Pain. Mira woke up screaming, the feeling of phantom ropes still cutting into her arms. Her fear was only escalated as she saw where she was, or couldn’t see where she was. It was suffocation and hot and pitch black. She screamed again and lashed out, hitting a rubber covering on top of her. Almost at once, the rubber covering was removed and a scaly face stared down at her.

Mira let out another sob as her memory of the past two months crashed down on her. Being dragged up to the top of the tower. Her husband pushing her onto the bed, her crying for him to stop hurting her. Pain. The ropes. The roof being suddenly torn off and a large bellow sounding. Heat and light, then a clawed foot around her body. Flying.

Landing. A dragon licking her wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. Surviving. Naming her dragon. Living.

Mira curled up against Panith, another sob sounding from her. Panith immediately shifted and lowered her head next to Mira’s, her wing lowering again, cocooning her in warmth. Through her tears, Mira murmured, “It’s alright Panith, just a bad dream.” She still didn’t leave her alone until she had smelled almost every part of my body to make sure Mira wasn’t hurt.

Eventually, Mira pushed away from Panith and stood up. The darkness only made the memories more clear. She walked quickly over to the edge of the cave, sitting down with her legs swinging on the cliff. The wind kissed her face and the stars painted pictures in the skies. She breathed in deeply. Peace.

A huff sounded above her. Mira looked up and saw Panith standing over her. “Hey sweetheart,” She said as she lifted her hand and scratched the underside of Panith’s chin. Her rough scales scratched Mira’s own fingers. A low rumble of pleasure sounded from Panith. “I’m okay,” Mira reassured her dragon. “Thank you for saving me.”

And Panith did save her. She didn’t know how much longer she would have lasted with her husband. His advances were becoming more aggressive, and his pleasures more extreme.

The wind picked up again. Panith lifted her head and opened her wings, savoring the feeling. Mira laughed. “You wanna fly?” Panith perked up right away. If she was a dog, her ears would have gone straight up. Mira walked back into the cave and got on her flight gear.

When Panith first brought her to the cave, there was gold all over. One flight on Panith made it very clear that Mira needed other clothes than a dress to ride the wind. The moving scales had cut deeply into her bare legs and the biting wind almost froze her.

She visited the nearby town with some gold and purchased new clothes and leather. Even with her rudimentary stitching, the leather was easy enough to work with to make a saddle and straps for her legs. She threw it over Panith’s back, who was still standing near the entrance. Mira then shrugged on her warm flying clothes and stood at Panith’s shoulder. “You ready to fly girl?”

Panith’s only answer was to lower her shoulder so Mira could climb on. Once she was comfortably in the saddle, Mira squeezed her legs against Panith’s side.

Panith simply leaned forward and dropped out of the cave. They free fell for a few seconds, then Panith flared open her wings and caught the wind. Mira let out a scream of joy and threw her arms out. This, this is what she lived for even before she met Panith. She loved nothing more than the wind drowning out all sound, the air making her eyes water. Panith banked and headed for the horizon. To the unknown future.

Free.