When the girl awakens, she finds herself in a dirty, run down inn, on a straw mattress. The blankets on it smelled of mildew and the edges were moth bitten, but it was the best thing she'd seen in months, possibly even years. She sits up carefully, her body still sore. The man she'd saved was laying on the floor next to her, a blanket pulled up to his shoulders.
She slides a bare leg from under the blankets and pauses. She quickly yanks off the blanket to discover, to her own horror, she was mostly naked. She wore a large men's t-shirt and nothing else. She pulls the stiff blanket back over her body, trying to cover herself the best she could.
The man on the floor stirs and looks up at her. Fear jolts through the both of them. She jumps back so far, she falls off the bed. He jumps back so hard he slams the back of his head into the wall.
A moment passes and neither of them move. It was the man who moves first, standing and walking around the bed to see the girl curled up in the opposite corner. She looked like the same scared girl he saw in the cage back on the ship.
"My name's Kobe." He whispers gently, "What's yours?" He sits on the floor a good distance away, criss crossing his legs.
She was shaking, he realizes. Suddenly he feels ashamed. She was just like any other little girl. She was small, frightened, and who knows what else. He backs away from her a little bit more and tries again, "Thank you. Fer savin' me. I hope ya believe me when I say I won't hurt ya. Please, won't ya tell me your name?"
Still she says nothing. He sighs, leaning back and staring at the dirty, leaking ceiling. A bucket had been placed on the floor to catch the water that makes it through the roof. Unfortunately this ugly, rundown inn was all he could afford. It was almost the last of his money. He would have to find another way to-
"Rhaegala." She says, snapping him from his thoughts.
"What?" He asks, looking back at her.
She shrinks back, into the rotting wood of their room, but manages to say, "M-My name. It's... Rhaegala."
He pauses for a moment before saying, "That's a fine name." He forces a smile, "Good ta meet ya, Rhaegala. And I'm sorry." He bows his head ever so slightly toward her.
She stares at him, "What? Why?" She gasps. Her eyes snapping to the door, expecting soldiers or something.
"I treated ya horribly while on that boat. An' I said some things that… Weren't true." He says, head tilted down in shame.
She couldn't deny that he had said some insensitive things from time to time, but he was also the only one to show her any kind of compassion on that boat, or even the auction hall before that. She almost liked him. His black hair, falling in curls into his hunter green eyes. He was probably only a year or two older than her. He was the only one that felt human to her. The rest she would almost argue were demons of sort. She almost laughs, "I didn't see you as one of my tormentors, Kobe."
Surprise flashes on his face, "Ya don't hate me?"
Her face softens, most of the tension easing from her face, "No. No, I don't hate you. You were a light in the darkness. I'm still alive because of you. If I hadn't been fed, even just that little bit, I would have died. A dragon needs more nourishment than a normal person. I would not have been able to change into my dragon form without you. We both would have died."
He sighs with relief, "So ya wont eat me?"
They stare at each other for a long moment, before she begins gently laughing, "Y-You don't really believe I would eat you, do you?"
He smiles, and this time it reaches his eyes, "I wasn't sure fer a while. But I'm quite certain ya wouldn't now."
"Dragons don't eat people." She states. "I promise."
"Good ta know." He stands, and extends a hand to her. She hesitates, but takes it, hauling herself up. He gently grabs her by her shoulders and leads her to the edge of the bed. "Wait here. I'm gonna go getcha some food. I bet yer pretty hungry."
She says nothing, but nods. He flashes her a smile with surprisingly nice white teeth. He seemed to be from the middle of nowhere, with an accent she was quite certain came from the south. He had to be from the warmer areas, definitely somewhere to the south.
She finds herself dozing off on the hey mattress. Sure, it wasn't overly comfortable, but it was better than hard, wet floors that smelled of piss and mildew as a mattress and heavy chains as a pillow.
She glances down at her wrist still raw from the heavy weighted chains that once rubbed against her skin. While in human form, she was just as vulnerable as any other human girl. If she was in her dragon form, there would have been no way that those tiny little chains could have kept her there.
She had made the decision as soon as they locked the first chain around her wrist that she wouldn't change. Changing once confined is tricky. It was her own bones that formed her dragon form. If she had a chain around her wrist and still changed there was a possibility she could lose her hand during the transformation. Once they had placed her in a cage, it became even more difficult. There was a possibility she could get stuck in that cage, or something would grow around a bar, and she wouldn't be able to change back. There were so many uncertainties when changing into her dragon form.
