Much time had passed since the escape from the tower of Lady Penok, Rinra, and Penra. Tren hardly knew why he separated the three. They were, after all, the same person. In the passage of time, Tren and Delinet (whom Tren occaisionally wound up calling simply 'Del') crossed the forested mountains. They had treked through the woods in about a week, and by the time they reached the tops of the mountains, another week had come and gone.
Tren had explained to Delinet everything that happened to him from as far back as he could remember, for she had asked. She wanted to be caught up entirely with her bondmate's life, never once leaving anything to chance that she could have missed something. So in the two weeks that they spent climbing the mountains, Tren told her his life story.
He explained to her his earliest days that he could remember, as well as some days that his owners had told to him, though he could never be certain of the truth in their statements. He explained to her how he knew Marian instinctively, for he could not remember being taught it. He learned basic, Weldoxian, and a few other snippits, too, for it did him well to know such languages. When his first owners bored of him, he was sold to another at a high price, and he was treated well.
Such things such as slave-dealing were commonplace, and Tren underwent various not-so-entertaining practices. He wouldn't go into them, but he explained to Delinet that, when she became a bit more worldly, perhaps she would understand why it was that he greatly disliked beds, especially canopied beds.
Then he got to explaining Sandrylene again and how she freed him of his servitude. And by the end of it all, Tren was just begining to notice the little tufts of feathers growing on Delinet's back and her lengthening. She was growing, and not in the spontaneous way that Clarinet had seemed to be doing. Then again, he could have been wrong, and Clarinet could have, very easilly, been growing slowly after all. She really hadn't had much to do besides lengthen.
Still, the tufts of feathers on Delinet's body are more than definitely a sign of growth. Tren had read the books in the library in his room in Penok's tower that her coloration made her a mirror dragon, and she was rapidly approaching the teen stage. But what could she be? A serpent type?
It made sense. They were the only type he remembered seeing with feathers of any type. Somehow, though, he doubted it. They would find out soon enough.
Now, Delinet and Tren have rested at the top of one mountain for a couple of days. Below them is a steep incline followed by a sudden drop-off. He can hear the crashing of the ocean far below, and he yearns to be a part of it again. All this land stuff is really starting to get grating on him. Even as a slave he was kept near seaports and bays, so he was always near water.
He wants to open his gills and take a nice, deep washing of water. But he can't. Curse fate. Curse the gods.
He and Delinet had agreed on travelling down the other side of the mountain that morning. Now, with the sun barely cresting the horizon, Tren is awake, waiting for Delinet to rouse her dreamy self from sleep. He waits a long time.
*Why didn't you wake me!* Delinet demands as she surveys the terrain from Tren's shoulders. *I wouldn't have been too difficult to rouse!*
"I know better than to try to force a woman to wake up," Tren remarks as he descends. He picks his footing carefully, trying hard not to slip and fall.
*I'm not a woman!* Delinet protests.
"Oh no?"
*No. I'm a dragon. Get it right, Tren!*
Tren rolls his eyes. "Yes, your highness," he mutters.
*Don't adopt that tone with me! I'm kidding! Sheesh! Can't you take a joke?*
"You're being very demanding today, you know."
*And you're being more brick-ish than usual, you know.*
"I'll take that as a compliment, though I'm not sure just how to twist it to do so."
Delinet giggles. *Silly Tren! I don't think you have it in you to take a joke let alone a compliment!*
"I resent that."
*And well you should.*
"You're not a very nice dragon, are you?"
Delinet blinks and rests her head on top of Tren's. *Have I ever been?*
"Well, usually, yes."
Delinet lets the conversation lapse for a bit before sighing. *Where are we going?*
"I haven't got a clue."
*Wha-a-a-a-a-a-t!?*
"You heard me. I haven't a clue as to where we're going."
Delinet's voice drops to a conspiratory monotone. *You're the worst navigator in the world, I would imagine.*
"I never was too good with maps, and given that I've not a clue as to where we are, yes, I should imagine also."
Delinet lets it drop at that, and they continue to travel down the mountain's shale face until they reach a place of relative stability. There, they remain and eat lunch. Lunch is a nice sampling of roots, berries, and rodents that they had gathered while they were scaling up the mountain's face. Afterwards, they relax a little, and Tren hopes to find an equally stable place to stay come sunset. He does not want to have to pick his way around the loose stones in the dark.
