Chapter 10 - Don't Let The Dragon Try To Cook

*Summary*

KITTEN HAS A NAME.

(I mean, she's always had a name, that's how names work, duh, but now Laxus KNOWS IT.)

*Laxus*

Before heading out of town, we stopped for reading supplies I thought would be helpful. And by that, I mean a children's book, some paper and a couple pencils. The children's book was actually rather clever, it was called 'Don't Let the Dragon Try to Cook'; and I was slightly offended because I'm a damn fine cook, if I do say so myself. Kitten thought it was cute. We couldn't find any children's books about cats.

We finally got rolling around 10 am. We met up with the Hellbeast on the outskirts of town – he was just waiting there, like we'd arranged to meet up beforehand. This wolf pulled off 'nonchalant' better than most people in Fairy Tail. I was curious about him, so I decided to ask her about it.

"Kitten, what's up with Nimbus?"

She looked at me, and made a face. "What do you mean?"

"He's…not a normal wolf."

"Do you think there's something wrong with him?" She asked, starting to get huffy about it.

"No! He's just…not a normal wolf, right? Most wolves aren't this smart, in my experience."

"Know a lot of wolves then, do ya?" she asked, smirking at me.

"I've run into my fair share," I said, dryly. Oh, so many wolves over the years.

"What about him do you think is so abnormal?" She was genuinely curious about this.

"I've seen you hold conversations with him. Hell, I've held conversations with him. That's…not normal."

"Huh. No, I guess not. But, I mean, regular dogs can be pretty smart, so I figure, why not wolves? Maybe no one's figured it out because they don't take the time to get to know them."

"That's usually because they lunge for your neck before you can introduce yourself," I laughed. "In your travels, have you run into a lot of wolves?"

She cocked her head to the side, pondering it. "No, not really, no."

Now, that WAS unusual. The area where we are is usually jam packed with wolves. So many wolves. And bears. Gods, the bears.

"Was that before or after you rescued Nimbus?"

"Both, really." She pursed her lips. "Maybe it's the tattoos? Nimbus hates them." She shrugged. This was obviously not a subject that kept her up at night.

I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that was why she hadn't run into any.

We were quiet for a while after that, not really speaking again until we made camp for the night. We'd walked about 20 miles that day, give or take; but I'd wanted us to have some daylight left for reading before it got too dark to work on it.

Once camp was set up, and we had a fire going, I threw my cloak on the ground and sat, patting a space next to me for Kitten to sit down. She looked at me quizzically, but sat, as I pulled the book, and paper and a pencil out from my pack. We'd talked about the words and letters she did know, and it turns out she had a good building block where we could start – she already knew all the letters. And, it turns out she knew how to spell her name, which she told me that night.

Ilianora. Nor, she told me. She said that's what her father had called her. I thought her name was beautiful, like out of a fairy tale (an actual one, not our guild). I taught her how to write it, that night. That was after I'd written out all the letters, in upper case and lower case to use as a reference.

I'd taken her hands in mine, her holding the pencil, and helped her writ A. She said her father had told her her mother had picked it out and would not be swayed. I kept ahold of her hands to help her write it a few more times, noting that even as a beginner, her handwriting looked world's better than mine did.

We spent a little more time working on writing letters, then we switched to reading the children's book. We both sat up against a log near our campfire, I put my arm around her and read.

*A/N*

Happy New Year, my lovelies!

Sorry for the super short chapter. THERE IS GOOD STUFF COMING, I PROMISE. DRAMA. COMEDY. MURDER. (Well, maybe not the straight-up murder part, but...who knows!) There are things that had to be addressed to set up what's coming.

I tend to write what's coming to me, and it doesn't always come in chronological order. So then I have to go back and fill in the gaps, so it makes sense to those of you not currently in my brain. That's where we are right now. Gappage. Another, longer chapter should be coming up shortly, I just need to fine tune it a little.

Alright. Comments are always welcome! They always brighten up my inbox when I see them!

Be safe! Be kind!