That was quicker... but don't get fooled, that's just because I have vacation XD I hope you enjoy ^^


Chapter XXXVII

The Foolish Wiseman"

I was woken up by a slight pain in my left wing. I felt someone's gentle touch on its sensitive surface along the second alar phalange and wanted to retract it and hide it behind me, but it got held in place by a delicate, but firm hand. I opened my eyes and saw Asuna, kneeling at my side. She was wrapping some fresh fabric around my neatly folded wing, from which the scent of fresh herbs reached me.

"Don't move yet, I'm almost done," she said soothingly, as if not wanting to jolt me awake too brutally.

I just nodded, still half-asleep, and looked around. I must have fallen asleep sitting, leaned against the rock. The warm border of sunlight falling into the cave was glistening on the hay just a little to my left. Further back, I saw Eugeo, talking to Armailith... I turned my head away in anger. Even having eye contact with him made me feel bitter.

"Something wrong?" Asuna got concerned.

"No, nothing," I covered my irritation with a little smile.

"Well, I think that will do it for now," she bound the ends of the dressing into a solid knot and extended her hand to help me to my feet.

I got up and carefully stretched my arms a little, trying to restrain myself from doing the same with my wings. The lack of movement freedom was rather frustrating, but I didn't feel nearly as much pain as before, and the wing was secure. "Thank you... you surpass yourself every time."

Asuna smiled. "Don't mention it. It's the least I can do."

"So... what are we going to do now? I can't fly and we can't just sit here and wait until my bones grow back together."

"Theoretically, I could take you on my back and fly with you..." Armailith interjected, sounding a little regretful.

"Theoretically?"

"Yes, theoretically. I can't leave my children without protection and taking them with me would be even more dangerous."

We all fell silent for a moment. The dragoness would be a huge help, not just now but next time we meet Sharish as well... But we really couldn't risk the safety of those eggs, which the future of the race depended on...

I frowned. I suddenly had an idea, unexpected but simple, like everything that was brilliant...
I just hoped Armailith would see it the same way...

"And what if we found a place where they would be safe without a doubt?" I started. "Where no one else would be able to enter?"

"Something specific on your mind?" the dragoness seemed interested.

"Yes. A place where only us, the Disciples of the Last Dragons can enter, secured by dragons themselves... what's more, if you were able to steal away the shard of the Sunrise from there without even physically being there, then I'm sure some spell exists, that would make it possible for you to do the same with the eggs, if need be..."

The molten eyes of the dragoness lit up with a more intense glow. "The crypts of the Siracel temple..."

I smiled simply.

Armailith glanced towards her tail, where the eggs lay hidden, then to the sky. "Well then..." she said, lifting herself from the hay and spreading her mighty wings just a little, "you can count on my support."

A happy laugh escaped Asuna's lips and I felt a rush of some new, exciting energy. Now it really started to feel like we stand a chance against Sharish. Eugeo stayed silent...

We started to prepare for our departure. Eugeo and Asuna emptied their bags almost completely, leaving everything that seemed unnecessary behind. They made sure the inside was properly inlaid with hay, so they could transport the eggs securely, and then delicately, as carefully as possible, took them out of their hiding place. Armailith watched every single one of their movements with utmost attentiveness. When the second egg left the pit in the nest,
I noticed two crystals, one reddish, like a pale ruby, the second resembling dark amber.
I picked them up and, feeling a faint, magical pulsation, looked at the dragoness.

"Hide them well," she advised. "We don't want them to accidentally fall on some dragonne's head while we fly over Earlindon."

I smiled and put them into my pocket, trying to ignore the feeling of vindictive satisfaction.

Armailith in the meantime sat down low on the ground and extended one of her front legs for me to climb up onto her back. I gave her an unsure look. "Are you scared?" she asked, sounding feisty. "I thought you like flying."

"I do, it's just that I never tried it like this."

"The difference is not that huge, you will see."

