True to his word, Sorin spent several days the next week out hunting enough food for both himself and Sisu. She noticed that many of the meals were the oxen-like creatures that smelled of man and were likely the human's livestock, but she didn't say anything. She was just happy to have a meal, especially since it seemed to help her wound heal. In fact, that week she ate more than any other week with Sorin, and possibly more than any week in her entire life.
Then, at the end of that week, the first snow fell.
It came in the night and she asleep when it happened, but in the morning she poked her head outside to see the clearing and woods outside Sorin's den to be covered in a thick blanket of white powder. It was cold outside, though, and she quickly pulled her head back inside the cave.
Sisu didn't like the snow. She knew that at heart it was just frozen water—and she loved water—but snow was so much different than the liquid water she liked. She couldn't swim in it like she could the liquid, in fact, she couldn't even hardly fly in it unless she concentrated very hard. It just didn't bend to her will like it's melted form did, and that really irked her for an irrational reason. Plus, above everything, it was cold. Sisu could bear the cold, but she didn't like it. She far preferred a hot summer's day to a cold winter's one. To her, snow was just an all-around annoyance.
Oh, and when it came, it usually meant the lakes were frozen too. So, no swimming. Maybe it wasn't exactly snow Sisu disliked; maybe it was just winter in general. Either way, she wasn't pleased to see the snow when it had fallen, and when she saw it had she just went right back to sleep.
And she stayed asleep. For the most part, Sisu found herself spending hours and hours, days even, in true slumber. Not the weird sleep-state that she'd become accustomed to, but a real, deep, eyes-closed-and-dead-to-the-world dreamless sleep. Her theory about hibernation appeared to ring true as Sorin did the same. She lost track of the days or weeks that would pass, as they seemed to have no real meaning. She'd awaken for a few hours here and there, her body sensing the weather and making a note of the conditions, then simply fall back asleep. Motionless, as still as the gold she laid on, she rested.
Only a few times in those early weeks of winter did she and Sorin happen to even be awake at the same time. When by chance it would happen, they would talk idly until they fell asleep once more. Sisu could hardly remember what those conversations were even about as they lounged for hours on the gold, but she had a feeling of closeness to the scaled dragon. There was some level of trust that she thought had been achieved there, perhaps by her honoring her word not to flee and his act of rescuing her from the human that tried to kill her. Sorin had become more open than before, more willing to talk, and in turn she did the same. Even if nothing of real value was said, it was a relief to Sisu just to have someone that she could talk to.
And maybe that degree of trust was what led to the events of a cold winter night, when everything started to change.
Sisu awoke cold, the air around her a temperature far too uncomfortable for her to sleep in. Sorin's heat almost always kept the cave at least a little warm, but the outside was simply too much. Even from her spot inside the cave she could hear the wind howling outside, whistles screaming through the trees like the cries of demons. When she opened her eyes she could make out snow resting on top of the gold closest to the cave entrance; the storm had pushed it far enough and deep enough to even infiltrate Sorin's home.
She shifted in the gold, curling up to trying to conserve body heat and warm herself. It was hopeless. As hard as she tried, she couldn't force herself back to sleep. It was too cold, too uncomfortable, and her body fought her mind. She tossed and turned for hours without success, shivering as the air did its best to freeze her.
Sisu was a dragon. Dragons were durable, able to withstand any climate and bear any challenge nature threw their way. As far as she knew, no dragon had ever died due to sheer cold. That night, she was worried that she would be the first.
Then, unexpectedly, she heard the sound of the shifting of coins that had not come from her own movements. She raised her head and turned to look at Sorin and met his open eyes.
He was awake and looking at her. She wasn't sure whether she'd woken him or not, or even how long he'd been awake, but he was carefully observing her with all the silence he had in the first days she'd been with him. His eyes were scanning her, and she could tell that there was something going on in his mind, but she had no idea what.
She opened her mouth, not even sure herself if it was to apologize for waking him or to try to engage in some conversation, but she never got the chance. The cold reached her and she snapped her mouth back down as she shivered, her body tensing and shrinking down in a cry for warmth. She gave a hiss and wrapped herself up tighter, wishing that the night would soon end and day would bring a warm sun.
She heard the rustling of coins again, and despite a cry in her head to keep her head down and warm, she poked it up again to look at Sorin.
His eyes were still on her and he hadn't moved from his spot. There was one change, though. One of his wings, normally kept tucked against his side as he slept, was up and open. It stretched out, tips nearly grazing the cave ceiling, and revealed his side to her. He continued to look at her, his wing outstretched and waiting.
The message was clear, even if Sisu struggled to believe it. He was offering her a place at his side to rest. Never had he before offered in any way to aide her comfort, at least when it came to resting, and nor had he ever made any move or suggestion that they sleep close together. She preferred it that way, though. She'd never really wanted to sleep next to the scaled dragon before. Besides, sleeping side by side like that was a rather…intimate thing, reserved for close siblings or mates.
She was sure that Sorin knew that, but all the same he was offering. His eyes wordlessly conveyed the message: take the small mercy or leave it. He was offering her warmth, and she badly wanted it.
And, in that moment, she felt unafraid to take it. Sorin may have been a lot of things, a killer and destroyer of humans, but he had never once laid a claw on her the entire time she'd been with him. He seemed to have standards, as her own kind did, and despite the closeness that the position she would take would imply, she had no worry that the red dragon would somehow try to take advantage of her.
