Chapter 3
Author's Note: I lied... It's Christmas... Have Chapter 3! :D
Inside the Hold, time didn't matter. Being stuck in the darkness just made it blur together into a solid stream like a river. When the sun came up didn't matter, nor when the sky turned dark, as each day, each hour, each minute, all Taiga did was lay there and sleep.
Ever since that night where the Human known as Daiki had come to him, he hadn't been back. For another solid week, Taiga was left there alone, only being checked on by the guards every now and again where sometimes they brought raw meat and just left it inside the heavy door before disappearing. For that, he was grateful, as it gave him a chance to flame the meat without drawing suspicion, but more often than not, he found himself thinking about the only Human whom knew exactly what he was.
As much as he tried to sleep, his mind was ticking with when a squad would come by to claim his head as a trophy. For over two hundred years, he had passed himself off that he was just a wild animal, mindless and instinctual, but day in and day out, no one other than the guards came by.
With a heavy huff of air, Taiga pushed himself up onto his feet to pace around the cell, just trying to move his muscles that were stiff more often than not as of late. He hadn't been outside in a year, hadn't breathed fresh air in a year, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he began to wither away. His claws marred the dirt as he walked on all fours, shifting and trying to spread his giant leathery wings, but there simply wasn't any room to fully stretch. His wing pressed against the large solid door where he had rubbed up against it countless times, sometimes even rubbing his crimson hide raw just in an attempt to get out without drawing the attention of them. He had tried so many times to break the door, but with their knowledge on how to confine dragons, the wood was not only coated in Icemirth oil, but the metal bolts and hinges were forged from Glacial ore. It was all flame proof.
Taiga sighed once more as he rolled out his shoulders before laying back down, wrapping his long tail around himself as his rear legs laid limp by his side. He crossed his wrists and laid his head down, fully intent on going back to sleep, but when the heavy, echoing thunk of the metal bolts that held the large door closed broke the silence, Taiga's head shot up.
He started to growl as he rose to his feet, ducking his head and neck low as his teeth bared. He crouched and watched, listening as the gears in the door began to turn, clunking as they drew back the army of heavy bolts until they fully retracted into place. His huge heart had begun to hammer with the anticipation that this was it, that Daiki had told his superiors and they had come for his head, but when the doors parted and began to pull open by the mechanisms inside, all that stood there with his arms crossed was that very Human. And he was alone.
Seeing him, Taiga stopped growling and lifted his head up with confusion, having to squint his eyes a bit from the sharp moonlight. His eyes hadn't seen any form of light other than firelight in a year, and even the soft silver seemed to sear his pupils. It was a clear night, a warm night and as Daiki just stood there and stared, Taiga huffed and laid back down.
"What do you want?" Taiga grunted as he turned his head away from the Human.
"You calmed down?" Daiki asked, not making a move as he continued to stare.
Taiga just snorted and nuzzled down to go to sleep.
"I'll take that as a no." Daiki scoffed.
Taiga snarled, "Why are you here? Why did you open the door?"
"We're going for a walk." Daiki said bluntly, dropping his arms as he stepped inside the opened cell.
Taiga lifted his head once more, "Huh?... What for?"
"To get you some exercise. Why else would one go for a walk?" Daiki smirked, stopping a few feet away from the dragon and recrossing his arms.
Taiga huffed out through his nostrils, "You can't be sure I won't just fly off." His eyes narrowed.
"Yes I can... You've been locked up for a year, so until you regain your strength, your feet aren't leaving the ground." Daiki said as his smirk grew.
Taiga curled the jowl on one side of his mouth, "Go away."
"Oh, don't go starting that again. Come on... It'll do you some good." Daiki said with a gentle backhand against Taiga's thick forearm that was as big around as his leg.
"I hate how stubborn you are." Taiga growled and glared.
"Says the stubborn one. Now come on. We've got all night." Daiki said before turning and heading back through the door.
