Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

She came to as dead creatures come to, held within the claws of something vast and terrible, racing through the void. Like a mouse caught in a hawk’s talons, the starry night a blur, dark fields and rivers below her as small as illustrations on maps her Mother had forced her to memorize. 

Rangi was going to die. She knew it, and the realization was colder than she would expect. It had sunk in her when she was… 

Was she attacked? There were enormous claws gripping around her torso. They held her securely, the sheer power beneath them obvious in every massive muscle fiber. She knew that if it were so inclined, the monster could simply close its grip and she would be no more. In the darkness Rangi could see details of it. Scales, talons, not much else. She put her hands to the limb, unsure whether to try and free herself - and fall to her death? - hold on, or scream. Would she even be heard over the terrible shrieking of the wind, and the great billowing beat of… 

Wings. Great leathery ones, pounding a beat halfway between frantic and sure. They appeared in her peripheral vision as enormous shadows shaking the wind; she kept her eyes open taking in as much as she could without squirming too terribly much. What if the beast that held her thought she was already dead? What if it felt her squirming, and decided to crush and chomp her to bits early?

Shamefully, panic seized her. It was one thing to be face to face with your enemy, sword in hand, prepared to fight for your life, your charge, your honor. It was another thing entirely to be something’s prey, at its mercy as you both hurdled through the sky. There was no escape, no quarter, as only one fate awaited someone in her position. Beneath them was countryside, no sign of the kingdom or civilization. 

Another great flap of wing, a deep rattling intake of breath. 

By all the gods. It has to be a dragon. They weren’t supposed to exist anymore, and here one was! The realization tipped the scales in Rangi’s mind. Her hair was close to coming loose, threatening to in the great wind that was picking up, and gripped the talon holding her. The hand of it was large enough to encircle her entire torso, with her lower body dangling underneath - don’t think about that - use your core, pull up your knees, and try to pull free, using the anchor of the dragon’s claws to pull herself up. Rangi was grateful for her armor, she likely would have been cut to bits by now with how sharp those claws looked. They shone in the light of the dying moon and stars, and she wasn’t paying attention to any color. 

Dragons weren’t meant to exist. 

And yet one had her in its talons, clutched close like a hawk’s prey. 

Well, do something, a voice inside Rangi screamed. What was left of her sense, probably.

So it was that she began to pull herself free, hoping to at the very least… 

She made a rather undignified noise as something else came toward her. Another massive talon. Five fingers and eerily like a human’s, curved claws cupped and in front of her, as though about to grab the head off of her neck. Rangi’s blade was pinned to her side, the scabbard squeezed to her thigh and the dragon’s other hand around her, getting it out would be hard. Damn it, her backup was pinned near her spine - 

Claws never pierced her flesh. Before her eyes she saw the talon - the paw - what is that on a dragon? - come to a stop in front of her. Shielding her from the wind, as though she were a candle held by a servant descending the stairs, and the wind about to snuff her out. Mercifully her hair stopped smacking her in the face and threatening to come fully loose.

Rangi had made no headway in her escape attempt. The act absolutely puzzled her, and she would be lying if the act didn’t seem… concerned. She looked up, barely able to see the outline of the dragon. Held just underneath its chest, what she saw silhouetted against the dark sky and moon was a graceful neck arched high, a curved rack of horns. Eyes that shone. 

The eye she could see blinked, and flicked down to look at her. Slit like a reptile’s, shining and inhuman and the deepest green she’d ever seen - 

Familiar eyes. Intelligent, maybe. Where the whites would be in a human’s gaze was a haunting and piercing yellow, framing the green in sharp contrast.

Instead of lingering on the pang in her stomach, Rangi found her voice. Something about the care the dragon took for her wellbeing rattled her more than she’d like to admit. 

“Do it already,” she challenged. She intended it to be a snarl of command, a blade of action, but with the claws wrapped around her torso and the wind reaping her words like too long grass, it sounded more desperate than intended, closer to her young twenty years or so, than the great commanders of old. Her Mother would be disappointed. The eye continued to stare at her, piercing, predatory. Within it held multitudes, and with the sensitivity of the world gained from the realization you were going to die very, very soon, Rangi saw how they shone, how they sparkled in nearly every green she could name. It’d be beautiful, if this thing wasn’t about to bite her in two and swallow the pieces.

Where had she seen eyes like that before? It burned in her memory, like searching through discarded burned parchment in coals. No details, only sensations. Rangi’s challenge fell on deaf ears, assuming the dragon could even understand her. Perhaps it could. The bony ridges around its eye raised slightly like an eyebrow, and it twitched to focus down more on her. Eye to eye. 

She did not look away from it. She would stare death in the face, for as long as there was air in her lungs. “Kill me, drop me, just do it!” The second attempt sounded better. Belatedly, she realized that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to in this case, literally poke the dragon. It blinked again at her. “What are you so scared of?” She was asking the dragon, but part of her was also asking herself. As a last ditch effort to show her righteous anger, her will to fight, Rangi lifted one of her gauntleted fists, and brought it down on the powerful finger near her limbs.

The dragon’s eye moved again, blinking slowly. Like how a cat would. It didn’t respond. There was something cold and aloof about the lack of reaction, as though it were more than capable of stopping  her… if it cared to, and simply let its quarry squirm within its grasp. It didn’t drop her, didn’t crush her, didn’t toss the hand holding her up to its maw to bite down on her. The blow had not affected it. This was more alarming than she would like to admit, at least disdain would’ve been something. It simply held her there, its grip more gentle this time. The other hand continued to brace her from the wind, its wings maintaining their deep beat as it flew. So close to its chest, Rangi could hear the great intake of breath in its lungs. The creak of scaly skin, the rustles of a life so enormous. She got the impression that the dragon was flying fast, and flying hard.

Dragons were meant to be extinct, or so rare as to never be heard from. They were terrifying creatures, always intent on overthrowing humanity’s control on their kingdoms and ruling over all things. Imperious, emotionless monsters holed up in their lairs, lacking souls and any understanding of humanity. How this dragon had noticed Rangi of all people was beyond her. She didn’t even remember where she was before she woke up.  Knights got into danger on the roads. Protecting a charge, or cargo or simply travelling to be ambushed, she wasn’t sure what was worse. 

Forgetting the mission, or being taken by a dragon. A beast diving out of myth and legend, purely to punish her and her negligence. 

Rangi looked down again, a stupid notion. The countryside had faded by now, and they were soaring over a valley. Not at the tops of the mountains, but between them. Old growth woods sprung up at their roots, and she knew how impenetrable they were - dark creatures lived down there, to stalk you, to take your soul. She’d been rocked to sleep with tales of heroes who ventured into those dark woods and hills, dealing riskily with fae, fighting mountain ogres, giants and serpents who spat poison with no cure. It all spun way too far though, and Rangi was forced to shut her eyes. The wild landscape felt like a barrier being crossed into another world, foreign to her and hostile. I’m going to die, she kept thinking, over and over. She had sworn oaths saying she was prepared to, but in the line of duty - not this. Not as prey, snatched away and helpless.

She had never feared heights, but seeing her feet braced against nothing but the void had left her stomach a few miles down wind. Rangi kept them closed for now. There was an impression of lowering and less weight, the dragon stopping its flapping to tuck the tips of its wings in, diving gently for something. 

Warm air. A rush of it, and a great falling feeling in her belly. The dragon landed with an enormous bone rattling thump, and Rangi had half a mind to expect she’d be crushed. She wasn’t. The dragon landed with its rear feet first, the snap and creak of leather as its wings folded, and it held the arm that clutched Rangi up a bit higher. Concerned for her well being once again. 

That was not the behavior of something planning on killing her. This dragon was being more considerate than some humans she knew, careful to not tread on the foot holding her. It did walk on all fours - all threes, right now - shuffling deeper into the cave. Rangi had opened her eyes, as she saw that it was a cave. The smell was damp and humid, but not unpleasant. Weren’t dragons meant to smell of sulphur, of rotten flesh and rusting metal? It just smelled like a warm cavern here. 

The dragon took another few steps, and Rangi felt something off. It shuffled similarly to how a wounded cat would move, exhausted and heaving for breath. She could hear it panting, and through the glowing crystals set on the ceiling of the large cave jutting out, a long red tongue lolling out between fearsome white teeth. 

It looked exhausted. She still couldn’t see its full body. That is, until with another step, it set her down as gently as possible. Slowly as though not wanting to startle her.

Rangi would have loved to say that she stood tall and proud in that moment as she was set on her feet. The reality is, the flight had left her joints jelly and her spine like cooked yellow noodles. She flailed, making another undignified noise as she tried not to collapse. When the weight of her armor tipped her onto her back, a strong limb from behind supported her. 

The dragon’s tail, long enough to encircle a whole line of calvary, draped on the ground behind Rangi. She leaned against it, surprised at how warm the scales underneath her were. The rest of the dragon was deeper into the cave, but not far at all. She watched its agonized shuffle for a couple more steps and collapse with another great thump, and a pained wheeze of breath. 

Wait. 

The light in here was better, with the glowing crystals, and Rangi was now enough of a distance away to see the dragon in full. It laid there on its side, limbs sprawled and head lolling on the stone. Its eyes never left Rangi though, staring at her in their piercing gaze. Searching for something perhaps, or intending to eat her after all. 

It was so large, she had trouble taking it all in. The cavern was big, but still seemed diminished with such a long creature inside of it. Even so, the dragon seemed to encircle nearly all of it. Longer still it seemed to grow, tail coiled loosely around the perimeter and continuing on, limbs as thick around as tree trunks and just as long stretched onto the ground, sides heaving. 

It was so green. Most of its scales were. Under the light pouring in from the cave opening and the glowing crystals, the dragon’s body shone. It was a terrifying sight, every inch of it more than capable of crushing any mortal to pieces. Every scale of it however sparkled, twinkling like a bed of emeralds, its horns long and twisting and gold, branching like a crown from its forehead and skull. Even those simple colors had depth - the green was layered darker at the legs and torso, the talons that held her with claws in that same gold of its horns. There was even a peculiar pattern if she focused, dark, almost black scales dotted throughout the green and gold. There was a smattering of them under the dragon’s eyes and nose, but following patterns all the way down its tail. They were everywhere.

Dragons got freckles? The thought made Rangi want to dig into her eyes with the heels of her hands, as though to claw the silly notion out of her. Surely the manic flight over, the ridiculousness of the situation, was sapping her of sense. 

Instead of spikes along its back was a mane, black or brown she could not tell, ending in a long plume of it at the tip of the impossibly long tail. Rangi had to turn all the way around to find the end of it, her mind boggled at the creature’s size. Part of her, also, was completely floored by its beauty. Even in the dangerous shape she could see majesty and strength, as graceful as it was terrible. She swallowed, and bit her lower lip. 

Behind her, the mouth of the cave. In a few steps she turned around to face it, glancing outside. She was safe from its edge, closer in than out, but she could see the range of mountains the lair was within. The valley stretched far below them, distant grasses and the tops of trees so far away they’d looked like tiny replicas. 

She would not find rescue, here. It was too treacherous for anything without wings.

Rangi ignored that fact, that drop in her stomach. She’d been in worse situations before, hadn’t she? Of course she had. She found her resolve, tightened her fingers around it like a hilt, and exhaled a steadying breath. She could feel the dragon’s piercing eyes on her back, and hear its ragged breaths. Hers were even and sure, as a plan tried to form itself in the back of her mind to get out of here with her skin. 

Turning around again was a good next step. 

She stilled, hearing a soft drip drip drip! And a sizzle, that wasn’t condensation from stalactites. Slowly Rangi turned around again, observing the enormous half-circle the dragon made with its body, Rangi in the center of it, until she could see its face once more. Its face, its body, its wings… 

The wings were folded up, but not all the way. One half stretched on the ground in front, the other tucked painfully against her torso, but Rangi could see where the dripping came from. Blood. Dark shafts were embedded in the delicate looking membrane between the wings’ fingers, from dozens of arrows. Dragon blood sizzled as it touched the stone, each drop hit a pop and a hiss. 

A memory flowed back into Rangi’s mind. Ambush. She’d been on the road, someone had let slip that she was coming. Too well armed bandits had caught her by surprise, and before she could draw her blade to fight back, it felt like the night sky had torn free from the heavens and dove right for her, enveloping her in the void.

She shook her head. The dragon continued to stare, another line of blood dripping from its armpit. Weren’t dragons armored all over? She’d read that in stories before. Maybe not the wings, or underneath their arms. Even her own armor, black and red and gold like obsidian dipped in blood, had gaps in it. 

“You’re hurt,” she said. It’s obvious, and her voice sounded slightly too loud in the absence of wind. The dragon only moved to rest its chin on the stone, staring at her still, both eyes boring into her. 

They really did look so familiar. The shade of them, the soft shape around the edges, the way the soft mane framed the bony ridges of her eyebrow… Rangi shook away the feeling. She’d never felt an enormous amount of sympathy for animals. They were fine. From a distance. She was not one to drop everything and try and save every sparrow that had smacked into a window. 

But this dragon had gone to a lot of trouble to bring her all the way to its home… without hurting her. It was also clearly badly injured. She found the idea of doing nothing almost as hard as thinking about climbing down all the way to the ground outside. A realization came, from the memory the arrows had sparked. The dragon saved her. At the very least, it’d brought her here, away from the ambush that would have likely injured her horribly and left her captured at best, killed at worst.

But why? Why her?

Rangi hadn’t a clue, and the uncertainty made her almost more afraid than the living colossus of myth, might, and elemental power sprawled out around her did.

Was this its home? There was no treasure. Weren’t they meant to hoard? Rangi craned her neck over to see the cavern behind what she could with the dragon’s great bulk in the way. There was no treasure, aside from the glowing crystals dotted throughout the walls. Her captor blocked any possible exits, from what she could see. 

The two fangs on the top jaw showed through, long white curved teeth. The maw remained closed as it rested there. 

Its blood continued to drip onto the cave floor. It wasn’t an enormous amount of blood, but the sight still made Rangi wince internally in sympathy. She’d had similar wounds, though an arrow through any part of her was considerably more serious. 

Stupid though it was, she felt the need to help, it could have killed her at any point. She was still wary though, and took a single step closer to the dragon. “You pulled me out of that attack, didn’t you?” Rangi was surprised to find she was whispering. It was still a loud whisper, amid the rasping breaths of the dragon, but she was amazed at how awed she sounded. It was yet another question she asked it, not even knowing if it could understand her. The wounds continued to drip, and Rangi felt a pang. 

