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A Blue's Acceptance By Green

It was the day I went back to my home town of Basil's Crossing with Yajondra, the beautiful Dragoness I'd met in the capital, the city of Levintide, only the day before. She'd been quite eager to see the town and meet its inhabitants, but in all the excitement of this new... thing between the two of us, I had neglected to consider the reaction of the town to her. After all, none of the women I'd been seen with in the past were blue and scaly. Or had wings and a tail, for that matter. And the 'seven feet tall' thing was kind of new, too... Anyway, when she was suddenly introduced to my fellow townsfolk, things had been tense, there were quite a few stares, but for the most part, I think it went okay. She quickly charmed my nephew Rory into relaxing around her, and that seemed to help the rest of the crowd. There were still those, however, who remained distant and untrusting of this very different stranger in their midst, so I hurried Yajondra into my store, hoping at the very least for a few minutes of peace out of sight from the town.

Later on, we had put everything in its proper place, but had locked up the shop because it was only an hour to its usual closing time anyway. We walked through the middle of town, heading for the outskirts, gathering almost as many vacant stares from the fact that Yajondra was a Dragon as for the fact that we were holding hands. As we walked through and out of the cluster of houses and cottages that made up the 'residential district', Yajondra eyed me curiously. "Where exactly are we going, Merchant?" "I live on the edge of town, we would have passed it on the way in. Don't worry, it's not far... But if you're going to give me a nickname, call me 'Farmer', okay? 'Merchant' just makes me sound greedy." She chuckled at that. "Whatever you say, Farmer." After admiring the summer foliage of the trees in silence for a few minutes, she turned to me with a serious look on her face. "Jack, your cousin, the baker... I've seen Humans become afraid of me, untrusting, but Cedric seemed openly hostile." "What's that mean?" "Hostile? Oh, it means aggressive, argumentative - er, prone to arguing, that is... you know, treating someone like an enemy or a potential enemy." "Oh. Well, that's a pretty spot-on description of Cedric there. He's..." There wasn't really a way to sugar-coat this. "He's very, very racist. When we were children, his father was an archer in the King's army. Everyone in town was very proud of him. But when the King signed that treaty to make an alliance with the Elves from the deep forest, most of the archers were dismissed, replaced with Elven soldiers to strengthen the treaty. Everyone knows there's no better archer than an Elf. Anyway, Cedric's father didn't take too kindly to this, blamed it square on the Elves, and soon he started blaming every bad thing that happened in his life on the fact that he'd been replaced with an Elf. Raised by a man like that, Cedric became convinced that Humans are the best species in the world, and that all the other races are dirty, unworthy, even if they're better than us at certain things." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "You know, once upon a time, his father had been perfectly fine with the other races. His older brother's name is Bartilin, after some famous Elven hero." "Yes, I've heard of him. Impressive story there, but it can wait, of course." "Mind you, their father insisted people only call him "Bart" after he was dismissed. But Cedric's been like that his whole life, just won't listen to reason. Anyway, last year, Bartilin did something that Cedric found completely unforgiveable." "What's that?" "Bart's the town blacksmith, and he wanted to learn to be the best, has dreams of one day working in the Capital, maybe even armouring the King's men. So he went on a trip to Dwarven territory, spent around a year or so in Thunderhold, learning from the best smiths in the world." "And that was unforgiveable to Cedric?" "No, even he would admit that the Dwarves are the best blacksmiths. The unforgiveable part was that when Bart came back last year, he brought a wife with him. He'd fallen in love with and married a Dwarf woman while he was studying their smithing techniques." "Oh, dear..." "Oh dear is right. Durna's a fine woman, as friendly as they say the Dwarves are, but as far as I know, Cedric's never spoken a word to her. In fact, as soon as he found out, he stopped talking to Bartilin. It's been just about a year now, and Cedric hasn't spoken a single word to him. His own brother. You know, they're due to have a child in a few weeks, and..." I trailed off and laughed as something occurred to me. Yajondra, not being privy to my train of thought, glared at me. "That's not very funny, Jack." "No, no, not that, I just remembered something. My friends, the Littles, when their children misbehave, they tell them - and I apologize for them for this, but they'll say 'finish your vegetables or a Dragon will come and take you away!' or 'do your chores or the Dragons will get you!'. And earlier, when you came out of that carriage, their daughter, Evey, she ran away like the Black God himself was after her!" At that point, Yajondra stopped walking and looked at me strangely, then she shook her head and started laughing, which started me laughing again, which made her laugh harder, and soon the both of us were standing there in the path, laughing hysterically. We must have looked ridiculous, but the memory still makes me smile. Eventually, we calmed down a little, and started walking again, holding hands once more and smiling quite widely.

It wasn't long after that that we turned a corner after a brief jaunt through a wooded area, and my humble abode came into view. I have to admit, even though this particular trip to the city resulted in meeting such a fascinating woman, it was still good to be home. I expressed as much to Yajondra, grinning proudly. "Ah, here we are! It isn't much, but it's home." The Dragon turned to me with a somewhat odd look on her face. "You live there?" I chuckled at that, gesturing around us; we had just exited a thick part of the woods to a portion of the road which gently fell away to a hillside, giving this section of the path a nice view of the valley below. Which was rather the point, originally. "Do you see any other buildings around here?" Sunshine-coloured eyes darting back and forth between my home and my smiling face, Yajondra snorted in amusement, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, perhaps not, but you'll forgive me if I wasn't quite expecting my simple Farmer to live in a tower." I had indeed made my home in a relatively simple, undecorated stone tower. It wasn't especially impressive as such things go; only four stories tall with no moat surrounding it or guardian creatures cavorting menacingly at its base. "Well, up until a few years ago, every township in the kingdom had its own militia to protect it against bandits and creatures and what have you. But Basil's Crossing is way out here in the middle of nowhere, there isn't much of special note in the town, and there aren't any monsters in these woods - or any creatures more dangerous than bears or wolves, really. So we ultimately decided to retire our militia, and we haven't had any problems since. Most of the men still live here, actually, a lot of them are hunters, and Captain Cobb became the town butcher. Anyway, once the unit was dismantled, this old watchtower just sat here collecting dust, so I recently moved in and made it my home." Shaking her head and chuckling, Yajondra joined me in resuming our walk towards my front door. "You are a very curious man, Jack Midden. Every time I think I've got you figured out..." I winked at the blue and laughed a bit myself. "I'm told the ladies like it when you keep them guessing."

A few minutes later, we arrived at the front door, a thick, oak wood affair with iron reinforcements. It was a little on the heavy side, but it had originally been designed to resist enemy attacks, so I couldn't really fault the designers that. Pulling the large, ornate key out of my travel bag, I unlocked it with a click that never failed to be very satisfying, and pulled the door open for my companion, bowing my head and gesturing to the doorway like a servant from a nobleman's house. "After you, milady." Yajondra, who had made it very clear our first night together that she deeply enjoyed how much more romantic Humans tended to be than her own people, narrowed her eyes and smiled at me, her wings giving a peculiar shiver as she made that churring noise that I was so rapidly growing fond of. "I'd say I'm surprised to find such a noble gentleman so far from the realm of royals, but then I already knew you were one." I have to say, I was rather fond of the hungry look she gave me as she ducked her head to cross the threshold and stepped inside, her eyes blatantly travelling up and down my form, undressing me in her mind. I stepped through after her and tugged the door closed with a heavy thud. I was not at all surprised to find my lo- er, the lovely creature stretched up to her full height, looking around with genuine interest shining in her eyes. The first floor of my home was an open area, it had mostly been used for militiamen to step inside and warm up during the watch in the heart of winter. As such, there was a very large fireplace right in the center of the room, with channels carved into the walls above it to help bring heat to the other parts of the tower. My tower narrows slightly as it rises, so this was the room with the most, well, room. As such, this was where I entertained guests and prepared my food, with a number of chairs spread around and a table off to the side that could comfortably sit my entire family. It was a bit much, honestly, but those had been here when I bought the tower from the town, so I never looked a gift horse in the mouth. I had also set up a spit over the fireplace that I could comfortably use to get a nice roast going, though that was more problematic in the summer, when I didn't want the heat to spread throughout the tower. As the Dragoness leaned in to examine a painting of a ship at sea I'd picked up from the capitol a few years back, I proudly put my hands on my hips, standing up straight, grinning from ear to ear. "I would like to formally welcome you to my home, Yajondraniirkel... kel... Blast, And I'd been practicing in my head so I wouldn't forget, too." I looked away, embarrassed, but Yajondra stepped up and very gently turned my head to face her. There was no scorn or mockery in her eyes for my failing, only the same gentle warmth that made my pulse quicken and my body warm up. "I'm still impressed you made it that far so soon after meeting me, Farmer. It's a good thing you look so cute when you blush." She chuckled, and the sound was like music to me. Though it occurred to me, as she leaned in to kiss me, that I might want to get embarrassed more often. We broke it off quickly (for us), not wanting to get carried away and end up on the floor, and then the Dragoness tilted her head and smiled again. "For the record, Jack, it's Yajondraniirkel_kenahjrah_. 'Strength of the winter wind' in Draconic." She had mentioned that when introducing herself to Rory, my brother Thomas' son, back in town, but I still smirked and gave her hand a squeeze. "Oh, well my Draconic is a tad rusty, blue, so I wasn't able to pick up on that." She smiled at that, then turned to look towards the large stone staircase that spiraled up and out of sight. "Care to show me the rest of the place, or will we be sleeping on the table there?" I was about to make a snarky/flirtatious remark, but I got distracted as she casually made a curious movement. She lifted one of her wings up to the back of her head, and used the claw on the thumb-like digit sticking out of the top to scratch at the base of one of her smooth, white horns. This, in turn, lead me to admire the way her horns curved back around her head, pointing backwards instead of up or forwards, the way Humans always seem to draw Dragons. I might have then gotten lost in her equivalent to hair, blunt, rubbery spines that sprouted from the back of her neck and ran down into her robe, but she noticed I had failed to respond and brought my attention back down to Rilodell. "Jack? That was a joke. I assume you have a bedroom here somewhere..." "Oh... oh! Sorry, Yajondra. I'll show you, come this way. Oh, before I forget, the, uh, facilities are behind the door in the corner. I don't much like magic, but I picked up a charm a few years ago that makes that room smell like roses, and it was worth every diral!" Yajondra grinned slightly at that, but merely nodded, so I took her hand and led her up the stairs.

Belatedly remembering that we would have to cross the second story to get to the third, I blushed, looking back and smiling self-consciously. "Uh, pardon the mess, I never really figured out what to do with this space, so I use it to store -" As we stepped up to the second floor, the Dragoness interrupted me with a gasp. Gently brushing past me, she stepped into the open space, which contained a pair of high-backed chairs, much more comfortable than the ones downstairs, and a desk where I did any personal paperwork or letter-writing that needed to be done. But it wasn't the furniture that had caught the blue's attention. It was everything else in the room. Chuckling to myself as she moved from item to item, staring in genuine interest, I shrugged and just watched her. "Running a general store in a farming town isn't terribly exciting, I'd always dreamed of far-off lands and the interesting people who live there, but I don't really have it in me to become one of those crazed adventurers who wander the world and get legends written about them. So whenever I'm in the capital, making trade agreements with the shipping companies, I poke around into curio shops and peddler's corners, and see what interesting trinkets I can find from far-off lands. I guess I collect them, you could say." I wasn't sure if she was listening or not as she raised a miniature shield and sword, forged by master blacksmiths, which meant they were no less perfect in form for their small size. Tilting her head back and forth as she examined them, I could hear the delight in her voice as she spoke, though I'm not sure if she was talking to me or herself. "The craftsmanship on this shield is amazing, the smith even engraved his initials above the grip, and I think this is real leather here! You'd think he was preparing a tiny soldier for war..." She put it down with reverence and moved on to the item next to it, an intricately-carved wooden puppet. "Oooh, that's a good one, it comes from, ah, one of the jungle nations far to the south, and it's supposed to be -" "The Red God, unless I miss my guess. I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be fire in his eyes, and warpaint on his face. Not to mention the thing in his hand. The jungle tribes often associate the Raver with this hook-shaped weapon he's carrying, though it's unclear why." Finally glancing over her shoulder at me, she laughed at the look on my face, the sound anything but mocking. "I'm a scholar, dear, remember? My word, all these artefacts, all these nations, this tower is like a perfect microcosm of Humanity!" "I have absolutely no idea what that means, Blue, but I'll take that as a compliment." One by one, she went through the items in the room, staring with even more interest than I had shown when I purchased them in the first place. Yajondra glanced at me for a moment before continuing, blushing slightly herself. "You might find the draconic homeland more exciting than a local, Jack, but believe it or not, I felt much the same way, it's why I left the mountains in the first place, but so far all I've personally experienced is life in the capital and the trip here to Basil's Crossing. I've dreamed about travelling to far-off lands and studying foreign cultures, this collection is so fascinating to me... Oh my! Look at this clock!" Putting down the bust of the late Emperor who had ruled this portion of Rilodell before he left the throne to his daughter, Yajondra turned to the clock hanging on the wall above my desk, a quietly ticking, over-decorated affair from the lands just to the east. "Look at the birds carved here along the side, such care and detail here! I don't think this kind of small detail would be possible from my people. Looks like it keeps perfect time, too. Beautiful and useful!" Trying not to smile too much, I wordlessly stepped over and reached up to the clock, pushing the hands ahead to the next hour. The Dragon watched curiously and then gave out a yelp, stepping backwards in shock, wings flipping out to their full extension, as a door on the front of the clock suddenly opened up and a small clockwork canary popped out and began announcing the time. As she folded her wings back up, Yajondra burst out laughing. "Great Green, it chirps, too!"

I joined her in laughing, happy to see her so delighted. When we had calmed down after a few moments, I set the clock back to the proper time, and was about to suggest I show Yajondra the rest of the tower when she picked up one more artefact. An elaborately carved sculpture made from some green crystal from the desert. An impressively-detailed carving of a Dragon, the kind that walks on four legs instead of two, rearing back, wings spread, mouth wide open as if roaring. I expected her to talk about the people who had carved it, or the significance of Dragons and crystals, or something that would fly equally far above my head. But instead, she just got a curious look as she held it up to the window, the statuette (a clever word she taught me later on that means a carved sculpture that's smaller than a statue) catching the light of the setting sun and glittering beautifully, green specks of light dancing on the walls around us. "Jack, this sculpture... this is beautiful. I think - I think this was made by Dragons. It... it reminds me of home, we have crystal statues everywhere..." For a moment, I caught a glimpse of her face, and I'm certain I saw a look of homesickness there. For all their mystery and magic, maybe the Dragons aren't that different from us after all. I reached over and took her free hand in my own, giving it a squeeze. A much stronger squeeze than I would normally give a lady, true, but I wasn't sure she'd feel my usual strength through her scales. "I found it in the bazaar, happened to get to the capital during some festival or other last year. I got a green crystal statue because, well, it was what they had and I liked the colour, honestly. But now, I'm thinking I should have seen if they had anything in blue." There was a moment of silence, and then the Dragoness lowered the sculpture and turned to face me, a gentle smile on her scaly face. Setting the sculpture down on the simple box I'd used as a makeshift display stand, she took my other hand in her own and gave me her full attention. "Maybe you'll find another one, get a nice matching set... You know, Jack, it's starting to get late, would you be a dear and show me where you sleep?" I'd known Yajondra long enough to recognize that glimmer in her eyes, and couldn't help but smile, gesturing with my head towards the stairs to the third floor, on the opposite side of the room from the stairs back down to ground level, due to some defensive design to the architecture that my non-military mind didn't grasp. "Right this way, my lady."

As we stepped up to the top floor of the tower, I spread my arms to gesture to the entire room. "Well, this is it, the Midden bedchamber. I know it isn't much, I've been meaning to decorate more up here for years now. I suppose I could move some of the things from my collection up here, but I like having them all in one place." The Dragoness nodded at that, examining the heavy wooden dresser that contained my clothing. If she had any insight into the culture that had carved it or some tidbit about its origins, she remained silent. I gestured to the stone ladder carved into the wall on one side, leading up to a conspicuous trapdoor in the ceiling. As I spoke, I raised a hand to the middle of my torso. "There's a fourth floor above us, but it's open to the air, just has a wall about yea high with those, what do you call them, castle bumps, in a circle around the edges." Yajondra giggled. "'Castle bumps'?" Suddenly feeling like a country bumpkin, I shrugged and tried not to blush, without success. "Yeah, you know, those square bumps you see along the outer walls of castles!" "Those are called 'crenellations', Jack. But I'm kind of surprised you can get up there at all." "Well, it was a watchtower after all. I've never figured out what to do with that space, you know. Friend said I should put a telescope up there, but I don't know anything about stars, so seeing them closer wouldn't really do much for me. You know, originally, there wasn't any glass in the windows up here, I believe so archers could shoot through the windows in case incoming fire made it too dangerous to stay up top." Putting my hands on my hips, I shook my head. "I have no idea who ever thought that the militia of Basil's Crossing might need to defend themselves against an invading army, but I'm pretty sure they didn't live here. I -" I trailed off, my point forgotten, as I laid eyes on the furniture the room was named after, and which raised a very important problem I'd neglected to consider with my mind so focused on my beautiful companion. "Oh - oh, Yajondra I'm sorry, I didn't think..." She looked at me curiously, as if she hadn't figured it out. "What's wrong, Jack?" Gesturing with both hands, as if it should be obvious, I shook my head in dismay, turning to face the window, watching the sun slip beneath the faraway trees, far too little time left before dark to slip back to town and get my hands on something suitable for a guest. "I forgot, there's only one bed, I've never had anyone else staying here before. I - I just forgot, I promise, I wasn't trying to force you into - I would never... Look, I could just sleep in one of the chairs in the study if you're not comfortable..." For the second time in as many minutes, I trailed off, for much more pleasant reasons. As I turned around again, I discovered that while I had been fretting, the Dragoness had quietly unfastened her robes and let them slip to the floor, the plain, brown, frankly unflattering garment now pooling around her ankles as she stood there, clad only in her equally plain (though far more flattering) undergarments. She had picked up one of the wall torches from its holder, and as I watched, blatantly staring, she used the flint on the dresser next to it to light the thing and return it to the wall, the sole torch leaving the room in a dim, cozy light that set her cerulean scales to glimmer like sapphires. Smiling at me in that wonderfully soft way, she gestured with a single hand to the bed. "You worry too much, Human. Come put your feet up, relax with me." By the time she lowered her hand, I was grinning from ear to ear. By the time she'd taken two steps towards the bed, my shirt was falling to the floor. And by the time her smile beckoned wordlessly for me to join her on the mattress, I was nearly stumbling to the stone floor in my attempt to oblige her without stopping to remove my pants, my enthusiasm making her giggle. The luscious female reached out to embrace me, churring quietly. "Mmmmm, I can't wait to share your heat, Farmer, I've been waiting for it all afternoon..." Laughing softly, I kissed her on the cheek and worked her bra off, freeing her breasts, which were sizable, though perfectly suited to her large frame. "You think you've been waiting for it? I thought about doing it right there in the store, but I don't think the counter could take it!" As her hand slipped down my body and took a gentle hold of my manhood, she leaned in and whispered breathily in my ear. "Oh, Jack, I want to try so many things with you... want to show you how Dragons do this..." "D-didn't you say I might not survive the Dragon style?" A musical chuckle, and then; "I'll be gentle."

