A new companion

Kairios

As we walked up the hillside, we can hear them in talking. They mentioned moving on and selling a girl. Aurelia dropped her sword and drew her bow. Her shot landed in one of the men's eyes. Off to my side I can hear a whimper. Deciding to leave these men to Aurelia I move to where the sound came from.

There was a small girl tied up under a tree and covered in blood. She had black hair and silver eyes. They were as bright as the moon and they stared at me in fear. When she saw me move closer, she pulled herself into the tree as if to get away from me. I couldn't imagine what they had done to this poor girl.

"I won't hurt you, can I cut those ties off of you?" she didn't answer me in words. Her answer was to hold her arms away from her. I cut her free and helped her to stand, her eyes no leaving my face.

"Come with me and you'll be safe, my lady will have killed those men by now, where do you come from?"

She wouldn't answer me, she leaned into me to help her walk through the trees. I can hear a dragon's growl. Aurelia must have shifted. By the time we made it into a little clearing she was there with three bodies covered in blood surrounding her dragon form.

She caught my scent and looked my way. She slowly shifted back into her human form. She stood before us completely naked and staring at the girl. I had expected the girl to panic and run away but she didn't. She took a deep inhale of air, then she let go and stumbled into Aurelia's open and waiting arms. She fell into her and began to sob.

Aurelia looked at me with confusion all over her expression. I shrugged as an answer then I walked over to where one of the dead men head a travel cloak hanging on the tree. I used it to wrap around Aurelia. When I turned to leave, I heard them follow. It seemed like it took too long to walk back to where the horses were. While we walked the girl clung to Aurelia in silence.

I wanted to ask her about the fight but I decided to wait until the girl wasn't able to hear us. We got to the horses and then rode into the town ahead. Mistress Elnora arranged for us to stay with a trusted friend of hers. The house was very small in an equally small yard surrounded by trees.

Aurelia and the girl went to clean up in the stream while I tended to the horses. While I worked, I tried to organize the questions for both girls. From Aurelia I needed to know about the fight. Killing three men in your first fight, she must be devastated but i was proud of her abilities. I needed to help her become stronger so she won't have to shift to win a fight.

For the girl, it was all about who she was, where she came from and why she was to be sold by those thugs. The girls returned cleaned and dressed in borrowed cloths, then we had dinner with our host. The conversation was light and focused around the weather. The girl didn't eat anything and went straight to the bedroom. Before Aurelia got up to follow i stopped her and said,

"Aurelia come outside with me. I want to talk to you about what happened today."

"Alright let's go back to the stream."

We walked side-by-side, I wanted to grab her hand but she seemed to hold herself away from me. Was she angry with me? When we got to the river she sat on a fallen log. I stood by the water's edge and summoned my magic to make the water ripple and dance in the moonlight.

"What did you want to talk about? Are you going to explain why you left me to kill those men on my own?" her question startled me out of my trance.

"I knew you could handle them on your own and you did." It was the honest truth that I believed in her capabilities.

"You weren't there, you don't know anything about what I did." Her tone was hard.

"Tell me." I didn't understand what was happening.

"Kairios, what will talking about it do? I killed them, I felt powerful and I liked it. I liked it until I stabbed him through the chest with my tail and saw that I was a monster. Is that what you wanted to hear? Do you feel better now? Now that you know? Well know this as well. I will never kill in dragon form, ever again." as she was saying this, her voice steadily raised and she was standing yelling at me.

I didn't expect this, I thought she was angry that I left her to get the girl. She saw herself as a monster and it was my fault. I left her and she had to shift to survive. I didn't train her enough; in fact, we haven't been training since leaving on this endeavor.

"You're right, I shouldn't have left you to take care of them alone. We stopped training, if I had been a better teacher, I would have made sure you didn't have to shift to win. we will work harder and what I don't know I'll find a teacher who does know." I put my arms around her and she let me pull her into a hug. I held her there for a long time before she broke the silence.

"We need to talk about Saira."

"So that's the girl's name. What has she told you about herself?" My curiosity getting the better of me.

"Only her name and that she knows who I am. She has nowhere to go, so she's going to come with us until she is safe." the way she said it left no room to argue but I still didn't like this. What if she ruined our plans? How did she know who Aurelia was?

My only choice was to trust Aurelia until this girl Saira gave me a reason not to. We stayed by the river for a while longer. Holding her like this was the only thing out of life I truly wanted. My love for her had only grown deeper and stronger. I would give anything to keep her safe and from seeing herself as a monster.

She looked up and into my eyes when I could feel the depth of her love for me as well. our lips met in a long deep passionate kiss. After a while we walked back holding hands and with smiles on our faces.