At the Altar of Dragons

Session 31 | Chapter 4

The mansion is already bustling with activity, though at the late morning hour, that isn’t surprising. With the number of people in the halls, it appears as though everyone that attended the gala last night stayed in the guest wing. The ceilings are tall, soaring nearly twenty feet high, with intricate trimwork and massive crystalline chandeliers hang at regular intervals.

We reach the end of the corridor and convene with the grand foyer. People are coming out of the guest wing and from the dining corridor, all mingling here before exiting through the massive main doors. We weave through the small groups of people talking in the foyer and into the large dining hall. Numerous round tables are spaced throughout the room, which is as grand as the rest of the mansion. Sconces and trimwork adorn the walls with tall windows along the exterior wall allowing the morning light to bring a delicate glow to the space.

Scanning the space, I spot Raesh at a table by himself with a full plate of food in front of him. He’s going in for a bite as we walk up and I ask, surprised, “Did you just get here?”

The fork pauses before making it to his mouth as he unconvincingly replies, “Yes…”

I cock an eyebrow and mutter, “Hmm, bullshit.”

“You can’t prove it though,” he jeers. He leans over his plate and starts picking away at the food in front of him.

Leaning to Layna, I whisper, “He didn’t just get here.”

She shrugs her shoulders and reasons, “Guess he’s just hungry.”

Chuckling to myself slightly, I smile and lean against the back of one of the empty chairs beside Raesh. “How was the rest of your evening?”

Raesh finishes chewing, covering his mouth as he repeats my question, “How was my evening?”

“Yeah we didn’t see much of you at the party,” I elaborate.

“Well I had some magical needs to take care of,” he shares, taking a bite of bacon after.

I try to stop myself from laughing as I comment, “That sounds dirty.”

“It was not dirty,” Raesh exclaims quietly to not draw attention from the neighboring tables, “I had to go back and save everybody from an infinite time loop.” When my expression clearly shows confusion, he adds, “I just had to send my previous self a message.”

My eyes narrow with confusion. “That sounds like a very ‘you’ thing. Did you get the message?”

Raesh eyes me skeptically and states like I’ve missed an obvious point, “I already got the message…that’s why I needed to send it back.” He pauses, holding my gaze before dramatically raising his hands and saying, “Tiiiiiiime.” My expression doesn’t change and he adds, “I think it might be best if you just don’t think about it. I can see the smoke–” he points to my ears and laughs to himself, “I thought only the turtle did that.”

“Did what?” I exclaim.

“Smoke,” he jokes, leaning back in his chair, tipping back on only two legs.

Layna numbly adds, “I’ve created smoke.”

Raesh allows the chair to fall forward before taking another bite of his breakfast, “How was your night? How was the party? Did you enjoy it? Did you get lit?”

“Sure…” I sigh, not wanting to think about the night before. Raesh doesn’t know what I did after leaving the party. I intend to savor this blissfully unaware time for as long as possible .

“Sure?” he asks, “Do you not remember?”

I groan and lean to rest my forearms on the top of the chair back, “No–no I remember everything.”

Raesh laughs boisterously before suddenly stopping with a fake cough. “Maybe today will be better. You know?” He leans over and nudges my shoulder playfully.

On the other side of me, Layna sighs, “It’s going to be a great day.”

Taking a breath, I hesitantly ask, “Has everybody else come down yet?”

“I spent the morning with some lovely people from a brothel,” Raesh shares casually, “But I haven’t seen the rest of our group.”

Quietly, I mumble, “I wasn’t asking about a brothel.”

“Well you asked if people came down. I didn’t know,” he protests.

“You know the people I’m talking about, Raesh.”

He shoots me an annoyed look, “I said there were people down here, but I haven't seen anybody from our group.” He pauses before remembering something else, “Oh! They did say they use priests for cleansing!”

At this, my mood improves and my eyebrows raise, intrigued. “Are we starting the business back up?” Our time during the caravan was the start of Raesh’s and my friendship, becoming close through an intricate ploy to uncover members of the Cult of Tiamat.

“I offered,” he replies, “But she kind of blew me off.”

“I can work on her,” I blurt, unsure truly how I would manage that, but the idea of mending Raesh’s and my friendship through this makes me excited.

Layna chimes in, “They usually have a few dedicated ones already.”

