"Venti, I'm not calling you lazy or antisocial but you seriously need to get out more," Lest pleaded, placing down a plate of pancakes for his best friend.
"I don't need to do anything Lest. If anyone wishes to speak with me they know right where to find me. Besides, we eat breakfast together every day so it's not like I don't talk to anyone," the green dragoness replied in between bites of her breakfast.
"I sleep right next door to you Venti; there is literally a door from my room to yours! What would happen if I moved to a cabin down south?"
"Do you plan on moving? You would come visit me right?!" Ventuswill asked hurriedly, her voice openly expressing worry.
"No, Venti, I was speaking hypothetically and yes, I would visit you as often as I could," Lest reassured her.
Regaining her calm demeanor, Ventuswill casually replied, "Well, as long as you're not moving, I see no reason to make any changes to the way I act."
"C'mon! How do you think it would make me feel if I moved and you never visited me?! I'd feel like you didn't care about me!"
"You know that's not true," she cut in defensively.
"I know it's not but what about everyone else? They don't know you like I do! I know that you care about me and everyone else who lives here in Selphia but do they?!"
"I'm sure they know that I care deeply for each and every one of them, you included. If they want to they can ask me themselves," She concluded.
"You can't just leave it at that!"
"I just did and that's that!"
"No, you can't just sit on your royal rump all day! You're not going to be a shut-in, I won't have it! You need to visit with people and communicate; it's not healthy to be a hermit, especially not you!"
"E-excuse me?! Care to repeat that? I must have misheard you. In case you've forgotten I'm a ten thousand year old Divine Dragon! I think I can take care of myself thank you very much!" Ventuswill protectively rebutted, slightly hurt.
"In case you've forgotten I've saved your life not once, not twice, but three, count 'em, yes, three freakin' times! That really shows what you can do on your own doesn't it?!" Lest countered hotly, smearing the pancakes he made for Ventuswill all over her muzzle.
Ventuswill froze as pieces of her favorite syrupy breakfast dripped down her muzzle. How could he hold something like that over her head?! It's not like she wanted to die! She remembered how she had felt all those times. She was scared, cold, lonely, and powerless. All three times she had come close to death or had even completely died; he had been there to save her. He gave her a way out of the darkness; he had brought her back home, safe and familiar home. Yes, not only had he brought her home but he had made it better. He had filled it with people who cared about her, him being one of them. Each time when her world had come crumbling down upon her he had been there to not only help her out of it but make it even better. Now, here she was being yelled at and covered in pancakes by that very same person. Tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes.
"V-Venti? I'm sorry please don't cry! I-if you cry I'm gonna… I'm gonna…"
"Why? Why do this? Why is this so important to you?" She needed to understand this.
"I- I just… I'm not going to live nearly as long as you will, Venti. I just wanted you to be able to know how to make new friends, or have more than the few other ones so that when I… you know, pass away… it won't be as bad. Not everyone is going to fall from the sky and bonk you on the head like I did. I just care about you… hitting you with pancakes probably wasn't the best way of showing it," He began to look down while shuffling his feet.
He did it because he cared about someone other than himself, of course. That seemed to be the only reason he ever did anything. She'd bet that he'd starve himself if she needed it, not that she ever would.
"You're still very young Lest, you won't be leaving me or anyone else anytime soon. Why are you thinking like this all of the sudden?" She asked in concern.
"Well, I was outside of the city gathering some medicinal herbs when an arrow nearly impaled that back of my skull. I scared off the goblin archer, of course but then I got to thinking. What if that arrow hit me? At first I dismissed it but the more I thought about it the more real it became. If the wind was blowing just a little harder, or the goblin had aimed a little more to the right I wouldn't be talking to you right now. It might've been days before Forte or somebody found me face down in the grass soaked in a pool of my own blood with an arrow in the back of my head. Of course I really wouldn't be able to be sad about being dead but others would. What would my friends say if I died? What would they do? I kind of started to think about you. Not to be mean but like you said, you don't have a whole lot of friends. I mean, sure, you have the other Guardians but then what? I thought that if you had more close friends, it would soften how my death might affect you," He concluded.
It then occurred to Ventuswill how fragile humans, even Earthmates, were. All those reckless missions and spells he cast trying to get her back could have easily killed him. Despite being seemingly indestructible on the battlefield or when he weaved spells, he wasn't. He was still human and still fragile. Age may not be the thing that killed Lest and that scared her.
"Y-you could stay in the city with me! I could send somebody else to gather things for you; you're the prince after all!"
"I can't stay cooped up forever and neither can you Venti, it's not healthy," Lest chided.
"Being shot in the back of the head isn't healthy either!" She panicked.
"I know, I know and I won't be going out of town for a while," Lest assured causing Ventuswill breathe a sigh of relief. "Because I'm gonna help you make friends with everyone in town!" Lest exclaimed hopping to give the dragoness a hug.
"Unbelievable," Ventuswill sighed causing a pancake to fall off of her muzzle and on to Lest's head. He kept hugging her regardless.