*We're going again?* Delinet inquires, her tone more demanding than less.
"Yes, we're going again," Tren retorts, mimicking her tone almost perfectly for the last word. "Stop whining and let's get going. I want to find somewhere relatively safe for us to remain come nightfall."
Delinet sighs and Tren picks her up. She almost immediately slithers out of his grip and onto his shoulders again. She supervises their goings with her vaguely imperial carraige atop his torso. *Do be careful, there!* and *Watch your step!* are commonplace tellings to Tren.
Tren, for the most part, ignores her. Finally, the sun begins to set. As the hazy red orb sinks low on the horizon, the two finally find a safe enough ledge on which to sleep for the evening. Again sampling the local cuisine via berries, roots, smallish critters, and similar delicacies, dinner is passed quietly enough. Then, in the encroaching darkness, Tren and Delinet fall to a sleep.
Delinet opens her eyes blearilly as she hears some scuffling on the rocks around them. They are very near the edge of the cliff, and she sees Tren negotiating the terrain without her. He does not bother to hazard a glance over his shoulder before he swan-dives off the cliff into the sea below.
Delinet suddenly jolts fully awake, and her eyes widen significantly. She slips down the loose rocks and skids to a halt at the edge. *TREN!* she screams, watching the figure of her bondmate plummet into the waves.
Delinet begins to curse creatively. *That's salt water, Tren!* she exclaims. She watches as Tren splashes down into the ocean's waves.
A sudden realization crests her consciousness: She can't survive without Tren. Without him, she won't know what fruits are poision, which animals are dangerous, where to go to get fresh water, or anything else. She immediately regrets all the barbs she sent his way the previous days, and she hardens her resolve.
She has made her decision, and she catapults herself off the cliff in an equally stunning swan-dive. A brilliant glow surrounds her as she falls, and she achieves feeling in the tufts of feathers that had been her wings. Now, though, she finds herself quite able to adjust her flight path with a simple twist of her wings. Now is not the time to experiment, however.
She takes a deep breath and clenches her eyes shut as she hits the water. The sea swallows her up, and she brushes against all sorts of things. What if those are the body parts of Tren? Panicking, her eyes snap open, and she gasps as she sees that what she had been brushing against is, indeed, a man of long, blonde hair. The air leaves her lungs, and she panics more.
She's lost her air. She doesn't know which way is up in this insanely gray morning. She doesn't know who this man is, but it isn't Tren. She doesn't know what's going on, nor why she just feels compelled to take a deep breath of water.
She starts to panic. *Tren?* she projects, filling the local area with the thought. *Tren? Where are you? What happened? Tren, I'm lost, and I'm scared, and I'm worried, and I don't want to die!!* she sobs.
Flashes of pain and panic also flood her mind, but they aren't hers in origin. She knows the taint of the creator; Tren's in danger. She forces her panic to subside and relaxes, subconsciously taking a deep breath of the water.
To her amazement, she doesn't die. Instead, her body begins to filter it like air. A bit more confused, but also much more relaxed, she concentrates on finding her way up and out of the ocean. The water is icy cold, and staring at the drowned man before her is getting a bit unnerving.
As the sun rises a bit higher, the area to her right becomes a bit lighter, and she deems this to be the way to the sky. She reorients herself and flaps her wings and propells herself out of the water. She expells the water from her lungs with a rather ungainly snort and takes a deep breath of the air. The water drips off her smooth body and she flaps her wings again, showering the sea with droplets that had become lodged between her feathers.
Her wingtips kiss the surface as she flaps them, propelling herself onward to search for Tren. She glances around frantically, training her eyes not only on the surface, but also in the depths of the water. She finds him soon enough, however, as his head explodes from the water near the breakers. He whips his head around to flick the blonde mass of hair out of his face, but a few globs still stick to his face. He cradles a mass near him, and he starts trying to make his way out of the shallows and onto dry land.
Delinet speeds through the air after them just in time for her to hear Tren whispering to the mass, which turns out to be a small girl with hair the hue of the sea around them. Her face is pale, almost blue-white, and Tren hooks her limp arms around his neck. "Hold on, little one," he whispers, dragging his decaying body through the water.