Taiga glared at the back of his head, tilting it in curiosity as Daiki continued to walk, his cloak softly billowing with the gentle breeze, but it was that very breeze that made his eyes roll into the back of his head. He hadn't smelt fresh air in a year, and it was so sweet that his lungs instantly begged for more. It felt refreshing as it grazed over his crimson hide, briefly touching his wings, and the longer the door was left open, the more he wanted to follow.
Sucking in a deep lungful of the night air, Taiga rose up onto all fours before daring to take a step forward, pausing at the door's threshold to peer out and look around with eyes vigilant for the four legged nightmares that paced the Hold. There was nothing, not a soul. Even the guards were missing and which meant, they had taken them with them. He looked up at the twinkling stars and they seemed so strange, so alien to him, but at the same time, they were familiar and inviting. It was a quiet night and one that was wholly suited for going for a walk.
"You're almost there. Come on, will ya?" Daiki's voice said from not far away.
Taiga shifted his gaze back to the Human, just standing and waiting with his arms crossed. He puffed out his chest and raised his head high, knowing that Daiki was right in that his chances of flying were so low, they were underground and wanting to feel more of the breeze, he stepped out into the night for the first time in a year.
The cool grass beneath his feet was soft, swaying in the breeze that made his hide shiver with delight. He spread his wings to their full stretch, groaning with relief at the feel as his muscles releasing the built up tension. It felt so good to open his wings, even if he had lost a great deal of strength from his confinement and wouldn't be able to take to the air, but he simply didn't care. The leathery membrane that stretched between the thick spines softly buffeted as it stretched to catch what wind was there and he actually felt himself, for a moment, get lighter.
It wasn't until he heard a low laugh that his attention returned to where he was and whom he was with, opening his eyes to glare down at the Human now standing at his feet and looking up at him.
"Feeling better?" Daiki asked, not phased by how large Taiga was when he wasn't curled up into a corner.
Taiga snorted, "Yes." He nearly said it too low for Daiki to hear.
"It's a start... Come on. We're just gonna walk and talk." Daiki said as he reached inside his cloak and pulled out a harness and rope lead.
The second Taiga saw it, his large teeth bared as his throat rumbled with a growl. His claws dug into the ground as he lowered his head threateningly, leveling his eyes with Daiki's that simply stared back with no hint of fear. He remembered that harness, how it made him feel, how it degraded him and there was no chance in hell he was going to let this tiny Human put it on him.
"Stop." Daiki said bluntly.
Taiga's eyes narrowed, but the more Daiki didn't move, the less confident he felt that showing his aggression was going to work in deterring the Human. He continued to growl for a few more moments before it started to ebb away and his jowls lowered to cover his teeth. Most Humans would have relented, but not Daiki. He still held no fear, nor did he hold hatred for him and therefore, Taiga was still confused about what to make of him.
"I can get rid of the guards for a short time, but not everyone. If someone sees me walking around with a dragon not on a lead, they might get suspicious." Daiki said, simply holding the harness in both hands to show that it was just a harness.
Taiga's eyes narrowed, "Fine." He grumbled as he lowered his head down that last little bit so Daiki could reach it.
Daiki slowly exhaled as he unbuckled the leather straps before slipping it over Taiga's head, settling it comfortably around his twin horns and making sure the straps weren't digging into his hide. He buckled the straps until they were just shy of being snug, which was where it would normally be if he wasn't dealing with an intelligent dragon that he had learned were referred to as Drakes.
"There... How's that feel?" Daiki asked, looking dead into Taiga's crimson eye as he adjusted the harness a bit more.
"Fine, I guess." Taiga huffed.
Daiki lifted the clasp of the lead and hooked it to the D-ring on the bottom of the harness, "Just relax. All we're doing is a walk."
With the lead in hand, Daiki began to walk with no real direction in mind, loosely holding the rope since he didn't need to guide the large dragon. The distant chirping of the crickets was overshadowed by the heavy stomps of Taiga's feet as he walk on all fours, his wings tucked in close that rustled and brushed against his side. Having finally gotten the dragon outside, Daiki was given a chance to truly see him, truly see that he was large and with a line of spines that trailed down his back and all the way down his tail to its end. His tail alone was just as long as his feline style body was and it lazily swayed with each stride he took. Even Daiki had to admit that Taiga was a magnificent creature.
