“Serves you right for laughing at me!” Catherine chimes in, as Anthony stops coughing, and begins scraping his tongue with his teeth. “Someone… Help me. Not Ant.”

Laughing helplessly, Merce scrabbles past Anthony and into the bedroom. From there she begins helping pick up the scattered clothes and placing them on the bed for Catherine to repack. “How much more do you need to pack?”

Catherine pulls the panties off her head, and gives them to Merce. “Just this stuff, again. I think I shouldn’t have just dumped my clothes in. Cause.” she gives Merce a tshirt that had landed on her lap, and looks at where the rest of the clothes had landed. In a low voice, she says to Merce “Don’t tell him he was right about the bag not staying shut though.”

Tossing the underwear and shirt quickly onto the growing pile of clothes, Merce cleared her throat with embarrassment and nodded. “I won’t say a word.” 

Grinning, Catherine gets up and gives Merce a quick hug, dropping a bra off the bed in the process, then picking the lingerie back up and adding it to the growing pile. “For that, you get a girly shopping day. With Chuckles as the packhorse.” Which only got a distracted affirmative sound from the lounge.

Merce returned the hug, then laughed delightedly. “Haven’t had a girls day in years!” Looking towards the pile of clothes, Merce began folding those she could to make them all fit. After so many years living on the road she’d gotten good at playing tetris with her belongings. At the same time, Catherine flitted around the room, putting clothes on the pile, so Merce didn’t have to move.

“Ant, will you bring my socks back?” calls Catherine the exact moment Merce reaches for, and picks up one of her bras.

“Sure, but why would you… Uh…” says Anthony, appearing round the door with the socks in hand, then seeing the scene, dropping the socks where he stood and heading straight back out of the bedroom, with the ends of his ears red.

“Because that.” giggles Catherine, grabbing a skirt and throwing it onto the pile.

Giggling as Anthony all but did a turnabout at the sight, Merce rolled her eyes. “Men. You’d think I’d been holding a grenade or something. How much more needs to fit in here?”

Catherine grabbed the socks Anthony had dropped, and then all but dropped them a second later, after looking for, and not seeing, the clothes hamper, with a disgusted look on her face. “I think these are too damp to wear now they have been used for defense of my honor. But the things that didn’t fly out as well as the pile. And this.” she puts a rather cute looking headscarf that had landed over a picture until she retrieved it onto the pile, and then stood next to Merce. “Tell me what to do, oh Packing Master.”

“Big things always go on the bottom, pants on one side and shirts on the others. Smaller objects like socks, underwear, and bras fit in the cracks. Your bathroom bag goes on top, and anything in it that makes it to bulky fits into cracks as well.” She instructed, showing Catherine what she meant as she spoke. “I like using the air bags, myself, but we can make do without them.” 

“Ant, bring me my toothbrush.” Catherine whimpered.

“We can get toiletries and things like that on the road.” Anthony says flippantly, in an attempt to not step into the bedroom again, the sound of his backpack zipping up a second later. “That is all my stuff though.”

Catherine gave a small  dismissive wave to Anthony, and worked with Merce to pack the bag, until she screwed her face up, as if she had remembered something. Pulling her cell out for a second, she sends a text and then puts her phone back away, then getting stuck in again. “Asking for a few days off. I have them saved up.”

At Catherine's words, Merce pulled out her own phone to see if her boss had gotten back with her. Nothing. “Huh, well I guess once you get your days off we’re set?” Merce asked, loud enough for Anthony to hear.

“Huhwhat?” Anthony says from the sofa, wondering what was going on.

“Yeah. If we can get Ant out of his apparent trance.” Catherine says, getting the sound of a horn blowing for quitting time out of her phone and reading the text quickly. “I have enough days saved to get at least a week off.” she smiles, before reading the next section. “Luanne… Geez.” she mutters, putting a hand to the pile and finding nothing. “Is that everything?!”

Merce nodded and hummed. “Somehow, I don’t want to know what Luanne said.” She mused. “But yeah, that’s everything.” 

“Just to close this thing then… Ant! Come in here!” Catherine says, then announces.

“Is it safe this time?” he asks, from just outside of the field of vision.

“Safer. Merce isn’t holding my underw-” she begins saying, wriggling her eyebrows at Merce to communicate something in girl code.

“As long as we can go soon.” he grumps, stepping in and seeing the bag, full and ready, but still open. “Oh.” However, on entry, he realises his mistake, when he gets the double oversized eyes of Merce and Catherine at the same time.

“Help.” Merce asked desperately, motioning to the bag. 

“Please.” Catherine asks just as desperately, motioning to the bag, and pressing the side of her face to Merce’s, in an attempt to make the big eyes more potent.

“Hngh. I am defeated. By traitorous women.” Anthony complains slightly playfully, going round the bed away from them, and closing the bag, holding it shut. “Get the locks?”

“Traitorous?! Your the man in this relationship, what good are you if you can’t even close a bag?” She teased, leaning forward to pop the locks closed. 

Sputtering, Anthony looks straight at Merce, who he was eye to eye with, then looking at Catherine, who was just smiling slyly, then back to Merce, as the tips of his ears reddened again. “You could have done this without my help. And without the eyes too!”

“Maybe, but where’s the fun in that?” Merce asked, faux innocently.  

“It’s almost like he can’t handle us.” Catherine teases, bending forward to lean over Merces shoulders and meet her boyfriends eyes as well.

“Evil. Women.” Anthony mutters, straightening up, and rolling the bag so it was handle up, and grabbing it, then trying to lift it, but getting only as far as the floor. “What you got in here, an entire wooden wardrobe?!”

“All my clothes here, except one pair of socks, the strappy shoes you like, and a few headbands.” Catherine says quickly, moving away from Merce, taking the handle and somehow picking up the bag effortlessly. “I thought you were strong though, Ant?”

“Apparently not strong enough to carry womens clothes.” he grumps, sarcastically.

Merce snorted a laugh, flicking her gaze from one to the other as they snarked. “And you never will be.” 

“Where are those socks you used on me?” Anthony asks, flicking a glare at Merce, but getting a completely innocent face from Catherine for an answer. “I think Me-”

“You will not. Sock. Merce.” Catherine says determined. “Doing so will lose you snuggle privileges.”

Exhaling, Anthony quits and leaves the bedroom while he is behind, followed by Catherine, then Merce. After accumulating their stuff together by the front door, Catherine goes out to bring her car round to in front of the apartment, leaving Anthony and Merce on their own.

“You two ready for this?” Anthony asks Merce, grabbing his jacket and slipping it on.

Merce looked towards her stuff and breathed in deeply to fortify herself. “Not really? Maybe?” She muttered, moving to pick up her backpack to swing it over her shoulders. “Honestly, I never thought I’d ever hear about another dragon, more-less actually seek them out. But, here we are! So,”giving a jerky nod she grabbed the rest of her items in preparation of taking them to the car “let’s go.”

“Grabbing his own backpack and his duffel, Anthony raises an eyebrow. “And how does Amphora feel about it? She has been a little quiet. Norm-”

“Amphora is...not sure how she feels. I think a part of her is excited to meet another of her own kind, while also frightened about what they’ll think of her. You know, because of the whole Sree, burning and killing thing. But, I keep telling her we’ve got to actually find them first. So not to get her, or my, hopes up.” 

“Well they don’t have to know about that. They might not even know much about each others actions. And the past is where it is.” Anthony says quietly, as his phone makes the noise to indicate a text from Catherine. “She says she is outside, and to bring her bag down. You want to carry that?”

Smiling slightly, Merce sighs. “Yeah, let’s hope so.” Grabbing her rolling bag with one hand, she grabs Catherine’s as well and starts towards the door. Once there, she paused and looked at Anthony over her shoulder. “Thank you.” Without another word she starts from the apartment and to the car, with Anthony closing the door and following a step behind. Once there, she opened the passenger door. “Where do these bags go? All in the trunk?” 

