Vandals with Class

Miriam eyed Khaz suspiciously for a moment after he gave her his word. Something deep within her screamed distrust, but that was probably only her paranoia. Finally giving in to her good will she replaced her arrow into her quiver and gave a nod to the elfish looking man.

At a second glance he didn't seem as intimidating from up front. It may have been the surprise of an unexpected visitor clothed in black that set her off. In fact, he was quite the opposite. His pale skin and shock of black hair coupled with his currently clumsy posture suggested someone friendly. Not to mention his eyes held a sort of rapture that could suck you in. Of course Miriam knew better than to fully get involved with a man, unlike Elise.

Miriam watched as Elise sacrificed her saddle bags to her newly found idol. Those probably could have been useful. This isn't the time to sell the group out for a lousy contingent of men. Glancing over at Nadie she gave an exasperated yet comical look.

“Better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all,” she muttered sarcastically under her breath.

Miriam then reverted her attention to the matter at hand and awaited the appearance of her new companions.

Khaz waited as Miriam gave him that suspicious glance but then she put her arrow back and gave him a nod. A smile bloomed onto Khaz's face at this. However, soon his attention was quickly drawn by the noble woman again.

"That's very noble of you, Mr. Serwen. My name is Elise, of House Venator. If you'd like to fetch your friends, we might get more acquainted over lunch at yonder tree?" she said, studying his face intently. Elise went on to say, "If you lack provisions, I have some in my saddlebags."

Then he heard Miriam mutter under her breath, “Better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all."

Khaz begged to differ. He often wished he had never fallen in love to start with. Of course, he was not lost on Elise's obvious interest in him. He had used it, somewhat, to his advantage. Though now that they would all be staying for a while in each other's company, he wondered what he would do about that. After what happened with Leonna ... He had simply accepted that a real relationship was not in the cards. A wife, a family. Something as normal as that was all he ever wanted in life. Beyond the fact that he was hunted by the empire, getting married was not something for him. They would see it in him, if they got too close. Takai. They only ever loved the mask he wore. He had thought he could deal with that for Leonna. He had even played with the idea of asking her to marry him. He had wanted to try to make it work. Do his best to hide the darker side of his nature from her. He thought he could make her happy. He had been planning to ask her to wait for him. For him to deal with the empire, and then if he made it out alive ... get married, have children. He would have asked her to come back to Hyrule with him. He had wanted to make it work so badly.

But it didn't. Takai saw to that.

Khaz supposed he should just go back to what he used to do. One night in bed with a woman was all he should really look forward to. That was all that was really practical for him. If that were the case, then he would happily indulge in Elise's feelings for him and work on pushing Leonna out of mind and memory. If Elise was looking for a husband, he couldn't help her there, but nor did he want to mislead her into thinking he would be that for one night with her.

So Khaz turned his smile on her, "I have supplies with me as well, perhaps we can all share and enjoy them together?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the trees, Ren and Rontu watched as Khaz talked to the three.

"You aren't going to stop him?" Ren asked Rontu idly.

"I obviously cannot control whatever the hell he does," snapped Rontu curtly as he paced between the trees, glancing every so often out at Khaz. His gold eyes still hard with his cold glare. As they watched, it appeared as if they were lowering their weapons. Khaz was still smiling, so all was well. The blonde one seemed to be fawning over him already.

"It's kind of disgusting, isn't it?" said Ren, his nose wrinkling. "How easily he does that."

Khaz was charming, and he used it well. It had its perks in getting others to trust them in several other cases, but Rontu had been half hoping his greeting would not go well. That was a pitiful hope though. Now he was wrapped up in helping these women go to Elohim knew where. However, Ren and himself weren't exactly as personable as Khaz. He hoped Ren's behavior might cut this grouping short.

Natasha felt awkward just standing there and not saying anything. If everyone was going to be sharing supplies, she didn't want to be that person to horde her own. Especially since she had some to contribute, which she doubted would always be the case. Pyre required a lot of food for something his size.

