It's Not as Terrifying as It Might Seem

7th of Kaien, Mount Isspjót

(A few hours later)

“Do you think they’ll follow us?” Hal looked over the mountain range as best as she could from the mouth of the cave, her vision clouded by the storm that Hrim had started up again, turning everything before her a stark white.

“No, they were lucky Orm did not decimate them. They will not follow.” Hrim stood watch at the cave entrance, his back turned to the rest of them.

“And even if they do,” he reassured, “I will take care of it.”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you, then.” Hal smiled awkwardly before going back into the cave.

She didn’t know if it was the aftermath of fighting in the war, but she couldn’t think lightly of violence anymore. She might have inflicted it before, but never with the intent to kill. Now, however, violence felt… Somehow even more real than it did before, with or without the intent to kill. Hal always knew that if she didn’t control her strength, someone could die. But now she also knew exactly how much ‘lack of control’ it took to kill.

The thought sent a shiver up her spine.

She reconvened with the others at the campfire.

“Oho, convenient, that spell of yours!” Orm said as she looked up at the couple of shards that stood above the fire, dissipating the smoke as it came out. “I never really liked smoke. Its smell always seemed too dense to me.”

“It’s a personal invention,” Fin said, sitting beside the fire. “It’s very inconvenient to leave traces when going on scouting missions.” She looked up to Orm and smiled. “I’ve got one that I use to make the light disappear, too, if you want to see.”

“Interesting! The flame would maintain its properties, though, wouldn’t it? Aren’t you afraid of getting burned?”

“Fortunately,” Fin held up her hands, “These gloves are impervious to fire.” She clicked the tips of her fingers together, proud.

The two of them continued talking, at first starting with a simple exchange of information. They spoke of enemy camps, how they were structured, where some of them were, of their military, and a couple of their generals that Orm knew.

Once they began setting up camp, the conversation became more mundane.

Rei had been and continued to watch the two of them from afar. Her expression was intense, some mix of worried and angry. Eventually, from her own setup, Hal looked over and noticed. She only watched for a moment, confused by the faces Rei made, but eventually rose to her feet. When Rei still didn’t notice her movement, Hal walked towards her.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” She asked, walking up beside Rei and sitting down.

Rei said nothing, only making Hal more confused. Hal could only watch, baffled, as Rei nodded to herself and suddenly stood up, marching straight for Orm.

“I can’t stand it!” Her blue eyes focused down on the dragon, who only looked up, startled.

“Huh…?” She tilted her head. “Can’t stand what?”

“These rags!” Rei reached down, hands clamping down on her shoulders. “You’re adorable, you should wear something nice!”

Rei shook her shoulders, as if completely unaware of the danger she was putting herself in.

“Eh?” But Orm, confused, only met Rei’s sudden aggression with mild concern. “What is it with this all of a sudden?”

“Come with me,” Rei demanded, grabbing hold of Orm and dragging her to a corner of the cave where there was running water.

From the cave entrance, Hrim sighed with relief, glad he was already excused from the situation.

To say that it was magic was putting it lightly, but after several long and arduous minutes, Rei placed the freshly-bathed, spring-scented Orm in front of them, as if setting her out for display.

Orm’s new clothes were one of Rei’s spare sets that she and Hal had bought in Grœnnbýr, and though they hung a little too loosely the dragon’s small frame, they still suited her well enough. The skirt of the red dress left room for her tail to swish behind her, now looking better than ever. Her hair, now also properly brushed, flowed beautifully all around her. Flowing and clean now, its color, or rather, lack thereof, was even more striking than it had been before.

Orm’s newfound elegance contrasted sharply with the look of confusion on her face.

Fin slowly nodded at the improvement, Hal sitting still and looking on with awe.

“Are you perhaps… Mad, Orm?” Hal asked, finally breaking the silence after seeing that the look of utter disbelief engraved on her face was unrelenting.

“What’s there to be mad about?” Orm asked in return, shaking her head, as if trying to dispel her disbelief about what had happened.

The next moment, she cleared her throat, her normal tone of voice returning. “The girl went out of her way to do all this. She should be rewarded instead.” The dragon now sounded as though nothing had happened.