“I got invited though,” Raesh says excitedly, pulling out a small business card from his pocket. He holds it out to show me. On one side there’s a holographic image of a woman that shifts from clothed to unclothed when you angle it back and forth. On the opposite side, there’s a single arrow that points in a steady direction.

“Oh…” I muse, “What’s the arrow for?”

“Is that a card?” Layna asks, leaning in front of me to see closer.

Raesh smiles, “That’s the direction to the brothel. It’s like a compass.”

“Well that’s a new thing,” Layna says, a little irked.

“She said she would give me her best girl,” Raesh continues, sitting straighter in his chair and bobbing his head.

I scoff, “And you believed her?”

He stops immediately and retorts, “Well no. I just said that’s what she told me.”

Without warning, Layna turns and heads towards the breakfast line. I shake my head at Raesh, amused by his willingness to trust that everyone's intentions are pure. “I’m going to get my food,” I state, turning to follow Layna.

As soon as I lift my head to pick my way through the crowd, I see Lendys walking towards me with two plates of food. He’s no longer in the dragon form he was in when we walked into the dining hall. My eyes lift from the plates of food up to see Lendys’ older human form–a neatly kept white beard, but the same piercing, sky blue eyes, and tousled platinum hair.

“Oh–” I mutter, lost for words at seeing him in this form around others.

You got me breakfast, I ask, quiet despite knowing our conversation is private, Thank you. You didn’t have to do that you know?

Why not? I can’t continue to serve you?

I-I, I stammer, I’ve never thought of you as serving me…

Then what did I do this morning? A light smirk plays on his lips.

Raesh’s voice comes from behind me, his tone sardonic, “What happened to the lederhosen, bud?”

Lendys smiles at me briefly before hearing Raesh’s words. At this, he looks around and explains, “I-I don’t think it’s appropriate for the setting.” He sets my plate down in front of the chair next to Raesh and gestures to it.

I shake my head, trying to hide the smile forming on my face. Lendys! Not at the breakfast table! I playfully protest, Besides, that wasn’t serving me. Serving makes it sound like I made you do that.

Why not? They can’t hear us. The cockiness in his voice is electric. No, Maire, that would make me a slave, and I was completely willing.

Then taking his own plate, he moves around to the opposite side of the table to take one of the free chairs there. My chest tightens slightly at him not being directly next to me, but I understand our newly restored closeness can’t be made obvious.

I scoff, Because they’re going to notice when I can’t stop smiling. Anyways, in that case, keep up the good work. I wink at him discreetly and take my seat.

Raesh comments back, “Never stopped you before.”

“I was asked not to use it,” Lendys replies, tone even and without revealing emotions.

Trying not to draw too much attention to myself, I pick at the food Lendys got me. My plate is full of all my favorites – fried eggs, bacon, a couple sausages, a scone and a waffle. Shaking my head in disbelief, I cut into the waffle and savor the rich, sugary flavor.

But I like it when you smile.

His words startle me, and my fork falls to the plate with a clink. I compose myself and hide another smile, keeping my eyes down to my plate.

You keep this up and you’re going to ruin this whole ‘loner, emotions are for the weak’ image I’ve got going on.

Well it’s not a good look for you anyway since you can’t be alone when you have me.

“Fair enough,” he replies, but adds cooly, “Still never stopped you before.”

Lendys looks between me and Raesh, before he states impassively,“Trying to build a bridge here.”

My gaze darts up to his, mouth hanging open in an exasperated smile, Gods, I want to kiss you so bad right now. See this is why I said not at the breakfast table!

He smirks and returns to eating his food casually, I apologize, I didn’t realize this amount of teasing would spark a fire in you. I guess I’ll have to stop. His voice pauses briefly before he coyly adds, For now.

Raesh leans over to me and whispers, not quietly, “You still have the leash though right? You might have to use it later.”

I nearly choke on my food as Lendys is equally exasperated. I look between him and Raesh and reinforce, “We are working on mending fences. That doesn’t involve leashes.”

Raesh shrugs, “Okay, fair enough.”

“Listen, we’re stuck together, so we kind of have to figure this shit out,” I explain further, my pulse racing with each near lie that exits my mouth. Remembering my manners, I say outwardly, “So thank you for the food.”

