"Ouch," you hissed, rising a bucket full of water and clothing. With every stretch your muscules screamed in pain. You wasn't able to see your back, but the constant pain asssured you that you were covered in bruises.

You started to hang clean clothing on the strings in the palace backyard, when you heard a noise. You turned around, shadowing your eyes from merciless sun, that burned your arms. The clothing you hung earlier, stayed unswayed till somebody decided it was an amazing idea to run through them.

With a laugh, two girls appeared. One you knew; it was the girl called Princess Mana; and the other you didn't recognize. You siged and turned back to your work, the earlier you finish, the sooner you'd be able to hide from the sun.

"Hello!" the girl called out. "Hi!"

You blinked and turned around; the princess was waving at you. You looked away and tensed.

"Hey, what's your name?" she stood beside you. "You were serving me breakfast past few days, right? I didn't catch your name."

You clenched your teeth. She was doing this all the time; talking, asking, smiling.

"So?"

"______," you mumbled, and bowed the way Aguhie taught you.

"What a pretty name! And sounds so foreign!" she clapped her hands. "Pray tell, where are you from?"

You pursed your lips, and stole a glance at the girl. She was beaming at you, with a curious sparkle in her dark eyes. The clothing waited for you in the basket, and you weren't she sure if this idleness will be good for you. But you could appreciate a little relax it provided to your back.

"Daksina Lands," you replied minutes later.

"Ooh! In the south, right?" she jumped with excitement. "I heard it's really cold out there."

She looked at you, as if waiting for a reply. You nodded. You didn't think it was really cold there, but for people of this land it could be.

"Princess, let's go," the girl you earlier ignored, whined and tugged on the girls hand. She was dressed almost as extravagant as Mana, but surely looked more tidy. She glanced at you with distaste. Actually, you agreed with her on one point, the princess should go. "Don't talk to her, she's just a servant."

"Oh, don't be rude, Nousha," Mana scolded.

The girl scoffed and turned away. Why has your presence annoyed her so much? People of Moratu Kingdom was so wierd, the old bowed to youngsters, women to men. They lived within blocks of stone, so suffocating and small, where the wind brings only a dust and sand, blinding their eyes. No real trees; no pines that would bring a homely smell; just a fruitless branches of a dry wood used to make fire. It was a different world where you were punished for seeking freedom, where you were scolded for forgetting to bow to a girl younger than you.

"There you are princess," a voice cut in. Tall, and well built man in his forties appeared beside Mana with a bow. "It's time for your archery lessons."

"Oh, right I forgot!" she took the bow in her hands and hugged it close as to not let it fall down. What a peculiar way of holding a bow, you cocked your head. "Are you coming, Nousha?"

"Yes, princess!"

You took it as a sign to get back work. The sweat already was dropping from your forehead, and you truly had enough if this sun for today. You wished you could hide within palace magazines, where you'd be able to cool off. Too hot. Way too hot.

"_____ would you like to come with us? " the princess called. "I want to hear more about Daksina Lands!"

You blinked. Was she serious? From the look from her eyes it seemed so.

"Uh, no," you said. After a little thought you added, "your ...um, Highness."

Mana pursed her lips.

The archery teacher looked at you with a smile, but his voice was sharp. "It would be a great offence if you decline Her Highness' invitation."

This sharp voice reminded you of the beating you got when last time you went against rules of this foreign world. As if on que, a shudder went through your spine. You nodded your head and lifted the basket.

"Yay!"

The princess chatted with you all way to the training grounds. At some point, the basket was taken from you, and now you just walked, your arms crossed.

You were glad, that you were to stand under some kind of roof over your head, as the heat was getting unbearable. Though anyone else didn't have as much problem as you.

The Princess shot her first arrow to the target made of straw, and as you predicted, she missed. Her position was not entirely wrong, but still not good to be precise. To your surprise people around clapped their hands, and said their congratulations. When you missed your target, your father would correct you and make you shoot as many arrows till you did things right.

