Chi

I should have left when she gave me the chance.

“There are many hooded wanderers who save others without expecting anything in return,” he told her. “Why would you think I'm that one straight away?”

“Because I know elves don't like to lie and you didn't deny it as soon as I asked.” She grinned as he turned to face her and gestured flippantly at Yokanna. “That, and because most of them don't walk around with pet dragons.”

She's got a point.

“Don't worry, I won't tell anyone,” she said, patting his arm. He flinched. “I promise.”

“Why do you want to know?” he murmured.

“Same reason anyone would want to know.” She shrugged. “And you'd be the second person I want to meet most in the whole world.”

Who's the first?

Yokanna bumped his shoulder with her head as if sensing his desire to flee.

“Can you at least tell me your name then?” Disappointment dulled the spark in her green eyes, making them match her forest green lightweight jacket even more. “I'm Chi.”

She doesn't trust me enough to share her full name yet. I can't say I blame her. A single name can turn freedom into captivity in a heartbeat.

“It's Lingshi,” he said, taking a step towards Yokanna. “As I said before, please be careful on the side roads. The Wardens tend to patrol the main roads more often, so it would be safer to travel that way.”

She didn't say anything but her dissatisfaction seeped into their surroundings like wine on a shirt, staining him in the process. He turned away from her and placed a hand on his travelling companion's long white neck, fighting down a promise he had no need to keep. But before he could pull himself up onto her back and fly away, Yokanna groaned wearily and deflated with a soft popping noise.

“That was too much, wasn't it?” he murmured as he caught her true form in his palms. “I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time.”

“Why did the dragon shrink?” asked Chi, peering at her around his arm.

“She's used up too much soul-ma,” he replied, placing the pocket-sized creature on his shoulder.

“Soul-ma? You mean soul-magic, right?” Her expression brightened again like the sun peeking out from behind a cloud.

Have humans always finished their mandatory training that young?

He nodded. “She won't be flying for a while now.”

“Does that mean you'll have to walk?” she asked at once. He nodded again, slower this time. “I'll walk with you. Where are you going?”

“To the Huoi-Kin Road,” he said. “Hopefully we'll get there in time to catch the late morning carriage.”

“The carriage?” Her steps faltered before she caught up with him. “With other people?”

“I expect there will be others but not as many as there would have been in the early morning one,” he said, glancing at the position of the sun to get his bearings.

“Okay,” she mumbled, sheathing her dagger within her jacket. Black straps crossed her torso and waist over a grey tunic. “Which way are you heading Tiru- Huoi or Muzai?”

“Carriages on the Huoi-Kin Road only ever travel in one direction,” he told her. “If I was heading to Muzai, I would have taken the Shu-Mu route instead.”

“Oh I see,” Chi gulped. “I mean I forgot. It's been a while since I looked at a map. Too many names to remember.”

“If you intend to travel, you might want to invest in a map of Kinshu at the very least,” he said as they entered a woodland area close to the midline of the Light giant region. “Or perhaps a friend who knows the area.”

“I do know the area,” she said clearing her sullen undertone with a cough. “So is it normal then? For dragons to change size like that?”

“No,” he replied, weaving tirelessly between the trees and holding low hanging branches out of her way.

“You said she was a partial dragon, didn't you?” she mused aloud. “Does that have something to do with it?”

The more I tell her, the more questions she has. And the less she knows about us, the better it will be for everyone.

“It does,” he said, tickling Yokanna under the chin before the creature crawled into his hood and curled up in his hair.

Chi's curiosity turned him into a pin cushion of unspoken questions but he held his tongue as they continued walking uphill towards the Huoi-Kin Road that would take them out of Kinshu and into the land of the Light dragons.

The absence of sleep started off as an irritating whisper at the back of his mind and a tingling feeling at the tips of his extremities. But the longer they walked, the more the sunlight began to feel too warm, the subtle sounds seemed louder than they should have been, and everything seemed covered in a faint white haze

“Are you okay?” she asked when they were almost there, her tone reflecting an impressive degree of concern for someone who had been ready to stick a knife into his armpit less than an hour ago.

“Why do you ask?” He smiled and his fingers brushed against his mask yet he did not pull it down.

Is it that obvious? I thought I could hide things very well. Perhaps I've started to rely on this piece of cloth a bit too much.

“I just thought you might have come from Muzai since you said you're not heading there now,” she said, clearly trying to look at him without being obvious about it. “I know most folks don't like to go there, especially elves.”