"So... Hope you weren't too bored while I was gone." Daiki said after a few minutes of silence as they walked.
"Just like every other week, so no big deal." Taiga said simply as he just stared ahead, his strides small and slow so not to outpace the Human.
"I'm sorry, but it took me a week to look into the Draken Conflict." Daiki said, earning a brief glance from the dragon.
"You could've just asked." Taiga said with a snort.
"Didn't really wanna ask you." Daiki shot back, looking up to meet Taiga's eye.
"It was centuries ago, so it doesn't matter." Taiga said as he looked back forward.
"My people slaughtered yours and I'm tasked with somehow managing to become friends with you, so yeah... It kinda matters." Daiki said, clipping his end of the lead to his belt.
"You're off to a great start." Taiga grunted snidely as he rolled his eyes.
"How did your people even get overpowered by a bunch of tiny Humans anyways? I read that some of you were gargantuan sized, as big as castles... I don't get it." Daiki said, still walking and looking up to meet the dragon's gaze even though it wasn't looking back.
Taiga sighed, "It was never one on one. The Humans always came at us in droves. Sometimes 40, maybe even 50 people at a time to overpower us. The eldest of us would reach gargantuan size, but they were hunted by kings so their heads could be hung as trophies on their walls. Clutches were burned, broodmothers were slain and even hatchlings' throats were slit. The Humans hated us... Still do." He explained as he walked.
"Did you fight?" Daiki asked.
Taiga shook his head, "No... I was too young; Just a hatchling no bigger than you. My broodmother was charged with protecting the clutches of not only her eggs, but three others. We were all tucked away inside the heat den, but that's when they came. My broodmother tried to protect us, but the Humans flanked her and started slaying the hatchlings right before her eyes. She was distracted with what they were doing and that's when they struck her down. I ran away... That was the first time I had ever flown and it was to run away."
Daiki slowly exhaled, "You've been hiding ever since."
This time, Taiga nodded, "Hiding in plain sight as it were. The Drakes are oddities to your people. You're used to wyvrens who are just mindless beasts, but then there's us; Intelligent beings who just look like them. I learned real quick it was better to play dumb, than try to hide."
"How old were you when you fled?" Daiki asked softly, glancing ahead for just a moment to make sure they weren't walking into anything.
"16 years... That equates to roughly... just a few months in Human terms. I barely had a tooth poking out of my mouth." Taiga said, giving his head a soft shake to adjust the harness that was lightly chaffing against his head.
Daiki gripped the meat of his shoulder, "Wow... To think an infant had to survive on his own like that."
"Pretty much. I cowered in a cave for days, just... curled into a ball. I've hated Humans ever since." Taiga said, glancing down at the grass as both kept walking.
"Well that explains all the aggression at least." Daiki said simply.
Taiga huffed, "You don't know the half of it."
"Don't really want to. Just wanna get back in the air." Daiki said with a gentle tug on the lead to coax Taiga to angle left a bit.
"Try another dragon. There's no chance in hell you're getting on my back." Taiga grunted with another shake of his head.
Daiki stopped walking and tugged the lead once more, stopping Taiga's walk, "Bring your head down. I'll fix it."
Taiga just let out an exasperated sigh, but did as Daiki had requested and lowered his head until it was level with his torso.
"What's it gonna take to get you to trust me, huh?" Daiki asked, his voice a bit hard as he began to adjust the harness.
"Not being Human is a start." Taiga huffed.
"There isn't much I can do about that." Daiki said, tightening the strap that looped behind Taiga's horns a single hole to hold it in place better.
However, before he could fully strap it down, Taiga snorted and swept his head to the side, shoving it right into Daiki's gut and tossing him aside. The Human's gritty attitude was sandpaper on his nerves and he wanted to show him a thing, or two, but he had forgotten the lead was still clipped to his belt. The force of Daiki being flung away yanked him down onto his belly and with his head connected by rope to his belt, his head dropped down heavily onto Daiki's stomach.
