius.
Who felt the arm around his neck, pulled back, he grit his teeth, before his entire armour became electrified. "Insolent vermin!" He called out, before he dissappeared with another flash of lightning. Not reappearing anywhere.
But there was blood on the dagger she used.
And so, a harrowed silence dawned upon the battlefield. And the same thick aura that surrounded Mist slowly dissipated, the black fog still surrounding them. The drow dropped to his knees, skin paling and eyes glazing over. The corruption around his arm shattered, the broken pieces of armour dropping away. The tendrils of the eye surged backwards, into itself. Before it completely dissappeared, leaving a shattered greatsword on the ground.
Mist slumped backwards against the ground with a soft thud.
"Mist!"
Kiara and Ren shouted at the same time- both battered and bleeding but neither seriously injured. They leaped toward him, Kit skidding to a landing amid the gore and growling low in his chest as he searched for survivors, guarding the other two.
Ren nosed his rider's shoulder even as Kiara dropped to her knees beside him, panting lightly. The gold dragon snarled at her. "Now you care?"
She either ignored him or didn't hear. "Mist? Oh gods, look at me, please look at me..."
His eyes rolled to the back of his skull as his head lolled to the side, before he managed to have enough strength to actually look at her. All he could do was smile fainly, before grimacing in pain. Several holes in his armour. And in his body. "S-sorry," he murmured, blood running from his mouth. "But.. This is a-as far as.. The title can take me," he coughed up more blood to look up at Kiara, eyes weakening. "I-..I," his head slumped down again, breathing shallow.
"No."
Kiara choked on a sob and tried to lift him up into a sitting position, cradling his head against her chest. "No no no no no no. You can't leave, Mist, you can't, please!"
Ren keened quietly, shoving his nose into the crook of the elf's neck. "We'll find a healer, Immortalis, you'll be fine."
Mist huffed faintly. "I'm.. Sorry," he answered, whincing slightly. "K-Kiara.. Please.. Before I.. Please- tell me you love me," he whinced again. "Whether you lie- or not," he murmured faintly, before his head rolled to the side, away from her, facing Ren, he gave him a soft and weak smile. "Not..T-today, brother."
Another soft whince, "I..I don't.. -I don't want.. To die," he murmured faintly, before his head slumped down, eyes and mouth open. Breathing halted and heart stopped.
Kiara's eyes flickered, then suddenly lit up, something other than tears glimmering in the deep green.
It seemed she'd gotten her heart back just in time to have it broken.
"I love you," she sobbed, clutching him to her and rocking gently. "I love you, I love you, Mist, so much, please!"
Ren froze as she continued to murmur, not seeming to realize. His eyes darkened and he drew his head back.
"He's gone, Kiara."
She didn't seem to hear him, an endless mantra of "I love you"s spilling from her lips as she continued to cling to Mist.
And Mist laid dead in her arms, a grimace of pain on his face, eyes staring forward, into nothingness.
Kit keened to the sky, a dragon's song of grief.
The fire around them flickered and died. The older dragon was quiet, loss too great to voice shining in his eyes.
It took a few hours, but eventually a silent Ren took to the air. His brother was gone. He saw no reason to stay.
The black dragon had wrapped himself around his rider and her lover, a protective wall of scales.
And still Kiara held him, even as night fell and rain started to fall, the cold slicing into her flesh.
She never stopped whispering, her voice growing hoarse, telling him over and over again that she loved him, begging for him to look at her.
But the dead, they didn't speak.
Mist didn't answer, even less, look at her. He had fallen, his heart had been pierced. And the only reason he managed to state his final words was the remnants of his festering corruption, which also had dissappeared.
A woman, the same woman as before, appeared before Kit, inclining her head. Ren was already long gone. "Dragonkin," she started. "Fae," she added. "I areth truly sorry for thine loss."
Kiara didn't respond- either she wouldn't or she couldn't- but Kit raised his head.
"You're powerful," the dragon whispered, voice cracked with grief. "Can- can't you do something?"
Valia shook her head and gave him a soft smile. "Nothing yours truly can do to bringeth him back," she answered, stepping forward. "However, I can grant him a dragonkin's funeral, by fire," she offered. "Perhaps it offereth comfort."
Kiara suddenly shook her head.
"No," she whispered. "He- he was ours. The least we can do is offer him a proper funeral."
She looked up at the woman, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "I-I'll...burn him." The words caught in her throat on a sob.
Valia only nodded. "Ofcourse, fae," she answered, a tear rolling down her cheek aswell. "Once again, my utmost apologies for thine loss," she looked up again. "The elder dragonkin hath departed, I take it?"
Kit nodded, still curled around Kiara and Mist. "He just lost his brother. Nothing more is keeping him here."
Valia sighed softly and nodded. "As I hath thought," she answered, folding her hands infront of her. "Do thy wish for me to leave, dragonkin, fae?"
Kiara shook her head slowly. "We can...take him somewhere else. Closer to his home. He can...rest there."
Kit snorted and looked at her. Eyes dull, she whispered, "I can call my father easily now. He can tell us where Mir used to be."
Valia nodded slowly. "Do thy wish for me to accompanieth thou?"
Kiara shook her head. "Thank you. But we don't really know you. This feels...private."
She'd stopped crying, finally, though she still held Mist's body close to her chest. Kit rumbled, worried, and nuzzled her cheek.
Valia nodded once again. "I understand," she answered. "My condolences for thine loss," she answered, before turning around and dissappearing in a flakker of pitch black flames.
Both dragon and girl were still and silent for a few long moments.
Then Kiara got shakily to her feet and Kit knelt, allowing her to pull Mist up onto his back and mount behind him, then he took off, spiraling higher into the sky.
[You can have them going to Mir and such and make a three day timeskip, if you want ^^]
Mist's body slumped along with every hitch and move of Kit.
[It shall be done!]
Getting to the ruins of Mir was a less complicated process than she would have thought. The strangest part was the look her father gave her when she summoned him, a soft "Hm. Curious," as he met her eyes.
He said nothing else though, simply imparted the knowledge to her and kissed her forehead, then vanished.
She didn't speak in those three days, and Kit didn't push her. So when they touched down and she slid off his back, when her knees buckled and he snaked his head forward to catch her, when they moved Mist's body onto the best funeral pyre they could manage, it was all in silence.
And so, his body was burned, his soul liberated to the next afterlife.
Yet, it didn't seem the end yet. The air around them grew colder and heavier, breathing became more difficult.
And slowly, a dark green torrent of energy seethed behind the pair.
Kiara didn't seem to notice what was going on around her, eyes fixed on her feet as she cried quietly.
Kit however, lifted his head and growled warily, the spikes along his spine shivering at the change in the air.
A soft hand found occupation on Kiara's shoulder. If she'd look up, she would see Mist. Only different. The corruption had taken it's toll. His entire arm, plus a piece of his neck, growing up to his left cheek had been taken by the corruption. The skin afflicted was pitch black and cracked on several places, dark green energy visible between the cracks.
"Kiara-" He started.
Her heart jumped into her throat and she flinched back from the touch. "Who-"
Her eyes widened. Kit snorted in surprise, wings flaring up as he continued to growl disbelievingly.
Kiara shook her head. "No," she whispered, raising her hands to cover her mouth. "Oh gods no, don't do this to me, please."
She staggered back with a quiet wail. "You're dead. You're dead."
Mist nodded slowly. "I.. I indeed am," he answered, voice warped and changed, the corruption was even visible creeping up in his left eye. As if it was growing from the corner of his eye, black overtaking the sclera, aiming to get to the pupil. "I-I feel," Mist started, unable to finish his sentence. "How're you, Kiara? Why are you sad?" He inquired, yet even before she could answer. "Where's Ren?" He asked as he turned to look around. A brief silence. "...Who is Ren?" He glanced over his shoulder. "Who are you?"
