Justin wandered through the forest in the cool, early-morning air. He inhaled slowly, enjoying the freshness of the light breeze. As he entered a small clearing, he spotted motion ahead of him. He paused, unsure of what to do.
Lysander sensed his companion's uncertainty. He walked up to stand protectively in front of the fair-haired man. Though he had no idea what was causing his friend to hesitate, he was determined to protect Justin.
Kailey was busy gathering apples from a small grove of trees not too far from her house. She noticed movement on the opposite side of the clearing, and saw the human and dragonet. The young woman called out a friendly "Hello!"
Justin's first instinct was to turn and run, but he realized his fear of being caught was, by now, irrational. Instead, he returned the greeting, stepped around the ocean-colored dragonet in front of him, and began walking across the clearing.
"I'm Kailey", the black-haired woman said, a friendly sparkle in her green eyes. She extended a hand to the man before her.
Justin warmly shook the young woman's hand. "I'm Justin," he said, "and this is Lysander."
"What brings you this deep into the forest?" Kailey asked amicably.
"I've escaped from a plantation where I was enslaved by a cruel master. I'm looking for somewhere that Lysander and I can live, or at least stay for a little while. What about you?" Justin replied.
"I'm a healer," Kailey replied, "though I haven't healed anyone for a long time, except a dragonet who was badly wounded by dragon-hunters. He still lives with me, so I'm afraid I can't offer you a place with us...but I do know of a nearby house that no one lives in anymore, so you could stay there."
"All right," said Justin, "and thank you. Have you considered one day becoming a Dragon-Bound traveling healer, if the dragon learns to trust you?"
"I don't think that'd work too well," Kailey answered. "I did the best I could to heal him, but he still has many bad scars that'll be there for the rest of his life. I don't think I'd look like a very good healer, with a dragon like Laird. Perhaps, though, if you're willing to learn, I could teach you about the various uses of herbs, and some basic, nonmagical healing skills."
"That would be useful," said Justin. "I'd definitely like to learn."
Lysander eagerly inquired, "Will you teach me, too?"
"Of course," Kailey replied cheerfully. "Shall we start the first lesson now?"
"Yes," Lysander chirped. He wanted to learn all he could about healing, as it interested him greatly.
"Okay," said Kailey. "Let's go." She started off into the forest. It wasn't long before she came across some ginger. "This is a ginger plant," she explained. "Its root helps to soothe the stomach."
Lysander came closer. He studied the plant carefully, intent on learning to identify it on his own.
Justin looked attentively as well, so that he too could learn to recognize the plant when he saw it.
Once her two companions were finished studying the ginger plant, Kailey looked around and found a patch of mixed herbs growing near the foot of a tree. She explained the purpose of each of the numerous herbs.
Lysander watched as the young woman introduced him to each type of plant.
Kailey finished pointing out each herb and its various uses. She got to her feet, dusting the dirt from her knees, and suggested that she could show the man and dragonet the house she'd mentioned.
"That sounds like a good idea," Justin replied.
"It's this way," Kailey said. "It's a bit musty, I'm afraid, but if you'd like me to help you clean it, I will."
"That would be nice," Justin answered. "Thank you for your help and kindness."
"It's no problem," Kailey said. Shortly, she reached the house. "Here we are," she announced, opening the door.
Lysander inquisitively followed the young woman into the stone house. As he looked around, he inhaled some dust, and sneezed.
Justin wandered into the kitchen, where he found a broom, and began to sweep cobwebs out of the corners.
Lysander didn't see any way that he could be of help in cleaning, so he wandered through the house, still exploring.
Kailey found some dust-cloths in a cabinet and began to dust the table and shelves in the small kitchen.
Once the house was pretty much clean, it was late afternoon. Lysander had grown hungry. "Shall we have dinner?" he asked.
"Certainly. I need to get some food for myself and Laird, too. Let me go home and get my bow and arrows, and then I'll go hunting. The young woman walked briskly out of the house, and returned to her own home. "Hello, Laird," she called amicably.
Laird rose from where he'd been resting. "Where have you been all day?" he demanded, his voice edgy with suspicion.
"I've been helping another human and his dragonet settle into a new home, and teaching them about healing herbs," Kailey replied.
The dragonet hissed quietly. He didn't like the idea of the human being around others of her kind, lest she be plotting something, and because she wasn't around to be tend to his wishes, his hunger and such, but he knew there really wasn't anything he could do. He sighed, and lay back down, seething quietly in frustration.
Kailey noticed her draconic companion's displeasure. "What's wrong, Laird?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice.
Knowing the woman wouldn't like his real answer, Laird simply replied, "Nothing's wrong."
Kailey knew that this wasn't true. "Come on, Laird," she said gently. "You can tell me. Let me fix the problem, if I can."