"Oof!" Daiki huffed out, his breath being forced from his lungs by the heavy head that had landed on top of him.
"What the hell you do that for!" Taiga growled, firmly planting his front feet into the ground to push himself up, but didn't since Daiki was holding onto his nose.
"Not my fault! You tossed me!" Daiki growled back, gripping the small nose horn that tipped Taiga's snout.
"My fault? I'm not the idiot who clipped the lead to his belt!" Taiga huffed again, blowing a hard breath right into Daiki's face that had started to smirk.
"No, you're the idiot who let me put a harness on your head!" Daiki grinned wider.
Taiga growled and bared only the tips of his teeth as he lifted his head, but Daiki, as stubborn and irritating as he was, clung to his nose like a monkey on a tree branch.
"Get off! My nose isn't a tree you know!" Taiga growled even more, shaking his head to try and dislodge the Human.
"Then flame me off." Daiki said with a dead serious look in his eyes.
With Daiki hanging off his nose, Taiga could clearly see the seriousness, see the cold stare as he dared him. There was no amusement, no hint of joking in his tone as he clung to his snout, gripping the small horn with a leg hooked over his long snout. He could so easily blow him away, fry him to a crisp and run, but the fact remained that Daiki didn't seem to be afraid.
Taiga slowly exhaled as he lowered his head until Daiki's feet could touch the ground.
"Why are you so persistent? Why not just report what I am?" Taiga asked as Daiki slipped off and released his snout.
"Reporting you won't earn your trust." Daiki said, keeping a surprisingly gentle hand on Taiga's nose.
"What makes you think I'm trusting you?" Taiga asked coldly, but settled himself on his belly and crossed his front legs.
"I'm still alive." Daiki said plainly.
Taiga just watched the softening expression on Daiki's face with short glances at the hand still on his nose. It wasn't a threatening hand, but rather, a gentle one, how its touch was warm and not at all like the cold steel of a blade from those trying to do him harm. When that very hand softly rubbed the top of his snout, it was the first time he had ever felt a gentle touch.
Daiki started to smile as Taiga's narrowed eyes relaxed, softly and slowly running his hand up and down the dragon's snout. The hide was thick, but warm, firm as it stretched right over the rock solid bone of his skull. It felt like soft felted leather, the kind reserved for kings and it was a sensation that never failed to make Daiki's lips twitch with a small smile.
"Not every Human wants to kill you, you know." He said, slowly running his hand a little further up Taiga's nose with each pass.
Taiga slowly exhaled so not to jar Daiki as his throat lowly rattled with a low groan, still watching as the aggression left his muscles. Daiki had been right; At any time he could have flamed him to ash, but he had yet to do it when the Human was vulnerable. The only time he had unleashed his hellfire on the man, was when he was protected and no other time. By all rights, he should have, but each time Daiki had visited him, he had found he had missed having company that didn't look at him like a trophy.
With a low continued groan, Taiga fully relaxed and nudged his head a bit further into Daiki's arms, closing his eyes as that rumble continued, almost as if it was a purr. Daiki softly laughed at the sound as both his hands found their way onto Taiga's head, running along the firm ridges and around his eyes that were half lidded and soft. He was relaxing and it was their first, real step towards becoming dragon and rider.
"I'm uh... sorry I flamed you last week." Taiga said without moving his head, finding that Daiki's soft touch was calming.
Daiki's smile broadened for a brief moment, "It's alright. It's not the first time. In fact, the first time it happened, I got burned pretty bad."
Taiga's eyes opened just a little wider, "You did?" He lifted his head up out of Daiki's grasp and tilted it slightly with curiosity.
"Fuck yeah, I did. Check this out." Daiki said, sweeping his cloak to the side and pulling up his right pant leg to show the scar on the outside of his calf.
"Nice one... Looks like the fire of a Pyro-Whelp." Taiga said, pointing his claw to a peculiar arc in the scar that was familiar to him.
