On the Beach of Dreams

[MadEmperor]

[ @DragonSong ]

[ Continued From ]


It was a nice cool day when Kit touched down in front of the Caviin home. The house wasn't exactly a manor, but it was large for a commoner in that part of Serendipity. The location, however, was a dream; the view of the modest port that stretched out below the cliff was every bit as breathtaking as Grav had said it was.

Grav breathed deep the salty air and sighed happily, "Gods... I missed that smell."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, wow." Kiara laughed quietly  as she slid down from Kit's back and immediately ran as close to the edge as she could before Kit grabbed the back of her shirt delicately in his teeth.

"You undersold it, Grav," she chuckled, glancing back over her shoulder at him. "You grew up here?"

[MadEmperor]

Grav climbed down more carefully. He stepped up beside her and gave her a sidelong smile. "I never doubted that I was lucky to get to be part of a family like the Caviins and to grow up surrounded by the freedom this view represents. I can't even imagine living as some pampered noble, as these clothes suggest I would have."

A door creaked open and a Serenian woman stepped out. She had green hair, yellow eyes, a slight figure, and appeared to be in her fifties, laugh lines crinkling as she began to smile. "Grav? Is that you?"

He spun around, grinning. "Surprise!"

"It's so like you to literally drop in from the sky without warning," she laughed. "Now get over here and hug your mother."

The swordsman ran over and did what he was told.

She released him, finally taking in his clothes, the dragon, and... the girl. "Okay, kid, I have questions. What are you wearing? Why is there a dragon in my yard? And who is this girl you brought home?"

"It's... err, a long story." Grav was hesitant to get into details, as if he were a child afraid of getting in trouble.

[DragonSong]

Both Kit and Kiara seemed to shrink slightly as Grav's mother came out to greet her son. The dragon tucked his wings and tail in close to his body and lowered his head, trying to make himself as unobtrusive as possible for a creature who was easily nine feet tall at the shoulder.

"Um...hello." Kiara tried for a little wave and a small smile, hovering anxiously back at Kit's side. "I'm, ah—that is we're friends of Grav..."

[MadEmperor]

"Mom, these are my very good friends Kiara and Kit," he said in introduction. "I owe both of them my life many times over. Which I'll explain later, along with the clothes."

"You'd better." Mrs. Caviin frowned. Much less seriously, she said with a playful wrinkle of her nose, "You need a bath first. Because yikes."

"And I'm sure you're all hungry." She smirked. "Though even I can't feed a dragon in a pinch."

[DragonSong]

Kit dipped his head with a rumble that Kiara translated as, "Oh, that's alright, ma'am. Dragons have very slow metabolisms—Kit ate a big meal yesterday, he should be fine with some snacks for today. And he can hunt for himself." She glanced at the water and added with a small smile. "Or fish."

Smile turning a little sheepish, she risked moving a few steps closer and added, "I certainly wouldn't say no to some food though—er, maybe I can help you?"

[MadEmperor]

"Can you cook?" she asked probingly.

Grav rolled his eyes. Who is this mousy girl, and what did she do with Kiara?

[DragonSong]

"I...learned to, when I was little," Kiara admitted. "These days it's mostly campfire fare for me. But I, ahm, I used to help my mother cook."

She tried for another smile. "I can at least hold and fetch things, if you like."

Kit seemed to be more interested in the ocean than in watching this awkward little dance, though he did give Grav a knowing sort of look before settling himself in to enjoy the view.

[MadEmperor]

"Mom. You can't just--" Grav pleaded, only to be cut off with a look.

"That sounds most helpful. Thank you, dearie." She smiled before waving them inside. "Come, come."

Upon entering the rustic but well-furnished house, she looked to Grav. "Grav, sweetie, be a dear and fetch some water for a bath. If your friend is going to help, she needs to be rid of travel grime."

Grav sighed; he had been home for five minutes, and he'd already been put to work. "Yes, Mom."

[DragonSong]

Kiara couldn't help chuckling a bit as Grav's mother swiftly put him to work. It was...sweet. And it made her chest ache.

I miss Mum.

She shook the thought away and gave Mrs. Caviin another small smile. "Um, thank you. For welcoming us. I know it must have been..quite a shock, for Grav to show up on dragonback and all."

[MadEmperor]

"Think nothing of it, dearie." She smiled softly. "Any friend of my boy is a friend of mine."

She eyed her appraisingly, as if sensing something. "So... just friends, eh? Nothing else?"

The woman smirked. "I ask because I know my boy, and he's incorrigible when it comes to the fairer sex."

Elsewhere, Grav felt someone walk over his grave.

[DragonSong]

"Ah—well, it's—" Kiara stumbled, not entirely sure how to answer that. It wasn't like they were hiding anything, but she'd rather thought when this particular topic came up Grav would be the one fielding questions.

Puffing put a quick breath, she responded, "It's...new. We'd actually been traveling together for the better part of the last two months before, ah...that part changed."

[MadEmperor]

"Wore you down, did he?" she asked with a familiar, self-amused smirk. "But I suppose that if you can put up with his nonsense for that long, he's found quite the match."

[DragonSong]

"Well," Kiara chuckled a little awkwardly, "actually, as it happens...I said something first. I don't think the idea had even occurred to him until I did. Not that either of us was particularly, er, adept at connecting to our own sincerity."

She paused, then said in a rush, "But I care about him a lot, and he's—he's a good man, Mistress Caviin. You'd be proud of him."

[MadEmperor]

The woman seemed surprised for a moment before smiling broadly. "I always have been."

"It's always the ones that are sweet on him that he misses signals from." She chuckled. "Poor boy needs it spelled out to him."

The side door opened and shut as Grav brought in the first buckets of water for the bath. After pouring them in the tub in another room, he stepped into the sitting room to check on them. "I hope she's not filling your head with anything embarrassing."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, nothing that I hadn't figured out for myself already," Kiara teased with a quick laugh. Cocking her head at him, she offered, "Need help heating the water? I can ask Kit--he might be an ass about it, but he'll do it."

[MadEmperor]

"Oh! Great idea!" Grav grinned.

Mrs. Caviin's eyes widened. "Oh no, you are not going to have a dragon ruin my water buckets!"

[DragonSong]

"Oh, he won't!" Kiara hurried to assure her. "Kit can be very precise with his flame when he needs to be--and I can help shape it too."

That much magic should be fine, right? It wasn't like she was creating flame from nothing or raising walls of fire, just...nudging whatever fire Kit breathed into the proper place.

[MadEmperor]

She sighed, giving in. "Fine. But be careful. I don't want to catch you two setting anything on fire."

"We won't, I promise," Grav assured.

Once outside, he gave her a questioning look. "Well? You two hitting it off so far?"

[DragonSong]

"I think so?" She gave him a hopeful if slightly embarrassed smile. "I've, ah, never actually done this before. Meeting the family, I mean. I don't usually stick around anyone long enough for it to matter."

She glanced back over her shoulder and her smile softened a bit. "She seems like...it would have been really nice to grow up here with her."