In short, she trusted him.
Ordering her cold and tired legs to move, she crawled over the gold towards him. She seemed to grow warmer with each step as each step brought her closer to the fire breather in front of her. Finally, she was next to him, and she only hesitated a moment before laying herself against his side. When she leaned into him, her shivers became a distant memory as the heat from his scales enveloped her.
She felt him set his wing down over her, covering her like a blanket. No longer could she feel the nip of the cold outside, she was completely enveloped in Sorin's warmth. She leaned in closer, her body drinking it up as she closed her eyes and began to finally fall asleep with a smile on her mouth.
She felt warm. She felt comfortable.
She felt safe.
Sisu would spend much of the remaining winter sleeping under Sorin's wing. In those cold months, it proved to be the best sleep and the most comfortable bed she'd ever had.
All through the winter months, all through the snow and ice and chilly wind, Sisu slept peacefully in Sorin's den. Only once that winter did she leave the cave for any reason.
It was a warmer day, a day that was only just cold enough to keep the snow outside from melting, and perhaps that was what woke Sorin up in the first place. Sisu herself probably would have slept through it like all the other days, but the sound of shifting gold and the slight chill that came from Sorin removing his wing from over her roused her from her slumber. As it was, it took her a few minutes spent trying to immediately fall asleep again before she failed and got to her own feet to see what the matter was with Sorin.
She found him on his feet, pacing a little in the cave and looking more awake than he had in a long time. Having lost track of the days spent in idle rest, she couldn't even tell how long it had been since he'd been up like that—or even herself, for that matter—and it struck her as odd that he would suddenly be up and about right now. Sorin didn't seem angry or displeased in any way, though, so she relaxed as she stretched herself out and readied herself for whatever the day might bring, if anything at all.
She gave a loud yawn lasting several seconds before she shut her mouth with a loud snap. "So," she asked the red dragon, "What's up?"
He gave her an amused look as he stretched his wings as far as they could go in the enclosed cave. "Nothing of any great significance," he told her, the tone of his voice conveying a relatively good mood, "I thought that today would be a good day to patrol my territory. Perhaps hunt a little as well. It does not due to leave my lands lie too long without a reminder of my presence."
She glanced out towards the cave entrance, the outside just barely visible from her angle. The only real color she could see was the white of snow. "Even with the cold?" she asked.
He snorted. "Cold cannot harm a dragon," he boasted, "Our fire can withstand even the harshest extremes. I've flown through a blizzard without trouble; a slight chill and a little snow won't harm me in the least."
She rolled her eyes at that as he moved towards the cave entrance. He stopped right before the incline to the outside started and gave a glance back towards her. "What about you?" he challenged, "Have you the strength to leave for a winter's flight?"
He was teasing her, and if it wasn't for her sudden indignation at practically being called out for her distaste of the cold she probably would have been surprised at his playful tone. "Of course I can," she said with much more certainty than she felt, "I'm a dragon."
"Then I'm sure you'll enjoy the opportunity to join me as I stretch my wings," Sorin responded smugly.
He'd caught her, although whether he'd set the trap up from the start was something she couldn't tell. But she'd already stuck her claws in it, so she may as well go all the way. "Sure. No problem. It'll be my pleasure," she stated as energetically as she could bear as she walked towards him.
He gave her a slight look of skepticism as she approached, then turned and exited. She followed him outside for the first time in over a month—maybe two—and into the cold snow and ice.
It was actually a rather nice day out. The sun shined overhead, and the trees glistened as snowy branches reflected its light. She could hear the calls of birds and other small woodland creatures that stayed awake through the winter. The clearing was peaceful, and actually quite beautiful as Sisu stepped into the sunlight, and she was already beginning to lose some of her discontent as she gazed out over it.
…At least until she stepped in a snowdrift that gave way underneath her, causing her to stumble and fall down up to her chest in the snow.
She hissed and growled under her breath as she pulled herself back up and brushed the snow out of her fur. She tried to simply expel it from her like she could with unfrozen water, but to no avail. As she trudged through the snow towards where Sorin was waiting patiently for her in the middle of the clearing, she was reminded why exactly she so disliked this season.
"Are you ready, now?" he asked with the same smugness from before once she'd drawn close enough. He didn't seem to be having any trouble at all.
"If you are," she shot back, trying but failing to hide her annoyance with the whole situation. Her fur was keeping her warm enough so far, but she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about spending the day flying through the cold air overhead.
He gave her one last amused glance before he took off into the sky. She raised a claw to form a water disk to follow, but when she tried to push off of it her claw just fell straight to the ground and she stumbled again, losing balance and falling back onto the snow. Giving a very loud and very frustrated hiss, she pulled herself up and tried again.
Trying to form her stepping desks in this weather was far from the easiest thing she'd ever done. There didn't seem to be that much moisture in the air, and what was there was cold, stubborn, almost working against her. It had been a long time since she'd tried to fly in the snow, and she'd never enjoyed it.
"Come on," she growled to herself, calling on the water to bend to her will. The first disk was always the hardest, but the rest would come naturally once she got in tune with the water around her. Overhead, Sorin was beginning to circle back towards her to see what the matter was, and she didn't want to look like a fool in front of him.
Mercifully, it only took a few more moments than she would have liked for the water disk to materialize under her claw. She launched herself up and forced out another, then another as she climbed. Each one came a bit easier, and by the time she reached the same altitude as Sorin she had to only put minimal thought into making them.