Ah... I know that I've gone into rather a lot of detail about my previous encounters with the Dragoness, but if it's all the same to you, dear reader, I would really rather not go into the specifics of that particular night. Suffice to say, I learned quite a lot about Yajondra, and about myself, and gained a whole new admiration for Dragon males...

The next morning I began delivering a few wares I'd been asked to pick up while I was in the city. For reasons best left undisclosed, I felt inclined to see that the town's doctor got his delivery first. "...And how did you say you sustained these injuries, again?" The doctor, an old friend named Dennis Forrest, was giving us both a somewhat skeptical eye as he cleaned a shallow cut on my forehead. He had already cleaned the one on my leg, and given Yajondra a special salve for the pinkish bruise on her shoulder that he was reasonably sure would still work for a reptile. Despite the fact that we'd worked on our story all morning, I got the distinct feeling that Dennis didn't buy a word of it. "We were, uh, moving things around my tower and we... fell down the stairs." Both of us blushed at his grin. "I see. Is there anything else you need help with?" I rolled my shoulder and winced. "Actually, my back is kinda sore, I, uh... I tried to lift something a little too..." The next word died on my lips as Yajondra shot me a warning look. It's never a good idea to annoy your special woman, especially when she's a foot taller than you and comes with extra claws and teeth. So I just left it at that, hoping the doctor wouldn't comment on my lame ending. "...I tried to lift something." As Forrest adjusted his glasses, I got the distinct impression he was trying not to laugh. "Well then, I suggest the next time you 'lift something', you exercise a bit more caution. Or at least a bit more restraint." The Dragoness and I exchanged a furtive glance, and I felt an embarrassed guilt that I hadn't felt since I was a schoolboy being chewed out by his teacher for breaking the rules. "There you go, cleaned it out. This one should heal without a scar, though if you're not careful I might have to re-stitch the one on your thigh. Your, ah, stairs must be very sharp." "Thanks, doc. I'll try to keep that in mind." "Just doing my job, Jackson. Thank you for the herbs, they always seem to get lost if I rely on couriers. Nice meeting you, Miss Yajondra. It's been a long time since I've seen a Dragon in the flesh." The blue bowed her head, a very graceful gesture from someone so big. "Doctor." Slipping off Forrest's table, I picked up the box of requested items that I'd brought with us, and we made our exit, pausing to light a candle at the shrine near the door. Basil's Crossing wasn't big enough to have a proper temple to the seven gods, much less one dedicated to one in particular, but most of the houses had at the very least a charm emblazoned with the symbols associated with the gods who watched over the world. Doc Forrest had a small shrine, like the one my parents had near the kitchen, but instead of having seven small candles in thematic colours, this one was clearly dedicated to the Green God, lord of love and god of life. It was a fairly common practice for houses of healing to do so, given the Hermit's domain of influence. At the moment, we only needed a dash of good luck, not a heart-to-heart with the divine, though, so we only offered up a quick, silent prayer before heading out the door.

It was a rather nice day, really, the sun shining bright and a number of perfect fluffy clouds in the sky to make things more picturesque than endless blue would have been. I felt that familiar stress growing inside as people turned and made rather obvious, lingering glances towards Yajondra, but she didn't seem to notice, turning to me with a somewhat concerned expression, speaking in a hushed tone as we made our way through the town. "Are you sure you're alright, Jack? I'm sorry again for... getting carried away last night." "Yeah, I'll live. My ribs only hurt when I breathe deep. And for the record, it was mostly worth it. How's your shoulder?" She shrugged, grinning thinly. "It'll be fine, just a bruise." "I know, but I've never left one on a woman before, and it bothers me... in my defence, I didn't think I could hurt you." To my surprise, she laughed softly at that. "That makes two of us." Her smile only widened at the sour face I sent her, but I couldn't help but grin after a moment. I find it hard to stay even a little bit peeved at her. "Alright, alright, hilarious. We're off to the blacksmith next, Bart wanted a new set of forge goggles from the city, I guess the heat does bad things to them over time." She nodded, then indicated one of the nearby structures with a dip of her head. "I'm guessing it's the building that's running a fire in the heart of summer." I snickered. Sure enough, one and only one of the chimneys in town had a plume of smoke trailing away from it. "You got it. Let's go say hello."

But before we could say anything, as we stepped into the blacksmith's shop, we heard a pair of voices that were almost as heated as the forge that dominated the centre of the room. "By the seven, woman, how many times do we have to go over this?! I swear sometimes, your stubborn skull is as thick as the mountain I met you under!" A higher pitched, though no less intense voice quickly followed it with a harsh 'Ha!' and then, "If ye think I'm goin' ta let a scion of my illustrious Clan, half-Human or no, get a reedy name like William or Christopher, ye've got another thing coming to ye!" I had noticed, in my prior dealings with this particular couple, that dwarves seem to have a massive vocabulary when it came to matters of family or honour. I turned to my companion, confused. "Yajondra - what's a 'scion'?" She turned to answer, but the back door to the shop swung open with a bang, and my cousin Bart walked in from his home next door. He may have been named after an Elf, but Bart was a tall, burly ox of a man, whose muscles had been worked to the envy of any soldier in the King's army from the efforts of working a forge and anvil. He also had a beard impressive enough that he almost looked like the tallest Dwarf in the world, especially when seen with his current companion. Durna was somewhere between four and four and a half feet tall, I'd never worked up the courage to ask, in case it was a matter of personal pride the way Human women refuse to discuss their weight. But her height hardly defined her; even with her stocky build, much wider than the average Human woman, Durna was clearly a 'fetching lass', as she'd put it. I could see where they fell for each other. At the moment, the Dwarf was heavily pregnant, arms curled around her belly, not so much protectively as supportively. They both wore rather intimidating frowns, but as soon as they laid eyes upon us, genuine smiles and looks of happiness alit on their faces. Setting down his hammer, Bart raised his arms, laughing. "Cousin Jack! I'd heard you were back in town!" Just as I knew he would, to my chagrin, he stepped forward and wrapped me up in a big bear hug, lifting me off the ground and laughing. Yajondra, who may have been the first person Bart had seen in years who was taller than he was, stepped backwards, a look of confusion spreading across her features. When Bart set me down, soot and sweat were clinging to my shirt, just as he knew they would be. "Oof... Good to see you too, Bart." Our customary greeting complete, my cousin turned to my companion with the same kind of smile he'd give anyone who walked into his shop, treating the Dragoness as just another person. "And I'd also heard there was a new face come back with you. Who's this enchanting young woman?" Durna elbowed him in the thigh, but her smile remained in place. I stepped forward, brushing my shirt off. "Sorry, got, uh, distracted before I could do the introductions. Guys, this is Yajondra, a scholar from... er, that I met in the capital. Yajondra, this is Bartilin and Durna Dullan." As he leaned forward to shake her hand, Bart winked. "But don't let my brother catch you calling me anything but Bart. I heard he was a bit of an arse when you arrived, I apologize. I had the same father, but I was a bit older than Cedric, so it didn't quite take with me. Plus, I was a giant man living with Dwarves for a year, I know what it's like to be stared at." I frowned at that, but looked away as I did so. It baffled me how he could apologize on behalf of a man who refused to speak to him because of who he loved. My mind started wandering to the idea of how Cedric would feel about me if my relationship with a Dragon continued, but the conversation picked back up and I was able to ignore it for now.

Yajondra took Bart's hand and shook it, but the look of confusion wasn't going anywhere. "But... when we walked in, we heard you two... you sounded so angry." Bart and Durna exchanged a surprised look, and then laughed together, a hearty, genuine sound. Durna grinned up at her visitor and winked. "I'm guessing ye haven't spent much time among Dwarves, missy. 'Tis just how we are, ye see. Little bodies, big voices. Talkin' out yer differences all diplomatically and such is all fine and dandy when it comes to affairs of kingdoms, but when it comes to those ye share yer home with, we find it much more fun to let things get heated all around." Nodding like a wise sage, Bart deadpanned; "And if you think that's heated, you should see what they're like between the sheets." Surprised, letting out an amused snort, Durna elbowed her husband again, and they started laughing together as Yajondra and I blushed. When they'd regained composure, Bart turned back to us. "No, it was nothing really big, honestly. Well, it kind of is, but we weren't actually as angry as we sounded. See, the young'un's gonna make an appearance any day now, and we can't agree on whether to name it after one of my grandparents, as is the tradition in my family -" Durna interrupted him with an exaggerated scowl. "Or to give it a strong Dwarven name, the tradition of all of my people!" Glancing up at me, she snorted again, then pointed at me with a thumb. "Y'see, husband? Jackson! Even the salesman has a stronger name than yer grandfathers! I'd rather name me boy after him! Ah, no offense, lad, ye know what I meant." Letting out a heavy sigh, she shook her head. "Names are important to us, ye know. I'm a member of the illustrious Clan Battlehammer, the Dwarves of Silverdeep, by way of Stonewater Vale. I went from being Durna Trollbane to Durna Dullan for this man. That's how ye know it's love. That and this elephant he's got me carryin' for him." Yajondra smiled pleasantly. "Well, perhaps you could hyphenate it." All three of the warm-blooded people in the room gave her blank looks. "It's a punctuation mark. You could be Durna Trollbane-Dullan." The Dwarf lifted a hand from her belly to her chin, stroking thoughtfully. "I like the way ye think, Dragon. I'll haf'ta look into that."

With the conversation finally having hit a lull, I cleared my throat. "Nice as it is to see you, Bart, I need to drop off a few other things today. I've got those goggles you asked for, and a few dirals, they were on sale for some wolf holiday I'd never heard of." "Ahh, excellent, thank you Jack. My old pair finally gave up the ghost just yesterday, and squinting only works for so long. I'd been starting to build up a back log." Durna shook her head again, amused. "I don't know why ye insist on that animal shop when ye could be going to a fine Dwarven craftsman. It's not like we're world-renowned for it or anythin'... oh, wait." "Goggles are goggles, wife, and the wolves are humble enough to not charge in platinum sovereigns when they're not selling mythril armour." The Dwarf smiled somewhat more warmly than before and placed a hand on her husband's forearm as he held the goggles up to the window, examining them in better light. "No, really, Bartilin, ye're a talented man, ye should be working with the best equipment. Me da' might even be willin' to part with a pair of his own for the father of his grandchild. Ye like the mythril hammer he gave ye well enough, don't ye?" Putting down the goggles, Bart laid a meaty hand over his wife's, smiling back. "That was a wedding present, Durna, I couldn't exactly say no. And I want to earn my place. I learned the fine points of the craft from him, and I thank him dearly, but his charity is too much." As if underlining this warm family moment, Durna got a surprised look on her face and let out a giggle, a rare sound for her. "Ooh! Felt a kick, I did!" I saw Yajondra tensing up from the corner of my eye, and apparently I wasn't the only one. Durna smiled warmly and chuckled. "Oh, go ahead, missy, no woman alive can resist The Belly." My companion lifted a hand, and then hesitated. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable..." "Why? Because ye're a Dragon? I didna get knocked up by a Human by resenting other races, dearie. Come on, have a feel before it calms down." Grinning from ear to ear (careful to hide the sharpness of her teeth, I noticed), Yajondra nodded and leaned forward, gently placing a blue, scaled hand on the woman's belly, laughing softly after a moment. "My, that's quite a kick on this little one!" Patting the back of the Dragon's hand, Durna laughed with her. "With parents like these, there was no other outcome!"

With both Yajondra and Durna's encouragement, I joined in on the moment and felt my future nephew or niece saying hello, then repeated my (genuine, for the record) reluctant need to go elsewhere today. Bart nodded to us as he lifted his hammer and put on his new goggles, adjusting the straps to his satisfaction. "It's just as well, I really need to get working if I'm going to catch up to that backlog. Great seeing you, Jack, we should catch up at the Dr- uh, the Blazing Dragon, have a few ales. Good to meet you, Yajondra, hope to see you around town." The Dragoness inclined her head with a smile. "It's been lovely, Bartilin. And Durna?" Turning to the Dwarf with a smirk, Yajondra said... something. It wasn't in the common tongue, so I'm afraid I can't transcribe it, given that I haven't the foggiest clue what it meant, though. I have to assume it was Dwarvish, as Durna grinned in pleasant surprise and answered her in the same language. At one point, Durna looked directly at me for a second, and then both women laughed gently at whatever she said afterwards, giving me the itching feeling that my cousin-in-law had been giving Yajondra advice for being in a relationship with a Human. As we left the building, hearing Bart returning to work, merrily banging away on what was more likely to be a pan or a horseshoe than a mighty weapon, I turned to the Dragoness, who was still smiling. "...So, you speak Dwarvish. I didn't know that." "Oh, yes. I may not have spent any time in their lands, but I'm quite fluent. Though apparently my accent is a little odd. I speak most of the known languages, actually." "Do you now?" "Mmm. Didn't bother with Ant, though, it's almost impossible to do right when your jaw is only in two pieces. Definitely easier to just hire an interpreter." I nodded at that, though in reality I suspect she was pulling my leg. I'd heard of a wide variety of ani-men, but insects? After a moment, I gave her a look. "...You're not going to tell me what you and Durna talked about, are you?" Smiling brightly, she nodded. "Nope!" As we continued walking through the sunny streets, she looked down at the bag of things I had slung over my arm. "I believe you said the butcher shop was our next destination." "I'm pretty sure I didn't use as many five-diral words, but yeah, that's the gist of it. Baerl needed a new sharpening rod." "Baerl? Do you have another Dwarf living here?" "No, he was just raised among Dwarves, I don't remember why. I guess his parents liked the hairy folk. I think he's from the Flat Mountains, though, so it's not like he's old friends with Durna's family or anything." Nodding, she stood up straight and stretched her arms, breathing deep and sighing happily. "Ah, this is such a small, cozy town, Jack, absolutely nothing like the capital." I felt rather proud that my humble home was more inviting to this lovely woman than a great shiny city, and took her hand in mine. I mention this detail here mainly because it was the first time I had done so without first considering the opinions of anyone who might happen to see me doing so. "I like it here, myself. Everybody gets to know everybody else, so you know exactly who you can rely on when it comes down to it." "Really? Everyone?" She sounded genuinely interested, had that scholarly look in her eye again. Grinning, I gestured to a group of men standing by themselves next to Cedric's bakery, having some lunch and laughing at a joke one of them had just told. "Oh, sure. Those three are all actual farmers, unlike yours truly. That's Ezekiel Stone in the red shirt, his best friend Jebidiah sitting on the crate, and the one leaning up against the tree is Sabash." The Dragoness looked at me curiously. "Sabash? I'm not familiar with that style of name... is he named after another race, like Bartilin or the butcher?" I laughed at that, giving her hand a squeeze. "No, his parents were just weird." And so I walked towards the local butcher shop, hand in hand with a Dragon, giggling together like schoolchildren.

