A Dragon's Tale Ch. 41

His view of her was... interesting.

He had never seen or heard of a more driven person. She had this drivingneed to help people. Not a want, not a desire, aneed. She almost couldn't help herself because the impulse was so strong. That's what he noticed most before he got a glimpse of her life, as he had with Kendra. And as with the dragon huntress, he made sure his enhanced reflexes were activated to see the whole show.

The first was a flash of her at maybe five years old, playing in a small pool and blowing bubbles in an angel costume complete with attached wings while someone he assumed was her father roared in laughter. There was a blur of other blissfully happy childhood memories after that.

Then she was about elven and skipping down the sidewalk one evening, holding a Harry Potter book that she adored and she was feeling incredibly happy...

...until she saw the police cars and flashing lights at her house.

The next image was crystal clear -- like it was in 4k Ultra High definition -- and it was her parents telling her that her brother was missing; he'd been kidnapped. The next memory involved a kind FBI agent named 'Luna'. Selene had been expressing how useless she felt to help and asked Luna what she could do to find him.

Luna had said. "You can't help today, but become an FBI agent and maybe you can help another family who will go through this in the future." She had been caring, and probably just trying to make a little girl feel better...

...but Selene had hung on every word.

Instantly, Selene's memories morphed into one long blur of training and study sessions that seemed to have lasted almost until Ethan had met her.

Then it ended.

The bond finished forming and he looked at her. Really looked at her for what felt like the first time. Obviously she was drop-dead gorgeous, but something about her beauty had changed. It suddenly seemed more than just skin deep. He wasn't attracted, but now he saw how someone could be.

Huh.

Interesting.

"You weren't kidding." Selene dropped his hand and pulled hers back. "I'm not sure I'd ever want to do that again."

"Well, I've got one or two more." He replied.

"Wait,one or two?" The Brazilian woman raised her eyebrow, then said firmly. "You have two more; I'm breaking this bond after we deal with Smithbond."

"Fair." He nodded, then grinned. "And just to be clear, I usually take a girl on a date before sharing my soul with her."

He winked.

"Wait, I didn't get a date." Alana interjected, then continued before he could reply. "Running from soldiers and rescuing Beth doesn't count."

"I didn't get a date either." Beth added. "A wedding, but no date."

"Neither did I, but you did save me master." Taloni sighed.

"Not dates for me either my lord, and being captured by Lady Ekthros doesn't count."

Everyone looked at Kendra.

"Unless the date was to kill something, I don't think I'd be good company." The dragon huntress replied with an embarrassed grimace.

"Well, we'll have to try both a 'killy' and a 'non-killy' date and see." He said, giving her a smile.

The dragon huntress stared at him for several seconds before opening her mouth, hesitating, and then finally speaking. "Really?"

"Absolutely." He nodded. "I haven't known any of my wives very long, and I've certainly known you the shortest time. I think you deserve a chance to catch up." He looked at the rest of his wives. "Any objections?"

"Only if we don't get dates too master." Taloni beamed, then frowned. "Though, I don't really want a 'killy' date."

"Me either Sir."

"Nor I Dominus."

"I agree my lord."

He shrugged, then felt a mischievous grin creep onto his face. "Okay, so Kendra gets two dates and you all get one. Done."

Beth sighed. "Dom-i-nus."

"You're so bad." Alana shook her head while Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I would love to go on a date with you master; pick any of the 361 days a year and I'll happily go." The Fey hopped up and pecked him on the cheek.

"Wait, 361 days in a year?" He asked.

"Yes." Beth replied like he was being slow or something. "There's always been that many days in a year."

Selene chuckled. "On Earth there's 365 days in a year."

"Oh." The blonde frowned. "But then, how do you divide up the twelve months?"

Ethan cleared his throat and then recited. "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November; all the rest have thirty-one, excepting February alone, which has but twenty-eight days clear, and twenty-nine in each leap year."

Everyone except Selene stared at him.

"That's terrible." Alana finally said.

"Well, what do you do with your extra day?" He replied. "Twelve months doesn't divide evenly into 361."

"There's 12 months of 30 days each, plus Illuminar's Day." Beth replied.

