The Guy

"Who the heck are you!?" I squeal while grabbing at the blanket that is on me.

"Let me introduce myself." The old man stands as if weak in the knees, clinging to his staff with a firm grip he gets his feet under himself. "I am Guy!" He holds his arms out gesturing to the cave surroundings.

"O-kaaaaay?" I'm wondering how the heck he got past Sheldon.

"Thats just a thing he does." Sheldon says laying beside me barely bothering to open his eyes to glace over at us.

"I'm sure you have heard of me." He grins. Then he about falls when he goes to sit back down.

"A little bit?" I reply. I look down at the blanket and clothes I'm in. "Did you dress me by chance?"

"I did do that." He strokes his beard. "So summoned one, you about died from poison. How are you feeling now?"

"Poison?!" I gasp.

"Yea you did it to yourself unfortunately." Guy sighs while I side eye Sheldon. Sheldon looks the other way and pretends to sleep. "Don't worry, I explained to little Sheldon there the mishap so it won't happen again. Unless you're the careless one. Oh I did meet up with your summoner a few days ago now."

"Summoner... You mean Kem?!" I ask wide eyed in hopes that we are close to Sonja's place.

"Yea, poor boy should be home by now. He lost his way stone in the flower field during our talk." Guy says staring deep into the fire.

"Wait. Is he alright? What did you talk about? Not that it's any of my business, unless it was about me. Does that mean we are close to Sonja's? Do you know the way?" I ramble my whole thought process.

Guy stares vacantly into the fire. I wait for an answer that doesn't seem like its coming. Crawling forward I wave my hand infront of him. It takes a second but he jolts back to reality.

"What was the question?" He asks looking at me.

"Is Kem alright?" I ask.

"Oh yes. He should know his main purpose for fighting by now." Guy's gaze drifts back to the fire.

"Purpose?" I ask loosing Guy to the fire again.

"Yes... You both... didn't have a purpose... to bring down... Gilton and Tundra... Now... you do." He starts to blank out more.

"Is he always like this?" I whisper to Pearl.

"He started acting funny when the fire got lit." Pearl states.

"He was worse before the fire." Says Sheldon, still not looking at me.

"Worse?" I murmur to myself. I'm able to stand up so I held the sheet up between Guy and the fire.

Guy snaps out of his trance. "Oh silly me, I must have dozed off. You asked about purposes." Guy then points to each of the dragons starting with Sheldon. "You're still missing a few but they will show up with time."

"Do you mean Kem found a dragon too?" I ask, happy for the boy.

"No, sadly his purpose is not as kind as yours but the end will work out if you both destroy the kingdom and then rebuild it. But don't destroy it beyond the point of repair."

"Do I have to stick around for the rebuild part?" I ask. "I kinda don't belong here in this world."

"I suppose you would feel that way. Know this though, you do have a place here." Guy smiles up at me.

I start to drop the sheet and we start loosing Guy's attention. So I hoist it back up to get the rest of my questions answered.

"So you talked to Kem about purposes? Anything else?" I asked.

"That we did. Along with you should find your girl friend's home in about a week." Guy strokes his beard some more.

"She's not my girlfriend!" I shout holding my fists to my sides trying not to punch him. When I did this it brought the sheet down, Guy got a blank stare into the fire again. "I'm giving up."

I sit down next to Sheldon. My old clothes were folded behind me. Rummaging through my pants pockets I found my dad's lighter. I hold it to my chest, happy that its by me. Looking outside the cave I see it's night time. My rumbling stomach interrupts the peaceful sound of a crackling fire.

"I know you haven't ate in three days but dang Ragon! That was loud!" Pearl says bounding over to a pile of nuts and berries on a leaf. "Sheldon spent a lot of time gathering this for you! I hope you thank her and enjoy it!"

"Thank you!" My mouth speaks before my brain could process what was said. 

Her? Pearl probably said that wrong.

"Yea no problem." Sheldon says getting up. "I'm going fishing."

"Alright." I say grabbing the leaf and pulling it closer to munch on some purple berries. I will say I miss food from my world but Sheldon worked hard to get me this.

"Wow she is so reliable." Pearl says now hanging off my shoulder.

"She really is. She even caught a rat for me. I did see her pretty grossed out carrying it back. I really should find away to repay Sheldon." Olive adds. Dre nods in agreement.

"Why do you keep saying her?" I ask grabbing Pearl to look her right in the eyes.

"Because she is?" Pearl looks at me, confused. Then she drops her voice to a loud whisper. "Did you think Sheldon was a boy this whole time?"

"Did not!" I try back pedaling. I look to Guy hoping by chance he could help me out. A bead of sweat drips down the side of his face as he ignores me in my self dug hole. That swear word!

I mean she never corrected me. Then again I never have refered to her as a him outside my head. Plus I don't know the first thing about identifying dragons. You know what. I was being polite by not looking! Ya!

"Well we can't blame a human for not knowing. As Granny would say 'Them poor things can't smell pheromones.'" Pearl nods happy with her education lesson.

You're telling me, you can only tell by a smell. A smell that only the same species can smell. To top it off, a smell humans can't even supposedly smell.

I look over at Guy. He has a "she has a point face" while still in a trance by the fire. I drop Pearl but she starts to fly around on her clouds. 

Sheldon strolls back into the cave with a fish in her mouth.

"Here. For you." She says dropping the flopping fish in front of me.

"Thanks." I say staring at her.

"What?" Sheldon asks eyeing me back. In a split few seconds my brain is able to recall girls at school acting the way Sheldon does. Now it makes sense.

"N-nothing... Well, are you happy with your name?" I ask.

"I like it. Smart creatures get this name so it's mine right?" Sheldon asks.

You know what. She is happy with her name so I'm not going to push anymore.

"I think its a good fit too." I smile at her.

"Is Sheldon a bo-" I clamp down on Pearl's snout with my left hand.

"Sheldon is a name given to all the smart animals at the shelter I worked at. And it suits Sheldon just fine. Right Pearl?" I ask the rhetorical question. While also staring her down bug eyed. All in hopes she can read the room.

Pearl wiggles free. "I can't picture her with any other name." Pearl says tackling Sheldon.

"Get off!" Sheldon snaps at Pearl but Pearl tumbles, pushes and giggles at Sheldon.