Baerl Cobb is not known for his conversational skills, so I'd been hoping to make up for some of the time we spent chatting with Durna and Bart by dropping off the rod and making for our next destination. I was hoping to have the store open for a few hours today at least. Unfortunately, as we approached the front door of the butcher shop, it opened wide, and the two residents of Basil's Crossing most likely to strike up a conversation with me stepped out, beaming from ear to ear as they saw us. He spoke up first. "Jackie boy! Welcome back! How was your trip?" She glared at him and clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Don't ask him about the trip, Wilbur, ask him about his friend!" They looked at me expectantly for the briefest of moments and then she prodded; "Well? Aren't you going to introduce us?" Sighing dramatically (and only half faking it) I went through the motions again. "This is Yajondra of Clan Trel, I met her in Levintide, she's a scholar. And they are Wilbur and Audra Midden. My parents." Yajondra lit up like a candle and extended a hand. "Oh! It's a pleasure to meet you, you've raised quite a charming son!" My father shook her hand first, and chuckled. "Thank you for saying so, dear, Jack sure didn't make it easy." Mom was all smiles as she took her turn. "I've never met a Dragon before! My, you're tall. Jack always did like tall girls." In that moment I realized where the conversation was going, and that I was powerless to stop it. Indeed, in the same breath, my mother stepped forward and wrapped her arms around a very surprised Yajondra. "Oh, it's just so good to see my boy so taken with a woman! I was worried he was never going to give me grandchildren!" Crossing my arms, I muttered to myself. "You'd think she'd lay off after Thomas got married and had Rory, but noooooo..." Years of work in a sawmill hadn't damaged my old man's hearing at all, though, and he shot me a warning look before the smile returned. Yajondra, meanwhile, had a very carefully prepared, totally insincere smile on her scaled face. "Gr... grandchildren? Did - did Jack say something about...?" When she casually turned her head towards me, the look in those yellow eyes looked like something straight out of the emptiness of the Ninth Hell, the kind of horror that would guard the Black God's prison. I quickly shook my hands, wondering how my parents still managed to create such situations in their old age. "I swear to the seven, I haven't said anything to them since I got back! You've been with me the whole time! Haven't sent a message or anything!" Looking to the side, I frowned. "Come on, mother, she's cold-blooded! Even if we were far enough along to talk about, uh, permanence, we'd need to hire a wizard or something to even have children!" I felt genuinely bad at how uncomfortable Yojondra looked at this talk. Not to mention that I really, really didn't want to have the talk about settling down and raising a family again. Desperate for something, anything else to talk about, my eyes happened upon the paper-wrapped parcel under my father's arm. "So! Dad, what brings you two to Captain Cobb's shop?" Taking the bait, he patted the parcel and shrugged. "Oh, just picking up some boar meat. Doc Forrest says I need to keep to the lean stuff to keep my ticker clean, or something like that. Been having a lot of venison lately anyway, nice to shake things up a bit. I assume you're here to drop something off?" "Yeah, that sharpening rod that Cobb ordered came in. I wish there was a city closer than Levintide, it's kind of irritating to have to play delivery boy for all of Basil's Crossing." My mother reached out and patted my shoulder consolingly. "There, there, Jack. You know everyone appreciates it." She turned to Yajondra and smiled none-too-subtly as she finished that thought. "He's very dependable, you can always count on Jackson." Clearing my throat, I stepped out of the way and gestured towards the path. "Well, I wouldn't want to keep you..." Undeterred, my mother beamed up at Yajondra. "It was nice to meet you, dear, we just have to have you over for dinner!" Before the Dragoness could say anything, I interjected. "Sorry, Mom, we've already got plans tonight." This was a lie, but I like to think it was an understandable one. "Well then, tomorrow. It's not every day we get to share a meal with... one of Jack's special ladies." Dad grinned, his bristly moustache flaring out to the sides. "We'll have plenty of boar!" Giggling to herself, Yajondra dipped her head respectfully. "It was very nice to meet you, Wilbur, Audra. I'll have to see when we can make it to dinner." My parents walked off, still smiling, and barely waited until we were out of earshot before they began talking conspiratorially between themselves. Continuing to look after them, I shook my head and sighed. "I'm sorry about my mother playing matchmaker, I swear she means well." I felt one of her hands on my shoulder, rubbing gently. "It's alright. I actually thought they were quite charming." I couldn't quite tell if she meant that or was just saying it to make me feel better, but I felt good enough as I saw her smile that it didn't really matter. Smiling back, already feeling better, I opened the door for her, and we stepped inside the butcher shop.

A little bell built into the wall let out a jingle as it was struck by the door closing behind us. Nothing happened at first, but I knew the old soldier's hearing was still just as acute as it was when I was a little boy, so I just stood there patiently, watching Yajondra curiously taking in the sight of the front room of the butcher shop, which mostly consisted of a long counter with a series of extremely detailed drawings of different types and cuts of meat, accompanied by their prices. I had long wondered who exactly had rendered the pictures so well, yet had never been interested enough to actually take the time to find out. There really wasn't a whole lot more to the front room of the shop, really, aside from a set of (locked) drawers next to the door to the back, where Cobb kept the money. Most of the actual work was done in the back room, the grisly details hidden from the customer's eyes by a nice thick wall. After a few moments, said door swung open, and Baerl Cobb walked through, cleaning off his hands with a towel. As I said, the Captain is a man of few words, and as he stepped through to the front, he looked up, saw Yajondra, and his entire reaction to the Dragoness' presence in his store was to stop in his tracks for a second, his gaze verging on staring, before he continued up to the counter, putting down the towel and turning to me, having deemed the next customer more worthy of his attention than an oddity in the region. Reaching up to stroke his silvery beard (which was sizable enough to do the Dwarves proud), a habit he'd had as long as I could remember, he got straight to business, his gritty voice still strong and even. "Jack. What can I do you for?" Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the next bundle and held it out to him. "Hey, Captain. Picked up that sharpening rod you ordered. Shipping costs were exactly what you thought they'd be, very nicely done." He nodded once as he unwrapped the package and pulled out the rod. It was an uncomplicated device, just a wooden handle with a rounded metal pole sticking out of it, like it was an exceptionally blunt knife. Which made it amusing that its purpose was to have the blades of knives run against its surface to get them nice and sharp again. "Good. M' cleaver was getting awfully dull. Much obliged, Midden." Taking his eye off his new acquisition to glance between the two of us, Cobb frowned slightly. "So, uh, you two be wanting any meat?" Like I said, not one for chit-chat. "Because I don't get a shipment in until the weekend, Miss Dragon, so I might not have enough." Yajondra looked legitimately confused, which seemed to be a running theme with her encounters with the locals. "Enough? Enough for what? It's not like I'm planning a huge feast..." To someone who'd known him for years, Cobb looked quietly relieved, but he hid it well. "Oh." Shrugging, he turned the rod over in his hands, pressed the end against the counter, and leaned on it, the way I'd seen tough men lean against daggers at their tables at the inn when I stayed in the capital. I don't think it was a conscious manoeuvre, just another old habit. "Well, I assumed I might need a bigger order than usual with someone as bi-" Trailing off in the middle of the sentence, Cobb's eyes dropped to Yajondra's fingers; her claws were retracted, but the sharp tips still showed. "...Someone such as yourself." Not wanting to give Yajondra any time to think about those statements, I interjected. "Well, actually, if you've got any fowl, that would be nice, I could make a nice dinner tonight." Nodding one more time, he glanced back up at my companion, clearly unsure what to make of her. "And you didn't want anything?" "Well sir, I actually had a few questions..." Cobb didn't look terribly thrilled at this prospect, but he managed a 'yeah?' to be polite to this stranger. "I can't imagine it's easy to get ice all the way out here in the summer, how do you keep your products cold?" Nodding towards the back room, Cobb shrugged. "Frost charm. Cools the room." Completely oblivious to his discomfort, Yajondra nodded, fascinated. "Oh, interesting. I thought most people in these parts didn't like magic." "...It was cheaper than having m' stock go bad every few days." She chuckled at that, but I don't think Cobb was joking. "Jack tells me you have a military background?" "Er, yeah, I was the Captain of the militia round here." "Interesting. I find that most military leaders go into local politics upon retirement, but you chose the meat business." "Well... people need meat. And most of m' boys became hunters anyway, still go out and put their tracking skills to use, I guess, so they come and supply me, give me a good price..." At this point, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, dear reader, that I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and saw the Dragoness step forward, leaning against the counter, and her tail slowly floating back and forth, like a satisfied cat's. Watching her tail, though, drew my attention to Yajondra's shapely rear, which was now slightly emphasized by the way she was leaning forward. I'm sorry to say, but I actually missed the rest of Yajondra's questions and Captain Cobb's answers because I was fairly mesmerized by that perfect ass...

A little while after that, I'm, ah, not sure of exactly how much time passed, I was brought out of my rump-focused reverie (a fancy word for daydreaming I picked up from the lovely creature attached to said rump) by something rather odd happening. The glass window behind me exploded and something embedded itself in the wooden counter, causing everyone present to jump, startled. I stared at the protruding object curiously. I had seen its ilk plenty of times, but in this unfamiliar setting, it took me a couple of seconds for my memory to click into place, at which point I found myself announcing my findings out loud, still confused by what had just happened. "Huh... That's an arrow." Before I could dwell on the implications of this, realization struck as I heard a scream from outside, and then another one. Yajondra and I both turned to face the broken window, and saw people outside flat-out sprinting in blind panic, hurrying inside whatever buildings were nearby and slamming the doors shut behind them. As I watched, another arrow arched over the roof of a nearby house and landed in the grass next to the path with a thunk. I didn't need to say anything to know that Yajondra and Cobb were both thinking the same thing as I, and my heart still managed to sink as I heard someone off in the distance spell it out for me. "Run! Run for your lives! Bandits are coming! Bandits are coming!"

Suddenly covered in cold sweat, I realized that the arrow had only missed striking me on its way through the window by a matter of inches, and felt overwhelmed by the situation. "Gods above, bandits? Here?! We - there's never been a raiding party seen near Basil's Crossing as long as I've been alive! There's - there's nothing here to steal! Green Hermit, preserve us..." I felt a hand on my shoulder, pressing down gently but extremely firmly. "Jack. I'm scared too, but we need to take cover in case the building t-takes fire again." That little stutter did a lot to worsen my fear. I knew Yajondra was a scholar, someone who'd dedicated her life to studying other cultures, not the art of warfare, but still, the idea that even a Dragon was afraid... I nodded quickly, not wanting to argue, and got down on the floor, leaning against the wall between two of the windows. There wasn't enough room for Yajondra to join me in that spot, so she sat on the other side of the broken window and extended her arm along the wall under it, taking my clammy hand in her own and holding on tight. "Jack... If something happens, I..." Suddenly, the door to the butcher shop's back room swung open with a bang, and I yelped like a child, certain the end was upon us. But no, apparently as soon as the threat revealed itself, Cobb had silently disappeared into his work area, emerging with a set of extremely sharp knives strapped to his belt and his old militia helmet perched on his aged noggin. He still seemed totally calm, taking a seat against the wall himself as he ran a very large cleaver against his new sharpening rod, over and over again. I had always known him as the helpful, if distant, town butcher, so this was a somewhat surreal sight to me. "C-Captain Cobb?" He just shook his head and kept sharpening. "I told 'em. Thirty years ago, I told 'em. Should never have disbanded the militia. Bandits don't need a reason to attack a town. Some of 'em are just plum out of their gourds. Some of 'em just want to see the world -" At this point, the front door swung open, and I felt a little better about myself when it was Yajondra who cried out. But it wasn't a murderous bandit, covered in scars and the blood of the townsfolk, it was my cousin Cedric, pale as a sheet, clutching a tobacco pipe in his hand. Cobb lowered his arm, and I realized he'd raised it in the first place as if he was going to throw the cleaver at whoever was bursting in. "Black God, boy, don't just stand there, get your ass inside!" Cobb cursed under his breath and shook his head angrily. "Damn my old bones, I forgot to lock the door. Do that, wouldja, so we don't all meet the Griever today?" Nodding wordlessly, visibly shaking, Cedric slammed the door as eagerly as if the hells had spit out their worst into the fields outside and closed the heavy lock into place. As he turned around again, he set eyes on a very different 'blue' from the one Cobb wanted to put off meeting, and managed to frown. "What - what's she doing here?" Hardly in the mood for the man's usual crap, I openly scowled at him. "Good to see you too, cousin. Get down before you make us all targets!" He did, crawling across the floor to put Cobb and myself between him and Yajondra, who he refused to take his eyes off of. "What the hell are you even doing here, Cedric? Shouldn't you be in the bakery?" He looked down at the pipe in his hand like he'd forgotten he had it. "I - business was slow today, so I went to take a smoke... I go for a walk when I do b-because Ellen hates it when I smoke in the bakery, says it makes the bread taste bad." Yajondra leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Ellen?" "His wife." Even without looking I could see her double take in the corner of my eye. "He's_married?!" "Not the time, Blue..." "Sorry." Cedric, not being privy to this, was finishing his explanation. "...and then I heard screaming, and saw old Zeke Stone coming from the bakery's direction with a big cut on his side, and I didn't want to risk going back, so I - I just ran." Yajondra leaned out to return his dirty look. "You _left your wife in danger? You snivelling coward!" "Don't you start with me, lizard, Ellen's in Molton visiting her sister, I would never leave her!" "Lizard?! I have half a mind to -" Internally close to exploding in fear, I forced my voice to some semblance of control and snapped at both of them. "Will you two shut up?! You hate each other, I get it! But I don't want someone to hear your blasted bickering and come in here to put some notches on his belt!" There was a moment of shocked silence. What can I say, normally I'm a very amiable man, people never see it coming. Yajondra blushed, shamed, and placed her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Jack." Cedric looked away, as if the wall was profoundly interesting to him, and muttered a vague apology. To my surprise, Cobb had stopped sharpening his cleaver and looked at me with genuine respect in his eyes. "Hells' bells, son. Never seen that kind of fire in your eyes. We could have used you on the militia back in the day. Er, here." He pulled an especially sharp butcher knife off his belt and handed it to me, having apparently concluded that I could be trusted with it. Somehow, I didn't feel any safer. At that moment, I first heard one of them. Outside, in the streets, I heard an endless, high-pitched giggling, getting steadily louder, soon accompanied by a strange scraping sound, like whoever found all this so funny was dragging something metal behind him. The scraping stopped for a moment, and then... "Helloooooo? Anybody want to come out and plaaaaaay?" The sing-song quality in his voice made him seem more dangerous to me, not less. I was reminded of Cobb's comment that some bandits are just dangerous lunatics, and imagined a whole group of such men who just wandered the landscape slaughtering anyone they came across. "Pleeeeease? Don't be shy, now! The rules are simple, I promise to teach yooooou!" This was followed by a renewal of the scraping sound and a loud, completely unhinged laugh, like all the world was a joke that only this man understood. I was frozen with terror, my hand clenching Yajondra's so tightly I'm sure it would have hurt a Human woman, but I saw Cedric dare to peek out from the corner of the window, and his eyes widened before he ducked back down. As the laughter faded away, he put down the pipe, took off his glasses, and pressed his hands against his face. "Seven Sentinels... that one had to have been taken by the Red Raver... I've never seen an axe that big." I looked down at the blade in my hand, and then over at Cobb. "...I don't suppose you have a bigger knife?"

A few minutes passed in terrified silence, and then Cedric spoke up again. "This - this is madness, there must be something we can do! This shop is on the edge of town, we should run into the woods, try to get help! We might not have a militia, but surely the King's men will save us!" Cobb, who had finally stopped sharpening, satisfied with his cleaver's edge, spat on the floor between his legs and shook his helmeted head. "The Crossing is days away from anywhere important enough to have a royal garrison, lad, and that's on horseback. Not to mention that it takes time to muster a fighting force, and more time for an army to travel. Assuming these bastards don't have men in the woods making sure no one can flee - and those aren't good odds - I'd say if we sent someone to bring the cavalry right now, they'd arrive just in time to bury us all before the crows pecked out our eyes." This was probably the longest string of words I'd ever heard Baerl Cobb speak, and they didn't exactly fill me with confidence. I found myself growing angry at him for his perfectly reasonable logic. "So what are you saying? We should just sit here and wait for them to find us and murder us?" "No. I'm saying that if we're lucky, they'll get bored and leave without searching every building. That's our only real hope." "Then why the knives? Why the helmet?" "If they come here, lad, I'm not going to go down without a fight, but I'm an old man with butcher's tools. Even if I managed to get them to come one at a time, there's no way I can defeat all those bandits." I sat back against the wall, feeling... hollow. Even the faintest glimmer of hope had been snuffed by the old man's cynical words. I was going to die, Cedric was going to die, and even Yajondra, this special, beautiful flower who had enriched my life so much in only a few days, was going to die. "Yajondra... I'm sorry. If - if I hadn't brought you back with me..." She cut me off, squeezing my hand and making me look up, gaze into her golden eyes. "Don't say that, Jack. Whatever happens, I'm glad I met you, glad I came here." Gentle reader, even if I had the full vocabulary of a draconic scholar, I would never be able to put into words the conflicted feelings running through me at that moment. "...Green God, why did they have to come today? Why now?" Cedric, who had been sitting very still since Cobb's declaration, suddenly sat up straight. "Are you still_so blind that you don't see it? Jack, you _moron, it's her! I can't believe you think it's a coincidence that the day after she arrives in town, in comes a group of murderous thugs! Your cold-blooded harlot lead them here! She's some kind of scout or spy or something, and she lead them right to Basil's Crossing!" "What?!" Yajondra and I said in unison. Cobb didn't join us, but he said as much with his eyes as he turned to Cedric. "Just you wait and see. Sooner or later, she's going to get tired of this, drop the act, and betray us all. But hey! Look at the bright side, cousin; if you're very, very lucky, maybe she'll keep you alive, as her pet."

A silence followed which could have been described with any number of adjectives. Cobb studied his cleaver as if he'd never seen it before, my gaze went back and forth between my cousin and my com... my lover, and the Dragoness just stared, stunned. But when she recovered? Now that's something I'll never forget. She pushed away from the wall, turning to directly face a shocked Cedric, her eyes never leaving his as she spoke, slowly crawling forward, her voice quiet and controlled but heavy with... well... "I've been very polite, putting up with your asinine behaviour because you are the cousin of a very good man I would very much appreciate getting to know better, but I see now that none of his traits came from your side of the family! If I were a spy guiding an army, I'd pick a better, more profitable target than an innocent farming community, you racist little cretin, and it wouldn't be a filthy rabble of brigands who came behind me, but a squadron of the Dragon Patriarch's best warriors! But then, you wouldn't even know that, as they'd drop from the sky throughout the town, all at once, and you'd be dead before you even knew something was wrong, much less have time to throw pointless accusations at people who have done you no wrong and are just trying to be your friend!" By now, she was right in his face, and she lifted a hand and jabbed him in the chest with a finger, once. "Mark my words, Human. Dragons are every bit as dangerous as the legends say. Every. Bit. But only, only to those who have made themselves our enemies. I'm no soldier, Cedric Dullan. But trust me when I say, you do not want to make an enemy of Yajondraniirkelkenahjrah of Clan Trel." I could see a faint blue-white mist in the air, and as I watched my cousin stare in terror at the woman before him, I idly tried to decide whether the chill in the room was only in my head, or if Yajondra was only a hair's breadth from unleashing her frost breath in her anger.