Speaking of Pyre, Natasha noticed the little dragon hadn't followed Elise over when she approached Khaz. Some guard dragon he turned out to be. If he couldn't even do this much, would he be to carry out his part of the deal? Natasha hoped so, all he had to do was fly around and destroy ♥♥♥♥. It couldn't be that hard.

Then again staying with Elise and pretend to look intimidating shouldn't be that hard either.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head for now, she turned her attention back to the matter at hand.

"I have some of my own supplies I can put forward as well, although they may not be as much as the rest of yours," she told Khaz before turning to where Pyre was lurking in the shade of the tree. "Pyre! Come over here will you and bring my bag please?" Pyre seemed to glance at the bag, then at her before waddling over to the brown bag and took it gently in his teeth and spread his wings and flew. About three feet high. Then crashed to the ground. Pyre could hardly lift his own weight. There was no way he could lift both her bag and himself.

Yet, it didn't seem to stop him. Each time he fell, he would simply spread his wings and try again. And again. And again.

Natasha buried her head in her hands at the performance, feeling embarrassed for the small dragon. For a creature who was prideful in nature, this was rather humiliating to watch.

Elise watched the dragon try his best to respond to Nadie's command. He would fly several feet into the air, with the bag, but inevitably crash once his momentum was lost. The little fellow didn't have the wing capacity to lift himself off yet.

She turned back to the handsome man.

"Mr. Serwen, this might take a few moments. Nadie's pet is not quite grown yet. Get your friends, and meet us back at that tree over there," she said, pointing at the place they had left their horses.

Then she whispered to Nadie, "You can't expect us to eat right here, in all this tall grass, can you? Let's wait for them there. Besides, your dragon can't seem to bring himself to retrieve your provisions."

With that, she started walking back.

"Pyre isn't my pet," Natasha protested, but Elise had already walked away and was out of ear shot. She sighed and her shoulders dropped. While it was true Pyre couldn't bring her bag by flying, he could by dragging it. He was just too god damn prideful for that. She glanced at Khaz and offered him a sheepish smile, beginning to feel awkward now that Elise had hurried off. While Miriam was still with her, she didn't seem too excited about the new developments.

I really hope everything will be alright.

Ren had been watching, and then saw it. It was red and it had wings, even though it seemed to fall to the ground several times. Ren sat up from his leaning stance against the tree immediately. Rontu was also staring. His sharp eyes easily making out the creature in the distance.

In an instant, Ren was stalking out of the trees, headed straight over to where Nadie and Khaz stood, and where the creature flew toward.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I have some of my own supplies I can put forward as well, although they may not be as much as the rest of yours," Nadie told Khaz before turning in the direction of a nearby tree. "Pyre! Come over here will you and bring my bag please?"

There's another one? Khaz turned to see who she was talking to and then stared. His eyes going wider. It was ...

"Mr. Serwen, this might take a few moments. Nadie's pet is not quite grown yet. Get your friends, and meet us back at that tree over there," said Elise, but Khaz was still distracted, but he managed to glance quickly at her and where she pointed. He missed the rest of the conversation between Nadie and Elise. He took a step closer to Pyre.

"Isn't that a--" Khaz began.

"Dragon," said Ren, who was now standing right next to Khaz as they both stared down at the creature.

Khaz gave a slight jump and turned to look at him. Ren had come up suddenly, he hadn't noticed him. Or maybe he was just distracted with the dragon.

I thought you said you would find anything under a tree.

"I can, but it wasn't there before and you didn't ask again."

Khaz turned to Nadie and smiled. "Oh, this is Ren Nevisu, by the way. One of my friends."

Ren squatted down some, still staring intently at Pyre. His brow hard with his focus, almost as if he was having a staring contest with it. He hardly payed any more attention to anyone but the little dragon.

"It's ..." began Ren, "so small." His expression fell with his visible disappointment at this. The only other dragon he had ever seen was his father. The ancient white dragon of Iki. His father was huge when he took his dragon form. Nothing like this tiny little runt.