Mana pouted, and the next three arrows went even further from the center. Nonetheless, people cheered. You looked towards her teacher, just to see his unnerving smile. You looked away before he could catch your stare.
After this little presentation, the grounds started to clear, and you were close to sneak away if not for the teacher clamping his hand on your shoulder.

With your lips tightly closed you sat down by Nousha on the pillows. Mana's lesson continued, and you had nothing else to do, than to play with your talisman.

It was around six days since you were beaten. Perhaps less, perhaps more. It was hard to keep the count, when the days were almost the same. Usually you liked routine, your routine – at your home, in your village. Here, you slowly were falling into domestication, and it somehow made you restless. It was not your home, you shouldn't get used to it. No. But somehow, you were. Slowly you found out, you could recognize most of the faces around, even without giving them the name. Foreing land was slowly becoming familiar in its foreigness.

Small shudder creeped on your back, as you took a deep breath. Six days, since you came back from the cells. Your hand clasped around the bracelet that was chained to your wirst.

You rubbed the feathers on your talisman. Once from a raven, one from an owl. And what did it bring you? Nothing. Were gods above angry at you? Were they punishing you for helping a dragon? A being despised within the people? You didn't know, not even from where such thoughts came from. And what was Ryo doing? Minus the evenings you didn't see him at all, and even then you didn't talk.

Was he your friend? At some point you considered him as such. A companion, only familiar soul within mass of strangers. But he was a stranger too. Afterall, what you knew about him? Again, nothing. You were alone. And for the first time in your life, you felt lonely.

"Ugh, why can't I shoot just right?" the princess sat down, with a huff.

"Because your footwork is wrong," you said. Only a second later, when you felt stares on you, you realized you said that out loud. You gulped.

"Really!?" Mana jumped. "Teacher, why didn't you tell me?!"

The teacher looked perplexed for a second, and then smiled once again.

"Huuh? What a servant girl could know about archery?" Nousha piped in and send you a glare. You tried to make yourself smaller. Suddenly she smirked and gave you her bow. "Go, show us your amazing footwork then."

You remembered your first hunt, and a doe that looked at you, knowing it's fate. You were sure you looked just the same. You looked at the princess, wishing she would just say no. But she smiled to you and nodded.

"Yes, please show me how to shoot correctly," she smiled. "I heard people of Daksina Lands are good with a bow, right master?"

"Well, that's correct, Princess," he shot you a smile. Out of the three smiles you were offered, his was definitely malicious, unlike Mana's naïve one. "Please, show us."

You felt their eyes on you, as you moved with stiff movements towards the targets. You picked up an arrow and took a deep breath to calm yourself down. You imagined your father beside you, with his gentle smile, telling you to relax your muscles. You imagined frost biting your fingers as you stretched the string. You imagined the calm forest around you, as you let the arrow go. And instead of the straw target, you saw a rabbit. And that was it, just in the center.

"Whoa!" the Princess shouted, and your concentration crumbled to dust, as you once again stood with your head down. She run up to you, "That was amazing, ______!"

You didn't dare to look up at the teacher or Nousha's face. You didn't want to see them.

"That's... surprising," the teacher said carefully. You glanced at his astonished face.

Princess stood beside you, trying to recreate the pose you did, with concentration on her face. You gulped.

"A little bit to the left," you mumbled.

"Like this?"

You nodded. She stretched the string.

"Princess, that's not necessary for you to learn from a savage," the teacher said.

"Shhh!"

You helped her with positioning her arms, straightened her back and when the next arrow was let go, it hit much more closer to the center, than any of her arrows.

She looked at it overwhelmed, and then laughed in glee. It was a good shoot, you decided. You felt glares on your back. You didn't understand; when she was missing the target they celebrated, when she did good, they were unhappy. What a weird people.

And that's how you were asked to help the Princess with archery. You, a servant girl. You sat down with princess and her friend, that kept shooting you glares. Mana kept talking, and at some point you started to ignore her. It was easy, she wouldn't even wait for a reply, but kept going on.

"...and you know, I went to feed the dragon the other day, and she almost bit of my hand!"

"No way!" Nousha gasped.

You perked up.

