Tranquility amidst chaos

A few very awkward days passed since Mitus's confession. Emotions were running wild for everyone and my head is starting to hurt from everyone's scent. Mitus, Amaya and myself are trying to avoid each other out of embarrassment and other complicated feelings. Elbereth and Kem seem to be on edge when in close quarters of each other. I swear Sheldon is hitting puberty due to her mood swings and pheromones. Pearl is sporadic as always. Maddie is missing yet again due from her own hormones. Olive is tense for some reason. Dre is extra hungry due to a growth spurt so he is smelling different in general. The only two that are not effected by the smell chaos is Arata and Leaf. 

This might be the reason I unconsciously followed them into the forest today. They are up wind and I'm a decent distance away from the two so I doubt they know I'm back here.

They walk in silence only to stop to look at rocks, small plants and trees. Leaf is not as timid when he is alone with Arata. Probably since Arata is a more quiet than Pearl or the rest of us. They stop again examining a diseased plagued tree. If Arata had pointy ears he would look like an elf with his silver hair and dark eyes. 

Arata puts his hand on Leaf, soon a white and green aura dances around the two. The tree snaps and creaks as dead branches fall and new ones grow. When they stop glowing they step back to look at the freshly healed tree. They then smile at each other pleased with their work.

I follow them deeper into the forest. They continue to walk in silence while stopping here or there to inspect different trees.

I hear flapping of dragon wings coming from a long ways off behind me. It sounds like a thunder of them, no less than ten.

"Well should we show him?" Arata quietly asks Leaf.

"I think I'm ready." Leaf replies.

The ground shakes below me and vines and trees form a high back chair under me.

"What the?" I say in shock. My body didn't react to get away so there is no intent to harm me. I look up to see Arata and Leaf going to walk past me on either side.

"Leaf has something to show you." Arata says walking past me while tapping his hand on my shoulder. "So sit back and enjoy the show."

Once they are behind me the chair turns. I watch them disappear into the shadows of the forest. Looking up I see the thunder of dragons is now upon us. There are ten in total. Various colors of green, red and yellow scaled dragons form a V shape in the sky. Their riders are armed to the T with poaching weapons and cages. 

Long vines shoot up grabbing the back four dragons by their snouts. Quietly they drag them down to the forest without the front six noticing. 

The six still flying are right above me now. Till more vines grab four more and trees grow way too fast blocking their flight path. This causes choas in the front ranks. The riders shout commands to their missing raid members. Their faces turn to horror when they realize they are the only two left in the sky. With many swear words they try to flee the way they came. More vines shoot up grabbing one dragon by the tail and another by a wing to drag them down with the other raiders.

I get up following the scent of Leaf and Arata til I find them. All ten raiders are bound together around a large tree. Leaf has the ten medium sized dragons pinned to the ground with vines. The dragons are covered in old scars. Arata is cutting the saddles and other equipment attached to them.

"You're free now." He whispers to them as he continues to cut them free.

"These are our masters! We are fierce fighters! We serve them to our deaths!" Many of them shout this phrase over and over.

My heart sinks knowing they are under the master contract that can't be broken til death. I slowly look over my shoulder at the bound humans. A fireball of anger builds in my gut from what they did to the dragons.

Leaf moves to stand between me and the raiders. There is determination in his eyes. 

"No deaths." He says.

"They hurt them." I rebuttal.

"I know. But killing is not the answer." Says Leaf.

"Then we let these worthless guys go for them to hurt these dragons more?" I hiss.

"One day they could change if shown the right thing to do." Leaf is trembling a little.

I need to not scare Leaf anymore.

"Don't worry we place a memory block spell on all of them and send them down the river in a boat. The dragons will follow shortly behind." Arata says coming up from behind me. He places a hand on my shoulder. "It's all we can do til Kem finds a way to break the contract."

I take a deep breath to calm my rage. Then take a second one since the first breath was not enough. "Very well."

Leaf makes a wooden boat out of his magic and sets the tied up men into the boat with vines. I then watch Arata give them new memory's of the last 30 minutes of their lives. Then with a small kick the raiders are sent down the river. After a little while the dragons are cut loose to follow their masters.

We head back to camp very quietly. We walk in silence til Arata speaks up.

"Well now that you have calmed down. Care to tell Leaf how amazing he is?" 

"I was blinded by rage. I'm so sorry Leaf!" I cling to Leaf's neck. Maybe Pearl is rubbing off on me too much. "You were so cool taking down that whole thunder! But first that chair had amazing detail and comfort! Back to the thunder! Your vines were all 'fssshh!' and 'bam!' and they were all 'ahhhh!' It was amazing! You have gotten so strong and cool!"

"I have? You think I'm strong and cool?" Leaf asks bashfully.

"Yes!" I hug him tighter.

"I think Arata is cooler since he can help amplify my magic." Says Leaf.

"Sure he is cool too." I say leaning back to pat the green dragon on the head.

Arata smiles at us both as we all walk back to camp. Once back at the edge of camp we see everyone gathered around. Amaya is crying while Elbereth hugs her. Kem is mumbling something under his breath. Dre amd Maddie are blocking our view a little. Sheldon is pacing back and forth. Mitus is on his knees beside Pearl, their healing magic entwined of blue and white glow cast an eerie glow over Olive's limp green tail.

"It's poison." Mitus announces.