Lendys nods politely back and continues eating his breakfast. At this moment, Layna returns with a sparse plate consisting of a piece of toast, an apple, and a couple pieces of bacon. She stops at the seat between Lendys and I, but before she sits, she looks over at him, narrowing her eyes. “You were younger last night,” she comments plainly and takes her seat.

“What?” My eyes flick up to him and over to Layna.

Lendys shrugs, “Drunk–I don’t know.”

She said younger? Like the kid, or…?

No, he replies, I carried you in my true form–the one you became very familiar with this morning. I thought she was out, but I guess not.

I smirk, Really? Even after our other conversation last night? Why?

“Okay,” I reply skeptically.

Lendys purses his lips and directs his attention to Raesh, “So, what’s this card again?”

Raesh looks up from his plate, humming in response.

It’s a dumb reason really. In case you woke up, you would at least see something appealing.

You don’t think you’re appealing to me now in this form?

“I only caught the last bit of your conversation,” Lendys elaborates, gesturing towards Raesh.

“Oh!” Raesh exclaims, “It was a business card from a madam.” He pulls it out from his pocket once more and hands it across the table for Lendys to look at.

I think you would jump me now if you had the chance, but take it as a moment of vanity.

You’re cute when you’re trying to show off, I tease.

Lendys’ eyes go wide as he flicks the card back and forth to see the image revealed. “Oh…” he blurts.

Raesh cocks an eyebrow and asks, “For you?”

“No–I don’t really need that,” Lendys replies, keeping his voice level and without so much as glancing in my direction. A light smile comes to my face and I take a bite of my bacon.

“Well you sounded interested,” Raesh shrugs.

“No, I was curious about the compass part of it.”

Layna’s been silent beside me while the other two have been talking, but at this she interjects, “It just leads you directly to the brothel. Nothing special.”

Lendys smirks a little and comments, “It’s pretty good advertising.”

Raesh swallows another bite before speaking, “I mean she asked if we were going to the Southern Forest, and I said we probably were. She said ‘Hey that’s where my place is located.’ I said ‘Oh that’s cool–you should give me a card.’”

The mention of the Southern Forest grabs my attention and I cut off Raesh’s rambling story. “Oh we need to talk,” I tell Raesh, “The temple to Bahamut there? They don’t worship him.”

Raesh makes a squeaky noise as he takes another bite.

“They’re like me,” I clarify.

“Oh,” he says out of the corner of his mouth as he chews.

I nod knowingly. “We need to check it out.”

“And burn it down for blasphemy,” Raesh adds once he swallows the bite.

I can’t deny the thought hasn’t crossed my mind as well since learning this information. The fact that there’s multiple of these false temples, manipulating and controlling their congregation, makes my skin crawl.

“Bahamut told me about it last night in my vision,” I elaborate.

“Got it,” he nods. “Lovely.”

“But we need to recon first,” I quickly add, “We need to find more information about their practices–for me and Bahamut.”

Raesh nods and our table falls into a comfortable silence as we all focus on eating our food rather than small talk. After around ten minutes or so, Zeref enters the dining hall, notes our table, and proceeds to go get his food. Similarly, Alba comes in a moment later and follows suit.

The two come join us at the table, Zeref holding a single plate while Alba is loaded with six full plates stacked along her arms. She immediately sits down at the table and digs into her food without speaking to the group.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Zeref takes the seat on the opposite side of Raesh and leans around the gnome to say, “Maire?”

“Hi!” I brighten, seeing Zeref this morning.

“At some point, I need your and Lendys’ help,” he states.

I raise an eyebrow and ask, “For?”“I need to learn how to ride Blue,” he states innocently, but I nearly choke on my food at his words. “I figured that’s probably something you have experience with.”

Gods, I almost choked on my scone when he asked that.

I did too, Lendys replies, At least he didn’t ask you how hard it is to ride me. He smirks a little, but hides it well by drinking his tea.

I cough, trying to recover and reply, “Yeah, we can help with that.”

Ah true. I can only imagine his face–‘Zeref, it really helps if you hold onto the headboard for stability. Might I recommend using a wall?’ I fight hard to keep my laughter hidden.

That didn’t help you when I bucked my hips the first time. You just collapsed right there on top of me. He chuckles lightly, but then his tone is more tender. I didn’t ask earlier because we were interrupted, but are you okay? I didn’t notice any hitches in your gait on the way here.

“I could probably also ask Perona,” he remarks, “She has experience with riding horses I think, right?”