This was stupid. What was she meant to do? It wasn’t moving, she could leave… somehow. The whole scenario had a fantastical edge to it, barely real. Dreams the moments before one was forced awake, taking in the strangeness of it all. How else would she think to try and help this dragon? She knew very basic field dressing. Surely a being as large as a dragon wouldn’t be more hurt by what she intended to do. “Didn’t you?” Rangi asks, again. She takes another handful of halting steps closer, one hand raised for… something. 

The dragon took in a big lungful of air. For a terrifying moment, she stilled, remembering all the old texts of dragons. They were often aligned with an element, able to unleash a torrent of its destructive force from their maws, among other abilities. What manner of element did this one have? She feared the intake of breath was the dragon readying itself for such a move. Rangi felt her ears nearly pop at how much air was inhaled, the sound around them going silent. 

And then it exhaled, much like the steadying breath she just took. The powerful muscles on its torso expanded and then retracted slowly as it breathed out with no flame, no ice, no wind or electricity, or acid. Rangi’s relief gave way to even greater surprise, when - 

“Yes.”

She swore it was a hiss. The dragon’s jaws parted and its lips and tongue moved. It spoke! The realization made her eyes widen. Despite its sheer size, the fearsome fangs and the piercing gaze, there was a rich commanding note to the dragon’s voice. It almost sounded feminine, oddly gentle for something so… 

She had no words. 

Rangi felt her heart pounding, and none of her fear showed on her face. The dragon understood everything she’d been telling it, and was not merely some vicious animal. That somehow made it scarier. It? Her? Was she right to assume what the dragon was? Its intelligence however made it more frightening. An animal would have just been motivated by food or territory. Something intelligent, like herself, could be plotting a worse demise. It could be lulling her into a false sense of security… 

Its breath hitched in a shake of her withers, and the tip of its tail twitched, ruffling the dark plume what felt like so many feet away from Rangi. The width of the cave barely looked large enough for its long, long bulk. She could imagine the fully extended wings having trouble fitting into this space. 

None of that mattered. The dragon spoke to her. She closed her jaw shut with a click. What does one even say? Thank you? Instead, Rangi pointed at the dragon - a dragon! - with an accusatory finger. From her perspective, there was an illusion of her poking it in its snout. “And you dumped me here!” She seemed at a loss for whatever to say next, sputtering on the last word. The queen of obvious statements, Rangi Sei’naka, heiress to the Easily Observable Throne. 

There was a sharp shnick sound as the dragon blinked again, thick eyebrows closing quickly, and the creases around its eyes softened. Amused, maybe?

“Yes.” It said again, in the exact same tone. The repeat of it wasn’t as grand the second time, and Rangi seemed almost exasperated. Apparently, a flesh and blood dragon speaking to you in the same word the second time really lost its edge. 

Rangi’s point transformed into a claw, as though trying to grasp the shape of what next she should say. She scoffed. 

“Is that all you can say?” She snapped, and deep in her bones Rangi had the feeling that it… the dragon, was laughing at her! Since it was intelligent, and its expressions not fully human, it was guesswork and gut feeling. 

The dragon’s lips pulled back at one corner, a crooked twitch. 

“Maybe,” it conceded. Something sparkled in its eyes with that familiar feeling Rangi had been having all night. This was getting stranger and stranger, and it was almost enough - along with the dragon teasing her - to change her mind about treating the arrows stuck into its flesh. 

The amusement had a hollow shadow to it, she could tell. The dragon had been too hurt to move much farther in, and had essentially collapsed in its current position. Rangi scowled, and after a beat, sighed. She pinched the bridge of her nose. 

Being killed in a fiery or fang filled death would have been preferable to this, in a way. Almost stomping, she continued stepping forward to the dragon’s torso, trying to focus on the dark shafts sticking into the tender membrane. And not the way those jade eyes dug its way into her flesh. How that gaze never left her unsettled Rangi more than she would like to admit, it made her feel exposed, as though the dragon was searching for something. A confirmation, a right answer? 

“Okay,” the word is a sigh. Another concession, acceptance of how ridiculous this all is. “Thank you. But that looks like it hurts,” she pointed out the wings, the bleeding coming from under the dragon’s arm. Rangi was close enough now to feel the creature’s heat, warm and humid like a summer afternoon wash over her. She smelled like the forest, like pine and stone and breezes that carried rain. 

That was too familiar.

Rangi remembered passing by a woman when she was in the town square, smelling the exact same combination of scents. She shook her head. A traveller from these mountains, maybe, trying to buy wares. The soft recollection of green fabric, the swish of long hair, a gentle crooked smile.

The dragon’s wings twitched in the present, subtly away from this strange little human approaching it. Its lips moved again with speech, tongue flicking between fearsome teeth. “I’ll be fine. The ones who meant you harm surprised me, that's all.” With more words, the rich voice of it wrapped her up. Emotion didn’t seem to touch its voice. Cold wasn’t the right comparison, but it was distinctly inhuman, most of its emotion was in its eyes. Amused, flickering. 

Rangi turned her head to look at the dragon, stunned. She could only find one word, desperate to claw its way out of her throat the whole time. 

“Why?” She hadn’t reached its wing yet. Their conversation stopped her in her tracks again. 

The dragon appeared thoughtful, as though it hadn’t decided yet itself. She got the impression it didn’t speak very often, and with the way its fanged mouth folded around human words, it was unfamiliar with speaking them.

“Do mortals not protect one another from harm?” It seemed puzzled, or that was just Rangi making an attempt to glean human-like feelings from something that wasn’t. She’d never had a conversation with something intelligent, and not with warm blood and two legs like her. 

Scratch that. Dragon blood was very warm, hot even. Another few droplets wept free from the wounds and sizzled on the stone. In the light it was darker than her own, nearly black. “Is that not what your oaths swear, warrior?”

How did it know? Rangi forced her lips into a neutral line, unsettled by this dragon’s attempt to summarize her character. Some loosened hair fell onto her face and she blew on it, only for the dark strand to stick to her lip. 

The retort she was building faded in the open air. Another shiver went through the long sinews of the dragon’s body, starting up its neck and going nearly down its tail. Pain, discomfort, exhaustion, none of it commented on but difficult to hide. “Nevermind,” she said, and pointed to the dragon’s wing. It had gone to the floor, half folded like a novice opening a war fan the wrong way, touching the ground and hiding part of its torso. The dark shafts of the arrows only stood out more, and from this distance she could see the swollen flesh of the membrane around the puncture points. “Those are going to get infected.” It’s said matter of factly, even if she wasn’t certain that dragons could even suffer in that way. At the very least, it was suffering right now, attempting to hide it. “You haven’t done it so far, so can I trust you to not bite my head off when I get those out?”

For the first time, it was the dragon that looked unsettled. At the very least, the slight amusement on its face faded, and it looked the most like a cold, unfeeling reptile it had all night. Inscrutable, unfeeling. That is how old texts described dragonkind. Maybe it only kept Rangi alive to entertain it, and it could decide at any point to toss her away, like a fascinating bug it’d found on a leaf. 

It didn’t speak for a few beats, as though weighing its words once again. A sympathetic part of her thought, had anyone ever offered help like this? Could anyone?  She pushed those feelings down to focus on the task at hand. Closer now, more details on the dragon’s face were obvious. Dark scales outlined its eyes, making the colors pop. The bony ridge itself shone different shades in the light of the glowing crystals as red, and just a hint more of that eye-catching gold. 

It was like someone had applied the slightest amount of makeup to such a fearsome creature. Eyeliner, a touch of red on its lids. It offered a fierce outline to the creature’s face, and yet a strangely feminine touch. 

The thought made Rangi’s cheeks burn. As she looked at it, it never looked away from her, as though studying her intently. Cautiously she stepped a little closer, mere inches from its wing. The arrows were embedded from the top, like it had shielded itself in a fight and the wings shot at. 

Or itself, and her.

Finally, the dragon spoke again. One of its wing fingers twitched, rustling the delicate looking membrane. 

“If you must.”

No promises to not hurt her. She figured that was as good as she was going to get, but of course, something so powerful would have just crushed her had it not wanted her to try. Rangi unbuckled her gauntlets to reveal gloves, for extra maneuverability. With how hotly the blood sizzled, she needed protection. Then she reached over, noticing the delicate veins running throughout the membrane; The color was somewhere between dark green and black, almost translucent in the light, shivering in subdued twitches as her fingers wrapped around the first arrow. 

They were sturdier than run of the mill fletching, longer, intending to punch through some armor. The heads pierced all the way through in some of them, but this one was near the base of the wing’s arm with more flesh to get through. 

“This is going to hurt worse,” Rangi warned. She wasn’t certain if the warning was to save her own hide from retaliation, or the sympathy that’d nestled squarely in her chest. The dragon didn’t respond, but she could feel its sinews clenching and stiffening, the rasp of the end of its tail scraping the cave floor in a twitch. 

Its eyes still didn’t leave her. Rangi wasn’t looking at it and focused on her task, but she still felt them pierce right through her armor and into her heart. Her cheeks continued to burn. One breath, two, and she pulled.

She’d nearly been thrown onto her rear not only from the arrow pulling loose, but the dragon’s reaction. The wing lurched, just barely not slapping her with the edge of the membrane as the whole beast reacted. With its chin on the stone it had seemed to be making itself as small as possible to not alarm her, but that faded at what could only be an uncontrolled reaction. Its head surged up on its graceful neck, teeth parted in an agonized, blood curdling hiss. Its claws dug into the floor, digging furrows and Rangi on instinct dove to her knees. 

Above her was a horrible cracking of the largest whip she’d ever heard. It must have been its tail lashing the air, the sound loud enough to rattle her teeth, her bones, her whole being. 

And yet even in its agonized throes, not an ounce of it was directed at Rangi herself. A lesser being would have immediately attacked the source of their pain in retribution. She herself had nearly punched a shield sister in the teeth for realigning a dislocated shoulder, completely unintentionally. On her knees Rangi waited, covering the top of her head, until the dragon had stilled again. Its breaths came in raspy gasps, the air in the cavern warming to an almost unbearable level. 

The light in the glowing crystals pulsed with each of its breaths. The hole that the arrow had been pulled free from continued to bleed for another heartbeat, then two, and then stopped. Not normal, but also not bad either. As though allowed to heal over now, Rangi could see the tiny wound slowly begin to knit together with her own eyes. 

Dragons had magic, after all. She waited, breath after breath, as the dragon returned its head to the stone. A valiant attempt at shrinking itself once more, the pain still shuddered through it. 

“You weren’t lying.”

The ridiculousness of the statement almost made her laugh. The arrow’s shaft and head clattered to the stone floor, covered in dragon’s blood. Rangi turned to look the dragon in the eyes once more, and found its jaw clenched. 

Was it upset with her?

“Told you.”

The way one of its hands reached up, covering its snout but not her eyes, could be bashful, or pained, or some third thing she couldn’t place. Perhaps it was another way to hold back. Across the cavern she heard its tail continuing to twitch, now back and coiled onto the ground. “That one looked the worst.” Rangi stood, and indicated her intent to continue with a gesture, still unable to believe what was happening. 

The dragon seemed to take her meaning, the eye facing Rangi half closed. 

“Continue,” it hissed, though not unkindly. Rangi had the impression it had more to say in its mind, but could only get one word out, its teeth clenched and bared. 

So it went for the next while. Thankfully none of the other shafts had been as bad as the first, slipping free with twists to avoid making any of the holes much bigger. The dragon seemed more prepared this time, and only twitched fitfully at each loosened arrow, no outburst nearly as bad as the first. 

By the time Rangi had cleared the first wing, the leather on her gloves felt nearly scorched. Blood covered them, the worst of it wiped onto the ground. Thankfully none of it had eaten through the material, but she still felt its heat. What she worried was acidic was not, and that came with some relief. 

And longing.

She had not felt heat on her fingers in a very long time. Too long. She pushed the thought away. All the while as she worked on the other wing - she didn’t need to ask the dragon to extend it enough for her - those eyes never left her. 

By now, it had gotten irritating, awkward. Rangi felt her ears heat up, and she snapped her neck to look at the dragon in the eyes again, still staring at her. 

What was its problem?

Rangi had nearly called the dragon ‘her’ in her mind. It felt distinctly, primally feminine. She glared, wiping her hands off on the stone under them as though to wipe the thought clean from her mind.

“Stop staring at me,” she nearly growled. Sometime between her terror in believing she was going to die, the ridiculous fantasy of the whole thing, into genuine annoyance. She couldn’t place what the staring was, if it was curiosity, anger, or somewhere in between. But it unsettled her, and made her feel exposed. 

The dragon didn’t blink. With its chin still on the stone, it raised its head only a few inches to speak properly. 

“Why?”

Like a child asking its seventh version of that question. It seemed so innocent. Rangi fought back some of her frustration as she stepped up to the dragon’s flank, where the last couple of arrows were lodged underneath its arm - the same arm that had held her. 

“Because,” she said through clenched teeth. With an effort she climbed up the scaly, heavily muscled side, grateful for the protection she had against the sharp and armored scales. “One second - lift your arm.” To her surprise, the dragon obeyed, and she tried not to think about the sheer size of the limb held above her casting her in its shadow; the curved golden talons poised above her, with more than enough power to crush a line of warriors, nevermind just her. Instead, Rangi closed her fingers around the first shaft that embedded itself into the softer, smoother scales underneath the powerful limb. She braced her feet on either side, hanging off that flank like the side of a mountain. “Because,” she repeated, fighting to keep her voice calm. “It’s rude.” The emphasis came with a tug, then another. This would be hard to get out. Rangi shifted her grip and twisted slightly, prepared to try again. She didn’t miss how the dragon winced, releasing a sharp snort that blanketed the cave in more heat. 

No flame yet, though. Did it even produce flame? 

“Humans find it rude,” she clarified. It’d probably be revealing too much to share that it made her stomach twist with a myriad of unfamiliar feelings. Something still struck her about the dragon’s eyes, like she’d seen them before. Even the way she’d phrased her ‘why’ stuck out. Rangi pulled again, and gritted her teeth. 

Despite the discomfort that rattled the dragon’s frame again, her eyes sparkled at the answer. Instead of being deterred, it pushed its head closer, still not blinking. Curiosity, Rangi’s gut feeling told her. She wasn’t sure which was worse, thinking she was about to be turned into charcoal so recently before, or being a new interesting thing this creature had found. 

“Really?” The dragon’s curiosity faded somewhat with another sharp tug on its side. Clearly this one would be worse than the first, but by now it had likely gotten used to the tugs and sharp pains. Mostly. It clenched its teeth again, blinking once. Slowly, squinting in its discomfort. Immediately after though, it continued to stare at Rangi. It seemed to be drinking in the tidbit of human taboo. “What else should I be looking at?”

