Hello, everyone, and welcome to another one of my stories. This is something I've meant to do years ago but didn't have the skill to do so... until now. As you will see, I've made some liberties with the game prologue because, let's face it, staying faithful to the script is already overdone. It's probably boring if I did the same, and thus, this. In any case, I hope I did well on this one. I've tried to make Nia as un-Mary Sue-ish as possible, despite her background.

Let the show commence.

One

Flying Without Wings

There was once a time when dragons and men coexisted, a time of peace forged in wisdom—a time unimaginable to the generations of today.

But all good things had to come to an end. The humans, blinded by jealousy, ambition and fear accumulated throughout the centuries, had one day sought to dominate over the dragons. They disrupted the balance through a sudden onslaught, a war so savage that the very foundations of their world shook.

The dragons, in response, had no choice but to fight back. However, they knew that the humans were far more superior in number than the winged creatures will ever be; mighty as they already were, they would fall before they could even turn the tables. And despite their efforts to gain the upper hand against humankind, in the end, the dragons had no choice but to retreat and grant their enemies their victory. They passed through the Dragon's Gate, never to be seen again…

This war was called The Scouring. And it had been a millennium since those dark days had ended.

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One would have thought that the idea of such a dark moment in history would prevent her from ever leaving the safety of her village, but Nia prided herself for being a risk-taker. Even though… well… most of the time, things never worked out for her.

Yes, yes, she was perfectly aware by now that the humans living outside of her village would treat her far more differently than the humans of her village would. That is to say, they could treat her harshly the moment they found out who or what she really was. Outsiders that were, by the way, greedy, ambitious, rude, judgmental, bloodthirsty, and any other negative characteristics that existed in their vocabulary. And yes, for the love of the divine dragons or whoever or whatever, the moment they find out where exactly she'd been living her whole life, she may as well signal the end of Arcadia.

For that was where she'd lived. Nice, wonderful, hidden Arcadia, home to dragons and humans who refused to participate in that pointless war almost a thousand years ago. It was a village hidden somewhere in the great Nabata desert, on the southwestern side of the continent Elibe. And throughout her entire life, Nia had only known of two people who actually found the place. It was impressive.

Still, she supposed that every Arcadian had a good reason to deter her from ever attempting to see the outside world, however much they knew it would be wiser to let one experience mistakes before one ever truly learned.

Nia was, after all, a manakete. Which meant that the moment any outsider found out that the girl grinning and chatting along with them was an honest-to-goodness dragon, she was as good as dead. Or worse. The fact that the world was not completely rid of dragons was a secret that those in Arcadia struggled to keep every day. For even just one person to find out the truth…

It would be a disaster.

But Nia was no caged bird. Considering how many centuries she'd already spent cooped up in one place, behaving like the nice, little dragon girl that she was with only books to stave off her boredom, she thought she deserved even just a few moments of freedom. An opportunity to sate her curiosity about the world that had changed so much over the course of a millennium. Damn it, she wanted to destroy her cage so she could spread her wings and fly.

Figuratively speaking, of course. Being outside of Arcadia demanded her to remain in her human, wingless form to blend in; a dragon flying by the mountains would sooner be struck down by arrows and ballistae than end up completely left alone.

And, anyway, she had gotten out. Otherwise, she wouldn't have journeyed as far as she had now.

How many days had it been since she left, again? No… not days. Weeks, more like. She'd long escaped the wide expanse of sand, sand, and, oh joy, even more sand. Sand that somehow managed to slip inside her leather boots and be the mother of all discomforts. The slightly uneven rocky ground that she currently walked on had been a much preferable alternative; Nia simply had to be careful not to step on something loose that may cause a landslide. Mountain paths could be tricky like that.

Nia was quite sure that she was in big trouble when she finally returned home, though. That much she was certain of. She'd quietly sneaked out of the village after spending years of observing the village guardians' patterns, memorizing it all until the memory came to her with zero effort. She'd patiently waited for the opportunity to present itself. And patience went hand-in-hand for those whom had already spent more than a century of living.

In fact, it was actually a miracle in itself that she managed to escape. Even the best plans went awry.

Of course, Nia was smart enough to take precautions, as well. She'd made sure that, before she left, she learned whatever she could of what to expect outside the village. Which meant studying about Elibe in whole, what countries it consisted of… etcetera, etcetera. She'd left her dragonstone—her source of power—behind, knowing that bringing it along was much riskier than traveling without it. After all, it could fall into the wrong hands, or worse—she'd accidentally transform and reveal to the world Arcadia's well-kept secret.

