The two humans sat in silence for several moments before Xan spoke up again, "I'm sorry," he apologized, "for attacking you, I mean." He sighs, "If we get out of here, I will help you get a proper weapon. And I have thought about it, and I will be glad to help you. Your cause is far more noble and righteous than anything else I have ever done. Irin was right when he told me that someone has to try, because if no one does, then who will?" He weakly laughed to himself, "and you definitely need my help if we get out of here since you have no idea what is on this side of the wasteland."

Celia paused, then remembered Verbena and her optimistic personality, and imagined what she would say if she was here. "When," Celia stated her correction and a small smile spread across her face, "when we get out of here."

"When," Xan agreed, and Celia sensed the same small grin form across his face. "When," he repeated softly.

Celia remembered Verbena, and all the time they had spent together, even if it was mostly traveling. They had spent all of that time together, and now Celia felt as if she had lost something. Celia would not even mind a cold, snow-covered nuzzle against her bare skin if it came from Verbena. She lifted her head and looked into the rest of the room behind her and imagined her friend there, with her.

Suddenly, a Verbena appeared exactly where Celia imagined her to be in the opposite corner of the room.

At first, neither one of them moved, but after they recovered from their initial surprise, Celia ran over to her friend and grabbed her frosted neck in an embrace. Celia felt relieved tears well up in her eyes.

Verbena happily used her wings to pull her favorite human closer to her now-melting snow-armored fur and nuzzled Celia's cloth-covered face as she purred. 'I scared and worried for you!'

Celia softly laughed a bit, then sighed in relief as many of her worries melted. "I am so glad you are here." She breathed.

"Thanks, Celia," Xan replied from the other side of the wall in a soft, grateful tone of voice, "I'm really glad you're here too. This would be so much worse without another human to talk with so I stay sane. For some reason, I cannot talk to Irin anymore and I feel empty because of it."

Celia blinked, then became a bit embarrassed, "Xan, as much as I also appreciate your company, Verbena is here too now."

"Wh—" Xan's voice froze for a few moments. "How exactly did she get here?! We specifically left her behind with Irin!" His voice cracked slightly in his jealousy of Celia's new situation.

Celia paused and looked up to Verbena as she thought about the answer to the question. At first, she struggled to find an answer as she broke the hug with her friend, but then realized something as her hand brushed against the dragonet's harness. "The returning ribbon!" She exclaimed and mentally facepalmed, then laughed to herself. "the returning ribbon brings lost things with the ribbon tied around it back to you. That is how she was brought here. I repaired the harness with the ribbon, then accidentally figured out how to use it since I never read the instructions."

"Returning ribbon?" Xan sounded skeptical, but then sighed in defeat and acceptance of the given explanation, "sometimes, magic even perplexes me, and I can use it!" He laughed in nervous acknowledgment of his lack of magical skill, then sighed again with a soft groan added to the mix.

"Maybe the Ulven will free us if they realize we are friends with dragons. I've heard rumors that they are more in tune with the balance of nature. At least, that idea makes me feel better than the alternative," Xan paused. "Brrrr," he shivered at the thought of exactly what that alternative detailed.

Celia frowned as she nodded, even though Xan could not see her. "So," she hesitated, "we just wait until someone eventually comes to get us and do whatever they plan to do with us?"

"Yes," Xan sighed, then drifted into silence. However, he spoke again after a few more moments, "When they come for us, do not resist. Hopefully, they will be nicer to us if we are nice and easy for them to deal with."

"That seems like a good plan," Celia agreed, as she did not have any ideas herself. She had never been in a situation like this before.

"For now, we should probably be silent in case the guards hear us when they approach," Xan suggested. "I'm worried the Ulven will think we were scheming or something. It seems like they have some sort of prejudice against us. They attacked us without any kind of warning."

Verbena looked to Celia, 'Why are we in a room with a metal curtain with holes?' She moved and sniffed the bars and chains, then became wary and crinkled her nose. 'I no like how the curtain smells. It is strange and I no like.' She snorted and crinkled her nose at the offensive structures.

Celia opened her mouth to speak, then decided to follow Xan's idea and not confuse him again, so she closed her mouth and used her mindlink. 'The chains are magic, she explained, 'and I don't believe your fire could damage the bars and chain, so don't waste your fire breath.'

Verbena wanted to argue, but she knew her fire-breathing abilities remained extremely limited until her fire sacs fully matured. 'Waiting boring,' Verbena snorted as she laid down in one of the back corners of the small room.

'I know,' Celia nodded in agreement and sat down near Verbena, 'but hopefully, we will not have to wait too long.'

As much as Celia wanted to comfortably rest under the dragonet's wing, she also recognized the dangers of getting her clothing wet from the melting snow that made Verbena's armor and camouflage.

Despite the water-resistant nature of her clothes, it was still possible for water to seep through with prolonged contact with the liquid form of water. If her clothes became damp beyond the outer layer, it would be a long time before they were dry again, and the ice frozen in her sleeve would be fewer layers between her and the cold. Also, a dragon's waterproof second layer of their multiple layered fur encouraged the melting snow to slide off and the remaining water much faster than the similar process that occurred on Celia's clothes.