“Except small bags, yup.” Catherine says after turning down the radio, hitting the trunk release. “Who wants back seat?”

Anthony offers to take Merces backpack, and swaps for his duffel, after putting his own backpack into the car. Catching a small yawn from the Dragon, he says to Catherine quietly “Merce on back seat.”

Grumbling about being relegated to the back seat, though it probably was more comfortable, Merce took the duffel and put it in the back alongside her own suitcase. In the trunk was also some sweets, including multiple kit-kats. Laughing, Merce closed the trunk and got into the backseat. “So are the sweets where you got your nickname?” She asked, settling in. 

As Anthony gets in the passenger seat and passes Merce back her backpack, Catherine chuckles. “From Ant’s silly sense of humour. He thinks its funny I have a sweet tooth. Though somehow, he knows people that sell foreign Kit Kats in bulk. One of the perks to dating him.” she teases.

“There are many perks to dat- Oh.” Anthony says, in an attempt to defend himself, then realizing. “Can we just go?” he grumps, with Merce laughing at him, and Catherine starting the car rolling.

“We are off on adventure!” Catherine sings cheerily, then saying to Anthony quietly “Where are we going?!”

“What are you doing?”

The question ran through the back of Wrens mind as he purchased an old water trough from a local farmer. In response a devilish grin crossed his face after he thanked the farmer and walked away bearing his prize. 

“You’ll see.”

“I sense that you are up to no good again.” 

“You know me too well my friend.”

Of course Suibien knew exactly what Wren was up to he was his dragon after all and they had been together for a very long time. The way the dragon expressed his question was clear as day, asking a question that he already knew the answer too was a way he often voiced his displeasure. It wasn’t that Suibien minded Wrens antics, in fact he was quite used to them, rather he always worried about the consequences.  

“You know we don’t have much money right?”

“So thats what you're worried about?”

“Someone has to take care of us, money makes the world go ‘round these days. It's not like we can trade a fine linen for a donkey anymore and then trade that donkey for a spot on a ship. We also most certainly cannot fly across the sea’s with ease any more either. Not with radar anyway.”

“Heh.” The thought of him riding a donkey up to a modern dock and offering to exchange it for passage caused Wren to chuckle inwardly. He could only imagine the look on a captains face if he did that, they would surely think he was a lunatic. The thought was still packed with temptation though, he wanted to see just how people would react to that. Where would he get a donkey though? More importantly could he ride it over to a dock before getting stopped for bringing a farm animal into the city?  

Sensing Suibiens worry Wren laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s just a fun thought. My pranks are far more sophisticated. Though I truly would love to see how people react to such a thing. Ah, there are so many things, once so common, that everyone would think is weird these days.” 

“You truly think your pranks are sophisticated?” Suibien questioned regarding the current one he had in mind. In lieu to some of the other things Wren did this one seemed quite simplistic. 

“Hey, you have to go back to the basics once and awhile. Besides I doubt these hunters will ever expect a dragon to prank them, let alone dare approach them while they are busy chasing another target.”

“You truly do enjoy living on the edge.”

“Well it’s better than living in a trench.”

To this Suibien did not respond as Wren had arrived at the second of his three destinations, it was a craft store. The inside was cool and quiet with only a few older patrons going about their business and a rather bored looking young woman sitting at the counter looking at her cell phone. Flashing a charming smile Wren walked over and greeted her politely. “Hello ma’am, do you perhaps sell goose down or something similarly light and fluffy to stuff pillows with?”

The young women having not even heard Wren’s entrance and approach, largely thanks to his past training was startled out of the trance her phone left her in her facing flushing at the sudden approach of a handsome young man she stumbled over her words. “Y-yes we sell both goose down, poly-fil and shredded foam. Which one can I help you with?” 

“Well ma’am I would really appreciate the goose down which you possibly show me the way? I need quite the large quantity.”

“O-ofcourse, it’s in isle three, half way down on the left…”

“You have my thanks.” Wren smiled as he headed off to where he was directed quite well aware of how the young woman stared after him.

“After dealing with the elderly all day she must be quite happy to see a handsome new face.” Suibien mused as Wren grabbed a basket and cleared an entire shelf of bags of down and returned to the register. The woman was still staring at him in a bit of a daze when he gently placed his basket on the counter snapping her out of her daze.She looked quite surprised to see how much product he wanted to buy but rang him out anyway, seeming to be too shy to ask what he needed all that for. 

It was only after the transaction was finished that she finally had the courage. “Pardon me sir, but do you mind if I ask what you need all that for?” 

“A prank” Wren responded easily, his grey eyes bright and full of mischief adding a devilish charm to his smile as he picked up his goods and started leaving the store. “I hope the rest of your day is as beautiful as you are miss.” 

“You truly are shameless.” Suibuin responded amused as they left the store and the blushing young women behind. 

“Perhaps but a nice compliment hurts no one and from the way she reacted I am sure she is not used to hearing such things.”

Their third and final stop was a hardware store where Wren bought roughly fifty feet of thin wire ,rope and a bucket. Of course he couldn’t help but flirt just a little with the young man who sat behind the counter there as well before he left.

“You really are on a roll today, aren't you?”

“Oh come on, did you see him looking at me? He was as obvious as the nose on his face! I truly struck fortune today! A handsome young man and a handsome young woman and I made them both blush!” Wren replied cheerfully as he carried his goods out of the city and off into a forest where he began to set his trap.

Some hours earlier he had learned that a young dragon was hiding out in the forest and upon investigating it himself he saw a terrified young man hiding in a thicket. It was obvious that he was both a new dragon and had been chased there by hunters. The young man thought he finally found a good hiding spot but was so new at this he didn’t even notice Wren approach or watch him.

Since the word was already out, Wren knew the hunters would be coming for him sooner rather than later. Without a doubt he knew that they would be coming for the boy tonight, as soon as they had the cover of darkness on their side.

Furthermore with the night approaching soon Wren didn’t have much time to work with as he filled the trough with mud and hung it in the trees with Suibiens assistance. The dragon was careful to set it up in such a way that it was not easily visible among the leaves but still had a clear path to its target. After that Wren set the goose down in a bucket above the trough filled with mud and set them up in such a way that both the trough and the bucket would tip over and dump their contents quite easily, attaching the rope in such a way that would allow the trough to tip a few seconds before the feathers. The last thing he set up was the trip wire and once his trap as all set up he retreated into the forest and waited with anticipation. 

He had set the trap on the path he guessed the hunters would most likely take to get to the dragon. There weren't many paths in that dense English forest and the hunters where after a young and inexperienced dragon. They would most likely take the easiest and fastest path to their prey first, expecting a quick and easy kill. They would not likely take into account that an elder dragon may choose this as the perfect opportunity to prank them.

With a good quality camera phone in hand Wren waited patiently for the night to fall and the hunters to come.

Hours later they finally arrived, it was just a small group arriving in one car all of whom looked quite young. It was a group of four boys, perhaps in their late teens or early twenties led by a man who appeared to be in his early thirties. They moved quickly and quietly, seeming somewhat solemn as they focused on their duties. None of them expected the humiliation that awaited them nor the ancient dragon that lay in hiding just across the road from where they parked. 

Wren waited until he was certain they left before emerging cautiously from hiding and after assuring they were out of hearing range he set to work pulling the spark plugs from their vehicle he tossed it in a ditch and slashed one of their tires. 

Only a few more minutes passed before he heard a distant crash, followed by startled shouts. The old dragon struggled to suppress a giggle as he retreated back across the road and positioned himself in the perfect position to snap a picture. Luckily he had just so happened to pick a smart phone that was good at capturing low light pictures.

As he had expected the crash spooked the young forest dragon and he took off before the hunters could even get near. The forest was riddled with shouts and curses and the young dragon flew back out over the road in a panic and the hunters gave chase. They didn’t even have time to consider cleaning themselves up. They likely intended to jump in their car and give chase but when the emerged from the forest and saw the slashed tires they threw another string of curses. 