"I said, nothing is wrong!" Laird hissed. He got to his feet and stormed off to another room.
Kailey frowned. She'd understood the hatchling's mistrust, but now he seemed angry with her, and wouldn't say why. She sighed, no longer certain the dragonet would ever be friendly with her. She got her bow and a quiver of arrows, and set off back to Justin and Lysander's house.
"Welcome back," Justin greeted Kailey cheerfully. He saw the frown on the black-haired woman's face, and the hurt and confusion in her eyes. "What happened?" he asked.
"My dragonet is angry with me, and I don't know why," she replied. "I haven't done anything that should offend him. But I do need to go get us something to eat. Would you two mind getting some apples and blackberries from the orchard and bushes near my house?"
"Sure," said Justin. He picked up a basket and headed in the direction Kailey showed him.
Lysander trotted helpfully behind his companion, and once they arrived, he began to pick the berries that were within his reach. He dropped each one into the basket beside Justin.
The fair-haired man reached up into the trees, gathering a fair number of apples. "This should be enough, Lysander," he told the ocean-colored dragonet.
At this point, Kailey arrived. "I wasn't able to catch anything," she said, "and it'll be dark fairly soon. So you'll be having just apples and berries tonight, I'm afraid. I'm going to go get some food for Laird and myself; I'll see you tomorrow, and if you want to learn more about healing herbs, I'll teach you."
"All right," said Justin. "Have a good night."
"I will," Kailey replied, "and you, too." She left the house, and brought back a meal of fruit for herself and her dragonet as she returned home. "I brought us some dinner," she said to the dark-brown hatchling as she stepped through the door of her house.
Laird stood up, hunger rumbling in his stomach, not having eaten since morning. "No meat?" he hissed at the human before him.
"I'm sorry, Laird," Kailey sighed. "I couldn't catch anything tonight. And I still don't understand why you're this angry at me, but I wish I could do something."
Laird said nothing; he simply stalked over, grabbed the basket by its edge, and attempted to pull it from the woman's grasp.
Kailey wasn't expecting this, and let go of the basket in surprise. As it fell, tilting away from the hatchling holding it, a few berries rolled out onto the floor at Kailey's feet.
Dropping the basket onto the floor, Laird promptly devoured all the fruit. His hunger satiated, he strode away.
"Why did you do that, Laird?" Kailey was hurt. no longer was it simple distrust that the dragonet showed. He had changed, and now it was clear that he only cared for himself, and seemed to think of her as only a servant. This wasn't at all what Kailey had expected. The black-haired woman didn't want to be a slave, but she couldn't bring herself to abandon the dragonet, either, not while she still held even the slight hope of him changing his ways. She sighed, wondering if the hatchling ever would change, and what he'd become in the future. She'd heard stories of the Fallen dragons, who totally enslaved their bound ones, and who murdered many humans, sometimes even their own Dragon-Bound. She also knew that, if Laird stayed, her life as a healer would likely soon be over.
Laird noticed that the woman seemed to be sighing a lot, but he didn't care. Maybe she was upset over the food, maybe not; it didn't matter, as his own stomach was full. He kept his watchful eyes on the woman, waiting for her to fall asleep before he would let himself rest.
With another heavy sigh, Kailey began to get ready for sleep. She then got into her bed, and drifted off into a mix of calm and worried dreams.
Morning came, and with it, Laird's hunger stirred once more. Still annoyed over the lack of meat the previous night, and impatient with the fact that Kailey was not already awake to get food, he marched over to the sleeping young woman and nipped at her bare toe.
Kailey awoke with a yelp, feeling a sharp pain in her toe. she sat up and saw Laird standing by the edge of the bed. She realized he'd bitten her. "What do you want?" she demanded angrily.
"Breakfast,' Laird replied, matching the woman's tone.
Kailey realized that the dragonet was never going to change for the better; he was not only selfish and impatient, he was becoming aggressive, and one day would likely hurt her badly if she let him stay with her. "Get out, Laird," she said, leaving her bed and opening the front door of her house. "And don't come back. I'm not going to be your servant anymore."
Laird was stunned and angry. This human was ordering him to leave. He stood his ground, refusing to be forced out, and hissed threateningly, as best he could.
Kailey opened the door, somehow managed to shove the dragonet out, and slammed it shut behind him. Returning to her bed, she tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't stop thinking about Laird, wondering if she'd done something wrong. She sat there, late into the morning.
Laird wandered through the forest, seething with anger at having been thrown out. He had no idea where to go, or what to do. The hatchling came across a raspberry bush, ate his fill of the succulent fruit, and moed on.
Justin began to wonder where kailey was, as it was almost noon already. He decided to go see if she was still at home, and if she was all right.
Lysander followed Justin from the house. He sniffed the air, and began to worry, as another dragon somewhere nearby bore a strong scent of rage.