He seemed confused, demented, even.
Kit sank into a crouch behind his rider, eyeing the elf warily. Kiara just shook her head in silence, unable to speak.
"Y-you-" She swallowed. "...Mist?"
"Yes?" He inquired. "That.. That is my name? How do you know my name?" He frowned slowly, before smiling softly. "Kiara, how are you? Have you cried?"
Sobbing, Kiara dropped to her knees, hiding her face in her hands. Shaking, she just sat and cried, unable to make herself move.
Then she almost exploded to her feet and threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around him tight. She didn't care that he seemed lost, off, deranged.
He was alive.
Mist stepped forward to console her, yet she suddenly jumped to her feet and hugged him tightly. And all he could do was hug her back. "Kiara.. Before anything- what.. What happened? I.. I don't know.. What is when.. Who is where anymore."
He looked around again. "Where is Ren?"
She forced herself to take a step back and breathe. "He...we thought you were dead. He left..."
Mist frowned softly. "Who left?"
"Ren." She cupped his face in one hand and flickered her eyes over him. "Mist... Look at me, love. Do you know who I am?"
Mist met her eyes, smiling softly. "Kiara," he answered, before the smile froze. "You're sad. Is something wrong?"
He glanced around again. "Where's Ren?"
"Sweetheart. You were dead." Kiara took his shoulders and urged him to sit, looking at Kit helplessly. "Maybe just...take a minute, okay? Try to just...relax."
Gods only knew what was going on with him right now.
"I was?" Mist seemed genuinely confused, he pondered for a second, then nodded slowly. "I-I'm sorry.. I don't know what happened," he answered. Closing his eyes briefly. "It's.. Festering.. The corruption. I was indeed back.. But pulled back."
He opened his eyes again, looking at Kiara. "Who are you? Where's Wild? Where's the chieftan?"
Her heart clenched and she smiled softly at him. "Shh. Rest now. They...they'll be along in a moment. Just rest."
Kit rumbled anxiously and she shushed him with a wave of her hand, then focused on Mist again. "I'm going to take care of you, alright?"
Mist returned the soft smile, before he put pulled her in closer, to have her straddle his lap. He kissed her softly if she allowed to.
One of his hands, the corrupted one, traveled to her ass and squeezed it softly, pulling her hips closer so her sex was pressed against the rough ridges of what was his codpiece. "That bastard Bran," he started with a soft murmur, before snorting. "He wanted to dock our pay."
"M-Mist-"
She swallowed thickly. Oh, this was bad. This was like taking advantage of a drunk person. She should not be feeling so...hot right now.
"Right. But you made sure he didn't, remember?" she murmured, kissing his forehead before she tried to shuffle back off his lap.
Mist frowned softly, as if thinking it over, before nodding. "Yeah.. I did," he answered, another frown following soon as she tried to shuffle away. "Is something wrong? Where's Ren?"
"Love, get some sleep." She settled against his side and kissed his forehead again. "Maybe things will be clearer after you get some rest."
Mist nodded with a soft frown, standing up to sit down against the rock, closing his eyes and resting his head back.
Kiara curled herself around him and looked up at Kit, who huffed quietly and laid beside them.
Mist closed his eyes and pressed a soft kiss on Kiara's forehead, before trying to get to sleep.
She couldn't sleep. Her brain refused to quiet down, turning over what had happened again and again.
Kit rumbled and curled around them, laying his head alongside Mist's body with his nose pressing against Kiara's leg so he completely enveloped them both.
Mist seemed to go to sleep quite easily. His mind was at ease, more than it was before he had been slain in battle.
He pulled Kiara closer with a soft snort, starting to snore gently.
Kiara kept watch through the night, shifting when Mist pulled her closer to wrap her arms more securely around him and rest her cheek against his head.
Mist stirred slightly, but kept snoring softly. After several hours, he'd crack his left eye open, yawning softly.
Before frowning.
And sitting up, his face bewildered as he started to pad himself down, frantically gripping at his chest, on the place where the lance had portruded him. "Wha-" he started.
"Mist?" She sat up quickly, bracing his shoulders and searching his face with concern. "Sweetheart, look at me. What do you remember?"
Mist met her eyes. "Everything," he whispered softly, breath hitching. "I- I'm so sorry.."
Kiara's eyes welled up and she clung to him, choking down a sob. "Oh, love, no," she gasped out. "No, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I left you..."
Mist was too shocked as more and more of the memories finally came through to him. He remembered everything. But he still didn't process them all. He couldn't move, petrified in Kiara's arms.
Kiara didn't move, keeping her arms around him as Kit lifted his head and crooned worriedly, nosing Mist's shoulder.
"I died," Mist whispered softly. He looked down at his corrupted left arm. "I.. I am dead," he added as his eyes widened in horror.
"No." She cupped his face in her hands and forced him to meet her eyes. "No, you're not. Look." She laid her hand over his heart, taking one of his and placing it over her chest. "See? You're not dead, not anymore."
She started crying, but she smiled a bit. "You're here, okay? You're here."
Mist shook his head. "I.. I am dead." He pulled her hand away softly, using his free hand to loosen the straps of his armour.
What was revealed was a hole where his heart used to be, corruption slowly festering around it. "I.. I'm not living anymore, Kiara." The hole slowly closed again due to the corruption growing over it.
She froze.
Then her arms went around his neck and she turned her face into his shoulder. "I don't care. I don't care!"
Mist smiled sadly. "I'm sorry," he murmured silently.
"Stop that." She ahook his shoulders gently. "Stop apologizing."
Mist looked her in the eyes again, nodding solemnly. "Alright," he pulled her closer, into a hug as his eyes closed with a soft sigh.
Kit crooned quietly and uncurled himself from around them as Kiara clung to him, shivering. She turned her face into the curve of his shoulder and choked back a sob.
Mist stroked her hair as he sushed her softly, pressing soft kisses against the side of her head.
"Don't ever scare me like that again," Kiara whispered.
"I won't," Mist whispered in response. "Gods above, I won't."
She nodded and curled up tighter onto his lap, essentially making herself as small as she could. "I'm sorry," she murmured after a few moments. "I- I'm sorry I didn't- I couldn't-"
She swallowed thickly and went quiet.
Mist shook his head. "No such thoughts," he answered with a silent murmur, pressing a soft kiss on her head. "Whatever will be, will be. We can't change what happened."
She nodded slowly, then moved to climb off his lap. "We should...we have to..."
"We should find Ren," Kit rumbled. "He deserves to know you're alright."
Mist nodded slowly. "I.. I think I know where he might be," he answered. "Kit, if you'd.. Lost Kiara," he started, glancing at him. "Would you return to the place you first met? Since I'm thinking he's doing the same."
"I...might," Kit said slowly. "But Kiara was with me when I hatched- it's a different bond than what you had- have- with Ren."
Mist nodded softly. "I know. But I think Ren's in the Kishahn jungle."
[He's actually deeper in the Thunderblacks 0.0]
"Very well then." Kit tossed his head at the two of them. "Climb on, we can still cover some ground today."
[We'll never find him! :D]
Mist nodded slowly, glancing at Kiara. "He's your dragon," he started, looking quite uncomfortable on riding anyone but Ren. "You go first."
Kit didn't seem a whole lot more comfortable with the situation, but he crouched to allow Kiara to climb on and stayed hunched over, waiting for Mist to mount.
Mist followed behind Kiara. "Sorry, Kit," he murmured, still quite uncomfortable with the entire idea. Though they had to find Ren, so Mist had no choice.