This time Wren could no longer contain himself, from across the road he suddenly burst into vibrant, joyous laughter. The startled hunters whirled around to face him, coated in mud and feathers, their faces full of rage they truly did look like swamp monsters. Snapping quite a few pictures, ensuring to catch the cars license plate in them Wren pointed and laughed as though he was just a harmless young prankster showing not the slightest sign of fear. His hair covered with a hood, they would have no way to tell if he where a dragon or just a kid.  

“Give that phone to us now!” One of them finally shouted once they got over their initial shock and noticed he was taking pictures however Wren merely laughed harder before turning around and darting off into the forest behind him.

Behind him the four young men and their mentor fumed but their mentor stopped all of them from giving chase. After all their target was a known dragon, who knew who this kid was. The man stopped them long enough to give orders, sending two Wrens way and keeping the rest to change the tire so they could give chase to the young dragon. Little did they know, the spark plug was also gone and by the time the orders where given Wren was long gone. Even though he had only gotten a few seconds head start, the swift, silent warrior had already vanished into the forest.

Wren never saw those hunters again, those children where to young to keep up and locate the adept old warrior. He meanwhile met up with Kai Ji, his beloved little black cat who had been waiting quietly in the spot he had left him earlier. The cat ignored his approached and seemed completely indifferent to him as Wren picked him up and snuggled  his soft fur briefly before tucking the cat into the large front pocket of his hoodie.

“I must say, these hoodies are perhaps the best modern inventions out there. They come with convenient cat carrying pouches!” Wren laughed as he found a clearing large enough for Suibien to take flight. The moment he found a spot, he pulled the hoodie off and with Kai Ji still in the pocket and wrapped the cat up, leaving just his head poking out. He then proceeded to toss the feline bundle into the air, letting Suibien catch him. The cats golden eyes didn’t even bl
ink, with how many centuries had passed nothing phased him anymore.

Taking to the air Wren and Suibien located the young dragon and indicated that he should follow them. The small forest dragon was dwarfed by Suibiens size and after already being in a state of panic the sudden appearance of a much larger dragon did nothing to help. Thankfully after a brief bought of conversation Suibien managed to calm the young man’s dragon and convinced them to follow. After quite some time they landed just outside the city and transformed back after that Wren introduced himself and Suibien then led the young man back into the city to a busy train station. The moment they stepped into the busy public area, which was busy even at this time of night the young man broke out into a cold sweat and started glancing around searching for escape route before he moved Wren spoke up, for once his tone was serious.

“Young man, you are far safer here than you were out there. The hunters won’t provoke a dragon in such a crowded place.”

“But won’t they be more likely to see me here? There is so many people what if one or some-”

“Young man, even if they see you they can’t do anything foolish. Learn to blend in with the crowds and conduct yourself properly and they probably won’t even notice you. Hundreds of people come and go every day here, they cannot search everyone. Hide your hair and for petes sake don’t walk around looking like you’ve seen a ghost. That will attract far more attention than any normal, bored patreon ever would.” Wren lectured, quite proud to share his accumulated wisdom though the young man continued to protest.

“But out there, if I could just loose them then there would be no-”

“How can you loose them when you cannot even loose yourself? You were too close to the city and not far enough off the beaten path. You would have to go much farther and with technology these days they could still spot you from the sky with a drone! You would have to find a forest so deep and go so far that even you might not know the way out yourself before you even have a chance at outsmarting them there. Do you not realize how common it is for young dragons to try to hide in the forest? Thats exactly what they expect! Do you even know how to survive so far from civilization? If not than you might as well just shoot yourself in the foot and present your body to them if you think thats a safe place to be. ” 

Hearing this the young man paled considerably as he hadn’t even thought of this before mumbling quietly. “Not only that but when I heard the hunters where after you, I snuck out there to visit and you didn’t even see me watching you as you dug around in the mud with that stick. You didn’t even notice me setting up the trap for those hunters not far from where you hid!”

“W-wait if you knew they were after me why didn’t you just tell me? Why set the trap?”

“Good question, your finally starting using some sense.” Wren praised. “Why did I do it? Well how else would you learn? Having a close call like that, is by far the best way to learn things!” 

The young man didn’t look like he agreed at all with this tactic but didn’t argue as Wren continued to lecture him.  “Anyway, now that they saw you your best options right now is to change up your looks a bit and move away from the area, the further the better.”

“B-but my girlfriend…”

“How on earth where you planning to keep in touch with out in that forest? If your thinking of her now all of a sudden…” Wren led on

“I-I was going to meet up with her again once its safe!?” 

“And then what? Stay in the city and hope they don’t find you again even though they probably already know everything about you?”

The young man teared up, “I don’t want to leave her but I don’t want them to hurt her....no, for her sake I should just leave.”

“And break her heart?” Wren asked startling the young man who had probably thought that he had been telling him to leave her for her safety. “Does she truly love you?”

“I-I think so but-

“No buts, if you truly love someone then in this situation, the only thing you can do is give them the power to choose.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Does she know what you are?”

“No-”

“Then tell her the truth and ask her! Only she will know if she still wants to be by your side or not. Do not make the decision for her.”

“They-those hunters might hurt her..”

“And let her know that, it’s still her choice. If she truly loves you she will want to follow you, she will want to be by your side and will suffer without you. If not then let her choose to be safe. You got it? Now, calm yourself, take the train to another station. Ask her to meet you there and tell her the truth. Then get of here and don’t come back, you hear? Oh and also make sure you ditch anything they can trace you with including your phones. Your welcome” 

The young man nodded, a look of determination slowly replacing the fear on his face as he numbly boarded the train and left.

“Aww, so cute and loyal. Too bad we couldn’t keep him.” Suibien commented returning the grin to Wrens face. 

“He’s clearly taken, now where shall we go? It’s about time we left england behind.”

“Somewhere with good food perhaps? Maybe mexico? I love the street food there.”

“But we were there before we came to england.”

“True, hmmm what about canada?”

“We haven’t been there in awhile, why there?”

“Well I heard of this new dish, something about french fries, cheese and gravy.” Suibien answered cheerfully though Wren scrunched up his face a little.

“Sounds weird,” 

“But you like fries right? Yes? Cheese, yes? And gravy too. So doesn’t it sound heavenly?”

“We’ll see, what is this dish called?”

“Poutine”

“Alright, off to Canada to try poutine!” Wren cheered, their destination decided as they took a train to the coast.

The gurgling river cut through the heart of the thick forest, water so clear Merce could see the multi-colored pebbles and larger rocks from where she stood on the bank. Nothing looked familiar, not even the species of tree surrounding her. It was very alien, but also peaceful. Even the air felt different, lighter and cleaner than anything the human had experienced before.

“This is what it was like, before industry boomed and you humans filled the world with your smog and chemicals.” The voice was softer, yet somehow more sinister, when not in her head. Merce didn’t feel threatened though; more like -  protected. For several more moments she simply looked into the river, smiling lazily as the wind picked up a tad and ruffled her hair and the grass under her strangely bare feet. “Beautiful, isn’t it.” Amphora murmured, moving to stand beside Merce.

Having always vaguely known what the dragon looked like subconsciously – it was a whole other story to be standing beside her longest companion. At 5’6’’, the top of Merce’s head barely reached Amphora’s chest. “I somehow pictured you bigger.” Merce mused, realizing her voice sounded a bit hazy, as if echoing from somewhere far away. Should she be concerned? Oh well. The dragon huffed out a laugh, serpentine head lowering so that Merce could see into her eerie golden gaze. Even without already knowing how smart Amphora was, there was no mistaking the keen intelligence behind those eyes.

“Some of us were as large as mountains, some as little as a horse, but I suppose I am technically small. Could still eat your Hunter in three bites, though.” Merce laughed softly, hearing the teasing behind the dragon’s words. There was no bitterness or anger here, beside the river. No animosity between human and dragon. Here, nothing could come between them. For another moment they sat in silence, looking out over the water while not really seeing it; both lost in their thoughts.