I nodded and climbed onto her leg first, then made my way to her back. I sat down between two spikes that were running along her spine all the way to her tail, and she carefully got up and climbed out of the cave through the opening in the dome. Upon looking around I noticed that the entrance to her hideout was wreathed by five not too tall, but sharp summits, forming a huge structure resembling a crown. Eugeo and Asuna already ascended and were hovering above our heads.

Armailith glanced back at me. I held tight to the spike I had in front of me, making sure I was sitting solidly, took a deep breath and nodded. I thought I saw a glimmer of a smile in her eye. "I think it's best if you hold your broken wing with one hand and keep the other tight to your body, otherwise you might get blown away," she gave me one last warning. When I did as she instructed, she approached a nearby chasm, looked around vigilantly and leaped from the edge, the claws of her powerful rear legs leaving marks in the rocks.

It wasn't a very pleasant start for me. The blast of air that hit me literally took my breath away. If it had blown underneath my wings, I would probably be passing by the dragoness' tail quicker than I would be able to start analyzing the situation. And suddenly, just as fast as it caught me off guard, it calmed down once again. I opened my eyes again, which I closed in a rush of panic.

Armailith was gliding in a gentle, sweeping circle above the summits that grew out of the rugged clouds. I curiously took a look around, but the landscape was rather barren. Just the peaks, a few dried clusters of bushes, several tips of some solitary pines, and nothing else. Some variety was provided by a lonely, mountain river, skillfully skimming between the rocks in her way somewhere down, towards the south. It didn't appear to be very dangerous from above, but the foamed surface was proof of the element's force.

We turned west, leaving behind the ominous picturesqueness of the Dragon Mountains, with its mystery play of fogs, sun and wild peaks. Armailith seemed excited. "I almost forgot how Earlindon looks like in daytime," she admitted, when we passed the border of the ridge.

I smiled a little. "It's hard to believe you held it out in there all alone for so long..."
I answered gently.

"I often wondered how I managed to do that as well, trust me," the dragoness ascended a little more, before asking: "So, is there a difference between the flight of a dragon and that of
a Disciple?"

"If there is, then it's really small... but it's kind of hard to say when I'm not essentially the one who's flying."

Armailith just laughed.

But there was indeed a little difference. The beating of her wings was heavier, causing bigger leaps in altitude than mine did, and they were more sparse. And I myself got so used to moving my wings while in the air so much, that I had the funny impression I could start falling any moment. But I wasn't afraid. I trusted the dragoness, even though I wasn't sure how one could trust someone after knowing them for so short. A thought crossed my mind, that just a few months earlier, I showed similar trust to the stranger that Eugeo was for me back then...

Armailith had to hold back with the speed quite a lot the whole time, because Eugeo and Asuna just weren't able to keep up with her. Bored by the monotonous flight, she eventually started to take gentle curves in the air, then she ascended and dropped again. She seemed to be in a great mood. And I still struggled with comprehending it all. I was sitting on the back of
a dragon, a real dragon...

Luckily, we didn't encounter any hindrances this time, the journey was calm and unhurried. Our only little worry were the clouds gathering in the south, announcing a storm. We spotted the outline of Tacritia when the shadows started to grow long in the remnants of the afternoon sun.

Upon seeing it, Armailith ascended even higher. "Maybe I shouldn't show myself to humans just yet," she said, answering my questioning glance.

"Right... that really might be for the best."

We agreed that me and Armailith would say in the air while Eugeo and Asuna safely deposited the eggs in the crypts of the temple. I accepted this decision with delight. I really wasn't in the mood to impersonate young master Kazuto again.

Shortly before our companions dropped towards the earth, I caught a look from Eugeo. Somewhere deep in those emerald eyes loomed a shadow of bitterness and grief... I turned my gaze away. The feeling that I made some huge mistake got stronger all of a sudden...