Laird spotted a blue dragonet walking faithfully beside a human. His wrath still boiled within him, and the brown hatchling lunged from the bushes, aiming to bite.
Lysander was startled. He dodged back, but not quickly enough. The attacker's fangs grazed sharply at his throat. With a yelp of pain, he jumped back and began to growl, attempting to intimidate the assailant. "Run, Justin," he said. "NOW! I'll catch up with you, but go!"
The fair-haired man hesitated. He spotted Kailey's orchard, and bolted toward it, looking back over his shoulder to make sure his draconic companion didn't need help.
Lysander waited, blocking the brown dragonet's path, until Justin reached the far side of the orchard. He then raced after his friend.
Kailey heard noise erupt outside: a draconic yelp of pain, rapid footsteps entering the orchard, followed by more footfalls close behind. She got up quickly and went to the widow to see what was going on.
Justin ran out from the orchard. Seeing Kailey at the window, he called out, "Please, let us in. A brown dragonet just attacked Lysander!"
Kailey's heart sank once more as she quickly opened the front door to let the man and the ocean-colored dragonet in, before hastily closing it again. "That was Laird," she said. "I had to send him away this morning because he's suddenly become aggressive."
Outside, his rage burnt out for the time being, Laird roamed off, deeper into the forest.
Kendra walked slowly past a tall pine tree. She heard footsteps off to one side, and turned toward the sound.
Laird stared coldly and contemptuously at the young woman, before stalking off into the forest. He no longer felt the need to attack at the moment, but hate still grew within his closed heart.
Kendra recoiled at the harsh gaze of the severely scarred hatchling. She wondered, at first, what he was doing out here alone, but the way he looked at her seemed to answer her question, telling her this dragonet had best be avoided.
Lapis shivered at the other dragonet's gaze. Behind those eyes lurked nothing more than jaded hatred. The sky-blue hatchling drew closer to her human friend, and increased her pace as the two progressed through the forest.
Seeing apple trees ahead, Kendra decided to pick a few to eat and share with her dragonet, once they found somewhere far enough from where they'd seen the badly-scarred hatchling that they could assume it was safe.
Again, Kailey heard motion amid the apple trees. Glancing out the window, she saw a young woman approaching with another dragonet. "Hello!" she called. "Did you see a brown dragon hatchling in the forest?"
"Yes, we did," the red-haired woman replied. "He was heading away from here.'
"Thank goodness," Kailey sighed with relief.
"I don't blame you for saying that, as he seemed full of rage and hatred," Lapis commented, 'but what happened?"
"Come inside, it's probably safer," Kailey said, "since Laird can't get to you in here." She opened the door.
Once she and Lapis were inside the wooden house, Kendra repeated Lapis' question. "What happened with Laird? He seems so cold and vicious."
"I'm not sure what caused him to become so outright dangerous," Kailey said. "What I do know is that he was attacked by dragon-hunters, and I saved his life. At first, he simply didn't trust me, but then something changed, and he became like this."
Justin thought for a moment, then commented, "Didn't this happen right around the time you started teaching Lysander and I about healing herbs? I wonder if that might have had something to do with it."
"He had grown rather controlling," Kailey mused. "It wouldn't be all that surprising to me if my being with you two was at least part of what sparked the change in him."
"How did you get that wound?" Lapis inquired of Lysander. "And by the way, my name is Lapis."
"I got it from Laird; I was walking through the forest with Justin, and he tried to bite me, but thankfully didn't hurt me very much. And I'm Lysander."
Justin followed Lapis' and Lysander's example, and continued the introductions. "My name is Justin," he said to the two newcomers.
"I'm Kailey," the black-haired woman said, smiling.
"My name is Kendra," replied the red-haired newcomer, a smile showing in her brown eyes as well.
"So, what brings you into the forest?" Kailey inquired.
"I had to leave home because Lapis wouldn't have been safe there," Kendra answered. "I still haven't found anywhere to stay yet."
"You can stay here, if you like. Justin's living here, too, but I do have one more room that you and Lapis can share," Kailey suggested.
"That sounds great," Kendra said. "Thank you so much."
Once the introductions were done, Kailey suggested another healing lesson. "Though I don't think it would be wise to venture too far into the forest unnecessarily, I do have a book on healing herbs. And Kendra...I can sense magic skill in you; I can teach you some healing spells, if you like."
"Wow," Kendra exclaimed, amazed. "That will be wonderful!"
"All right!" Kailey smiled. She walked into a small room in her house where she kept her healing books and spell books, and took two of the books off the shelf. Bringing them back into the kitchen, she put them on the table. "This book is on herbs, Justin," she said, pointing to a blue, old-looking book. And Kendra, we will start with simple spells at first. We won't be able to practice the actual spells to heal anyone, of course, but I can teach you the proper inflections of the words, and the other things you must do for the spells to work." The young woman opened the book and thumbed through the pages until she came across some of the more basic spells, then placed the book so that she and Kendra could both see it. "Let's start here," she said.