Merce finally broke the quiet. “Why here? I’m presuming this is all some figment of my imagination you're tapping into, so why not someplace we’ve been before?”

“I though here was appropriate. This is where is began and ended the last time. It reminds me not to make the same mistakes.” Amphora looked skyward, expressive face crumpling in sadness. “Now, though, I’m beginning to think that maybe I’ve been so caught up in hiding from the past I’ve only put you in more danger.” Mood still mellow, Merce reached forward and placed her hand on the dragons scaled forelimb.

“How much else are you hiding?” The human asked, words feeling thick and syrupy. Did she actually sound as slow as she felt she did? Did she care? It was too serene to do so, as far as she was concerned. The only noises were the sounds of nature, of which Merce felt amazingly a part of. Her mind wasn’t going a mile a minute and she did not feel as if she was being hunted. Maybe Amphora and her could stay here forever?

“Maybe someday we will return here and stay. But that hopefully won’t be for a long while.” There was something in the dragon’s voice, something melancholic and old. Merce turned away from the sunlight dancing along the ripples to looked up at Amphora, lips quirking into a smile. So even here the dragon could read her thoughts. “We are connected, so I will always hear you. And due to that connection I could bring you here, to this spot. It is a place that holds memories of mine – one of my happiest and one of my saddest. A bit of a dreamscape, if you will.” Amphora lowered her head until her nose almost touched Merce’s. The human reached up, head still tilted backwards, and ran a finger over some of the sharp barbs adorning the dragons chin.

“So this is a dream?” To bad, because Merce would love to return to the river.

“I guess you could call it that. You are asleep in the waking word, and apparently snoring like a kitchen sink.” Merce had a feeling she should be horrified, knowing that Catherine and Anthony were having to put up with the noise, but couldn’t muster the embarrassment. Instead she giggled like a young child. Oh well. “And yes, I can hear what’s going on out there, as well.” Amphora was good.

Walking to the edge of the river, Merce sat down and placed her bare feet in the cool water. Sighing blissfully, she rolled her head on her shoulders and felt completely at ease. “You had something serious you wanted to talk to me about?” Merce questioned, closing her eyes and enjoying the sun beating down upon them through the trees.

“I do, but it can wait a few more minutes while we just enjoy the serenity. I’ve forgotten just how much I love it here.” Merce didn’t see the dragon’s lips curl slightly in annoyance as Amphora stared off at something only she could see. “And we will not be interrupted by an irritating Hunter.” She grumbled softly, voice hissing between her sharp teeth. After a moment she snorted inelegantly and lay down beside Merce, obviously pleased with herself.

The silence stretched on in what could have been only minutes or hours, Merce didn't know nor did she care. She was safe and happy beside of Amphora. That was all she needed. “You’re uncharacteristically quiet.”

“Yes, well there is so rarely moments of peace.”

“Then why haven’t you brought me here before?” Golden eyes met hazy blue.

“I was afraid.” Merce blinked in confusion, legs swirling through the water lazily. “You already know this is the river where Sree found me, where she…died, and where my stone was once again put into before it somehow ended up in that tomb. It’s an entire chapter of my life that I spent every moment of beside my first human. And I loved her and I shared everything with her. After…everything I did not want to ever get that close with someone again. So I kept you at an arm's distance.”

“I noticed that, but I was never offended. You somehow kept me at arms length while always being right there. I was always kinda envious of that.” Pausing, Merce reached into the water almost up to her shoulder to pull out a small brown pebble. When in the sunlight it shimmered in spots like gold. “Huh, jasper I think.” Running her fingers over the surface, worn smooth by the water, Merce slowly returned her attention to the dragon. Amphora was watching her with somber amusement.

“You’re so much like Sree, which is maybe part of why I’ve held back so long. You were both so innocent and breakable.” Brows scrunching, Merce hummed in confusion. But before she could ask about that Amphora pressed her muzzle against the side of Merce’s head, rumbling deep in her chest. “I think it’s about time for you to face the real world again, after this little respite. Your hunter might need some reassurance that I’m not going to rip his arm off.”

“Wait, Amphora what if I don’t want to go ba-,” the peace was broken by the sound of music and someone humming. Instead of the river in front of her, she was staring at the back of Catherine’s vehicles seat, fingers attempting to run over a pebble that was no longer there. It didn’t explain her sudden urge to cry, to mourn the loss of a place she’d never been.

==========

Blinking at the sudden assault of light and noise, Merce’s nose scrunched in displeasure. Rubbing at her sleep crusted eyes sluggishly, the dragon host gave the two in the front a disgruntled groan and muttered something unintelligible without ever opening her eyes.

“If she is, it’s your fault for humming.” Anthony says quietly to Catherine, unaware it was too late.

“I don’t think humming will wake her up, Ant.” Catherine retorts, flicking the radio to the next track of the CD with a control on the steering wheel, which started Strobelite by Gorillaz playing. “After all, she slept through being poked.”

“Maybe so, but this song might swing it.” Anthony mutters a moment later, as the upbeat singing began.

“What in the name of all that is holy is that forsaken noise.” Merce hissed, finally slitting one eye open to glare at the front of the car.

“It’s Gorillaz, sleepyhead” Catherine says chirpily to the sudden grumpy question from Merce, seemingly unafraid. “It’s not noise, its Strobelite. Have you never heard of this band?”

A few days later Wren found himself wandering outside a large shipyard, his plan to go to Canada was nice and all but he encountered one big problem. He didn’t have enough money to actually buy a ticket to board a passenger ship, thus his only hope was to get a job aboard a ship heading close to his destination. The problem? According to his paperwork he had no experience in this field, though in reality he had more experience aboard ships than anyone in the entire yard. Throughout his life he had worked in just about every position available on a ship, from basic crew member all the way to captain. In the past he merely had to prove his skills and knowledge when he wanted a job on any sort of vessel.

“Ugh, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! People these days rely too much on the written word and not enough on their own eyes!” 

“Well you could always get fake documents again?” Suibien supplied trying to be helpful as his vessel pouted loudly. 

“That takes time and money, I would have to get another job first so I can get this job but we already spent too much time in England. We need to move on.”

“True, you can always sneak aboard then? We have done that before successfully that or we can risk it and just fly like we did in the past.”

“I wish we could just fly but crossing the ocean as a dragon with all that tech out there makes me nervous. Who knows how far the hunters reach is? They ought to know that dragons can fly great distances and surely they would have planned for us to try and flee countries like that.”

“True and we can always stowaway but then again if we get caught the ship's Captain would most likely just have us arrested, with laws these days they can lose their jobs after all.”

“Hmmm” At the moment both dragon and human thought deeply about their current conundrum, having been together so long they were both on the same wavelength, making the same ‘Hmmm’ sound at the same time.

A sudden shout startled both of them out of their thoughts as a small black blur suddenly shot,a large fish clamped tightly in its jaws. This was followed by a string of cursing as a fisherman raged about a damn cat stealing one of his fish. 

Neither Wren nor Suibien commented on this, they both immediately recognized that little blur of black. The thief had been none other than Kai Ji, they just stared blankly as the fisherman tried to give chase before retreating to a different area of the docks once they knew Kai Ji was safe. Only then did Suibien speak “I thought we locked him in the motel?” 

“I thought so too.” Wren replied with an amused sigh when an image on a strangers phone suddenly caught his interest.

“Eh, hey isn’t that kid Spirit Blade Mountain?” 

“Huh?”

Out of the corner of his eye Wren spotted a young man outfitted in a uniform bearing the name of one of the ships currently docked at the yard. He appeared to be on a lunch break.

“Bingo, we found a target and if my memory serves me correctly isn’t that one of the ships heading to Canada?”

