On Violet Wings: 02

Skylar frowned. "Why not transform into your human form?"

"I have come to apologize, and to seek forgiveness, though I deserve it not; to do so while wearing a disguise would be evidence against the truth of my words, the honesty of mine intent. Thus do I speak in my true form, in mine own tongue." When the girl nodded, he turned his attention to the two. "I am Amtheryn, and I am to blame for thy daughter's abduction, and for the theft of her innocence. In my youthfulness and thoughtlessness, I causedst both her and thou great suffering. For that, I am filled with eternal sorrow. Were I not alone, I would offer thee my life in recompense; however, alone I am, and I cannot in good conscience forsake my bloodline for any reason. Shouldst thou think of any boon I can give, as restitution for my sin, thou needst only ask."

He waited as Skylar finished relaying the message, her voice stumbling once when he mentioned her rape, which the other four present noted, their expressions hardening. Skylar's mother frowned once the message was finished. "How come you can understand him?" she asked her daughter.

Skylar opened her mouth to reply, making several false starts, before Amtheryn spoke again. "When I sinned against her, I created a bond with her, which grants her the ability to perceive and understand my tongue, as well as other... gifts."

The woman stared open-mouthed for a moment before looking at her daughter. Beside her, her husband swallowed. "You said you would grant us a... a boon in payment for the... for your 'sin.' What do you mean by that?"

"I know little of humans and their desires and needs. Mine ancestors' memories are from ages long past, and it is clear that what may have sufficed then may be inadequate, if not irrelevant now. I can offer the riches of my lair, gold and jewels collected over my nine years and shall collect in the coming years; or the bounty of my hunts; indeed, shouldst thou wishest it, I shall even fly and fight in your name - though once again, any action thou mayest demand of me that wouldst like as not lead to my demise, I wouldst refuse."

All of the humans' eyes widened at Amfheryn's offers, but after only a moment, all eyes turned to Skylar, who seemed to shrink from the attention.

"Just... just go," she all but whispered, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. "Leave, and... and keep your promise."

After a brief pause, Amtheryn bowed his head, eyes closed. "As thou wishest." When Skylar didn't deign to translate, but simply turned and quickly fled towards her family's lake house, her dam following, Amtheryn too turned about, readying to take flight.

"Wait, that's it?" one of the police officers, a male, exclaimed, indignation clear in his voice. "He apologizes and just walks?"

"Shut it, Bennet," the other officer snapped, her words nearly emotionless, though Amtheryn could hear hints of several different emotions, condescension chiefest among them. "He's a dragon - what're you gonna do, tie him up with all the fishing line within five miles?"

"Girl said he had a human form, right? Cuffs should fit on a human form, even if he's big."

The female officer sighed. "Bennet, if the dragon can transform into a human form, wouldn't it make sense that he could also, I don't know, throw fireballs around or teleport or something? And besides, you wanna be the one who gets offed or put in some dark hole if the suits learn that dragons - or at least a dragon - exist and decide to keep it a secret?

"But he does have a point," she continued, her words aimed at Amtheryn, who paused in his preparations to take flight, craning his neck about to look at the woman. "How do we know you won't make any more trouble?"

Amtheryn considered for a moment, glancing towards the house that Skylar was now safely within, then back at the officer. With a silent sigh, he turned around, transforming into his human form - still utterly nude, causing blushes in the three humans and a muted, "fucking hell," from Bennet.

"My sin was born of ignorance, youth, and pure selfishness. While I am yet ignorant of many things regarding your kind, and am but a few hours older than when I sinned against Skylar, she did open mine eyes to my folly. I shalt not make a similar mistake soon, though as I must eat I shall like as not take from the herds of human farmers should the forest and plains yield less than what I require. But thou mayest rest easy - I shalt not abduct any more maidens from their lives. Indeed, it is mine intent to remain far from humans going forth." He made a grimacing smile. "Mine ancestors wert right to caution against becoming involved with thy kind."

The woman crossed her arms, thinking for a long moment. "I'd like to believe you- in fact, I do believe you - but while you and Skylar seem to be satisfied with the justice that you two worked out, the law that I uphold isn't. At the same time, we can't exactly stick you in a jail cell and call it good, and I don't even want to think about how to satisfy giving you a trial by a jury of your peers would work. So I'd like to propose a compromise."