She'd also spent a lot of time shaping her new identity to mask her real one. Nia wasn't an idiot to traipse around Elibe without being able to stave off suspicion.

Although, in all honesty, I've always wanted to be a tactician, Nia thought. I believe I have the brains for it. And a history of at least a dozen chess wins.

And so far, things had been smooth-sailing. She was currently traversing a mountain pass, which she believed would lead towards this country called… Bern. Right, she'd asked some travelers on the road for specific directions. She hadn't been to that part of Elibe yet, and she'd very much want to spend some time there.

Also, she wanted to see how cute wyverns were in reality.

As she continually walked, though, her stomach rumbled, making her slow down and frown to herself. A quick glance at the sun's position revealed that it was about noontime; because she'd skipped breakfast earlier, she was due for some food. And water, judging from the dryness of her throat and the afternoon heat making her sticky with sweat.

It was only when she'd completely stopped that she realized the sounds of footsteps she'd been hearing wasn't from hers alone. It struck her as odd, considering that the pass was currently traversed by only her. But then… hmm, she did remember passing by a cave before. Perhaps she'd disturbed whoever was living there? She had been singing off-key a while ago because it had been so unbearably silent she could hear a pin drop.

Ah well, a quick word and a nice smile should do the trick. Her pointed ears were well-concealed by her carefully-styled brown hair. Nothing new here. She'd encountered non-Arcadian humans before, and she'd learned how to act around them.

I'll be fine.

Nia made sure her polite smile was ready, turning to face whoever was following her. However, she couldn't stop her nose from twitching at the scent that assaulted her nostrils as she heard the humans draw closer. It was like smelling a pair of stinky socks.

...Or not.

Suddenly, she thought that she might have made a wrong course of action. And, she added in her mind as her eyes grew wide and she took a cautious step back. I believe a strategic retreat will be necessary here.

Because the evilly grinning men in front of her—one of them, to her disgust, was missing some teeth, disgustingly yellow teeth—regarded her like a particularly delicious meat that had to be savored at once. She couldn't possibly describe it any other way, especially when the pairs of dark and beady eyes looking over her made her feel so… so filthy.

They were also armed, and they held their weapons in a way that let her know exactly what would happen if she resisted.

And she… well. She didn't know how to fight two against one, let alone one-on-one. There was no reason to learn combat when one lived in a village that only knew of peace. Perhaps as a dragon, she might have a chance at escape, if not victory she'd fight tooth and nail for… but right now, she was—as far as anyone was concerned—a human.

And she was as weak as one.

"I don't suppose you'll just let me go on my merry way and forget this ever happened, do you?" Nia asked cheerfully, trying not to look at their sharp weapons. She tried not looking at their faces either, ugly as it were.

"Yer first mistake was passin' through this place, little girl. Alone, no less." The man who could pass as their leader stepped forward with a threatening posture. It was no doubt his attempt to make her freeze in fear because he wanted to make sure that he appeared larger than her. That he could easily overcome her because she was so tiny and harmless and it would be easy.

Right.

Actually, Nia felt more like she wanted to bristle at how condescending the words little girl sounded. She couldn't though, so she held herself back (barely) and settled with an arch of her eyebrows. She was as little as a thirteen-year-old girl, yes, but she was no child.

There was no denying that this was an unwinnable confrontation, though. So without further ado, she turned and fled before those foul men even realized what she just did.

"Blast! Get her, and don't let the twit escape!"

Her heart pounded against her chest as she sped through the path before her. Because the road barely deviated from a straightforward path, she had no opportunity to lose the men behind her (and what did they actually want with her, anyway?). She could only run faster and faster until she could feel her legs burning and—

She skidded to a stop.

Before her was a cliff facing the Sacae plains below her, and if she kept running and looking over her shoulder, she'd have completely missed her first turn and gone straight off the edge. Her only consolation in this was the fact that she wasn't on a platform high enough that a fall would be fatal. But then, she wasn't on one low enough for her to end up unscathed, either.

Her brief recovery was all it took for her pursuers to easily catch up to her. In the end, she realized with a sinking feeling in her stomach that she hadn't run fast enough. Thus, closer and closer they came, the intent to kill clear in their eyes.

There was only one last option she could take, because running some more would just wear her down fast.

Before the men reached her, Nia spun on her heel and took a running leap off the cliff.