Grinning widely Wren strolled casually over both he and Suibien had the exact same thought, too try and win this young man over and get him to speak to the captain of the boat on their behalf. The young man was the epitome of angsty young adult he was decked out in piercings and had short, spikey blonde hair dyed green at the tips.  His head phones played loud music as if he were trying to drown out the rest of the world and his eyes were focused on his phone as if nothing else in the world mattered. The poor soul had no idea what was coming for him.

“Wow! No way so he really did cave in and take on that sword demons teachings? Who would have thought such a clever guy would do such a thing?!”

The young man let out a shout of surprise his phone slipping from his hand as Wren suddenly appeared over his shoulder shouting gleefully about the story he was reading. As if expecting this to happen Wrens hand shot out with surprising speed, snatching the young mans phone before it met its death on the concrete ground below.

“Sorry, sorry I didn’t mean to startle you. I just got really excited when I saw someone reading that manhua! It’s been a long time since I ran across someone who likes reading rare gems like that!” Wren stated pretending to be meekly apologetic as he handed the young man his phone back under his icy glare.

“Screw off.” The young man practically growled as he snatched his phone back, got up and started walking away. 

“Hey, hey, thats not a very nice way to greet someone! Hey don’t walk faster, jeez, I already said I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you!” Wren chattered as he hurried after the guy, the moment he mentioned the word ‘frighten’ the young man whirled on him as if ready to punch him.

“Piss off, you didn’t frighten me, you just startled me and I just don’t deal with your type.” The young man snapped as Wren pretended to flinch back, raising his hands in submission. 

“Frighten, startle, whats the difference?” Wren pouted as the young man tried to escape again though no matter how fast he walked Wren kept up.  “So what type do you deal with anyway? Other people who read chinese webtoons like you do? Hey, do you have any friends who like that series too? Or even similar ones, we can totally start a chat group! Maybe we can even find other good series to read that way? What do you think? Hey, why are you walking faster?” 

At the mention of finding other similar series to read there was the briefest of pauses in the young mans steps, a flash of desire in his eyes however all that was gone in a bl
ink as Wren continued to talk replaced instead by anger. Once again the young man whirled on him and unleash a string of curses before threatening him to leave him alone. Once again Wren pretended to react meekly under the threat but as the young man turned his back to him a devilish grin crossed Wrens face as he stood there and watched him walk away. He would let the young man win this one Wren knew when to back off. He couldn’t push things to quickly or else this kid may actually snap and try to hit him. Despite this Wren knew he had him, a less observant person probably wouldn’t have even noticed the mans reaction when Wren mentioned forming a chat group to find other good series to read. Wren had found his weak spot

“Oh,  this will be fun. We haven’t helped his type in a long time!”

“I don’t know if he would think of it as helping.” Wren chuckled, amused by Suibien comment as he retreated to cause trouble elsewhere.

The very next day around the same time Wren wandered over to the spot where he had initially spotted the young man. As he suspected, the young man was a creature of habit the bench he was sitting on was rather isolated, far from the chaos of the docks and no where near area’s where tourist would typically hang out.

“Hey, long time no see! I’m Wren by the way, who are you?” Wren called out loudly as he waved cheerfully at him and approached. The young mans eyes widened slightly in surprise before darkening as he quickly scooped up his things and tried to run off, cursing at him as he retreated.

“Wow, he really thinks he’s a tough guy doesn’t he? Look at him run away from our obnoxious friendship while cursing and threatening us!” 

Wren laughed in response to both Suibiens comment and the young mans obvious retreat, which only resulted in another string of curses. Once again Wren followed him, chattering happily about various manhua, manga and manhwa he had read along the way. At first the young man tried to rebuff him and scare him off but over time he began to listen to some of the stories Wren told him about with poorly disguised interest, though the moment the young man realized he wasn’t trying to threaten Wren he would immediately launch into another aggressive tirade against him.

It didn’t matter of course, Wren was stubborn and over the course of the next few weeks Wren sought him out every day and found him no matter where the young man tried to hide. To Wren it was like a fun game of cat and mouse. The young man stubbornly held onto his negativity for quite awhile and continuously tried to shake Wren off at first. For a loner like him to even tolerate a stranger like Wren approaching him and practically shoving friendship down his throat wasn’t easy. Over time however the young man seemed to grow to accept his fate once he realized he couldn’t ditch his obnoxious new shadow.  With time the young man eventually began to respond more positively to Wrens one sided conversations, even joining in on occasion though whenever the young man realized what was going on he would once again snap at and threaten Wren.

Eventually, much to his delight Wren learned the young mans name, Luca and that he was in fact the son of the ship’s captain. 

“We really did hit the jackpot didn’t we? He acts tough but in fact this kid is rather sweet, though its obvious with how awkward he is that he is not used to having friends.”  Suibien had commented at the time, things were going well and the young man was slowly warming up to them and the timing couldn’t be better. The ship was going to be leaving for Canada soon and so Wren finally told the young man why he was constantly hanging around, unsurprisingly the young man was a bit upset when the thought crossed his mind that Wren might just be using him to get a job but Wren had already expected that he would think like this and had a battle plan in mind. 

Firstly he offered the young man one of his rare japanese manga collections in exchange for his help, secondly he was completely undaunted by the young mans rage, surprising him when he nimbly dodged a punch thrown his way. Last but not least he continued to follow Luca day after day and eventually managed to introduce the young man to a friend of his named Bran. This friend was someone that Wren had met online a few years ago and regularly had chats with over various topics related to anime, manga and everything similar. 

Suibien had been the first to point out how both young men seemed to have very similar interests and thoughts on certain topics and though it was risky Wren seized the opportunity, remembering that there was an upcoming comic con in canada that Bran would be working at.  After tormenting Luca all day, Luca finally caved in likely in hopes of finally getting rid of Wren and reluctantly joined a chatgroup with him and Bran. Thankfully Luca and Bran hit it off quite well almost right away and upon learning that Luca was on a ship bound for Canada and would be in the country at the time of a convention he was working at, Bran eagerly invited them both to join him. Thanks to the way Wren had worded things, Bran hadn’t yet realized that Wren might actually not be coming if he couldn’t get Luca to speak up for him. Up until then Luca hadn’t realized he was walking head first into Wren’s trap, with Bran excitedly expecting both of them to come and join him, even going as far as to get them both in for free he quickly figured out what was going on. After the chat ended Luca rounded on Wren and shot him a glare. “Fine, you win, but I won’t lose face for you. Meet me tonight at the docks, if you can prove you have skills I will speak to my father. We still need one more person to join the crew anyway.” 

“Win? I’m not sure what you mean by that but sure I will see you then!” Wren replied cheerfully and hurried off before Luca got annoyed and changed his mind. 

That night Wren met Luca outside the gates as planned and innocently asked Luca how he was supposed to prove his skills when the dock was already closed. To this Luca gave him a wicked grin “We are going to hop the fence obviously.”

“What? But what if we get caught?” Wren asked, keeping up the innocent act. 

“Relax, I’m the Captain’s son, I do this all the time and everyone knows me, they won’t do anything besides kick us out.” Luca didn’t wait any further as he scaled the fence and carefully climbed over the barbed wire on top. “Watch out for the barbed wire, that stuff hurts.” Luca called as he dropped down to the other side and started walking toward the ship.

“W-wait!” Wren called as he scrambled up the fence after him. Scaling a fence like that was absolutely of no issue to the ancient warrior but for the sake of keeping up the act he made sure he looked awkward and clumsy, even allowing the barb wire to snatch at and tear his shirt on the way down and intentionally stumbling as he hit the ground, earning a smirk from Luca who was watching from a distance.

Without hesitation Luca took off toward the ship, quietly dodging the guards with Wren in tow. When they got the ship. Luca climbed up one of the ropes that tethered the ship to the dock before he shot Wren a taunting glare. Wren stared wide eyes as if in shock, seemingly reluctant to try and follow though in the end he seemed to give in under Luca’s taunts. The entire time he climbed that rope  Wren had pretended to struggle with is though this was no different than the previous one, it was rather easy for the warrior but he didn’t want Luca to know that. Rather he preferred to let Luca enjoy the thought that he was corrupting a naive young man into doing things like breaking and entering. 