She paused, and Amtheryn nodded, his interest piqued, and his desire to not allow his instinctual reactions - which had caused this whole situation and were now seething at the insinuation that a mere human would dare to pass judgment on him - to rule him.

"Sometimes, criminals are allowed out of prison early, on parole. If they prove they can behave themselves and be upstanding members of society, they can stay out of prison. If not, they go back. I'd like to do something similar here: your little justice ritual with Skylar earlier can stand, and you can go about your business, but to make sure that you don't cause trouble, you and I meet once every week so I can keep tabs on you. Since you can't exactly fly into town, I'll go to wherever it is you live, which serves two purposes: one, I'll know where you sleep, and if it turns out you can't be trusted, I'll have actionable information to use against you, since I can't really arrest you; and two, I'll be able to record that information where you can't find it so that if you're really untrustworthy and decide to kill or abduct me, someone else can follow my breadcrumbs to you, and take care of you. Is that agreeable?"

Amtheryn's opinion of the woman, which had been steadily improving since she first spoke, shot up as he watched her fearlessly and straightforwardly lay out her proposal, even explicitly threatening him. He smiled, an amused, predatory grin. "My lair is 74 of thy miles east-south-east of here, and 42 miles south-south-east of the nearest human town. A bowl in the earth in the middle of the forest, with a small lake and an island with a tree upon it, and a cave. Is that sufficient directions?"

The woman repeated back his words, jotting the instructions down on a small notepad. "Be there in two days, around noon."

Amtheryn nodded, turned and walked a short distance away, then transformed. With another glance at the police officer - whose name he realized he hadn't learned - he beat his wings and took flight, turning back towards his lair.

His mood, which had slightly improved when speaking with the bold officer, plummeted as he recalled the events that led up to that exchange. When he finally reached his lair, he settled into his cave, a pall settling over his mind.

And with only thoughts of self-loathing and despair, the dragon slept, quickly plunging deep into his own mind, beyond meditation, beyond even the days-long rests he had taken regularly over the past nine years. His pain - which he knew was self-inflicted - drove him to seek an escape, and he found it in the blissful oblivion of sleep.

*****

Officer Deborah Desiree Mason - or 'DeeDee' to her friends - let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding as she watched Amtheryn disappear over the treetops. She wasn't sure she really believed what had transpired in the past ten minutes.

"You're fucking insane."

The fear - and awe - of talking to an honest-to-god dragon evaporated in an instant. Peter Bennet, her hotshot newbie partner, has a way of doing that with a handful of words. The guy had more balls than sense, and if Deborah had anything to do with it, bullies like him wouldn't ever get a badge and a gun.

Unfortunately, it was not up to her. "What would you suggest, Bennet?" she snapped, glaring over at the chubby, greasy-haired blonde man.

He shrugged. "A bullet in the eye."

Deborah clamped down on a ballistic reply. It wouldn't help. Instead, she turned to the other man still in the yard, Davis Ferguson, Skylar's father. "Assuming she doesn't mind, I'd like to talk with Skylar. Given what seems to have happened - and the... fantastic situation surrounding it - I think she could use someone to talk to, and I don't think we should risk her talking with an actual therapist."

Davis grimaced, and opened his mouth to say something, but was predictably interrupted by Bennet. "What, don't wanna cause a fuss so you want to waste our time? Fuck that, shift's over in 30, and it's at least 45 minutes back to town. We're leaving."

This time, both Deborah and Davis glared at Bennet, but it was Davis who responded. "You can talk to Sky, and take the guest room, Dee- er, Deborah. Candace or myself can take you into town in the morning."

Deborah smiled at the man, someone she did regard as a friend - though she was infinitely grateful that he didn't use her nickname around Bennet. "I'll take you up on that. God knows, but Skylar could use all the support she can get, and given the situation..." she shrugged helplessly.

Davis nodded, and Deborah gave Bennet a withering glare. "You heard the plan. See you Monday." And with that, she turned and followed Davis into the Ferguson's lake house, only barely catching Bennet's muttered, "Bitch."