He was sure, when all this shit blew over, they were going to be able to have a hearty laugh at this entire scene. Or so he tried to keep telling himself as he mounted the younger dragon.
"Don't apologize," he grumbled, getting to his feet and launching into the air.
Kiara leaned low over his neck, not used to riding with a passenger.
"Right," Mist retorted to Kit's grumble. He wasn't used to Kit at all. It felt different.
Mist wrapped an arm around Kiara's waist, his free hand gripping Kit's spine.
Her hand moved to touch his arm around her waist lightly, keeping quiet, the tension in the air making her squirm uncomfortably.
Mist didn't adjust his grip around her waist, not really noticing her squirming. He looked around, trying to keep his eyes peeled in case they'd run into Ren earlier.
They flew for hours, until Loara finally murmured, "Kitten, you need to rest."
He snorted and shook his head. "I'm fine."
Mist didn't answer to the exchange between the two, still constantly checking their surroundings for his own dragon. His own brother, Ren.
"Mist, we have to land." Kiara twisted to address him. "I'm sorry, but Kit needs rest. Even just a few hours."
Mist glanced back at her, nodding. "Alright," he answered. "Sorry Kit," he said again.
As they landed, Mist sighed softly. "You.. You'd might want to cover your ears," Mist said as he took a deep breath, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Renkaryn! Brother!" He called out with a volume that couldn't be achieved naturally.
Both dragon and girl winced, Kit snorting in surprise and ducking his head to clap his paws over his ears.
"Mist. Mist!" Kiara grabbed his arm. "I've got an easier way." She tapped the amulet around her neck, indicating they could call her father for help.
Mist, when done shouting unbelievably loud, glanced at her in confusion at the gesture. He had no idea the amulet meant to summon her father. "How?" He inquired with a soft frown.
She shrugged. "Da. He could at least point us in the right direction."
Mist nodded slowly, "alright," he replied as he found his way down to the nearest rock.
Kiara wrapped her fingers around the amulet, murmuring her father's name as Kit flopped down onto his belly with a thud.
Aeolthaine appeared a few feet away, head tilted curiously.
Mist glanced at Kiara, then to Aeolthaine.
To the fae, he'd now be a disgusting, undead cursed creature, writhing and teeming with unstable energies and corruption.
Her father made no move to approach them, eyes narrowed as he watched them. "Why have you called me?"
"We need to find Ren," Kiara replied quickly.
Mist had nothing to say to Kiara's father, so he kept silent during the conversation, looking between Kiara and her father.
"What happened?"
"Well..." Kiara hedged a moment, glancing back at Kit and Mist. "It's kinda hard to explain- sort of a long story I mean-"
"No." He was frowning a bit. "What happened to you? You are...whole again."
Mist glanced at Kiara as she explained it was a very long story. Though he didn't expect the following. What did he mean by whole again? That she was Fae now? Didn't he change her completely?
"I...suppose." Kiara wasn't really sure what he meant, blinking at him in confusion.
Aeolthaine looked to the dragon and elf. "Why is Renkaryn not with you?"
"He.. Left," Mist answered with a soft cough. "When I died, he saw no reason to remain by Kiara and Kit's side, so he left."
The drow sighed softly. "We need to find him. To at least reassure him that I'm still.. That I'm not dead."
Aeolthaine nodded slowly. "I can tell you where he is," he said slowly, addressing Mist. "But you alone."
Kiara frowned, even more confused now.
Mist snorted softly. "Don't play games," Mist answered, frowning as he stepped forward. "Just tell us."
The fae creature shook his head. "No. You can go to your companion, leave my daughter in peace."
"Da!" Kiara glared at him. "You don't get to make those kinds of decisions."
Mist snorted softly, before chuckling slowly. "I.. I don't care what you think. I just want Renkaryn back," he said, gritting his teeth as he swallowed heavily. His hand clenched, shivering in anger. "Tell me."
"I will have to find him first." Aeolthaine tilted his head, expression blank. "I'll be back."
He vanished and Kiara sort of slumped, rubbing at her temples. "I- I'm sorry, Mist. I didn't think he would..."
Mist shook his head. "It's for Ren's sake," he cut her off. "Don't apologise, you're not him," he snorted softly, before sighing. "We just got to find Renkaryn, that's all that matters now."
She nodded slowly, then moved toward him and a little hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm sure he's fine," she said softly. "And he's going to be overjoyed to see you."
Mist nodded slowly, hugging her around the waist and pressing a quick peck on her lips, nodding. "I'm still me," he started, a small smile forming on his lips.
She smiled and stroked his cheek. "I know you are, sweetheart." She gave him another quick kiss and let her head rest against his shoulder. "I know."
Kit gave a rather unsubtle cough and she waved her hand at him. He snorted and nudged both their shoulders. "Oi. Is now the time?"
He gave another nod and a tight squeeze accompanying it, before looking at Kit and giving him an awkward chuckle, stepping back from Kiara and rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Kit," he murmured in response.
The dragon huffed at him and prodded his arm with his nose. "I suppose I should cut you some slack," he grumbled, Kiara rolling her eyes and chuckling.
"Come on. Who knows when Da will be back, we may as well set up camp."
Mist nodded with a soft smile. "Appreciated, Kit," he answered, before glancing at Kiara with a nod. "I'll go gather some wood," he offered as he got to his feet and looked around for a place to do such. He walked off.
Since the surrounding of Mir had quite the thick foliage, it didn't take long for Mist to return with an agreeable amount of firewood and branches.
Kit huffed a breath at him, then sank down onto his belly as the elf moved off, curling around Kiara when she sighed tiredly and leaned back against his side.
Mist put down the wood and started to arrange it to get an easy fire, before sitting back and glancing at the two. "One of you care to light this?" He asked with a small smile.
Kit huffed and rolled onto his side with a thump. "Tired."
Kiara rolled her eyes and flicked her fingers at the wood, sparking a small blaze. She smiled. "It is sorta nice that I can do that now."
Mist smirked at Kit, before turning to Kiara. "Well, I guess it's your turn, then," he stated. And with a flick of her hand, the wood caught fire. "Good," he smiled softly.
She settled back against her dragon's side and watched the flames in silence, drawing her knees up to her chest.
Mist sat against a stray rock, watching the fire. He looked at the fire, waiting in silence.
"Mist." Kiara gave him a concerned look. "I don't know how long it'll take Da to find Ren. You should try to get some sleep."
Mist shook his head slowly. "I'm fine," he answered with gruff voice. "Thanks."
"Mist..." She sighed and moved to sit beside him, laying her head on his shoulder and putting her hand gently over his. "You need sleep, sweetheart. I promise, I'll wake you up the second he gets here."
Mist retorted by twisting his head to press a soft kiss against her head. "I.. Can't. Not now," he answered with a soft smirk, his hand turning to grip hers. "Even if I wanted to," he added, the smirk turning a.tad sadder now.
Her expression melted into realization, then concern again. "Okay." She kissed his cheek, then laid down beside the fire and pulled his arm around her waist. "Then just...stay with me like this for a bit."
Mist laid down next to her, pulling her body closer to his and pressing a soft kiss on her head. "Alright," he murmured softly. "I love you," he whispered softly.
"I love you too." She curled back into him, smiling a bit when Kit shuffled forward to curve around them.
Mist wrapped his other arm around her aswell and closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. It wasn't like he could sleep because of his nerves. But he could at least rest his eyes for several minutes.
Kiara actually fell asleep, somehow, and she was jerked awake by a startled growl from Kit, starting upright and looking around.
Her father was sitting at the other side of the fire, giving her a small nod. "Didn't want to wake you."
Mist, who didn't really sleep, immediately say up as Kit growled, pulling Kiara along into his lap, looking at the Fae. "Where is he?" Mist asked, his voice sounded paind, borderline desperate.