The question surprised her. It wasn’t giving in to her demands, but talking with her - eager for more. 

Rangi wasn’t in the mood for these games. Her hands twisted again, trying to pull the arrowhead free without causing an unnecessary amount of damage. Fresh blood wept from the wound, and the dragon stayed amazingly still. 

“I don’t know,” she snapped. “Anything! Just. Let me focus.” Scolding a dragon of all things. No ancient text had ever covered this. But she had committed herself to helping the dragon that had saved her life, and there was no going back now; she would commit to any job to its completion, Self imposed or not. Her reputation, along with her lineage, was on the line. 

Besides. It was the right thing to do.

Those deep green eyes continued to stare, but mercifully left when she had managed, with a final tug, to pull the last arrow free. Instead of a great roar or snap of tail, what released was a deep, shuddering whimper, and before she could feel that pang of sympathy, too much was released. With her boots braced on the dragon’s side the tug free had completely unbalanced her. 

With a flail Rangi fell, mercifully not too far, before she landed on her back in a heap and the wind knocked out of her lungs. She was prepared enough at least to not hit her head. The ceiling of the cave with its sparkling glowing crystals was high above her, as she tried to get her bearings again. 

And like clockwork, the dragon’s great head entered her vision, graceful neck craned to look down at her. She tried not to stare at how the graceful golden horns that sprouted from her forehead and skull framed the crystals above them, and just. Laid there for a moment. The dragon tilted its head, regarding her.

After snapping at it, and causing it even more pain, Rangi felt a pang of guilt. When she was young, so young as to be fuzzy in memory, she’d dreamed of creatures like this. Glittering shapes twisting through the sky, painted in old scrolls. Magic abilities and deep underground lairs, despite the danger, she had admired them. Poring through text after text, Rangi had done her best to learn anything she could about dragons. 

If anyone asked later in her life, she would’ve said it was knowledge to sharpen skill. Just in case a dragon had ever attacked, or rumors of one appearing had circulated. She had never anticipated something like this though, and returned the stare up at the dragon. 

Its head lowered even more, and a brief surge of animal fear quickstarted Rangi’s heart. It was so close. A few feet above, then a foot, and then the tip of its nose inches from her torso, nostrils inhaling a few small lungfuls of air. Sniffing her. The breath was so great those nostrils sucked in the strands of loose hair, and jostled her topknot. The golden whiskers hanging off its nose like tassels nearly tickled as they hung.

Of all the - 

Rangi’s reaction was quick, slightly panicked. Her cheeks and ears burned again in a fierce blush and before she could stop herself at the stupidity of what she was about to do, her hands found the dragon’s chin and nose, and shoved.

“Get off me,” she hissed, and was surprised to find that the dragon’s head retreated from her, head craning back up to let her free, indignation and embarrassment and shock all rising like bile in her throat, “You - you -” What do you even call a dragon? It still could kill her at any moment, big scaly oaf or no.

Did it even have a name?

There was an exhale of breath in a snort up above her head, as the dragon pulled away, now much farther above her but not invading her space. She couldn’t believe it had listened to her, pulled back to let her stand up and brush dirt from her armor, from the quilted pieces between the metal and spikes. 

“You do not smell of human blood,” it observed. “Only mine.” The ‘mine’ was punctuated with an emotion she could not place. There was a hissing warmth in it, like wood popping in a campfire. Rangi had no clue what to make of it, as she fought to turn the color of her face and ears back to normal. Before she could speak, it spoke again, closing its eyes halfway as though to look less piercing. “Thank you.”

Rangi didn’t know how to respond to that at first. Had she thanked the dragon yet for helping her? Hearing such a phrase from its mouth was just… just… Unsettling, for the tenth time tonight. She watched the dragon shift, pulling its rear legs under her and the front ones in, folding both wings along its sides with only a slight wince. The shift in position looked more comfortable, and it returned its head to its spot on the ground. With the way its horns were, it looked like a crown resting once more on its pedestal. 

She was at a loss for words again. Rangi stood there, stiffly, taking in the long form. She would even call it beautiful, all the paintings she’d ever seen paled in comparison, once she stopped to actually appreciate the fact that a real dragon was in front of her. Flesh and blood.

Now who was staring? Finally, she found her voice again. 

“You’re welcome.” It was more like a wheeze after regaining breath. “Happy to help.”

Some beats passed, and the air was suddenly awkward - to her at least. Rangi wasn’t certain what to do with herself, she hadn’t planned this far ahead. A rarity. Very little had prepared her for this. She felt the dragon’s eyes on her still as she sat, pulling her knees up to her chest. 

Two can play at that game. She stared right back, as though knight and dragon fought in the old stories, and this time their weapons were their eyes.

The dragon blinked at her, shifting to rest its chin on its front feet, giving it a distinctly less intimidating appearance. 

“I thought it was rude to stare.”

“It is!” Rangi’s quick to snap after her eyes widened in surprise. She scowled at the amusement returning to the dragon’s face. 

It irritated her that the dragon found her so amusing. It huffed a few strange growls, halting and strange in beat. 

Was it 

Was it laughing at her? 

Rangi felt heat blossom in her chest again, up her throat, on her face. She just knew she was pouting, and despite just sitting down she stood back up. The dragon continued its throaty, growling laugh as she about faced, and stalked over to the mouth of the cave. It was tall and wide enough to accommodate the dragon, but at a squeeze, and it offered a great view of the outside that ended in a sheer cliff. 

She sat down  just under the opening again, drawing her knees to her chest for the second time. Fuming. She couldn’t believe it. After everything she’d done? Rangi slipped off her blood stained gloves and set them down next to her, glaring at the distant mountain peaks like they’d defend her from this slight. 

She heard the dragon shifting around. The heavy talons scraping, claws clicking against stone. Not a walk, a shift. Rangi took stock of her surroundings, her inventory. She still had her bedroll and a few small extras strapped to her back in an emergency, her gloves, her armor and boots… 

There was only a bit of emergency ration in the roll secured to the small of her back. How long did she have? Could the dragon be convinced to bring her back to civilization? She found focusing on the plan cooled the heat rising in her body. At the very least she could sleep here, even if the notion of camping out with such a dangerous creature… didn’t frighten Rangi anymore like she would have thought only an hour ago. 

It was cold out here, at night in a higher elevation. She wasn’t meant to feel cold, and it filled her with dread.

The dragon hadn’t hurt her, yet. It had protected her from the ambush and it took great care to not harm her now. It had even joked with her, sniffed her out of concern when she fell off of it. She sighed, pillowing her chin on her knees, belatedly realizing she had done the unthinkable. 

She turned her back on a dragon. Who knows how many tons of mythic muscle, sinew, claw and fire, and here she was. Pouting away from it, because it had laughed at her. As though sensing it were being thought about, Rangi heard it shifting again, but she recognized no hostility behind the noise. Maybe it was just curling up to sleep, or licking its wounds.

Okay, what else did she have with her? She looked down at her now exposed hands, the unblemished skin. Gloves next to her, boots on… 

Rangi heard a clink behind her. She turned her head. 

Her gauntlets! She’d discarded them before helping the dragon with its wounds. Speaking of the beast, it had shifted, propped up a little on its two front legs to reach the discarded black pieces of armor. Its head was bent low, nosing one of them, long red tongue poking out as though to scent, to lick, maybe to eat. Its jaw parted, showing rows of serrated teeth. Rangi recognized it sniffing, and she bolted up again in a panic. 

“No!” she snapped, scrambling up right and back over to where the dragon was about to take something of hers. It sniffed at the armor curiously, mouth still parted open. The gauntlets were hilariously small next to its huge nose, the gentle way it was prodding them. “No!” Rangi shouted again, so that it would hear her. 

The dragon looked up, and she could swear it was chastised. Its tongue licked the end of a gauntlet, eliciting a scraping sound as it lifted up its head. The scrape must’ve meant that dragons had barbed tongues, like a cat. Rangi continued to scramble over and, between the dragon’s talons, snatched the gauntlets back. Another accusatory finger pointed up at it and she backed away a few steps, absolutely brimming with frustration. 

“Absolutely not.” She found herself at a loss of words, slightly deflated. Being so close to such a terrifying creature again, temporary ally or no, pushed some air from Rangi’s lungs. It looked down at her, and despite the fierce outlines of its face, she could recognize the softness. The almost adorable smattering of ‘freckles’ under its eyes and on the flat nose, the way its eyes went wide in shock. 

Had anyone told this dragon no, before? How could anyone? Whole villages would have likely bowed before such a beast and offered it anything it wanted to spare them from its wrath. She could get new gauntlets. Still, out of the very little she had with her, every bit of equipment mattered. 

The dragon opened its mouth. Not for fire, or frost, or whatever element it had though. To speak. 

“I was getting a read on your scent,” it said matter of factly in its rich, commanding voice. She still swears it sounded feminine. “In case you get into trouble, again.” Obviously, its eyes said. It straightened up as it laid there, as though Rangi protesting this was a ridiculous notion. 

“I do not - I did not -” sweet spirits, she was stammering. How had the dragon shown so many faces in so short of a time? Rangi lowered her finger, and tucked her gauntlets under one arm. “Fine. Sure. I hope you got a good read.”

She paused at the scraping sound she heard. The dragon had let its tongue poke out of its mouth again and licked its lips and teeth, like a dog that had just discovered a smell. Barbed tongue against armor-like scales, against mythically sharp fang? The scrape was worse than swords on steel. It made Rangi’s blood run cold. Her heart picked up so fast, unsure what was coming next. Nothing did though, only the dragon’s reply, again matter of factly. 

“Yes. I think I did. Do humans not identify one another by smell?” it seemed puzzled, tilting its head once more. An honestly endearing motion, and Rangi stepped back a little bit more so that huge head wasn’t completely looming above her. She felt like she could lay on its tongue without her shoulders touching the sides of its jaw. Sweet mercy, this thing was huge. 

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “No, we don’t. We use a revolutionary system called names.” If the dragon could be sarcastic, so could she. The dragon tilted its head in the other direction. 

“You have a name?” it asked. Some of Rangi’s frustration lifted. Was it going to tell her its name? Should she say her own name? Fascination and awe took her frustration’s place. She swallowed, trying to find the words, and looking down at her feet. 

“Yes. Do dragons have names?” It seemed obvious they would, but who knows? Especially if they knew themselves and each other by scent. Did dogs have names for each other?

The dragon folded in its  wings a little more smugly, as though offended by such a phrase. An intelligent creature like it! Of course it would. The thinnest line of smoke left one nostril. 

“Of course we do. You didn’t mention yours before, so I didn’t give mine.”

“I was a little preoccupied!” Rangi retorted. “Hard to give your name when some giant, crazy reptile is stealing you to who knows where!”

The dragon blinked, seemingly confused. One of its claws tapped the stone, gold on black rock. 

“Before that,” it clarified. 

What?

Rangi was drawing a blank. The ambush? She had no idea it was a dragon who took her. Could it mean before that?

A sudden cold feeling gripped her stomach. The familiar eyes. The voice, scratching recognizable furrows in her brain. Rich, commanding, silky and yet warm. Green eyes that danced over dark freckles, brown hair threatening to fly in her face. The smell of petrichor pine and earth.

Oh. Oh no. 

—

Her schedule had been cleared, in favor of preparing to travel out to a neighboring outpost later that evening. The rest of the day Rangi would have dedicated to planning, supplies, and preparation. That is why she found herself in the capital town square, drifting on the streets, observing market stalls. The smithy. Stores specializing in provisions and weapons. It was busy, dark brick and dark wood, red streamers and flags lined with gold advertising places of business. 

Her armor was brutal in the heat, and yet she had worn it. Pack slung over her shoulder, she had approached a stall, hearing the sound of gentle music playing from the center of the square itself. Instruments plucked, wind flowing in chime like notes. The afternoon sun beat down on them all, and she hoped the smell of buns steaming in a nearby shop would overpower the stink of human density as long as possible. 

Nothing Rangi needed here. She turned to leave, and had nearly run into a curtained wall that had somehow found its way all the way down here from the palace. Just before impact she stopped, wondering what in the world - 

She had to look up. In front of her was a woman, the tallest woman she had ever seen, looking over her head at the band that was playing in visible distance. Her head was craned on a graceful torso and spine, and she didn’t seem to have noticed Rangi about to bump into her. 

She was about to bark at the woman to move, please, but her tongue had stuck in her throat. This woman was mesmerized by the music, deep green eyes wide and thirsty for new information. What she wore was simple travel garb, a brown cloak, and simple fare beneath. Unassuming, plain, and yet that is where the plainness ended. Her skin was sunkissed and darker than most of the locals, like she had spent a good deal of time in the sun. The freckles splashed across her face and uncovered hands were innumerable adorable flaws on her skin, and as the wind picked up the long brown hair tied behind her, flyaways threatened to fall in front of her face. 

Rangi swallowed again. Tried to find her voice. She could not, would not be dumbstruck by the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The music softened and the woman in front of her looked down, her face not slim but not chiseled or round either, an endearing middle ground that was just soft enough with her lips, and face to face with those deep green depths something in Rangi’s instincts screamed. 

This woman had to be seven feet tall, at least. She could look down on even the tallest men she knew - even Rangi herself who did not often have to look up. She could see beneath the simple brown sleeves the built frame of her, not quite slender but also not bulky. Power oozed off of every inch of skin, everything that could be seen. 

Her eyes were too green. Teeth too white as she opened her mouth to speak, presence too large to be contained in a simple human skin. Rangi didn’t feel frightened, but she felt… suspicious. Yes, that was it. Suspicion turned her knees to jelly and made her stomach twist and ears burn. The smile on the stranger’s  face was the smile stars seemed to have sometimes, an unfamiliar and faraway concept that occasionally molded itself to appear human. It reminded her of a time where she had happened upon a wolf she didn’t know was there, on the edge of the woods. It had regarded her with deep golden eyes, an ancient intensity that bled into its stare. Only through training did she not freeze, backing away until the wolf left her be.

She could see forests and mountain peaks in those eyes. Rangi realized the woman was speaking, and she forcefully dug in her heels and pulled herself out of those depths, green like the dark forests shadowed by heavy clouds. 

“ - lovely sound,” the stranger said. Her voice was beautiful as the rest of her, deep enough to be rich, and it made Rangi’s heart skip a few beats. “Is it normal for music to make a… a jump, in one’s chest?” She placed a hand to her own, beneath where the cloak was secured under her throat. Why that getup in this weather? The heat didn’t seem to bother this woman. 

“Yes,” Rangi replies before she can think too hard. “At least, I’m pretty sure. I’ve never thought about it that way.”