She belatedly realized that she didn't have her dragonstone to bring out her wings with as the ground rushed up to meet her with an eagerness of an excited puppy.

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It was only later when she stirred that Nia realized she'd blacked out from the nasty fall.

A small whimper escaped her lips as she felt her forehead throb, reflexively bringing a hand up to massage the ache. Her fingertips ended up touching some sort of rough cloth instead of bare skin—which was a surprise.

She also smelled something… fragrant. Delicious, even. Cooked meat? Oh, yes, definitely meat. And… fruit. Yes, she could smell some fruit too. Nice and sweet—wait, she knew that aroma. Mangoes. They were her favorite fruit. She could also hear a faint sizzling from somewhere, now that her senses were slowly waking up. Something was definitely cooking, then.

Nia also realized that she was lying on something soft. Like a mattress, though not quite one. Mattresses didn't usually have this strange, earthy smell. They were also softer, from what she remembered, but at least this was just as comfortable.

She… was definitely not outside anymore.

I believe the moment for mystery is over, Nia idly thought and slowly blinked her lavender eyes open.

What she saw was the last thing she expected.

Her surroundings had all the appearances and the homey sensations of a house—a room. But at the same time… it wasn't. For one, she wasn't expecting her current shelter to be so… round in shape. Or, for that matter, made of cloth and some wood, if the walls and roof were any indication. It was a far contrast to the sort of house she had at home, which had been made of stone.

The look of surprise on her face must have expressed her thoughts, because Nia attention was snatched away from the numerous boxes of different shapes and sizes and towards a dark green-haired girl who'd cleared her throat. The girl's lip was curled upwards in an amused smile, her bright, equally green eyes staring right at her.

"Well, hello. You're my savior, then?" Nia asked as her way of greeting, shifting her position on the bed until she was sitting up. She winced slightly as her head throbbed again. Before the ponytailed girl could make move towards her with her eyebrows knit in worry, Nia raised a hand. "I'll be fine. It's just a little headache, so to say."

"You're sure?" The girl then asked, pausing from her movement. "You had been unconscious for quite a while now. I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't made a complete recovery yet."

"Huh? How long?" And then Nia's curiosity was ruined by her stomach that chose to rumble in an inopportune time. "…Oops. Well. It seems like that question can wait, on account of my empty tummy. I don't suppose that meal you cooked is for you alone?"

That made the girl's face soften a bit. She smiled. "There's plenty enough for the both of us. I'll be right back."

She left after retrieving a wooden bowl from a nearby shelf and returned with it filled with chopped meat, some rice, and sliced mangoes. Nia made a happy sound at the sight of it and instantly dug in. She'd been so hungry that she didn't bother asking for a spoon and used her hand to shove the bits of food into her mouth.

"It's been a day since I found you outside on the plains," the girl explained as Nia chewed and swallowed. "You're quite fortunate that whatever you fell from hadn't been too high. I wouldn't have known how to treat broken bones."

Nia decided not to acknowledge that she deliberately jumped off that cliff. And forgot she had no wings. "That... would be so terrible. So thanks, for saving me."

That made the girl smile widely. She took the now-empty bowl handed to her and placed it on top of a box for the meantime.

"Think nothing of it. I am Lyn, of the Lorca tribe. My apologies, I nearly forgot to introduce myself earlier." The girl, Lyn, said.

Nia shook her head and grinned. "No, no, I should be the one to say sorry. I'm so silly to have forgotten to introduce myself first, after all. Me, a stranger in your hut—it is a hut, right? Huts are round." Then she paused and realized that she had almost gone off on a tangent. "Oh! And I'm Nia."

Lyn chuckled. It was a pleasant sound. "A ger, actually, but I am not surprised that a traveler like you wouldn't know that. And you say your name is Nia?"

The manakete bobbed her head up and down.

"I see. Nia. It is quite odd-sounding when I say it, but please, don't pay me any mind. I'm sure it is a good name."

"I suppose it is; I'm not so sure if I find any name pretty-sounding, myself. They all sound so foreign to me. But never mind that. I'm just really happy to have met such a nice person like you, Lyn." Nia said, causing a genuine smile to spread across Lyn's lips.

"You must have met a lot of people during your travels, then? You wear an attire not uncommon amongst travelers. What brings you to the Sacae plains?" There was no mistaking the curiosity and interest in Lyn's eyes. Here was a person who obviously hadn't left her home much, just like Nia before. The manakete had that kind of expression from time to time.

In any case, this was a question she could easily answer now. She had practice before.