For some time me and Armailith kept circling above the fields, golden with grain, delighting in the beautiful sights and the warm rays of sun, tinted with the turquoise of the sea. The little sparkles were dancing on the crests of the waves, steadily gaining in size and force.

After returning, Asuna informed us that the first answer to the messages sent out to all Earlindon by the prince just arrived in Tacritia. It came from the nearest harbor city - Leeshan.

"The inhabitants declared their readiness to help and support the Disciples, should any danger come again," she reported. "Heathcliff also mentioned that while we were gone, the citizen of Tacritia declared the will to stand by your side as well..."

"Anything but that," I whined. A shiver run down my spine at the sheer thought of innocent people dying in a fight against Sharish just because they saw the future ruler of Earlindon in me... "I will do everything in my power to prevent open war."

"We will do everything, dear Kirito."

I sighed wearily and leaned my forehead against Armailith's spike. "I'm sorry..."

Asuna gave me a gentle smile. "What would you say to a return to Kaan's mansion?" she suggested. "We achieved quite a bit on this trip and as for now, we don't have further clues. Besides, one of us rendered himself completely unable to do anything..."

"Hey..."

"I mean anything useful."

Despite the hurt look I shot in her direction, I couldn't help but smile a little. And I knew that was exactly what she wanted to achieve. "One way or another, I think it's time for a break," she summarized, pleased with herself.

"I'll do whatever you wish," I gave in without a second thought.

Suddenly the sun vanished and it became a lot darker. It wasn't yet the darkness of approaching night though. We looked towards the clouds. There was a grayish-golden glow with a hint of red seeping through it, and the first, soundless lightning crossed the sky.

"But first, let's find shelter for the night."

Out of lack of better possibilities, we found it under Armailith's wings. She on the other side remarked, that this little rain would do nothing more than clean her scales. Luckily the lightning faded quite quickly and left towards north, leaving us in a moist darkness, excluding the pleasantly dry spot of grass shielded by the dragoness. Outside of it, the ground was releasing little shreds of mist, that glistened palely in the rays of the rarely showing moon.

We left the next day right after dawn, wanting to finish the relaxing way home as soon as possible. For me, a little too relaxing, because I kept snoozing away on Armailith's back, and the dragoness had to wake me up a few times, so the necessity wouldn't arise to catch me on the way to the ground. After some time I started to look for some interesting landmarks among the waving grass of the gentle hills below. What I spotted more frequently though were herds of deer on the borders of small tree clusters, and in the evenings small groups of wolves, traversing the land in search for prey. It was interesting to watch them when I knew they constituted no threat to neither us, nor the birds that shared the sky with us.

We continued our journey a little past sunset, because Armailith was very fond of the sight of the endless, dark waters, when they wrinkled under the touch of moonlight. When the silvery glow slipped down the leaves and trunks of trees in the random clusters of greenery, we put up a camp under one of them and decided to rest.

That night I woke up shortly, or maybe I just dreamed that I did... but I was almost sure I saw Eugeo among the shadows wafting at the edge of our campfire's blaze. He was looking into the distance, seemingly calm, like a slender tree on a windless night... Unfortunately the scent of needles among the grass and the warmth of the day they still emitted soon caused me to fall asleep again before I could give it a deeper thought.

On the last day of our journey we found shelter from a short rain near Ioreth and arrived at Kaan's mansion when the sun's edge just touched the far horizon. As soon as we landed on the eastern side of the residence, and I slid down from Armailith's back, the front door opened and Kaan came out to greet us. I noticed the silhouettes of the few servants in the windows, as usual wearing the cherry-black attires, their faces showing utter terror.

"You're back, finally!" Kaan called out cheerfully. He seemed completely undisturbed by the sight of the dragoness. On the contrary, he looked simply delighted. "I knew it... I knew that one day someone would prove me wrong about the dragons being extinct... I'm honored," he bowed.

Armailith leaned her head towards him to take a good look and greet him as well, before starting to look around curiously. In the meantime, Kaan turned to Asuna. For some reason, there was worry staining his young features. "While you were gone, a little problem arose..."

