Chapter Text
You channel your mana into the ring and send a thought into the wind.
Purple particles engulfed him as he looked one last time across the fields of Thistle Hill. They haven't changed since he left the village. Old, steadfast and beautiful as ever. Legs thought that he might come to regret not spending more time in it. Just lying on a free spot amongst the wheat and looking up towards the stars.
Then again, perhaps he is just getting sentimental. There will be plenty of opportunities to look at nature with his friends at the academy. Just as he finished that thought, the recall spell completed, and he was teleported back to the academy, closing the distance.
He opened his eyes and stood in the main hall, taking a deep breath. It hasn't changed, not really. The walls were still decorated in beautiful purple, and the tables they barely used were polished as ever.
As he was about to take a step forward, towards the hallway that led to his common room, he felt a cold breeze of air hit his neck. With knitted eyebrows, he turned around and came face to maw with a black skeletal something. He gasped and quickly took a few steps back, pulling on the magnetic fields of his knife and letting them swirl around him. He took his only diamond knife in his hand, the one he carried on his thigh.
He pointed it at the skeletal being and started it down, not moving.
It, in return, also didn't move and just moved its head to the side, eyeing him up and down. Well, heads, it had three in total and it couldn't really eye him, because it didn't have eyes.
For a moment both just stared at each other. At one point Legs’ let go of his spell, accessing it from a "safe" distance. It looked like...a dragon, he thought. By that alone, there is no distance far enough to be safe. It had large bony wings, similar to the knight's baby dragon. But her dragon didn't have three heads...right? It also had more of a grey tone than the pitch black the dragon in front of him had.
But a dragon could change a lot when growing up. So maybe...
"Are you Squiddo's dragon?" He asked hesitantly, lowering his knife but not completely letting it rest at his side.
"No, he is mine," came a voice way too close for comfort from behind him. Before he could turn around, a tall figure completely clad in black walked past him to the dragon.
The dragon in return shook one of his heads like an excited puppy while sitting down. It was really massive. It has been about three, closer to four, months now since seeing the parents of their current dragons, but he was sure that they weren't as big as the three-headed one.
The person took one of the heads in his hand and scratched its chin. It made...a rattling noise? Legs couldn't really make out what it meant, but judging from the body language, it was probably happy.
"Who are you?" The new person asked, turning to him with a calm expression. Legs couldn't get a read on them, but considering that they are inside the academy and have a dragon...were they a new recruit and the other one found out how to grow their dragon?
He hoped Gadget would forgive him for being a bit behind on that then. Now feeling a bit awkward, he put away his knife and let his shoulders slum. He breathed a deep breath out and needed to blink a few times to get rid of the black spots in his vision. God, he was exhausted.
"I am a student here at the academy. My name is-", "LEGS!" they heard a voice call from the top of the stairs. The young man looked up and made eye contact with a figure wearing a green shawl in her long braided hair.
Juniper
Oh Juniper, how much he missed her.
He tried to take a step forward, to close the distance between them sooner, as she ran down the flight of stairs and hallway separating them. He instantly noticed how his legs shook. He didn't even have enough strength left to do such a small task and decided to open his arms with teary and happy eyes instead.
He just wanted to be by her side, to be in her embrace and feel the strong pressure of her arms around him. He faulted the rough week for his longing.
Juniper gracefully navigated down the stairs and around the dragon whose left head followed her and nearly threw him to the ground as they collided. She pressed his head against her shoulder and his torso to hers with her other hand. He grabbed as firmly as he could with his shaking hands the back of her shirt and tried to close the remaining distance between them.
They stood like this for a moment, both content not saying anything for the moment.
But that moment was over way too quickly, as Juniper made a surprised noise and pushed him back by the shoulders. "Right, you haven't met yet," she said and moved around him and pushed him in front of herself. "Legs, this is Sir Osteon Duskhammer, a blacksmith and the new head of security." She introduced them. "Sir Osteon, this is Legs, the missing Feles member who we told you about. The one who has visited home?"
We have a cover story? Alright then, he has enough practice by now to play along.
"Yes, I recall-" They turned towards Legs, nodding once, "-it's a pleasure.". "Eh, yes, it's nice to meet you, Sir Osteon." He tried to nod politely, but it was probably way too hectic and could be compared to a fawn standing for the first time. "I hope everything is in good order in your home village?" they asked and let go of their dragon and took the couple of steps towards them.