The strange woman tilted her head again towards the musicians, the fine notes swirling the air like leaves in the wind. She hummed a similar note, as though to imitate. Had she not heard music before? Rangi’s instincts and senses went into overdrive. Despite the uncanny shape the stranger cut into the world, she seemed new - too new - to the city. 

It was dangerous. She looked at the woman’s hip, carrying weapons was allowed within the walls if they were concealed, but there was no bump or indent in the fabric meant to indicate any sort of weapon. 

Unarmed? Where had she come from? 

“Well, thank you for answering me,” the strange woman said, and took a step back. Her movements were graceful, in a way hard to replicate by normal human sinew. It looked like she had simply drifted back. Rangi felt a little unsettled, getting the impression that whatever this was, wasn’t fully human. By the way a few passerby took one look at the lofty figure and backed away as though burned, it only fueled her suspicions. 

She was so tall. Half something, maybe? She was much too pretty to be a half-giant. 

“Wait,” Rangi reached out for her, before straightening up, and bowing her head. The woman stopped in her tracks, head tilted, waiting. “Have you been to the capital before?”

“No, I’ve only seen it from afar.”

“Then let me walk with you. The capital has dark corners for people who aren’t…” Her voice puttered out shamefully. Good job, Lady Knight. “Familiar.” She felt strangely protective of this figure, who had no weapon and walked around awestruck by everything. Someone would rob her by the end of the hour, or worse. The woman blinked down at her. She shrugged, and nodded. The movement seemed unnatural, as though she had read the description of it in a book, but accepted. Rangi had fumbled that spectacularly, not mentioning her name or her oath or her title, captivated by such a figure.

–

The present hit Rangi in the face once more, and she continued to stare up at the dragon, finding that same amusement in her eyes, that were as green as the dark forests under shadowy clouds. They sparkled within their depths, and she could recognize the softness in them, the quiet regard for the human woman who stood there and spoke to her. Rangi had the strange woman in the capital tag along with her, showing her each stop she needed to go. Watching as she stared in awe at jewelry stands, at carriages pulled by ostrich horses and dragon moose - the name had made the strange woman chuckle and scoff - and other pieces of life that had seemed ordinary to her. 

To the traveller, it had seemed marvelous. Rangi was too stiff that entire day, and this mysterious woman had pulled her into experiencing anything they had seen. Curious, endearingly excited, with a quiet sort of confidence that made it seem like both of their presences were forbidden, like sneaking into the palace kitchen at night. 

They had spent the day together until it was time for Rangi to make preparations to leave, and she had regretted the separation. Regretting it even more when she had realized, spellbound by the tall and mysterious woman, she had not exchanged names. On the way out of the city, she had internally asked the spirits that they cross paths once again for… something. Even if it was as simple as a conversation, a walk, her passing a ripe nectarine to the stranger’s hand after she gazed longingly at the strange fruit in a stand. The jewelry had been declined, even if she had stared at it longer and harder.

She’d put the pieces together. That is when the ambush happened, after the sun had slipped below the horizon. And the shape that tore itself free from the sky to save her from whatever fate awaited her… 

Was the dragon in front of her, and the mysterious, uncanny woman in the market square that she had nearly run into. 

So that’s why the dragon had found her.

“I know humans have such small skulls,” the dragon huffed, slightly opening and refolding her wings like a lady messing with her fans, “but I can’t believe you forgot that we met so easily.”

Dragons could change their shape. Rangi had read passages theorizing it once, but facing it head on? She fought the urge to pace. Instead, her foot tapped, emotions bubbling once more to the surface. 

“That was you,” she confirmed, and put a palm to her forehead. Gently, not a slap, a concession. 

The dragon’s tail lifted at its tip and dropped in a slightly irritated twitch. 

“I thought you knew. You had to leave, and I smelled something off in the wind when I followed you out of the walls. Over a dozen heavily armed, maybe more. Harder to smell in my human shape, and harder to see. Under the cover of night I followed you in the sky, the scent of the armed warriors matched the trail you were taking.” The dragon scoffed, rolling her eyes in a familiar way and inclining her head like a horse shaking off flies. “You were so worried about me being in danger… look how that turned out. I was giving you hints the entire time, you know, to jog your memory.”

Rangi couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t ever thought to look up while on the road, such a huge shape must’ve been silent in the sky overhead. Surely it circled in silence, so high and only leaving the shadows of stars behind. She could imagine when the attack had broken out, this dragon diving for her, blocking the road and scattering ostrich horse and man, wings folded over them both, arrows and blades intent on killing one of them - 

Most had surely bounced off of those scales. The bloody arrows that littered the ground were  the remains that had sunken in. 

“I never did get your name,” Rangi responded instead. She blushed, angry with herself. That’s all she could say? “Thank you, I mean, for saving me.” She was looking at the dragon with new eyes, superimposed with the beautiful woman in the capital, who had looked awestruck by something as simple as music. Not even great music, either, who had fretted about the fibers of fruit in her teeth and the way goat dogs barked furiously at her. “It would feel weird just calling you dragon.”

The dragon exhales in another endeared scoff, and her face softened. The red and gold and black that accented her eyes, for Rangi now understood that this dragon was a she - the fearsome armored scales all the way down her length, and the serrated teeth that lined her jaw didn’t negate the gentleness that swirled around in those depths. The strange woman had been kind to her, pulling her out of her shell and then out of the line of danger, at risk to herself. 

“Kyoshi,” the dragon said. The name was a hiss that wasn’t unkind, simple and straightforward, like the dragon herself. “My name is Kyoshi.”

It felt like a final puzzle being put in place, the last link in a coat of chainmail. A part of her was hesitant to reveal her real name, so many stories had been about dragons that would curse you upon uttering your name. Too much had been known now, so she took a risk, sighed. 

“Rangi.” It came out too stiff, her titles and family name lodged in her throat for some reason.

Kyoshi repeated the name, her ears twitching behind the soft brown mane around her face. She repeated it again, like she was tasting it, and evidently seemed satisfied. Then she turned, an arduous process that needed only half her length, to collect the fallen arrows to her side and underneath her. 

Rangi watched the serpentine yet powerful beast shuffle out past her, gingerly stepping around her comparatively tiny frame, with the bloody arrows gripped tight in her talons. The dragon shuffled until her head and neck were poised over the sheer cliff below. The wind ruffled her mane, and the golden whiskers on her snout, like tassels on a crown that matched her horns. She dropped the arrows over the side of the cliff, and Rangi couldn’t help but notice the way her scales sparkled in a different way framed by the moon. 

Was Kyoshi… cleaning? She pouted. Such a revelation, a dragon and human exchanging names, able to converse… and Kyoshi was tidying up the mess they had made. It was ridiculous. She could almost laugh at it. 

“Sorry,” the dragon said almost sheepishly as she backed her way into the cave once more, to lay down on her stomach, a compromise to their immense difference in size. Rangi had stood there, not sure how to comprehend what just happened. “That was bothering me the entire time.” It was so human, it threw her for a loop. The woman in the square appeared more dragon than human, and the dragon showed distinctly human foibles. Fussing about her place of rest. Cleaning a mess of blood and metal. 

Kyoshi curled her tail around her front claws, as though to hide the sharp points under the tufts of soft fur. 

What do you even say to that? Rangi set down the gauntlets, though momentarily worried the dragon would knock them over the cliff, too. 

It was going to be a long, long night. 

More importantly though, they both needed to rest. Rangi had settled back to sitting down, unbuckling the meager supplies she had attached to her. A quick observation of Kyoshi revealed there were still a number of holes in her wings, and the pit of her arm was still tender. She favored the opposite leg when she moved. 

Rangi undid the bedroll where she sat, still unable to fully comprehend the dragon stretched out around her. Kyoshi watched her, stared at her as she’d been asked not to do, but Rangi had softened regarding the habit. She remembered how curious the dragon had been among humankind, eager to drink up everything she could. Rangi sat close enough to Kyoshi that she wasn’t quite between her front talons, but not too far away. She found the heat comforting.

It was cute, in a way. Maybe her exhaustion was finally catching up to her, but her mind was also in survival mode. They needed to take care of certain things, even with the limited supply. After some time had passed in silence, Rangi glanced up at Kyoshi, whose eyes seemed heavier, half lidded and not quite so bright. 

“I don’t suppose you can light a fire. Are you even a fire dragon?” Internally she winced slightly. The question sounded rude. The dragon, however, didn’t find it so. 

“I can light a fire, Rangi. But stone doesn’t burn, it melts. We would need wood.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She tried not to linger on how her name sounded in the dragon’s voice, the way it rolled off her fearsome teeth. 

“Who knows, considering you asked me to light a fire, when you have an inner flame of your own.”

Rangi’s insides went cold. 

How did Kyoshi know? Her eyes widened. The longing she’d felt while handling the dragon’s blood, the heat touching her fingers crept back into her mind. The tips of those digits tingled.

“What do you - how did - what do you know about inner flame?” 

Kyoshi blinked, the thin nictitating membrane drifting across her eye slower before retracting. She seemed tired, exhaustion visibly catching up to her.

“I saw it the moment you spoke to me in the human city.”

It had been a secret for generations. 

There was magic in this world, but elemental magic of the kind Kyoshi was alluding to was for dragonkind, which were blamed for countless disasters, famines, and whole kingdoms being destroyed. It was for dragonkind, and a select number of people, who had to practice their arts in secret. A few lineages in this kingdom had power over fire. 

Rangi herself, her mother, and their predecessors, many of which had the power. It was kept secret for fear of scorn, fire especially was the most incriminating of all. Fire was as synonymous with dragonkind as their piercing eyes, or their teeth. The primordial forms of elemental magic, the other three being wind, water, and earth had their own lineages. It was considered the true art of fire to suppress it, to make open flame as little as possible.

Rangi and her Mother had trained those skills in private, as a last resort. They had fallen into being knights, using blade and cunning to solve problems and build their reputation, not an unfortunate ability passed down through their blood. 

She was stunned. This dragon had seen something within her that had been carefully hidden for years. It’d been a long time since she’d tapped into those flames, making and dancing with fire as her blood yearned. Rangi could feel her heart pound, and maybe Kyoshi could see the shift in emotions on her face. 

For a dragon, she did seem really concerned for her well being. 

“I meant no offense. That’s what that emotion is, yes? Don’t tell me humans scorn the primordial elements.”

“It’s complicated,” Rangi said, breathless. The whole explanation was on the tip of her tongue, but it was tied. Taken by the frustratingly beautiful dragon in front of her, her head looming. “The primordial elements come from dragons, don’t they?”

Instead of an immediate answer, a shiver went down Kyoshi’s length, starting down her neck and into her spine. With an inhale the dragon yawned with an audible and tangible groan through the stone. Rangi fought to not smile at how endearing - how terrifying - that looked. 

“Yes and no. The primordial elements are themselves, and dragons can harness their energy. We are the element, and the element is in us. The mortals able to share in this power and manipulate them got those powers from dragons, a long time ago. So long, it's escaped human memory, and has become fuzzy in ours.”

Rangi was transfixed, like Kyoshi had been by the sound of music. She’d never heard this before, and fought against her curiosity and the exhaustion she can feel in herself and the dragon. 

This conversation felt forbidden. For a moment, she could forget how different they both were, and instead two women staying up way too late. Wanting the other to talk and talk, stealing the hours of darkness until the sun came up. Like friends. Or perhaps more. She banished the foolish idea. 

Surely Kyoshi was just amused by her. Rangi forced herself to pay attention, as the dragon continued to speak, her words slurred ever so slightly in her alluring hiss. It sounded so like the woman in the square, just with an added echo and growling hiss under each word. 

“I didn’t know them, but I would wager a fire dragon has touched your bloodline in some way. Your inner flame is particularly powerful.”

Rangi didn’t know how to feel about that. Instead, she asked another question. 

“You didn’t answer what I said before. Are you a fire dragon? You said you can make flame.” A pause, she didn’t want to feel presumptuous. She looked at the glowing crystals reacting to the dragon’s mood and breathing, the stone she seemed to like to lay on, the rich scent of soil and petrichor and wood coming from her scales, the deep forest green of them. “I don’t mean to assume.”

Kyoshi didn’t seem bothered. 

“I have power over fire. But I am not a fire dragon. Maybe in a sense,” she continued, speaking in the riddles that irritated Rangi more than anything. Mercifully, she started to clarify. “I am an earth dragon first.”

She waved a talon over a glowing crystal in the wall, and before her eyes Rangi watched as it crawled up the wall, as though pulled by the dragon’s grip with a sound like an avalanche, just going uphill. The dragon held her hand claws facing upward, as though cupping the immense rock between them. The crystal was huge, bigger than a carriage, and when it had nearly touched the ceiling Kyoshi willed it to root back into the wall with a clench of fingers and lowered her arm. Dust swirled down around them, and she rested her chin back on the stone. 

Wonderful. So on top of the natural weapons all dragons possessed, they had the ability to terraform the earth itself, send torrents of water and destructive winds to whoever wronged them. They were in a fortress of stone, roots of stone going deep into the earth. She should feel afraid, completely at such a primordial creature’s mercy.She didn’t, though. Her fascination was always stronger than her fear - maybe that was something she had in common with Kyoshi.

Rangi made sure she wasn’t slack jawed. She had only heard rumors of anyone having that ability, hearing of the cities across the sea who could manipulate mountains and build great castles without effort, the power of nature rippling from on high. 

“And what…” Rangi hazarded once she found her voice, “would that be? In your breath?” She couldn’t help it. An old fascination with dragons rose to the surface, giving way to an even older fantasy - 

A dragon that was her friend, that she could talk to, when her tormentors in the Academy had gotten too much. In the end, Rangi had become that for herself, but still. This was fascinating. 

“Acid,” Kyoshi answered simply. “Gas or liquid.” One eye was open to stare at Rangi now, who was sitting on her bedroll transfixed. They were staring at one another, trading curiosities. 

“Nothing I’ve ever read says that dragons have power over more than one element.” She saw Kyoshi’s pupil widen slightly, and then constrict. 

“How quickly human memory fades,” she said. Her emotions were unreadable. “When I said the elements are dragons, and they live within us, I was being literal. If there are no dragons of a given element, it is said that it will refuse to exist - or become so out of balance, disaster falls on the entire world.” She shifted and lifted her head only a little bit, eye level with Rangi. Her breath washed over the armored woman, hot but not at all unpleasant, like pine and loam. She wondered what else such a creature ate to sustain itself. Kyoshi smelled too pleasant to match the books she’d read, describing dragons as like sulphur and blood, brimstone and death. She smelled and felt like an evening after summer rain.