At the mention of Perona, my pulse races and I scramble to keep Zeref from asking her. Selfishly, I want our friendship to maintain without my direct connection to Perona. But the party doesn’t know yet, so I do what I can before that information is confessed. “Drakes are different,” I protest.

Yeah, that’s going to take a minute to get used to. I’m going to be sore, trust me, but it’ll take more than that to make me limp.

It seems that I’ll have to try harder tonight, Rasvim.

He shrugs nonchalantly, “I figured, but it’s the same concept right?”

I shake my head, “There’s a whole different situation there. Don’t worry–yes I can help you with that. When do you want to start?”

“Whenever possible?”

“I think we’re going to the Southern Forest today. Do you want to ride him there?” I ask.

“Maybe,” he mulls, “It might be hard though since he pulls the carriage.”

“You can ride him while he’s pulling the carriage,” I remark.

Zeref scrunches his face, skeptically, “I feel like that’s not the same.”

I huff, setting my fork down and turning to face him. “That’s how you get a feel for it though! You can do that and then I would also have the reins–”

“Must we take the carriage?” Alba cuts in.

Zeref cuts a look at Alba and says, “There’s six of us?”

“But there’s plates?” I add, “How does that work?”

Lendys groans on the other side of the table and interjects, “I would just think we’d walk through a teleporter like we did going to the market…”

Zeref pauses and says, “Maybe we should ask Perona.”

Her name and absence causes my heart to race. I fight to keep Zeref from leaving, from going to find her and learning of what I did last night, “You could still practice. Was Blue going to come with us?”

He shrugs, “I can summon him wherever I go now, so yes?”

A wicked grin comes to my face and I drop my voice to a whisper, “Summon him now.”

Zeref looks scandalized and gasps, “We are in the middle of the dining hall! No! I respect Perona and her family too much for that!”

My chest tightens, but Lendys comments before my anxiety can take over, “Also that would kind of defeat the purpose of why I’m in this form and not the dragon…”

“Plus I feel like I’m getting enough attention with a snake on my shoulder,” Zeref observes. He angles his right shoulder around to display a small mechanical, bronze snake.

An excited squeal escapes me, “That’s so cool! What’s his name?”

“I haven’t named it yet,” Zeref replies.

I start to hold my hand out to the small creature and ask, “Is it friendly?”

He shrugs and says, “If I want it to be.”

“Can I boop it?”

Zeref looks at the little mechanical serpent and he slithers along his arm, coming to boop my awaiting finger. The contraptions that Zeref has created over the course of our travels have always amazed me–the delicate way in which he constructs each one is admirable. This little creature is no exception.

Layna grunts beside me and out of no where adds, “Scaly Fucker.”

I can’t help myself but laugh at Layna’s consistent naming conventions for our party’s companions. She looks to have only eaten a little of her breakfast so far, a couple of bites taken out of the toast.

“Does anyone know where Perona is?” Zeref asks, looking around the room.

Layna stabs at her food, ending up with an apple on the end of her fork. On the other side of Zeref, Alba takes a break between shoveling bites into her mouth to inform us, “She and Crimm were outside sparring when I woke up.”

Zeref groans, “Dang! I just gave him his hammers. I must’ve just missed her.”

Alba shovels another mouthful in and speaks without care, “He was making good use of them too. They both were actually. They seemed like they needed that fight.”

My chest tightens and pressure builds, the screams beginning to echo throughout my mind. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. What was I thinking? “That bodes well,” I mutter under my breath, taking a shaky sip of my tea.

The feeling of a warm forest enters my mind followed by Lendys’ steady voice, Maire, look at me. My eyes flick up to see him holding my gaze intently. I’m here, and I’ll always be by your side. I will support you through this, so don’t worry. You made the right choice.

I chance a brief nod, still holding his gaze, comforted by his presence.

From across the table, Lendys outwardly adds, “Nothing like beating something after you just got your heart torn out.” I choke on the hot liquid, quickly covering my mouth with my napkin as I cough repeatedly.

Alba adds in an inappropriately cheerful tone, “Perona was in winter! But also, not completely winter? Like angry winter.”

“That sounds great…” I croak.

“Maire,” Zeref looks towards me, “What did you do?”

I sit up straight and shoot a skeptical look at him, “Who said I–” When his look shifts to a disapproving expression, I change gears, “Okay, I did do something.”