Aeolthaine got to his feet, dusting himself off. "Walk with me. I will tell you," he offered, nodding over his shoulder.
Mist frowned softly and sighed, softly putting Kiara on the floor next to him, before placing her on the ground and falling into step next to him. "Alright," he said as he reached the Fae.
"Hold on- wait a second!" Kiara tried to scramble to her feet and follow, but Kit snaked his head out and nudged her side, silently urging her to wait.
Aeolthaine nodded and began walking away casually, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Mist was following.
Mist remained in step next to Aeolthaine, frowning slowly. "You're gonna tell me yet?" He inquired with a soft snort.
The fea creature stopped and turned to look at him. "He's in what mortals would call the Thunderblacks," he replied evenly. "I believe he's returned to his home roost, somewhere in the northern part of the range."
His head tilted slightly. "Do you have means to travel there without a dragon? I could perhaps aid you."
Mist frowned. "Without a dragon?" He onqiored as he stopped in his tracls, glancing at Aeolthaine. "We have Kit," he answered. He had to admit, it was uncomfortable for both of them. Though he was more than certain this wasn't for Kit's, much less, his own comfort.
"If you have something to say, say it," Mist snorted, obviously not in the mood for his roundabout behaviour.
Aeolthaine frowned at him slightly. "I do not like your relationship with my daughter. What you have become is...unnatural . If will only bring her pain. I'm asking you to leave her in peace."
"What I have become," Mist let out a soft, bitter chuckle at the words. "What made you open your eyes? My physical appearance?" He asked with a grimace. "I've always been an abomination," he shook his head. "You have no roght," Mist started.
"She is the final flake of sanity that keeps me together. I sacrificed myself for her. And I came back for her. I love Ren with all of whatever remains of my mortal heart, but the same goes for her." The grimace froze. "I can't imagine living wiithout her," he answered, before turning around and heading back to the camp.
"Stop." Aeolthaine laid a hand on his shoulder. "I was willing to indulge this when the corruption was contained, when you had more time." He shook his head. "I pity your fate, Immortalis, truly, but I won't let you bring my daughter down with you. Find your brother, take solace with him. But leave Kiara out of this."
Mist snorted and brushed his hand off. "I don't need your pity," he bit back, taking a step backwards from the Fae. "I've never met my real parents, so I don't know what a father looks like, but I'm thinkin' you ain't doing a good job."
He grit his teeth. "I love her. And she loves me. She just felt the pain.. I made her hurt, now I can make sure she never hurts again." His fist clenched and he closed his eyes briefly. "Tearing me away from her will hurt her.. I won't lie and say I only want to do this for her sake.. I'm still a man." He looked back at Aeolthaine, snickering. "You'd have to kill me to end this.. And I'm not even sure myself I can be killed now."
He shook his head, eyes flashing for a barely a moment before he was expressionless again. "But you will hurt her. I know it is not your intention, but your curse will only draw more darkness. I admit I am not a good parent, not even a decent one, but I would protect her from that if I could. Please."
He paused, a bit of emotion slipping into his tone. "Please. If you truly love my daughter, do this for her. The pain will fade, but this will be better in the grand scheme."
He shook his head. "You have no idea what a human feels, Fae," Mist answered, though he didn't seem agressive at all with it. And while it was offensive, his tone was one that sounded anything but offensive. "It'll hurt. It'll fester and it will only grow worse. A human mind will start thinking of what could've been. And soon, it will become envious of that reality. And it will only hurt and it'll only become bitter. And it'll never pass."
He shook his head. "If I love her, I stick to her until the bitter end. And we endure our pain together. As we will enjoy our happiness together."
"I may not be human," Aeolthaine said calmly, "but I have watched mortals for millennia. Perhaps that is your experience, but it is not the only one." He shook his head. "I could force you to obey me, but I won't. All I ask is that you consider what is truly best for my daughter."
"Yes. You have watched humans. Then you know humans differ," he answered with a bitter chuckle. "And that's exactly the reaction I'd expect from her." He shook his head. "I understand what you say, Fae. If I'd be in your position, I would do the same," he snorted softly. "But both of us are too selfish to give one another up just like that."
He shook his head. "As I said, I won't force you. On your own head be it." He disappeared without so much as a sound.
Mist only nodded, sighing as Aeolthaine only dissappeared again, the drow turned around again to go and meet Kiara and Kit again.
It was on his head. These days, what wasn't pinned on him?
Kiara scrambled to her feet as he came into view. "Are you- where's Da? What happened?"
Mist shook his head. "He disappeared," was what the Drow answered. "Let's go get Ren, he's deeper in the Thunderblacks."
He snorted softly. "I.. Don't really want to talk about the details."
Kit just huffed and Kiara nodded slowly. "Alright." She frowned, tilting her head at him. "You're...okay though, right?"
"More or less," Mist answered with a soft sigh. "You probably know what he said," Mist answered, before stepping forward to grab her hand. "But he made a good point. Both you and I know that we will hurt one another again. He cares for you," he gave a bitter smile. "If you don't want this. You can step away from it, I love you regardless."
"Mist..." Kit shifted a little uncomfortably, giving them space as Kiara pulled her hand away so she could reach up to touch his face.
With a small sigh, she moved forward and let her head rest against his chest. Her arms went around his waist and she just stood there for a few moments.
"Kiara," Mist murmured her name in return. He sighed deeply as he felt her hand on his cheek, wrapping her arms around her shoulders to pull her close. "I.. Love you so damn much."
A very small smile tugged at her lips and she nuzzled into his neck. "I love you too," she murmured. So much that it had reached her when she couldn't love, as impossible as that should have been.
Kit snorted and shuffled his wings and she jumped back, blushing. "Right, er...right."
Mist couldn't help but chuckle at Kit's reaction, before sighing softly. "Are we going after Ren immediately, of do we spend the night here?"
Kiara bit her lip and looked to her dragon. "I... I know how badly you want to find him, but Kit needs rest."
"I'm fine-"
"Shut up." She narrowed her eyes. "I know you, Kittsareyn. You're exhausted."
Mist nodded with a soft sigh. "I really hoped otherwise, but I understand," he rubbed the back of his neck with a bitter smile. "Hence I asked."
"Just the night." She touched his shoulder gently, then pulled her hand back and dropped her eyes. "I'll...set up camp."
Mist grabbed her hand as she pulled back, pressing it again his chest, the texture was similair to the corruption lf his arm. "I.. May have no heart," he smirked softly. "But I learned to live without when you stole it from me.."
[I had to. This sentence was so sweet it gave me diabetes. xD]
[Loooool xD]
Kiara laughed softly and rolled her eyes at him, but her cheeks flushed. "What a line," she teased, stepping in a little closer so she could rock up on her toes and kiss him.
Kit made a fake gagging sound behind them and she gave him an obscene gesture over her shoulder.
[Kit's reaction is gold.]
Mist couldn't help but chuckle. "It was.. Horrible," he admitted with a soft breath.
He pressed a soft kiss on Kiara's lips, before pulling back slightly, unable to surpress his laughter because of Kit's reaction to the sweet and touching scene.
[Kit don't give a fuck xD]
The dragon huffed, apparently entirely unrepentant. "Alright, two-leggers. Grab some shut eye, we can leave at first light."
Grumbling and scowling at her dragon, Kiara swatted his side as she moved to curl up near him.
[Yup. xD]
Mist nodded slowly at Kit. "Aye aye, boss," he answered with a soft grin. Mist looked around to find a stray boulder and sat down, leaning against it, closing his eyes with a soft sigh.
"G'night."
"Night." Kiara watched him a moment before she let her eyes close with a small huff.