“I was just doing what I wanted…” Rei said meekly from behind Orm, realizing now the multitudes of lines that she might have stepped over. Her face blanched, and Hal wondered briefly if she’d just remembered she’d been dealing with a dragon.

“That’s not enough.” Orm turned to Rei. “If a good deed goes unrewarded, that is a disservice to the world.”

“So,” Orm nodded, “Say what you want.”

Rei was silent, the whiteness in her cheeks regaining their color, and then some, as she grew more obviously embarrassed. With no one looking away from watching her, the blush only worsened.

“I just… I want everyone to be happy…” Rei finally said, fidgeting and looking over at the rest of them.

“Including you?” Orm crossed her arms, watching Rei with an eyebrow raised.

Rei paused, unable to answer. She knew that there were times when she had indulged in her own happiness, but it was never of her own accord.

“Your happiness, idiot.” Orm stomped her leg. “That is just as important. What makes you happy?” She emphasized ‘you’ by reaching over and poking Rei squarely in the chest.

Rei had never really given her own happiness much consideration, at least not that she could remember. Hal had given her the dolls, sure, and she’d done things that she would consider to have created some happy memories for her, but to actively pursue it… That was something different. Until now, all Rei had done was survive, be it from situation to situation or from one day to the other. Especially while it had been only Rei and Hal, she felt like there was never any time or reason to look towards something that she truly wanted to do.

But there were five of them now, Rei realized. Perhaps now it didn’t need to be only about survival, perhaps it was fine to want something more.

But what should she ask for? Putting her index finger on her chin, Rei looked down to her feet and thought, the others, save Hrim, watching on in anticipation.

Rei’s eyes widened as an idea came to mind. The blush came back into her cheeks at full force as she silently stood there. Should she ask…?

No, that’d be far too inappropriate.

And yet -

The others looked on, confused, as Rei waged an internal war with herself, the charming pink in her cheeks deepening and her body unmoving.

Finally, she spoke, “Then… I want you to let me pet you from time to time.” Rei’s face grew one more shade redder as she spoke, still very intentionally averting her eyes. “Your tail, too.”

Rei looked up at Orm, head still tilted down, to watch her reaction.

“Y- You…” Orm stared at her with wide-eyed disbelief, her tail quickly swishing back and forth, her lips trembling slightly as she struggled to find words, but per usual, she quickly forced herself to return to her usual, slightly pompous demeanor.

“Very well,” Orm answered, her chest puffed out and smoothing a stray hair on the side of her head, suddenly with the air of an experienced diplomat. “I have given my word, and I will keep it,” she said proudly.

She turned and moved her tail to be within Rei’s reach.

With a slightly trembling hand, Rei reached out for Orm’s beautiful white tail. She choked back a gasp as her hand made contact, her eyes widening a little more still in shock at how much softer her fur was now that it was clean. Gently, her hand started moving back and forth to pet it.

It wasn’t long before all of Orm’s petite frame was held in Rei’s arms, Rei’s expression one of pure bliss as they sat quietly by the fire and she patted Orm’s hair and tail.

Gradually, the group acclimated to the odd sight, conversation began once more, and eventually Hal asked the obvious question, “Where do you think you’ll go from here, Orm?”

Orm, now relegated to an oversized stuffed animal in Rei’s hands, answered, “I don’t know.”

Orm’s expression turned a bit sour as she thought.

“I was trapped in that cage for a long time. I briefly glimpsed the world outside of it from time to time, but it was usually only to destroy an enemy army or a settlement of innocents.” She frowned as the memories came to her. “The world I’ve come to know through those glimpses became something awful.”

“Hm…” Hal thought, looking into the fire briefly before looking back up to Orm. ”Would you come with us?” She reached out for Orm’s hand.

“We can experience the world together and see that it’s not as terrifying as it might seem.”

The bitterness in Orm's expression faded as she looked at Hal, then at her outstretched hand. She could guess that it wasn’t the proposition that Hal had been considering, that she’d wanted to invite her along to begin with and just had to figure out the right way to ask. Part of Orm suspected it was just so that Hal might have a dragon’s strength on her side, just like the soldiers…

But what if that wasn’t it?

Orm surprised herself as she slowly extended her own to meet Hal’s.

“Alright. I choose to believe in you and your words,” she said, giving the hero’s calloused hand a gentle shake of agreement.