[IC] The Dragon Empire

[duskreaper]

Jube nodded, "I won't tell anyone what really happened..." He avoided eye contact, "I'm... still not exactly sure what happened... I thought I was just squeezing hard... I didn't know he was burning..." The brunette covered his face with his hands. He was distraught. "I don't know what to do... I don't know what I am..." He'd never felt so confused before, and surely this was scary for Robin as well. He had a sister and a family to think about.

[Lullyn]

Robin rubbed his temples, his back to the wall beside the door. "I don't know what to tell you," he said simply, "but I don't know how long you will be able to stay here if you have a dangerous power." It was out of his mouth without his permission, but he didn't try to recall it either. Now it was in the air, he knew it was true. "Even if Pepper keeps his word, what happens next time?" he said. "What about when it happens again?" There was no telling what had happened. Had this been an accident created by stress or was this something that was going to start escaping from him? "You need to ask your parents what you can. Maybe they can help you find out where it came from, but you need to do that soon," Robin advised. "Do you have anyone else who would know if they don't?" Robin felt apprehension. He didn't know why he was asking all these questions.

[duskreaper]

Jube shook his head, "My parents don't know where I came from... I've asked them before. All they seemed to know was that I was rescued by a knight, and given to them." Over the years Jube had obsessed over his true origins, but nothing had turned up even in the many books he had read. His parents seemed reluctant to talk about his past, and it seemed they liked to think he was a product of them. They pretended he was never given to them, but rather born to them. His green eyes looked over Robin, "Are you... afraid of what I could do?" It was a question he didn't want to know the answer too, but in the same instance, he did wonder.

[Lullyn]

Robin said "yes," the moment the question was posed to him, though he did seem a little sorry that it had rushed to his lips. "I can't say you've ever hurt Kes, Jube, or that you ever would, but that... thing you can do is dangerous." He looked to the door. "Anyway, I've said my piece and I've brought you the news of Kestral. What you do now would be up to you." He didn't want to talk anymore, only to get out of there. The strange thing was that he didn't actually feel frightened of Jube, but within him bubbled the worry, the doubt. He was saying nothing and forcing others to do the same. If Jube did something bad, Robin would be to blame for not raising it. "Find out about the knight," he advised before heading out of the house at speed, going back to the forge. He needed to work, fill his mind with steel and iron, so there would be no more room for anything else. For now atleast.

[duskreaper]

Jube sighed and looked down as Robin scurried out of the house. He knew his life was forever changed. He would do some more research in his books. Heading to his book shelf he tried to think about any sort of clues his parents might have given him about his origins. Nothing really came to mind. For hours, Jube read his books, skimming through pages and pages. It wasn't until he read more about the Dragon Shifters that a stirring came from within his brain. The Dragon Shifters had been taken down at around the same time as he was brought to his parents. Was it possible he had something to do with them? No... impossible... Or was it? Jube felt a cold chill spiral through his body. He couldn't be a dragon... he had no idea how to even become one. Surely, he was just a wizard...

[Lullyn]

Kestrel was confined to need for 3 days. They first 2, she mostly slept, the third she was weak and ill from not eating the previous 2. She still want quite herself on the 4th but she felt sick with worry. Was June okay? Had the mean children from the village done anything else to him? Her mother insisted that she not to leave the house and had taken to joining her friends more frequently by the well, which she had to pass to get to Jube's. Unless... She knew it was bad, her head still wrapped in fabric and a little weak, but she couldn't bare it any longer. She climbed out of the house. When she reached Jube's almost an hour after, holding a small bundle of cloth in her hand and knocking on the wall at the back of Jube's house, the part closest to the wood. There was a small whine in her arms and she stroked softly the small furry head. The little wolf cub needed food, and needed it fast.

[duskreaper]

Jube opened the door and his eyes lit up when he saw her. "kes! Are you feeling better?" His words were paused when he saw the wolf in her arms. "Where did you find him?" He leaned in for closer inspection.