"Night," Mist answered with a soft snort.
Eyes still closed, the girl muttered, "Well? What do you want, an invitation? Get over here." She held her hand out in his direction and Kit snorted, uncurling a bit to offer more space.
Mist frowned, sitting up and arching an eyebrow. Butbwithout a word, hebpushed himself up and sat down next to Kiara, putting a hand around ber shoulder and pulling her closer. "Sorry," he murmured softly.
"Stop apologizing." Kiara thumped herself into his arms and curled up against his chest as though it was exactly where she belonged. "Get some sleep, we can leave at sunup."
Mist nodded slowly, before he smiled softly and hugged the rather petulant Kiara closer. "Fine," he only answered as he couldn't surpress the chuckle at the scene.
[Tsundere Kiara.]
[Loooooool]
Kiara grumbled and thumped his chest lightly in retaliation for the chuckle, but she was quickly falling asleep snuggled between Kit and Mist.
Mist could only smirk, pull her closer and press a kiss on her forehead to that. It was just too adorable.
As Kiara slowly drifted off, so did our undead drow, the green corruption from his arm dimming and slowly starting to light up and dim completely, at a rhythm to imitate a heartbeat.
Kit curled himself around them before allowing himself to drop off to sleep, covering them with a wing protectively.
Mist woke at sun up, yawing, stretching with one arm, holding Kiara close with the other.
Kiara grumbled in her sleep and tried to roll over, back arching slightly.
Mist smirked softly, but made no move in trying to wake her up, only pulling her closer with a soft snort.
Kit raised his head as he felt them stirring and cracked his jaws in a wide yawn. "Sunrise," he noted in a sleepy rumble.
Mist yawned slowly before nodding. "Yup, mornin'," he answered as he rubbed his own cheek, blinking heavily.
The dragon grunted and got to his feet, giving a full body shake that dislodge gathered dew from his scales and wings and sprinkled down upon his rider and her mate.
Kiara sputtered tiredly and blinked her eyes open, wiping at the moisture. "Ki-it," she groaned.
Mist smirked softly. "Up and at 'em," he said as he released Kiara, pushing himself to his feet. He couldnt help but feel a little bit out place between Kit and Kiara. It was a different relationship, one he didn't share with the dragon and one that was extremely different from his relationship with Kiara.
"I'm up, I'm up." She got to her feet and stretched, yawning. "We should eat before we go."
Mist frowned slowly, intwining his own fingers and popping them. "I got nothing," he answered.
"I can hunt." Kit raised his head and sniffed the air. "Not sure what game is around here though."
Mist nodded with a soft frown. "I'll.. See to getting a fire started, then," he answered, before stretching his back with a soft grunt.
"Oh, I can do that part." Kiara flicked her fingers at the remnants of the fire and flames sparked to life again.
Kit snorted and took to the air with a rumbled, "I'll be back soon."
Mist frowned as his task was currently voided. "Erhm.. Alright," he said, not sure what else to or say as Kit took off. Well, now he felt just a tiny bit useless.
Kiara glanced over at him and smiled slightly. "Hey." She reached out her hand to him. "C'mere. Don't tell me you're pouting 'cause I can actually light a fire now," she teased.
Mist took her hand with his claw, squeezing it softly. "Just makes it so I got nothingto do," he answered with a soft huff.
Her lips twitched up on one side. "I could think of a few things," she purred quietly, pulling him closer. "Kit'll be out hunting for a bit..."
Mist blinked, before smirking broadly. "Oh," he chuckled, before putting a hand on her buttock and squeezing it tightly as he pulled her closer aswell. "I hope he has to go far.. Because I'll make sure you scream.." He whispered, leaning down to press several kisses along her jawline, up to her earlobe, which he bit softly. "Promise," he breathed in her ear.
Kiara smirked, shifting closer. Then her eyes suddenly widened and she squealed, "O-oh!" as he bit her ear.
Apparently tapping more completely into her fae side has reawakened the sensitivity there. Her eyes fluttered closed with a soft moan and she twisted to retaliate with a nibble to the shell of his ear.
"I'm-" She paused, then murmured, "I'm glad we...didn't. Before, when I was- I'm glad we didn't."
She managed to elicit a gasp with that, yet he as a drow always had sensitive ears. Another soft breath left him as he leaned back to face her. "It wouldn't feel right," he murmured, before leing forward to press a kiss on her lips, his free hand furiously fumbling with her tunic, failing to get it off.
Kiara gasped, then chuckled softly. Her hand slid up to tangle in his hair, the other moving to help pull her tunic off.
"Eager, are we?" she teased.
"Indeed," Mist breathed softly. "And I think you're loving every second of it," he answered, his hand smoothing down her back.
"Cocky," she accused lightly. Her back arched slightly and she finally managed to wriggle out of her tunic and toss it aside. Her hands slid up and down his side, catching in an effort to remove his clothes.
"Tell me I'm wrong," Mist answered with a ragged chuckle, his hands trailing up to hers and guiding her tot he various straps of his armour, starting to take it off, dropping the mithril pieces and plates to the floor, only clad in his undergarments now.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Kiara's lips twitched up on one side and she slid her hands down to hook in the hem of her breeches, wriggling out of them before darting to remove the rest of Mist's clothes. Her hips rocked up slightly and she wriggled underneath him a bit in an effort to get more contact.
"Good," Mist answered with a breathy chuckle, pulling her body closer to his. He let out a soft grunt as she moved her hips about and got hold of one of her legs, hiking it up slowly, starting to rub his length across her folds, another soft grunt coming from him. "Ready?"
"Mnph." Her eyes fluttered and she let her head loll back slightly. "Always." She darted in for a heated kiss, twining her arms around his neck.
Mist answered the fiery kiss as his free hand drew up her back, smoothing her neck before cupping the back of her head, parting his lips against her.
At the same time, his hips drew back slightly to properly angle himself, before forcing himself forward with a tantalizingly slow movement.
Kiara's back arched and she whimpered as he slid home, wriggling her hips in an effort to take him deeper, faster.
"Mist," she breathed softly, her arms tightening around him as her lips parted in soft little pants. "Gods, I missed you..."
Mist let out a soft whimper as he reached as deep as he could, panting softly. "It's.. It's alright.. I'm. I'm here," he breathed heavily as he slowly started to gyrate his hips against hers.
She whimpered softly again, twisting to pepper kisses over his neck. "Love you," she panted quietly. "I love you, Mist." Her teeth grazed his skin in a soft nip. "My draga."
Mist lifted her up slightly nad pushed her up against a tree, grunting softly, letting out pants as he started to move his hips back and forth, the corrupted hand squeezing her buttock firmly. "I.. I love.. You too," hegroaned between sharp breaths. "Cana."
The bark against her back bit into her skin, but she couldn't care less. She clutched at his shoulders and lifted her hips up to change the angle, gasping sharply and slamming her eyes closed.
Mist let out another soft breath as he sped up, gritting hus teeth as he did. His head lolled back slightly before he whipped it back forward, pressing his lips against her breast, teeth grasing across her nipple.
Kiara cried out, then snapped her mouth shut and bit her lip. "O-oh! Right there, love, just like that," she breathed, two sotmg her head to catch his ear gently between her teeth.
Mist let out a surprised yelp as he felt her teeth grazing the shell of his ear, but he didn't stop even for a second. The rhythm of his hips speeding up, the claw on her ass tightening and loosening irregularly.
"M-Mist!" She arched her back and her nails dragged down his back. Suddenly, one hand slid back to grab his corrupted wrist, pulling his hand to press against the core of her heat. She whimpered quietly, the change sending a zing of sensation up her spine.
