And so I continued the bath and the subject died down for a while, we both continued distracted and I was happy to just focus on cleaning for a bit until he seemed agitated again.  He looked curious, he inclined to the sides looking at me and made my job almost impossible… I motioned him to speak what was on his mind already… “Spit it out!”

                He seemed shy about it, and genuinely concerned. “Uh… Do you have ears?”

                “What?!” All the air of my lungs just exited all at once, I couldn’t breath… I never cracked a laugh that hard. “*Hahhahahha* What kind of question is that you silly pup?!”

                “I mean… your hair is so big…” He flustered and shrunk again in his spot. “…I’m sorry”

                “Don’t be, it’s a valid question! You just caught me off guard.” I cleaned the tears off my eyes and lowered myself in front of him. I lifted my ears up and felt them brushing the hair aside flapping upwards. “Here!”

                He was still cornered and embarrassed. “I-I see…”

                So, I gave him a little push. “Touch them!”

                “WHAT, NO!” He cried out trying to stop himself from flustering.

                “DO IT! To make sure they’re real…” I inclined forward and held them really close to his face… I could tell how hesitant he was, and how weirded out he was by this. But he did… His hands felt soft and gentle, like everything else in him. “…See, real ears!”

                He followed them along near the base, where he touched something metallic, it bothered me, but I wanted him to explore so I said nothing. “You got earrings.” He noted.

                “I got them when I was younger, it was mostly to spite my dad but I ended up liking them… Since I’m letting my hair grow you can’t even see it anymore... I’m not a common lizard you silly!” I nudged his hair a fur and he smiled… Again, that same innocent smile, it filled my heart with joy.

                “Stop it!” He chuckled in a grumpy manner.

                “Aight… but only until were finished showering you.” I said grabbing the ‘sponge’.

                “Actually… I feel good enough already.” He said averting his gaze.

                “What about beneath those pants?” I asked with a mischievous little grin.

                But the way he just grabbed onto them and shook his head told me I shouldn’t push on that. “I think the river took care of it already… We should go back.”

                “Well sure thing then…” I kept nudging him again rubbing my nose harder this time.

                “Stop!” He chuckled and squealed lightly, and I could have easily done this the whole night, but I also wanted him to rest a bit.

                So, this time I did stop. “Are you sure we’re done?”

                “I mean… You tell me… Am I still reeking?” Again, no malice whatsoever… He was precious gem.

                This time however, I was going to have a laugh about it… “I mean, if you want to I can burry my nose all over your fur and see if can still catch that wolfly musk.”

                He shivered… It was like the water fell out instantly and his fur bristled up… It was hard to read whether he liked the idea or not, but I could tell he was at a loss. “I… I…”

                “You make this too easy Vernon…” I shook my head.

                We were now set, I was going to grab him and march back over, but he stopped me, this time he stood up all by himself and limped ever so slightly over to camp… I guess it was his way of saying he was fine.
                Even though I did pull my pants up, I got wet so I thought about taking them off, but then I remembered what kind of reaction he had earlier… That did get me thinking about removing his pants as well, even in spite of the signs.
                And how it would be nice to be pantless for a little while… With him…
                Thing is he was wounded, and he didn’t seem like the sort of guy who’d just let me do that so I had to slap the blood back to my face. ‘Mind out of the gutter Azreth!’ I thought to myself.

                “You okay?” He asked in confusion, unaware of dangers of my perverted mind.

                “I’m fine…” I rushed over catching up to him who had now sat near the fire and was in the process of getting one of the fishes. “… They’re looking good. Have a bite…”

                He handed me one and I sat next to him, the two of us silenced ourselves for a little while… Just to enjoy the meal, sure it lacked seasoning and salt, but somehow, it tasted great. If I close my eyes, I can still remember the taste of that fish to this day.

                “Mine is a bit different… You want to give it a try?” He said and then looked at me… Who had finished my second fish and was in the process of biting into the bones… His jaw dropped for a second, he was still not used to my peculiar eating habits. “You’re a something else when you eat, aren’t you?”

                “I’m a bit of a bottomless pit.” I said munching and swallowing what remained of the fish. “You sure you don’t want any more of it?”