Khaz arched a brow at Ren. "You do know that you were once very small too. Actually, you're still kind of small. I'm taller than you."

Ren turned his head up to glare at Khaz. "You wanna get your ass kicked by the short guy?"

Khaz only smirked and turned back toward the trees. He called out to Rontu, "Hey, Rontu, get the horses, would you?"

Back in the trees, Rontu glared even though Khaz couldn't see it. He might as well be a stable boy. But with defeat, he headed back toward the horses to untie them and bring them back out the trees.

Nadie nodded slightly when Khaz introduced her to his friend, Ren, who was having a miniature staring contest with Pyre. Unlike Khaz, who looked relatively innocent and naive, there was something which put Natasha slightly on edge with this new comer. There was something about his red piercing eyes which set Natasha's animistic instincts, which usually reared the ugly head when she was berserk, preparing for a fight. Although, this could also be due to the fact the word "flight" was nowhere in her dictionary when it came to these kind of things.

However, she pushed those thoughts back to her mind. Just because he had an intense look didn't mean he was a bad guy. Like Khaz, he appeared to be an elf. He rather good looking with his white hair and youthful looks. He looked rather young; he couldn't be that much older then 18. Yet despite this, there was scars on his rather muscular body, and it was obvious he had seen combat in his days. (Although, the swords on his person could also attest to that.)

"It's ..." began Ren, "so small." His expression fell with his visible disappointment at this. Natasha raised her eyebrow at this. Most people would be falling all over themselves just at the sight of a dragon.

Khaz arched a brow at Ren. "You do know that you were once very small too. Actually, you're still kind of small. I'm taller than you."

Ren turned his head up to glare at Khaz. "You wanna get your ass kicked by the short guy?"

Khaz only smirked and turned back toward the treeline, calling out to somebody who apparently still lurked in the forest. "Hey, Rontu, get the horses, would you?"

So, there was one more? At least they had horses; that would make things easier.

"He only hatched a few weeks ago," Natasha said suddenly, deciding to speak up while they were waiting for the mysterious third person. Plus, it could hopefully facilitate some sort of conversation between the two of them, so she could see what he really was like. "Pyre I mean. He's grown a bit since then though."

She left out the fact that even though he looked young, he was well over 700 years old due to his long imprisonment as an egg.

"He only hatched a few weeks ago ... Pyre I mean. He's grown a bit since then though."

Ren looked over at the short and skinny little thing that spoke to him. Was that supposed to be a guy? Pathetic. Ren arched a brow while disdain wrinkled his nose slightly.

"And who the ♥♥♥♥ are you?" asked Ren, standing now and no longer staring at Pyre. The little dragon was small, so it lost his interest quickly.

Khaz quickly turned around as soon as Ren started so speak to Nadie. "Right," said Khaz, trying to smooth Ren's vulgar tongue over. "Ren, this is Nadie."

"Is he supposed to be a guy?" said Ren, arching a brow at Khaz while pointing a thumb at Nadie. Khaz knew this would be the hard part. Ren being around anyone was difficult.

"Yes," said Khaz, his tone a little more forceful.

"Even though, she isn't."

... What? What was Takai going on about now?

"Nadie is a girl. Look at her throat. She doesn't have an adam's apple. Not only that, but the shadows under her clothes tell me that she is female."

Khaz kept his face the same disapproving expression he had it in as he spoke to Ren. Poker face should have been his middle name.

But ... why didn't he--she say anything? I called her a man before, and she didn't correct me.

"Neither did Elise, I was waiting to see if she would. I wasn't sure if her attempt to look like a man was intentional or accidental. So that means either Elise is in on the secret or she isn't. I'm guessing Miriam and Elise don't know. This group isn't very close, unlike you with Rontu and Ren. They must have only met recently."

But why would Nadie want to ...

"You said it before. It's dangerous for young women to be out traveling on their own. I can only assume she does it to protect herself."