He gave her a questioning look but didn't ask what the holdup had been as he turned and flew south. Sisu followed, lagging a little bit behind but otherwise keeping pace with the faster flyer.
As they went, Sisu's curiosity over what they were actually doing began to grow. Sorin had told her that he intended to patrol his territory, but she wasn't quite sure what that entailed. It could just be a simple flight, or it might involve some sort of intricate marking system like some other, lesser animals did. Furthermore, she knew Sorin's territory was larger than just what she'd seen herself and hunted in. She'd smelled that she'd entered it at least a day before she'd actually encountered Sorin, which meant that it stretched out quite a bit. If Sorin was planning to patrol the entire perimeter, then it could take a long time. Days, even.
Her musings paused as they passed by the ruins of Emmengen. She'd almost forgotten that it was in the direction of their flight until they came right up on it, the tall spires that remained only a few minutes flight away. She looked over the destruction, the smashed and ruined buildings that once held life but now sat empty. She was sure that had she been here years ago she would have heard the happy cries of children playing in the snow and seen the plumes of warm smoke rising into the air as the people below kept their hearts and homes warm.
She glanced away and to Sorin, who flew on heedless of the city below. For a moment she felt a flicker of anger blaze up in her, anger that he'd take all that away. It was diminished, though, as she suddenly felt another fire blaze up against herself. Yes, he'd done that, and she'd been willingly sharing her life with him. It had been weeks since she'd even thought about escaping—and that was not including her time asleep—and she'd come to feel a kind of kinship with him. She felt safe with him. Safe with the dragon that took pride in destroying this city.
The notion brought a sick feeling to her stomach. She felt dirty in that moment, as though she'd betrayed all that she used to be just by being near the red dragon. She looked away from the ruins, trying not to think too hard about it. After all, she never knew these humans, and there was nothing she could have done to help them.
The past was in the past.
They went on farther and farther south, until Emmengen itself faded away to the distance. Now, ahead she saw the lake near where her first encounter with Sorin had taken place. She looked below to see if she recognized anything else, but with the snow covering everything and changing the landscape, there was nothing to recognize. Even if there was, she doubted she could have; that day already seemed like a far distant memory.
It wasn't that long after that Sorin tilted his wings and changed direction. She followed accordingly, noting that they were now heading due east. Apparently, Sorin had decided against a full perimeter patrol, opting for a shorter route covering an inner circle of his range. As she glanced farther out to the south, she wondered how far they could have flown before they even came to the edge of his territory. If she had to guess, it was much farther than she could see, even with how high up she was flying.
It was a relief, though, since a shorter flight meant a quicker return to the nice, warm cave. But that rest was still more than a little far off. The two spent hours in flight, slowly shifting more north, then truly northeast as they began to make a rough circle around the origin point of his den. It was fairly slow going, especially because Sisu wasn't necessarily doing anything as she flew. Sorin was surveying; she was just along for the flight.
All she could really do to pass the time was observe the snow-covered landscape below her. It was a little fascinating, especially when she saw a few human villages that she hadn't known were this close, but looking at barren trees could only get her so far before boredom set in. And with boredom seemed to come the cold, although the exertion of her running through the sky did a pretty good job of keeping her core warm.
They passed near the river to the east and began to now move northwest, completing the first quarter of the circle. More time passed uneventfully, and soon they'd reached what Sisu determined was the north-most part of Sorin's patrol. Having left early to mid-morning, it was now past midday when Sorin shifted his behavior up ahead upon reaching this kind of apex. He seemed to grow a little more agitated, his motions changing from even flight to a kind of searching behavior as he scanned the ground more intently than before.
She was just about to ask what the matter was when she smelled what must have caught his attention: a herd of the native deer were close by in their vicinity. It wasn't anything too profound—she'd smelled several small herds as they'd flown—but apparently Sorin had decided that now was the time to hunt. Sisu wasn't starving herself, but the thought of a nice meal was appealing as she joined him in the unexpected hunt.
Her eyes searched the ground below, searching for her quarry. The glare of the sun off the snow bothered her only a little—like most airborne hunters her eyes had natural protection against it—although the snow itself seemed to hide the deer well. All that was below was white and brown save for some evergreen trees, and with the deer being brown themselves they blended right in below the barren trees. She could smell them on the wind, but as she began circling overhead, the sight of them eluded her.
…But they couldn't hide from Sorin.
One moment he was high in the sky near her, then in a sudden heartbeat his wings were folded and he was diving downwards. Sisu still didn't even see the prey he was going for until moments before he was upon it, the deer suddenly realizing that death was upon them and attempting to flee. Most of them made it, but not the one Sorin had chosen to strike. Wings opening right before he struck the ground, Sorin grabbed a large buck without even landing. The creature bleated out a pitiful cry before the red dragon raised it to his mouth and crushed its neck in his jaws as he rose back in the air.
Sisu momentarily toyed with the idea of pursuing one of the fleeing animals, but decided against it. Instead, she approached Sorin, who had shifted the deer in his mouth and was now idly carrying the carcass in his jaws as he resumed his normal flight.
"Impressive catch," she commented as she flew alongside him, "It never stood a chance."