[Lullyn]

Kes smiled, but looked around in case spotted. "I'll tell you everything," she said, "but this little guy needs food, ideally milk." The cub in her arms gave a little whimper. There were small bites on one of her hands, but they didn't look too severe. She moved to his room without waiting more words, sitting on the floor and placing the cub on her knee. It sat there, whining slightly, and she stroked it's head gently. "Poor little thing must have been starving," she said softly.

[duskreaper]

Jube went to the kitchen immediately. His parents had milked the cows this morning so their was a fresh bucket of milk there. He poured the milk into a small dish big enough for the tiny wolf. Heading back to his room he set the dish next to Kestral for the cub to eat. "This should hopefully be enough for him." Jube was often more sympathetic to animals than people. IT seemed people could be cruel, but animals... they just did what they had to in order to survive.

[Lullyn]

She took it gratefully, thanking him as she moved the wolf toward it. At first it seemed at a loss, so she put her finger into it and then brought it to it's mouth. It suckled it for a moment and then seemed to get the idea. "Poor thing was starving," she said. "I was on my way to you when I heard it." It had been alone, and looking at it's colour, she worried if it might be the cub of the wolf attacked by Pepper and his goons. It whimpered and cried, but bit her when she got too close, obviously scared and hungry. She could have taken it home, but she didn't want to leave Jube any longer without her. "I think it was abandoned," she said. "I'm going to keep it and see if I can raise it." She stroked the little head as it lapped and licked the dish. "Not too much," she said, though knowing full well it wouldn't understand. "You'll get a tummy ache." Sh smiled at Jube. "I'm okay. My head is stilla little sore and my mother would kill me if sh knew I was out of bed, but I needed to make sure you were okay. Are you okay?" She looked at him with such ernest regard and concern, like it had been he who had been injured and not her.

[duskreaper]

Jube watched the little wolf lap up the milk for a few moments. It was sad to see animals starving. He hoped it would be nursed back to health with Kestral caring for it. Jube looked at Kes for a moment as she spoke. "I wasn't harmed... I was just worried about you. I was scared you wouldn't pull through..." He wondered if she knew he had used powers. He didn't dare ask.

[Lullyn]

She smiled softly at him. "You don't need to worry about me," she said with a smile. "I'm just glad you're okay. It's a little fuzzy." She touched her head where the mark would be under the bandage around her head, as if it pained her. "I don't remember much," she admitted. "Robin had to tell me most. I...." She seemed to be struggling a little. "I went out there after Pepper, he pushed me and I fell and hit my head," she said slowly, as if trying to get a sequence of events right. "Then Robin was there, and you." She looked down at the pup, though mostly to avoid her friend's face. She could remember wanting to protect Jube, but she was only able to cling to him, like some stupid girl in a book, waiting for a white knight to rescue her. Her. The one who had never needed a boy to look after her. She felt ashamed of herself, that she wasn't able to protect him, and that, for a moment, there'd been something very odd but she couldn't reember it, nor name it. Recovering herself, she said, "Robin said that the boys seemed to realise they'd been pretty stupid and that he told them to stay away from me and you so that my father wouldn't find out." She grimmaced. She hated being thought of as a girl, even more so a weak, pathetic, damsel in distress. Even so, she felt she needed to apolgise. "Sorry Jube," she said, looking down at the wolf again, which now it had eaten had flopped into her lap and gone to sleep. "I wanted them to leave you alone, but nearly got you into worse trouble."

[duskreaper]

Jube shook his head, "No, you didn't do anything to get me in trouble. I know you would never do that." He assured her. He felt a bit of relief that she hadn't mentioned Pepper's burns. Clearly Robin hadn't told her, and Jube was glad for that. He wasn't sure he could explain what happened to him. It was also unclear if it would upset Kestral, and he didn't want to risk losing her just to find that information out. "I don't think Pepper will be a problem for me any longer... I stood up to him." Jube wanted her to know at least that bit of information though; she had been telling him to do so all along.