OoC: Don't worry, Ren still has no idea Natasha is a girl. He's just trying to make fun of Nadie.

ooc: Yeah, I know. :3

BiC: "And who the ♥♥♥♥ are you?" Ren's rather rude introduction made Natasha arc her eyebrow up slightly. While she wasn't quite sure what to expect, it certainly wasn't that. Although, it certainly lead validity towards Natasha's earlier crude feelings, but she ignored that thought. Just because the uncontrolled side of her was rearing for a fight didn't mean she wanted to. She was better then that. Hopefully. She liked to entertain the thought at least.

"Right; Ren, this is Nadie," Khaz said quickly, no doubt trying to bring the situation back in control before it escalated, which Natasha was thankful for. She seriously didn't want to get in a fight because of a kid with an attitude problem.

"Is he supposed to be a guy?" Ren asked Khaz, jerking his thumb towards Natasha.

No.

"Yes." Khaz's tone was forceful.

"Unfortunately, not all of us can be as masculine as you are," Natasha quipped dryly.

Miriam eyed the newcomers with a more welcome air then she did with Khaz. Now that she knew a little of who these people were, she was not afraid of what they would do to them. Regardless Miriam kept her cool and assumed the general reserved attitude she kept in public. One of strangers stood out to her for many reasons, and his name was Ren Nevisu.

Whatever it was that Miriam held against men seemed to have abruptly vanished. This man can't be the abusive, rude, and violent type that she had encounters with before. No boy so fair or handsome could possible be capable of such a personality. Everything was perfect, especially his eyes. The crimson hue of his irises had a disturbing attraction even though they were slightly intimidating.

Miriam's captivation with the young man feigned her ignorance of his reality. She turned a blind eye to all rude comments made to others and just felt the need to talk to him herself. In fact, she even let out a giggle at a couple of them. However, this attraction was nothing she was going to display; no, she was better than that.

Approaching Ren in an indifferent manner and introduced herself, “My name is Miriam Foxwood, I do not have much to offer in regards to provisions and equipment, but I can offer my services as need be if there is any work to be done.”

Hoping she hadn't exposed her feelings, Miriam anticipated the newcomer's reactions.

"Unfortunately, not all of us can be as masculine as you are," Nadie quipped dryly.

Well, at least she knew how to give it back. It was still a little odd for Khaz. Nadie. A girl. But then again, he had noticed her feminine features and how she had been less masculine. But she didn't have a bad face now that Khaz thought about it, despite her hair being a complete mess. Khaz didn't feel like ratting her out to everyone though. It was her business. She probably was doing it to protect herself. So it was for good reason. Khaz usually respected people's secrets too. Though he sometimes violated them by just finding them out for himself, but he and Takai did have a thing for mysteries and wanting to unravel them.

That's why Rontu was so annoying. Khaz didn't know anything about his past, except that he used to be a Scarlet ranked soldier for the empire. Though after their recent run in with Sheinron, the emperor, and that weird priestess, a few new pieces fell into place. It had sounded like Rontu had been trained by Sheinron himself. But still, that was all. And getting Rontu to talk about himself was like trying to get Ren to be nice. It didn't happen, and it would probably never happen.

Speaking of Ren not being nice.

Ren smirked at Nadie's remark. Folding his arms over his chest, he replied, "Yeah. I know."

To Khaz's surprise, Miriam came up to them at that point. Even more surprising, she went up to talk to Ren of all people.

“My name is Miriam Foxwood, I do not have much to offer in regards to provisions and equipment, but I can offer my services as need be if there is any work to be done.”

Ren looked away from Nadie to arch a confused brow at Miriam. He also looked vaguely disgusted, but Ren typically looked that way when he was confused. It was the inherent disdain on his personality coloring it.

"And you're telling me this why ...?" drawled Ren, his brow remaining incredulously arched. "Shouldn't you be telling that to Khaz? Since this was his little charity project, not mine."

"And you're telling me this why ...? Shouldn't you be telling that to Khaz? Since this was his little charity project, not mine."