Unable to speak at the moment, Sorin acknowledged the compliment with a small grin at the edges of his mouth and a snort of smoke from his nostrils. With a shake of his head he repositioned the deer so that he only had ahold of it at its shoulders, much of the body and hind legs dangling to the side. He kind of swung that part towards her, inviting her to take what she wanted.
Dipping down and coming up from below his wings, she bit into a hock of the carcass and ripped away the meat with a quick shake of her head. Moving away, she tilted her head up and gulped it down before going back in for another bite. Soon she'd taken her fill, consuming much of the meat on the deer's rear legs and hindquarters.
Finished, she turned her attention towards cleaning her claws and fur as Sorin began eating the rest mid-air. She could hear the crunching of bones as Sorin opted to take a messier approach, choosing to consume much of the carcass whole and not bothering to pick out the meat from the bones. It wasn't how he normally ate, but it was the easiest thing to do when not wanting to take the time to land which, apparently, he didn't.
He gave a satisfied rumble in his throat as he finished his meal. "I always make sure to hunt at least once each winter, even if I don't need to," he told her as he settled back into his usual flight patterns, "It's good to stay in practice. Hunting in the snow is a good skill to have."
"I'll keep that in mind," she told him, a bit surprised at his words. So it seems that he didn't even need to take this flight today, he just wanted to, she thought to herself. Somehow, knowing that only seemed to frustrate her, since that meant that the whole day was unnecessary to begin with and she was losing sleep for nothing.
After the brief hunting detour, the flight went back to how it had been going for most of the day. They began moving southeast now, still making a large circle over the den. The small excitement of the hunt over, Sisu quickly fell back into boredom, doing nothing but gazing idly below as she followed Sorin's wingbeats. She was cold and tired and was very much regretting her prideful words that had dragged her outside in the first place.
The flight lasted the rest of the day. It wasn't until the sun was beginning that they finally made it all the around to the starting point of the circle south of Emmengen and they finally turned north towards home. This time she only spared the fallen city a few sidelong glances as she passed, not wanting to deal with any of the emotion she'd felt earlier. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps it was easier just ignored.
Only a few steps after she finally landed she was in the cave, not spending any second longer outside than she needed to. She didn't even care as she tracked snow in the cave, or even as she lied on the frozen but thawing water still clinging to her claws. She shifted to get comfortable on the bed of gold, wishing that the coins and jewels below could have still been warm from that morning.
It was a minute or two later than Sorin himself followed her in, an amused look on his scaley muzzle. Sure that it was at her expense, she shot him a glare, blaming him for everything she'd come just short of complaining about for the whole day. But even now she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a word against the cold she'd been through.
He snorted out a puff of smoke as he approached and lay next to her, her not thinking anything of it. In fact, by now she'd automatically gone to his spot, her usual resting place on the other side of the cave ignored. She felt his wing fall over her and just kept back an audible sigh at the warmth it brought. After the cold winter day she'd spent, she'd almost forgotten just how nice the red dragon's heat was.
"You're as prideful as any dragon," she heard his deep voice rumble as her eyes closed and she felt him relax beside her, "There's a strength there. One stronger than you know."
A fog of sleep had already fallen as she drifted back into the slumber she'd been awaiting the whole day, but even so she could vaguely make out the compliment. And she gave a smile as she drifted away into her draconic hibernation.
The next time Sisu woke—really woke—it was spring. She could feel it in the way the air tasted different even underground. She could hear it in the chirping of the birds, the sounds drifting down to her. She could see it in how the sun seemed to glow a bit brighter, shining in through the small cave entrance.
The first thing she did was hunt. Her appetite was ravenous as she emerged from the dragon's den, and she needed any sort of food to calm her stomach. She supposed that she shouldn't be too surprised after only eating maybe a third of a deer in the past three or so months, but all the same it hit her harder than she'd ever experienced before. Not even after Raya had summoned her after all those countless years had she felt such hunger.
Fortunately for her, she got to do her favorite thing as she hunted: swimming. Choosing to make her prey fish rather than any native game, she made her way to one of the closer lakes and enjoyed a good swim as she made a meal out of several schools of fish and a few unfortunate turtles. The water was cold—still almost freezing towards the surface, actually—but it didn't bother her too much. Not when she was swimming for the first time after months of idle slumber.
Sorin was gone when she returned back to the cave, but he showed up not long after with prey of his own. She politely declined when he offered her one of the ox-like creatures reeking of the scent of man, citing that she'd just had her meal. He consumed it and returned to sleep like it was any other day, but was awake the next morning. Likewise, she no longer slipped into whatever sleep had consumed her for the past months. She still rested and slept in her "dragon-sleep" like she had before, as seemed customary of Sorin's species, but no longer was she going through entire weeks without waking. In fact, she hardly missed a single day as the weather outside turned warmer as spring drove away the winter chill.
She also noticed how spring also brought a new change to the landscape that she was becoming so familiar with the longer she stayed in Sorin's domain. Outside the trees began to bud and flower, filling the forest outside with vibrant colors. Grass began to grow greener and the sky bluer. Each time she went out, the air filled with life and a since of natural mirth as the world reset itself.
Even Sorin seemed to be a better mood than usual. There seemed to be more energy in him than before, and he spent much more time out flying than he had in the late summer and fall. Of course, much of that flying was patrolling his own territory, which he did very often. Almost worryingly often, actually, as he'd be gone for hours and hours, much longer than he'd ever left her alone before.
