Weiss was still stuck. And Ruby stank of blood. Weiss gaged a little, but tried not to let it show. Distract yourself, anything just say literally anything "Since when.. Can dragons transform into people?" She asked.

Ruby thought for a moment. "Since, alwayz? Well, you, you.. Yoou Can't until you're ad least 16. And, and I finally did it! I went human!"

"...I can see that." Weiss said. This Ruby girl was, quit the predicament. She seemed cheery enough, so Weiss was sure she could get her to remove the log trapping her. But she doubted she could loose her. Considering how fast Ruby kept up with her the night before, there was no way she could shake her. Weiss wasn't sure how to feel. Her entire view of dragons was being flipped upsidown. Were, all dragons like this? "Why didn't you eat me?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Eat you? Why on earthf would I dew that? I already ate that, that, that wolf! And, I don't think I'd like to eat a human anywayz! Everyone knows, if you attack a hurman, more more are sure to follow and and they'll burn down the whole Forrest to get you! Humans are scary.. But, you're nice friend! Friend!" Ruby nodded to herself.

"My name is Weiss." Weiss rubbed the back of her head. This was starting to feel less like talking to a dragon, and more like talking to a friendly wild homeless girl. Huh.

"Weiss! How pretty!" Ruby's eyes sparkled.

"Do you think you could, uh, get this log off me? Its sort of trapping me." Weiss pointed to the log.

Ruby jumped up, but fell again. She didn't seem used to the body she was in now. But, she was still able to crawl to the log, and move it with her superhuman strength. Weiss was free. She slowly moved to the side, and picked up her sword. She stared at it, Then looked back to Ruby. This girl, was a dragon. And it would be so easy to just, cut off her head, right here...

Ruby was poking at a beetle in the dirt now, remarking about how amazing it was that it looked so much bigger then when she was in dragon form. She took off the cloak, and stretched.

Weiss covered her face with her free hand to hide a small blush. "Ok, ok stop. Put that back on." She commanded.

"Ehhh? But it feels weird..." Ruby pouted, folding her arms over her chest. Weiss looked her over. Oh lord, she was filthy. Was there a river near bye? There had to be. All thoughts of murder were pushed aside, and Weiss made it her sole mission to get Ruby cleaned up.

"Ruby, come here." Weiss held out a hand, and Ruby took it enthusiastically. Weiss flung the cloak back on Ruby, and basically dragged her to a near bye river.

"Eekk!" Ruby screeched when she touched the water. "It COLD!"

"Well YEAH its a river, now hold still you little–" Weiss struggled to try and push Ruby in the water, and while she eventually succeeded, that success came with her falling into the river right next to Ruby. Ruby giggled.

Weiss now had to disrobe as well, hanging her clothes to dry on a near bye branch. It was in the sun, so it wouldn't take long. Weiss rubbed Ruby down, getting all the blood and dirt off her body. She just about wanted to kill Ruby when she jumped out of the river and rolled in the dirt, claiming that her back itched. Another wash ensued.

As she washed Ruby, Weiss also washed herself. She was able to see her reflection in the waters surface a little, and noticed something odd about her face. She leaned closer, inspecting her left eye. "Oh..!" She had a sharp cut across her eye. It looked like the wound had closed up, and she didn't notice any hindrance in her left eyes vision, but.. that looked like it would leave a scar. It must have been from when she fell off the cliff? She remembered the left side of her head hurting earlier... That must be it! So, the fact that she now had a very noticeable scared was kinda... Rubys fault. Weiss splashed Ruby in the face with water, pretending it was an accident as the girl yelped in surprise.

Both girls were now clean. Weiss felt extreme gratitude to her father's crappy security around her room back at the castle, as the lack of proper guarding let her escape and play in the woods many times as a child. aAndnd many of those times to avoid suspicion, she'd washed in a river before returning home. Weiss redressed in her now clean clothes (she'd cleaned them when Ruby pulled her into the river. Why not? They were already wet) and felt wonderful. She dried Ruby off, and managed to shove her into a little brown dress shed packed as extra clothes. Ruby tolerated it.