Miriam felt bewildered at his response. If anything, an act of kindness such as this should be accepted with gratitude if not endearment. Snapping away from her impractical daydream, Miriam reverted to her proud nature and sought in all ways to defend her pride and appearance.

“You are all traveling together, are you not? Why does Khaz hold any more power or responsibility over you in this matter,” Miriam countered defensively.

Hoping she hadn't struck a discordant note, she tried to meet his blood red eyes. It was by no means a struggle to keep calm in their fearful rapture, but it wasn't in Miriam's nature to compromise her pride. Ren was obviously not the charmer Khaz was, but Miriam was not ready to let go of her feelings for a comment such as this. He was still very handsome after all.

“You are all traveling together, are you not? Why does Khaz hold any more power or responsibility over you in this matter,” Miriam countered defensively.

Ren snorted derisively. "He doesn't hold any power over me. I said this was his charity project. Let me spell it out for you. I'll even say it slowly so that your tiny human ears can hear me, and maybe your pathetic excuse for a brain might be able to follow the words coming out of my mouth."

Ren stepped closer to Miriam, so that he was right up in her face. They were actually the same height almost exactly to the inch. His eyes piercing and disdainful as he looked at her.

"I. Do not. Give. A ♥♥♥♥. About. Any. Of. You."

Khaz was visibly cringing as he watched all of this. He wished he could do something to protect Miriam, but really Ren wouldn't hurt her physically, and Khaz couldn't control the things that Ren said to people or how he said them. In fact, if he tried to stop Ren, that might only make it worse. Whenever someone attempts to control Ren's behavior, Ren tended to take it as a challenge, so he would actively do worse things just to spite you.

Khaz tried to clear his throat uncomfortably. "Uh, Ren ..."

The half-dragon ignored him completely.

As this occurred, Rontu approached, holding the reins of all three of their horses. He glanced up out of his hood to see Ren getting in the face of one of the women. Looked like he might get his wish after all. He could always count on Ren to chase people away. Sometimes that was good, and other times, not so good.

"I. Do not. Give. A ♥♥♥♥. About. Any. Of you."

Miriam's soul retched as it vomited out the last entrails of its attraction to the young man. The moment his breath hit her face all his sweet features became a putrid resemblance to her initial view of men. From this moment on, Miriam new this guy was going to be a problem. Her internal fluids were boiling with anger. She would have spit at him, but she was afraid that the raging, furious heat of her saliva would scald his pretty boy face.

Looking him in the eye, she gave her best attempt at a glare. His flash of crimson shot back into hers. Her heart trembled with fear. She pursed her lips and stood rigid lest the fiery stranger noticed her internal fear. With a stern, cold countenance, Miriam tried to be like a stone, trying to be indifferent of the last statement, and adamant against another.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You show up at our camp and expect us to lay down for you. I accept Khaz's generosity, but you are nothing but a slob. In fact, you are like all men. A low down self centered slob,” Miriam said slowly and pronounced, trying to conceal her hatred which burned like the sun.

If this experience taught her anything, it reaffirmed her doubts in regards to men. They are worthless, except her husband, for he knew how to show respect. Unlike this man, who she now loathed.

Ren knew, as Miriam stared into his gaze, that she was trying not to look away. The anger in her rigid posture was obvious to him, and it was obvious that she was trying her best to hide it. He felt an uncertainty in her grey eyes, which were so close he could see the strange sliver of lavender in the left one. It was fear. Of course, she was afraid. She should be. Ren knew how to read body language better than he knew how to read any other kind of language. Body language was vital to warriors.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You show up at our camp and expect us to lay down for you. I accept Khaz's generosity, but you are nothing but a slob. In fact, you are like all men. A low down self centered slob,” Miriam said slowly and pronounced.

Ren merely sneered, victorious in getting under the woman's skin. "Yup. That's pretty much it. You better get used to it. You can thank Khaz for his generosity."