"It's quite a long and fun story; I don't even know where to start!" Extra dose of enthusiasm? Check. "But I think—"

Nia was cut off by a loud commotion outside, a bad mix of angry voices and crashing sounds.

She made a move to stand up to peer at the rolled up flap that was this ger's window. But a hand on her shoulder stopped her before she could do so. She hadn't realized that Lyn had moved closer to her and took a peek at the window herself.

She looked at Lyn questioningly as the Sacaean withdrew with her brow furrowed.

"I couldn't see from here." Lyn answered with a shake of her head.

"Then… let's go outside. I could also use some fresh air." Nia offered.

Lyn shook her head. Whatever traces of her earlier expression was replaced by a thoughtful frown as she approached one of the boxes nearby and opened a long, red, rectangular one. A sword—it was pulled out and the sheath's strap was tied to the sash on her waist. "No. I don't believe you are fit to get out of bed just yet. So stay, and wait for my return. I'll see what the commotion is."

And she was gone before Nia could object any further. Well, then.

Let it be known that I'm poor at staying still. Nia counted three seconds before she stood up—ow, stupid, hurting forehead—and shoved her feet into her boots. She fastened her green cloak on when she found it folded by the foot of her bed and, despite a dull ache in her left ankle, she quickly walked out of the ger.

The bright rays of the afternoon sun nearly blinded her, making her use an arm to shield her eyes. When they finally adjusted to the brightness, Nia set off to find Lyn.

And there the Sacaean girl was, using a particularly thick-looking tree to hide her frame with as she peered out into the distance. When Nia approached with a soft but upbeat "Hey." Lyn nearly jumped and whirled around with her sword pulled out and ready to stab.

Nia, unperturbed, simply shrugged apologetically as she eyed the blade. She idly realized that Lyn was at least two heads taller than her.

Lyn, on the other hand, was... embarrassed. More or less. She returned her blade to its sheath with her own apology written all over her face. And then marched towards Nia, none too pleased about her disobeying her order.

"I told you to stay indoors." Her voice was in a low whisper. "There are bandits around; it's unsafe to be outside."

"What? Really? Let me see!" Nia darted towards the tree before Lyn could object and peered curiously in the general direction the plainswoman was looking at.

"Oh. Well... Those were the men that were chasing me before," Nia whispered back, shoulders drooping. "I'd know their ugly faces from anywhere."

"They what?" Outrage practically oozed from Lyn's words.

"They chased me and I had to jump off a cliff instead of getting myself caught; I had a feeling that they weren't up to anything good." She tapped her chin and hmm'ed. "Then again, killing is never good."

"I see…" Lyn's eyes narrowed at the faraway bandits and the hand on her blade's hilt tightened. "I've decided. I will stop those men before they could do any more harm. To you, and to the nearby villages. I can handle those numbers."

"Can I help?" Nia turned back to her with a hopeful look. "I would really want them dealt with."

"If you can fight, then by all means. However, you weren't armed with anything when I found you." Lyn pointed out.

Nia sheepishly scratched the back of her head, careful not to disturb the hair hiding her ears, and looked down. "Right... unfortunately, I haven't gotten to learn the art of going slicey-dicey with a sword." On second thought, she had an idea. Tactics. "Wait. I think I know how to help. How do you feel about being instructed in the battlefield?"

"What? Do you mean to ask if I respond well to commands?" Lyn asked. Up and down went Nia's head, accompanied by a smile. "Then yes. I should have no problems. I used to help my…" She faltered for a split second. Nia did not miss that brief flash of pain on her face. "My father before."

Clearly, Lyn wasn't fine, whatever memory Nia accidentally made her bring up.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"That's quite alright. Let's just keep our heads to the task at hand."

"Right! So let's see..."

There were only two bandits, in the end. No more had come. Which was good, because Nia wasn't sure if she'd be good at helping Lyn out if there were more. But now… Now, Lyn had to take out that bandit without attracting the attention of another standing by the larger ger. Which shouldn't be too difficult.

"So long that bandit nearby isn't looking our way, we can launch a surprise attack against him." Nia felt more confident about her plan the moment she said it out loud. Even more after Lyn looked at her with a certain readiness in her face. "In fact… oh. I think this will work. We approach him from different directions. I won't be able to fight, but I will certainly be able to distract him. If he notices me first, then you'll be able to strike without consequence. If he notices you first, then I throw a rock or something and get his attention. And then you strike. Easy-peasy. What do you think?"