"Why do humanz wear clothez?" Ruby asked, flexing her hands, curious as to how her fingers worked.

"You felt the water, it was really cold right? Humans don't have very strong skin. The sun will burn us if we don't have clothes." Weiss started gathering her things, prepared to set off to the next town again.

"Oh! Humans are really weak..!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Hmpf." Weiss rolled her eyes and started walking away. She heard a thump behind her, and turned to see Ruby had tripped over her own two feet again.

"Waaait! Weiss! I can't walk fast!" Ruby tried standing again and fell the same way.

Weiss was fully prepared to abandon Ruby. She didn't need her. Ruby would only attract unnecessary attention. It wasn't like she owed her or anything, in fact if she hadn't even met Ruby she'd've had a better time in the Forrest and already be in the next town! Despite all those perfectly reasonable reasons to leave her, taking one look at Ruby's sad, pitiful face was all it took to melt Weiss's heart. She cursed her softness and stomped her foot, turning back to help Ruby stand.

If Ruby had a tail, it would definitely have been wagging right now. "You can't walk, right?" Weiss grumbled, holding Ruby's hands to help her up. She put one of Ruby's arms over her shoulder, and walked slowly, letting the girl get used to using her human legs.

"I've never, never been human before. And I'm, not sure how to change back..?" Ruby looked at the floor guiltily, as if she KNEW she was being a burden, about as useful as a newborn fawn in the desert.

"Can't change back? Is this permanent?" Weiss frowned. Was she going to be stuck taking care of this girl the rest of her life? Her conscience would eat her ALIVE if she left Ruby alone in the woods in this pitiful state.

"No, my sister can, can change back whenever she wants. We got separated, so I can't ask her how she does it right now." Ruby's cheery demeanor seemed to darken at the mention of her lost sister.

Weiss was immediately reminded of Winter. "Oh. That's to bad.. I know how you feel, I can't see my sister anymore either." Weiss let her thoughts dribble out into her voice.

Ruby clasped Weiss's hands and stared into her eyes. "I'll help you find her..! Stay strong!" Ruby was tearing up a bit. Weiss almost laughed at how overly dramatic she was being.

Ruby was getting better at walking. Surprisingly quickly too, within a few hours, she was walking on her own just fine. "Is this normal?" Weiss asked, inquiring about Ruby's rather strange abilities to learn so fast.

"Ah.. yes? Probably. With the walking at least, I mean, that's a normal human function. Just like talking. I feel like I've gotten a bit of a better grip on that as well!" Ruby pumped a fist into the air.

That, made sense somehow. If dragons were shape shifting into humans left and right, they'd have to pick up on things quickly to fit in. Ruby did seem a lot more like a normal girl now. She wasn't slurring her speech or repeating the same words over and over again, she wasn't fussing about how weird clothes felt, she could walk on her own perfectly now. If Weiss hadn't seen it herself, she wouldn't believe it if someone told her that Ruby had been a dragon just the day before.

"Was my talking weird earlier? I feel like it was.." Ruby put a hand to her chin, deep in thought.

Weiss couldn't keep from thinking what she really felt cause, yeah it was really annoying. "Not.. To bad, I would say. It is better now." Weiss looked Ruby over. She noticed her hair still had red in it. Oh no, did she not wash out all the blood? Weiss leaned in close, and felt a lock of Ruby's hair. Huh. No blood, it was just naturally red near the ends. Odd. Ruby's cheeks seemed flushed, Why? Weiss backed off. "Sorry, I thought you still had blood in your hair. You don't." Weiss assured her.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, its red near the bottom! I like how it fades to red! Though, your snow white hair is more pretty I think, can I touch it?" Ruby reached a cautious hand towards Weiss's head. Weiss nodded. It was the least she could do, after just leaning in and grabbing Ruby's hair a moment ago. Ruby smelled the lock of Weiss's have she was holding. "I like your smell~" she hummed softly. Weiss wasn't sure how to feel about that statement. But, considered it a complement, since Ruby probably didn't even know HOW to insult people at this point. "Oh, thanks for helping me wash earlier! Now that I think about it, I was really bloody wasn't I? I'd just fought that wolf, and was following you so I hadn't gone into a lake or river yet. Blood doesn't really show up on my scales, but its sure noticeable on human skin!"