Khaz swallowed. Lovely, Ren was directing it toward him now. As if he hadn't already had enough trouble getting Miriam to trust them. Ren had just undid everything Khaz had been trying to do. Though, he supposed he should have seen that coming.

Natasha watched the exchange with a growing sense of wanting to butt in and punch Ren in the face for talking to Miriam that way and trying not to resort to violence for something that wasn't even her fight. Besides, Miriam seemed to be standing up for herself rather well, which was helping Natasha in her quest not to jump into the fray.

However, the air temperature would do quick violent spikes before settling back to normal as if nothing happened as Natasha fought to keep things from turning ugly.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You show up at our camp and expect us to lay down for you. I accept Khaz's generosity, but you are nothing but a slob. In fact, you are like all men. A low down self centered slob,” Miriam said slowly and pronounced.

"Yup. That's pretty much it. You better get used to it. You can thank Khaz for his generosity," Ren sneered back, ending the little debate.

"Well, now that we have established who the dead weight is, we might as well join Elise," Natasha said once she was sure she was back in control, bending down to pick up Pyre and her pack who were by her feet. Pyre took his perch back on Natasha's shoulders, coiling around her like a snake. "She no doubt must be wondering what is taking us so long."

I enjoy how you aren't bothered by Miriam's male comment.
I'm not a male though, why would I be-oh wait.
Yeah.

"Well, now that we have established who the dead weight is, we might as well join Elise," said Nadie, bending down to pick up Pyre and her pack, both of which were by her feet. Pyre took his perch back on Nadie's shoulders, coiling around her like a snake. "She no doubt must be wondering what is taking us so long."

Ren seemed to be taking no offense to being called a dead weight and a low down, self-centered slob. Those weren't the type of comments that he took offense to. Seriously, couldn't they think of anything better to say back?

Rontu had already reached where Elise stood with the other horses, so he let theirs stand with the pack as well. He kept his hood up and did not even turn to speak or regard Elise. He began to dig through some of the packets on his horse.

Khaz was more than happy to break up this debate, so he agreed with Nadie. He glanced to Miriam apologetically as he started to follow Nadie back over to Elise.

He could already kind of guess her dislike for men had come previously. Ren was an ass, but not all women assumed it had to do with his sex and said so with so much venom in their voices. Besides, Khaz had grown up with Gerudo. Gerudo sort of had a love-hate thing going on with Hylian men, as they sort of needed them for their race to survive. What with them all being born women. They had to have children somehow. Some Gerudo only interacted with Hylian men for that reason alone. Some had no issues with it at all. They even enjoyed it a lot. So the man-hating, he was used to. He was honestly didn't blame her. Ever since he left Hyrule and had to deal with humans ... Well, Khaz couldn't say he really favored that race. Mostly for the disrespect their males often showed their females.

Khaz turned back to look into the trees. "Oi! Lynn, you can come out now."

Out of the trees came the feathered jaguar. He looked like a mix between a jaguar, a horse, and a bird of some kind. But mostly a jaguar due to the form of his body. His tail was like that of a horse's and the feathers along his head were longer, forming in a similar way to a horse's main. Lynn had dark gray feathers. He jogged up to Khaz, a rather large feline-ish creature.

Khaz turned to smile at Nadie, as it was she who he was following back to Elise. Miriam looked like she needed some space, especially from men. "This is Lynn. But don't call him my pet either. He takes offense to that."

"You are my charge," said Lynn in a deep rumble. "If anything you are more like a pet to me."

Khaz chuckled and then stared at Pyre on Nadie's back. His scales were so smooth and red. Khaz reached a hand forward to touch him. "Pyre doesn't bite, does he?"

Natasha nearly had a panic attack when a large cat-like creature stepped out of the trees. It looked like a jaguar, except instead of fur it had ash colored feathers, and it's tail was that of a horse. When it spoke, she did have a panic attack, shooting up the air temperature around her by several degrees as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Pyre, noticing her behavior, hit her with his tail, annoyed.