Focus. One thing at a time. 

“Every dragon generation, one hatches with the ability to harness all four of the primordial elements. The world chooses them in a cycle that matches the seasons, as a safeguard starting with a different element in that order. A guardian. A bridge. Your kind didn’t always scorn dragons. Once, my predecessors were able to take a human shape and communicate with your kind, offering peace. Settling disputes. Any dragon can take a human shape, but my lineage? We’re better at it than most.”

Rangi remembered, and felt her face grow hot as she recalled Kyoshi’s human shape. It was nearly perfect, and while she had suspected it wasn’t entirely human, it could pass. Maybe. 

Perhaps centuries ago, that hadn’t mattered as much. The information made her thoughtful, imagining a world where this discussion wasn’t so forbidden, where dragons were not nearly extinct, where she could relish in her inner flame without scorn. 

“- And you’re the next one,” she finished for Kyoshi. The awe was not hidden from her voice. She can’t believe she’d never heard this before - why had that information been buried? A dragon meant to communicate with mankind, to balance the forces of nature?

And that was the dragon, of all dragons, who’d she had bumped into. Had tripped over her own feet trying to impress, like a fool. “The next… whatever that is.”

Kyoshi paused for a few beats. 

“There is no human word for it. Maybe there was once, but considering you have no idea…” She drifted off with a soft exhale. “That’s one reason why I was in your human city.”

“What were the other reasons?”

“Curiosity, plain and simple. My elders didn’t want me to go near it, there are too few of us left to risk. I went anyway.”

The admission made Kyoshi seem young. From her human appearance, they may have been close in age. “So you snuck out,” Rangi summarized. 

The dragon made a sound in her throat, awfully similar to a ‘mhm’. Rangi couldn’t help but stare at where Kyoshi’s wings were folded on her sides, the tender portions stuck out slightly, like the ribs of a misfolded fan. Was she still in pain? That was the risk this dragon had taken to experience humans. There was no blood dripping on the floor anymore, at least. 

She found herself at a loss for words again, craving this conversation like a stranded person craves water. Rangi didn’t want it to end, but she couldn’t think of another question to ask. She knew they crowded in her skull, but so much so that it was difficult to isolate one to ask. 

And Kyoshi seemed tired. That was obvious, even on a body that was so unlike her. She was tired too, all of this had happened in a day. This morning felt like forever ago, a tale from eons past of a knight who’d accidentally befriended a dragon. 

It would make a lovely story.

This was a lot of information to chew on. Dragons weren’t unfeeling, monstrous beings intent on destruction. At least this one wasn’t, this one had hatched to protect the world - not destroy it, even giving the horrible selfishness of human beings a chance. Rangi had looked into her eyes enough to see the heart in them, in both of her shapes. New facts solidified themselves in her mind, corrections to the old texts she was correcting with an imaginary hand. 

Dragons were not coldblooded. Dragons were intelligent, as much as any person, and perhaps more. They weren’t invincible, they could be curious, kind… 

Rangi felt her face heat up for the twentieth time this night. Kyoshi’s eyes had closed, the subtle red of the scales there now more pronounced, and she wondered if the dragon had fallen asleep.

Even if those eyes had burned into her all night, she missed seeing them. It had only been minutes since the last time she looked into them, and felt a pang at the sensation. 

Not a vicious beast. 

A creature who was intelligent and soulful, a heart that reflected her own. She’d snuck out against the wishes of her superiors a few times. Even this was forbidden.They had both taken great risk to help the other, after not being acquainted for very long. 

Dragons didn’t have souls. That fact had been pounded into her for her entire life. It no longer made sense in Rangi’s understanding of the world, so she replaced it. 

Slowly, she began to remove the layers of her armor. She was clothed underneath, and had an extra set rolled up with her meager supplies, and continued to assess the mountain of information that had been dropped on top of her. Reduced to a thin white top and red pants she slept in while on the road, a sudden chilling breeze into the cave struck her hard. 

Like before, she wasn’t meant to feel cold, and yet here she was, gooseflesh rising on her unblemished skin. Rangi grit her teeth, remembering belatedly she needed a fire somewhere in this prison of stone. There was nothing to burn in it though, except for what she brought. 

To discard her armor she had stood up and turned, to face Kyoshi again with her head pillows on her talons and her tail curled up near her face. There were at least ten proverbs about how disturbing a sleeping dragon was dangerous, but facts were facts. 

“Kyoshi,” she whispered, hopefully loud enough to hear. Rangi saw one of the dragon’s ears twitch, and the claws on one of her talons clench just a bit. It felt surreal, knowing a dragon’s name, and trying to get it to waken to the sound of it. Would she even listen?

There was no answer, time to try again. Rangi stepped forward, until she was inches from the creature’s face, and she could feel the soft exhale of its breath. Asleep? Or trying to ignore her so it could? “Kyoshi,” she tried again, more intense this time. Hands on her hips, feet slightly apart, she made herself look as imposing as she could in front of a creature many times her size. “You forgot something.”

The dragon’s ear twitched again, and she exhaled just hard enough to ruffle Rangi’s clothes and hair, which she desperately needed to tie up again or let fully down. 

“Dragons forget nothing.”

So Kyoshi was trying to ignore her. Rangi felt her face twist, and she knew she was pouting. 

“Yes you did. Since you’re this great bridge between human and dragon, let me remind you. Just like you reminded me.” Rangi fought the urge to poke an accusatory finger into the beast’s nose. How had she grown so comfortable with it so fast? 

Kyoshi’s eyes still remained closed. 

“Flame, remember? Wood? There’s nothing else in here to burn. Only one of us has wings, with any chance at all to get down to the treeline safely.”

Kyoshi made another sound in her throat. Maybe the dragon was hoping this annoyance was a bug that would crawl away so she could sleep. Maybe she hadn’t realized how serious this was, the consequences of her actions in taking a human from its native range. 

“I remember,” she replied simply. 

The admission made Rangi’s temper flare a little bit. Anger? No. Frustration? Yes. She lost the battle to use her finger as a weapon, and poked it between the dragon’s nostrils. She was amused to find the skin on it smooth and warm, slightly damp like a cat’s or dogs. “So we understand each other. I can’t get down from here without wings.”

Kyoshi’s eye finally opened when she was poked, and Rangi would be lying if she said the sight didn’t intimidate her again, just a little bit. The nictitating membrane that protected the dragon’s eye underneath the scaled ones slid back from over them a little slowly. Tired. The eye didn’t open all the way, and just. Stared. 

Instead of replying verbally, one of her wings extended outward again, on the floor. It gave Rangi another look at it, at the many holes still within it. The edges of the wing at their fingertips had torn the webbing between some of the arrows, and Rangi felt another pang of guilt. Was it enough surface area to fly with? Some of the flesh where the heads punctured was still a little swollen.

She felt suddenly silly, trying to get a dragon to follow her commands, but survival was survival. Still, seeing the way Kyoshi was hurt made things difficult. 

“Hurts. I flew all the way here with great effort, to get you away.” The wing is hesitatingly pulled back in a careful fold. “I need to rest and heal. Flight is risky right now, with the damage.”

They were at an impasse. Rangi’s face softened a little, and she removed her finger, feeling sour about the whole thing.

She didn’t respond, and turned her head to look at her supplies. The bedroll, her spare gloves, the spare clothes. Something could be burned, but not for long. Just when she was weighing her options, she heard Kyoshi shifting, her great length uncoiling. 

“I didn’t know humans needed warmth so desperately at night. You look tinier, more exposed, without your metal shell.” Rangi watched as the dragon shifted to lay on her side, hips moved so both of her legs were underneath one flank and exposed. The position exposed the dark, smooth scales of her belly, one wing extended above, the other still tucked away. “Move your silly fabric patch over here. The fire inside me will keep you warm this time, until I can get you wood.”

Rangi was dumbstruck, again. The sight knocked the wind from her sails, and she felt the way she did when seeing Kyoshi for the first time in the city. Unsure what to do, overcome, and she had no clue if the dragon understood how awkward this was, the thoughts swirling around in her mind. 

Did Kyoshi have any idea?? Rangi remembered the way she’d nearly brushed hands in the city, as though being unaware. The way the almost contact made her heart skip a few beats. There were tales about dragons driving unsuspecting people mad. For once, Rangi almost understood those stories. 

When she didn’t reply, the dragon tilted her head as she waited in that position, eyes still half closed. 

“Rangi?” She said her name again, and. Ugh! The way the sound of it  made her feel! She just knew her ears were red. 

It wasn’t even a bad idea. Survival training taught her that this was the next best option, sharing body heat. She had even done so before, and didn’t feel awkward about it in the past. So what gives? It had to be her instincts driving her away, sure. The same reason why a squirrel rabbit would hesitate resting against a tigerdillo’s flank. That’s all it was, surely. 

Not the fact that Kyoshi’s position was eerily close to a woman laying on her side, welcoming Rangi to lay beside her in the bed. That didn’t factor into this at all, the wing raised high above like a blanket promising to be tossed around them both. 

“Thanks,” was all Rangi managed to grit out, snatching her bedroll from the ground and stepping closer to the dragon’s torso. To Kyoshi’s credit, she didn’t seem too bothered by this, and let Rangi place her bedroll down as close as possible to those scales. 

As she settled inside of it and rested against them, Rangi was surprised to realize that the scales on a dragon’s belly were still hard and armored, but smoother. The difference between chain or plate, and extremely good leather armor. Heat blossomed from the contact, literally this time. She had to admit this was comfortable, the difference between an autumn night and the sun warming her from above. Or in this case, from next to her. Under her? She felt practically enveloped, and could hardly focus on her own thoughts over the way her own heart was pounding in her chest and ears. 

This was stupid. This was insane. How lucky. How unfortunate. 

How incredible.

Kyoshi didn’t seem nearly as affected as Rangi was. With an exhale, she let her wing drop, slowly like a great green tarp on a tent. Soon the warrior was enveloped in even more soft heat, the wing careful to not smother her. She could see the light of the glowing crystals above her, holes in the dragon’s wings making stars from those spaces in membrane. 

Enclosed, safe, but Rangi could still breathe. She focused on that, on breathing as the heat seeped into her bones. In this space she could hear and feel the deep, thundering pound of the dragon’s heart. She had to be near it, or was she closer to its stomach? It was hard to tell on the long torso. Either way, the powerful beats were still audible, and tangible. Pulsing through the warm skin of her stomach, Rangi wasn’t sure what to feel. 

So she just felt. 

It made her chest flutter, and she wasn’t sure whose heart was louder. 

This dragon wasn’t lying about the fire inside of her. Rangi could almost sweat, the space under the wing was so warm. 

Kyoshi’s heart was so large. In a literal sense, perhaps metaphorical, drumming a war beat against Rangi’s ear. She felt the gentle rise and fall of the dragon’s breathing, the way her length relaxed and she heard the dragon put her head back to the ground, on top of her claws. Otherwise, she could tell Kyoshi was trying to be as still as possible, to not disturb her, or harm her. 

Keeping her warm throughout the night felt serious, in the way those sinews tightened, the way the arm of her wing draped above the vulnerable human underneath. Rangi couldn’t help it, she nestled in deeper, braced against an elbow, her sleeping roll protecting her from the sharp scales underneath. The gesture from that wing was unmistakably protective, and it warmed Rangi’s heart more than the air around her did.

She was amazed she could sleep. The body could only take so much excitement before it badly needed rest. Rangi’s breaths evened out as she felt her heart tumble free of her chest, rolled over the edge of the cliff outside to glide on leather wings, and landed far, far down below in a pile of ribbons. 

A horrible, bone rattling growl woke her. It startled her awake, ready for a fight - and she realized too late that no weapons were strapped to her. A careless mistake. 

In her sleep daze, she flinched at the leather prison holding her. Rangi hadn’t immediately remembered what it was, and struggled against the position she’d been wrapped in. The growl came again, quite a number of feet away ahead of her, something primal in it. 

Fearful. Wait, that’s right. She’d slept with a dragon, one with a heart so big its beats had nearly kept her up. So what was she growling at?

Rangi pounded against Kyoshi’s chest, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to hopefully be felt. It all came back to her in a rush, the way she’d fallen asleep right here. Warm, too warm, the air nearly suffocating. She needed to breathe. Rangi’s fist came down again, the thump of flesh to harder flesh audible. 

“Kyoshi,” she half whispered, half called. 

Only twitches. The powerful limb under Rangi shivered, and curled underneath the wing with her, she could see the fearsome claws clench. It wasn’t an attack, more of an unintentional twinge. It took Rangi a heartbeat to realize they weren’t under fire, or in any danger. A frustrated, fearful growl on a creature so many times larger than her had sounded more terrifying and urgent than it was. 

Scales audibly scraped from outside her makeshift shelter as Kyoshi’s tail twitched, lashed, raked the stone floor. Her legs continued to move without intent. 

Was she dreaming? Growling at something in her dream? The thought was endearing and frustrating all at once. Rangi focused on that, instead of the ache of terror threatening to wrench loose, at being trapped underneath here. A creature so dangerous not conscious of her movements was suddenly deadly, instead of endearing. Any moment a claw could come down, a kick could be too close. 

Mercifully, the final pound of fist forced Kyoshi to stay still, and her wing arm snapped up in a great jerk. Light and clean air flooded the space, and Rangi squinted her eyes against it. 

Morning light came through the cave opening, drowning out the glowing crystals. There was just enough dimness within the cave to not be blinding, though. It took moments for her to get used to it. 

Kyoshi’s sides were heaving, as Rangi stood up and observed. Her neck craned over to loom over, as though checking for any injuries, the dragon’s warm breath rustling her entire being once more. 

Rangi noticed the scales in the corners of Kyoshi’s softened as they met, and a sigh came from that enormous, cavernous chest. 

“Bad dream?” Rangi hazarded, still irritated with the hair in her face. Stepping out of the dragon’s embrace, she began to undo and redo the long strands, to fix the long abused topknot. Kyoshi watched, as she usually did, and seemed to chew on the question. 

“You can call it that. Sorry.” No mention on how they had arranged themselves for sleep. Of course Kyoshi wouldn’t, she was a dragon. She couldn’t understand the effect it had, the way she’d appeared like a woman welcoming her to the bed. It conflicted with the sympathy she felt, she herself had her history of nightmares.

It only struck Rangi a little while later as she was preparing for the day, putting her armor back on and rolling up her bedroll - explaining each step to the dragon sitting up and observing her, that dragons could dream.