If Cobb had been impressed by the fire in my voice earlier, he seemed practically lovestruck by this sudden outburst from the Dragoness, while I just sat there, dumbfounded, trying to decide whether or not I felt bad for Cedric. After a profound silence, Cedric shook his head violently, shaking himself out of his stupor, and pushed away from the angry Dragon, hurrying to his feet and stumbling to the door. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! If the fucking bandits don't kill me, she will! I've got to get out of here! I - I'll run for it, make for Molton, I've got to find Ellen!" The stress had clearly gotten to him, he wasn't thinking clearly. Reaching out, I tried to stop him, but he kicked my hand away and unlocked the door. "Cedric, wait!" "Stay away from me, Jack! You made your choice!" Before I could do anything else, Cedric threw the door open and began running away at a full sprint, taking a path between the last few buildings, a couple of houses and the smithy, that would lead him right to the tree line. As I watched through the open door, suddenly terrified for a man I almost never got along with, I prayed to the Green God that he would make it. When it came right down to it, he was still blood. "Blue Goddess... Jack, I - I'm sorry..." I didn't move, didn't speak, didn't so much as look at Yajondra, as that would require taking my eyes off of Cedric. Just when I found myself hoping that he was going to make it, when I was about to suggest to Yajondra and Cobb that we follow suit, it happened, almost faster than I could follow. An arrow shot out from between two of the buildings, where I couldn't see, and went right through Cedric's right arm, hitting him hard enough to spin him around, so that he immediately fell on his back, looking down at his impaled limb in horror. I felt Yajondra gripping my shoulders tight and saying 'Jack, no!' and only then realized I had been about to run out to try and help him. I... I don't really care to dwell on how I felt at that moment, watching a previously unseen bandit come running out between the houses, throwing his bow carelessly on the ground and saying something I couldn't make out to Cedric, who was feebly trying to crawl away. Tears formed in my eyes as the man drew a short sword, advancing towards the baker with obvious intent. "Seven Gods, no..." It suddenly occurred to me that I should look away, close my eyes, close the door, anything to keep from having to watch my cousin die. But before I could move, it was all over...

Just as the bandit began to raise his sword, the back door to the smithy swung open violently, and a hairy giant of a man wearing a blacksmith's apron stepped out, a mythril hammer raised over his head. With a snarling war cry that I could hear all the way down the road, Bartilin brought his hammer down on the surprised bandit's forearm with all the strength and skill that years of practice had brought him. Predictably, the man dropped the sword and grabbed hold of his badly broken arm, howling in pain. As I watched, dumbfounded, Bart continued to press the assault, bringing the hammer around in an underhand swing and driving it directly into one of the man's kneecaps. He crumpled instantly, and for good measure, the blacksmith brought up one of his heavy boots and kicked the suffering man in the face, knocking him out cold. Slinging the hammer onto his belt, my cousin helped his brother to his feet, said something I couldn't hear, and followed Cedric's feebly pointing finger back to the butcher shop. With a speed I didn't know Bart could reach, he quickly helped Cedric back to his hiding place, closing the door behind him and locking it, before helping a piteously moaning Cedric sit down against the wall next to the door. I was still stunned that the man was capable of such violence, but Yajondra stood up and hugged him the instant he turned around, to his surprise. To my surprise, I realized, now that I looked at her, that she had been crying as well. "Oh Bartilin, you're a gods-send. I - I got angry with him, and he got upset and ran off. If you hadn't... it would have been my fault, and..." She began to shiver, and I reached up and took her hand. "He's alright, Blue. It's okay. We can treat his arm once we're safe. Come here." Moving away from the windows to the side wall where we had more room, Yajondra and I cuddled together, comforting each other. Bart continued to look down, not sure what to make of the tears of a Dragon, and was about to answer when Cedric reached up with his left hand and tugged on his brother's sooty pant leg. "Bart... Th-thank you." He left it at that, and while the deeper meaning to the moment was lost on my preoccupied mind at the time, I later realized that those were the first words Cedric had spoken to his brother in more than a year. For his part, the blacksmith just smiled softly and whispered his response as he sat down next to Cedric; "You're welcome, little brother."

As Cobb and Bart did what they could for Cedric's arm, Yajondra looked up from yours truly and did what she did best. She sought answers. "Bartil... Bart. What you did was nothing short of heroic, but... what about your wife?" I realized that she had shortened the man's name in deference to his wounded brother, and began to wonder if peace between the two might be possible after all. Smiling thinly, Bart pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the smithy. "The second we heard the commotion, Durna was getting her family heirloom off the wall. If you think this little hammer is impressive, you should see a Dwarven war axe forged from pure mythril, by her great-grandmother they say. I managed to talk her out of going to war out of respect for the child, and she locked herself in the basement. I was going to join her when I heard the genius here running down the road. Don't you worry about Durna. The basement's sheet metal, to support all the gear in the smithy. They could burn the house above down to ashes, and she would be fine. Can't say the same for any bandits who try to get into that room, though, she kept the axe..." Despite the situation, I managed to chuckle at that. "Given the choice, I think I'd rather face the bandits than a pregnant, angry Dwarf." Just then, there was more noise from outside, and I held Yajondra a little closer. I felt her grip tighten as well, her chin resting on top of my head, as though she wished to embrace me with her entire body. Across the room, Cobb picked his cleaver back up and Bart's hand dropped to the handle of his hammer. I couldn't remember a moment in my life that had been so tense. There were footsteps rushing back and forth, and then angry voices. "Wait, what the hell? Thaz! Thaz, c'mere! Someone beat the shit out of Colin!" A cruel, mirthless laugh followed, and then a different man responded. "So they did. Fuckin' 'ells, they really cleaned 'is clock! Too bad we're not takin' recruits this month." "We should probably find them, Thorne isn't going to be happy if we let them get away with this." "Awwww, shite, can't we just pretend we didn't see 'im and let someone else deal with it?" A moment of silence followed; I can only assume some kind of facial expression or gesture was involved, as the second man spoke up again without a response from the first. "Nine 'ells, fine. I swear, Parker, the way you're always tryin' to suck up to Larry, you'd think you was trying to get at 'is cock." To my horror, as they argued, their voices began to get louder. "Eh, go fuck yourself, Thaz, no sane woman would. And don't let Thorne hear you call him that, you remember what happened to the last poor bastard." And then the one called Thaz said something that made my heart skip a beat. "Well whatever, let's make this quick. I thought I saw someone runnin' to the butcher shop earlier, let's start there."

Yajondra's hand tightened in mine and I watched Cobb and Bart prepare for a fight. But even if they were to deal with the two bandits walking in the door, it would only draw the attention of all their friends as soon as they cried out. And then we were all done for. I didn't know if the back door to the shop was locked, but I also doubted that Cedric could be moved fast enough to slip out before they caught us, certainly not without making enough noise that they would hear us first. It was over. The end of the line. I felt certain of it. Which is when a crazy idea popped into my head and refused to go away. Leaning back, I looked into Yajondra's golden yellow eyes, saw the fear there, and knew I couldn't just sit here and let her die. I leaned forward and gave her an extremely tight hug, then kissed her before she could whisper anything to me, and... jumped to my feet and dove out the broken window. It was the end of the line, all right, but maybe it didn't have to be the end for all of us. "Oi!" Scrambling to my feet, not even looking at the two men approaching the front door, I started running as hard and as fast as my feet could carry me. I was expecting Yajondra to cry out in protest of my (admittedly rather foolish) actions, so I started screaming as I went, anything that popped into my head, to cover up the sound. I only hoped Bart could keep her from trying to come after me. "Better luck next time, thieving scum!" I didn't have any idea where to go, as I didn't really consider the idea that I might actually escape. Hardened criminals living on the road were probably in better physical shape than me, after all. So I just ran, turning corners at random and shouting profanities back at the men chasing me to keep their attention focused on me. With any luck, they'd think I was the only person who'd been hiding in the butcher shop and wouldn't go back to check. It occurred to me that I hadn't brought Cobb's knife with me, but let's face it, it wouldn't have done me much good anyway. I could only hope that it would be quick, and that Yajondra would be okay. If I hadn't been terrified out of my mind, it might have occurred to me that it was curious that I thought about the Dragoness before my cousins, but all I really cared about was keeping the chase going as long as possible. At one point, one of them hit me in the back of the leg with a rock, and I tripped and almost fell, but somehow I kept going. From the brief glimpses I got of them as I fled, I saw that one of them had an eyepatch and a very large mace in his hands, and the other one had shaved his head and was carrying a curved sword, of a kind they use in kingdoms to the west. I knew these streets like the back of my hand, and they were having trouble cornering me. Honestly, I was starting to think I might actually lose them when I glanced back behind me to see how far back they were, and ran straight into a wall.

As I fell backwards onto the ground, it occurred to me that there shouldn't be a wall there. Looking up, dazed, I realized why; I had actually run into an enormous bandit, easily Bart's height, maybe an inch or two taller, who was wearing a thick metal chestplate, which explained my aching face. His hair was jet black and hung long and wild around his face, which was partially covered in a dark tattoo, sinister looking snakes coiling around his features. Looking down at me with a blood-chilling scowl, he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. "Who the fuck are you?" I was too terrified to respond in any way, and tried to crawl away, but the huge man reached behind him and pulled a long, metal rod off his back, twisting a section in the middle as he did so - which caused a long, wickedly-edged blade to swing out from the middle, sticking out of the top at a right angle. It took me a moment to recognize what I was looking at, as I'd never seen one outside of a storybook before. The man was carrying a war scythe, a notoriously difficult to master, outstandingly lethal weapon that could cut down several men in one swing. "Friend, if I were you - not that I'd ever be snivelling like that in the dirt - but if I were you, I'd sit very still." I froze, aside from the trembling of my muscles, unable to take my eyes off that blade, wondering how many innocent people this monster had felled. It was clean, so he probably hadn't murdered anyone today, but somehow that didn't fill me with confidence. As I sat there, becoming aware that my nose was bleeding from the impact, the two men chasing me rounded the corner, panting and puffing. Maybe I was wrong about their physical condition after all. The one with the mace pointed and glared. "Fuckin' 'ells! There 'e is!" The other one was more preoccupied with the man with the scythe. "Thorne! You caught him!" From the way they had described the man with that name, and the sheer dread emanating from him, I knew instantly that this was the leader of the raiding party. Thorne glanced down at me, then back up at my pursuers, regarding them the way he would something unpleasant he'd stepped in. His voice was cold and flat, but it sounded like he was working to suppress some great rage, like he wanted to murder all three of us and be done with it. That hardly surprised me. I was surprised, I'll admit, by his relative eloquence compared to the other bandits I'd heard. "So it appears I have. Parker, who is this and why weren't you two able to take care of him?" The bald man with the hooked sword started stammering, clearly intimidated by the larger brigand. "W-well, Thorne, I, uh, see, s-someone beat up poor Colin, hurt him real bad, see, broke his arm I think, maybe his leg, too, and gave him a nice lump on the head, and Thaz here s-said he saw someone running to the, uh, the - Nine Hells, what was it?" The one-eyed man, Thaz, helpfully stepped in. "It was the butcher shop, Parker, the butcher shop! Uh, so we went to check it out, and I guess 'e musta 'eard us comin', cause 'e came flyin' out the window before we got there and started runnin' like a jackrabbit." There was a momentary pause as Thorne digested this, and it suddenly occurred to me to wonder why Thorne hadn't just killed me on the spot. He'd even warned me not to do something that would make him do so. He wanted me alive? I began to pray to the seven gods that I wasn't about to be sold into slavery. The leader finally crossed his arms and regarded his underlings. "Well, that does explain who this is, but it doesn't explain how he managed to make you two look like a couple of rats chasing after a piece of cheese on a horse's tail?!" His voice raised in volume towards the end of that sentence, and despite the absurdity of the mental image, no one seemed in a mood for laughing. "Look at him! He's not even as big as the farmers you caught earlier! He probably works the counter at the bakery!" For reasons I will never understand, I felt it appropriate to try and correct him. "Actually, I -" The look of disbelief Thorne shot me was enough to make me shut up. I decided it was for the best to leave him angry at his subordinates instead of me for the time being. "Honestly, you're telling me he beat Colin unconscious? He doesn't even have a weapon!" Parker began to toy with his sword, nervously playing with his hands like a schoolchild caught in some wrong-doing. "Er, well, we didn't actually see it or nothing, we would have, you know, stopped it, but he came running out of the butcher shop when we came looking." I tried not to react as Thaz interjected, but none of them were looking at me anyway. "We could go back 'n check, maybe, see if anyone else is 'idin' in that part o' town." Desperate to protect the others, even if it meant my life, I spoke up again. "I, um, threw a b-big rock at his head." Thorne looked down at me again, his expression unreadable, but unpleasant. Then he just shook his head and brought his free hand to the bridge of his nose, rubbing as he sighed. "No, don't go wasting any more time. Just put him with the others, and send someone to make sure Colin isn't bleeding to death!" With that, he raised his scythe, and with a practiced, almost casual air, he gave his arm a flick and the blade sank back into its hiding place, before he replaced the rod on his back. As the two men grabbed me, an arm each, and started dragging me away, I found myself almost as worried as when I thought Thorne was about to cut me in half. Put me where with the others?

To my surprise, I found myself being taken to the center of town. Basil's Crossing doesn't have a huge, elaborate plaza the way larger cities do, just a decorative fountain with a couple of mermaid statues on it in the rough center of all the buildings in the 'business district'. Right now, a few dozen scared-looking people were crowded around said fountain, with a ring of armed men surrounding them and glowering menacingly. There were a few broken windows here and there, the Blazing Dragon's sign had been smashed by something big and heavy, and a few of the gathered townsfolk had visible bruises or cuts, but for the most part, Basil's Crossing was much more intact than the gloomy scenarios I'd imagined. Pulling me up to my feet, Thaz and Parker gave me a mighty shove towards the mass of my fellow townsfolk, and said some rather unkind things I won't be repeating, before wandering off to see to their comrade. "Jackson!" Turning, I saw my parents, holding each other close and looking terrified. My mother released my father and turned to me, squeezing me almost as tight as Yajondra could. "Oh, my boy, thank the seven you're alright! We - we'd just made it home, put the boar meat in salt to keep it until tonight, and they kicked the door down! I was so worried about you!" She sounded on the verge of hysterical tears, and my father leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. I felt a helpless anger as I saw that he had a black eye. "It's alright, Audra, the lad's fine. Try not to panic, it'll just get worse. Come here." Mom released her iron grip on me and returned to my father's arms. Dad looked up at me, worried, but calm. "I don't think anyone's actually been killed yet, Green Hermit be praised. Thomas and his family are fine, they're just over there." Following his gesture, I saw my brother, who had (oddly) thoughtfully been provided with a chair, as his leg was still done up in a cast. His wife, Annabelle, stood at his side, keeping a firm grip on their son Rory, as if she feared that the bandits might try and take him away. Tom looked in my direction and made eye contact. We nodded as an acknowledgement of each others' safety, and then went back to focusing on more nearby family. Dad had noticed this silent exchange and answered a question that hadn't occurred to me. "They let him use his crutches to get over here, but took them away once he was sat there. I think they thought he might try to use them as a club." "I guess they figure they'll see the chair coming, then." To my amazement, Dad actually cracked a thin smile at that, though I'm not sure Mom was even following our conversation. After a moment, though, Dad looked around, and his smile faded. "Jack... where's Yajondra? There are still people missing." I let out a sigh, already worried sick about her. I didn't dare say her hiding place out loud in case someone was listening in. "She's... she's safe. Bart and Cedric are with her, or at least they were earlier. So was Captain Cobb. Cedric's wounded, but I'm pretty sure he'll be okay. Bart said that Durna was in a safe place too, though honestly I was never really that worried about her safety, that woman can take care of herself better than any of us." There was no time for further discussion, as Thorne walked out from behind a building, walking up to address the crowd, his tone equal parts sarcastic and threatening. "Listen up, you miserable lot! My name is Thorne, and these are my men. I need to have a word with you, so I want all of you to get down on the ground, now!" As the collected citizens of Basil's Crossing scrambled to comply, whimpers of fear coming from several different places, my brother raised a hand. "Ah, sir...?" Thorne looked over and took in the sight of Thomas' leg. "Alright, fine, you can stay in the chair, but don't get any funny ideas, or that boy next to you will pay the price." I heard Annabelle let out a sob, and shivered. The way he'd said that, I had no doubt that Thorne was capable of following through on that threat. As the town trembled in fear, the bandit leader put his fists on his hips and looked at us all with a decided contempt in his eyes. "Okay, people, I don't want to be here any more than you want me to be here. We're not looking to have a massacre, we just want to fill our purses." A cat man leaning up against the bar with a very large axe giggled in a familiar, unhinged way and spoke up. "I'm looking to have a massacre!" Thorne pointed over to him, fury etched into his features, his words coming out in a snarl. "Unless you want it to start with yourself, you'll shut your damned mouth while I'm working, Torren!" The henchman cringed and looked away, suitably cowed. Thorne sighed and continued. "As I was saying, we're looking for anything valuable, so we can make a little profit for ourselves. So I'll make you fine folks a deal. You tell me where to find any little bits of gold or coins or what have you, and if it's enough to satisfy me, then you don't have to watch your quaint little homes burn down from the inside." Clapping his hands together, Thorne leaned forward, a twisted grin on his decorated face. "So! Do we have any volunteers? Hmm? Who wants to go first, to ensure their family's safety?" There was only a terrified silence. Clearly expecting this, the brute cracked his knuckles and stood up straight again. "No one? Well, perhaps if you don't want to volunteer, you do want a demonstration. Parker, Baptiste, who do you think would make a good demonstration?" Two of Thorne's goons approached the crowd, and grabbed Daryl the wood-carver from the front row, manhandling him over in front of their boss. Daryl didn't seem pleased. "Wait, wait a minute!" Leaning down towards him, Thorne smiled in an especially unsettling way. "Hello there. Tell me, sir, how do you feel about fire?" This didn't do a lot to improve the carver's disposition. "N-no, please! I don't want to die!" Thorne frowned insincerely. "Oh dear, then you're probably not going to like this demonstration at all!" Standing up straight and laughing, Thorne gestured vaguely to the nearest building. "Boys, toss him in and bar the door. Then get a torch and show these nice people how we do business!" Before they could move, though, a very loud, authoritative voice spoke up from the opposite side of the square, startling a few people and making my blood run cold. "Stop! You will do no such thing!" Turning to face the sound, scarcely believing my ears, I was horrified to see Yajondra standing alone on the path that lead to the butcher shop, standing tall, wings extended, Bart's hammer held firmly in hand.