To punctuate the point, Verbena briefly shook herself to slough off a bit of the loosened snow, then rested her head next to where Celia sat.

Celia smiled a bit, then removed the protective gear covering her face and ungloved her hands. After she set the gear aside, the human reached out and stroked the green dragonet's wet head. Eventually, her hand became cold so she retracted it, but Verbena understood and did not whine or complain.

After an even longer amount of time, footsteps became audible from farther down the tunnel. Every ear in the cells listened as the resonating rhythmic sounds as they approached. Multiple people created the light footsteps, but the footsteps stopped short of reaching Celia's cell.

"Uh!" Xan exclaimed in surprise as Celia heard the sound of a cell door swing open. "There's not a n—need for the chains," his voice cracks in his nervousness, "I'll go willingly, I do not want any trouble—Owp!" He yelps in pain and footsteps began to walk away, the unified clatter of the guards' footsteps interrupted by the pitter-patter of Xan's unsynchronized steps.

After the first few steps, someone paused, "alt," the voice says, "I need to check the other human's cell. I believe I saw something unusual," the steps stopped. One of the members of the Ulven guards who had arrived to retrieve Xan appeared in Celia's view from around the corner.

Upon his arrival into view, Verbena calmly lifted her head and studied the muscular armored guard. He wore the same clothing and armor as the other guards, and Celia struggled to notice a distinguishing feature, but to her, all of the Ulven she had encountered appeared almost identical to her mind.

All of them had dark brown hair, and their faces were extremely similar in shape. All of them had an intimidating height and muscles to back up their rough and stoic demeanor. Perhaps under their masks, Celia would see more identifying features, but the limited horizontal slits of their helmets hindered such sight.

The man became transfixed by the dragonet's purple-eyed gaze for a few brief moments, then after a few long moments, blinked and broke the stare. His face contorted to a hateful glare once he shifted his focus on Celia as he turned away from Celia's cell. Once he tore his focus away from Verbena, he returned to the rest of the Ulven guard out of Celia's sight.

Celia blinked and looked up to Verbena, who was still staring at where the guard had vanished around the corner. 'Verbena?' Celia reached up and gently stroked the dragonet's neck to regain her attention, 'are you okay?' The human girl was grateful that the young dragon's fur finally dried, at last, most of the way.

The green female blinked and looked to Celia, then nuzzled the human, 'I'm fine,' she assures, 'but that creature was strange. He smells different, even more so than Xan.' She attempted to find a way to better explain, but struggled and eventually gave up trying to explain with words.

Celia attempted to draw on Verbena's sense of smell but found herself unable to smell anything other than a stronger version of the same moist environment she could usually smell with her human nose. She also could not smell the chains that Verbena also said smelled odd. Celia blinked but decided not to ask about it further.

'I guess we wait until the guards return for us,' Celia crawled towards Verbena and positioned herself so she could lean against her draconic friend, which was much more comfortable than leaning against the wall. She rested against Verbena's side as the green dragonet curled around her.

For a while, the minimal sound other than the breathing of the two lifeforms reached Celia's ears, and eventually, the piece of an underground environment and the company of her best friend began to set in and overcome the panic of the unfamiliar land that surrounded her.

Celia had no idea how long she had slept when she was suddenly awoken by the patterned clang of brass boots of the Ulven guards as they marched down the hallway. After a pause, Celia noticed the greater volume of the clatter compared to the previous appearance of the procession.

She heard a large object verbally wince in pain as it thrown into the cell next to her, but the footsteps continued. Soon, ten armored and masked guards appear in Celia's view. As the door is open, the magic chains are once again cast and bind Celia, though Verbena is unaffected and remains free.

When she saw the treatment of her friend, Verbena roared in anger at the Ulven's act of chaining Celia and leaped to her feet as she used a wing to pull the human close and to shield her from the advancing Ulven.

Celia heard Verbena growl from under the muffling effects of the dragonet's wing. Verbena snapped at the Ulven to protect her rider. After a few moments, Celia felt the dragonet begin struggle furiously as if something had grabbed her head.

Suddenly, something gripped Celia's foot and pulled her off her feet and out of the cell. She exclaimed out in pain as her but hit the ground, but thankfully, her head hit Verbena's side before it hit the ground, which lessened the impact and the pain that resulted from hitting her head on the ground.

Once the guards successfully removed Celia, the guard holding Verbena's muzzle shut shoved the dragonet's head away from him as he released her. The motion slightly disoriented the dragonet, but did not harm her.

While Verbena recovered and refocused, the guard dove out of the cell and another masked guard quickly closed the door. Once he escaped to safety, another guard locked  the cell door with a new magic chain.

Verbena growled and put her weight against the metal rods in an attempt to force the cell open, but the chain and the hinges held fast. She paced in the small cell, and never took her eyes away from the guards, even as a bag was dumped over Celia's head and she was forcefully lead away.

Author Notes!

Sorry about the later update today! I had an exam this morning and that took up a lot of my time!
See you next week!