With the space better lit and cleaner, Rangi was able to observe Kyoshi slightly better. The dragon had explained that her wings were improved, most of the holes closed up or smaller overnight. That she would be able to fly without discomfort now, and the rest had brought more color to the dragon’s form. Her movements were easier, and Rangi had bitten down on her lip to not squeal in delight at the way Kyoshi stretched when she fully woke; mindful as possible of the little human near her, she’d bowed like a dog about to play, and stretched her front arms out. The way the long spine bended and the satisfied stretch of it made the dragon look like a combination of a cat and a snake, shivering all the way down to the tip of her tail. The stretch even made it to her wings, extending halfway with more of those satisfied shivers. A few joints cracked, sounding like stones falling down a mountain’s face. 

In the light of day, the dragon seemed less threatening. She was polite in her questions as Rangi prepared for the day, and it was startling how quickly they fell into a brief companionable exchange. They had talked rather easily in the city, once Kyoshi brought Rangi out of her shell a little bit. 

“You know,” Rangi observed as she buckled her second gauntlet back on - thankfully it wasn’t sticky with saliva - “It’d be easier to talk to you eye to eye.” She had to keep craning her neck up painfully to stare at the dragon, who tilted her head in confusion. Blinking. Then understanding seemed to dawn on her. 

“Not here. Then neither of us would have wings to get down.” Obvious in retrospect. Kyoshi had started to run her claws on one hand through the tuft of mane between her twisting horns, as though mimicking Rangi fussing with her hair. Or maybe it was a habit, not seen before, and her breath caught at how sweet it was, how the early morning light sparkled off the gold and green. “You wanted me to go get wood, but I don’t want to leave you up here by yourself.”

Rangi’s response was restrained. She folded her arms, doing her best to look serious. By the way a corner of the dragon’s mouth pulled in an imitation of a smirk, that might not have succeeded. “And why is that?”

“You have a tendency to find trouble, Rangi. It sniffs you out and catches you by surprise. You don’t even know when a dragon is right in front of you, in her human skin, talking to her like she is one of you.”

Was Kyoshi teasing her? Again? She was getting really sick of that. She herself had been trained to protect, to guard, to uplift the weak. How this dragon got their roles mixed up… it made her grumble. It was a mirror to how she’d felt about her meeting Kyoshi for the first time, afraid that if she let the woman go without help, she’d find trouble immediately.

“And?” Rangi asked through grit teeth, sensing there was more to the dragon’s words. She leveled what was hopefully a convincing glare. 

“You want to use your fire again, don’t you?” Kyoshi had seen right through her. She wondered if she could see anything else, and the question caught her by surprise. She was really sick of being caught off guard like this. Her fingers flexed in the gauntlet, testing the flexibility. Rangi nodded, finding any response incriminating. 

But she did want to dance with fire again. So badly it hurt, and the longing must have been plain on her face. She stared down at her hand, palm open and slightly cupped. So transfixed by the thought, Rangi almost missed the dragon’s words. Her nod of assent must have been automatic, pulled inexorably by her longing. 

“I feel alright enough to fly again. We will go together.”

“What?”

“That is the correct human word, yes? Together? Taking you with me.”

“You are not grabbing me again,” Rangi growled. Even if the dragon had promised such an alluring gift. She had a feeling that’s what the dragon intended, especially since she had her armor on once more. There were only a few minor tears in the softer portions of it from the dragon’s claws, in their manic flight.

Kyoshi blinked, brushing soft fur out of her face, and Rangi swore she could see the frown. Was she just hallucinating human expressions on such an inhuman face?

“What other option do we have?”

What indeed? There had been another conversation of discussion, before an idea had come to Rangi’s mind. 

She had ridden ostrich horses. Her dignity refused to bend in the face of being grabbed once more like a child’s doll, hurtling through the sky completely at this dragon’s mercy. What if she could manage it on the dragon’s back, though?

There wasn’t enough leather for a saddle, that much she knew, but there were scraps of it, and she could sacrifice an unnecessary buckle or two from her equipment. It took quite a bit of convincing on Kyoshi’s part, whose own dignity seemed really against the idea of being sat astride like a beast of burden. 

“I will not be like your smelly, hornless catdeer that obeys your every command,” were Kyoshi’s exact words, said with a growl and an irritated flick of her tail. Another impasse. It did amuse Rangi, in part, that they were both this stubborn.

So Rangi had improvised. Straps, able to be tied securely around Kyoshi’s neck only a short way back from her horns - where she would sit. The space seemed like it could accommodate her well enough, and she would only need enough material to make a crude harness, so her legs wouldn’t slip free. Kyoshi had refused all notion of reigns. They had argued for the better part of forty minutes on the plan, as much as anyone could argue with a dragon. Rangi conceded, by imagining she could hold onto the beautiful dark brown mane that went down Kyoshi’s back. So they had made their plan.

She sat just inside the mouth of the cave, with her materials out around her to work. It wouldn’t take long, but it would take some time.

It wasn’t safe. It was crazy.

It wasn’t something anyone had ever done before in known history, Rangi mused. Kyoshi had agreed, but insisted on stretching her wings anyway while she worked her dexterous human fingers.

Kyoshi’s takeoff was mesmerizing. The dragon had stretched out, crouched on the outcropping of stone open to the sky, and launched herself with a beat or two of those great leathery wings. The wind buffeting from them was whistling instead of shrieking. 

Briefly, Rangi stopped her work, and merely watched as she observed a dragon in flight, in the full glory of day. 

She had thought Kyoshi beautiful in the cave, lit by glowing shards of her native element. Each scale shone like its own gemstone, cut from a perfect hand, but in the sunlight? The effect was tenfold. Colors shimmered as the dragon twisted and leisurely flapped, encircling the valley in almost lazy spirals. Morning mist made prisms off each scale, and when Kyoshi was close enough a whole cascade of tiny rainbows reflected off green. 

The lazy circle around the valley passed close enough in front of the mouth of the cave for Rangi to see such an effect. She’d dropped her project with a clatter, forcing her jaw closed with a click.

She couldn’t help it. Her heart soared watching the dragon in flight, and she could easily call it the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen.

And Rangi was going to join her in that. 

She focused on her task, not hiding the smile on her face as she heard a joyful, almost musical bugle from the dragon. No one could blame her, flight sounded like the most marvelous thing in the world. 

It was also the first time Rangi had seen a dragon breathe fire, and it was like Kyoshi was expending enough energy to be… well, a dragon was never safe, but there was an attempt to be, by the time she would get near this human again.

Halfway between mountains, she’d seen the torrent of flames, directed at the sky above. Even from there, Rangi could hear the enormous inhale that filled the dragon’s lungs, and the hiss of power forming. The blaze was powerful, enveloping, a cone of fire that seemed large enough to lick the clouds, originating from between the serrated teeth and gaping maw. Kyoshi had aimed the blast straight up, and that same longing Rangi had felt before turned every beat of her heart into searing agony in her veins. She could still call upon her own fire no problem, but she still relished the sight of it. 

An element that had been a gift from a dragon, centuries ago. Rangi sat back down on the stone, having finished her little project, and she wondered. 

How had that been given by a dragon?

Her heart ached with a subconscious, fitful theory. Where had the longing landed, in the flames, or on the dragon’s back?

Kyoshi was finally returning. Rangi recognized the way her head dipped, wings pulled in just so, as she aimed for the mouth of the cave like an arrow. With surprise she backed up on the stone, pulling her makeshift gear with her. It was a loop, like she envisioned, wide enough to encircle the dragon’s neck at a thinner point near her horns. There were loops on either side of it, in the most ramshackle, makeshift harness for her legs Rangi had ever seen. But she’d made a sturdy shelter out of grasses and driftwood once, this would hold up just fine. Hopefully. 

Relief at Kyoshi’s return went back to anxiety, and she feared the dragon was going too fast. She retreated into the shadow of the cave’s mouth as the dragon got closer and closer, her wings beating a steady wind. At the last moment she reared up, and dumped the air out of them. Instead of landing on the outcropping with all fours, she clung to the edge of it, front talons gripping the stone and craning her neck above. The landing nearly shook the mountain, and Rangi saw how exhilarated she looked. Eyes wide, pupils blown like an excited cat, mane blowing in the wind. Her horns and scales sparkled in the light, and her jaws were parted just enough to breathe heavily, bright red forked tongue poking out.

“Are you done with your silly project?” Kyoshi asked, a little too loud. Rangi had admittedly taken her time, making sure it was done as well as possible, and using the opportunity to nibble from her ration. Some people kept themselves busy, not frolicking in the sky like an enormous bird. She felt the corner of her lip twitching at the thought, admittedly happy at seeing Kyoshi in better spirits. 

Good gods. How had the dragon crawled into her heart so quickly? How did she even fit? Rangi stepped out, holding the makeshift loop harness, before schooling her face into something more serious. 

“This silly project is a compromise,” Rangi reminded, “If you remember.” She can’t believe Kyoshi roped her into this. She had no business gallivanting around the countryside, riding dragons, 

Falling head over heels for them. 

“But yes, I’m done. You just need to stretch out your neck.”

Kyoshi blinked at her and snorted, once, before lowering her head to the stone, still gripping the ledge and peeking over. The positioning was oddly cute, and worked fine for their purposes. With a few cinches and pulls, Rangi got it secured a ways behind her horns,  near the middle of the dragon’s neck. She asked Kyoshi how it felt, if it was too tight, and made adjustments. She was surprised to find how sturdy the armor made her throat, how hard it was to choke such a beast. It made sense.

It didn’t dawn on Rangi, until she had hoisted herself up into position, that she was going to ride a dragon. Her fingers shook ever so slightly as they gripped the mane running between her legs. She could see clearly past Kyoshi’s horns, and the realization left her breathless. With a lift of the dragon’s head, she made an undignified noise in her throat, and grabbed the fur in front of her tighter, hoping she had looped the straps around her legs well enough, that she could grip tight enough should they come free. Secured, Rangi subtly dug her heels into the scales of the dragons neck, and pushed herself forward. “Alright, come on. Up on the ledge.” Her first mistake was trying to direct a being like this. Her intention was to guide the dragon to take off like she did before, safely and easily, so as to not strange the makeshift harness.

Kyoshi turned her head on the long graceful neck Rangi was astride, and she could see how vast the valley was. There was no sign that Kyoshi was listening to her, unfortunately. Ringed by snow peaked mountains, dipping far down into a wide river and a dense forest, she could not immediately place the location from the information in her mind.

What Rangi did know, however, is that it was a long. Long. Long way down. A peek behind her saw that Kyoshi was still only clinging to the side of the mountain, claws gouging furrows into the stone. It was easily hundreds of feet below to the tops of trees, and she fought the urge to squeeze her eyes shut, like she had when Kyoshi brought her here for the first time. 

The dragon shifted, and Rangi could feel the breath she was taking, scales warm and scraping against the legs of her armor. Wait, wait a second. 

“I said up!”

Kyoshi’s leg muscles clenched, and her wings unfurled again, like the largest iron fans in existence. No. No no no, was she taking off here? The dragon reared her head up, and Rangi gripped the fur in front of her tighter to avoid spilling backward down her mount’s spine, before the head straightened. This wouldn’t be like the takeoff from earlier, four talons on the ground and a graceful push. Rangi’s eyes widened. 

“Kyoshi!” She cried, and felt the dragon under her shift, wings lifting and head turning to face the vastness of oblivion. “Kyoshi, no! Do it properly! Like before!” It was a weak command. Rangi felt like she was hanging over the cliff herself, and she realized fully in an instant how riding a dragon was nothing like riding an ostrich horse. 

Dragons didn’t listen. 

Ignoring her, Kyoshi braced her back feet in and twisted, launching herself off the cliff face. It took all of Rangi’s core muscle strength to not fly back at the force of it, and before she knew it, the dragon was in a dive. 

No no no no no. This is the WORST trial for the strength of her equipment. This was all wrong! There had to be a specific way for this to be done, with trust, and care. Kyoshi had taken so much concern for Rangi’s well being before, only to throw it out, the wind screaming in her face and threatening to undo her hair AGAIN - 

Snap

What Rangi thought was a loop snapping, was the dragon righting herself with the full extension of her wings, angling out of the dive and climbing. Sweet spirits, she wasn’t dead! She was still on the dragon’s back, gripping with all her might and seeing the sky above them open fully for the first time. 

Beside her, she could hear and feel those powerful wings beating them higher into the sky, before they levelled out. The tallest of the mountains were still above them, borders on an isolated bowl that was their temporary flying grounds. She could feel Kyoshi breathing just a little harder, but not with exhaustion, like a pleasant exercise. Her mane and whiskers flowed in the wind like the grasses far below where the trees didn’t touch, and Rangi looked down at the landscape wheeling underneath them, lit by the sun like a sculptor’s lamp showing his replica off to an audience. 

Kyoshi’s flight was slow, not like the manic beating of pained wing before. Her wings were stretched out, catching the wind and seeming to drift on it. How such a huge creature could soar so gracefully was a mystery, one she didn’t mind leaving buried so long as she could admire the beauty of it. 

Rangi was also not clutched in the dragon’s claw, feet dangling and unsure if she would live or die. 

That fate had been decided. She had never felt more alive in her life, close to the Sun and far from the earth, the wind whipping her hair in a gentler way. What a breathtaking feeling to soar. Trusting her work and the strength of her thighs, she let go of the dragon’s mane and let her arms free, on either side of her. From the wind she heard a cry of elation, a laughter strange and foreign. 

It was from her.

The realization made her blush. She was having fun. Kyoshi’s flight was following the river, and Rangi let her. Her heart was still pounding, her anxiety left back in the cave for the moment. She laughed again, and balled her fists, pounding them into the sky as those great wings came down in a flap that shook the entire dragon. 

“Rangi,” Kyoshi said finally, somehow still heard by the wind. Maybe her power over it helped. Was her voice strained? Rangi leaned forward a little, just barely seeing Kyoshi’s eye turn back to look at her at the very edge. “Looser. My scales are bruising.”

Rangi realized she’d been squeezing her legs too hard. She thought it would be hard to hurt the dragon before, but adrenaline made people stronger than they thought they would be. With a quick apology she loosened her grip with her legs, and settled more into her seat. 

And then she kicked, somewhat less gently, with her heel. “Well that’s for diving off the mountain!” she retorted. “You didn’t even take off like that the first time! What were you thinking?”

Kyoshi let her wings level out again, tongue scenting the flow of air. 

“I got excited,” the dragon replied sincerely. There was no malice in it, no teasing. It almost made Rangi upset again, but it was hard with how incredible flying felt. “Wait one second.” The dragon exhaled, and raised a talon in front of her snout, the equivalent of a thumb and forefinger pointing toward her nose. Suddenly the wind around Rangi’s face lessened, and it became much easier for her to see and speak.