Deborah stopped by the guest room - which she was quite familiar with after several yearly vacations with the Fergusons - dropping off her gear and jacket before looking for Skylar. She found Candace and Davis fretting outside the girl's room.

"She didn't lock the door," Candace explained, "but she clearly didn't want anyone in there; kept insisting for me to leave her alone."

Deborah nodded, a grim frown tugging her lips downward. "You two go sit down somewhere, try to relax - she's back, and she's safe. I'll see if I can help her feel that way."

The two glanced at each other and nodded, then made their way into the house's living room, quietly talking to each other.

Deborah took a deep breath, trying to recall her limited knowledge of therapy and how to deal with sexual assault cases. She wasn't a therapist, but some social work college courses and some talks with friends who were therapists gave her hope that she could at least make things better for Skylar.

Giving a gentle knock, Deborah opened the door. "Skylar?" she softly called. "It's DeeDee. Do you wanna talk?"

"Sure." The glum reply startled Deborah , coming from the opposite side of the room from the bed that she had expected Skylar to be in. Turning, Deborah saw that the girl was sitting in the rather large windowsill of her room, gazing up at the tree-veiled sky, hugging her legs to her chest. Deborah sat on the other end of the windowsill, looking at Skylar for a moment before joining her in sky-watching. "The view was so much nicer from up there," Skylar murmured after several long moments.

Deborah turned back to Skylar, but didn't say anything. For her part, the girl continued to look at the sky. "It doesn't feel real, even though he left only a few minutes ago. The past, what, two days? They seem like a dream." Skylar's head dropped, her forehead laying against her knees. "And the thing is, I can't figure out if it was a good dream, or a nightmare."

Deborah opened her mouth several times, trying to figure out how to respond to that, and eventually settled on, "How do you mean?"

Skylar snorted. "I know. It's so fucked up, isn't it? I was abducted by a huge, terrifying mythical creature, held against my will, and raped, but he did this... he put this..." She took a deep, shuddering breath, hugging her legs tighter, buried her head a little deeper. "When he... did it, he bit me. Injected me with some sort of... he called 'mating venom' or something. And the second that shit hit me, everything was... hell, everything is more sensitive; my sight, my ears, my skin, I mean," she let out a nearly crazed laugh, "I can smell so much about you right now, DeeDee. And it... it... I think it, like, imprinted him on me, like with some baby animals and their parent. I feel... I don't even know what I feel about him."

A long sigh, then Skylar looked back up at the sky. "When I finally got him to stop, to talk... he's not a bad pers... he's not bad. Not evil. Just... he completely lacked empathy. But when I explained to him what it had been like, got him to see what he was doing... he taught me how to 'call to him with my heart,' and when he demonstrated... my god, the pain, the guilt, the anguish he felt for what he had done." Finally, Skylar turned to face Deborah, and the woman was shocked to see tears flowing down Skylar's face. "He wasn't exaggerating when he said he would've let us kill him as payback if he knew for certain that it wouldn't make his kind go extinct. I think he would've been okay if we locked him in a specially-made prison that would torture him for the rest of his life. He said he'd give up his wings if it could fix what he had done. And as much as I hate what he did, I felt his remorse, Deborah. He hates himself so much. And even though I told him it would be hard to forgive him, once he opened his heart to me like that... he's like a child - he's only nine for god's sake, whatever that means in dragon-years. But I don't think he's ever spoken to anyone else before, he was never socialized, never had to consider others. When I got him to see what it was like, what he'd done to me, it was like talking to a child, teaching them that stealing someone's toys is wrong. It's just so confusing!"

With a sob, Skylar collapsed against Deborah, crying in frustration. The woman froze for a moment, startled, but then gently held the crying girl, stroking the back of her head. She didn't speak - she didn't have the slightest idea of what to say - so the only sound was that of Skylar's soft crying.

After several minutes, the girl sniffed, her sobs stifled, and she slowly sat back, eyes red and downcast. "I... I'm going to go to sleep. Thanks. For... for listening."

Deborah smiled kindly. "Of course. You're like a niece, or a little sister to me, you know. Practically family."

Skylar gave a short laugh. "Ha. We hardly look it."