They had tight-up black hair, pale skin and striking deep purple eyes. The way Osteon held themselves was full of experienced elegance, but not that of a distant one. It's the elegance of someone who found their reason behind their dedication. And by the sound of it, their dedication was the safety of the academy, the safety of the students.
Relief and concern washed over Legs, and he gave a small smile.
"Yes, it's all well," he laughed shyly. If it was true or false, he didn't know. Probably a mix of both. " I was mainly concerned about my mentor; he isn't the youngest anymore, but all is taken care of."
"Mhm, pleasant news then," Osteon replied with another nod. Before they could ask another question, Legs interrupted the momentary silence. He turned to Juniper, whose hands were still on his shoulder, and said, "Miss Hillstone sends her greetings. I have some books for you from her, and she said that you should come back and work, because the others, ehm, aren't as refined," he stuttered out, trying to signal to Juniper that she apparently knows a Miss Hillstone and has other colleagues working together with her in the library.
Juniper simply nodded with a sigh and put her hands on her hips, putting on an irritated frown, "She cursed you out again?" He spluttered for a second and looked away, fiddling with his hands. "Well, it was more your colleagues than me-" She raised a brow, "-but yeah, maybe me a little, too." They weren't talking about a fake librarian, were they?
Juniper let out an annoyed, way too authentic groan and looked towards Osteon. "Please excuse us, Sir Osteon. This one needs to rest and tell me a few more things."
"Of course. I hope your recovery is swift." Osteon replied, giving him a small but kind smile. "Th-thank you, Sir Osteon! Ehm, your dragon looks cool." Legs answered and immediately wanted to slap himself for the last sentence. Osteon’s smile just grew a fraction larger and he gave another nod. "He is."
With that as their goodbye, Juniper put an arm around him and pulled him towards the Vulpes dorm.
"Are you hurt?" she asked in a hushed voice, squeezing his shoulder a little. He revelled in the pressure.
She was there. That's good. He wanted her by his side.
"A couple of bruises and some minor cuts I already took care of, but besides that I'm fine.". "You are completely exhausted."
He looked away from her. "I didn't have time to take a break. Not really, at least." They went up the stairs leading to the Vulpes dorm, and Legs wasn't afraid to admit that he leant a bit too heavily on Juniper for support.
"Then you will do that now," she stated as a finality, and they crossed the little garden in front of the entrance to the dorms. The blue portal to the Resource World was just as bright as when he had left. When he learnt that there was an entire different world where they could get materials from, Legs didn't want to believe it.
Magic, the professor called it. Magic that only worked inside the academy's territory. Witchcraft, the common folk would probably say. A world of misery disguised as a paradise is what he would call it.
He wouldn't run away, not again.
Legs pressed his hand against his chest, right over where the two rings lay. Each day he was gone, he sent out a signal to each of the other ring holders, and each day he got signals back. At least from most of them.
"How are Megii and Ambear?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the path and focused. He couldn't tumble now. Gadget was most likely in Juniper's room, and he would pick up his little dragon and go to his probably now pink room. "Is my room already freshly decorated?" he chuckled, massaging his temples a bit.
If he had been more awake, he would have noticed Juniper stiffening beside him as they walked up the stairs. He would have noticed how her smile fell and a frown replaced it.
But he was exhausted, cold and just wanted to have Gadget in his arms again. So no, he didn't notice any of the signs hinting that something awful has happened.
"Well, you came back before the two weeks ended," Juniper explained, turning the doorknob of her door and letting Legs enter before her. "We uphold our promises, so it's not pink yet – Woah!"
An orange ball of scales came flying towards them and collided with Legs. "Gadget, buddy!" he laughed, holding the dragon tightly to his chest as he swayed slightly, having lost his balance. The little dragon pressed his head into Legs' shoulder and tried to get impossibly closer to his mage.
Juniper entered her dorm room too, closing the door behind her gently, so as not to break their moment. She joined Pinecone on her couch, who sleepily put his head on her thigh. She scratched behind his ear, and he pressed into her hand.
Legs stood there for a few moments, simply enjoying the scent of his dragon and savouring the feeling of being back. Being back to the place he could call home. Back with Gadget, with Juniper, his friends and other members of the academy.
He took care of everything that needed doing, so everything should be fine now.
Whatever problems might arise in future, they will take care of them.