Power over wind. Rangi had seen earth, she had seen fire and air. The most miraculous of dragonkind had come careening into her life, and she was amazed, still, even at such a small act of the dragon’s immense power. 

Like the claw in front of her the night before, held in front of her like a servant keeping a flame from going out. Why had Kyoshi not used that power then?

“That’s pretty convenient. I could’ve used that trick last night when you were carrying me! The wind was even worse then.”

Kyoshi paused a little too long, and Rangi felt her fur spike up. 

“There were other things on my mind.”

The admission actually angered Rangi. Such a magnificent, capable creature - a rarity, even among her species, that could command all of the elements - 

And she had forgotten one of them, the one she was enveloped in, while in the sky! It sounded like Kyoshi heard Rangi’s snort, because she growled a little in her throat, and it could be felt even through armor. “You forgot! Are you serious? It would have been nice to not worry about being blown apart, when a giant, crazy reptile had kidnapped me!” She sounded incredulous. With the dragon’s slippery mind, Rangi had thought she was going to die. Granted, death was more likely to come from the beast underneath her than the wind pulling her away - but a gentler ride would have helped her nerves.

“Did not. And you were fine. I still protected you from the wind, didn’t I?”

Was Kyoshi pouting? It sounded like that. It became even more apparent that they were similar in age with banter like this, and Rangi reached forward, just barely able to grab the tip of the dragon’s ear sprouting from the soft mane. She tugged, forcing a small squeak from Kyoshi. A squeak! From a dragon! She would’ve been endeared if she weren’t so mad. Surprise or pain, she wasn’t sure. It had to be surprise, surely it didn’t hurt that much. “You did!” Before Rangi could continue, wind suddenly screamed in her face once more with a flick of the dragon’s head. The wind grabbed Rangi’s anger and shucked it off to oblivion, like a dandelion shedding its fuzzy sphere.  It was somehow harder this time, and instinctively she dove to lay down across Kyoshi’s neck, releasing her ear and holding on tight. “What! Hey! I swear if you blow me off-”

After only a moment it stopped, and the retaliation brought a shocked, incredulous snort laugh from Rangi. After a beat, she heard the growling, halting gasps that signaled the dragon’s laughing. Despite the darkness of the night before, she found it hard to really stay mad at Kyoshi.

Either way, she was beginning to plan her revenge. Flight felt too free, too bright, to focus on an old darkness that threatened to swallow her up.

In the sky, isolated from everything she knew and any structure tying her down previously, the exchange felt fantastical and forbidden, like the entire world was the valley stretching underneath Kyoshi’s wings and tail, no one able to hear them arguing and laughing just below the clouds. Rangi’s life up to that moment had been drills, schedules, an exhaustive tornado of duties and reputation, oaths and expectations. She relished it in part, but nothing about where she was or what she was doing fit inside of it, and she found the difference vast and addicting.

Kyoshi’s scales seemed to blend in with the earth itself, the deep trees and the long grasses, the gold of the light between leaves. Her element, sturdy and reliable and everywhere. Rangi inhaled another breath of clean air, protected from the wind by Kyoshi’s power. “Rocks-for-brains,” she said, with both genuine frustration and affection, finding she liked the nickname. “I don’t have any wings, remember?” The dragon’s tail lashed at the end, irritated.

“How dare you? I’ve killed for less.”

The statement had no teeth, as they flew on, to a destination that Kyoshi had in mind.

Where Kyoshi had landed - gentler this time, with a thump on all fours as careful as possible - was beautiful in a completely different way than the mountain cave had been. In the far end of the valley was a huge lake, one of the boundary mountains so close as to have its reflection cast inside of it, a silent guardian watching over the deep blue water. The ground gently sloped towards it, dotted with smaller trees and what were probably thousands of colorful flowers. The only barren ground was the rocky shore of the lake, big enough for Kyoshi to land comfortably on. Her talons crunched into the stones, and her tail uncoiled languidly in the water. 

The scenic lake was beautiful, its guardian mountain snow capped. It felt cooler here. Just how far was Rangi from the city? Maybe it was a secret valley only the dragons knew of. She would have to ask, later. 

Kyoshi was breathing in a good bit of exertion, and without being told to, lowered her head to the rocks while still standing on all fours. Her neck was long enough for it. It took Rangi an embarrassing few beats before her shaky fingers got the loops off of her legs, and she nearly slipped off the dragon’s neck.

For the second time, Kyoshi caught her. Her palm faced upward and Rangi fell into it, gripped loosely but firmly. In the light, she didn’t miss how each of the long golden claws laced above her like a gilded cage, and the sight made her swallow dryly. Or that was just the flight over making her thirsty. Gently, Kyoshi put her down on her feet to better success. 

“I know you said you didn’t want to be grabbed, but I felt you slipping.” Once again, it was sincere. Kyoshi’s voice had gotten less and less cold and reptilian, showing genuine care. In response, Rangi rested her gauntleted hand on the side of Kyoshi’s face in an acquiescing pat. She couldn’t get the breath fully back in her lungs, and she did lean against the dragon for just a little while. 

“We’re even,” Rangi said. She found she meant it, and smiled into Kyoshi’s enormous, searching eye. She turned around to admire the view, stepping away from the dragon who blew an affectionate bout of warm breath that rustled Rangi’s hair. The transgression was welcomed, who would see?

So different, so quickly. Who knew fighting and flighting would do something like that? 

She heard Kyoshi’s claws crunch against stone as she shifted. “This spot seemed like as good a place as any to dance with fire,” she continued. “At least, I fly down here when I need to unwind. Now, please step back. You wanted to see eye to eye, and my fire is too massive in this shape to dance with for a human.”

Rangi felt her spine straighten, as she looked at the dragon again. She was going to transform! A childlike glee overtook her, but her face hopefully only showed a quiet sort of curiosity. 

“Makes sense.” Her heart picked a wardrum beat to play, the thought once again of using fire and seeing something else incredible from a dragon wrestling for space in her excitement. “Do I need to-”

“Nothing. Just stay back, it’ll only be a moment.”

The dragon lifted her head and folded her wings in tight, tail swishing a lazy serpentine furrow in the stone and sand. 

What happened next, Rangi could only describe as cooling and condensing. Wings and tail shrank, neck shortened. Stripping away those things, she could see the logical lines a dragon’s body followed that mirrored a human's. Arms were arms, legs were legs, and a neck was a neck. Wings would have separated into shoulders, and were returning to those structures, her tail part of the spine, all the dragon parts plausibly human. 

Kyoshi had managed it in moments, like she had been made for it. The air felt cooler without the impossibly long dragon coiled up on the shore, and what remained of it was a still very tall human woman crouched there on the rocks. She stood. 

Rangi’s intrigue turned into a white hot lightning bolt of embarrassment. 

Aside from the hilariously too large handmade harness on her neck - that Kyoshi swiftly grabbed and removed to discard on the ground - she was completely, entirely, shatteringly naked. As nude as the day a human would be born. Rangi’s gift for noticing innumerable details in moments came at her current detriment, or her fancy, depending on who asked. 

The woman in the square’s frame did not exaggerate. She was tall and muscular, but in the way people who had worked most of their lives were muscular - soft, just lean enough around the limbs to look graceful, as though she hadn’t worried particularly much about keeping her muscles. There was an adorable slight softness around her middle and hips, accentuated nicely by. A fairly decent chest. Mercy. The freckles that dotted her face and body even as a dragon were all over her body. Her arms, her stomach, her legs

Her breasts-!

Rangi was going to suffocate right there. The white hot surge of feelings she knew made her entire face as crimson as the red on her armor, and she made a strangled noise of shock. Turning around, she fought to get her breathing under control. 

Kyoshi didn’t seem bothered. 

“It’s colder now. Is that normal in this shape?” the transformed dragon asked, hands on her hips, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, and as though she was unaware of the agony her companion was in. The wind blew her long brown hair, free and wild. It went all the way down to her waist, and some of it even covered her chest. Mercifully. 

Rangi wasn’t looking though. “Humans wear clothes!” she screamed, and she fought with the supplies she’d bundled back up, buckled at her waist. With shaky fingers and suddenly furious motions, she searched for the spare set of clothes she had, like the fate of the world depended on it. A tornado of fire barreling down the mountain would’ve been preferable right now. 

Kyoshi tilted her head and looked down, arms raised to reveal more of her form as though noticing her nakedness for the first time. There was no teasing in the act. Her lips twisted into an adorable, thoughtful pout. “Oh, right,” she hummed in thought. “Forgot about that. Really, your kind is so fussy-”

Her reply was cut off, as Rangi angrily threw her spare clothing in Kyoshi’s face. It was the quickest she could turn around and do without staring at that gorgeous sculpted body some more. Kyoshi’s muffled note of shock was satisfying, and helped to cool the panic that was still bubbling in Rangi’s chest. 

They were accepted, but that didn’t mean the clothes fit. They were just a spare cotton top and loose pants, but on Kyoshi? They were tight, and still left her midriff showing, as well as most of her legs. She could only barely tie the pants around her waist, but at least she was clothed. Rangi could look at her without having a meltdown. Her ears still felt hot. When she fully looked, Kyoshi had her hands on her hips and had been grinning at her, eyes closed. The nerve! Rangi tried not to think about how the seams on that body were straining. 

This was going to be a long day. 

At least they could get down to business, finally. Kyoshi didn’t seem bothered by stepping on smooth river rocks, and was just far enough away from the water that it didn’t tickle her. The Sun shone high overhead, making calling fire that bit easier. With a quick inhale and an outstretched palm, she exhaled, and a bit of fire was dancing between her fingers. “Alright. Now you. I want to see!”

Rangi copied the motion, though in a more… refined way. With fire in hand, she had watched as Kyoshi juggled the flames, letting them glide around in the air and catch them, but there was no form to it. Natural and raw, clearly dragons didn’t hold the same arts for dancing with fire as Rangi’s lineage did. 

She could share something with the dragon, like Kyoshi had shared flight, and freedom. With a slight correction, and for the first time in ages, Rangi moved through stances, stepping with grace, pushing and punching with an artful force, and with elation she’d seen Kyoshi copy it. 

Her movements were restricted somewhat, by the tight clothing, but she got the jist of it. The sensation of feeling fire at her fingertips again was welcome and exciting, years of hiding washed away in the simple act of breathing. It reminded her of secret exercises with her Mother. Despite lack of use, the forms came easily to her.

“Your foundation’s all wrong,” Rangi observed, when they paused for a break. Kyoshi relaxed her position, tilting her head again. “You can make fire, but in that shape you need a root. Pure force can only get you so far.”

Kyoshi seemed eager, straightening up to her full height. It cast a shadow over Rangi’s body, and the warrior’s brow furrowed. 

“So what do I do?” The transformed dragon seemed genuinely curious, thrilling at this new usage of her power. In the background, Rangi had been plotting a slight bit of revenge. For the embarrassment, for all the little arguments they’d been having. 

“I’ll show you,” she replied, hands behind her back, showing a smile that hid her wicked designs. 

When Rangi had first been learning to control her fire, one lesson was most important. Learn how to suppress, to maintain. One of those methods involved holding a deep stance for an extended period, no matter the discomfort. It’d been helpful even without fire, how to hold her resolve even in the face of pain and exhaustion. To stand ankles apart, waist down, in Horse Stance was an agony she welcomed, it helped clear her mind. 

Kyoshi didn’t see it that way. It was… satisfying beyond belief, to see her struggle. In this vulnerable shape, Rangi had talked her into going into that stance. Her incredibly long legs parted and hips parallel to her knees, she was shaking with the effort. Sweat beaded on her forehead, seeping into her hair and the too-green eyes burned. 

“You’ll pay for this,” the dragon hissed. Why was she listening to Rangi now? She could just get up, couldn’t she? But of the two of them now, the entirely human woman held all the power and experience. When Kyoshi had tried to stand up off of it, Rangi had climbed her full weight on top of the taller woman, using her wiry limbs to keep her still. It was surprisingly effective, and perhaps Kyoshi realized her error in transforming into this soft, vulnerable form.

“This is for diving off the cliff face and not listening to me. For laughing at me, for nearly eating some of my armor - I could go on.” Rangi pointed a long slender finger at the ground, and saw more color rise to Kyoshi’s cheeks under her freckles. “Lower!” she demanded, and internally snickered with glee as her new victim swore and obeyed. Every muscle fiber shook.

Apparently, dragons understood revenge. They honored it like an oath, which is likely what held such a powerful being there. Kyoshi explained as such through gritted teeth, she understood her transgressions.

“Our flight back won’t be with that silly loop around my neck,” Kyoshi continued, venom in every word. She had mentioned being able to breathe acid, before. “Or in my talons. You will be in my mouth, flinching every which way to not be speared to death.”

It was a creative retaliation, in all fairness. 

Rangi had to admit this felt good, though. She’d felt powerless nearly the entire time, especially when trying to get a dragon to do what she was told. She’d harvest and devour this bounty for days, months, even years. 

Maybe part of it was the dragon’s gentleness, who even in this shape could likely pick Rangi up with ease and throw her into a mountain. But she hadn’t had any dangerous designs, as she reflected how gentle the dragon’s grip was in the sky. How she had been mindful when touching down.

How Kyoshi had laughed with her, and joked, and offered her own warmth at night. 

What a strange pair they made.

Mercifully however, the stance punishment ended. Kyoshi was allowed to get up and stretch and take a break, having to be corrected to not lap at the water on all fours like a creature. She’d looked up at Rangi filling her waterskin and cupping her hands at a crouch, and Kyoshi had obeyed. 

Not before spilling a whole bunch of water on her top. It was cute, really. The anger from before didn’t stay on Kyoshi’s face. 

They’d bent fire some more, once their muscles were nice and loose. Kyoshi was better going through the more formal stances, graceful and powerful, until she was a pace too close behind Rangi, who’d extinguished her flame in time. They’d been out here for hours, nearly the entire day. Talking, training, forgiving each other’s transgressions.

Both of their bodies were warm, pressed together like this, and Kyoshi instinctively encircled her arms around Rangi’s waist to catch her. 

Her chest felt distinctly different from this morning, when she’d been in her natural shape. Softer, smoother, pressing in like flesh should. Rangi swallowed and felt her color change, though didn’t break contact. Kyoshi switched to putting her hands on the other’s shoulders, and looked down at her. 

Pupils blown, eyes too green, smile soft. She was blushing, herself. Instead of her ears, Kyoshi’s neck turned red when it grew too big for her cheeks, and she was staring at Rangi again, both of them heaving gently for breath. 