The bandits all froze in place, staring at the newcomer; some in wonder, some in fear, all in awe. But I stared with a different kind of horror on my face. Yajondra was a Dragon, it was true, but not a warrior. She was trying to bluff them, the way she had saved my life in the city from a group of cutthroats who'd jumped me in an alley. But there were important differences between thieves and bandits that I wished dearly I could go back and explain to her. Thieves used small weapons not as some kind of statement, but because they were easily concealed and didn't weigh much; if a robbery went south, as that one had, thieves would drop everything and flee, scattering in all directions. But bandits? Force a bandit into a corner, and he'll fight his way out. It was entirely likely that they would attack her out of the same fear she was clearly trying to instill in them, and there'd be no way she could actually fight her way out of it. But for now, at least, they seemed more curious about this creature that had wandered into their raid. The look on Yajondra's face implied anger, and she had her wings up and out to make herself look more impressive, but I could see the trembling of her tail and worried she wouldn't be able to keep up the act. I realized then that if worst came to worst, I would have to run in and try to help her. I just couldn't be responsible for her death. I couldn't. The first person to break the silence was a wolf standing off to the side, who nudged the one-eyed man who had been chasing me earlier. "See, Thaz? I told you they was real. You owe me fifty dirals!" Thaz pouted, lowering his mace to the ground. "Bleedin' 'ells, I figured we'd never find out either way!" Thorne shot them the dirtiest look yet and then stood up, crossing his arms. "And who in the nine hells are you?" Gently slapping the head of the hammer into her other palm, and doing a surprisingly good job of selling it, the Dragoness stared him right in the eye. "I am Yajondraniirkelkenahjrah of Clan Trel, and I regret to inform you that you'll not be making any profit today. Leave right now, and I can guarantee none of you will lose any limbs." As she spoke, she slowly uncurled her fingers around the handle of the hammer, dramatically extended her razor-sharp talons, and then tightened her grip again. Thorne didn't seem especially intimidated by the show or the speech. "What, just you? You can count, can't you, Dragon?" Off to the side, Thaz seemed less enthused. "Oi, Thorne! Do you really think it's a good idea to be pickin' a fight with a bloody Dragon?" Instead of snapping at his underling, as I'd expected him to do, Thorne pulled his war scythe from his back and flicked open the blade, eliciting a gasp from a few of the children in the crowd. "She ain't bloody yet, boys... but she will be. Dragons are as rare as hen's teeth around these parts. What do you suppose we could get for her?" The unstable cat spoke up, lifting his axe. "I hear that if you eat some of that Dragon liver, it'll cure any disease!" Turning directly towards him, Yajondra gave her wings a flap and snorted, a white cloud emerging from her nostrils. "A few things, gentlemen. First, unfortunately for your syphilitic mind, Dragon liver is said to cure any poison, not disease. Second, you'll not be having the chance to test the truth of any such fanciful legend. And third... this is my home, and I expect you to leave it shortly, lest I be forced to show you a draconic trait that is not merely legend!"

It was clear, from the look on his face, that Thorne did not especially appreciate being talked down to. Snarling at Yajondra, the bandit leader charged forward, scythe raised behind him, ready to be swung forward to 'harvest' the poor woman. I actually got up to one knee, preparing to lunge out at the back of the man's legs, try and make him fall over backwards, but before I could, before he reached Yajondra, she did something unexpected; suddenly thrusting her head forward, she opened her jaw as wide as she could, wickedly sharp teeth fully exposed, and with a loud, rasping hiss, breathed out a rush of white fog. The cloud was so cold that snowflakes fell from it to melt almost immediately in the grass, and Thorne barely had time to bring his free hand up in front of him before he was enveloped by it. The temperature in the town square noticeably fell as she blasted the bandit with her icy breath, and when she stopped, and the cloud faded away, a thick layer of ice had formed across most of the front of Thorne's body, covering his entire face and freezing his left arm in place. Surprised exclamations, gasps, and obscenities spouted from bandits and the citizens of Basil's Crossing alike as Thorne stumbled back and forth, unable to see (or breathe, for that matter) but still conscious. The Dragoness stepped back and took a very deep breath, clearly preparing to unleash another torrent of cold, when the partially frosted bandit leader began swinging wildly with his scythe; the fact that he couldn't see where she was didn't change the fact that it was a wickedly sharp bladed weapon, and he came close to slashing her throat at least once in his blind flailing. "Yajondra!" I found myself running towards her; without noticing I had stood up, terrified that he could still get in a good hit - and no sooner had the thought crossed my mind when the tip of that scythe swung in and struck the scholar in the upper leg, the blade going straight through her limb to poke out gruesomely from the other side, as she let out an agonized roar that reverberated through the town. "Nooo!" It took me a second to recognize my own voice. It seemed my body was acting faster than my frightened mind could keep up with it. As I watched, though, with a grimace of pain, the blue gripped the handle of Bart's hammer with both hands and swung it out as hard as she could. She may not have been a soldier, but she was still a Dragon, which meant there was a lot of muscle behind that swing, which connected rather satisfyingly with the side of Thorne's head. The ice on his head and neck shattered into pieces which sparkled as they flew through the air, and the bandit was lifted clean off his feet, sent sprawling to the dirt a couple of yards away, out cold.

There was dead silence in the town square, peoples' eyes darting back and forth between the injured reptile and the unconscious bandit lord. As far as I was concerned, though, the only people in the world were Yajondra and myself. I rushed over to her side and dropped to my knees. The wound looked bad, but then I'm no doctor, all I know is that the sight of the blood staining that robe of hers, dripping onto the ground, just about made my heart stop with grief and worry. She'd fallen back on her good leg's knee, to take the weight off of the one still impaled by that scythe. I immediately reached out for it, but she stopped me, hissing through clenched teeth, speaking under her breath. "Jack, wait! If you pull it out now, it'll start bleeding more badly, give me - oh, Red Raver that hurts... give me a minute t-to clear out these rabble." I moved around behind her and supported her back as she raised her head and addressed the bandits in general, staring at the nearest one, the man named Parker. "Ohhh... now you've d-done it... now you've really gone and k-kicked the hornets' nest... or should I say the Dragons' den?" Parker frowned, uncertainty already showing in his eyes, sweat glistening off his bald dome. "Wh-what do you mean? Thorne got you good, he did!" She forced out a single laugh, shaking her head. "Do you really think I'm the only D-Dragon who lives in this town?" She shook her head and sighed as panic spread across Parker's face. His wasn't the only one. "Why do you think B-Basil's Crossing hasn't needed a militia for thirty years? B-because my family made our den here, and we protect this place with our lives! The others are out on a hunt right now, but it won't be long before they get back and find out what you've done. This is our home, and you invade like you have the - the right to scare and hurt our people. You beat innocent people, break and steal their property, and this..." As the thugs began to whisper to each other, she looked down at her leg, then returned her gaze to Parker's, an icy glare that seemed almost as dangerous as her breath. "...What exactly do you think my mate is going to d-do when he comes back and sees that you've hurt me?"

For a few seconds, I was genuinely hurt even by the bluffing suggestion that Yajondra had an absent Dragon mate, but I couldn't argue with the results. As the bandits looked around, panicked, Parker stepped forward and pointed to Thorne's unconscious form. "Alright, boys... we're in over our heads. Let's collect the boss and head out!" Thaz and the wolf standing next to him moved to help Parker with their leader, but the deranged cat-kin, Torren, pushed away from the wall, hefting his axe onto his back, sheer terror in his eyes and his ears flat against his head. With a growl, he pointed to the main road out of town and shook his head. "Rrrrrgh, forget the boss, there's Dragons coming, just run!" With that, he ran for the way out of town like an army of cold-blooded soldiers had already arrived, and his example was the last straw for most of the bandits, who similarly grabbed their weapons and ran like hell, some actually crying out in fear, watching the skies for flapping wings and dangerous breath. Thaz and his hairy companion abandoned Thorne to the dirt and followed suit, and though Parker looked back towards his leader with dismay, he reluctantly sheathed his sword and made off after the others.

The entire town watched them go while I took Yajondra's hand in my own, holding it tight, tears forming in my eyes. As the citizens began to cheer, I just shook my head, oblivious to our victory. "Oh, Blue, this is all my fault. I should never have brought you back here." Confident that the bandits had left, Yajondra let Bart's hammer fall to the ground and lay back with a sigh, letting me support her weight. She looked up and smiled thinly, reaching up to catch a tear with a scaly blue finger. "It's - it's alright, Jack. I've never gotten to... to be a heroine before. It was exciting." The shadows of townspeople gathered around us, but all that mattered was the Dragoness. "Yajondra... please stay with me. Please don't die. I..." I tensed up. Even now I found it hard to figure out exactly how I felt about her. She placed her other hand atop mine and squeezed back. "I think... I think I'm going to be alright, Jack. If the blade had cut a major artery, there would be a lot more blood than this... and I... oh dear, I feel rather dizzy..." "Yajondra? Yajondra!" She didn't respond, other than to whisper a long ohhhhh as her head flopped back against my shoulder, one of her back-facing horns grazing my cheek. I felt the hand I held so tight go limp, as I watched her eyes flutter closed.

When next I saw them open, she seemed a bit dazed, groggy, and I let out a quick, wordless groan of relief when she laid eyes on me. "Jack? Where... what's going on?" She looked around and found herself in my bed in the tower, the covers pulled up tight. I was seated in a chair I'd dragged up from my office, and Dr. Forrest stood on the other side of the bed. I reached down and picked up her hand in both of mine, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Oh, Hermit's name, it's good to see you awake, Blue." Despite her confusion, Yajondra smiled back at me. Forrest couldn't help but grin himself as he took in the sight of the two of us. "Welcome back, Miss Yajondra. It's been just about a day since your little stunt in the centre of town." "You did it, Blue, you saved the town! I was so afraid for you when you came out with the hammer like that - and I gave my cousin shit for letting you try something so crazy, by the way - but it looks like the one who really needed to worry was Thorne. I'll never be able to thank you enough." As the events of the previous day came back to her, she looked down the bed, seeming relieved to count two separate bulges at the foot of the bed. "Well, I see you didn't have to amputate... but my leg still aches something fierce." I glanced over at the doctor, raising an eyebrow, and he quietly said 'cut off a limb', to which I nodded thankfully. Then he turned his attention to the patient, adjusting his glasses as he put on his professional voice. "Well, from what Jack told me, you had it right at the time. The blade went clean through the meat, your injuries weren't life-threatening. I believe you only passed out due to shock from the pain and the stress of the afternoon. You should really take it easy on that leg for a few weeks, though. We can get you a cane or a walking staff if you'd like, but you should make a full recovery. I'm afraid we don't have much in the way of magic here, though, so it's probably going to scar." She bowed her head gratefully. "Thank you, Doctor, I appreciate your hard work. I think a walking staff would be for the best, it's probably a bad idea to go around leaning on Humans for support. Don't worry about the scar, Clan Trel has close ties to the Green Dragonflight, and no one knows more about healing than they do." Nodding, the healer's grin widened slightly. "I've spent time among a few of them, picked up a few herbal remedies that have come in very handy. I don't suppose you're speaking of Clan Dar?" "Mmmm, no, I'm afraid not. But if they're anything like my cousins, I'm sure they're a pleasure to be around." His gaze passed back and forth between us, and then lingered on our conjoined hands. I blushed as I realized I'd been rubbing the back of Yajondra's scaly hand. "...Well, you two have been through an awful scare, so I'm going to give you some space. Let me be the second one, though, to thank you for what you did for Basil's Crossing. You really are a hero, Yajondra. If you need anything during your recovery, you just let me know." He picked up his bag and headed out, pausing briefly before closing the door behind himself. "I'm hardly the only one who wishes to thank you, by the way. I think you've made yourself some friends here."

As the Dragoness and I found ourselves alone, Yajondra braced her hands against the mattress. "What are you doing? You don't need to get up if you don't want to." She grit her teeth as she moved her right leg to the side and then sighed as she sank back down against the pillows. "I'm not getting up, Farmer, I'm just making room." I grinned as she patted the bed on her left, and joined her, spooning up against her side, extremely careful to avoid her legs. She pushed me up just a bit, then extended her left wing and wrapped it around me like a (surprisingly) soft blanket. As I snuggled into this familiar, deeply enjoyable embrace, I kissed her on the cheek and beamed at her, feeling immense pride now that the fear had finally burned off. "You were amazing, Yajondra. Taking on a whole gang of bandits like that, I would never have the courage to do that. You scared the shit out of me, mind, but it was still amazing." She made an mmmm sound and nuzzled back against me. "Let's just say we're even for that stunt you pulled at the butcher shop." I chuckled at that. "I had almost forgotten about that. I don't know, the noble sacrifice seemed like the right thing to do at the time. How was I supposed to know that they weren't actually killing anyone? I guess that Colin guy who tried to do Cedric in was disobeying orders." "Oh! Tell me, Jack, how is Cedric? How are the townspeople? What happened afterwards?" "Well, let's see. All the bandits ran away with their tails between their legs whether they had tails or not -" "I believe the word you're looking for is 'metaphorical', Jack." "I'll take your word for it. So they all ran away, and they left behind their leader and the one who Bart beat up. We've got them in the stocks out by the old courthouse, it's all boarded up since we don't get that many crimes around here - well, at least we didn't - but we still use the stocks if someone, you know, gets really drunk and makes a nuisance of themselves. We've never had murderous bandits, though, so we chained them to the platform, just to make sure." "That's hardly a permanent solution, Jack." I shrugged, reaching out to trace a finger along the supple curve of her neck into her shoulder. "Wasn't meant to be. Once we determined that the townsfolk were all okay - we were very lucky, Cedric got the worst of it - we sent a messenger to let the King's men know, they'll probably send a few knights to bring these men to... wherever it is justice is served, I guess." She nodded, clearly relieved. "I'm glad. If I never see that Thorne man again, it'll be too soon." The Dragoness sighed happily as I leaned in to nuzzle against the underside of her jaw, one of the more sensitive regions of her upper body, as the scales were thinner there. "Well, he doesn't seem to share that thought, Blue. As soon as he came to, he started screaming bloody murder, swore he would get vengeance upon you, and the town, and all the men who abandoned him. At least until we gagged him. Colin on the other hand mostly just moans and groans. Doc Forrest insisted on treating his arm and leg, and making sure his skull wasn't broken. After what he was gonna do to my cousin, I'd say that's too good for him." I heard an encouraging churr coming from within Yajondra's chest, and felt one of her hands slip under the hem of my shirt and begin exploring my abdomen. "And you said Cedric is okay?" "Yeah, once things calmed down the doctor took care of him, didn't even take long. Arm's up in a sling and he keeps playing it up like it makes him a war hero or something. As for the rest of us, it was mostly just a few scrapes and bruises and little cuts. Like I said, we got really lucky. I've never heard of a bandit gang doing that, gathering everyone together to fleece them all at once, but then I'm glad they didn't just murder us all and pick over the bodies after the fact." I paused for a moment to lean in and nibble on Yajondra's flared ear, which made her giggle in a very Human manner. After a few seconds, she pulled away and placed a hand on my chest, over my heart, but didn't do much by way of pushing. "Mmmm, Jack, stop it, you're going to get me... warm again." I covered her hand with one of mine and smiled. "Would that be such a bad thing? Who knows, a little heat might help speed up your recovery." Pouting, clearly trying very hard to resist temptation, Yajondra huffed at me, a tiny cloud of frost giving me a pleasant shiver. "But it doesn't seem right, with the town having just been attacked, and if I, ah, move too strenuously, it could re-open the wound..." Leaning up, she reached down and tugged the blanket off of her right leg, revealing a tightly-woven cloth bandage wrapped around her thigh. For my part, I resisted the urge to feel her up, and continued pestering her instead. "Come on, Blue, it wasn't much of an attack. Let me - what was that word you used, re-iterate: a few broken windows and the bar sign were about the sum of the damage, we didn't lose anyone, and you impressed the hell out of the whole town! You should be celebrating!" But she wasn't listening, her thoughts having gone in another direction. Looking back at me with an oddly suspicious glint in her eyes, the Dragoness regarded me with a sly grin. "...I'm in my underclothes. Jack, who put me in this state... and who saw me in this state?" Suddenly I was somewhat less in the mood. "Uhhh... Well, it was me who took your robes off, but only so Forrest could fix your leg. He and I were the only ones who saw you like that, I swear! Did it after we brought you up here, figured a bed would be the easiest place to take care of you. I mean we needed a few extra guys to carry - um, never mind." Having missed my near slip-up, Yajondra pouted somewhat and sat up, her wing slipping out from under me, sighing as she bunched the covers up against herself. "Hmph. It might not be a major concern to you, Jack, but I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the idea that a man I've barely exchanged words with saw me nearly nude. And while I was unconscious, no less!" I reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, patting in what I hoped was a reassuring manner. "It's really not that big a deal, Yajondra. He's the town doctor, that's his job! Hell, he's seen most everyone who lives here naked, and... and I'm going to stop there, because it sounds really weird when I say it out loud."