Mist still panted softly, yet he let out a ragged chuckle as he felt hisbhand dragged tobher slith. He pressed his thumb down on her clit, starting to rub it repeatedly, speexing his thrusts up.
Kiara groaned quietly and arched into him more, panting. "Fuck," she breathed, clenching her eyes shut and turning her face into the curve of his neck.
Mist let out a shuddering breath, keeping the ministrations to her clit up, rubbing it vigorously, rivaled by the force behind his thrusts.
"Fuck, Mist!" She bit down on the curve of his neck and shuddered as she climbed closer and closer to her peak.
Mist grit his teeth, relishing every moan, every pant, every movement. He was too qroused to feel the tinge of pain in his neck, rather it left a burning sensation, stimulating him even more.
Yet he didn't slow down in the slightest, leaning forward to rest her head against her shouoder, panting heavily.
Kiara whimpered as she dragged her nails down his back. "I- I can't-" With a soft cry she tightened around him, slamming her eyes closed as she buried her face in the curve of his neck.
Mist groaned loudly, movements hitching as they did, het he tried to keep the same rhythm, which more or less worked. He also kept rubbing the core of her heat, panting heavily. "Ki.. Kiara.. Close.. You feel-" another loud, hitched breath cut his words off.
She just nodded into his neck, gasping and whimpering quietly as she shudderingly started to come down from her high only for Mist to keep her spiraling higher again.
With a deep grunt and a hitch of his hips, Mist slammed his hips as close as possible to Kiara's, trying to get as deep as he could, before he finally teetered over the edge, panting heavily as he came.
Kiara gasped, eyes blown wide, and her nails raked down his spine. Her legs hooked around his waist, shuddering slightly as her head fell back and she panted.
Mist, with laboured breathing slowly came to a halt. He took a moment to catch his breath, before tilting his head up in an attempt to catch her lips in a heated kiss.
She kissed him back tiredly, still shaking slightly, and breathed against his lips, "I love you. I love you so much, Mist..."
"I love you too," he answered, before breaking the kiss, stepping back from the tree. He still held Kiara in her arms, slowly lowering on the ground again.
He then put a hand on her shoulder and tried to turn her around. "But I'm.. Not done yet," he murmured softly. If he was succesful in making her turn around, he'd slowly guide her to the same tree again, pushing her against it with a soft smirk. He rested his chin on her shoulder, pressing his body against hers, member resting between her buttocks.
"Mmph!" Kiara wriggled, a bit surprised as Mist turned her around, but then she was rocking her hips back into him while her hands slid up to dig her nails into the bark of the tree.
"Gods, Mist, stop teasing and just fuck me," she growled, twisting her head to kiss him fiercely, nipping at his bottom lip.
Mist smirked, returning the kiss with an equal amount of passion, before breaking it momentarily. "With pleasure," he breathed before pushing his lips against hers again.
He angled himself properly again, the claw squeezing her hip, his other hand guiding his own cock. And with one fluid thrust, he pushed forward again. His free hand now snaked up her belly, travelling further up tog rab her left breast as he started to fuck her at a solid pace again.
Kiara's back arched and she mewed out a small whine of pleasure. Her hands scrabbled at the tree and she gasped. "Gods, gods!" She let her head rest against the tree, not caring how rough the bark was. "Fuck, Mist, more!"
"Gladly," Mist breathed, the anticipation and lust more than obvious in his tone.
And he followed suit. The hand on her breast squeezed tightly, so did the claw on her hip, as he made his thrusts faster, but also more forceful. Each time their hips connected, a lewd slap resounded. Often disturbed by Mist's sporadic and loud groans.
Her head fell back onto his shoulder and she gave a sharp wail of pleasure. Her hands moved to cover his, egging him on. "Gods, close," she panted out. "Getting- getting close..."
Mist let out another grunt in acknowledgement, playfully biting down on her shoulder, before nursing at the teeth mark he did leave. The hand that was giving her chest a thorough fondling snuck down again, starting to rub her clit with both his index and middlefinger.
And he didn't even relent in his movements, all he did was speed up, panting and groaning on her shoulder.
Kiara continued to give him soft moans and gasps of encouragement as she felt herself creeping higher. One hand reached back to tangle in his hair and the other grabbed at his wrist, urging him on as he played with her core.
Mist was only spurred on to further rub her clit as he did, groaning loudly as he did. "Oh.. Fuck, Kiara," he groaned loudly, panting heavily, his movements jarring ever so slightly.
"Damn- damn straight," she panted, her voice not nearly as pithy as she would have liked. "Fuck me." It was both a command and a plea at once, and she rocked her hips back into his demandingly as she felt herself reach her peak and gave a sharp, high wail of pleasure.
Mist grit his teeth with several loud groans, eyes fluttering shut. "Gl-..Gladly," he managed to pant out, before trying to pick up the speed at which he was pounding her, hips slapping together with lewd sounds.
"Gods," he breathed heavily again, before his movements hitched. As did his breath. He let out a shuddering groan and came inside Kiara, filling her with his warm seed. He felt throbbing in his throat, wondering where it came from since he lacked a heart, but those thoughts were but a shade in the back of his minds.
And he didn't stop moving, he rode through his orgasm,his movements jarring and hitching, but he kept fucking Kiara relentlessly, still fingering her clit vigorously.
"Mmn!" Kiara's head fell back onto his shoulder and she panted, mewling quietly as her whole body shivered. "Gods, I- I can't, Mist, I can't- it's too much!"
A small sob of pleasure hitched her her throat and she bit her lips hard enough to draw blood, collapsing back against him.
Mist only panted in response, hips grinding to a halt when Kiara slumped down between him and the tree. He leaned forward to try and catch her lips in a faint kiss, eyes sliding shut.
Kiara did her best to return the kiss, though she was hardly able to keep herself up on her own legs. "Mist..." She twisted to better press herself against him. "Don't- don't let go," she breathed. "Don't let me go."
He hugged her closely, panting softly and peppering soft kisses on her lips. "I won't," he breathed, pulling her closer. "I.. Never," he let out a soft breath, pressing another kiss on her lips.
It took her a moment to realize she was crying. The tears were hot, almost uncomfortably so, and she turned to hide her face against his neck.
"I love you. More than you could know."
"I.. Got a pretty good idea," he answered with a ragged chuckle, hugging her closely. "I love you too," he whispered softly.
"No." Kiara shook her head. "No, you don't- I was so cruel to you- I mean I know it wasn't intentional, but- gods, Mist, I'm sorry. I don't deserve this."
Mist shook her head. "Maybe. Maybe you don't, nor do I," he answered with a soft chuckle. "But let's be real.. I don't give a fuck about what I don't deserve," he answered. "I'll just take it if I want it. Deserve it or not." He pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. "So fuck if we deserve eachother or not.. Let's just be happy."
She took a breath, then nodded slowly. Though she stayed silent, Kiara relaxed a bit more against him and allowed her eyes to close for a moment as she feathered a few kisses up his neck to tease her breath over his ear.
A soft shiver crawled up his spine as her breath passed over his ear. "That tickles," he murmured softly, pulling her closer with a soft sigh.
"Kitt could return soon. We should get dressed," he whispered after a short time.
Another nod and she moved to pull away from him with a reluctant sigh.
Mist wasn't any less pleased, but grunted softly as she got off of him. He pushed himself to his feet and started to gather his clothes, picking up her tunic and holding it out to her. All the while gathering his armour pieces on a small heap.
Kiara dressed slowly, sneaking glances at Mist as she did- mostly toward his chest.
Much as she didn't want to admit it, she could feel the lack of heartbeat when he was pressed against her. It drove home what had happened in a way that felt all too severe.
Mist adjusted the straps of his armour to his chest, tightening them with a sharp tug before finally turning to Kiara, glancing around momentarily, then remembering his blade had dissappeared. "I'm going to need a weapon," he murmured at the sudden realisation.