“She broke up with her,” Lendys clarifies.

My gaze cuts to him and fire shoots through my veins, “Are you just going to speak for me now?”

At least let me try, okay? I know I screwed up this whole situation.

Outwardly, Lendys’ face is an emotionless mask as he replies, “Yeah.”

He speaks softly, Fine, but if you begin to falter again, I will step in. A smile plays at the corner of his lips as he adds more firmly. Have confidence. I didn’t choose you because of your decision making. I chose you because of your conviction. You’re intoxicating when it shows.

Everything halts in my brain and I can barely process what Lendys just said to me. I blink in disbelief, managing to mutter, Thank you for–for everything.

Zeref quirks his face into a shape resembling an eyebrow raise and asks, “Is there at least a good reason why?”

At this moment, Layna’s voice enters my mind. These longing, deep stares into your drake’s eyes are cute and all, but they’re probably not helping the situation.

I cover my mouth with a napkin, hiding my lips moving as I reply, I-I have no idea what you’re talking about. No longing, deep stares here.

I cough, trying to hide my surprise at Layna’s message. Looking down at my plate so as not to meet his eyes, I reply, “Yes.”

He huffs, “Am I going to think it’s a good reason?”

“I don’t want to get into it,” I mumble, pushing a piece of egg around on my plate with my fork.

Across the table, movement catches my eye and I see Lendys shaking his head no to Zeref.

“Fuck you!” I yell, exasperated.

What the fuck! It was too a good reason!

Lendys’ eyes slip to me briefly as he replies, I know it was, but I have to keep up the appearance of our normal or they’ll know something is up. Unless you would like to tell them that we fucked this morning and are now together.

Alba pauses between bites to ask, “What’s the reason, Lendys?”

Beside me, Raesh begins, “I think–”

Shit, by the way, Layna knows.

Told you she could smell it.

He’s cut off though as Alba turns and looks at me squarely and continues, “Well really it should come from her.”

Her. Not you. They’re already turning against me and they barely just found out about it. But it’s Perona. How could she have done anything wrong? My mind reels, replaying every moment in my head where she wanted me to hide who I am, where she diminished my feelings, where she just didn’t see me for me. That’s not a crime though. She just wasn’t the right person for me. My eyes flick up to Lendys as he takes a long sip of his tea.

Apparently, I’ve been making looooonging faces at you. I shake my head and turn back to Alba trying to figure out what to say.

Well you have, but it’s cute so I don’t mind.

Raesh clears his throat and finishes his interrupted statement, “I think that is an accurate statement, but y’all should leave her alone.”

I meet his eyes and sincerely reply, “Thank you, Raesh…”

“I disagree,” Alba retorts, “Because if this is going to cause a rift between the group…”

“It’s not going to cause a rift!” I quickly assure her.

“Are we sure? Because apparently she’s in an angry mood,” Zeref observes.

Raesh calmly adds, “I think that things that are personal are under no obligation to share with the group as long as it doesn’t affect things.”

“Well, from what I saw this morning, it’s going to affect the party,” Alba states matter of factly, shooting me a disapproving glare.

“She’ll get over it,” Layna groans, dropping her apple, now frozen solid.

“Listen,” I start, “She didn’t even give me a chance to explain before she stormed away!”

Zeref interjects, “I’m trying to give you a chance to explain, but you don’t want to!”

Alba starts to giggle and my gaze darts between the two of them as I frustratedly try to formulate my thoughts. Both of them are staring back at me, eyes wide and mouths slowly dropping into frowns.

“I needed to make a decision about my priorities–in order to do what I needed to do moving forward,” I fumble over my words, dancing around anything that might be too harsh about Perona.

“Alright,” Alba prods, clearly needing more from me.

“And I chose what was best for me,” I finish.

Alba’s face drops into a judgmental scowl, “And that was? Not her.”

“You could put it that way,” I mutter.

Zeref shrugs and comments nonchalantly, “I mean I’m not good at the whole relationship thing. I was just wondering.” With that, he stands from his seat and walks out of the room without another word.

I stare agape at him as he walks away, the whiplash of this interaction leaving me stunned. Layna slams the frozen apple down on the table and stands, announcing, “I’m going to get another one.” As she walks away, my gaze darts around the table, back to Zeref’s receding form and Layna walking back to the breakfast line.