If that wasn't enough, it took a huge amount of strain for a small girl of ninety pounds like Rhaegala to turn into monster weighing up to three tons. She was lucky she had been getting some sort of nutrition, or else she might not have made a full transition. And those are by far the worst thing ever. She probably only got through it in her panic and adrenaline.
The door opens and she's on her feet in seconds, swaying. It was Kobe, with a tray of grubby looking, red slop atop a steaming pile of white rice. Somehow it looked like the best thing she'd ever seen. He placed the tray on the bed and motions for her to come eat it.
She hesitates, but only for a moment before sitting down and shoveling spoonful after spoonful into her mouth. It was some sort of tomato sauce with chicken and spices that made her mouth burn.
It was the best meal she had ever had.
When she looks up, she realises Kobe was watching her. She pauses, than says, "Thank you. It was delicious."
He nearly chokes on air, "Yeah right, it was like eatin' the sun. It's so hot! I only ate the rice when I had it earlier."
She smiled, then giggles a little, "Try actually blowing fire from your mouth."
His eyes widen, "Dragons can actually do that?"
She shrinks back. It felt... wrong to talk about dragon stuff with someone other than a dragon. But she forces herself to shrug, "I mean, I have before when I was practicing. But, I haven't in a long time."
"Ya know, a lotta folks don't know anythin' 'bout dragons." He says, leaning back. He had sat on the bed while she finished what she was eating. There was no table in the small room. It was only one room, with a small walled off section for a bathroom.
"Ya know, a lotta dragons wanna keep it that way." She says in his accent. She flinches as soon as she realizes that she had mocked him. But, he laughs it off.
"I can respect that." He says. "How do ya feel now that you've eaten?"
She places a hand over her swollen belly.
She was full and it showed. She was too tiny to keep it hidden. "Full." She answers honestly.
He nods, "Glad t' hear it." He says with a smile. Than his face sobers, "Now that you're feelin' better, I think we have to make a decision. Everyone's lookin' for ya, Lass. Rumors of a dragon sighted offshore are spreadin' fast. I had two people ask me if I knew anythin' last night, comin' in. It's only a matter of time before someone sees ya for whatcha are. Those eyes of yours give ya away."
She nods, but says nothing, listening intently to what he was saying.
"I didn't wanna ditch ya after whatcha did fer me last night. Ya really saved my ass out there. So, I was gonna give ya two options. One is I could give you half the money I have left an' send ya on yer way. I don't 'ave much, but it should be enough to make it outta the port were ya are right now. It won't get ya a horse, mind ya, but it will getcha some food an' maybe some clothes."
Her eyes flicker to his coin purse. He was right, it sure didn't look plump. It looked sad. Pathetic even.
"Or option number two is ya travel south with me. I'll getcha some actual clothes and some food fer the both of us an' we head south until we decide to separate IF we decide to separate."
He waits patiently for her to make up her mind. She purses her lips, thinking. Part of her still didn't trust him. She wanted to run away, and go to the northern mountains where her dragons come from. But, there was nothing left for her there now. During the raid her mother was caught and her father had been killed. She knew nothing of any other family member. She had nowhere to go and no one to see. She was alone.
With a small, hopeful smile she says, "I guess I'll travel south with you for now."
He nods, "Either way I got a bad feelin' 'bout stayin' 'ere. Too many people are talkin' 'bout the dragon who sank a transport vessel an' terrorized a cruise ship."
Her jaw drops as she purses her lips almost as if she were pouting, "I didn't sink your ship!" She blurts.
He laughs lightly, "Well I know that. They don't." She points to nowhere in particular behind himself with his thumb.
She looks to the floor sadly, "Why do people say such things about us?"
Without even pausing he says, "Fear." She flinches and looks at him, waiting for him to continue. He sighs, looking guilty, "Sorry. Humans fear things they don't understand, Lass. Things they can't use. Yer bigger than us. Stronger than us. Faster. You can use magic without any of the repercussions. Compared to us, you're practically invincible."
"And yet it was your kind that started the hunting us. For glory." She spits out showing real anger for the first time. Looking into her gold eyes he sees it. For the first time since the ship, he feared her. For real. Her power showed in her eyes, glowing with an intensity that sent a shock of fear down his spine. But, that anger and power were only there for a moment. When she blinks the raging pools of power were reduced to simple golden eyes again. Ones wet with emotion, with tears threatening to run down her face.
Swallowing hard he says, "Yeah. Humans aren't always the kindest of beings." and he meant it. He had seen their cruelness directed at his little brother multiple times simply for being different.