"We'll figure something out." Kiara gave herself a mental shake to refocus on the present.
"Fair," Mist retorted easily, rolling his shoulder before walking up to a rock, pulling himself up and peering around, before turning around and sighing softly. "I don't see him anywhere yet," he cqlled over to Kiara. After that, he went to sit down on the rock, brining the corruped arm up and locking it behind his elbow to stretch.
She huffed and moved to sit beside him. "Give him a minute, he'll be here."
Mist only nodded, sighing softly. "Yeah. Sorry," he murmured in response, before wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer with a content huff.
Kiara laid her head against his shoulder with a huffed breath. "Don't apologize. You're anxious, it's normal."
Mist nodded slowly. "Still," he answered with a soft snort. "I.. Not only because of Ren. But I just got a bad feeling. Like we're being watched."
She tensed. "Really?" Her eyes flickered around warily.
It was faint. Very much so. The same aura Mist had, only more bloodthirsty, more murderous. Yet the presence was too faint and immediately disappeared, as if it had never been there in the forst place.
Mist sighed softly. "We should move on from here," he murmured softly.
Kiara nodded. "We can start walking north. Kit will track us once he's back," she murmured.
Mist nodded slowly. "Let's," he retorted softly, pushing himself up and holding out a hand for her.
She let him pull her to her feet and started walking, glancing at Mist every so often out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help being worried, waiting for him to suddenly just...disappear or something.
Mist fell into step next to her, still glancing around. The presence certainly wasn't an illusion. There was something lurking, no doubt.
Mist let out a soft snort, closing his eyes briefly. The unease only affirmed his earlier statement. He didn't know any kind of magic and fighting unarmed was a disadvantage. "Are there any settlements nearby?" He inquired, glancing around.
Kiara shrugged a little helplessly. "I'm not sure. I...thought you might know, honestly. You grew up in Mir, I...wasn't sure if you'd know the area."
Mist frowned, then nodded slowly. "Then.. We should be closeby," he murmured softly. "Mir's nothing but ruins now. But perhaps we can find something of note in the ruins," he sighed softly.
"That.. And I need to find their graves."
"We, um-" She cleared her throat. "We- I wanted to bring you back here. When we thought- when you were-" Her voice cut off and she looked away.
Mist nodded slowly. "Thanks," he murmured softly, grabbing her shoulder and squeezing it softly. "Now that we're here," he murmured softly. "There's something I need to do," he tried to look Kiara in the eyes. "For my peace of mind."
She held his gaze for a moment and nodded, offering a small smile. "Of course."
Mist nodded, leaning forward to press a soft kiss on her cheek. "Thanks," he answered with a soft murmur, before stepping back.
A soft smirk crept up on his lips. "Now, to find out where exactly where we are."
Kiara shrugged and gave him a sheepish sort of look. "Like I said- all I knew was where Mir was."
Mist shook his head with the same awkward smirk. "I know, don't you worry," he answered, glancing around and starting to walk. After several minutes, the canopy seemed to thicken. Another twenty minutes later, Mist stopped in his tracks, glancing at several arrows spread over several trees.
The arrows seemed touched by time, like it had been there for years already, overgrown by moss. Mist glanced over his shoulder and gave her a wry smirk. "I.. Think this is where I died.."
"Oh." Her eyes widened a bit and she reached for his arm unconscious. "Is this...what you wanted to see?"
He shook his head and rested a hand on hers. "No," he answered with a murmur. "It's been so long," he said with a soft, pained chuckle. "I can barely remember it."
He let out a soft sigh. "But this wasn't what I wanted to see," he answered. "Though I now know more or less where we are."
"Okay." She laced her fingers with his ad glanced up at the Sky, searching for Kit. "What are you looking for then?" she asked as she looked back to his face.
"The graves of my parents," Mist answered, squeezing her hand softly. "I just.. Need to visit them.. After so long."
"Alright. Just lead the way." She offered what she hoped was an encouraging smile.
Mist nodded slowly. "Thanks," he answered with a soft sigh, before turning around and heading through the forest.
It took some time, but they reached the ancient of ruins of what once Mist's home. "Here we are," he murmured softly, letting go of Kiara's hand and taking several steps forward, headed for two solitary, corroded wooden posts at the center of the village.
Kiara hung back, not sure what she should to. The sound of wings above them drew her attention for a moment and she glanced up to see Kit's shadow pass over the sun, then glide in an arc. He was circling, keeping watch from above.
Mist made his way over to the grave and got to his knees, taking a deep sigh. He leaned forward to grab a piece of overgrowth on one of the graves and pulled it off.
He closed his eyes and pushed his hands together, silently murmuring under his breath in prayer.
Kiara waited for him at the edge of the ruins, arms wrapped loosely around her body.
After several minutes, Mist stood up with a soft sigh, wiping a, tear away from his eye. He didn't want Kiara to fuss about it so he played it off as stretching his arm. There was no point to dwell on past mistakes any further.
The drow turned around again and made his way over to Kiara, softly tapping her shoulder as he passed. "Let's not linger," he murmured softly.
She tilted her head at him, brow furrowed a bit in concern. "M'kay." She looped her arms around his waist gently and leaned into him for a moment.
Mist glanced down at her, before looking back at Mir for one last time. He put an arm around Kiara's shoulder andand slowly retreated back, into the forest. He seemed not sad or struck by sorrow, rather confused and lost.
"Hey." Kiara touched his arm gently. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he murmured with a soft sigh. "More or less. I just.. I gotta think." He nodded slowly, squeezing her shoulder softly. "It's just odd."
"What's odd?" She tiltedbhwr head slightly, brow furrowed.
"It's been so long," he answered with a soft sigh, "come, let's go."
She offered a small smile. "After you."
Mist nodded, turning around and letting go of Kiara as he trod back into the woods, though, he wouldn't be him without giving her side a soft pinch before he did step away.
Kiara crinkled her nose at him and gave a long, high whistle to call Kit down. The dragon landed in a gap in the trees and huffed at them.
Mist glanced up at Kit, giving him an idle wave and stepping back for Kit to land. "Got anything good?"
The dragon rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "There are a few herds of deer, nothing exceptional," he rumbled.
Mist nodded slowly. "Understood," he glanced at Kiara. "What do we do next?"
She leaned against Kit's flank. "Well, Ren deserves to know what happened. I suppose we should find him."
"I know," he answered with a nod. "But I ment, do we hunt now or immediately move on?"
Kiara chuckled. "Well, that depends- are you hungry?"
"Are you?" Mist retorted with a faint smile. He was pretty hungry, but that could wait. He wanted to find Ren as soon as possible.
She shrugged. "We have a bit of food, if we need. You haven't eaten anything since you...woke up. You should probably get something."
Mist nodded with a soft sigh. He did feel hungry, though it was different. He still felt the desire to eat and have a full stomach. But any normal person would be starving in his stead. It didn't feel as urgent or important as it used to anymore.
"Fair enough, I'd argue it can wait," he glanced at Kiara with a faint smirk. "But you wouldn't let me off the hook either way'"
"Damn straight." She climbed up onto Kit's back and the dragon rumbled, dipping to offer easier access to Mist. "C'mon, we can eat in the air."
Mist grabbed between a scale and pulled himself up on Kit. "Sorry," he murmured towards the dragon, before settling behind Kiara.
The dragon huffed and straightened up as Kiara dropped her pack into Mist's lap. "Should be some food in there."
Mist nodded slowly and opened the pack, ruffling through it. A thought occured and he could only snort to hold a stupid giggle in.
Kiara twisted and arched an eyebrow at him. "What?"