"All right," said Kendra, looking at the book, and reading the words that Kailey indicated aloud.
"Not quite right," Kailey said, and read them in a particular inflection. "Try again," she said cheerfully.
As the other two worked on learning healing spells, Justin held the book in his lap so that Lysander could see it, too. The fair-haired man read the names and uses of each plant quietly aloud, pointing to each picture as he did so.
Kailey continued teaching Kendra until evening started to fall, and it began to become too dark to see inside the house. "That's probably enough for today," she said, leaving the books on the table as she hurried out to the orchard to pick some fruit before nightfall.
As months went by, slowly turning into years, Kailey continued to teach Kendra more and more complicated spells, which the red-haired woman was gradually able to memorize. Justin and Lysander became adept at identifying the various herbs and plants: those that were for healing, those that were simply edible, and those to avoid. The two dragonets grew large and strong, and had to stay outside as they were too big to come in and out of the house, leading to peaceful lessons in the warmth of the sunlight that filtered down through the trees. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest, though not too far away, Laird grew as well, somehow managing to take care of himself even as a slightly awkward dragonet.
One hot summer morning, as Laird enjoyed his meal after a successful hunt, the youngling suddenly became aware of thoughts in his mind that didn't seem to be his own. He realized that he was somehow hearing Kailey's thoughts. Wondering if he could control them, he reached out with his mind and attempted to move her arm, simultaneously seeking to feel whether he was succeeding or not. To his surprise, he felt her muscles twitch ever so slightly, then begin to move a tiny bit.
In the room fairly deep in the house where she kept all her books, Kailey suddenly felt her arm begin to move on its own. She tried to stop it, but to no avail. The young woman realized that there was someone else present, controlling her mind, though not very adept yet. Using all her willpower, she resisted the control, and slowly the motion subsided.
Justin noticed something strange appeared to be happening to Kailey. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm not sure," Kailey replied, slowly recognizing a familiar aura to her mental intruder. "I think...Laird is trying to control my mind. He and I must have at least partially bonded at some point, possibly when I saved his life, and now he's probably trying to make me his Dragon-Bound, though he doesn't seem to have the skill to do it yet."
Feeling his control slipping, Laird tried harder, this time to make the woman walk out the door. He struggled to completely subdue her will with his own, but had a great deal of trouble, as the woman seemed to be defending her mind quite strongly. Becoming enraged at his inability to bind the woman, he stormed toward the wooden house that he had once lived in, and breathed a blast of fire.
Kendra screamed as the house suddenly burst into flames, and smoke filled the air. She called out to Justin and Kailey, attempting to guide them to the front door, as the smoke was so thick it was unlikely they could see.
Justin ran for the door, grabbing Kailey's hand, but a burning beam suddenly fell from the ceiling, scorching his hand and forcing him to let go of Kailey's. A sheet of flame roared up between himself and the young woman, obscuring his view. "Kailey!" he shouted.
Kailey staggered back, confused by inhaling too much smoke. "I'll find a way out," she said. "Just run, Justin." She staggered back, the wrong way, into the book room, realizing too late that there was no way out. Sluggishness overwhelmed her, and she collapsed to the floor.
Justin tried to dodge past the fallen beam, but flames blocked his path each time, forming a solid barrier around the room. Having no choice, the fair-haired man sadly ran for the door, jumping through it just as the doorway caved in, blocking the last escape route.
"Where is Kailey?" Kendra cried as she saw the fair-haired man emerge from the flaming remains of the wooden cottage.
Tears streamed down the fair-haired man's face, both from the smoke and from sadness. "I couldn't get her out in time. I tried to, but the fire cut us off, and she's still inside. There's...no way to save her, it's already too late. I should have been faster...should have..." He dissolved into tears of pain and guilt.
Hearing the humans talking, Laird rounded the corner, still in a vicious mood. He lunged, opening his mouth to blast more flames.
Lysander sprang in front of the brown youngling, blocking the fire with his strong, protective scales. Snatching Justin up gently in his mouth, Lysander placed him quickly on his back, then bolted off into the forest, as fast as he could run.
Lapis quickly did the same for Kendra, following the ocean-blue youngling into the forest.
Seeing his intended prey fleeing, Laird pursued them as fast as he could, but stumbled over a fallen log and tumbled onto his back. By the time he had righted himself, the other two had vanished amid the trees. The knowledge that he had claimed the life of the woman who had dared to resist his control did placate him, though the fact that he still had no human slave irritated the brown youngling.
end of rp