Lyn appeared to mull over the plan, her eyes staring down at the grass for a couple seconds. When returned her gaze to Nia, steely determination could be seen in her eyes. "I think it's a good plan. Come, let's do this."

And so they did.

Just as Nia planned, she managed to catch the bandit's attention first. Directly walking towards the bandit in an air of casualness tended to do that, after all. She was even humming, though this time, she had no idea what kind of tune it was.

"Hello." Nia paused from her 'stroll' and gave the bandit a cheeky grin and a small wave when his grouchy face turned to her. "Nice day, isn't it?"

At first, he didn't recognize her. But five seconds later… "You. You're the one from—"

Alas, he didn't get to finish his sentence, surprise etched across his face when a sword pierced through his chest like a needle through a piece of cloth. He slowly rolled his eyes down to gaze at the blood dripping from his new wound, numb fingers touching the blade… then he died. Just like that. From behind, Lyn kicked his corpse away from her blade. She wiped her bloodied weapon with a piece of cloth from her satchel.

Nia beamed as her eyes met Lyn's. A grim smile was returned.

"Next one, then?" The Sacaean asked.

"Next one, then!"

And judging from the way Lyn regarded her with ill-concealed surprise in the form of her eyebrows raising just a fraction, Nia forgot that zeal and death were oil and water. Whoops. On the plus side, the Sacaean decided not to question her.

Moving on.

One more bandit, and they could call this a day and go back home.

There was no point in subtlety on this last one; he was standing guard in front of the large ger, his firm grip on his axe never slacking. From the way his eyes roamed, perhaps he was still waiting on more of his accomplices to come? Well, whatever it was he was doing at the moment, he needed to die. He troubled Nia, and now he was going to trouble Lyn and the other villages. That couldn't be allowed to happen.

"Straightforward attack it is," Nia ended up mumbling. When asked what she had just said, Nia uttered her words once more in a louder voice. Lyn nodded and the two of them went to face the bandit.

Enraged did not begin to describe the man when he saw Nia.

"You." He growled out.

"Me." Nia practically sang out. "My apologies for running out on you earlier, but I don't spend time with stinky bandits." She stepped back to give Lyn space and beamed. "Oh, and meet my new friend. She hates bandits. And you're a bandit. So I say you two will get along so well!"

And as Lyn's way of saying hello, she immediately went on the offensive, charging straight at the man apparently called Batta the Beast with her sword aimed to thrust.

Blocked. Batta had managed to position his axe in front of his chest just in time to meet Lyn's blade. The Sacaean leapt back before Batta pushed her away to make her lose her balance.

Nia, on the other hand, started searching the ground for any sizeable rocks. Pebbles simply wouldn't do for what she had in mind.

This time, Batta was the one who charged forward. He jumped several feet in the air, axe raised, and if he'd been faster than Lyn, he might have cleaved the girl into two. But he didn't, because Lyn dive-rolled to the right and brought herself up into a one-kneed kneel. She stood up and turned to attack once more—and this time, she managed to nip her blade at his upper arm before Batta could even attack again.

"Fast little bitch, aren't you?" Batta grunted as Lyn defiantly stared back at him. The bandit smirked. "Not for long, you ain't. I was tryin' to go easy on you, but I'm done playing!"

And then, anticlimactically, a rock smashed into his head and knocked his head forward.

Take that, scumbag.

Nia stood at least three feet away from behind Batta, tossing another rock in her hand up and down. She eyed Lyn meaningfully. The girl immediately got the hint and started charging forward.

But Nia didn't foresee how fast Batta would recover. He was upon her before she could completely step away. So before Lyn had swung her sword to behead the bandit, Batta had managed to give Nia a parting gift in the form of a swift axe swing to her stomach. And then his head popped off.

"NIA!"

It was like her stomach was chewed on by wolves, doused in oil, and set on fire.

But despite the pain, Nia still managed a weak grin as she watched her own blood drip thickly into the grass, sagging down until she knelt on the ground. The hand gripping her other rock slacked and let the object drop to the ground. Lyn was by her side at once.

Ooh, not good. Her vision was going black, and every sound had muted to a level that reminded her of the time she stuffed cotton into her human form's ears. She watched, dazed, as Lyn's mouth opened and closed.

Sorry, Nia thought she managed to say. But I can't hear you. Cotton-stuffed ears.

At least she died without anyone finding out her secrets.

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But then she didn't.

Nia opened her eyes to the familiar setting from before, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu as saw Lyn standing before her. Relief was written all over her face.