DeeDee had to snort at that. It was true; where the Fergusons - all three of them - were pale-skinned and tended towards blonde or ginger hair, Deborah was dark of both skin and hair, her amber eyes the only bright color anyone could see of her, unless one counted the shine that reflected off her pitch-black, shoulder-length hair that was perpetually pulled into a bun. She was several inches taller than Skylar, nearly six feet even, and much curvier than the ginger girl, despite her efforts to slim down in the gym nearly daily - her hips, butt, and tits just wouldn't shrink down, though the curves were thankfully not too egregious, and were compressed quite nicely under a sturdy bra and her uniform.

Deborah winked at the girl. "I'm adopted anyways, nobody would have to know it wasn't by your folks."

Skylar rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now shoo. I want to sleep."

Giggling, Deborah did so, calling a soft, "Good night," before she shut the door behind her. Outside the woman took a moment to let out a long breath. Her mind whirled as she tried to comprehend what Skylar had said. The girl's apparent willingness to forgive Amtheryn was... odd. Disturbing, really. The dragon had raped her, for god's sake, and while Deborah could understand the reasoning behind Skylar's arguments - thoughtless youthfulness was believable, though absurdly unusual in this case, given the size and verbal maturity of Amtheryn - she was concerned by just how willing Skylar seemed to be to forgive him. The talk of 'imprinting' and his 'mating venom' certainly didn't help.

Shaking her head, Deborah went back to the guest room, stopping by the living room where Davis and Candice were still talking with muted voices to let them know that Skylar seemed okay, given the circumstances, and was sleeping, but would probably need to figure things out for herself. Not exactly lies, she reassured herself as the three made their ways to their beds. The whole situation was just too crazy, DeeDee decided. Hopefully some sleep would help to make things clearer.

Despite her racing mind, DeeDee fell asleep within moments of lying down.

* * * * *

The ringing of a doorbell and rapid knocking woke everyone in the lake house early the next morning. Well, nearly everyone - Deborah heard Davis calling out to the visitor from the kitchen. Early riser that he was, he probably was making breakfast for everyone. The scent of pancakes that dragged Deborah the rest of the way to consciousness confirmed it.

Hopping out of bed, the woman stretched, then headed out towards the main room of the house - where the kitchen, living, and dining rooms were - hearing Davis and a woman's voice coming from that way. Turning the corner, she came up short.

"Nanase?" she blurted, interrupting Davis's hushed words as he made pancakes.

The new woman looked over at Deborah from where she leaned against the kitchen counter and grinned. "Ohayou, Dee!" the half-Japanese woman, Candace's half-sister, said brightly.

Deborah blinked at Nanase for a moment. "I thought you were in Japan?"

The petite woman chuckled quietly. "I was. But..." she paused, glancing at Davis, then back at Deborah. "I think I should wait until my sister and Niece are here." Another look towards Davis and the growing stack of pancakes. "And after we've all had breakfast," she added with a grin.

The sound of bare feet slapping on the floor caused the three to turn and watch as Candace emerged from the hallway, her eyes going wide. "Nanase? What are you doing here?"

After a quick repeat of her exchange with Deborah, Candace went to fetch Skylar, seeing that Davis was almost done with the pancakes. After a couple minutes, mother and daughter returned, Skylar smiling wanly at her aunt. "Hey, Nan," she murmured, sedately going to the woman and exchanging hugs. Deborah thought she caught a brief flash of some emotion cross Nanase's face during the hug, something dark and scary, but it passed too quickly for the policewoman to be sure.

As the hug ended, Davis announced that the pancakes were all ready, and plates, forks, and syrup were passed around. Breakfast went by quickly, though everyone eyed Nanase, curiosity burning within them, while the petite half-Japanese woman tucked into her meal like a starving woman. In the subdued atmosphere, the only words spoken were to ask for someone to pass the syrup or a napkin, and to quietly compliment Davis on the pancakes.

Afterwards, once the dishes had been rinsed and placed into the dishwasher, everyone retired to the living room; Davis and Candace sat together on the couch while Deborah and Nanase sat in chairs to one side, and Skylar curled up in a big, cushioned chair to the other side of the room. All eyes went to Nanase, who glanced around at the others before giving them a small smile. "Well, I suppose there's no point in beating around the bush: I know you all met a dragon, and that Skylar was... Awakened by it."