“I have been there before,” he admitted as they broke free from the treeline, squinting in the sunlight that highlighted the messy tufts of her brown hair. “But it doesn't have what I'm looking for.”

“What are you looking for?” His words swept aside the disgruntled expression that appeared as soon as she caught sight of the road.

He hesitated. “Books.”

“Books?”

“Mm-hm.”

“What kind of books?”

“All kinds,” he replied, stopping at the roadside.

The warm powdery scent of mud and stone that had been trampled flat by hundreds of feet, then later cobbled with large grey stones by artisan giants, never failed to make his heart beat a little easier. Even if it did sometimes induce a cough.

“Why are you looking for those?” asked Chi as he sat down cross-legged on the grass, crouching next to him.

“Time may be a great teacher,” he said. “But books can provide a much needed concise service most of the time.”

“Oh,” she said, dragging the vowel sound out. “So you want to learn stuff quickly? I get that.”

If I ask her anything about herself, she might mistake my pursuit of a fulfilling conversation for an attempt to bond. That being said, she seems strangely satisfied by this this one-sided line of questioning.

“I thought the Dark elves were finally returning to Muzai.” She plucked some grass-stems close to her brown boots. “It's been a few hundred years since that disaster, right? And it hasn't happened again since, so I thought you all might've decided to go back there and have your own place again.”

“That would take a lot of communication,” he murmured, fingers tightening around handfuls of his black robe. “And, like you said, it's rare to see a Dark elf, let alone talk to one.”

“Even amongst yourselves?” Her brows raised.

“You sound surprised for someone who seems to have a decent understanding of the guardian races,” he said with a lifeless chuckle.

“If I didn't know at least that much about the races that protect us all, I couldn't call myself a human,” she said. “Not with pride.”

“I assume that means you've completed your mandatory education then?” The clip-clop of horse hooves and the clatter of wooden wheels upon stone reached his ears.

“Yeah, I finished that a long time ago.” She blinked questioningly as he stood up and only seemed more confused after looking both ways to scan the road.

“A long time ago?” Doubt slipped into his tone.

“A long time for me,” she shot back, swallowing hard as she stood up too. “Maybe not for an elf. How old are you anyway?”

“Don't you know it's rude to ask the guardian race their age?” He suppressed a smile despite his mask as he made sure it was secure around his face.

“Oh, is it?” She half covered her mouth with the back of her palm.

“No,” he said, lifting his right hand. “Here comes the carriage.”

“Why you –” she growled as a dark brown carriage outlined by soft yellow inscriptions rolled to a stop in front of them, bearing the multicoloured flag of Shi-Kai.

“Are you both getting on?” asked the driver's customary guard, peering down at them from the right side of the front seat.

“Are you sure?” Lingshi glanced at his companion as she nodded. “We might not stop until we reach Tiru-Huoi.”

“I was on my way out of Kinshu anyway,” she said, dusting off the back of her clothes.

He nodded first at her, then at the driver's guard, who clambered down from the front seat and slid open the door at the rear of the carriage which was more than twice his height.

“Thank you,” said Lingshi, holding out his arm.

Chi echoed his gratitude and glanced furtively at his face before allowing him to help her climb into the carriage. While on the outside it appeared to be the length of a stallion, its interior was triple in size. The soul-magic that had been infused into the wood and paper-screens that covered most of the lattice work was a beautiful testament to the combined artistry of both dwarves and elves.

Did he make this one himself?

The dwarf closed the sliding door with a soft grunt and returned to the driver's side, leaving him and Chi to find an empty space amongst the other passengers. Some of whom eyed his hood and mask suspiciously as he walked down the aisle between the two cushioned rows.

“There,” whispered Chi, pointing to a spot between an old man and a giant with a minimising-paper talisman clenched in one hand.

They sat down and his companion scanned the carriage as if she had never been inside one before.

“Do you have family in Tiru-Huoi?? he asked she ran her fingertips over the plum and gold brocade cushion beneath them.

“No.” She shook her head.

“Then are you visiting friends there?”

On the row opposite them, positioned further along, a young man and a wolf-human mixed blood watched them as they spoke quietly among themselves.

“Is it just me or does she look uncomfortable?” murmured the human as Chi shook her head.

“Maybe” grunted the mixed blood. “But I'm sure she chose to sit with him.”

“How do you know it's a him?” He lifted his chin knowingly after the latter tapped himself on the snout. “Aaah.”

“Questionable company might be better than no company,” continued the wolf-human. “Especially with all these folks going missing lately.”

“It's not something she has to worry about though,” said the young man. “Or us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard it's only Dark elves going missing.”