You are traveling with a talking dragon, but a talking shadow beasts causes you to panic? Honestly, Natasha, you never cease to amaze me.

Natasha ignored Pyre for the most part, but took his critique to heart. For once. Mostly because a sudden fluctuation in temperature that drastic had to be noticeable. Shaking, her head slightly, calming for the most part her pounding heart, she managed to pay attention to hear Khaz start to talk to her.

"This is Lynn," Khaz said with a smile, gesturing towards the talking jaguar (it was a jaguar, right?). "But don't call him my pet either. He takes offense to that."

I thought Lynn was a female name.
The same could be said for Nadie. Except in your case, it is.

"You are my charge," Lynn said in a deep rumble. "If anything, you are more like a pet to me."

Khaz chuckled, apparently not at all offended by the remark before he turned back towards Pyre.

"Pyre doesn't bite, does he?" Khaz asked, his hand reaching forward to touch him. Natasha's eyes widened, and with Pyre's recent mind rape, she didn't trust him not to mind rape Khaz if he touched him.

"No! Wait! Don't!" She started, a slight panic set in. However, it was too late. Khaz was already touching Pyre, and Natasha was forced to finish lamely. "He doesn't have any sense of personal space."

Elise was busy unpacking supplies for her and one or two others to eat. She couldn't feed everybody, but no one would expect her to, either. She was so busy, in fact, that she barely noticed the tall figure approach and start making preparations of his own. Her mind was preoccupied with other thoughts. Laying out some bread and vegetables on a few small pieces of fabric, she wrapped a helping for herself, for Khaz, and for one other who happened to be there; it didn't matter who.

He certainly is handsome. And respectful. I should much like to get to know him better. Oh, Sol and Luna, keep me from embarrassing myself!

She turned around from Jacob's saddlebags to see a tall, hooded man making his own preparations for lunch. He hadn't hardly telegraphed his presence with any noise or greeting, and she was quite shocked by his sudden appearance behind her.

"Ah!" she said in surprise, nearly dropping her wrapped lunches, and stepping back. "Y-you must be Khaz's friend?"

Khaz touched the smooth scales of Pyre's snout just as she started to warn him. Then he felt it. In his head. Memories rushed forward. Some were memories he had no idea were still there. They started from his very early childhood, back when his parents were still alive, and they lived on the shore of Lake Hylia. He saw his father in a boat, preparing the fishing nets. Shirtless and more tan than Khaz had ever managed to be, even when living in the desert. He burned and then peeled back to white all the time. He saw more images of his father and mother in flashes of his childhood. His father smiling usually. He had always loved his smile. He had green eyes, like Leita did. All this flashed through his mind in the instant that Khaz touched Pyre.

But he knew this bad. He didn't want this. But it was all happening so quickly. He started seeing flashes of the soldiers. The drow of the empire coming into his home. Khaz's heart started to thud hard in his chest. His head felt like a great pressure was starting to squeeze at it from inside.

Then he felt Takai. His presence surged into his hand and pulled it back. It was a strange feeling, having his hand move on its own. Khaz stumbled back, he had jerked his hand away from Pyre so quickly. He was already panting, breathing hard. His heart still thudding rapidly in his chest. It had only happened within the second that he had touched Pyre.

He heard Nadie say, "He doesn't have any sense of personal space."

Khaz stared at the dragon with much more caution and shock than before. That had been entirely too close. If Nadie hadn't warned him, and if Takai hadn't been so quick ... the little dragon would have found out a lot more than Khaz would have ever wanted anyone to know about him. Khaz noticed how Nadie seemed to have no problem touching Pyre. That must mean the dragon had already did his little "reading" on her.

Khaz caught his breath. His head still hurt, so his eyes squinted some with the discomfort. "Oh ... I see that ... now," said Khaz, still gasping slightly.

Ren walked up next to Khaz. "What's wrong with you?"

"Uh ... nothing, but I wouldn't let that dragon touch you, at all, if I were you."