She questioned him about it one day after he returned at nightfall on a day she'd not even seen him leave in the morning. He answered with a smoke-filled snort and a small shake of his head, which she'd come to associate with an answer that he thought she should already know as a dragon.
"Spring is when dragons challenge each other for territory or wealth," he explained, "I cannot let another dragon encroach upon my lands without consequence, or else it can be taken as weakness. None have yet dared to challenge me this season, which is both relieving and concerning."
"Why's that?" she asked.
"It's never…ideal for two dragons to fight," he hissed out with a gaze that darkened just a little before he shook it away with a shake of his head, "Aside from the damage it does to land and body, there are getting to be too few of us for us to be killing each other. I encounter fewer and fewer as the times passes; there was a day where I challenged and was challenged almost yearly for my treasures, but now I rarely even catch the scent of a drake at the very edges of my territory."
He cast a sharp glare at her. "You have your precious humans to thank for that," he said with a small sneer, "Knights on horseback hunting us down like foxes, 'heroes' slaying us to sate their greed and earn fame. They deserve all the wars they wage against themselves." He gave a long growl of disgust as if to emphasize his point.
Sisu shook her head and bit her tongue. Sorin rarely talked about others of his race (aside from how great that race was in general), but there was almost a worry in his voice as he told her this. That and a hatred for man. She wasn't about to try to defend humanity to a dragon when she herself bore a scar from them that he could easily point to. There was nothing she could say to Sorin to make him see it, but man could be good. She knew it for a fact and, likewise, there was nothing Sorin could do to prove otherwise.
…And It was only two days later when Sorin had the chance to do just that.
They'd gone hunting together that day, leaving early in the morning and flying east all the way to the large river. The hunt had been good with both making successful catches quickly, and Sorin had decided to spend some time at the river before returning back, allowing Sisu to swim in the river as he idly watched and ate his prey. They left when she was done, having had an overall good day. It wasn't until they'd made it back to within site of the clearing outside of the den that something felt off.
The familiar scent of man hit her nostrils even as they were still a good distance from the cave, and Sisu at first was worried that it was another of Sorin's challengers. Yet, the smell was different this time than the other men who had come to slay him. This was sweeter, almost. Feminine.
The clearing itself came well into sight a few moments later, and Sisu could now see for sure that something was off. There was a bright color in the clearing—a purple, it looked like—surrounded by several objects that she couldn't make out but shone brightly in the sunlight. Curious, but also cautious, she began to make her landing short of the den, but rose back higher as Sorin went ahead without any comment or concern on his own part, despite obviously being able to see what was ahead. Figuring that she shouldn't be worried if he wasn't, she followed him straight to the clearing and landed at his side.
…And she was immediately shocked by what she saw.
The purple color she'd seen was a human girl. Well, the dress of a human girl, at least. The actual girl herself wasn't purple, but rather the normal pale color of the people in these lands. Her clothing wasn't what was most remarkable, though, but rather that she was bound by ropes. Her hands and feet were tied together with a stretch of rope connecting that on her hands to a nearby tree so that she could move a little but not leave the area. Around her feet were several human baskets filled with what looked like gold coins—what had been reflecting the light as they flew.
The human let out a loud squeak and moved away from them, trying to run but not being successful on account of her bonds. She only made it a few feet before she fell to the ground. When she looked back up, there was terror in her eyes as she struggled to get free.
Sisu looked at her, dumbfounded. This human girl hardly looked any older than Raya. What was she doing here? Her bindings made it clear that she wasn't here intentionally, so she definitely wasn't one of Sorin's challengers. And why was she tied up? Why was there gold around her? Everything looked like it was done intentionally by someone besides the girl, but it made no sense.
For his part, Sorin seemed unconcerned with the girl. He was looking through the baskets of gold, no doubt trying to assess their value. The red dragon only looked up at the human once as she tried to get up and fell again with a squawk.
Sisu could only take it for a moment. "What's going on here?" she demanded, pulling Sorin's attention away from the treasure. "Why have gold and a girl just shown up, and why are you acting like this is completely normal?"
Sorin gave her a slightly annoyed look. "Because it is," he told her, "This happens at least once every spring. The humans fear me, and so they try to placate me with gold in a pathetic bid to save their own hides," he gestured towards the gold at his claws, "This is an offering, a desperate plea on behalf of those humans in my territory that I not hunt and slay them like the pitiful prey they are."
"Okay…" Sisu said, vaguely remembering him saying something before about them paying him 'tribute' or something of the like, "But why is this human here, and why is she bound like a prisoner?"
He snorted, an amused look on his face. "You won't like the answer."
She narrowed her eyes at him, wary but determined to know.
"She's part of the offering," Sorin explained, "Man has decided that gold is not enough to satisfy me, and so they also offer one of their own to me when they make their plea. A girl, a virgin, pure and undefiled is given to me. They believe it saves them from my wrath, perhaps thinking that something they themselves hold so dear has much more weight with me as well."
Sisu's eyes went from narrow to wide as she realized exactly what this meant. "No…" she breathed, struggling to believe it.
"It's senseless on their part, though," Sorin continued, "They hardly make a meal at all. Too much bone and not enough meat. Man as a whole is hardly worth hunting for food, and their females are no exception. If they weren't a free dinner, I'd not even bother with the girls they send."
Her eyes somehow got wider. "You…eat them?" she asked. She knew that Sorin killed humans, but defenseless girls like this one didn't deserve that fate, let alone being consumed. It was almost to much for her to comprehend.