"What's 'Illuminar's day?" He asked. "Some kind of holiday?"

"Of course." Beth replied. "It's in the middle of winter, on the day with the least daylight to remind us that the God of Light is always present, even on our darkest days."

"I like that." He mused, thinking the symbolism was pretty cool.

"Yeah, me too." Selene said thoughtfully. "I mean, I don't believe in Illuminar or anything; but I like having the same number of days every month, with a single Holiday to take up the 'extra' day."

"It's certainly better than the random month lengths on Earth." Ethan agreed.

* * *

Selene agreed about months, but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but think that they'd moved away from her bonding to Ethan pretty quickly. She felt like an afterthought. Why did she always feel like an afterthought here? Even more concerning, why did her nether lips start to itch whenever she did?

She shook her head and put it out of her mind.

She checked her mana and again tried to push it around a bit, and oddly found it easier than it had been before she'd bonded to Ethan. The difference was very significant too.

Hmm.

Interesting.

She wandered off to see Serif wanted to spar, but he was busy so she settled for Raklan. The hulking crewman was good at fighting, but not as good as a teacher. Still, practice was practice and she could occasionally beat him. She grabbed 'her' shield and 'her' training sword -- both of which belonged to Ethan not her -- and faced off against the large crewman.

Serif had lately been teaching her about reading her opponent's moves; looking at hip, chest, and arm position to predict where he would attack instead of reacting after he did. She checked those points, making sure to conceal what she could of her own body behind the large kite shield.

Then she focused all her attention on Raklan, trying to figure out what was in his head; what he was planning to do. A mere instant before he attacked, it suddenly came to her; she knew what he was planning.

She grinned.

Raklan raised his sword for a fast cut to her head, intending to make her move her shield into a position that would prevent her from seeing a follow-up strike to her legs. Being sure what was coming, she took his bait and blocked it with her shield, but then lowered her shield to block his leg strike and simultaneously counterattacked.

"Gah!" Raklan exclaimed as Selene's sword made contact with him.

She grinned.

"Again." He instructed, looking irked.

She took a few steps back and got into ready position, again trying to figure out what the powerfully built crewman would do. Again, his plan came to her a moment before he attacked. She punched her shield out to intercept his thrust, then ducked slightly as she swung her shield to the side, taking his sword with it and opening a path for her blade to connect with a counterthrust of her own.

Raklan looked pissed.

She was now 2-0, which had literally never happened before with any of her sparring partners since coming to the Ten Kingdoms.

"Again." He growled.

This went much the same the third time, with Selene having a laughably easy time figuring out what he was planning. She focused on what he was planning to do, and it came to her right before he did it. The fourth and fifth time weren't any different either.

"I've got lines to untangle." Raklan said after his sixth consecutive defeat, and he marched off much like a sulking child might.

"Six to zero against Raklan; impressive." Serif said from directly behind her.

She jumped.

She hadn't even known he was on deck. "Thanks. I was really working on what you taught me about reading moves, and it seems to be helping."

Serif made a non-committal sound. He scrutinized her for several long seconds then turned and went after Raklan. His normally unreadable face was even more unreadable, but she got the impression that he had a suspicion that he wasn't sharing.

* * *

"I'm sorry." Sarah apologized to Lady Ekthros as she finished telling her what had happened earlier with the old woman, and how she'd got a hot meal and a new dress. "I asked if I could bring you some, but she said no."

The auburn-haired woman shrugged. "At least you shouldn't be so cold." She indicated the dress that the innkeeper's daughter was now wearing, which was thicker than her old one and much warmer too. While it was pleasant enough outside in the sun, the stones walls of the castle made it significantly colder inside.

"Yeah, I'm glad." Sarah replied. "I'm really sorry; I did try."

"Don't worry." Lady Ekthros said kindly. "You were lucky that she did that, she barely speaks to me." The older woman got a funny sort of smile on her face, as if she was enjoying a private joke of some kind.

"Still, I wish we could get out of here." Sarah sighed.

She was actually thinking that it would be wonderful if Ethan -- the prophet of Illuminar -- found out that Lady Ekthros was missing and came to rescue her. She knew it was unlikely because he and Lord Delmar were enemies, but she thought that was more likely than that wonderful man-- err, dragon coming to rescue her.

