Alys had assumed that having a dragon as a travelling companion would be difficult, that they would argue non-stop or that he would eventually eat her when she began to annoy him, but as it turned out she was wrong. Well, he could still try to eat her, but she sincerely doubted that he would. Not because he had any hidden feelings for her or he enjoyed her company a great deal, but Alys finally had him figured out. He was bored.

Dragons live for hundreds of years according to myths Alys had heard whispered in her village – and he certainly wasn't lending any additional information – but what had Selendrile been doing before he became her travelling partner? Flying around and terrorizing villages and towns. He had no vendetta against the humans, no actual reason to attack other then he simply could. A few months ago, Alys was sure that that is just what all dragons do, attack, burn, and kill. But now she came to the conclusion that that is just what bored dragons do.

"What's wrong with your face?" Alys' face jerked up in surprise at Selendrile's voice. He hadn't spoken for three days, so hearing his voice so loud had startled her. But not as much as she was when her brown eyes met his amethyst eyes, she found them only inches away, observing her clinically.

"Oof." Alys fell off the rock she'd been dozing on and onto the hard ground. Selendrile didn't comment as he watched her stand and begin to rub her hurt bottom, but one glance at his face told her that he desperately wanted to. She recognized the mirth he didn't even bother to conceal and glared at him half-heartedly as she bit out, "Nothing's wrong with my face."

"It was all scrunched up."

"I was thinking. You should try it sometime." One prefect eyebrow rose at her comment, and the corners of his mouth deepened, as though he was holding back a smile.

Alys sighed, and the corners deepened even more. Finally she gave up and, realizing they should probably get moving again anyways, began walking down the practically abandoned road, mumbling something along the lines of "stupid dragons." Hearing his quiet chuckling behind her, she remembered his advanced dragon hearing, and began fuming about that too, stomping ahead of him.

They'd been travelling this way for several weeks now and had yet to reach a town. Just where were they headed anyways? Usually Selendrile just started walking when he was ready and she followed his lead, but she'd never thought to really wonder why. Ever since she'd began following him, he'd lead her from town to town, sometimes with an ulterior motive but most of the time they were simply travelling for the sake of moving. Like she'd already mentioned, he was probably only bored and this was his way of passing the time. But this time he was being really specific. Now he had a destination he wanted to reach. It made her curious. Curious enough to stop stomping and turn around to face him.

"Where're we going?" He blinked at her question, doing a good impression of a human's confused reaction.

"Down this road." It was spoken as though it was completely obvious, which it was when you think about it.

"No," she rolled her eyes, "I mean why?"

"To reach the next town." His eyes stared innocently into hers, succeeding in making her more suspicious.

"What's so special about this town?"

"Absolutely nothing." Her eyebrows rose skeptically. Something she'd picked up from him.

"We haven't been travelling weeks to visit an unremarkable town, right?" It would be just like him to lead them around in circles just to see how long it would take her to catch on for his amusement.

"No, we're going to stay there for a few nights and then move on."

"On? To what?"

"Another unremarkable town." For some reason, they way he said that made her disbelieve this statement even more and her curiosity to spike only that much higher.

Alys huffed, crossing her arms as Selendrile grinned at his own private joke.

"How long until we reach the first unremarkable town, then?" Hoping he wasn't going to say another week until a warm bath and cooked meal.

"If we keep a good pace, we should be there by nightfall."

Surprised by the good news, Alys shot him a bright smile as she quickened her pace. For some reason, for a moment he seemed caught off-balance by her smile but when she looked back half a second later, he had his normal blank expression, so she thought nothing of it as he easily matched her new pace.

A/N: Like it? Hate it? Let me know! Readers feedback always brightens my day. =-)