                He thought about it, then shrugged and offered it. “Go ahead.” There wasn’t much left took it out of his hand and set the whole thing in my tongue, rolled it in and began munching loudly. “You’re not worried about spines or anything?” I shook my head as a response, still chewing. “Are you made of steel?” He asked jokingly.

                “Well, I AM a dragon!” I joked…

                Except I didn’t just joke… I was so relaxed I let my guard down, his cuteness and friendliness disarmed me in a way I had never been disarmed before.
                It took me a whole minute of continued eating before I looked over and I saw his eyes widened looking at me like he was seeing a ghost… My brain tried to deny I said it.
                Surely, I wasn’t that dumb… Surely I did not just reveal one the most well kept secrets of our society to some guy I had just meet! No way I was THAT stupid right?

                “What?” I asked in my own confusion.

                “A dragon?” He asked in appalment.

                That was the moment I began sweating… I realized then I did something I definitely wasn’t supposed to, and that there was no way of taking it back. “I meant half-bred.” Of course, I still tried.

                “No, you just said dragon… I’m sure of it.” I honestly blame it on him as well, he is normally so clueless, but this, THIS he chose to listen to.

                I began to sweat harder, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, ever! Certainly not someone I liked as much as I liked Vernon… If this was some random bandit I could just smush him right now and be done with it. “Just a slip of the tongue!”

                “No that wasn’t a slip…” He inclined forward. “You really are a dragon!”

                “No… I’m not…” I shivered anxiously.

                He slapped himself in the face and ran his hand down. “Of course, you’re a dragon! How could I have been so blind!”

                “Vernon, I think you’re missing the point…” I still tried foolishly to hide it, but it was out of the bag already.

                “No! Like… You’re the clearest half-breed I’ve ever seen, they normally have like an arm, or a horn or a tail that looks like the parent dragon… Not the whole body like you, it’s like you don’t have another half, and that is because you don’t!” I tried to interrupt and stop his train of thought, but it was gone…
                “You were being escorted by like a full platoon, with heavy arms! Four wagons and over thirty guys to escort some silly noble half-breed? Of course, that’s too much!” I just sat there and took it… A permanent awkward grin in my face as I was powerless to stop this.
                “And… And… You’re strong… Like really strong, you rattled those chains like it was nothing, you felt no pain even though you were dangling from the ceiling the whole time… And you needed draconite to keep you down! YOU ARE A DRAGON!! A FULL DRAGON!! NOT A HALF-BRED!!”

                “Is that…” There was nothing I could do now, I scratched behind my head, clenched my teeth… I wished there was a way out of that, but now that he knew I could think of no way to solve it.
                I thought for the longest time in my life that this was it, I’ve been taught that the kin react horribly to it, that they hated us… More so than anything I knew Vernon had a reason to hate me, my people destroyed his family and made him into a fugitive before he was even in his teens
                Yet my heart ached, he would be right to hate us but I didn’t want HIM to hate ME… Everyone else I would be fine with, but I couldn’t take his hate.
                Most of all, I hated myself for telling him in such a stupid and casual manner, by the order of the council there were only two outcomes for this, either I suzerain him or I killed him, I couldn’t let free someone that knew the truth about us.
                I lowered my head, and tried not to show the storm of emotions in my head. “Is that… A bad thing, Vernon?”

                For a second there he snapped out of his deductive stupor, I believe he noticed what it did to me… And he did the thing that just comes naturally to him. “Of course not!” He protested. “I’m not mad at you Azreth, It’s just… How could I be so dense?”

                “You weren’t dense… Most people don’t realize it either.”

                “It’s just… I’ve never seen a dragon so close before, aren’t you guys supposed to be huge?”

                “I AM huge… We’re shapeshifters …” And then another time his kindness disarmed me. “Dammit, I’m not supposed to tell you that!”

                “Why not?” He asked, still oblivious to this whole thing.

                “Because… The council forbids it, only a handful of people are allowed to know our secrets… Anyone else we have to you know…” I slit my finger over my throat.