"What were you thinking just now?" Lady Ekthros asked with a piercing look, though for some reason she got the impression that the auburn haired woman had already guessed.

"I was just wishing that the prophet of Illuminar would rescue us." She sighed.

Lady Ekthros' lip drew into a thin line.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"The prophet of Illuminar, he's..." She frowned, then grimaced and shook her head slowly.

"What is he?" Sarah pressed. "You've said-- well, not exactly 'said', but you've hinted before that he's not what everyone thinks he is; that he's not good. Why? How could you think that with everything he's done?"

"It's because of everything he's done." Lady Ekthros said darkly. "But I've already said too much."

"Please tell me." The innkeeper's daughter asked. "Please. I don't want to treat him like he's a prophet if he isn't."

Lady Ekthros raised her eyebrow. "And you'd trust me? You barely even know me."

"But after what you did for me..." She trailed off, not even wanting to think about it, much less speak of it. "After that I trust you implicitly."

Lady Ekthros nodded slowly. "I appreciate that, though I'm still not sure I should say..." She made a thoughtful frown, as though she was considering.

Sarah waited with baited breath for several long seconds.

Finally, Lady Ekthros spoke again. "Not... not now. Probably someday, maybe even soon, but not... not yet."

"Okay." Sarah nodded, disappointed but understanding. She really liked Ethan, yet a tiny part of her was really worried that he wasn't the good guy that she thought he was; that everyone thought he was. Nearly everyone in her town had turned out to be different than she though they were after her problem was revealed though, and she had known them for years before getting her problem.

Could Ethan be like that?

She hoped not.

She really did.

Regardless, it sounded like Lady Ekthros might tell her what she thought, and soon. She was looking forward to finally hearing the truth from someone she trusted.

* * *

"So, tell me about orcs."

Beth looked at her husband -- her 'purple dragon' -- and then a thought occurred to her that made her face fall.

"What?" He asked, then took another bite of dinner as the rest of the Argo's crew looked at her.

"We should have had sex on the Astral Plane!" She blurted out. "I bet that would've been--" She abruptly stopped herself as she realized that Serif, Raklan, and Anthiel had heard her, none of whom were part of her family.

Suddenly, her cheeks felt very hot.

"Yeah, we'll have to try that." Ethan said thoughtfully and without shame. "Anyways, orcs?"

"Um..." She scrambled to remember what she'd read about them. Several of the books she'd brought with her were about them, though she hadn't had a chance to read them all yet. "So orcs live in clans. The clans tend to consist of several large families living together. They're nomadic, so all their dwellings are tents, and they eat mostly meat."

"Mostly?" He asked.

The blonde nodded. "It usually makes up most of their diet, though they will eat other things in a pinch."

"So, they couldn't find enough food in the mountains so they start eating people?" Selene asked.

Beth shook her head. "The mountains in the southeast of Ivernia aren't really true mountains. They're at the tail end of the true mountain range and are more like massive hills, so they have plenty of grazing land; it's just rough. In fact, most orc clans keep sheep or other animals for food."

"They do?" Selene asked. "But then, why are they such bogeymen here?"

"Bogeymen?" Taloni asked, beating Beth to the question by mere moments.

Selene explained the concept, and the blonde frowned before answering. "No one really knows. Orcs value strength above everything else, and none of the other mortal races has been strong enough to live among them long enough to know. The few orcs who leave their clans tend to be tight-lipped about their culture."

"Strength huh?" Ethen mused. "As in physical strength or martial prowess?"

"Both, I think." Beth replied. "There's a lot of opinions about what the orcs are actually like amongst themselves, but no one seems to know for sure."

"Hmm, okay. Thanks." He smiled at her.

She beamed back.

She loved it when he was happy with her. For some reason, it just made her feel all warm and gooey inside. Kendra seemed to like that too. She was sitting next to Ethan, and partially leaning on him. She'd been touching him a bit more at every meal that day, and it looked like her stomach was protesting less and less as time went on.