"Just a thought occurred," he answered with a soft smirk. "Don't mind me."
"What?" she persisted.
"You're gonna hurt me," he answered with a soft smirk. "I'd rather not get hurt."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Well, I'm gonna hurt you if you don't tell me, now. So you're screwed either way."
Mist chuckled softly. "Fair," he answered with a soft grin. "I.. Don't see a change of clothes in here," he remarked with a smirk, closing the pack after he retrieved some rations, chewing on it idly.
"Oh." Kiara shrugged. "Well, we'll just have to stop and get you something then, yeah?"
He frowned, being quite surprised. "I-... Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it, but I was expecting an elbow to the face," he said after a short while, ripping off another piece of jerky from the rations he got his hands on.
It was then it hit him. "Oh. I meant you-" he murmured softly.
"Me?" She blinked.
He shook his head. "Just leave it at that," he murmured with a wry smirk.
She huffed. "Y'know, sometimes I really don't understand you."
"Fair enough," he answered with an awkward chuckle. "Sometimes, I don't even understand myself. So that's pretty normal."
Kiara huffed and leaned out over Kit's neck a bit, letting her cheek rest against the dragon's scales as she watched the landscape speed by below them.
Mist sat back on Kit's back, sighing softly as he shut her pack again, swinging it over his shoulder. He didn't want to disturb Kiara like that.
Before she realized what was happening, Kiara was dropping off to sleep.
"Kit," Mist called out with a soft growl to his voice, before coughing, clearing it up andto trying again. "Kit," he sighed softly. "Set us down somewhere, I think she's exhausted."
The dragon snorted an affirmative and started circling, searching for a place to land. "You're not tired?" he asked over his shoulder.
"I.. Don't feel it," he answered with a soft frown. "Exhaustion, hunger, I don't feel those anymore." Mist closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'll tell her, but not now."
"Hrmph." Kit snorted again, but fell silent as he flew.
Mist, having nothing better to do now that his only conversational partner seemed to be done talking, rested back again, taking a deep breath. He could only wait.
Kit flew a while longer, then slowly began a descent, still quiet and contemplative.
Mist sat up as Kit made his slow descent. He put a hand on Kiara's shoulder, not to wake her, but to keep her steady during the descent.
He glanced down at her with a soft smile. "You look so peaceful when sleeping," he murmured softly, letting out a soft chuckle.
"Shhh," Kiaa mumbled, woken by the slight jostlin of landing. "It's still naptime...."
Mist smirked softly. And as Kit settled down, he gently picked Kiara up in his arms, before jumping down from Kit, landing with a soft thud.
Kiara made a sound like a startled kitten and clung a little tighter to Mist's shoulders.
The smirk widened slightly as she made such noise. It was adorable. But, nevertheless, he glanced up at Kit. "May I?" He inquired with a frown. He knew Kiara preferred sleeping close to Kit. And that he allowed Mist to rest against him on her invitation.
But he wasn't sure today was the same.
Kit huffed and raised his wing in invitation. "If you must."
Mist smirked slowly. His rather petulant response made him immediately think of Kiara. She more than often gave similair responses.
But, he said nothing, rather leaned in against Kit's scales, sliding down to sit down, laying Kiara to rest against his chest.
Forgetting he still was wearing the cold metal chestplate.
Kiara frowned and squirmed, still half asleep. "Mi-ist," she complained groggily, "take the armor off before you come to bed..."
"Bed?" Mist inquired with a soft chuckle. "When's the last time you've slept in a bed?" He murmured softly, but nevertheless, he sat up slightly and pushed Kiara up, starting to work on the straps of his armour. Though progress was slow.
As it was with but one hand.
The younger rider huffed and rolled onto her side, though her hand groped for him blindly, finally finding his leg and settling there as she seemed to relax slightly, breathing evening out.
He finally managed to slip off the most of his armour, discarding it to the side with a soft thud. He brought his other hand up to slip underneath Kiara's arm and pull her closer against his chest again.
He closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to overtake him. But it never did.
Kiara curled into him and seemed to sink back into a deeper sleep, the lines in her brow smoothing out slightly.
Mist wrapped his arm around her. And waited. Waiting forforward her to wake up again.
Good to know sleep physically impossible.
Kit woke before his rider, stretching and arching his wings out and up. Kiara stirred slightly, mumbling tiredly, only half awake.
Well, if he couldn't sleep, he could at least rest his eyes. And per extension, rest his muscles. No complaining to take time doing just that.
He opened his eyes and glanced down at Kiara, smiling softly as she woke. "Slept well?" He inquired after what he deemed to be enough time to be at least fully conscious.
"Mph." She blinked and peered up at him. "Oh. Mornin'." She yawned.
"Morning," he answered with a soft chuckle. Mist leaned forward to press his lips against her forehead, before stretching the corrupted armof upwards.
Kiara smiled and nuzzled into him. "Mmm, what time is it? Should we get moving?"
"I guess an hour after sunrise," he answered, taking a deep breath. "We should. We still need to catch up with Renkaryn."
She sighed and nodded, climbing to her feet. "Come in then. We can eat while we fly."
Mist nodded slowly. "Sure," he murmured his agreement. And heI got to his feet, arching his back slowly. Until his spine let out several pops.
Kit rumbled and crouched lower so they could climb up onto his back.
Mist took a deep breath and pulled himself on Kit's back, holding out a hand for Kiara in turn.
The younger rider swung easily up onto the dragon and settled herself in front of Mist. "Alright. Back to the Thunderblacks then."
"Yup," Mist murmured in response, taking a deep breath, before stretching his shoulder with another soft grunt. "Can't get the ache out."
"Here." Kiara glanced over her shoulder. "Switch with me, I'll work on your back."
"You don't have to," Mist answered with a soft shake of his head and a chuckle. "You remember how that ended last time," he teased with a rather shit eating grin.
Kiara scowled and Kit snorted.
"If you two so much as look at each other too long, I'm dumping you both off," the dragon grumbled.
"Understood, chief," Mist answered with a mock salute. Though it didn't really matter, Kit probably didn't even see it. He looked back to Kiara. "Well, you still think it's a good idea?" He inquired with a soft frown.
Kiara slapped the dragon's side lightly and glanced back at Mist. "I think it's necessary."
He nodded in response, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Then let's switch," he answered, one of his hands now gripping hers. He leaned aside to let her pass more easily.
She slipped around easily, used to such aerial maneuvers, and set to work on his shoulders and back.
Mist slowly leaned back into her hands, letting out a soft sigh as he felt her hands starting to work on his shoulders. Where she could reach, basically. He slowly started to pull off the straps of his one pauldron. The other was just ingrown with the corruption.
He moved on to set about pulling off the chestplate, which at the same time would allow for the plate on his back to be taken off.
Kiara worked around his armor as it came off, targeting the worse knots she could find. Her eyes flickered to his corrupted arm every so often, but for the most part she tried to act as though it was normal.
Mist breathed out in relief as his muscles were straightened out. Wearing the heavy armour, after all of his condition, still wasn't too good for his muscles. And it was ages since she last massaged him. "Thanks," he grunted softly.
She smiled and leaned in to press a soft kiss to the nape of his neck. "No problem."
"Still.. -uff.. That's a painful one," he grunted, before taking a deep breath, rolling his shoulder momentarily.
Kiara hmm'ed quietly and continued her work, guiding Kit's flight silently with little taps from her legs.
There wasn't much to do for Mist but to lean in Kiara's hand, letting out the occasional grunt, be it pained or pleased, and wait. His eyes lazily scanned their surroundings for anything that was even remotely Ren's size and shape.
Kit banked out in a wide circle and Kiara paused. "Maybe we should take a break. We're getting back up into the mountains."