Ruby was pretty talkative, Weiss was noticing. How did dragons communicate? Was this, the first time Ruby had had a conversation? It would explain why she seemed so exited.

The edge of the Forrest came into view and open plain stretched for about a half mile, before a village was visible. "Here we are.." Weiss mumbled to herself. She reached into her pack and took out a map, looking it over. that's strange? The village on the map should have been much farther from the Forrest, unless... "Ruby? You didn't happen to move me while I was sleeping, did you?" Weiss asked. Ruby froze, trying to act innocent.

"Uhh... Who's Ruby?" Ruby was very bad at lying it seemed.

"Because, according to this map, we are, lets see.. 15 miles off course!" Weiss was surprised at her own words. 15? How was that possible? When could that have even happened? Weiss glared at Ruby, waiting for a response.

"Well, you see, when you fell off that cliff..? I caught you, but, there were wolves, so I, flew to an area with no wolves. Heh." Ruby looked like a puppy that had been caught in the act of chewing up its owners favorite shoes. "Sorry about your eye.. I tried to be careful, but, claws."

This was a, surprising development. So, Ruby had cut her eye? Hah, it really was her fault then. And, Weiss had just assumed she'd fallen off the cliff and survived the landing. But, it was odd how she had virtually no bruises from such a fall. If Ruby had caught her, and gently set her down.. Hey! Then did Ruby trap her under that log on purpose? "Did you trap me under that log on purpose?" Weiss asked before she could stop herself.

"Log? No. That just fell on its own after I set you down. You were really trapped? I thought you just, didn't want to move it yourself." Ruby's eyes widened. "So, you only stayed there because you were trapped?"

"Why else would I?" Weiss rubbed her forehead to sooth her brain. She was having to many mind shocking revelations lately, she wanted a break.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." Ruby's voice was drenched in melancholy. Weiss couldn't fathom why.

"Alright, well. I guess this is the town I'm stopping in first then." Weiss repacked her map, and stepped out of the Forrest. Ruby didn't follow. Weiss took a couple of steps, and looked back at Ruby. She was standing still, watching Weiss. "Are you coming?" Weiss asked.

Ruby seemed hesitant to follow. "I'm not sure.. I've never seen any other humans besides you. What if I freak out? Or they figure out I'm a dragon? I don't, mmm.." She fidgeted in place, avoiding eye contact with Weiss.

"You can stay there if you want. Just find me after I come back out." Weiss shrugged, then left the sad and confused Ruby in the Forrest. Don't feel bad, she told herself. Its better if she doesn't come. It would just be awkward for her. You didn't do anything wrong, she said it herself, she preferred to stay away from the village. Did she though? Was she maybe just being shy? Did she actually really want to go in? Weiss battled with herself mentally for a few steps, before turning around to offer to take Ruby to the village.

But Ruby was gone. Weiss went back to the Forrest edge, looked around a little, but Ruby was nowhere to be seen. For a second, Weiss wondered if maybe that cute dragon girl had just been a figment of her imagination.. Weiss lifted a hand and felt her left eye. The scar. If she ever had any doubt as to weather what had happened was real, she just had to feel that scar and know everything was fine. Everything was fiiiiiine. Weiss wasn't lonely! Not at all! Ruby was annoying, so annoying! She didn't need her! SHE DIDN'T NEED HER.

Weiss was so busy trying to convince herself that she didn't feel bad about leaving Ruby behind, she didn't notice the scattered footprints beside the Forrest's edge. Footprints, that if she had noticed, she might have been a little more on guard about the possibility of bandits. Weiss didn't know where Ruby was, and she didn't care. She'd basically always been alone anyways. This was no different, no different.

She ignored the twang of loneliness in her heart, telling herself she was just hungry.