Right now for instance, she was actually leaning up against him slightly and barely looked nauseated. That morning, she looked much the same when just brushing him. The difference in only one day was large, and the blonde was pretty sure that her husband's newest wife wouldn't be bothered much at all soon.

Beth looked around at her family and couldn't help but smile.

Her husband and fellow wives were just starting out in life, but she had a long life with them to look forward to. Children too eventually, and maybe even some boys. She wanted both girls and boys of course, and one day she could almost see them sitting around a large table eating, drinking, and laughing with a ton of kids adding joy to the mix.

She sighed.

* * *

Selene couldn't help but notice the massive smile on Beth's face, and seeing as she was sitting next to the blonde she turned towards her. "What's got you so happy?"

Beth looked at her, her incredibly wide smile reaching deep into her blue eyes. "My family."

"Kendra made that big a difference?"

"It's not just Kendra, it's everyone." The blonde replied. "They're all just so lovely and I feel so incredibly blessed to be one of them."

She looked it.

Outside of newly engaged brides and women who'd just discovered they were pregnant, Selene had rarely seen anyone look that happy. She'd seen anime shows where girls had stars or hearts in their eyes, and she imagined this was the real life version of that.

"I'm happy for you." The Brazilian woman said honestly, if a bit jealously.

She was glad that Beth had found such happiness, she just was beginning to think she never would. Her life was looking like it might end when she went back to Earth to try and deal with Smithbond. Even if she was successful -- which wasn't guaranteed -- she quite likely would die or be seriously injured in the process. Maybe the government would just lock her up forever.

But even if she succeeded unharmed and was let go, she still didn't know what she would do afterwards. She couldn't work in law enforcement or the military ever again because of her discharge from the FBI. She likely couldn't even be a lawyer, or judge, or something like that. She briefly considered trying to be a doctor, but that wasn't really her thing. She wanted to be out there stopping bad guys from doing bad things, not helping the victims afterwards.

The rest of dinner passed without Selene saying much.

She was too preoccupied with her future, and what would happen after she left the Argo and returned to Earth. After dinner, she stood and stretched in the semi-darkness, the Argo's deck lit only by the newly risen moon, a few lanterns, and the coals in the iron firepan suspended above the deck.

"Selene."

The Brazilian woman turned to see Kendra, who had an apologetic look on her face.

"I think I'm going to sleep in the captain's cabin tonight." The dragon huntress said. "I ended up sleepwalking there last night anyway, so I thought I would avoid the possibility of falling off the Argo while sleepwalking." She finished with a wry smile, probably trying to make a joke.

Selene gave her a half smile, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Well, sweet dreams." She replied, not sure what else to say.

"I'll walk you down if you're going to bed." Kendra offered.

"I'd like that."

The two women walked downstairs in silence, the caramel haired woman in front and the raven haired one behind. They walked past the ship's stores, the ballast logs, and the men's sleeping area to duck through the blanket separating the women's area from the men's.

"Well, this is me." Selene said wryly as she looked at her hammock.

Kendra nodded slowly. "Well, good night."

"Night."

Kendra hesitated a moment and then pursed her lips as she tapped her foot on the floor. She didn't seem impatient though, just pensive.

"Was there something more?" Selene asked.

The dragon huntress waggled her head back and forth a moment. "Kind of, but not really."

"Oh?"

"Um..." She seemed uncharacteristically hesitant, almost shy. "Can I... would you like hug?"

Selene stared.

Then she blinked.

"Why?" She finally asked, finding the question rather odd coming from Kendra of all people.

"Um, because it looks like you could use one." The dragon huntress replied. "It's something I picked up from everyone's favorite Fey. I would like to be more like her, at least in that way. I'm really not that good at them, but do you want one?"

"I could take a hug." Selene replied, feeling her eyes get just slightly watery.

It was an awkward hug.

Very awkward.

Probably the most awkward hug that Selene had ever received, no exceptions. They almost bumped heads and Kendra first held too tight and then too loose, probably trying to find the right balance. She also did that awkward 'lean forward upper body hug' thing, then tried to correct it and got a bit close.

It was wonderful anyway, and Selene couldn't help but smile. When their hug broke, Kendra looked about as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

"Well that was..." The Brazilian woman cast around for the right word.