By the time Wren got to the top, he had already put up quite the act, pretending to be sore and out of breath. “I don’t ever wanna do that again, my arms feel like jelly!” He pouted as Luca laughed. 

“I’m surprised you even made it, I thought for sure that you would have ended up going for a swim.” 

“Well thanks.” Wren replied, his voice seemingly dripping with sarcasm though in reality he didn’t mind the challenge at all. At the time, Wren didn’t realize that Luca was about to get revenge for all that time Wren had spent annoying him. It turned out that Luca’s father had given Luca an entire list of tasks to complete in order to get the ship ready to go and Luca had shirked every one of those tasks until the very last minute. Once Luca gave him a list of tasks to complete in order to prove how seaworthy he was Wren burst out laughing, realizing he too had been played. 

“Wow, what a cunning young man.” Suibien mused as Wren laughed and Luca glared in response.

“Whats so funny?!” Luca demanded, caught off guard by Wren’s sudden bout of laughter before demanding that Wren should quiet down before they both got caught. In the end they both had to duck out of sight when a guard came by.

“Nothing, nothing at all.” Wren said giggling once the guard walked passed. “I’m guessing your father wanted you to prepare the ship to go and you instead hung out with me and read manga am I right?”

“Shut up.” Luca scowled before adding “If you can’t prove yourself then leave, these things need to be done tonight.” 

“Alright, alright, lets go get these things done”

The rest of the night the two worked hard on getting things ready, at first Luca kept a close eye on Wren to make sure he didn’t mess things up but once he realized that Wren knew what he was doing he left Wren with a task list and set off to do his own thing. In the end, Wren had succeeded in impressing Luca, getting everything he was asked to do done and done perfectly as well and Luca reluctantly agreed to speak for him.

The very next day Wren met Luca early in the morning, still a bit bleary eyed from staying up most of the night and went with him to meet the captain of the ship. Surprisingly Luca’s father not only knew Luca had gone out to get the ship ready that night but had actually made him do it since he had procrastinated for so long. Even more surprising was the typically dishonest Luca admitted to his father that Wren had helped him prepare the ship and with his help the two had managed to get a task that would normally take a few days done in a single night. 

What followed next was the Captains disbelief as he dragged them both aboard and carefully examined everything only to see with his own eyes that in fact everything was done and everything was done well. In the end, thanks to Luca choosing to speak up for him Wren got the job he wanted just in the knick of time.

A few days later Wren met Luca, the Captain and the rest of the crew early in the morning and departed with them. As he promised he gave Luca his collection of rare manga, though he felt a bit sad to part with it Wren had read the books countless times and they were quite heavy to keep hauling around. If he ever had a bad encounter with a hunter and had to flee he would have to ditch the books anyway so he decided that it was for the best that they would go to someone who would treasure them. Luca was so overjoyed by these books that he was even willing to over look the fact that Wren had snuck Kai ji on board.  At last they were finally heading for Canada.

The entire trip was quite peaceful and though the work was a bit hard Wren quickly earned himself a spot amongst the crew by both being hard working and having a knack for making them laugh. During that time, when they had some downtime and a signal Wren often caught Luca hiding away somewhere on the ship chatting eagerly with Bran about the upcoming convention. 

“Those two are really getting along quite well.I know we where going to meet at the convention but maybe we should arrange for a meeting beforehand? We will have a few days before it after all” Suibien commented sounded quite pleased, earning a chuckle from Wren who quietly left the two alone to talk.  

Despite Suibiens suggestions Wren waited until the day of the convention to introduce the two and explored the convention with them for a bit before Bran arrived at the spot  that he would be working for the day. At this point Wren kept his distance and watched as the Bran passionately told Luca all about what he was doing and his line of work.  

“Heh, what did I tell you? I knew they would get along great!”

“You two seem to be getting along surprising well. If you don’t mind, I’m going to leave you two alone for a bit and go explore the place.” Wren said speaking up at last, amused by Suibiens comment as he sauntered over. Bran stared at him blankly, not quite understanding what Wren was thinking but Luca on the other hand to bright red. “Oi, what the hell are you up to? What do you mean we get along well? Leave us two alone?” 

Luca raged and at this point Bran caught on and his face reddened as well but Wren just chuckled and waved them off before catching sight of a well dressed cosplayer “Oh, look its Goku! I’m going to go get a picture, see ya!” 

At the same time, in his mind Suibien shouted triumphantly “I knew it! Look, look! They are blushing, aww how cute! I know a good match when I see one, ha ha! I smelled this coming the moment I realized they both had the same interest! We should totally play matchmaker! They would be a great couple!”  

“Oh, be quiet you damned fujoshi.” Wren laughed inwardly as he ran off to track down the Goku cosplayer leaving the two young men standing there in shock. “Who the hell are you calling a fujoshi you damned otaku! I am a refined, elegant and noble dragon who just happens to be playing matchmaker not a damn fangirl, how dare you call me that!” Suibien raged showing a hint of the extremely grumpy fire dragon he once was. “I am not an otaku, I just like these things thats all and sure, sure such a noble fujoshi you are!”

“Shut up I am not a fujoshi and yes you are, your addicted to anime and all things related!” 

“I am not, but you totally are every time you see two guys getting along well you start shipping them!!”

“Prove it! If your not addicted you can quit any time and I already told you it’s called matchmaking!”

“I’d rather not actually, I quite enjoy this and fine I won’t call you a fujoshi any more okay?” Wren laughed, giving in as he finally caught up to the cosplayer and pestered him until he was able to get a picture. After that he explored the convention to his heart’s content

Later on Wren snuck close to the stand Bran was managing and seeing that Luca was not only still with him but helping him sell and advertise their product and he laughed softly and retreated to find a place where he could focus on job hunting. 

He had been looking for work in Canada ever since he and Suibien decided to go and had long since arranged for the proper paperwork needed to get a job as an immigrant. Most of the jobs he found where not of any interest however when he caught sight of an add looking for an investigative journalist in Toronto offering on the job training he immediately took interest. The request was simply for a bold person with good writing skills.  “What do you think Suibien?”

“Hmm, that sounds fun and right up our alley too let put in an application.”

The application process was simple and straightforward however it did require that he provide a writing sample. Thankfully Wren was quite the skilled writer, he had been writing on and off  for roughly five hundred years after all. Back when he was young he often recorded information for his emperor in order to keep track of things should they ever need to be reviewed. He had also often dabbled in writing poetry back then. In the past he was often praised for his refined writing skills and since then he had often taken up jobs where writing and creativity where required.  

“Alright, let’s knock this persons socks off and land ourselves a job!”  As he said this his mind was already whirling with all the possibilities of what he could write to win this job for himself. 

For the next two hours while the convention goers hustled around him Wren remained fixated on the borrowed computer. Without even intending to he had gotten himself completely wrapped up in the writing sample, barely noticing how much time had passed. It only took an hour and a half for him to complete but he spent the next thirty minutes editing and tweaking it until he was thoroughly satisfied. The article he wrote was chock full of Wrens natural wit and charisma, with an attention grabbing opening statement it led any who read it into a smooth, well written and easy read that left readers longing for more. 

“With this I am sure to win that job!” Wren state confidently as he hit send before logging out and returning the laptop to the person he had rented it from. Thankfully places like this had quite a few computer geeks and one intelligent young entrepreneur had the thought to fix up a bunch of old laptops and bring them around renting them out. It wasn’t cheap to rent but the kid was pretty smart, charging $60 to rent out a laptop for the day but $30 would be returned upon safe return of the laptop, thus discouraging theft. 

After retrieving the $30 dollars back Wren decided to find something to eat only just realizing that he hadn’t eaten anything all day. A little while later, just as Wren was returned to Luca and Bran while wolfing down a cheeseburger as he walked his phone started ringing. He answered it after briefly greeting his two young friends, a bit surprised to see that the caller was from Toronto.