"Of course," he answered simply, "What else am I supposed to do with them?"
She looked away from him and to the girl who was now sobbing on the ground. She was crying out some pitiful words in her language that Sisu couldn't make out, but she could hear the desperation in her voice.
"Are you going to eat her?" she dared to ask, sure that she wouldn't like this answer either. If it was in the affirmative, there was nothing she could do to stop him save a fight, and that wouldn't go to her favor.
Sorin looked at her, amusement still on his face, then looked at the girl. "Perhaps," he said. He took a step towards the human, who shuffled away on the ground in a futile effort to escape.
"Sorin! No! Please!" Sisu begged, rushing forward and putting herself between him and the girl. "Don't!"
He took a step back and snorted out some smoke, the amusement still on his face. "You still defend humans despite what they did to you," he observed, "This girl has done nothing for you, yet still you stand for her." He gave a dark chuckle. "Look at her, Sisu. I didn't do this to her. Her own people did. Do you still think humans are so grand? Do you still think they're like us? They send their own children to death in the hopes to save themselves, to escape a fate that they never can."
Sisu looked back at the girl, whimpering and covering her face in what she was sure must be her last moments. She had no words, but still Sisu's heart said that she couldn't let him harm her.
"I never asked for a maiden to be sacrificed for me," Sorin continued, "They thought of that themselves. I never demanded gold, yet they give it to me. They are weak vermin, and none who call themselves dragons should treat them as anything more. They deserve no pity from us, not when they get none from their own kind."
"But she did nothing," Sisu insisted, still trying to get him to see, "She didn't come here to harm you, or to steal. She's innocent in this."
"She's here because her people sent her here," Sorin growled without true anger, still only amusement in his words, "Her fate was sealed by them, not by me. And besides, she's still one of them. She can hardly claim innocence for the other deeds of her race."
The human girl made a few more loud whimpering sounds, pulling away both her and Sorin's attention for a moment. She had her hands, still bound, held up and together in what looked like a pleading stance as she leaned on her knees. Tears streamed from her face as she looked at the two dragons standing before her, unaware that her life was what they discussed.
Soring gave a snort and looked back at Sisu with a low rumble in his throat. He looked annoyed with the girl, if nothing else.
"What did she say?" Sisu asked. She knew that he knew the languages of the land that the human no doubt used, but she hadn't learned them herself.
The red dragon raised a claw and gazed at his talons. "That's right, you don't know their language, or even our own, do you? We'll have to remedy that. But, if it wasn't obvious, she's begging for her life. I won't bore you with the exact words, but it's along the lines of 'Please don't kill me. Please, oh, please, great dragon. Don't kill me.'" He set his claw back down and exhaled a puff of smoke. "I hear such cries regularly."
Sisu looked back at the girl's face. So young, so helpless. In that moment all she could see was Raya there, her life on the line, and Sisu knew she had to do anything she could to save it. Even if it meant fighting Sorin.
…But she didn't have to. Not yet. Unlike him, she didn't default to violence, and there was still an option available to her. If she couldn't pull it off, though…well, it probably would all be over for her.
"You talk so much about how horrible humans are," She told him, still keeping herself between him and the girl. "How much destruction they cause and how evil they are even to each other. You've shown it to me, and I can't deny it, not like I tried to before. I look at this," she gestured to the bound human, left to be killed by her fellows, "And it sickens me. It's hard to fathom this happening where I come from, but it has. You want me to say that humans are not like us? Fine, I'll say it. They aren't."
"But that doesn't mean that we have to be like them," she continued, steeling herself for whatever may come as she made her gambit. "You've talked about how they're inferior to us, how they're beneath us and little more than prey. If they insist on sacrificing their own to us, then that's horrible on their part, but it doesn't mean we have to accept. They may not show pity or mercy to themselves, but we can. We can be better than they are, Sorin. You don't have to participate in their devastation when they do so much on their own."
Sorin looked at her for a moment, an unreadable look on his muzzle. His eyes searched her, burning into her own as she met them. She gave a shiver as she stood, uncertain of what was about to happen, but she stood her ground.
Finally, Sorin responded. First with a low, reptilian rumble in his chest that soon transferred into a deep but true laugh as he flashed his teeth and shook his head at her. "Do you know nothing about dragons," he asked, "To think that I could be moved on a plea of mercy? For them? Humanity deserves all the destruction that can be brought on them for their actions, and I will not relent in my fire against them. This girl's life is forfeit. It was given to me by them, and it is mine to end."
He lashed his tail as she melted under his gaze. Her only true argument had failed, and now there was nothing Sisu could do but raise her claws against him, a prospect she despised but saw necessary.
She took a deep breath, preparing to attack and perhaps take him off guard, but froze before she could begin when he spoke again.
"Yet, I think I will humor you," Sorin said, taking a step to the side of her to get a different look at the girl without getting closer, "It was a generous year for them, with nearly double the gold they normally provide. And I do not think it's without reason. Doubtless the humans have taken notice of you in my territory, and so they've given more to try to placate two instead of one." He swept his tail over the baskets of gold, pulling her attention towards them. "Practically speaking, half of this was given to you. Of course, you yourself are under me, so it's still mine. But as I said before, I'll humor you. If the girl's life means so much to you, then you may take her as your own tribute."
