I’ve Never Been One to Really Admire Nature

10th of Kaien, Sauðhéðr pass, the Isspjót mountains

(Three days later)

Since they couldn’t know who or what might be watching them, the group decided to walk on foot for the rest of their journey. Orm volunteered to remain in her humanoid form despite how much faster flying would be, since a dragon-shaped dragon in their traveling party would attract far too much attention. In this youthful figure, she might simply be assumed to be a different, rarer race of beastman.

In particular, it had been quite a while since they’d found even a trace of shapeshifters, putting Fin a bit on edge. She worried that their trail had grown cold, or even worse, that the shapeshifters had learned to hide themselves better than they had before.

The knight had come along with Hal in the first place because she hoped that Hal might attract them to her in some way, but now she wondered if that hope was misplaced.

Still, even if she didn’t understand how, Fin knew that the shapeshifters’ plans had to do with Hal in some way, so she resolved herself to be more vigilant than before.

The sun was high in the sky as they walked through the rough terrain, the Sauðhéðr pass being hardly anything more than a small path that mountain-dwellers often used. It was rural enough that they frequently passed sheep as they stretched over the grass covered patches, the occasional shepherd, far off in the distance, reaching up and greeting the passersby with a wave as they walked.

“Human height is so inconvenient…” Orm mumbled to herself at some point as she tried to see beyond a cliff while they walked, treading on the tip of her toes. She supposed she could just make herself bigger, however, the dragon knew it would require a change of clothes if she grew to surpass Rei's height. Transforming clothes with magic was not as easy as changing one’s body, at least for dragons. One was more of a biological instinct, while the other required actual concentration and consideration.

And even if she did choose to grow, if she stayed within a “normal human size,” she still wouldn’t be able to see much.

“What are you trying to see?” Fin looked over her shoulder to where Orm walked behind her. She knew this area relatively well and had been leading the group already, having passed through this way a couple of times before.

“Anything, really.” She jumped, craning her neck up to try to see, sighing in defeat once back on her feet. “I’m getting bored looking at sheep I can’t eat.”

Where they were on the trail there was no clear view around the pass - it was only rocks for as far the eye could see. Orm could see the slight peak of a mountain made out of solid ice in the background, and nothing beyond that besides rocks, fields, and sheep. It had been the same view for only a few hours, but for someone as starved for freedom as Orm was, it may as well have been eternity.

Wordlessly, Hrim worked his way to stand beside the small dragon, then picked her up, carefully placing her on his shoulders. To the surprise of the onlookers, Orm didn’t protest, though it had seemed as though he’d picked up a cat for a couple of seconds as he’d handled her.

Orm sat up straight, looking to the side, out and over the pass. The excitement gave way to disappointment.

“Hmm, not much better, to be honest,” she said, stretching herself to settle into Hrim’s shoulders, still looking out. “But at least I can see some trees now.”

Orm smiled gently to herself as Hrim kept walking, completely unbothered by her presence.

From behind, Hal leaned over to Rei and whispered, “You know how cats usually pick the person that pays them the least mind?”

Rei burst out laughing.

“In this case it is more like how someone that doesn’t want a pet acts once they get one,” Rei whispered back after her laugh died down, making Hal laugh in turn.

“I can hear you, you know,” Orm called out, looking back at them both, squinting.

Fin turned around at all the hubbub, blinking a few times at the scene now just behind her.

“Treating her a bit like a child, aren’t you?” Fin asked, tilting her head a little to the side.

“She is a child,” Hrim answered without a single ounce of irony in his voice.

“Yeah!” Orm answered, now looking away from the women and to the back towards Fin, crossing her arms and being over a thousand years old. “I’m just a child!”

She didn’t know that to Hrim, who was much, much older than her, she was still just a child.

“You just want to be pampered,” Fin pointed to Orm. “And you’re just spoiling her.” The pointed finger lowered, now accusing Hrim.

“I am older than any one of you,” Hrim retorted, still sounding as matter-of-fact as before, as if he said only the most obvious thing in the world.

“Then, does that mean that we are all kids to you?” Fin stopped, crossing her arms and waiting on him to catch up, smirking.

Without any hesitation, Hrim slowly extended his arm and patted her head. “Yes.”

Fin remained in shock for a couple of seconds as Hrim walked past her, her mouth slightly open, her eyes wide before furiously blushing.

“Anyway,” she said finally, turning on her heels and catching up, back to her previous position in the lead, her desperation to change the topic palpable, “It shouldn’t take that much longer to see the other side of the pass.” She pushed further forward, leaving the others behind.

“She’s embarrassed,” Hal whispered.

“It was the first time her attack was reflected back at her with such force,” Rei snickered. “And so effortlessly!”

“Shut it!” Fin shouted from the front. “I can hear you giggling! I don’t know what you are whispering about, but I know you are!”

“She really is embarrassed,” Rei giggled to Hal before finally letting it go and walking on.

Just as Fin told them as they’d set out earlier, it didn’t take long to reach a valley. As it parted open, the other side of the continent suddenly spread far and wide before their eyes. Acres upon acres of open plains were surrounded by the other side of the mountains. At the base of the mountains on the other side were, and barely perceptible in the distance, a white spire loomed, stretching into the sky, reaching the clouds themselves.

“That is Himinbjörg,” Fin said, pointing to the spire after noting their stares. “And you can see that thin, thin line going from the nearby valley there? That’s our road.”

“Is the capital all the way over there because of the mountains?” Rei asked, holding her hand at her brow to shield her eyes from some of the sunlight.

“That’s part of it, but it has to do more with the current line of kings.” Fin smiled bitterly. “The capital wasn’t really built with people in mind.”

The others looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate, but she just shrugged.

“You’ll understand once you see it.”

Fin continued, pointing out black towers in the distance, “Those are set up by the military to watch the mountains. Each one of them comes with a signal fire. If there is any danger, they will light all the way to the capital.”

“Hmm, the plan of those fools was to take those out first, so I’d think they would pose a pretty credible threat,” Orm said, tapping on Hrim’s shoulder as she thought. She was grateful for his help, but now that she could see on her own, it was time to come down.

In turn, he simply nodded and gently lowered her down after finishing her thought, “Still, there would have been no guarantee that even that might have succeeded.” She straightened out the hem of her dress once standing on her own again.

“What are you trying to say?” Fin asked, watching the dragon as she began to walk towards a little patch of trees, her hand reaching for the foliage.

“Nothing more than what’s already apparent. Don’t worry about it.” Orm continued on her way, waving her hand to let Fin know to let go of the idea, still looking at the trees.

“It’s mysterious,” Orm mumbled, touching one of the leaves, the bright gold in the center, with a warm red creeping towards it along the edge. “I’ve never been one to really admire nature.” Her hand traced along the leaf’s edge. “... But I guess anything can change.”

She stepped back, examining as the light passed through the leaves, their soft yellowed glow accentuating the colors of autumn, creating a kaleidoscope of warm colors. A couple of times as she looked, a bird sang somewhere in the distance, its song reminding Orm of days long passed.

“A long time ago, there was a little one that dragged me everywhere with her. She showed me leaves and frogs and rocks with so much excitement.” She pulled them back and looked at her hands.

“Whenever I see or hear the forest now, I think of her,” she continued reminiscing. “The very idea of nature seems to overlap for me with those memories.”

Orm peered at the sky, seeming lost in thought as she watched a wispy cloud dance across the bright blue sky.

“Maybe that’s why I haven’t liked nature much for a long time,” she murmured.