“To be fair to you, Maire,” Alba muses, “You did not have to share right now. If you do wish to talk about it in more detail, I promise it will go no further.”

My head spins, the screams building in the recesses of my mind as blackness begins to seep into the edges of my vision. Lies, nothing but lies from the minotaur, Huntress. She reeks of judgement and anger. She will never see your side, the Priest coos in my ear, a light wind bringing gooseflesh to my neck.

I sit there in silence, trying to formulate my thoughts long enough that Layna comes back with another apple and takes her seat beside me again. My mind is an endless loop of all the ways they could twist my decision. Finally, I shake my head and mutter, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Standing and spinning on my heel, I mentally tell Lendys, Fuck this–I’m done with this shit.

I don’t wait for any of them to reply–my focus is entirely on the exit, on getting out of this packed room, filled with all of Perona’s guests, in Perona’s house, in Perona’s dimension. My fists clench and unclench, trying to work out some of the tension building in my muscles.

Godsdammit! Wait! Lendys calls to me, but I keep walking.

I don’t stop until I’ve exited the room and am now in the giant hall. To my left, towards the main entry foyer of the mansion, it’s packed, throngs of people are coming and going through the bright, loud space. But turning right, the hall is quieter as this part of the corridor leads more towards the staff functions related to the dining area. I stalk halfway down the hall before slumping against the wall, kicking my feet out dejectedly in front of me.

Leaning my head back against the wall, I close my eyes and focus on slowly breathing, calming the tightness in my chest. A moment later, someone comes and sits beside me. The sound of something solid hitting the opposite wall of the corridor grabs my attention and I peek my eyes open to see purple hair in my periphery.

“I feel like shit,” I tell Layna.

She groans, “Yeah, it’s going to be awkward for a while.”

I scoff, “I just hate it, because I feel so guilty.”

Layna shrugs her shoulders and muses, “You needed someone and she was there. It didn’t turn out to be right. That happens–that’s life.”

But it’s not life–at least not the way my life was supposed to be. I was prepared to avoid situations like this for this very reason. “Yeah, but I never should’ve let it get to this point,” I sigh, “The whole point of how I was trained…you don’t engage and now–Tiamat training or whatever is beside the point. It’s the way my brain works and–” I trail off, looking for more explanation as to why this didn’t work that doesn’t involve hurting Perona further. But I have to admit, the words feel false as they leave my mouth. I shake my head, “It’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think the mistake was engaging. I think it wasn’t the right time,” Layna consoles, “I mean so much happened after that.”

It was the right time, just not the right person, Lendys comments, walking up in his drake form.

Immediately, I feel lighter seeing him coming to sit beside me. I laugh, scoffing a little, Yeah, you could’ve saved us a lot of drama by telling me you weren’t just a spirit.

“Yeah–it’s been a hell of a week,” I groan, rubbing my temples. Turning my head to the side to look at Layna directly, I ask, “So it was that obvious?”

She smirks and casts the spell message discreetly, Are you talking about the sex that obviously happened or the stares? I don’t think anyone else noticed, because I was looking for it to confirm suspicions.

I roll my eyes and reply, It was the smell wasn’t it? I sigh audibly before adding, Should’ve opened the damn window. Yeah there are some new developments.

She recasts the cantrip and mentally comments, The smell of a good fucking first thing in the morning is the best, innit? She chuckles and throws the apple across the hall again. I can see that. I’m in no position to judge, trust me. Your secret is safe with me.

I couldn’t just come out and say, ‘Hey, I’m not your draconic spirit. I’m your soul bonded partner, who fell in love with you.’ He pauses and rolls his eyes. That would’ve gone swimmingly.

You-you, A giant smile spreads across my face, It might’ve gone better than you give yourself credit. You were always my home, Lendys. I think I loved you long before this morning.

She looks at Lendys and holds the apple up after catching it again, “Do you want the frozen apple?”

Mentally, I reply back to Layna, Thank you, Layna. I feel like I have to clarify that Lendys wasn’t the reason I ended things with Perona.

He shrugs and takes it in his mouth, perching it at the top of his teeth. A bright light shines, scorching the fruit before he chomps it down in a single gulp. He meets my shocked face, from his telepathic declaration and the brazen display for no apparent reason, and comments, “You act like you haven’t seen me use anything before.”