“Sorry,” Kyoshi murmured. “I know it’s rude to stare. But I feel…” A sudden innocent gripped her, and she pressed a fist to her own chest, where Rangi’s head didn’t reach. “Like how the music made me feel. Feathery, light, painful jumps within. Why does it hurt?”

Her questions were so earnest, it made Rangi’s chest ache too. Did dragons not feel love? Or is she now, and experiencing that for the first time?

Oh, don’t be silly. That’s not love. It could be indigestion, or anything else. Overexertion. But it felt like how she’d been feeling the entire time. Rangi broke the embrace and turned around, smoothing out her hair. 

“Hurt how?” she asked instead. 

“Like my heart is too large,” Kyoshi hazarded. “I think.” Her fist stayed to her chest and then extended, palm open, as though desperate to feel her own heartbeat through the fabric. The remains of the fire could still be felt between them, at one point they had exchanged one another’s flames, guiding it back into the other’s palms, as though drawn to one another. 

Rangi had tried to not think about those implications all afternoon. She scoffed, a little bit. 

“I feel like that too, sometimes,” she admitted. When I’m next to you like this, her heart finished. Kyoshi perked up, eyebrows raising. Gods, she looked really cute when she made that face. It was amazing how much softer Kyoshi seemed, without the fullness of her natural form - the imposing claws, the billowing wings, the maw full of serrated teeth. 

This beauty was different. It reminded Rangi of the flowers that were up the slope, swaying in the wind. Drinking the sun and the breeze. 

“Really? It isn’t deadly, is it?” Kyoshi’s question was so earnest, Rangi laughed for real in a soft gasp. 

“Not the way you’re feeling it.” She found the way Kyoshi asked about these sensations endearing, and laughed again. 

Kyoshi looked like she was about to respond, but her throat moved in a pained swallow, and she furrowed her brow. 

“... Sorry again,” she said, her voice softer and sweeter without the echo of size and the growl within her throat she had as a dragon. “This infernal body’s throat closed up on me. I thought it was from that silly, agonizing little torture stance you put me in. My heart keeps skipping.”

Rangi watched the way Kyoshi struggled with her emotions, the feelings that body was making her feel. Did dragons feel differently in their natural shape? All her questions here, and in the city made sense now. She heard a strained gurgle coming from the other’s stomach and bit back another laugh, the way her beautiful face twisted and she pressed a large hand to it. 

“Rangi,” Kyoshi continued, her voice grave. “This body might be shutting down.” 

Oh spirits. Rangi put a hand to her face and shook her head, part annoyed, part amused at how dramatic this dragon was being. Clearly she had a thing or two to learn about human beings still. She personally had pulled war-grade arrowheads out of her hide, painful enough to leave her blood on the floor, and yet an unfortunate stomach ache and too much emotion in her chest had left the dragon thinking she was dying.

“Kyoshi, you’re fine. Human beings aren’t that fragile.” She couldn’t find much of her frustration, though. Being able to dance with fire under the clear sky, the swirls of color and the clean nature, had made all of her muscles loose and rejuvenated. Her arms raised, about to turn away and run into another explanation, when Kyoshi’s hands reached out, wrapping gently around Rangi’s wrists to keep her there. 

The contact startled her, and she looked up at the considerably taller woman holding her there, surprised. 

“You’re sure?” Kyoshi looked frightened. Even more so at the contact. “It’s more intense when we’re touching. Touch is so much more sensitive in this body! I can’t feel much through my scales normally but now…” Rangi was still in her grip, stunned. “I forgot how different everything felt. My vision is worse, taste is so much more sensitive -” she still wasn’t letting go of Rangi’s wrists. Her pupils went wide again, and a rustle of wind blew her long brown hair.

That answers that question. Dragons taking a human shape faced different consequences in each body.

“I’m sure,” Rangi confirms. What else does she say? She had a similar feeling, being pressed in close like this. How does she explain, without revealing the truth of herself? “Sometimes that means you enjoy someone’s company.” Her mouth struggled around the words, finding purchase. “More than usual.”

Kyoshi seemed to digest the information. In contrast to her natural draconic form, emotions on her human face were clear as they swept across her face. Not an ounce of it she could hide, without the scales and fearsome teeth and bold eye color. Like this, she seemed almost bashful, and released one of Rangi’s wrists. 

“Oh. I see.” A beat passed, and she raised one of her considerably larger hands, closer to Rangi’s face. “Do you mind if I… You’re so much easier to touch like this, and look at. You took great lengths to avoid touching me in the city.” 

It made Rangi speechless. She nodded, shocked at the offer initiated. Then she felt the contact of Kyoshi’s hand on her cheek, fingers long enough that they nearly stole away into black locks. The dragon’s hand was warm, in her human body. Rough in a pleasing way, her fingers thick and strong and yet still so earnest. 

“This is nice, without claws in the way,” Kyoshi murmured. Her thumb was exploring Rangi’s cheek who, to her credit, stayed still even while internally she was screaming. 

Did Kyoshi have any idea what this was implying?! Rangi could smack her. She almost wanted to, fuming internally about the way her hand glided over her face, thumb nearly at Rangi’s lips. 

The dragon was just exploring, that’s all. 

It didn’t mean anything. 

Rangi tried not to think about how, even in a human form, there was still such a difference in size between them. One of Kyoshi’s hands could encompass her entire face - or half of Rangi’s torso. The realization made her just barely shiver. Perhaps that’s as small as the dragon could shrink, her length was so grand in her natural shape.

A few beats pass as that contact tortures Rangi. Perhaps it’s payback for forcing Kyoshi in that deep stance, revenge was important to dragons after all. Then, Kyoshi’s voice, small in the wind coming over the water. It just barely started to lap at their feet. 

“Your eyes are brighter,” she observed. “Like polished copper coins.” Something in Kyoshi’s eyes sparkled, admiring them - it was a very, very similar look she’d given to the jewelry stands. A want, deep and unshakable. 

The blunt, earnest ways Kyoshi kept describing Rangi and her own feelings was really starting to get on her nerves. It made her want to smack her, and squeeze her cheeks so hard something popped. Still, what an odd thing to say. “They were a little cold, before. But now they’re bright, I can see your inner fire all the better.”

And Kyoshi’s face lowered a few inches, eyelids closing ever so slightly. Rangi didn’t have time to respond, unsure of what to say. It was such a silly observation, but it shook her to her core. She wondered if Kyoshi understood how important that was, letting them both have their fire dance between them - it had made those green eyes glow, exposing flecks of gold within. 

It’d be nice to wax poetic about Kyoshi’s eyes too, but Rangi did not have that skill. Lady knights in stories had it, bowing and taking a fine charge’s hand and kissing it, reciting poetry to win them away. 

But Rangi was not like this. She still refused to believe the dragon she’d somehow been ensnared with even liked her more than an amusement. Kyoshi’s face stopped, inches from her own. There was a silent question, another curiosity in those eyes, and before she could stop herself, Rangi very subtly leaned up. 

And Kyoshi kissed her. 

It was warm like the sun. 

It was fierce like a storm. 

Rangi had tasted flight before, and this was an eerily similar feeling, a soaring sensation after a dive that made her stomach fall into her throat. The kiss was like that. 

She was surprised at how soft Kyoshi’s lips were, still cool from the fresh lake water. She kissed earnestly, a little desperately, pulling at Rangi’s wrist again and pushing down, - down, nearly making her lose her balance into the water behind her. 

Reflexively, Rangi pushed her away. She hadn’t meant to, but she felt like she was going to topple over. If she’d thought about it, she would have much preferred to grab on and not let go, fingers digging into tight fabric and skin as though she were in the ocean and Kyoshi the only piece of floating driftwood. 

As it was though, her impulses won out, and she opened her eyes. 

To find Kyoshi stunned, arms stiffly at her sides, her throat bobbing an uneven rhythm. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she wasn’t breathing, as though wanting to shrink in between the rock on the beach. The sight made Rangi laugh, just a little bit. 

“You almost pushed me into the water, stupid,” she said, her giggles breathy and warm. 

One of Kyoshi’s eyes cracked open, shoulders hunched. 

“Kiss me a little softer this time.”

Rangi was normally not one for softness. She could handle pain, but she did not want to be dumped into the water. They’d embraced for another kiss, more gentle this time, her fingers finding their way into Kyoshi’s hair. It felt so similar to the soft fur in her dragon form, and mouth to mouth, some of her teeth were slightly sharper than normal. 

None of this she complained about. 

They’d moved to one of the sloping flower fields, talking and laughing and Rangi having to explain to Kyoshi that no, that feeling in your chest still didn’t mean you were dying and that gurgle sounded like hunger unlike the last one, have you eaten this entire time? After that exchange, Kyoshi had demonstrated her power over water in isolating some fish to capture, to gut and cook (Kyoshi was accustomed to just swallowing them, whole and full of guts much to Rangi’s chagrin, but did appreciate the extra care and flavor fire added).

When they had finished, they’d found themselves away from the water, full of energy and excitement, following the trails of flowers up a slope. It was strange, yet absolutely entrancing, how bright the flowers looked. How green the trees were, how the sky shone in even more colors than before. Kyoshi had explained in their walk up the slope that her vision was diminished with human eyes - that colors all stuck out tenfold as a dragon. 

Rangi, drinking in that love from such an unusual source, could probably understand a dragon’s vision. The world had seemed brighter, and full of more color.

They would have to talk more about what all of this was later, but for the moment, she was content to not label it. Navigating this with a dragon would be difficult, as would anything. For now though, Rangi had shed some of her armor by the shore with the rest of their belongings, and was half heartedly chasing Kyoshi through the flowers. Her long legs evaded capture pretty easily, but it was in the exertion that mattered, not the destination. 

She had felt set free, born anew. Kyoshi had said her eyes changed, and perhaps more than that did, for both of them. In the isolated valley, they could transform - it felt good. Freeing. They had run and yelled out after each other until they couldn’t breathe anymore, legs shaking from the energy of their dancing with fire, of their talking, of the chases. At some point one of them had tumbled into one another into the long grasses, the soft flower petals tickling skin. It was comfortable, and the Sun was starting to set over the protective sentinel of the mountains. 

It was certainly softer than the stone cave had been. Kyoshi found herself laying on her back, an indentation of a small giant separating clumps of red and yellow flowers from the blue near her legs. Rangi sat up, an arm draped over her torso, looking into her eyes. 

“Do you want to fly back now?” she asked, down into the green gaze that hadn’t seemed so piercing anymore. Kyoshi breathed out, and nestled her head further into the flowers with her eyes closed, arms stretched to their full length. She still made Rangi feel a little small. 

“I like this body,” Kyoshi said honestly. Rangi would agree, but for entirely sordid reasons that she didn’t voice. “It’d be nice to stay inside of it for a little longer.”

“But this body can’t fly.” She poked an affectionate finger into Kyoshi’s side, exposed in the two-small clothes that she wore. To her amusement, the woman under her giggled. Dragons could be ticklish? Maybe without all the armor. “I couldn’t imagine ever giving up flying. If I could do it, you’d never see my feet on the ground.” The Sun continued to dip, casting their hideaway in a comfortable shadow. The world hushed, as though responding to the dragon relaxing in the grass, barely contained in her human skin. 

“It can feel, though,” came the reply. Kyoshi’s fingers pushed through the soft grass, the stalks of the flowers around them. “You never have to worry about puncturing anything with your claws, or crushing them, or buffeting a new very small partner with wings or tail.” She sighed, and draped an arm over her torso. “You can feel within your body, too.”

“Dragons have feelings,” Rangi defended. “I could still hear the concern in your voice, even in that body.”

“And yet, it’s not the same. I hadn’t thought of… what was it you called it… kissing you? Until I took this shape. My lips would be unable to do it before.” Kyoshi’s eye opened, and her cheeks were still warm from the run, from the feelings surely stirring inside of her. “Human beings can feel like this, all the time. So powerful in such a small body. They can touch the flowers without fear of crushing them, caress one another and their soft skin. I can go back and forth, but I’m not so eager to transform again right now.”

Rangi bit her lower lip, enthralled with the way this woman spoke, hearing her perspective. She’d never appreciate her own existence so much before, and it gave her something to think about. 

Flying would still be better though, she thought. “You have a point,” Rangi agreed. In their conversation, the sky had faded from sunset into dusk, they’d been out here the entire day. Flying over, talking, dancing with fire, fishing. It was draining and exhausting, but wholly different from yesterday. With another brief, quiet discussion, they had decided to spend the night here. Kyoshi reassured that her scent would keep any predators away, even in this skin. If Rangi had sensed something off and wild about her all the way in the square, surely more sensitive denizens of the natural world did too. 

A small camp was set up on the slope where they were. Clearing a patch large enough to light a little fire. It flickered across their faces, dancing gently, a shared primordial essence in both of their blood. 

For the second time, they had shared body heat, but in this instance, it took Rangi considerably less convincing. Kyoshi returned to lying on her back, and she had no complains this time. Even fewer, in fact. 

It had been so worrying when Rangi laid against her scaly side before, she’d explained. “I tried to stay as perfectly still as possible.” The sentence was ended with Kyoshi’s arms draping over the unarmored knight's body, nestling into her chest. It was a loose hug, after a brief bout of hesitation with her hands poised over their position. 

“And you’re softer like this. Nothing sharp poking me, or suffocating under a wing.”

The admission made Kyoshi grin, and wrap her arms tighter. Warmth flooded through both of them, shared and earnest. 

Pressed in so close, Rangi realized with some amusement that once again, she felt a nose in her hair. Nuzzling, and sniffing in intrigued gulps of breath.

She didn’t have the heart to tell Kyoshi that back home, that was taboo. Hair was synonymous with honor, and anyone touching it in public was grounds for scorn at best.

Something told her a dragon wouldn’t care, though. 

The thought of home made a pit form in Rangi’s stomach. She would have to journey her way out of this valley, returning to the capital. By now her absence would’ve been known, the failed ambush. Did her attackers see it was a dragon who took her away? Was she believed to be dead? Her Mother. She might’ve heard by now, word likely scent by messenger hawk. What would become of this, if it was known a dragon snatched her daughter to places unknown?

Was Kyoshi in danger?

There were too many unknowns, and she needed to plan. 

A wince from underneath her and a soft snort broke Rangi out of her swirling thoughts. Kyoshi had accidentally brushed her nose against the sharp hairpin keeping her hair up, and the indignation in the noise made her giggle into the fabric on the chest she was laying on. 

That could wait. She focused on the steady beat of Kyoshi’s heart, still big, still steady. 

Their mutual flame would always guide them home, dancing between them. Where home was, well, that was one of the unknowns to figure out - nestled somewhere in the space of their hearts.