"Good morning. I was worried you will never awaken this time, you know," Lyn softly said as she knelt down to give Nia a closer look.

Nia's stomach, upon closer inspection, was bandaged. Thickly. A strange smell that reminded her of a poultice emanated from the wound, and apparently, she was as bare as a newborn babe with only a white blanket to cover her.

It's… always interesting to see my human form's bare body, even now, she thought without any embarrassment, looking away from her pale skin. She grinned at Lyn but made no move to sit up. The Sacaean went to sit down by her feet.

"Okay. How long was I gone this time?" Nia asked.

"Three days. Next time, Nia, stay at a safe distance." Lyn said, then she sighed and shook her head. "So how are you feeling now? Better? I had to use all my vulneraries to ensure your recovery went well."

Nia poked her stomach. There was a faint ache still, but she thought she would manage. Vulneraries didn't treat wounds as well as elixirs. But they did the job all the same. And so, Nia finally propped herself up and felt happy when her wound merely stung and did no more. Just the same dull sensation from before.

"Well enough." Nia answered, smiling. "In fact, I would give myself a day or two before I'm ready to move on from here because I want to go to Bern and…" She trailed off upon seeing Lyn's face. "Did I say something wrong?"

Because the relieved look on Lyn's face was replaced by that of complete seriousness.

"I was just reminded of something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Seeing as you're well enough for conversation..." The Sacaean took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Look, I can see that you've had some experience in the ways of war." Nia didn't. "So… I will make my words plain: I want to travel with you."

If Nia had been eating any food, she might have choked. Poor, imaginary food. "...I beg your pardon?"

"I have said what I've said. I want to travel with you."

"Oh. Um. One second." Nia bowed her head and tried to process the words in her mind. This was... she didn't... that is to say... damn. "But… say, wouldn't you need… consent? I recall you speaking about your father the other day."

"…My father is dead."

Those words, so hollow, and it made Nia's stomach flip uncomfortably. Lyn's eyes were distant, as if recalling a memory…

"I see." Nia didn't know what to say. She'd seen life begin and end before; she was used to it. "I'm... sorry."

"It's… it's alright, Nia." Lyn shut her eyes. Several seconds later, she opened them again; her eyes shone with tears. "I guess you should know my story. This happened six months ago. You see, I… my mother and father—and the rest of my tribe—they died. Bandits killed all of them, without mercy. They spared no one... not even the children." Lyn took a deep, shaky breath and shook her head. Her hands had subconsciously balled into a fist. "I still get nightmares about that day. I couldn't do anything, no one would listen to me, and... and..."

Lyn silently cried.

Nia moved to soothingly rub her shoulder, unsure of what to say.

It was only a few seconds later when Lyn finally managed to compose herself with one last sniff.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that. It's just—I have been alone for so long." A few more tears slipped down her cheek, which the Sacaean hastily swiped at with her sleeve. "I'm truly happy to meet you, you know? You made me realize that I will never grow strong enough to avenge everyone's deaths by staying here. I am strong enough to protect myself… but it is not enough."

"But..." Nia quietly replied. "I don't even know how I can help you get stronger. I'm still learning the flow of combat and the like, myself. Three days ago... it was a fluke, and you saw what happened to me."

"We'll help each other." Lyn said without hesitation. "So please, Nia. Think about it. I would be ever so joyous to accompany you in your travels."

She looked away, unsure. But when she hesitantly brought her eyes up to meet Lyn's...

No. Her mind screamed.

No. Because Nia still had a facade to maintain. And secrets. To keep. And having Lyn around... would complicate things. A lot. For one, how could she return home without leaving a sad person behind?

So no. Because no human outside of Arcadia must never find out that a dragon had walked among their lands.

And no. She didn't want to lie to Lyn, but she'd have no choice but to do so. To continually do so. And the guilt of doing that would probably accumulate until she couldn't take it anymore and when Lyn found out she would explode and...

"When you look at me that way, how can I say no?"

She could only say yes.

Because, at the end of the day, Nia was still a risk-taker. Maybe this time, things would work out for her.

"Thank you! You won't regret your decision, I promise!" Lyn pulled her into a careful hug, trying not to irritate the manakete's wound.

Nia could only hope that Lyn wouldn't hate her when the truth finally came up someday. Because it will. It was all a matter of how much time she could borrow.

No one, not even a dragon, could hide forever.

Please review and let me know what you think! I would very much like to know what else you might want to see in the future. :)