"That's exactly what did it. Nice work." Daiki said, letting his pant leg down.
"I got attacked by a whole flock of the little shits a couple decades ago... See?" Taiga said as he lifted his left wing and extended it high to show his own series of similar scars that had been hidden by the large expanse of his folded wing.
Daiki's brows lightly furrowed as he unclipped the lead and walked over, letting it drop to the ground with the knowledge that Taiga wouldn't go anywhere. With each step, the scarring became clearer in the moonlight and it stretched from the front of where his wing molded into his body, all the way to the back. A distance of a little over six feet.
"Boy... They did a number on you." Daiki said as he ran his fingertips along the long marks.
"Yeah... Taught me never to go after their nests. I was half the size I am now, so it didn't take them long to swamp me." Taiga said, actually raising a paw to scratch his long neck.
"Seriously? You went after their nest? You're a brainy one, aren't you." Daiki snickered as he dropped his arm to his side.
"What?... I was young and trying to make it on my own. It's not like I had anyone to tell me differently." Taiga shrugged, lowering his from leg as he watched Daiki remove his cloak and lift his shirt to expose his ribs and the smooth line that carved over them.
"Sword training. Caught a slice in the ribs. It put me down for a couple months." Daiki smirked with pride.
"A Human did that? What did you do to him?" Taiga asked, lowering his head to get a better look at the scar.
Daiki barked a laugh, "Nothing. I was on my face and bleeding. It was just a training accident anyways." He shrugged.
Taiga lifted his head, "I would've flamed him."
"I didn't really have that option." Daiki laughed a bit more before lowering his tunic.
"Check this one out-" Taiga said as he rolled onto his side to expose his belly, "Got stabbed with a halberd from a gang of orcs looking to severe my head. That was... oh gods... twenty? Thirty years ago, or so?"
Daiki stepped over Taiga's tail to step up to the pale tan hide of Taiga's belly, seeing a harsh and ugly scar that was well healed, but rough. It was just above his thigh and below his ribs, what would roughly be somewhere around a Human's hips, shaped like a rough cross with crooked lines and squiggles and it told him that Taiga had struggled with the halberd's head still embedded in his flesh.
"What you do? Wiggle it around?" Daiki asked crookedly as he placed his hand on it to feel how rough it was against Taiga's smooth hide.
"No. The orc did. He tried gutting me, but it didn't end well... obviously. Flamed the whole gang, but orc isn't my preferred delicacy." Taiga rolled with a bit of laughter as he laid his head down on the grass to fully lay on his side in the cool grass.
"Well no shit! They don't bathe!" Daiki returned with his own laughter as he stepped back away from Taiga's belly, but ended up tripping over that very tail he had stepped over.
Daiki fell back onto the grass with a guttural laughter rolling through his throat that was joined with the deeper notes of Taiga's. They both laughed as Taiga lifted his tail and laid it back down on Daiki's other side to encircle him, his streamlined belly hopping with his laughter. His eyes were even closed as he laughed and it had been so long, that the sound was like hearing the wind for the first time.
"Good going, twinkle toes. How'd you manage that?" Taiga chortled through his laughter, his cheeks pulling up to expose his teeth in a dragon's smile.
"Shut up! It's not like I have a whole lot of experience with tails!" Daiki continued to laugh as he just laid there with an arm across his stomach.
"It's not like it sneaks up on you." Taiga said, rolling back onto his belly and curling his neck around to look at Daiki still laying on the grass.
"Maybe not you, but me, yeah. It's not attached to my ass." Daiki said, craning his head back to look Taiga in the eye upside down.
"You get used to it." Taiga said, tilting his head.
Daiki's smile broadened for a moment before fading as he sat up, turning around a bit so he wasn't having to crane his head to meet the Drake's gaze.
"We have a week." He said, his laughter and smile gone entirely.
Taiga raised his head a bit, "A week?... For what?" He asked with another slight tilt of his head.
"To prove to my Captain that I've tamed you. If we fly together then, we'll get a mission." Daiki said, pulling a blade of grass to fiddle with it.