To my relief, Yajondra chuckled at that, instead of finding it creepy. I moved my hand from her shoulder to the base of one of her wings, and gave it a curious squeeze, feeling my way along the unfamiliar limb. The Dragoness looked over her shoulder at me, raising a hairless brow questioningly, and then shivered as I gave her another squeeze. "Oooh, Jack, that feels good..." Grinning widely, I reached out with my other hand to mirror my movements on her other wing. "You've been through a lot, Blue, you need to relax." As I continued to squeeze and massage her wings, Yajondra slumped down with a happy sigh, and spread her wings slightly to give me better access to them. "Mmmmm, those soft fingers of yours feel amazing, Farmer. Oh, please, could you get the digits between the membranes? I bet - ahhh, yes, that's wonderful..." It was tricky for me to work those parts of her wings, since I could only press from one side, and I wasn't sure how much pressure to apply to the thin skin (which I had only just learned the proper name for) that ran between her long, slender digits. At first, after we met, I had tried to ignore Yajondra's wings, truth be told, as they, even more than her colouration, horns, and scales, were the biggest reminder that she was very different from any Human I'd ever met. But as time went by I began to admire the sleek appendages (I actually knew that one already, got it from Annabelle) just as much as the rest of this remarkable woman, curious appearance and all. Sticking out of the peak of each of her wings was a single shorter digit much like a thumb, complete with a nail - well, claw, sticking out. I snickered as she curled this thumb around one of my fingers the first time one of my hands got close enough, and patted it gently with my other hand. After a few minutes, I shifted to the side and placed my hands on either side of the same spot on her membranes, then pressed my palms together, rubbing her skin with them the way one would rub their hands together in the cold. She seemed appreciative, giggling at first as if the skin was ticklish, but soon groaning with approval as I sought to give every inch of her wings a good rubdown, pushing back with the limbs to make it easier for me to reach. As the Dragoness began to churr, I casually placed myself between her back and the pillows, as my hands slid from her wings back to the relatively familiar landscape of her shoulders. If she'd retracted her wings, they would be directly between me and her back, which I assume is why she just lowered them, limp and extended, to the mattress instead. Leaning in still further, I laid a kiss on the back of her neck, and she didn't react, which I took as a good sign. "So, Yajondra, is this another of those things that Dragons just don't do?" She had previously explained to me that her people were not the most inventive race when it came to the art of romance, one of the reasons she found my simple Human self so appealing. "Well, I think every race that has muscles that ache has invented the backrub, but when you do it, when I feel the heat inside your hands rubbing against my wings like that... ooooh, you'd be very popular if you set up a parlour in my hometown, Jack." Kissing her long, slender neck again, I chuckled and whispered in her ear. "You know, I think I'd rather reserve my special touch for you, Blue." As I had quite recovered from my embarrassment earlier, and was more than ready to proceed, this was the crucial part. I began to trail kisses along her neck, causing the Dragoness to giggle, as my hands slipped around to the front of her body, working the shoulder muscles on that side for a few moments. Then, I made my intentions perfectly clear, lowering my hands to her chest. Yajondra stiffened against me for a moment, then relaxed, and turned to look over her shoulder at me. Her face was carefully neutral, but there was happiness in her eyes. "And just what do you think you're doing, my little smooth-skin?" Boldly, I took hold of her breasts and began to squeeze and knead them through the thin cloth garment which contained them. "If I said I was just continuing the massage, would you believe me?" Making absolutely no effort to stop me from groping her, the corner of the Dragoness' mouth curved up just a smidge. "That depends how thorough you intend to be." I was so delighted by that reaction that I almost wanted to laugh, but I managed to restrain myself. Instead, I carefully opened Yajondra's top - it doesn't feel right to classify that as a 'bra', given that it was more like a long loop of cloth - and pulled it away from her body, discarding it at the foot of the bed before returning my hands to her supple flesh. "Well, I wouldn't want to leave any part of my favourite cold-blood untended, now would I?" As I began to squeeze and knead her breasts, my thumbs teasing along her dark blue areolas (we, ah, covered that word a little later), I put on a playful frown and clicked my tongue. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such tension in your muscles, I'll need to give you extra attention here to work it all out." Yajondra raised her head, churring, and gave an impressive shiver against me. "Mmmm... if you think that's wise, then it's probably for the best. But you should really come around to this side, so I can lie against the pillows and recuperate, and you can have, ah, more direct access." Shivering with anticipation, my excitement already tenting out my pants, I slipped out from behind the scholar, letting her fold up her wings and lie back down. She did stop me as I moved to follow her suggestion, but only for a moment, just long enough to give me a very firm reminder of her condition. "Alright, Jack, you win, you've got me nice and worked up... just watch the leg, okay?" With a grin, I nodded, and carefully manoeuvred myself against her left side, pressing my warmth (and my erection) against the lovely reptile's body before reaching forth to take hold of her generous bosom. As I began to knead her flesh once again, she shivered again and laid a hand on my back. I smiled until she gave a jerk and lifted me just a little off the bed, but before I could even ask, she extended her wing again and curled it under me, the limb holding me snug against her side. "That's better. Much more intimate, wouldn't you say?" I leaned in to kiss her, though she did most of the work with her lithe, limber neck. "You'll get no argument here." We both chuckled at that, and then went right back to kissing. As her long, flexible tongue explored my mouth, wrestling against my own tongue, stubby and simple by comparison, I began to play with her nipples, which hardened under my touch, darkening to a pleasing violet colour as she shuddered against me. Yajondra reached over with her right arm and placed it on my cheek, trying to turn to face me without thinking, which meant she moved her right leg quickly and without the proper care. This, of course, lead to her breaking off the kiss to gasp in a less pleasant way than usual, cringing and grabbing the bandage. I felt a twinge in my chest as she even let out a whimper.

When we made eye contact, she actually blushed and looked away. "I - I'm sorry, I just forgot... I wasn't expecting it to be so sensitive." "It's fine, Blue, it had a blade all the way through it, I'd expect it to be sensitive. You don't have to be embarrassed." Without looking back at me, she shook her head, wincing again. "Honestly? I just..." Continuing to stare at the corner of the room, she let out a deep sigh, shaking her head. "I'm a Dragon, Jack. That means more than just being an oddity out here. It means I was raised with the idea that you should never show weakness. My people invented 'putting on a brave face'. And to show that weakness in front of your mate, seven gods..." I was so busy feeling sympathetic towards the poor woman that the moment almost passed by without me realizing that she had just openly referred to me as her mate. Almost, but not quite. I reached out and took hold of her hand, finding it encouraging when she looked in my direction, if not into my eyes. "You already put on enough of a brave face when you got that wound, Blue. After that, I don't think anybody in this town could call you weak, least of all me." Her grip tightened on my hand, and I could tell from the strain on her face that she was still wrestling with her race's view on the problem. So I decided to be bold about it, and reached out with my other hand, touching her cheek and finally earning eye contact. "I can respect a people for wanting to look strong, and it's definitely worked in your case... but we mere Humans have our own traditions, and one of them is that you can share your weakness with your... mate, even if you hide it from everyone else alive." She didn't say a word, but she took her hand off her leg and pressed it against the one I had one her cheek. Encouraged, I continued. "We do that so that when we are at our lowest, when we're feeling weak, the ones we love the most can help us feel strong again." For a moment, I thought she was going to remain silent, and struggled to think of a way to continue that thought, but finally, her gaze softened and she sighed. "Oh, Jack... I do so admire your kind's romantic tendencies. Tell me, do_all_ Human males have this way with words?" Suddenly feeling self-conscious, I found that it was my turn to blush. "Truth be told, I never thought I had a way with words until I met you." That finally brought a smile back to her face, even if it was a little one. She settled back down and sighed again, looking frustratedly at her leg. "A pox on that ignorant bandit. I - I want you, Farmer, rather badly if I'm honest, but my leg..." I brought the hand that had been caressing her cheek up to my lips and kissed it, and then leaned over and - very, very carefully - touched my fingers against the bandages wrapped around her thigh. "There, there, my dear, we'll just have to be careful. What was that you said the other night? Necessary is the mother of invention?" She laughed at my enthusiasm and kissed me on the cheek. "Necessity, though you have the right idea." Spooning up against her once more, I smiled at her and winked. "What do you say, Blue? Third time's the charm?" The Dragoness grinned at me, and I found that her teeth were charming rather than intimidating. "Well, I think we're well past our third time, but I'm willing to try if you are."

Lying back down at Yajondra's side, I leaned in to kiss her again, marvelling (and not for the first time) at how much softer her lips were than I'd been expecting the first time. Reaching out to cup the back of her head, running my fingers along the spines that gathered there, I kissed her unhurriedly, trying to show off this Human passion she admires so much. I laid my other hand on her stomach, not wanting to push any further at the moment. It wasn't long, though, before I felt her hand on my chest, unbuttoning my shirt. I have to admit, I was impressed by how effortless she made it seem; even I have trouble doing that with my eyes closed, especially when I'm, ah, worked up. I shivered at the following touch of her fingers against my chest, and would have smiled were my mouth not otherwise occupied as she began to churr while running her hand over my heart, playing her fingertips over my chest hair. Part of it was the heat radiating off me, part of it wasn't. As a species, Dragons are entirely hairless, and as part of her fascination with other cultures, Yajondra was particularly intrigued by the wide variety of things that can be done with one's hair, ever delighted to toy with my hair as she touched my body. As she began to kiss me with more intensity, I snuggled in closer, pressing my chest against her side so my heat would spread to her. She broke off the kiss to groan, and pulled tighter on her wing, encouraging me to press harder. When she went in to resume snogging me with the enthusiasm of a teenager, her hand slid down my torso to dip into my pants, her fingers closing around my stiff prick and giving it a squeeze that sent a shiver down my spine. Scholar or not, she was still a Dragon, and that carried with it a certain lack of subtlety. She didn't start to stroke me yet, merely held onto my manhood almost possessively, her arousal growing more obvious. After a few minutes of this teasing, though, I could barely stand it, and I broke off the kiss by choice to lean in without warning and close my lips around one of her nipples, suckling on her teat with gusto, tongue teasing the sensitive flesh. There was a rustling sound, and a muffled noise, and glancing up with my eyes, I realized she'd jammed the 'thumb' of her other wing into her mouth to keep from crying out. Releasing the digit from her jaws, she brought up her other hand to cup the back of my head as I continued worshipping her breast, fingers running through and getting tangled in my hair as much as they encouraged me to keep going. "G-Green God, Jack, that's s-so good..." I tried to pull back and make a quip, I was thinking 'You ain't seen nothing yet', but the instant I did, she whimpered and pushed on the back of my head, keeping me in place. She was stronger than I was, and I was hardly in a position to argue, so it's good that I was enjoying my task so much. Wanting to keep the ball rolling, I slipped the hand on her stomach down into her underwear, enjoying the shuddery gasp the Dragon made as I cupped my warm hand over her mound, already growing nice and slick. At this point, Yajondra stiffened, and though I assumed it was shock from the touch, I realized she was bracing herself when she spread both of her legs, very very slowly, to give me better access to her womanhood. As her right settled back down on the bed, she relaxed again, sighing in relief as I began to stroke her lips with my fingers. Adjusting myself on the bed, I pushed my head over to her other breast and continued my ministrations, as I pressed my fingers into her wet folds, pushing inside her channel and discovering she was already starting to get hotter inside. In the short time I had known her, I'd learned pretty definitively that after a certain point, warmth affected Yajondra like an aphrodisiac (she said that was the word for it, but I think it might be Draconic), getting her hot and bothered, literally. I thought I'd done something wrong when she let go of my cock, but her hand only went as far as my belt before going to work on the buckle. I couldn't really blame her there, I'd been feeling rather confined for a while now. I had to reluctantly lean away from her chest to angle myself better, moving my dryer hand to help Yajondra tug my pants down, but soon they were lying on the floor and I was feeling much more liberated, a feeling which only increased when she moved on to my own undershorts without a pause.

While the Dragoness continued to play with my parts, this time focusing on my testicles, I began to finger her in earnest, running my fingers along her inner walls, tracing the wrinkles and textures and enjoying the sensation as she squeezed down on me. Adding to this, I brought my thumb into play, gently teasing her clitoris and earning myself some sighs and gasps. I had to say, apart from the fact that I knew from past experience that her parts were just as blue as the rest of her (with her love button turning a nice purple when she got really worked up), she didn't feel as 'alien' as one might expect. There were no teeth, for a start. It was part of what helped me remember that despite all our differences, she was still a woman and I was still a man. Some things are universal, much to my delight. As I continued to play with her, Yajondra began to moan and shiver, her tail beginning to flick up in agitation before slapping back down against the mattress. From the corner of my eye, I saw her stretch her feet out. I never asked, but I think she was trying to keep from hurting herself by writhing too much. "Nnngh, yes, keep going, just like that, right there..." Rubbing harder against the specific spot that had earned me her appreciation, I rolled back over, returning to her breasts, carefully making room for her arm underneath me so she could continue fondling me. "Hello girls, did you miss me?" The Dragoness arched her back and gasped as I resumed the dedicated work of my lips and tongue. "Ah - aah! ...Gods above, they m-missed you more than you can know..." I watched, amused, as she raised her free hand and began to grope and squeeze at the teat I wasn't currently licking, pausing occasionally to focus entirely on bringing pleasure to her nipple, tweaking it with the tips of her fingers. Inspired by this, I began to pull back my tongue once in a while and close my lips solely around the hard flesh jutting out from her tit. Down below, I had buried three fingers in my lover's folds by now, all rubbing and teasing along her slick inner walls, which rippled and squeezed my digits as she became more and more excited. Meanwhile, I throbbed against her side, leaking pre-come onto her scales, as she continued to gently knead and massage my balls. Finally, Yajondra whimpered, shaking her head. "Jack, Jack please, I - I'm so hot... I need more... Orange Goddess, it feels so good..." Leaning up from her nipple to grin at her, a thin line of saliva bridging our bodies, I chuckled. "Mmmm, when you say it that nicely, how can I argue?" Pulling my fingers out of her wetness, shivering at the sensation of sudden pressure, as if she was trying to squeeze hard enough to prevent me from leaving, I untied the simple cloth garment wrapped around her waist and tugged it free, leaving her just as unclothed as I. Getting up onto all fours, I began to crawl down towards the gap between her legs, loudly smacking my lips like a hungry cat. "Oh boy, Blue, I've been looking forward to doing this since the cart ride from Levintide. So juicy and delici-fuck!"

My unusually crass outburst was justified, let me tell you, as the Dragoness had sat up without warning and reached beneath me, taking hold of my prick and pulling backwards; she didn't bend me back, which would have hurt the base of my poor penis something fierce, but she did get me to scuttle backwards on all fours, cheeks like roses. "You just hang on a minute there, mister!" "Yajondra, what in the nine hells are you doing?!" Letting go of my Johnson, much to my relief, she braced herself against the bed and carefully moved back a little, so that she was half-way reclined against the pillows. "Come here, Jack, turn around and put your leg over here, like you're settling on a saddle." "Th-that doesn't answer my question!" Sighing exaggeratedly, she crossed her arms and gave me a rather insincere peeved look. "I want to suck you off, you ninny, isn't it obvious? It's easier for you to kneel over me than it is for me to get down between your legs." Glancing down, and realizing I had been covering my parts with my hands once she released me, I was probably looking at her like she was insane. She just giggled and shrugged. "I remembered that it will take longer for you to, ah, recharge than it will for me. So, you get off first, and then I get my reward. And in the meantime, I get some of that 'pure liquid heat' you've got brewing inside." I was trying to stay upset at her, but I have to admit I hadn't been as aroused in a long time as I was when she looked down at my boys and licked her lips, looking genuinely excited by the promise of my seed. "Oh. W-well, why didn't you just say so?! You didn't have to tug on my dick like a dog's leash!" Reaching up and taking hold of my shoulder, she pulled me in more gently and kissed me for a brief moment before she broke it off and smiled, unable to hide her amusement. "Well, Farmer, you make the cutest noises when you're startled in bed." She was so clearly delighted, and it didn't seem the least bit condescending or patronizing, so I couldn't help but smile along with her. "...Alright, alright, fine. You're just lucky you have the most talented tongue in Rilodell."

I'm not the most worldly guy in the land; it wasn't like I was bedding women left and right before I met the Dragoness, and even most of the girls I did charm my way close to weren't terribly fond of this particular deed. So I must say, there was something that tickled me on a deep, fundamental level to see how eager Yajondra was to get started, reaching around me to place a hand on my butt as I straddled her, encouraging me to come forward towards her. "Yesss, come to Yajondra, that's it..." Placing her other hand on my prick, she looked up at me and winked, and then immediately went to work. The last time she'd done this, I'd cried out in shock. This time, I was prepared... but despite my best efforts to remain stoic, the feeling of her long, flexible tongue licking at my rigid shaft, teasing along my aching flesh, was totally overwhelming; I couldn't help but moan, long and loud. As I shuddered, I felt lightheaded, and I bent forwards slightly, reaching out blindly and taking hold of what turned out to be Yajondra's biggest horns, curving back along the sides of her head. Pulling away a little, she replaced her tongue with her hand, gently stroking my length as she focused her talented tongue on my balls, determinedly licking across every inch of my scrotum, bathing the flesh in her warm saliva. "Mmmm, yes... you know, Jack, it's a shame you can't share this view, because the look on your face is divine." All I could do was whimper, watching myself throb in her grip. Satisfied with the damp state of my sac, she snapped out her tongue to claim the drop of pre that emerged from my tip, and then finally closed her maw around my length, easily taking my whole prick into her mouth at once. "Nnnnff... gods above, Blue, this is... this is incredible..." She moved her hand to my freshly-teased sac and began to fondle and squeeze my boys, one at a time. Groaning, I closed my eyes and focused on the sensations, mainly on that incredible tongue squirming around my cock, the tight warmth of her mouth as she suckled hard. My toes began to curl up around the time she finally began to bob her head along my length, teasing at the sensitive region under the head of my penis as she pulled back to the point where I almost slipped out of her lips. She continued like this for a while, seeming unhurried, taking the time to herself as I trembled and gasped and moaned. Behind me, the hand on my rear had begun to squeeze and knead at my cheek, one of Yajondra's fingers teasingly poking at my opening. Before I'd met her, I would never have been okay with that, but after that thing she showed me with her tail... In any event, it seemed it was just teasing this time, as she didn't go any further than that, though she did pull me in just a little bit closer, to make her task easier. I found myself shivering non-stop, as though it were the middle of winter, which for a moment suddenly brought up the mental image of Yajondra being a bit too enthusiastic in her task and coughing, encasing my pelvis in ice. I actually snickered at this ridiculous image, though I managed to pass it off as a grunt of passion. Chiding myself for letting my mind wander in the middle of such a wonderful experience, I sighed, relaxing, and focused on the tongue that was currently lashing along the sensitive underside of my dick... then I bit my own tongue to keep a particularly powerful moan inside as I throbbed in her mouth.