“Hello?” He answered the phone  somewhat expecting a scam call however he was pleasantly surprised to hear an eager female voice asking if this was the Wren who put in an application earlier. “Yes, this is me are you..?”

“Wow, that was fast, hasn’t it only been forty-five minutes?” 

Wren of course ignored Suibiens comment though he agreed with his dragon wholeheartedly. The response was way faster than he expected. After only a few minutes of speaking with the women she was asking him to come in for an interview tomorrow. “Tomorrow? I’m sorry ma’am I am not even in Toronto yet I was planning to go-”

Hearing this both Luca and Bran looked over curiously, although they couldn’t quite tell what the person on the other end of the phone was saying it was obvious she was both eager and more than a little demanding. After awhile Wren himself could only give in, after all this was the perfect job for him and this woman really seemed to want him to join her crew as soon as possible.

“Yes, yes I will be in Toronto tomorrow but I won’t be able to go on the interview until the evening.” Hearing this, the woman was still not quite satisfied but Wren wouldn’t budge on the time, after all he still had quite a bit of traveling ahead of him. He was currently located near Sept-lles, although he wasn’t quite sure of the distance he could roughly estimate it would him and Suibien most of the night to fly there. 

Once he hung up he looked over seeing the disappointed looks on the faces of both Luca and Bran and he immediately apologized. “Its looks like my new boss is going to be quite demanding, I’m sorry but this job is too good of an opportunity to pass up..”

Bran and Luca where both sorry to see him go but both had very different reactions, Bran politely congratulated him while Luca on the other hand cursed him out for ditching them, though Wren had long since detected notes of affection whenever the kid cursed him out.

Likely as with many other friendships he’s had in the past overtime communications would slow down and eventually come to a stop, both would move on with their lives along their separate paths. After bidding them good by Wren returned to the hotel room that he and Luca rented, it was cheaper to rent a place with two beds rather than to rent two individual rooms. Suibien was uncharacteristically quiet as they packed, the dragon always hated these partings. It was one thing both he and Suibien had quietly longed for and that was to find friends whom they wouldn’t eventually have to part ways with. It had been a long and lonely road for both of them, outliving their human friends and unable to stay long with other dragons due to the risk of hunters. It was not something either one could change and they had long since learned being upset about it would only bring their spirits down, thus they could only endure and create and enjoy fond memories.

“So Bran has his own room in that hotel right? And Luca will now no longer have a roomate. We need to fix this.” Suibien commented at last, the dragons voice resolute and determined. 

“Considering their rooms have been paid for already I don’t think they would have any reason become roomate. The convention only last a few days anyway.” Wren stated trying to appease his dragon but Suibien remained stubborn.

“All hotels have sprinkler systems right? And I am a fire dragon…”Suibien trailed of meaningfully earning a ‘Tsk, tsk’ from Wren. "They also have camera’s what do you think the hunters will do if they see a dragon intentionally setting off a fire alarm? Even with your control of your flames and even though you won’t actually hurt anyone those guys will surely be screaming evil dragon is trying to burn down a hotel. We already pissed off some hunters not all that long ago, lets not anger them as soon as we land in Canada. Remember we haven’t even tried poutine yet."

Wren reprimanded lightly, of course he enjoyed teasing hunters but even he had to be careful. Usually he saved his pranks until he was ready to leave and move on to the next country and though they were indeed moving on tonight he wasn’t quite ready to play those games yet. Although it was a long flight it wasn’t quite far enough for his liking. 

Of course Suibien stubbornly wasn’t willing to give up on the idea so Wren thought of a better one. A broad grin crossed his face as the thought struck him and Suibien immediately quieted his complaints. “We don’t need a fire dragon, just some incense actually. The cheaper the better.” 

“Lets go, shopping.” With that Wren grabbed his bag and headed off to look for the cheapest incense he could find. Eventually he came to a run down old store run by a bored and somewhat grumpy old woman and he bought a large quantity of the cheapest incense she had to offer. The woman barely even spared him a single glance, after that he arranged to meet both Luca and Bran at Bran’s hotel for one last goodbye. 

After that Wren found a place to lay low for awhile until he was certain that everyone in the hotel had gone to bed, then he began his mission. Sneaking into the hotel, he was careful to avoid the cameras he has scoped out in his earlier visit and he quickly located the fourth floor which was where Bran’s room was. That was the real reason why he had insisted on meeting them one last time at this particular hotel. Once he arrived at his desitionation all he had to do was light a few bundles of the cheap incense and wait. As he expected, the cheap incense put out quite a bit of fragrant smoke more so than the good quality stuff would. It didn’t take long for the fire alarm to start going off, within seconds of that the sprinklers let go, raining down upon the sleeping guests. Seconds later he heard a string of cursing coming from Bran room, surprising even him. Apparently like Luca the seemingly soft spoken and gentle mannered Bran could swear like a sailor. Hearing this, Wren laughed and slipped outside with the panicked crowd.  

He did feel a bit guilty ruining everyones night but Suibien wouldn’t have it any other way. Once outside Wren stayed out of sight and watched ad Bran stumbled outside as people went in to investigate the cause of the alarm. Like Wren, Bran had been soaked by the sprinklers though unlike Wren he didn’t look too happy. He was a smart kid and he had seen the incense on his way out, he must have already realized that was what set off the alarm and that no one was actually in danger. However the hotel staff still had to investigate the matter which would take some time and his room and belongings were still soaked. Furthermore he still had to go back to work in the morning. 

As both he and Suibien expected, Bran eventually decided to call Luca remembering that he and Wren has been sharing a room with two beds and that Wren had supposedly already left. After Bran arranged to stay with Luca, Suibien was finally satisfied and Wren left to start his journey to Tornoto. After picking up his belongings which he had hidden in a nearby alley with the ferocious little Kai Ji to guard the three where soon on their way. 

Early the next morning they landed in a forest just outside of the city, the sun was just peaking over the clouds and Wren set off to find a hotel to rent. He had to walk for a few hours to reach the city and by that time it was quite lively. After seeking out a hotel to rent he washed up and rested for several hours before he dressed in his finest looking clothes to go to the interview. Although he often preferred wearing hoodies for their convenient Kai Ji carrying pockets, he always kept up with the latest fashions. He did enjoy dressing up after all, it always got him a lot of admiring looks, more so than when he wore the usual.   

Not long after the rather handsome looking Wren arrived at his destination, a small journalist office located in downtown Toronto. Opening the door he walked in, offering the receptionist a gentle smile as he told them he was there for an interview. While his accent and appearance left the young receptionist fumbling he took it upon himself to find his new bosses office and let himself in after a brief knock and ensuring she wasn’t busy. It might seem a bit rude to some, but the woman had asked for bold after all. The woman in question was a somewhat stern looking blond with grey streaks in her hair, in her late forties or early fifties she was dressed in a business suit and from the sour ex
pression on her face it looked like she just had a bad time dealing with something. She was glaring at her computer and didn’t even look up when the door opened.

“If I remember correctly, we have an interview?” Wren said smoothly, startling the woman who looked up abruptly. She stared for a moment before regaining her composure. “Where is my receptionist?” She asked coolly, seemingly unaffected by Wren’s charm.

“Ah, that young woman seemed quite flustered for some reason so I let myself in.” Wren replied with a charming grin as he pulled over a chair and sat in front of the desk, not waiting to be invited. Although his new boss seemed not to react any to his actions he could tell from her eyes that she was indeed a bit impressed. After all, an investigative journalist needed to be bold, noisy and confident and with the way this guy walked in seemed to prove that he was indeed just that. Furthermore with his looks added to his personality and writing skill, Wren could almost see that she was dying to hire him. Still his new boss stubbornly stuck to her business protocol and put Wren through the wringer, asking quite a few complicated questions. After all, looks and personality would only get him so far if he sucked at investigating things. 