Taiga's eyes narrowed as his brow ridges pulled down, "A week?... Oh hell no! You're not getting on my back!"
"Then you go to slaughter and there won't be anything I can do about it. You and I have to fly, or the King deems you too wild and he'll order your head severed. That's it." Daiki said, his eyes reflecting with worry in the silver light of the moon.
Taiga curled a jowl, "I'm not some animal you can ride. I'm not a mount." He growled.
"I know that, but unless you wanna die, then you've gotta trust me. I'm a rider... Have been for a long while. This is what I do, Taiga." Daiki said.
"Then why were you grounded? What happened to your last wyvren?" Taiga asked, still glaring and with the tips of his teeth exposed.
Daiki sighed as his shoulders dropped, looking away from the crimson gaze in favor of staring at the darkened grass. The accident was still fresh in his mind, still raw despite the passing of time. He had no real intention of telling the Drake what had happened, but he wasn't going to lie, as that would not earn trust.
With another sigh, Daiki rubbed the back of his head and let the memory out.
"We were out on patrol near the Southern border, flying along the wall that separates Ghoulish territory with ours. It was getting late, but I refused to head in because I was checking out a lead that there might have been a breach in the wall. My wyvren had been flying all day and I ignored the signs that he was exhausted, but we kept going... Kept pushing." He refused to look up from the ground.
"He dropped." Taiga said.
Daiki nodded, "Yeah... I didn't know, but he had a hairline fracture in his left wing. No one caught it, and the stress of flying all day like that just... brought it to bear. His wing snapped and we dropped right out of the sky. We weren't all that high, so we could have survived, but I bailed because I saw a ghoul scouting squad in the trees. I didn't even bother to think that he still needed me, but I ditched anyways." He said, his eyes having gone blank as he stared ahead.
"What happened?" Taiga near whispered.
At hearing Taiga's voice, Daiki's dark blue eyes became seeing again as he actually steeled his nerves to look into the crimson. His chest hurt, but he pressed on.
"After I dealt with the ghouls, I went to find him, but when I did... He was already gone. He hit the canopy and rolled and when he hit the ground, he broke his neck. It paralyzed him, but didn't kill him. Instead, that came when another group of ghouls found him first and started eating him before he was even dead. I'll never forget that scream." His eyes became glassy.
"Did you end it?" Taiga asked with zero emotion in his tone.
Daiki nodded, "Yeah... Arrow through the skull... Right in the apricot." He looked back down at the grass.
"And that's when they grounded you." Taiga said.
"Yeah... Desertion of the King's assets... My third charge." Daiki admitted as he gnawed on the inside of his bottom lip.
"And they sent you to me hoping for... what? Soul searching?" Taiga asked, his tone harsh and judgmental.
Daiki shrugged, "I don't know... I just... I just don't know. All I know is that I have a second chance-"
"Fourth by the sounds of it." Taiga interrupted.
Daiki closed his eyes, but nodded, "Yeah... I guess so."
Taiga snorted as he glared down at the man, how he wouldn't look up to meet his gaze, and how his shoulders were slumped in defeat. He was a broken man, a lost man just trying to find his way and he was given a chance that turned out to be near impossible. If he had been a plain wyvren, an animal, then Daiki would more than likely have already taken to the sky, but since he was a Drake, a race of dragons with remarkable intelligence, he was fighting a losing battle. Taiga was starting to feel that they were in the same boat.
"Why tell me what happened? You had to have known how it would make you look." Taiga said after a few minutes, still not earning Daiki's ashamed gaze.
"I know... But it's like I said earlier; You won't trust me if I lie to you." Daiki said, this time looking up to reveal saddened eyes.
Taiga sighed and plopped a clawed paw down on his snout with a groan, "For the love of all that's holy... You thought it was a good idea to tell me that you've dropped three dragons with the hopes of faking that we're all buddy buddy so you can keep your job?"
Daiki nodded, "Yeah... That's about it." He said plainly.
Taiga took his paw away, "Wonderful... And we have a week to make this work and me to let you on my back... I thought I could make it out of this with at least some dignity." He groaned and rolled his eyes.