Hope leapt up in Sisu's heart at his words, but she still held herself warily. It seemed too easy, like a trick of some kind. "Is that all?" she asked, "You're just…giving her to me?"
"If you renounce all claim on the rest of the gold, which isn't even yours to begin with," he answered, reaching out with his tail and pulling a basket closer as he spoke, "You may kill her, consume her, or release her as you see fit. I caution against the last one, but she is in your claws now."
He lashed his tail as his burning gaze met hers. "Besides, I just ate," he hissed, baring his teeth just enough to unnerve her.
Sisu swallowed, having the feeling that this was somehow another test. He was probably hoping that she'd reveal her 'real' draconic nature and treat the girl like he would, but she wouldn't. She couldn't. He'd just given her a precious gift in this girl's life, and she was not going to let the opportunity slide.
Giving a nod to show she accepted his terms, she took a hesitant step towards the girl. Immediately the human began struggling again against her bonds and the rope that held her tethered. A new wave of tears and cries washed over her as Sisu approached, even as the blue dragon held out a claw nonthreateningly.
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Sisu whispered as calmingly as she could, the back of her mind remembering how eerily similar this was to the last time she tried to help a human and nearly got killed. Of course, that human had not been bound, weaponless, and at her mercy.
She finally got close enough to touch the girl, and as soon as she did the human went a bit ballistic, screaming and thrashing in a final effort to escape. Sisu had to actually pin her to the ground in order to control her as the girl desperately tried to save her own life. It was only after she had her sufficiently pinned that Sisu could begin releasing her from her binding to set her free.
"Hold still," Sisu asked even as the girl squirmed against her, but with a swift swipe of her claws the rope tethering her to the tree was sliced. Next came the ropes on her hands and finally those on her feet. Having freed her from her bonds, Sisu stepped off of her and took a step back, leaving the now stunned girl alone.
The human just laid there for a second, likely trying to process what had just happened. Sisu watched as a moment passed without her moving, then the girl clumsily rose to her feet. She looked at her, and dragon and human met eyes for one second. Then, like any other animal released from a trap, the girl bolted away into the woods as fast as her legs could carry her. Sisu had had the thought of trying to take the girl back to a town or village, but it seemed as though that wouldn't happen since the human was already long gone. She could catch her, of course, but she had the feeling the girl wouldn't take kindly to it. She'd probably think she was just being hunted.
Looking back, Sisu saw Sorin looking on with an unreadable expression. He gave a shake of his head, gave a puff of smoke, and without another word picked up a basket of gold with one claw and began walking to his den.
Giving a small shake of her own head, Sisu picked up a basket of her own and followed him.
"Grrr hrrr rrraaah" Sisu spoke, the words that were less words and more growls still feeling foreign and alien on her tongue, "There, was that better?"
Sorin nodded, satisfaction in his eyes. "Yes. It was understandable, at least. Not like before when you asked to 'go mountain' instead of 'go swimming'."
The red dragon had been serious when he'd said earlier that Sisu's lack of knowledge of his draconic language was something to be remedied, and he'd begun regularly teaching her words and phrases of his native tongue. Almost every time they found each other awake at the same time he'd engage with her, expanding her new vocabulary whether it be as they lounged on the gold or flew out hunting. He taught her a little bit of the human language, too, but not nearly as much. He said that the humans had "far too many speeches and dialects" for her to bother with trying to learn at this point, and it was just as well since learning one draconic one was challenging enough.
"Now," Sorin instructed, "Grrrah hrrr hrrack hrrrah"
It took her a second, but she responded quickly with a less confident, "Ghrrr hrrr rrrrah."
"Good," Sorin said, speaking in her tongue again, "That was an acceptable response." He'd asked her if she'd prefer to go hunting or flying, and she'd answered that flying would be nice. "I am pleased with your progress," he continued, "I had worried that my kind's skills with words had been lost on your kind."
As with seemingly everything, the very act of teaching her the language was yet another of Sorin's tests to gauge how much of a dragon she was. Sorin had begun the whole process by saying that dragons were quick to pick up the patterns and rhythms that made up languages and that learning his should be simple. And, to Sisu's own pleasurable surprise, she found that she did pick up on it rather easily. Maybe not as fast as Sorin would, but it had only been a few weeks and she was already able to form basic to moderately complex sentences with her limited but ever-expanding vocabulary.
Then again, it still paled to Sorin, or at least to what he claimed. He'd told her that he could speak over two dozen of the languages of man and several of the less complex animal languages (Sisu still didn't quite believe the latter, since she'd yet to meet another talking creature that wasn't man or dragon). Furthermore, he'd told her that he'd learned her specific language in the course of only about three weeks from 'observing' traders from her part of the world—and he spoke it just as well as she did! Sorin was always boastful about draconic superiority, and if he was being truthful then he was certainly right to feel superior where languages were concerned.
"I have a good teacher," she responded with a shrug. It never hurt to compliment Sorin on anything, especially since she knew how prideful he could be. Then again, Sorin was a rather good teacher, patient with her when she struggled and willing to work with and help her when she needed it. It was a rather unique part of his personality, the teacher, and it wasn't one that she would have expected him to have.
He rumbled a thanks in his chest and looked out the cave entrance. "Well, would you like to go, then?"
"Go where?" she asked.
"Flying," he answered with a small but amused huff, "You said you'd like to go."