                “Shit!” He gasped. “Do you have to kill me now?” He asked contracting himself again. “I can just pretend I don’t know, no one ever talks to me anyway…” He shivered and held his arms unsure of what to with them. “I’ve seen what you did with the fish, please don’t do that to me too, if you have too at least make it quick… I-I… I won’t fight you.”

                I shook my head and sighed, this wasn’t helping, if anything that made it worse. “What you just said was really sad, all of it… Don’t say that ever again!” Still, I was in a pickle now, and there was no way out, I nervously bit my thumb as I tried to think.  “I’m not going to kill you… And if I was going to, eating would not be my chosen method… Why am I even saying that? I’M NOT GOING TO KILL YOU!”

                He was still cowering in his corner. “Good… Uh… Thanks”

                “Don’t be thankful to me, I did nothing… You don’t owe me your life!” I said in indignation, that behavior is exactly what my father believes kin should be like and I hate it!

                He hesitated, his voice got lower and distant. “So… What now?”

                “I don’t know…” I stood up and started pacing, trying to clear my head… Things were going so fine until I opened my damned mouth.
                “I DON’T KNOW!!” I kicked a rock as hard as I could, it broke in a thousand pieces and became a shower of tiny projectiles that you could hear scattering throughout the forest.
                The animals around the camp all ran for their lives, I kneeled down in anger and shoved my head down, tying to suppress the pounding headache that set in my brain. “I HATE THIS! WHY DO I HAVE TO BE AWKWARD LIKE THIS!! WHY DID I HAVE TO BE BORN THIS WAY!!” I shouted.
                I was confused, mad and I’ll be honest now… I was a bit afraid… Afraid I had just painted a bigger target in his back, afraid I had just done finished ruining his life… I was trembling in anger, my head throbbing and my hands pressing my skull in order to try and make it stop or crush it so I couldn’t feel it anymore!

                But then… I felt something, a mild, gentle and hesitant touch around my back.
                I looked over still fuming in rage, but there he was, I expected him to be scared, but he didn’t flinch that time. “Hey… I know this scary… but, there is no use in worrying about it right now.” He said, almost whispering and very awkwardly.

                Those words made me snap back out of it, but not just the words, it was him… I knew how hard it was for him to say anything when he was scared like that, but he still did. He found the courage to act all by himself… I began to think maybe that little voice inside his head wasn’t such a weird thing after all.

                I started to stand again and my head got a whole lot clearer. I’m supposed to be the one helping him, I shouldn’t be scaring him like that. “I’m… Sorry… I just… Get angry sometimes.”

                “It’s ok… I overreacted too… I’m sure you’d never eat me or harm me.” He said very softly and shy again, nervously playing around with his hands. “I actually think it’s nice that you are a dragon.”

                “What?” I couldn’t believe my ears.

                “It’s cool… I’ve never seen a dragon before, and you’re right here, right now… It’s a once in a lifetime experience.” He sounded a lot more hopeful now.

                “But Vernon… I’m a monster… My people burn yours, kill you, enslave you… You’re toys for them, at best they see you as little chess pieces in their games.”

                “But you don’t…” He said gently rubbing his hands in my back. “You helped me… You could have left me back at the wagon, or just now, but you treated me and you made sure I was safe and well. You’re not a monster Azreth, not to me, and believe me I’ve know plenty.”
                He gently rubbed along my back, and with not an ounce of shame he said just the silliest thing. “You’re my hero.” But it didn’t feel silly…

                Those words somehow emboldened me, I never thought anyone would ever say those to me again… I felt relieved, and strong, and vigorous all at the same time. “Ah… Thank you…” Even if I wasn’t eloquent about it.
                He smiled again, dammit that smile just broke me, I couldn’t feel any anger when I saw it, it tells me ‘everything is gonna be fine’… And I wanted to believe it more than anything. “Ok… Sorry I scared you.”

                “It’s fine…” This time I felt like he meant it. And I could tell there was something else to it… Like he was being too polite even for him.

                I took a guess as to what It was… “I’m… Sure you have questions.”

                And then he took a deep moment to think and came up with. “Are you sure you’re not gonna have to eat me if I ask?” He joked.

                Silly little mut thought he could play me. “Well… I’ll make no guarantees…"