Maire, I’ve been around long before I appeared to you as Goose. I could never describe the warmth you gave me, but I think it’s the same feeling–home.

A smile plays on my lips as I mutter, “Not like this.”

Once again, Layna enters my mind, I was sort of wondering, but honestly, I could already see that going south with Perona. You also just don’t seem like the type to cheat.

An appreciative smile forms on my face and I reply, Thanks, I’m not sure I’m ready to explain everything to the judgement bunch still at breakfast, but maybe you. Later of course.

Understandable, she nods, Whenever you’re ready.

Breaking the silence outside of our minds, Lendys blurts, “So we’re going to meet Markus. Who apparently you’re going to want to fuck.”

I groan loudly, covering my face with my hands.

You can’t possibly still be jealous after all this! I laugh internally.

I’m sorry, but you’re mine! I don’t need more problems popping up.

The term hits me, falling over me in a warm wave rather than causing my muscles to tighten like when Perona said the word.

“When you see him, you’ll understand,” Layna nudges me cheekily.

Gods, that sounds so different coming from you…

I’m sorry if that was a bit too much, he says more reserved, I guess I need to work on my boundaries.

No, no! It’s okay–just surprised me. I laugh a little, Just don’t introduce me to anyone with ‘mine’ in place of my name.

Almost as if the subject matter summoned her, Alba comes walking down the corridor at this point. She stops before us and Lendys looks up at the minotaur. “You’re going to want to fuck him too.”

Layna mumbles, eyes glazed over like she’s lost in a memory, “You will. Everyone will.”

I understand, he sighs, I wouldn’t do that. It’s really that simple huh?

Why wouldn’t it be that simple? He cocks his head, You’re not my possession. Just the source of my longing.

I swear to every god if I’m still asleep upstairs, this is the cruelest dream.

Lendys smiles, chancing a glance over at me, You’re very much awake. And this is a dream, but it’s a dream that came true for me.

“But you said he doesn’t?” I ask, happy the subject is off of me and the breakup.

“No, I tried,” Layna says, shaking her head, little bits of frost flecking off of her hair at the movement, “If he’s training you, he doesn’t. At least that’s how he was when I knew him.”

“He’s not training you now,” I observe, nudging Layna lightly with my shoulder.

Without acknowledging me, she looks up at Alba and declares, “You could go for it.”

Alba cocks an eyebrow, pondering the idea, before shaking her head, “He wouldn’t survive. The orc lady barely survived. What was her name again?”

“Orc lady? Did you have fun last night?” I perk up, flashing Alba a cheeky smile. My edges settle a little–it sounds like everyone had eventful evenings in one capacity or another. So much has happened over the course of our travels–surely one night can’t irreversibly change everything for our party. My reasoning that I shared with Alba and Zeref is true–I did need to choose what was best for myself. Whether it was Perona distracting me or not, my focus had begun drifting from my mission. Everything seemed to fall apart when that happened.

My gaze drifts over to Lendys, observing the subtle way the light glints off of his platinum scales, bouncing onto the walls and bathing the space in an iridescent glow. But now I know the truth about him, about my conclave, about me… Bahamut was wrong; it wouldn’t be better to still be in the mountains ignorant to my circumstances. No matter how we got here, I’m thankful Lendys told me the truth when no one else would.

I tune back into the conversation of Alba’s escapades briefly enough to comment at an appropriate time, “Wow.”

“And she basically crawled out,” Alba boasted.

Beside me, Layna dryly comments, “It sounded a bit like dying cats going at each other.”

My eyebrows furrow as I ask, “Are you sure you did it right?”

“The books just kept falling,” Layna numbly states, lost in the memory.

Alba smiles broadly, “We did it right, left, up, down.”

“I’m glad I have a hard canopy or I’d be dead right now,” Layna mumbles.

“Inside, outside, on the window sill,” Alba continues, unphased by Layna’s contributions.

Layna tuts, “I think at one point I heard an exclamation that she didn’t know that could go there, and I don’t quite know what that means.”

Proud of herself, Alba straightens up and puts her hands on her hips, “Anything can go anywhere. I’m a paladin of two things: the moon and sex.”

“Both admirable causes,” I mutter, my eyes drifting to Lendys again. His draconic mouth quirks into a wry grin and my heart flutters lightly. Movement catches my attention down the hall as a tall winter Eladrin walks into the foyer. Perona.