"A dragon?" you asked, bringing attention to yourself.

"Yes," Mana smiled. "We have three in the crypts, didn't you know?"

You shook your head. It sounded like they owned them, like pets. Unbelivable.

"Would you like to see them?" Mana stood up, ready to go. "It's soon their dinner time, so we can go, right master?"

The man nodded his head. Striked with sudden interest you followed the princess. She led you through the corridors, still talking.

"How come, you caught the dragons?" you asked.

"Hm," she hummed, "they were here before I was born. Teacher, do you know?"

The man coughed and straightened.

"One hundered years ago, it was belived that the dragons were thinking creatures," he started. "Many could even take a human form. They possessed magic, and were the most prideful of all magic creatures."

You nodded in interest. You didn't know much about dragons anyway.

"But at some point they lost this knowledge and became the beasts, at least within our Kingdom. Now they are just animals, wild and savage. In Westenra, I've heard there are still living and thinking dragons. But that's probably just a prattle."

He nodded to himself.

"What would you do if there were thinking dragons?" you asked, your tone flat.

He looked over you, in his monologue he seemed to forget that he was supposed to despise you because you were just a servant.

"That would be amazing experiment!" he exclaimed. "To think they would exist. Surely, I wouldn't let them go out of my sight!" he suddenly sighed, "but to find a blue blooded one, the real, free thinking dragon... That's a pipe dream."

You felt your throat drying, and you didn't want to ask any more questions. You stepped down the stone stairs, while the teacher rised a torch. Your shadows danced on the walls, and instead of a dread of going down, you somehow felt calmness sweeping over you. The teacher lighted torches at the very bottom of the crypts, and your gaze met shining eyes of the beasts. Gold, red, green. Three pairs of orbs turned to your group, and you heard sound of the rattling chains.

In the light of the fire, the steel shone with a malicious gleam, the echo made the sound five times more overwhelming. You didn't dare to take any more steps. While you stood frozen, a few other servants that went with you took out fresh meat. The dragon's gazes turned to it, and growls echoed in the crypts.

Their eyes, you seen them before. Glowing, seething with rage. Just like Ryo's when he was weak and wounded. Eyes of the beasts. You walked a few steps towards the bars. You almost touched the steel, when the golden-eyed dragon jumped at you. He was stopped by the chains, but his ager filled howl echoed in the crypts.

You saw how they jumped to the meat, and with a few loud growls, it was gone. You turned around. It was scary, how they turned into a wild animals, just like the teacher said. Their freedom was taken away from them, and now all they could do was to growl and glare behind steel bars. It was... sad.

You ignored the rest of feeding session, wishing you could just get away from here. A half an hour later it came to an end, and your hurling stomach calmed down. You were free, you were out of the crypts, and when again on the surface you took a breath of relief.

At some point you were released to your duties, and this time the scolding from Jaharis went deaf in your ears, as you couldn't shut out the images you witnessed. And the teacher's words still echoed in your mind.

In the evening, you took all of your belongings and without a word you laid down beside Ryo. Even in his sleep, he had a frown on his face. You were quiet, but somehow he woke up and focused his eyes on you.

You stared back at him, reminded of his almost white eyes when you saw him for the first time.

"Ryo," you whispered, so quietly, you weren't sure he heard you. "You're in danger."

"What happened?" he asked, turning his body to face you.

"I saw dragons," you replied, clutching hard at the dirty blanket. "You can't let them catch you."

The silence stretched for far too long. Ryo shook off his covers and sat up. No, you thought, don't ask me this.

"Show me," he said.

"I can't. I don't have the key to the crypts."

He frowned at you. You weren't this brave to look for the key, you didn't even know where to look for it.

***

You woke up next morning. You didn't even know when you fell asleep. You guessed it was somewhere around the time Ryo went quiet about the key. You took a deep breath, your head hurt as you tried to open your eyes. You felt cold.

It was early,; the sun was just peaking into the room, and in hour or so everyone would be waking up. You looked to your left, just to find Ryo's bedding empty.