He stumbles to the shore, and he drags himself and the little girl away from the water. There, despite his obvious pain, he begins resusitation efforts, pumping her chest and breathing air into her lungs. Color eventually begins to return to her face, and she coughs lightly as Delinet touches down lightly beside them both.
*Tren?* Delinet asks.
"She's okay," he breathes.
*Are you absolutely insane!? You could have killed yourself! You could have left me to die!*
Tren says nothing. He merely brushes the dark gray-green hair of the girl out of her face. Her eyelids flutter open, revealing eyes the color of the crests of waves, startling, pure white. She stares at Tren for a long time before finally screaming.
Delinet cringes at the noise. She backs away from the noisy child and rustles her wings in irritation. She hazards a glance at Tren, and she immediately sees what it is that has the child so upset.
Tren's skin is breaking open along hair-thin tracings, and blood is caking his light lavender skin. Delinet feels the definite tracings of pain wafting from him through her mind. No fear, however, can be found.
Tren's silver eyes dance with the agony of having his whole body ripped asunder. He closes them and breathes deeply. Thankfully, by this time, the child has stopped screaming and begun staring at him in a sickly fascinated fashion. Tren pays her no heed, however. Delinet can feel that all his thoughts are centered on himself at this moment.
It's about time, is all Delinet can happen to think. She watches as the bloody wounds close, as his body regenerates the missing skin, blood, and other tissue. Light beads of sweat cling to his forehead, and soon he manages to open his eyes again.
"A-am I dead?" the little girl asks.
"No," Tren replies lightly. "You're very much alive. Neither I nor Delinet could possibly be considered heavenly creatures, though you'd be getting closer with her." He nods to the dragon, and Delinet takes the opportunity to preen.
The little girl, similarly, turns to look at Delinet. "She's purple," she observes, her tone condescending.
*So?* Delinet demands, riled.
"I never liked purple things."
*I'm not a thing!*
"She's a dragon," Tren interrupts.
"Some dragon. Aren't dragons supposed to be gigantic beasts that breathe fire?" the girl asks.
Delinet feels the challenge. She calls on the magic of the mirror dragons deep within her soul and finds herself growing larger, growing fangs and talons, growing armor. *Like this?* she demands.
The little girl backs up, throwing herself into Tren's arms inadvertantly.
"Cut it out, Del," Tren says levelly.
*Kill joy.* Delinet begins shrinking back to her normal size. She retains her adopted form just long enough to snap fiercely at the little girl. Then, she resumes her original form.
"Don't mind Delinet," Tren says gently to the little girl. "Her species is naturally small, I'm guessing, but her specific type allows her to change forms rather easilly to compensate for that deficiency."
*Deficiency?* Delinet demands.
"Calm down." Tren glares at Delinet coldly. "I meant it as you're smaller than most other natural preditors and you have to have something to intimidate them."
*Oh.*
The little girl pulls herself away from Tren. She stands up, not bothering to brush the sand off her dress, and stares at the horizon. Suddenly, her eyes fill with tears. "Where is the Gallow-Splitter?" she asks quietly.
"If you're speaking of the ship, it's sunk," Tren responds.
"But... What shall I do now?"
*You can start by telling us just who you are,* Delinet interjects, a bit annoyed at the girl's egocentric tendencies.
"You can stay with us; we're travelling until we find friends of mine," Tren has the audacity to reply just after Delinet's comment.
"My name," the girl replies, "is Marajha. I am an Aquan freedwoman, and the crew of that vessel were the brave souls who raized a city to grant me that status, as well as granting it to my family and fellow slaves. And now, since I've no place else to go, I think I shall indeed join you two." She pauses for a moment, turning away from the sea. "Your names again? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening very well."
"I am Tren Galdro, crowned prince of the Marian civilization," Tren replies a bit too gallantly for Delinet's taste.
*I don't recall any coronation,* she replies, getting more and more irked by these two as the time goes on.
"And this lovely lady," Tren continues, evidently ignorant of her commentary, "is our dearly beloved and oh-so-sweet Delinet." Then again, something in his tone tells the dragon that he heard her perfectly. He simply chose to ignore her.
That bastard.
"Well, then, Your Highness. Delinet. I would be honored if I were permitted to travel with you," Marajha responds with her sugary tone.
That bitch.
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