"What problem?" his concern seemed to instantly reach out into Asuna's voice and envelop it.

"Ronye, she..." Kaan hesitated for a split second, "disappeared..."

"Disappeared...?!" the worry instantly bloomed into panic.

"I'm not sure what happened... it was shortly after you departed. We searched almost everywhere... Maybe Sivath unintentionally scared her somehow, or something happened when she ventured out in the night. I really don't know..."

Suddenly Armailith turned her head towards the forest in the south and inhaled through her nostrils a few times. "Are you talking about that young sykerien watching us from that elm tree over there?" she asked completely casually.

We followed her gaze. The dark silhouette of Ronye, crouched on one of the mighty branches, was barely visible among the shadows in the thicket of leaves. If the dragoness hadn't pointed it out, we probably never would have noticed her.

Asuna ran over to the tree, and the young sykerien jumped down. She immediately embraced Asuna, hugging her head to her chest. Kaan let out a sigh of relief.

"What's the meaning of this, why did you run off like that?" Asuna asked a little sternly, putting her hands on Ronye's shoulders and looking her in the eyes. "I told you many times that Sivath won't harm you, because he knows you already. And even if not, then he probably just wanted to get to know you better..."

Ronye shook her head crisply and shot an unsure glance towards Kaan. She then gently pulled Asuna down a little and whispered something into her ear. Her uneasiness suddenly creeped up into Asuna's eyes.

"Are you sure...?" the older girl asked.

Ronye just nodded. Asuna took her hand and gave Kaan a weird look as well, some faint, undefined spark appearing in her hazel eyes... "Can we go inside?" she asked, coming back to us. "There is something we need to talk about..."

"Sure..." Kaan seemed a little confused. "Let's go."

I frowned. Asuna's tone worried me... I knew her well enough to distinguish an innocent joke from something portending danger.

We entered the residence. Kaan took a moment to set the minds of the servants at ease, and we proceeded to the part of the mansion belonging to us Disciples. We gathered in Eugeo's room, so Armailith would be able to join the conversation by peeking in through the balcony door. When Kaan closed the door after coming in last, Asuna looked at him unsurely. There was a mix of emotions on her features that made it impossible to tell what she was feeling or about to do. She shot me a short glance for some reason.

"Well..." she started, her eyes drifting down to my chest, then returning to our host. "I know this is a rather weird moment to be asking questions like these, but it occurred to me... that you never told any of us what your family name is..."

These words caused the usual hearty smile to vanish from Kaan's face, replaced by a shadow of fear. Eugeo stirred nervously and cast a short glance in my direction. I squinted. For some reason the atmosphere in the room suddenly became as fragile as glass.

"Is my family name really of any importance?" asked Kaan finally, clearly forcing a carefree tone.

"It is..." Asuna's voice gave away that she became more and more sure of something with every second. "It wouldn't be, if it weren't for some interesting fact... You see, Ronye, like any other sykerien, has a strong sense of smell... When we visited the Silivren Forest some time ago, she accidentally got captured by Sharish. His scent stayed deep in her memory... when we left for Tacritia, and she started to spend time with you alone, something curious caught her attention..." Asuna's hand squeezed Ronye's a little. "Your scent and that of Sharish are unusually similar..."

Kaan didn't answer. He just hung his head, his dark hair covering his eyes...


A Wind blows, talking about you

Telling me: go… go back…"


So many twists and turns recently...

Thank you for your review srcammy 3 I think the reason why my characters seem natural is because I try to imagine myself in their situation, live it and express what my own reaction would be... Though that might have worked better with the characters I myself created. No idea if it's just as good with the SAO cast XD

Thank you all for reading, favoriting and following... we hit 8000 views... that's mindblowing... I'm so happy you guys enjoy it so much. I hope I will see you soon :) Favorable winds, friends!