| One must always be sensitive to the well-being of their home country and must always be ready to come to its aid if necessary. -Dragon�s Teachings, pg. 24 Part 8 [I am quite grown up, thank you very much!] � Then quit acting like a baby!� [But . . . But it�s a head restraint. Where did you get it, anyway?] � Look, it just fits on your head. That�s it. And as for getting it, I made it.� [Well, aren�t you the handy little craftsman.] � Just put the thing on!� I sighed heavily and looked around. [Fine.] He slipped the rings over my smaller horns, made sure the leather didn�t rub at my ears, and buckled the nose piece under my jaw (the nose piece was all the way up in front of my eyes to leave room for my mouth to move). � There. Now is that so bad?� I tugged at the leather. [Hm. Not bad.] I dropped my front end onto the carpet and covered my head with my hands. [Oh, the indignity of it all! How cruel! If my kin were to see me now---] � They�d laugh their asses off,� he finished for me. With a deft hop, he was sitting just behind my crest, nestled comfortably between my wings. � Mush.� [You made this thing just so you could pretend you�d forced me into slavery and show me off like a trophy and pick up some girls!] � So?� [You�re incorrigible!] � I know, I know. But let me say this in defense of myself. I knew something like this would happen and I really made it for you. Your earlier mention was only a second thought.� I growled. [I am not a slave.] � No, you�re not a slave. But we�re among people who can�t tell a harmless dragon from one that�ll eat them alive. Please just go with it.� I sighed again and began walking down the hall. [Just a reminder, this is very degrading and I will only put up with this when necessary.] � Agreed.� We traveled through the Industrial District to a favorite hangout of Zidane�s and he led me inside. Most of the people stared at me, but since most of them were men, not much of a ruckus was raised and I was grudgingly allowed to stay. Zidane sat beside a red-clothed figure who was evidently a rat. � Hey, Freya. What�ve you been doing?� She looked over at him and humphed. � Well well well. Zidane Tribal.� We got back to the castle a bit later to let everyone else know we were going to stay in the city. However, there was an unwanted visitor in the Regent�s greeting hall. � I am in search of a dragon, Your Majesty, who has been nothing but a thief, like the boy she�s with.� � That�s not true!� Garnet snapped. � Tiovex, how dare you lie like that!� � Princess, you don�t understand the situation. Kitiane killed my father. She swears she�s never killed another dragon before, but she has. I don�t know why she feels she must lie, but she is.� � Tiovex . . .� � Princess, please. Kitiane is dangerous. You should steer clear of her or at least keep an eye on her. It is possible she doesn�t remember killing my father, but the truth is that she did. She was very young, so she probably has no clear recollection of it. I saw it with my own eyes.� Despite Zidane�s hissings for me to stay back, I stood and wandered into the room. Everyone turned to look at me and Tiovex snarled and sprang at me. I allowed him to rip scales off, too stunned by what he�d said to react. I had killed a dragon when I had just become a dragonling. He had tried to kill me, but I killed him first. Why was I only thinking of this now? Tiovex, noting my unwillingness to fight, backed off. [Aren�t you going to fight back?] I never really heard the question. [I . . . I . . . No!] I rose onto my rear legs and pivoted, swinging my head hard into the doorway, but taking absolutely no notice whatsoever. Tiovex quickly cast a spell. [You have one hour, Kitiane.] I left Lindblum as fast as I could, feeling unnaturally strange. I glanced over my shoulder. My tail was gone! My wings were slowly being eaten away, as if by tiny little bugs. My neck was shortening painfully. What was happening?! Before I could find out, I fell to the earth and hit my head. *~~* He wasn�t overly worried about Kitiane, but she was foremost in his thoughts. Everything he did reminded him of her in some way. Going to the Tantalus Theatre Troupe�s place to see them, even though she�d done nothing involving them except tell him about them. It was driving him crazy! When news of Burmecia came, he felt obligated to tag along with Freya, but worried about Kitiane finding them later. He could leave a note, but where could he leave it (or who could he leave it with), knowing for certain that she would eventually get it? He couldn�t eat much, so heavy was the guilt he didn�t understand. Then blissful darkness cleared his head and made him sleep. He woke angry, but that only added on to the mountain of other emotions he was a victim of. He headed out with Freya, slowly gathering his scattered thoughts from all corners of his mind. Vivi saw it first. A human body. The only thing that made it different was its furry, monkey-like tail. Curious, Zidane ran over and knelt by the naked figure. He brushed the black-purple hair out of the woman�s face, then gave her shoulder a gentle shake. � Hey. Hey, wake up.� She stirred and opened her eyes slowly, staring at individual rocks to focus her sight as though she�d hit her head. Zidane was, to say the least, quite shocked. This woman . . . her eyes . . . They were green. <--Part 7 Part 9--> |