You sat up, regretting it immiedately, as your stomach made a flip. You looked around the room, just to find snoring women and men, but no blue-haired dragon in sight. Goddamn him, you cursed as you stood up, leaning a bit onto the wall. He went to the crypts. Goddamn you, telling him about it all. How could you know he would just go and search for the crypts? But still.

You wiped off the sweat of your forehead, and set off in the direction of the crypts. Your head was splitting, and you knew you weren't walking straight. Just like a drunkard.

You saw him before the bolt to the crypts.

"Ryo!" you half-hissed, half-shouted. He glanced at you.

"What are you doing here?"

"Right back at you. Are you crazy?" he stumbled towards him. "Last time we tried to do something against the rules, we got beaten. You want that again?"

He glared again, his eyes, a little bit brighter. But maybe it was just your imagination. You took a deep breath, rubbing your arms. It was cold. Weird.

"So you are set on staying here?" he hissed at you.

"Of course not!" you replied a little louder than you intended. You trembled without control. "But what can I do?"

He frowned even more and clenched his hands on the bolt. You put your hands on his and glared back at him.

"I won't stay here and do nothing," he said and pushed back your hands.

"It will only get you killed!" you raised your voice. "If they know what you are, they won't let you go."

"That doesn't concern you. You should go back to sleep," he hissed.

You stumbled back. The headache was unbearable, your body shook as the cold sweat dropped from your forehead. Your eyes were slowly loosing focus, dizziness made the corridor spin.

"_____?" a new voice cut in. Through the mist within your eyes you saw brown haired girl waling up to you. "Who are you?"

You cradled yourself in your arms, trying to stop trembling. You recognized that person, it was the princess.

You felt the reality fading away as you were slowly falling down, and just before everything faded to black, you saw white eyes.

"Please..." you mumbled.

***

You were drowning. The eight years old you saw the fading light as the oxygen was running out. The bubbles were surrounding you, as you tried to scream for help. You kicked and tried to swim, but you couldn't. Your vision was clouding, when you felt something under you, pushing you upwards. You were thrown on the ice, coughing and shivering.

You looked back, and saw blue eyes of a beast you never seen before. It was staring at you intently, blue scales glowing in morning sun.

"Guh..." you coughed. ''Thank you."

The creature blinked. It's muzzle came closer to you, and you could feel it's icy breath on your red cheeks.

And then it happened.

As if something within you stretched, and then broke, shattered in billion pieces, leaving you breathless. It did it. It took away something. Something you couldn't name. Something important, which after a minute you forgot that existed.

And it all faded to black.

***
You felt a sour taste in your mouth. Famialiar. You couldn't quite put a finger where, or when, you tasted it, but you knew you did.

"Swallow it," a voice ordered you. It was soft, and smooth and after a second or so you obliged. After a gulp more of your senses slowly woke up. You felt something dropping on your swollen lips, to your mouth, a few drops trickling down your jaw and throat. "Once again, _____."

You gulped down again. You felt a hand on your forehead. And then you felt just how much you were feverish, when cold hand made a contact with your cheek. It was a chill that you welcomed. You coughed, but then again swallowed the sour liquid.

Was it your mother taking care of you? Your father?

No, you thought with tears prickling at the corners of your eyes. They couldn't be here. They were gone. You opened your eyes. It hurt, but you did nonetheless. You met the gaze you knew. This time blue. Midnight blue. Not white. No longer a beast.

"You have a fever," he said quietly and you had to focus to understand. "You should rest."

You tried say something, but in the end you settled on simple nod. You watched as he drew his hand back and covered his wrist with a bandage. Ah, now you understood.

Where were you? The mattress were too soft to be your own bedding. It smelled a little bit too nice to be servants room.

But you couldn't finish your thoughts as you fell asleep again, this time a little bit more calm and relaxed.

~~***~~
Hey guys! Did you miss me? I certainly did miss writing! But the writer's block is still unforgiving as ever I guess.
Anyway, yesterday I was trying some more of a realistic painting and decided to draw my dear reader of this story.

I have mixed feelings about this, but I wanted to share it anyway XD

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^^