I Became Part of the Dragon's Hoard

Birds chirped above. The autumn leaves on top of the stone structure looked peaceful. Bery's eyes looked towards the monument with a smile, shaking her head slowly.

"The real Kanai looked much more beautiful."

Valerie grinned, placing a hand on the kitten's shoulder. "This is usually how it is when mortals create monuments. The genuine thing is often much better."

Even though the stone statue in front of them looked incredibly old, it still looked maintained. None of nature could reclaim it, and it stood in its own clearing near a large cliff. The trees around were pruned, and much of the ground was cleared away.

"I always wondered who made…"

Bery started, but the voice of a startled man shook her from behind. "Shau'na?"

Both the voice and the name sent a shiver down Bery's spine. Goosebumps covered the skin of her arms, and she looked down towards the ground.

Valerie turned towards the man with a dangerous glint in her eye. "You...Don't come any closer if you want to live."

A fire lit red hot inside of the dragon. Warm steam came off her skin, and the air around her bubbled. A fireball ignited in her hand like a small gaseous sun.

Bery rushed to calm the dragon down, placing her hand on the dragon's forearm. Even when she's this angry, she still doesn't hurt me.

The place she touched was not any warmer than Bery's own body, and the warmth in the air seemed to deny the laws of nature. None of it served to harm the kitten in the slightest. A smile rushed to Bery's face, and she slid her hand down Valerie's arm.

By the time she reached the dragon's hand with her own, the inferno completely extinguished.

"Thank you," Bery whispered, "but I'm okay."

She turned, finally raising her eyes to the man. He looked much older now, wrinkles covering his aged skin, and the fur on his tail fading. But there was no denying it, the man in front of was Yehrmin. Her father.

"Shau'na?" He asked again, his face full of confusion. He looked at their interlocked hands and stared at the dragon with a tilt of his head.

Bery clutched the dragon's hand tightly, expecting her father would do something, but he didn't. He stood there with an empty gaze and a hand held in the air.

"Shau'na?"

Bery shook her head. "Shau'na is dead."

The man's old eyes opened wide for a moment, but then he nodded solemnly. "That's right, isn't it? Then who are you?"

Bery's heart pumped hard in her chest. It was like she'd been hit hard with a branch. Her stomach tightened into a knot. She wanted to hate him for everything he did. If she ever saw him again, she wanted to tell him how much he'd wounded her heart. The very person who was supposed to protect her left her to die on purpose, yet he couldn't even remember his own crime.

The old Kanai'n smiled. "You look a lot like Shau'na…"

Another of their clan came from the nearby trees. She appeared to be around the same age as him, and she grabbed his hand.

"Come, I told you…" The woman's gaze met Bery's, and she shook in disbelief. "How are you still…"

"Alive?" Valerie asked, her gaze hardening once more. "If you value life, you will take that old man with you."

The elderly woman looked towards Yehrmin before bowing deeply towards Valerie. "Come," she said towards Bery's father, "Shau'na is not here. Perhaps you will still find her in the village?"

Yehrmin nodded and turned away from the statue. "Shau'na is waiting for me." His voice trailed off into incoherent mumbling, and the two disappeared into the undergrowth.

Once they left, Bery looked towards her dragon. "Did you know?"

Valerie shook her head. "I promise, I did not know. The odds were high that we would run into your tribe, but I had no idea about this."

The kitten sighed and slumped against a nearby stone. "That's right. I am the one who said we could see this place."

"I'm so sorry," Valerie said, sitting next to her. The dragon looked genuinely distraught, staring at the ground. "I should not have brought us here."

Bery leaned her head against Valerie's shoulder and wrapped her tail around the dragon's. "It's okay. I am just so angry."

Valerie's eyes widened, and she stared down at her kitten's face. "You are?"

"I am. That guy went and forgot everything. He forgot my mother's death. He forgot about leaving me alone. Why wouldn't I be angry?" Bery asked, looking desperately into Valerie's eyes for confirmation. The kitten's eyes dripped onto her beautiful blue skirt, and she cried yet again.

The dragoness pulled Bery's head towards her chest and let the kitten sob.

"Why would he go and forget how he treated me like trash? I wanted him to suffer for what he did. I wanted him to live in the agony of his choice, but he took the easy way out and forgot all about me."

Valerie hugged Bery even tighter, allowing the kitten's shaky voice to continue.

"He forgot everything except for my mother. How could he do that? He didn't deserve someone like her."

Bery only had two vivid memories of her mother. One was her scent, smelling like a whole berry orchard. The other one was her mother's smile as she held Bery close. Those two precious things made it even more unbelievable. How could she love someone that would throw Bery away like trash? And how was it possible that he could still love Bery's mother?

The kitten's voice turned into heartbroken wails.

"I can kill him," Valerie's soft voice said. "I can kill all of them."

Bery's sobs stopped, and she looked up with puffy red eyes at her dragon's sincere face. The kitten placed both of her hands on Valerie's cheeks and shook her head.

"Don't. Just take me away from here."

Valerie nodded. She stood up and picked the kitten up in her arms. The dragon's wings sprouted, and she took off with a huge gust of wind. She flew them high in the sky before finding a hole in a nearby cliff. She landed at the entrance of the cave and held Bery close to her.

It took a while for Valerie's pets to calm the kitten down, but somehow, Bery ended up with her head resting on Valerie's thighs while she looked towards the vivid wilderness in front of her.

In the beautiful sunlight, Bery could clearly see trees of all colors down below. Blue stood out the most, but there were also tons of green trees and even a few red ones. Bery's eyes simply wandered over the landscape in front of her.

Valerie continued to pet the kitten's head and clear the hair from her face. For once, it seemed like Valerie was completely at a loss for words. She didn't look like she knew what to do at all. Her gaze remained fixed to Bery, but her eyes were uncertain.

Bery reached up and used her hand to massage Valerie's cheek. The kitten flipped onto her back to stare at up at the dragon's face.

"Your thighs are very comfortable."

Valerie grinned slightly and scratched behind Bery's ear. "Thank you, kitten."

"I really hate that man," Bery said with a soft voice.

"I know."

"I really despise him."

"I know," Valerie repeated.

But the kitten shook her head slightly. Yuri?

"Yes, administrator?"

But Bery couldn't say anything. Even her thoughts that had started like a raging torrent became like a still lake. The water didn't move. It hid the ugly parts beneath it, remaining steady on the surface.

"If this is a question of how you should feel, then I think what you feel is perfectly reasonable. As one who has watched humanoids for a while, I've come to understand that these things are completely irrational rationalities."

Bery nearly started chuckling. Somehow the fact that you continue to be as confusing as you are makes me feel calmer.

"I am glad I can be of service, administrator."

Bery sat up and kissed Valerie on the lips, sitting in her dragon's lap. She reached her hands up and started massaging the dragon's shoulders.

Valerie was startled at first, but she accepted the kitten's offering. She kissed Bery back, allowing the kitten to have the upper hand in their mingling of tongues.

Bery pulled away, taking a deep breath of her dragon. "Quit spacing out. We are supposed to be on a lover's journey and discover the world, remember?"

The dragon grinned. "I remember. I need to take my kitten to see all of the sights this world has to offer. I need to see you in every outfit possible along the way, so that my eyes can treasure you properly. All of this world shall be ours for our honeymoon, and then I will be able to see you in the most fabulous dress."

Bery's face took on a light shade of red, and she hugged Valerie. "And then I will say, I do."