Daiki scoffed, "I haven't had dignity in years." He slowly shook his head as he looked away.
"Oh, I'm sure. You've been sucking off that creepy Captain of yours for awhile. That's a great idea." Taiga scoffed.
Daiki's brows furrowed, "What did I tell you last week? I said not to worry about it." He frowned.
"Can't." Taiga said with a tap to his nose.
Daiki growled, "Well ignore it then. It's the only reason I'm not some begger living in an alley."
"I won't ask." Taiga sighed.
"Tough shit... I cowtow to whatever he wants because I love being a rider more. I'm good at it and it's the only thing I have that's mine. If that means I set my dignity aside to keep it, than so be it. I'm not proud of it, fuck no, but I do it because if I didn't have riding, I'd have nothing. You're my last chance, Taiga, and if this takes me promising that after all this, I'll let you go, than fine. Just give me one last ride before it's all gone." Daiki said, his eyes heavy and shining bright with barely contained moisture.
Taiga felt his heart thump as he sucked in a long breath, "So you've resulted to begging, hmm?"
With a snarl, Daiki shot to his feet, this time stepping over Taiga's tail to march away, but he only made it a short distant before a small ball of flame whizzed passed him to singe the grass and make him stop.
"Who said we were done?" Taiga said from behind him.
Daiki didn't turn around, "You made it obvious."
"Fuck you... I did nothing of the sort. Just find it odd that a rider is begging with his potential dragon." Taiga scoffed, still laying on his belly with his front legs crossed like a majestic tiger.
This time, Daiki turned around as a single, large tear fell from his eye, "Tell you what... I'll let you decide how this goes. You know the stakes, so I'll leave you right there, just as you are. I'll come back tomorrow night and if you're gone, then I turn in my papers and I'm done being a rider. I'll be that begger in the alley, but if you're still here... Then maybe we both have that second chance."
All Taiga could manage to do was lay there as Daiki walked off, leaving him out in the meadow and completely without restriction. The moon was high overhead, shining brightly and surrounded by loyal stars and under that silver cover, he found himself completely free to leave. The open air was inviting him to, was begging him to just as much as Daiki's tone had been, but he couldn't make his body work. All he could manage was to watch the man walk away until his shadow was completely gone, and the whole time he watched, all his mind could think of was where to flee, but his heart was speaking louder.
Never in his long 230 years had a Human, any Human, shown him any sort of gentleness, or kindness. Never had he experienced such gestures where a soul was trying to save his life. He had only ever experienced hatred and violence, so hearing Daiki say that both their futures were in his paws was something he didn't know what to do with.
Not knowing what to do, he just laid there in the grass, staring up at the twinkling sky with the hopes that maybe the stars would grant him his answer, but all they did was wink at him. They hung quietly in their inky blackness, never saying a word, or pointing him in the right direction. The air was quiet, but perhaps it wasn't the stars that were meant to give him his answers.
The nearby trees began to rustle with the passing breeze, their leaves grazing over each other with gentle touches and it was that thought that made his snout tickle with the phantom sensations of Daiki's hands. He had been so relaxed, so at ease that it made him tense all over again at the strangeness of it. He truly was at a loss, and with the stars not providing his answer, he turned his attention to the grass.
He turned his front paw over to look at his palm, his hand that served as a paw more often than not. He had to admit that his hand was really no different than Daiki's. He had a thumb and four fingers, all tipped with razor sharp claws, but his fingers were short, thick and more like toes. He touched his paw to his snout, but the sensation wasn't the same, wasn't as soft, or gentle. He knew he was so much stronger, but even with all that strength, he found himself wanting a gentler touch.
Drawing in a deep breath, Taiga rose up onto all fours and stretched, spreading his wings wide and high as he yawned big enough to see down his throat. It felt so good to have the room to stretch, like a cold drink of water on a hot day, but that room would soon shrink down to what he had known for a year.
With one final look up at the clear and beautiful night sky, Taiga turned back towards the Hold.