Afterwards, I felt her tongue sweep the tip of my manhood and then heard a muffled mmmmmm coming from deep in her throat as she collected my pre. I'd had trouble wrapping my head around it, but she really did enjoy doing this, really did savour the taste - and more importantly, the temperature - of my come. I found myself turned on by that fact in and of itself. "Ohhh, Yajondra... I - I'm getting close, I'm gonna come!" Moaning around my length, the Dragoness tightened her hold on me, ensuring I couldn't pull away even if I wanted to. If you didn't already know that pulling away was the last thing in the universe I would want to do, friend, you haven't been paying attention. Hunching over her head, tightening my grip on her horns (which are completely insensitive, handily), I began to breathe harder as my lover increased her efforts, suckling me as though my prick was a water skin and she'd just come through the desert. I resisted the urge to start thrusting, partly not wanting to make Yajondra uncomfortable, partly out of cautious knowledge of her teeth and breath. Besides, even with me just staying perfectly still, she was doing a lovely job all on her own. I felt my own self-control crumbling rapidly, and just when I grit my teeth to try and hang on just that little bit longer, Yajondra surprised me, as though she could read my mind. She slid all the way down my length, her muzzle poking against my skin, and started suckling harder than ever. At the same time, she clenched her hand over my balls, squeezing just hard enough that it didn't hurt, in time with the warning throbs of my prick. I was helpless against this onslaught, and as she eagerly ran her tongue over the taut skin of my penis, I threw back my head and surrendered to my orgasm, moaning in pure pleasure as I came, harder than I had in weeks. Yajondra's tail lashed against the mattress and she shuddered beneath me as my twitching dick began to throb, sending spurt after hot, gooey spurt of my seed onto her anxiously awaiting tongue, the reward for all her hard work. I couldn't believe how good it felt, each pulse of pleasure made my entire body tense up, like I was emptying myself into the Dragoness' heavenly mouth. And she kept licking and suckling and squeezing me the entire time, encouraging me to keep going as long as I possibly could.

When I'd finally burned through the pleasure, what felt like about a day later, I took my hands off her horns and leaned against the wall behind my bed, panting like a dog and coated in sweat, but I still needed to force myself to speak. "Ohhh... oh Blue, that was amazing... I c-came so hard I'm lightheaded... kinda dizzy... Help me d-down from here, I don't want to hit your leg by accident..." At first I thought that Yajondra somehow hadn't heard me, as she didn't seem to react. Then, she began to run her tongue along my cock again, this time not as elaborately, just licking from the base down to the tip, and I realized she was cleaning me, trying to get every last drop of my come. When she was finally satisfied, she pushed me back almost reluctantly, leaning down to nuzzle lovingly against my scrotum for a moment before she reached up with both hands and help me down, gently pulling me to cuddle against her left side, pressing my head against her chest, where I could hear her heart beating quite quickly. There, directly beneath her head, I could hear it quite clearly when she finally swallowed, a shudder running from the tip of her tail to the end of her nose. Tensing up for a second, she moaned, whimpering to herself in Draconic as the hand that wasn't rubbing my back like a beloved pet's snaked down between her legs to rub and tease at her lust-swollen labia and throbbing purple clitoris. "Mmmm, by the stars, Human, I - I can't get over that feeling, it's like for a moment, I know what it is to be warmed from within. It makes me so... ohhhhh." Nuzzling against her chest, I sighed, a big smile forming on my face, as I moved a hand down to join hers in playing with her parts. "I'm only too happy to oblige, milady." Churring, she let me join her in fingering her sopping, needy entrance, but only for a short time. Then, she got to whimpering again, her tail twitching in agitation, leaning down to nose against the top of my head. "Gods above, Jack, I'm - I'm so hot inside... I need it, I need it so badly, please..." Shivering, I sat up and placed a reassuring hand on her cheek, kissing her gently. The look in her eyes was one of desperate need, she hadn't been exaggerating it to try and sound sexy, she looked like if I denied her for much longer she might start to cry. "It's alright, Blue, after what you did, how could I say no?"

Crawling around to the foot of the bed, I turned to face her - and hesitated. "Please, Jack! I c-can't think straight!" She hadn't stopped touching herself, though at this point it seemed that could never be enough. "But if I'm lying down between your legs, I don't know how I'm going to avoid touching your thigh..." Crossing her arms, Yajondra snorted, and a fine mist of cold hovered over her for a moment before dissipating. "Jack, it's a very poor idea to leave a Dragon female wanting for too long. They're known to take what they want after a while." In the back of my mind it occurred to me that I might very much enjoy that, but I didn't want her to have to get up, so I thought quickly. "Okay, okay, let me try this..." Lying down on my stomach, I slowly inched forward, towards her pussy, and as I reached the point where I couldn't help but make contact, I carefully pushed my left hand under her leg, avoiding the bandaged area. Then, slowly, cautiously, feeling her tense up against me, I pushed my arm under her leg and wrapped it around, leaving my hand resting on the unharmed part of her thigh. "Alright, if I hold my arm right here, I should be able to avoid touching the wound by accident. How's that sou-" I stopped, actually chuckling as I felt Yajondra's hand cup the back of my head rather firmly. I guess that answered that question.

Settling in between her legs, not wanting to find out how serious Blue was when she made her little threat, I extended my tongue and gave her slit a nice, long lick from bottom to top. The slightly bittersweet flavour (emphasis on the sweet) was by now comforting and familiar, and as Yajondra moaned in relief above me, I buried my tongue between her folds, pushing into her tight, hot love tunnel, licking at the walls to help alleviate her suffering, reaching up to tease over her clitoris with my top lip. At this point, of all things, it suddenly occurred to me to wonder where her tail had gotten to, though no sooner had I pondered this than I heard a whump from behind the she-dragon as her tail, presumably lying flat to her side, smacked against the headboard of my bed. "Oh Jack, yes, yesss... little to the r-right, now down a bit and - by the seven, yes! There, right there, keep pressing! Ahhh, gods above, don't stop!" Licking hard against the specific spot on her inner wall that she wanted me to focus on, I pulled my lip away and got my free hand in on the act, tweaking and teasing her love button in a way that made her good leg cross my back and press down hard on me; this confused me until I worked out that she was resisting the urge to cross both her legs across my back and scissor me closer. Hoping that meant I was doing something right, I kept going, lapping up the Dragoness' juices and really getting into it, pushing my mouth against her vulva to get my tongue as deep into her warmth as I could.

Leaning back to take a quick breath at one point, I glanced up and saw Yajondra, eyes closed, free hand on her chest, fondling herself, and was so taken by the sight that I almost forgot what I was doing. She helped me remember by pushing somewhat insistently on the back of my head, so I returned to my task, licking all along her throbbing clit with the tip of my tongue before I slipped it back between her lips. As I got her honey smeared over my face, I found myself amazed at how quickly I was bouncing back after such a powerful orgasm; I wasn't quite getting hard yet, but I was already squirming, rubbing my penis against the mattress beneath me as I worked to bring this vision of feminine beauty the pleasure she so rightly deserved. Come to think of it, I wonder if her juices might have 'aphrodisiac' qualities of their own... Yajondra continued to yelp and gasp, muttering to herself in her native tongue as I licked and teased and rubbed and stroked, and soon she was pushing her hips back at me, grinding her slit against my face. "Ohhhhh... so hot, so good, ney rahj... I never want this to stop!"

She began to whimper and moan to herself, breathing faster, her impressive chest heaving even as she tweaked her nipples and kneaded her breasts with a surprising amount of force; I guess she would know better than I how much she could take. With a grunt, I felt a rather un-subtle nudge from the hand on the back of my head, which was now working its fingers through my hair. I had gotten distracted by the glorious sight above me, and slowed down in my lickings. Working to make up for this failing, I put even more energy into it than before, licking at the sensitive spots inside her that she'd guided me to and rubbing with as much pressure as my tongue could muster, while I used my thumb and forefinger to stroke her clitoris from base to tip, like it was a tiny cock. Yajondra responded by arching her back and throwing back her head with a gasp - her horns bumping into the wall behind her with a muted thud - and then whispering to herself in Draconic, so rapidly for a moment I thought she was casting a spell, perhaps something to make her climax more powerful. Licking and squeezing and stroking, overwhelmed by the flavour of her parts, pushing back as she ground herself against my face, I kept going as she panted hard and worked herself into a frenzy. Finally, she lapsed back out of her native tongue to address me in my language. "J-Jack! I'm - I'm so close! I'm going to - I'm going to come! K-keep going, this is going t-to be great..." I suddenly wondered if she was going to freeze a patch of ice onto the ceiling above my bed, but with the way she was pushing on my head and bucking against my mouth, it was a wonder I could breathe, let alone talk to her. As I kept at it, ignoring the ache in my tired jaw, I could feel Yajondra slowly tensing up beneath me, shuddering near-constantly and taking in sharp, quick breaths, gasping 'ah, ah, ah' over and over, with increasing desperation. Finally, her pussy collapsed on my tongue with a lurch, and the Dragoness arched her back again, crying out with impressive volume as she came, rewarding me with a gush of her flavourful juices as she shuddered from head to toe. I did a little shivering of my own as I tried to keep up with my lover, the strength of her flavour making me tingle all over, my toes curling up as I did my best to lap up all of the beautiful blue's honey. For once, I lost track of time as I tried to stretch out the lady's climax, working her parts as hard as I could until she finally moved her hand to my forehead and gently pushed me away, still breathing hard and twitching every now and then.

Loudly licking my lips, I carefully extracted my arm from around her leg, and climbed up to lie down next to her, feeling pretty damned content. As I snuggled up against her side once more, her tail wrapped around my waist and held me tight, and I was pretty sure from the distant, glazed-over expression on her grinning face, that it was an instinctive reaction, which made it all the more adorable to me. After a few moments, she turned to face me and actually giggled. "By the Patriarch's name, Human... the first time you did that for me, I'll admit that I found myself wishing that Dragon males were more interested in playing around the way you warmbloods do... But this time, the only thing I could think about was you... I just wished you had as long and flexible a tongue as one of my kind. I can't even imagine how well someone as talented as you would put it to use..." Churring, she leaned over and nuzzled her cheek against mine, and I was only too happy to nuzzle right back. "It would be my honour to imagine that for you, Blue, heh heh..." Afterwards, I placed a hand on her cheek, and we kissed again. The last time she had been able to taste herself on my tongue, she had laughed out loud. This time, she just paused for a second, the corners of her mouth turning up, before she pushed in again and kept going. After a minute or two, I broke it off, rubbing her cheek with a thumb and looking into those eyes, as beautiful and yellow as the sun on a bright summer's day. "Yajondra... I need to admit something. For a while, I was a little worried you had cast a spell on me. We haven't known each other very long at all, but you're not like any woman I've ever met... These feelings you're giving me..." I trailed off, unsure how to express the strength of my emotions without sounding like a lovesick kid. Thankfully, the Dragoness placed a single finger on my lips and smiled. "Truthfully, Jack? ...I feel the same way." And then we were kissing again, holding each other tight. Not for the first time, and not for the last, I was impressed by how gentle Yajondra was capable of being; with all her strength, and all her size, being with her felt easy, natural. When I closed my eyes, it was really no different from kissing a Human woman, I could have pretended that I was with a woman of my own species... except that there was no one in all of Rilodell who I'd rather be with than the Dragoness of the blue flight who had chosen to share herself with me. I'm not sure how much time passed this time, but I broke off the kiss when I felt Yajondra's fingers gently wrapping around my prick, which had grown back to its full pride when I wasn't paying attention. "Mmmm, looks like somebody needs it again... just as much as I do." Tensing seldom-used muscles to make myself throb in her hand, I grinned. "I like the sound of that, Blue. You want to go first this time?" Moving her free hand to one of mine, she pressed my fingers between her legs, so I could feel her wet heat. "I've got a better idea, Farmer. Why don't we both go at once?" I'm a grown man, I have my needs, I'm comfortable with that, so I don't have a problem admitting that part of me was all for this plan. But I forced myself to be a good boy and think it out, frowning. "I don't know, I really don't want to hurt your leg..." To my surprise, the blue's reaction was to wave a hand dismissively. "Oh, pshaw, we just need to get creative. There is more than one position we can try, remember?" "Well, what did you have in mind?" "Hmmm... get up for a second, would you, dear?" Happily doing so, I watched as Yajondra pulled in her good leg and braced her hands against the bed, clenching her teeth as she did so. "Uhh, do you need a hand, Blue?" The look she shot me was part indignation, part embarrassment. I realized that she didn't like being wounded like this, and she really didn't like the idea of needing someone else's help for something as simple as changing her position. "I'm fine, Farmer. I can do this." With a grunt, using her tail for leverage, the Dragon pushed herself over onto her right side, inhaling sharply as her weight rested on her bad leg for a moment before she stretched out and lightened the load a little, lying back down with a sigh of relief. "...There. I - I might need a bit of help getting out of bed, but I knew I could do that by myself. Now then..." Turning her head to look at me, she grinned and lifted her left leg into the air, giving me a pretty decent view of the goods. "I want you to kneel with your legs on either side of mine, you see? As long as you don't move your legs too much, you can't hurt me." I chuckled as I eagerly climbed back on the bed, carefully moving into position, taking hold of her leg so she wouldn't have to just hold it up the whole time. "And here I thought your genius was mostly academic." Flicking out her tongue at me, the vision of beauty winked. "To use a Human expression, dear... you ain't seen nothing, yet!"

There were eager smiles on both of our faces as I reached down and took hold of myself, lining my manhood up with Yajondra's slit, pressing against her and teasingly running the head of my prick left and right along her sodden folds, stoking the fires that burned within us. Finally, the Dragoness whimpered, smacking her tail against my leg. "Gods above, Human, do you mean to make me beg?" I genuinely thought about it for a moment, and then grinned. "Hmmm... I guess not. Here we go, Blue..." With no further ado, I pushed my hips forward, sliding into my lover's wet heat, sighing with relief as I felt Yajondra's tight passage clenching down around my length. For her part, the Dragon moaned quietly, shuddering beneath me, bunching up the sheets as her hands clenched into fists. Shaking her head, she muttered to herself in Draconic; I don't really have anything to base this on, but I took it as a compliment. Easily burying myself in her tightness, I adjusted my position and pulled back, then began to push back into her, hilting my cock on every thrust, our bodies meeting with a lewd, wet slap every time. When we really started a rhythm, Yajondra threw back her head and groaned loudly, her blatant display of arousal doing a lot to get me even more worked up. "Ohhh, yes... B-be as loud as you want, love, this is one of the n-nice things about living so - Bright Beauty, that's good - about living so far from t-town." "Nnnngh... I think if I was as l-loud as I'm capable of being, J-Jack... I might damage your hearing..." Managing to laugh at that, I increased my speed, driving myself home again and again, feeling her pussy clenching down on my prick as I pushed into her warmth again and again. This was a rather enjoyable position, though I found myself wishing I could play with Yajondra's breasts or kiss her as we made love. Still, even the worst sex would be pretty good if it was with this amazing woman, so I found no reason to complain. Time passed, and I drove myself into Yajondra's pussy with all the gusto I could manage, breathing hard, eyes closed, focused on the sensations. Occasionally I would throb within her, or she would shudder against me, and we would groan and gasp, and I let my hand wander down to her rear, squeezing and kneading her pert buttocks and teasing a finger beneath her tail, returning the favour from earlier. With my other hand, of course, I had set Yajondra's leg down on my shoulder and moved down to play with her clitoris, squeezing and rubbing to make sure she was enjoying this as much as me. Meanwhile, the Dragoness had moved her hands from the sheets to her chest, groping her breasts energetically as we made love. "Harder, Jack, harder! Orange Goddess, you feel so good inside me..." Who am I to turn the lady down? I started moving as fast as I could, grunting with every thrust as I buried myself in her velvet embrace.

I tried to hold back as long as I could, but I could feel the end approaching and didn't want it to be a surprise to the lady, even if it was just a courtesy; reptiles and warm bloods can't have children together - at least not without the intervention of certain magical spells - but that didn't mean it was okay to come inside a girl without warning. "G-gods above... Yajondra I - I'm sorry, but I'm going to come!" She moaned aloud and clenched down on me. "It's - it's okay, I know you'll finish me afterwards... Ohhh, Farmer, don't you dare pull out, I want to feel that heat inside me..." Thusly encouraged, I gritted my teeth and resorted to faster, shallower thrusts, flying towards the point of no return. It wasn't long before I arched my back and cried out, slamming home one last time as I began to throb deep inside her, emptying my balls into her vagina, which clenched down on me, hard, as I began to come. Yajondra's tail snaked around my leg and squeezed, as if she wanted to keep me from pulling out. Personally, as I released spurt after spurt of my seed into her anxiously awaiting body, I couldn't think of anything in the world I wanted to do less than pull out at this moment.