[Lullyn]

Inside her head, she remembered something like that. There was something else, but what was it?
However, she pushed that away to beam at him.
"I'm really proud of you," she said happily. "Seems like you're not going to need me anymore."
She scratched the cub behind it's ears and then looked to the window.
"I better get back before my mother realizes I'm not home," she said, carefully lifting the cub. "She will have a fit when she sees this little guy, but he needs to be taken care of."
She looked at Jube with a smile. "I'm glad you're okay, Jube."
With that, she headed out, back into the woods so her mother wouldn't see her.

[duskreaper]

Jube watched her go. He wanted to shout out 'but I do need you!' but he went against it. He surely would sound desperate, and very silly. He sighed and sat down on his bed alone.

He felt like an intruder in the very village he grew up in. He wasn't from there, and here he was bringing powers the likes of the village hadn't seen before. He was tainting their society, or so he felt.

"It's already tainted..." He muttered to himself as he thought about how cruel the people of the village had been to him all his life.

As it stood, Jube was an untouchable bachelor. He would never marry, or have a family. Everyone felt he was too strange, and that was that. He would be forever alone had it not been for at the very least his friendship with Kestral.

[Lullyn]

Kestral was unable to climb back into her house, so chose to go to the forge instead, where her father and brothers were. Her father was clearly surprised to see her but said nothing about the small bundle in her arms, and at her mute appeal nodded.
"Just go back to your bedroom," he said to her gently.
On entering her house, she was scolded by her mother, who tried to tell her to leave the small wolf outside, but as she had her father's permission, she ignored this, heading to the fridge for more milk and then her room to make a small bed for the cub in the corner of the room. the little cub didn't seem to like this idea and whined and cried when she parted from it, so she sat beside it, letting it climb upon her knee.
She let her head rest back on the wall, her eyes closed as the throbbing in her head increased, but she could not stop her mind thinking. It replayed the blurry image, the goose bumps ran through her as she'd looked at him.
She shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought.

She didn't leave the house for the next 5 days, for her mother was in a foul spirit with her and Kestral didn't want to pay her father back with such. She sat indoors with the wolf, who seemed to have rather taken with her, following her around. Her mother had told her off when she had allowed it to follow her downstairs, but it made such a racket when shut in her room, that her mother conceded.
Still, being at home was hard. She sat by the window of her room, staring out across at Jube's house, sometimes trying to spot him, sometimes watching for Pepper and his gang, but true to his word, and probably still frightened of Jube, Pepper didn't venture near and was mostly alone, kept working hard.
But her troubles were not over.
She'd sent Jube a note, by way of Robin. It only consisted in him knowing she was fine but trying not to vex her parents. It was hard not seeing him, but as well whilst she tried to sort herself out.
The bandage was removed but the stitches were still clear across her head. She admired them in the mirror, for she rather liked the mark across her forehead. It was distinctly different, for her sisters bore scars.
She had gone downstairs on the 5th day evening, for the purpose of fetching the wolf cub some meat to try, when she overheard her name through the kitchen door. She knew it was bad to listen at doors, but they were speaking about her and therefore she decided she had the right to listen.
".....I'm just so worried," her mother was saying. "She hangs around with that boy and then came back, after falling out of a tree, looking like a sheet. Now she has that thing following her about. She wouldn't be able to do so if she were married. She'd have no time for such things, for a husband would keep her in check. Her father indulges her too much."
Kes held her breath. Her mother had not mentioned her intentions again since the day she had ran into the forest, and Kes had the vain hope that she might have given up the scheme, but this reawakened her fears.
She recognized the voice of her second eldest sister, which meant her eldest would be there too.
"But who in the village would want to marry her?" said Sparrow, with teasing disdain in her voice. "She is wild and not delicate. She is hot tempered and loud. No man could want such a wife."
Her eldest sister chastised her, saying that Kestral was a sweet girl who only wanted to focus her passion and caring on a subject. Her mother said that she dearly hoped this was so.
"For," she said, "we cannot keep her forever and sooner or later she will need to make her own way."
There was consent with her sisters, which made Kestral roll her eyes, but she didn't move.
"I received an offer for her hand," said her mother, which was obviously a surprise to her sisters who gasped and called for more details. Kestral remained frozen on the spot, the cub by her feet sat patiently waiting. When the words came, they sped Kestral's feet.