It took her a moment to register that he was referring to the question that she'd answered in his language, but once she did, she rapidly nodded her head. She'd thought it was just practice, not a legitimate question!
A few minutes later and they were soaring high above the trees, not a care in the world. Unlike the patrol around his territory they'd taken during the winter, or the trips out hunting, this was purely a pleasure flight. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the wind on her face, the feel of her water pads on her feet as she raced through the sky. She looped herself through the sky in elegant twists and turns, imagining her siblings right beside her, filling the sky with dazzling color. And when she opened her eyes, she saw Sorin flying next to her, satisfaction on his face as well as he enjoyed an easy flight on a beautiful day.
They didn't stay out long, but they enjoyed that time they had. Moments of unbound freedom as two dragons, one of fire and one of water, conquered the air together. Wings and claws each making their own way through the sky.
And when they returned to the den, ready to go back into a slumber once more, Soring lifted his wing and she laid against him. She noticed for the first time that she no longer needed his warmth, nor did he have any obligation to offer it, but he didn't seem to mind and neither did she as they slept side by side on a comfortable golden bed.
It was a few days after that flight—or maybe a week, at most—and Sisu was lounging on the gold, Sorin asleep next to her, carelessly browsing through the gems and gold as she passed the time until she felt any particular urge to swim, hunt, fly, or simply go back to sleep. It was an interesting little habit she'd developed, digging through the magnificent pile of wealth that she used as a mattress looking for odd and captivating pieces to catch her interest. She wasn't even exactly sure why she did it, since it was clear that Sorin would never let her keep and own any piece she liked, but she did so anyway. Already she had an expansive mental list of every interesting treasure she'd found, and every time she looked through it again that list grew.
Today was no different. She'd already found several neat things, including a miniature golden dragon statuette that was just large enough to fit in her claw and a massive rope of pearls large enough to loop around the neck of a dragon (she couldn't help but wonder what the thought process was behind the humans making one that large!). She'd been tempted to try that necklace on, just to see how well it fit, but decided against it. It would be just her luck for Sorin to wake up just then and make a wrong assumption.
As she searched, she generally spent time in one spot, thoroughly exploring it before she moved to another. As it was, she'd started that day in a location she'd already half-searched before, as it was near her old resting spot on the other end of the cave from where she now typically laid with Sorin. Finished with it rather quickly, and still not motivated to do anything other than continuing to search the gold, she decided to move from that spot to another on the other side of the cave, where she hadn't searched as much.
She was passing by the cave entrance on her way over when she paused, an all too familiar scent now reaching her nostrils. The smell of man. She looked out into the light, hesitated, then decided to have a look.
She'd hoped, as she made her way outside, that it would prove to be just a traveler that had wandered too close to the dragon den—it had happened once or twice before—or even that it would be another case of humans approaching to give tribute. Unfortunately, and as she had expected but feared, she entered the clearing to get a glance of a man in silvery armor dismounting a horse and unsheathing a sword that hung from its saddlebag.
She laid herself low, watching him for a moment as she decided what to do. He hadn't seen her yet as she'd kept close to the trees and he too was busy messing with his weapons and armor to notice her. Choosing not to reveal herself, she silently turned around and entered back into the cave.
Making her way to the still sleeping Sorin, she reached out and tapped a claw against one of his, speaking his name as she did so. Immediately his eyes shot open, but they relaxed once they landed on her.
"What?" he asked with a low rumble, shifting slightly and giving a long blink.
"There's a human here, a challenger," she told him, "I thought you'd want to know."
Sorin gave a puff of smoke out of his nostrils and gave a small grin as he rose and stretched himself out. "Foolish knight," he growled, half to himself and half to her, "You were right to tell me. I will take care of it." He straightened himself up, chest out and curling his neck back and up to his full natural height. He swished his tail twice, scattering coins all over the cave, then strode out of the cave to face the man who dared to fight him.
Sisu didn't follow him out.
She stood there and waited, looking down at the gold. She'd wanted to help—really, she had—but there was no use. Confronting the man wouldn't have ended well, she knew that from experience. At that thought she raised a claw up and felt the scar on her neck, hidden by her mane but still there. No, it was no use trying to help and reason with the humans that came.
The man, the challenger, had sealed his own fate by coming here. There was nothing she could do for him; he'd brought it upon himself. She would not risk her own neck again by trying to help one who didn't even want it. She saw no point in trying to save one who came here just to try to kill.
She felt a small amount of guilt as she heard a yell from outside, then a scream, then silence. She'd not raised a talon against him, but she'd not raised a talon for him, either. A man had just died, and she'd stood by and let it happen. She'd even woken Sorin so he could do it. Yet the situation was as it was; either he or Sorin was bound to die as soon as he'd come here. Both of them knew it, and both accepted it. Her talons were clean of the matter.
Sorin reentered the cave a few minutes later, tongue running through his teeth and cleaning the blood off them. Sisu would have been lying to herself if she said she wasn't glad to see him unscathed from the encounter, even if it was unsurprising. This was the third challenger since she'd arrived—that she knew of—and not one it seemed had even landed a blow on him.
She looked him over, wanting to ask a witty question like "have fun?" or "enjoy yourself?" but she didn't. She was afraid of the answer. Actually, she was afraid because she already knew what that answer would be.
So she didn't speak of it at all. Trying her best to just put the whole thing out of her mind, she went back to idly digging through the gold as Sorin laid down and went back to sleep.