When I had finally wrung myself dry, sagging against Yajondra's body, I moaned quietly, listening to the Dragoness whimpering in pleasure, genuinely savouring the sudden rush of heat inside her. Moving very carefully, I lifted my right leg and slowly rotated myself to lie down facing her, setting her leg down to rest and keeping my still-hard penis buried inside her the entire time. Thusly face to face, I reached down to play with her aching love button even as I leaned in to kiss her, enjoying the hunger still present in her, hands on my cheeks as she pushed her tongue aggressively into my mouth. Even right after coming, I couldn't help but shudder as her wet channel clenched down on me again and again, grinding her hips against mine as she got closer and closer to her own release. Eventually, she leaned back, need burning in her eyes, as she whimpered to me. "B-by the stars, Human... I'm so close, I'm almost there... Tai valeeka!" I actually recognized that one, she had cried that out just before she came on the carriage back from Levintide. I still had no idea what it meant, but once again I made a note to ask her when I wasn't so busy bringing her to ecstasy. I returned my fingers to the stroking motion I used to finish her off when I was going down on her earlier, holding her tight against me. Suddenly she tensed up all over and clung to me with a fair amount of strength, pressing her face against my shoulder, and I knew the moment was upon her. "Oh, Jack... Jack... Jaaaaaaack!" After crying out my name, Yajondra threw back her head and bellowed out her orgasmic pleasure, an incredibly loud, sustained moan that probably would have carried outside, to the point where I wondered if distance from Basil's Crossing would make a difference in this case; I wouldn't be surprised if the whole town knew that the Dragoness had just climaxed. Meanwhile, the walls of her vagina clenched down, hard, rippling along my length and encouraging my dick to give one last throb, drooling leftover sperm into her rhythmically-squeezing womanhood.

I held Yajondra tight, sharing in the moment of her release, and when her orgasm had finally run its course and she'd gone limp in my arms, I halted my tender ministrations, slipping my now-limp penis out of her tightness, and just snuggled against her, feeling her arms, and then her wings, wrapping around me. She continued to nuzzle against my shoulder, panting hard with the exertions she'd just gone through. With her wings extended around me, all I could see was blue, a familiar, very welcome sight by now. Finally I heard her voice, soft and relaxed, even though there was a delightful blush on her scaly cheeks. "Oh, Farmer, thank you so much... I - I never come as hard as I do when your heat is inside me. There's just something so, so amazing about the feeling..." She trailed off, giggling to herself, as I began to kiss her sinuous neck. After a few seconds, I moved up to her mouth, giving her a chance to kiss me back as I savoured the quiet, peaceful moment. I always find the best kissing comes after the deed is done, when all you want to do is hold each other close, without the hot flare of lust colouring your actions. The Dragoness churred to me, her hands gently exploring my back, rubbing the tension out of the muscles as I went back to rubbing the bases of her wings. After a long, blissful time, Yajondra's stomach rumbled impressively, and we both grinned as she shrugged. "I guess saving the town is hungry work." Moving a hand down to pat her belly, I nodded. "No one deserves a good dinner tonight more than you, milady. Leave it all to me, I'll go whip up something wonderful, and you can just let that leg rest." Folding up her wings, rolling onto her back, Yajondra pouted slightly, and a bit more of that Draconic stubbornness rose to the surface. "Nonsense, Jack, I'm not an invalid, I'll come down with you, test this leg out." "Are - are you sure? There's kind of a lot of stairs in this tower..." Rubbing my face, she smiled. "I appreciate your reluctance, dear, but if I stay in this bed all day, my leg might heal faster, but I'll go stir-crazy! If I have trouble on the way down, maybe I'll use that cane you've got in the corner of the bottom floor to get back up." I frowned for a second, trying to figure out what she was talking about, when I remembered the dusty old hatstand in the corner and the things left in its base. "Oh! I forgot I had that. Belonged to my grandfather. Always walked with a limp while I knew him. I guess I just kept it around, you know, 'just in case'. Looks like that finally came in useful, for a change." Reluctantly stepping out of the bed and stretching, I turned to the closet, comfortable in my nudity in front of the reptile, though I was totally aware of her leering eyes running over my form. "Well, I guess if you're going to be getting up, I might as well show you the gift I bought you." "Gift? You didn't mention a gift." I tried not to chuckle as I went to the side of my dresser facing away from the bed. There was a small peg sticking out of either side of the handy piece of furniture, and this one had a hook hanging off it at the moment, supporting... "That's kind of the point of a surprise, Yajondra." The Dragoness gasped as I held up my offering, smiling in delight. I held in my hands a sundress in a festive shade of yellow, appropriately sized to fit a Dragoness' frame. "Your robes were so drab and lifeless, so unlike you, and they got all bloody when you were wounded anyway, so I figured you wouldn't mind if I got you something a bit more lively, had the town tailor whip this up for you while you were sleeping. Er, I took the measurements myself, didn't want any more people than necessary seeing you in your underthings." A moment of awkward silence passed, and then I remembered something to take focus away from it, turning the dress over. "Oh, and look, I had this one specially-made; these holes will let your wings pass through, and this one's for your tail. It wasn't too hard to figure out; she's made clothes for ani-men in the past, so she knows how to work for tails, and she studied the holes in your robes to get the wing parts right. I hope you like the colour, picked it out myself." As I approached, she reached out and gently ran her fingers over the fabric, smiling. "The colour is lovely, Jack... but why yellow? I would assume you'd get me a blue dress." "Well, I thought about that, but I was worried you'd look naked from a distance." As she held the dress against her body to get a look at it, Yajondra snickered. "You don't have to worry about that, Jack. Only one Human in all of Rilodell gets to see me naked." She began to wriggle back and forth, one hand braced against the mattress, and then blushed and looked back at me. "Errr... care to give me a hand getting dressed? I'm having a bit of trouble getting out of bed."

It took a little doing (I've been sworn to secrecy on the matter of how much, exactly), but we managed to get ourselves up, re-dressed, and heading down the stairs. Yajondra looked just wonderful in her new dress, though it was hard to admire the view when she needed to lean on me to get down the stairs, apologizing about three times per floor. I assured her my feelings would not have changed even if she'd lost the leg, but it's hard to change the way a Dragon's pride works. "That's it... that's it, Blue. One step at a time. You show these stairs who's boss... but, um, are you sure you don't want to wait here, with my collection, while I whip up dinner? It'll really be no trouble to bring it up to you." The hand that was leaning on my shoulder took a moment to squeeze, rather than press. "It's okay, Jack, really. You don't have to feel bad about this, I - nnf - sorry, that was a bad step... I'm mostly doing this to prove to myself that I can, not just to keep you company while you cook. It'll be much easier on the way back up, with the cane helping. Besides, it smells like you're almost finished." Looking down to watch our feet as we descended towards the main floor, I frowned slightly, confused. "Finished what, exactly?" "Why, dinner of course. I can smell the meat you've been cooking." "Yajondra, I haven't left your side since last night, someone else brought me food while I stayed with you. I haven't done any cooking since - now hang on, I can smell it too, who would be cooking in my..." I trailed off as my head lowered far enough to clear the second floor and get a view of the first. "...Oh my." Yajondra ducked down to see why I'd stopped in my tracks, and had a similar reaction. "...Ah." Like I'd said, there was an abundance of chairs in the front room, where militiamen had gathered in the old days. And now, nearly every one of those chairs was occupied, by a friend, family member, or fellow citizen of Basil's Crossing. All of whom were watching us come down the stairs. They had varying expressions on their faces - ranging from blushing embarrassment to knowing smiles, and that carefully blank look that tells you someone is trying to hide how they really feel. Seeing my sister-in-law Annabelle, glaring at me while she mimed covering the ears of my nephew Rory, still not far from her, basically confirmed my worst fears. They'd been here, in the tower, while Yajondra and I... recuperated after the injury. They'd probably heard everything. And here I'd been letting myself be louder than usual... The silence was broken by a welcoming call from my older brother Thomas, who looked a lot happier than he had the last time I saw him, now propped up by a crutch under one arm. "Ah, here you are at last!" Across the room, Durna, seated comfortably next to her husband, let out a happy laugh. "We'd been beginnin' to wonder if ye meant to spend the rest of your lives in that bedroom, dearies." From the center of the room, working a boar on a spit over a comfy fire, Baerl Cobb glanced up at us, a rare smirk on his aged features. "Just in time, anyways, this hog's just about fit to eat." Trying very, very hard not to imagine my parents, brother, and cousins overhearing me in the throes of passion, I frowned and gestured to the motley crew. "But - but what are you all doing here?" Near the door, Doctor Forrest shrugged apologetically. "I was on my way back into town when I ran into Daryl here. He wanted to give you something, so I felt it would be no harm to come back, and when word got around that I was going to your tower, well... it's like I said, Dragon. I'm hardly the only one who wanted to thank you for saving the town. I didn't know you'd already be, ah..." Trailing off, he shrugged, and we chuckled. It was kind of funny, after all. Grinning, shaking our heads, putting the embarrassment behind us, Yajondra and I descended the steps into an impromptu party in her honour.

Boar was eaten, drinks were had, many, many stories were told (most of them about me at various ages, much to Yajondra's delight), and almost everyone had come to Yajondra to shake her hand for what she'd done. We sat in the corner, watching people dancing around my firepit, which had burned down to embers, Thomas hobbling along next to his wife, who laughed and humoured him. Their boy had curled up on a chair and nodded off a while back, which reminded me of the way Thomas had always been able to sleep anywhere, no matter the noise. I'd been impressed how good Yajondra was with Rory, she seemed better with Human children than I did. When he asked her if she could teach him to breathe ice the way she did, she'd immediately come back at him with 'only if you're good and do all your chores', which did a lot to lift the glare from Annabelle's face. As we watched the merriment, wondering where the lute Bart was playing had come from, Daryl, the town wood-carver, approached, holding something long and covered by a cloth. "Miss Ya-jon-dra?" The hard way he emphasized every syllable suggested he'd practiced very hard to remember her name properly. "I know everybody's thanked you for saving the town and all, but, uh, I don't know if you remember, but Thorne picked me out of the audience to be his 'demonstration'." She nodded, looking grim for a moment. "I do remember, he was going to burn down a house with you inside." "Yes, well... you probably saved all our lives yesterday, but you saved mine a lot more directly, so I made you this. Started working on it as soon as things calmed down last night." Flipping back the cover and dropping it to the floor, he proudly held out his hands, and Yajondra's eyes widened appreciatively. The carver had once again shown off his skills; he was holding a long, polished wooden staff, not entirely unlike the kind used by wizards and mages to channel their spells, though this one ended in an intricately-carved bust of a Dragon's head... a carving obviously inspired by Yajondra herself. "I saw how your leg got all hurt, y'see, so I thought 'that lady's gonna need herself a walking staff, Daryl, so the least you can do is make her a nice one.' It's just wood, not magic or anything, so I hope it's, uh, up to your standards." Taking it in her hands with something close to awe in her eyes, Yajondra beamed at the little man. "Oh, of course it is, Daryl, this is beautiful, thank you truly. I didn't realize you had such an eye for details! You should go into sculpture, Jack here could sell them at the store." Laughing bashfully, he waved dismissively at her praise and bowed his head. "I'm so pleased you like it, Miss Yajondra. I'm glad we've got you in town." As he walked off to join a conversation between Bart and my father on some subject Durna clearly found incredibly boring, I ran my hand over the staff, just as impressed as the Dragoness. "This is way better than that cane. I think my grandfather would understand." I turned to whisper a follow-up joke into her ear, but I was cut off as I caught movement from the corner of my eye, and laid eyes upon someone I hadn't even realized was present. "Cedric! Good to see you're out and about too, cousin. Glad that arrow didn't slow you down too much." The man's right arm was done up in a sling, and he looked somewhat miserable, though that wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. "Yes, well, I didn't get as much fuss made over my injury as hers, though I'll manage." I tried not to openly glare at my cousin, who I remind you had gotten his injury while blindly fleeing in a panic, as opposed to saving a town from bandits. He continued while I was getting myself back under control. "By the way, real classy Jack, greeting us with your little mating calls." "Dammit, Cedric -" He held up his hand and shook his head. "Sorry, that one was uncalled for. Look, I'm not entirely incapable of bettering myself, Jack. Bart... I still don't approve of him mixing the bloodlines like that, but the man is my brother... and he did save my life. So I'm inclined to cut him a break. We've been talking a lot today, catching up on old times. I - I have to admit it's nice hearing his voice again. And you..." He turned directly to Yajondra, his expression unreadable. She braced her new staff on the floor, like a mage reminding someone of the power she holds. "What about me, Cedric? I haven't forgotten your accusations in the butcher shop." Narrowing his eyes, frowning, the man managed to hold his ground, putting his one free hand in a fist on his hip. "You know what, Dragon? I still don't like you. I'll probably never like you. You flaunt your knowledge, and there's a smug superiority to you when you talk about how 'charming' our quaint little village is. And I will never approve of you coming down from the mountains and stealing one of our men. I honestly have no idea what you two see in each other." On the one hand, I didn't want this to lead to more frozen faces. On the other, I was genuinely impressed that Cedric knew a word like 'superiority'. But before either of us could say a word, he continued. "But! ...I may be a pain in the ass, but I'm not an idiot. I was a bit out of it for the end, but I know just as well as anyone else that you saved all of Basil's Crossing yesterday. They're planning on re-starting the militia to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, and I heard the sheriff arguing with someone over whether or not they should offer you the captaincy. You saved the town, Dragon. You saved my life." For a moment, Cedric's expression softened, and he was no longer looking at either of us. "And that means I'll get to greet my beloved Ellen when she comes back from her trip." His gaze re-focused on Yajondra, but his eyes didn't harden back up. "The simple truth is, I don't have to like you to respect you, and I've grown to respect you rather a lot more than I expected since I first laid eyes on you." He extended his unharmed left hand, and Yajondra stuck out hers to shake it. "Thank you, Dra... Yajondra, for everything you've done. I'll try to lay off, for Jack's sake, but this doesn't mean we're suddenly friends." Grinning thinly, the Dragoness nodded to him, releasing his hand. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Cedric. You're welcome." Without another word, my cousin nodded and walked away, joining his brother and my father. Bart 'forgot' about Cedric's wound and wrapped him up in a big bear hug, trying not to laugh as Cedric started in on one of his more epic complaining stretches. Looked to me like he was happy to be yelled at as long as Cedric was still talking to him. Chuckling, I pulled Yajondra to her feet, now aided by the walking staff, and went over to see about saving Durna from dying of boredom.

The next morning, Yajondra came down the stairs by herself just as I finished cleaning up the mess from the previous night. She was moving around much more easily, now that she had that staff to rely upon. I was very glad to see that, as she seemed much happier when she didn't need my help to get around. She came and sat down next to me, and I joined her, my work done. She leaned in to kiss my cheek, seeming at peace with the world. "Well, I must say, Farmer. Considering this is 'a small town where nothing ever happens', I can't remember a time of my life more exciting than the last few days. If we're not careful, we might end up going on a grand adventure at this rate, and find ourselves written into legend." Snickering, I patted the back of her hand. "I think we'd find that adventure disagrees with me. I nearly wet myself when the bandits caught me, and I didn't even have to fight anybody." We laughed together at the very idea, and just silently enjoyed each other's company for a moment. Then; "...So, Blue, do you really think they're going to make you the captain of the new militia?" "Oh dear, I hope not. I've had just about enough of dealing with bandits, thank you very much, so I hope Basil's Crossing wouldn't be too disappointed if I turned down the offer." "Still, so many people came by last night just to thank you. You know, Yajondra, I was really worried for a bit that the town was never going to get used to you, they were always going to treat you like an outsider, but... if even Cedric can swallow his pride and thank you for what you've done, well, it sounds to me like you've finally been accepted by the people who live here. Does my heart some good." She shrugged, grinning softly. "Well, I may have played it off casually, but I'll admit I'm pretty relieved myself. I was willing to put up with it to be with you, but I'm glad it won't come to that." "You think you're relieved? If they hadn't accepted you, I was thinking about running away with you and starting a new life! Do you have any idea how stressful that would be?" I was kidding, and we had a good laugh at that, but at the same time, it didn't feel entirely like a joke as I said the words. I managed to shake off the feeling as Yajondra gave my hand a squeeze. "Jack, you've done so much for me, bringing me home, showing me your land, your ways, even sharing your bed... Please, is there anything I can do for you?" "Hmm... Saving the town was a nice start..." "I'm serious, Jack, is there anything I can do to thank you for all the help you've given me?" Reaching back, I began to rub the back of my neck. "Well... there is one thing. I've been kind of wondering about it, since it's one of your, ah, draconic abilities and all." Tilting her head, she looked at me curiously. "What is it, Jack? I hope you don't want me to freeze you solid, that's not my idea of romantic." "No, no, it's, uh..." I extended a hand and let it rest on one of her wings. "I've always wanted to know what it's like to fly, but I wasn't sure how much you could carry while you were up there, and I certainly wouldn't ask while you've got a bad leg, so we should probably wait..." She looked back at her wing almost in surprise, as if she'd forgotten she had them. Then, after a silent moment, she turned back to me with a devilish grin. "...I can't promise you a clean landing when we get back, but I'm pretty sure I could show you how Dragons usually see the world."

And so, I found myself on top of my tower, cradled in the arms of the woman I love, clinging to her like a frightened child as she stepped off the edge, a fall that would surely kill me... and then took to the air with a few heavy flaps of her powerful wings. I laughed in the purest delight I'd had in years as Yajondra lifted up, high above the tower, high above the roads and paths nearby, all of Basil's Crossing looking as small and insignificant as a child's playthings, the ancient trees in the forests nearby looking for all the world like tiny, grassy shrubs. Despite what I'd said to her only a few minutes before, it seemed adventure suited me just fine. Just about every experience I'd had since I met this remarkable woman was new and exciting, the kind of adventure that made my pulse quicken and my cheeks flush, and I'd never felt more alive. It occurred to me, as we soared through the skies of my homeland, that I trusted Yajondra absolutely, that I knew she wouldn't let me fall, and that I felt closer to her than ever. Sure, things were sometimes dangerous, but more than anything in my life, I was certain that the risks were worth it if I got to see what happened next. I thanked my lucky stars that we'd run into each other in such a crowded, bustling city, and thanked them again for how well we'd hit it off.

But mostly, I found myself thanking anything that might happen to be listening, that while it had taken acts of uncommon bravery for Yajondra to prove herself to Basil's Crossing, I had only needed to be myself to earn her affection and companionship. To earn a blue's acceptance.