The note found by Robin, when going to check on her but unable to find her, made him puzzled, then panicked. There was a note inside his for Jube, which he paused only long enough to relay to his father, then handed the note to Starling and headed out into the forest to look for her.
Starling, confused but obedient, took the sealed letter to Jube's mother and asked her to pass it on, before hurrying back.
Had Robin thought to read the note which was for Jube, perhaps he would have known her destination, but she had left nothing in the note but a farewell.

The note to Jube was in shaky writing, for she had been unable to prevent herself when writing this.

Jube,

I'm sorry, but I could not wait. I could not come to you and risk being seen. My mother plans to marry me to Pepper.

I have taken some money and my wolf cub and headed North. There is an inn 2 days travel called The Lord's Tavern, which is where I plan to make my way to, and from there decide the next part of my journey.

I am sorry I could not come to you before I left, but I need to be as far away as possible before they realize I'm gone.

Do not fear for me, my friend. Your mother and father will need you and I could not cause them pain, but nor could I not tell you my destination.

Please tell no one of where I have gone. I don't intend to be brought home.

Kes.

[duskreaper]

Jube read the letter, and reread it several times over. He was shocked at her parents, but even more shocked that she was now gone. Worry flooded through him like icy water. He had to make up his mind, but he already knew what he was going to do next.

Packing his important possessions into his large brown satchel, Jube pulled on his dark green cloak. He was off into the night long after the sun had set, and long after his parents had gone to sleep. He walked through the woods, and past the pond he had spent so much time at.

It felt like a dream, like he was going to wake up and be back home in his bed. It seemed so unlikely that he'd ever have a real reason to be leaving home. Now he did. Kestral. She was his best friend, and he was going to find her, because she was the only person worth being around.

It took Jube about a days travel, but finally, he found himself standing outside of 'The Lord's Tavern'. Looking up at the windows, he attempted to spot Kestral, assuming she had made it to the tavern.

[Lullyn]

Kestral had carried the little wolf all the way, stoped only when she needed directions. Moving onward had helped her feel better, for the further she walked, the further from Pepper and her mother she was. She hadn't cried, but she hadn't dared remain. Her note to Jube had been her farewell, or possibly her way of not saying farewell.
She wondered what he would think, her being gone. But he had stood up to Pepper and therefore he could stand up to anyone.
The Lord's Tavern was an interesting inn, full of travelers from all walks of life, and so many species. The funny thing was no one was the slightest bit interested in her. She had coin and purchased her room for 2 nights, and they didn't object to the wolf.
Her first night in a new place wasn't scary, but she fretted for Jube. Would he hate her, or would he just become part of the village. He deserved to be happy and she couldn't remain there and make herself miserable. Pepper would make her life unbearable, which would hurt Jube. Better she was gone.
She descended the steps into the bar, the little wolf now walking close to her side, she sat in the corner and contemplated what was next. She'd never left the village, so what should she do next. She had money, but money could only last so long. She needed to make a choice of direction and start moving. She would write home again, and Jube, once she had gotten far enough away.
She placed the wolf's food on the floor and, taking out a map the inn keeper had provided her, began to pour over it.

[duskreaper]

June walked into the bar and looked around. He noted the various different beings within its walls. For once, he felt normal. For once he wasn't the weirdest one in the room.

Spotting the brunette and her wolf in the corner, he sat down in front of her. He looked her dead in the eyes waiting to see her reaction before speaking.

[Lullyn]

The movement hadn't caught Kestral's eye, for new arrivals were common in the bar, and she had stopped herself to prevent her looking guilty and attracting attention to herself. She didn't want anyone to remember she had been there.
So when Jube sat down and she saw him, she looked confused, surprised, guilty and pale.
She didn't speak, just looked at him as if it would never have occured to her that he might follow her.