“My lady! Your food is ready!” the woman called from the kitchen.
“Ah, yes, you travel with the Qatu,” Josiah said. “We are all…curious about your companion, is all. None of us have ever seen a Qatu, at least not a live one.”
“Nor are you likely to again,” Gin said curtly. This human was a bit too interested in Sath and potentially her, and she had to get away from the guilt—and memories—he called up in her of Dorlagar. “Sathlir is – well, Qatu are not adventurous, as a rule. None of his people are likely to journey this far from home. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to see about our food. It was a pleasure to meet you, Josiah,” she said, again extending her hand. He took it and squeezed her fingers tightly as he brought her hand to meet his lips.
“Not going to let you get away that easily, Gin,” he said, looking up at her through the fringe of hair that had escaped the leather thong at the nape of his neck. His eyes cut through her, burning into her soul and releasing another crushing wave of guilt at her part in Dorlagar’s death. “I hope to see you around the inn before we both go our separate ways.”
Gin nodded politely and retrieved her hand from his, and then dashed to the kitchen where the young woman was waiting with a pack of food, wrapped in cream-colored paper and tied up with a bit of twine. “That’s for the road, love,” she said and then handed Gin another pack that was still quite warm. “That’s for now. I hope you enjoy it.” The food smelled so good that Gin almost kissed the woman for giving it to her. She smiled broadly, thanked the woman, and then headed back to the room she shared with Sath. Something was very wrong here—not only was the Mother Dragon apparently repopulating this side of the world with dragons and dragonkind, but a member of Dorlagar’s family turns up in the very inn where they stop? That was no coincidence. This had to be another trap like the prison—was any of this real? The food certainly smelled real enough, though, and Gin’s growling stomach agreed. She hurried along back to the room and Sath.
Sath tried to remain calm, but his mind was wandering down the worst-case scenario paths with such wild abandon that he was barely able to stay seated and relaxed. She had been gone far too long in his estimation—and there were dragonkind all over the inn. Sath did not trust them as far as he could throw them at when it came to Gin’s safety, but he was especially concerned about that one male who clearly had human ancestry. After all, that rotten excuse for a knight Dorlagar had been human, hadn’t he? The scent was familiar, even if it wasn’t him behind the bar. Clearly, Gin had a soft spot for the race, considering how much mercy she had shown him. But that was just her nature, Sath chided himself. She gave everyone in her life more chances to hurt her than they deserved, himself included, and often that was exactly what they did in return. He derailed that train of thought before it arrived at the wizard, and instead focused on her small, constant presence in the back of his mind, searching for any slight hint that she was nearby. When he heard the familiar sound of her leather boots hitting the stone floor, he breathed a sigh of relief that, at his core, was a happy roaring purr. She opened the door only moments afterward.
“Sath?” she asked as she looked at him. “Are you okay?”
Sath took a deep breath and started to answer her, but the scent that filled his nose stopped him before the first word left his lips. Human? Well, of course, so many of the dragonkind here were half-human, why wouldn’t she have that scent on her? But no, it was more than that. He took another breath to try and sort out where he had smelled that before. “Yeah,” he replied absently. “I’m fine.”
“You will not believe who I met while waiting for the food!” As she moved closer to him, the strange scent intermingled with Gin’s own sunflowers and Sath was finding it hard to concentrate.
“You were gone a long time,” he said. “I was starting to worry.”
“Bah, I’m fine. I’m not so worried about a bunch of dragonkind,” Gin scoffed. “But I can’t wait to see what that lovely young lady in the kitchen has made for us, it smells divine!”
“So…who did you meet downstairs?” Sath asked as he tried to isolate the strange scent coming from her. Suddenly a memory hit him in the face like a well-placed swing of a club. His worst fears coalesced into staggering detail. Sath sprang from the bed and grabbed Gin by her shoulders, burying his face in her neck and hair and inhaling deeply. A growl rumbled through his torso. “Dorlagar…” he hissed.
“Not exactly…but certainly a relative of his—Sath? What’s wrong?” Sath was still staring through her, his eyes clouding over with bloodlust as his nostrils filled with the scent of Dorlagar, the human that hurt Gin so many seasons ago. “Sath!” He was gripping her shoulders so hard that he almost cut through the leather tunic she wore with his deadly claws. “Sath put me down,” she said through gritted teeth. A tiny rivulet of bright red blood ran down each of her arms as Sath’s claws broke her skin. “Sath…you are hurting me…”
Sath met her gaze, and the need to hurt and kill fade slowly from his teal eyes. “Gin…oh, na’hina!” He released her, and then backed away from her. “I’m sorry.”
“I know,” Gin said as she tried the most potent healing magic she knew, but nothing happened.