“So let me ask you this, just recently our mayor was murdered. He had a good reputation and no one expected such a thing to happen. There are people investigating the incident and all the information we gathered so far is this, the attack was absolutely brutal. The guy suffered no doubt and one of the few clues left behind was a carving of a dragon however the dragon does not match any symbols used by local gangs. What do you think?” 

Wren paused for a moment, a bit surprised by the mention of the dragon carving and the brutal death. His first thought natural went to hunters but he quickly snuffed that out as this woman likely new nothing about hunters or dragons. 

“Well the dragon carving might mean something, I know some egotistical criminals will leave their mark behind and given the brutal nature of the killing it would seem like whoever the killer was had a strong grudge. The guy could have angered the wrong crowd or it could be a member of his own political party, I doubt the attack was random. At least one could look at that and think that it was a killing done by someone whom hated your Mayor, however what if the killer was smart? Perhaps they left the dragon symbol and used the brutal style of killing in order to throw detectives off? Most would connect such a death to something a gang would do, while thinking that if it was a political scandal things would be done a lot smoother and quieter…” 

Wren trailed off, glancing at the women he doubted this was actually the case but it was clear that she was indeed intrigued by his thoughts on the matter. Granted it wasn’t what he actually thought but he didn’t want to bring that topic up. “Good, good, everyones looking for gang ties due to the style of killing. As far as I know people aren’t looking at the political side of things.”

“Now there is more to this story, things that may or may not be connected. Up until recently things in this city have been fairly peaceful but there has been a string of unusual events lately. First there was supposedly a shooting in a forest nearby however no victim was found, then an entire apartment complex suddenly burned down and no the Mayor is dead. For your first job I want you to investigate this matter, these things probably are not connected but it would make for an interesting story if they where. I want to be the first person to get this information, we haven’t had a good hit story in awhile. Do you understand? Do you have any questions?” 

“Yes, Ma’am, I understand. I only ask this, who is the person responsible for investigating this matter?”. 

“The only name I have is Detective Connor Nakamura, he is investigating the mayors death. I do not know if he is involved with the other incidents.”

“Okay, great. Where can I find him?” 

Too this his boss looked at him skeptically “He’s a professional, your not going to get anything out of him. The only thing I know about him is that he like Starbucks coffee and seems very particular about his coffee preferences according to what little my last guy found about him. I don’t think he will be of any use to you though.”

To this Wren let loose his devilish smile. “Ma’am I know full well that a professional wouldn’t tell a stranger these things. I only plan to stalk him for a bit, after all what better way to find leads than to follow the guy in charge of finding them?”

After receiving a picture of his target Wren set out to haunt the starbucks shops nearest to where the guy supposedly lived. 

Wincing at the sight of the key and Anthony’s droll ex
pression, Merce attempts an apologetic smile. “Oops?” Turning away with a mental beratement towards Amphora, Merce once again began scanning the street, rolling down the window to try and get a better view. “Yell out if you see anything good.” Her nose suddenly scrunched and her eyes grew shifty.

“We could always stay in the car and get them to bring the sandwiches to us.” Catherine offers as a hard counter, not wanting to be alone as Merce shifts in her seat sharply.

“It might make it safer for us all.” Anthony says quietly. “That do for you, Merce?”

“Huh?” Merce blinked to get out of her own head, turning slowly to look towards Anthony. There was a bit of a glazed ex
pression in her murky blue eyes, as if whatever she’d been discussing with Amphora had her complete and utter attention instead of her companions.

“Then… Uh… ordering to the car works.” Anthony says, pulling his cellphone out to activate something. “There is a nearby place that will deliver to the car. Still want beef…and veggie?”

“Mmmhmmm.” Catherine affirms, while Merce simply turned back to the window with a nod.

“And…ordered.” Anthony says, then doing something else to his phone, to deactivate something.

Merce was no longer paying the other two any mind.

 ----------------------------------

Merce’s Perspective

‘You were fine with this until just a few minutes ago!’ Merce mentally squawked, yanking at her metaphorical hair. ‘What the heck changed? Huh?!’ Amphora had been snarking along with everyone else, adding a fourth voice to the conversations that only Merce could hear and making it a bit difficult on the human. Then, the dragon had suddenly gone eerily quiet as the window had been rolled down. There’d grown a sense of dread emitting from Amphora, settling just underneath Merce’s rib cage; a cold ball lodging it’s self so deeply it was making breathing a bit difficult. ‘Is it the burnt apartment? Because if it is we don’t have to go.’ She tried to sooth. ‘Anthony can scope it out and we can stay in the car with Catherine.’

‘We shouldn’t be here, Merce.’ Amphora all but whispered, the unease spreading from dragon to human and causing Merce to physically shiver. The ball beneath her ribs grew, feeling as if it was going to break bone soon; suffocate her or grip her heart. Panic was slowly settling in, though Merce wasn’t sure if it was Amphora’s or her own. ‘We shouldn’t be anywhere even close to this place. Not with Hunters so close!’

‘Please calm down.’ Merce begged, completely ignoring the outside world now. ‘Just explain it to me what’s happening.’

‘I don’t know, Merce! I just know something’s not right and we need to run. We just need to get out of here, please!’ It didn’t make any sense to the human, who had thought everything was fine. One-minute Amphora was fine, their relationship after their shared dream was at an all-time high. Then, something flipped in Amphora. A switch of sorts that had to have been triggered by something. ‘Merce…I just know something is coming. I don’t know what, but I can feel it. Smell it?’ The dragons voice was laced with confusion, apprehension pulsing from her and through Merce in waves. Had the icy lump in her chest not been as all consuming, Merce knew she’d be nauseous.

‘Smell it?’ The human asked weakly, outwardly rubbing at the spot underneath her rib cage roughly. Amphora’s sense of smell was good, but the dragon couldn’t smell what was going to happen.

‘It’s...not right. The same, but not. I only caught a whiff of..something but I can’t pinpoint it. I just know that it’s bad, okay?’ Amphora’s words made no sense and were slowly becoming jumbled, her confused fear only growing stronger. ‘We need to get away.’

‘What about Anthony and Catherine? Can they help us? Or will it hurt them?’ Better to accept the crazy then deny it.

‘No, no we can disappear easier when there’s only us. Your hunter will be fine. It’s us that’s in danger and if they come they’ll be caught right in the middle.’ Merce wasn’t about to let that happen, and the anxiety at the thought of either of them being hurt because of their association with her ramped up. Amphora’s urgency was quickly consuming Merce, who’d stopped rubbing at the suffocating lump and was instead slowly reaching for her purse with eyes flashing from blue to gold.

‘Okay, okay. You need to calm down just a bit so I can get us someplace safe.’ And away from Anthony and Catherine she silently, sadly, added; though Amphora knew she was thinking it. It was a hasty decision Merce knew, but something about the raw fear in Amphora’s voice, which couldn’t be faked when Merce was all but choking on it, was convincing enough. Amphora had trusted Merce this far, so it was time to return the favor.

‘I am as calm as I’m going to get under these circumst-‘ A soft gasp, and the indescribable feeling Amphora gave off was almost enough to have Merce doubling over. Instead, she bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to bleed to keep from outwardly showing any signs of the sudden distress. ‘It can’t be.’ Slowly, Merce focused her vision on whatever had caught Amphora’s horrified attention when their gaze had been warily watching the streets. Across the way, to far for the average human to make out anything but person shaped blob and clothing colors, stood a man.

With the dragons enhanced vision Merce couldn’t see anything noteworthy about him. He was peering around at nothing in particular, long, dark hair partially pulled away from his face and simple clothing mostly hidden by a long-coat. It was only when he turned just enough that Merce could see his face she cringed. It was his eyes – black and hollow. There was a flash of recognition, of despair, from Amphora; but only fear from Merce. Instinctually she knew this man, with his cold gaze and hawk-like face was nothing but bad news. A hunter. She needed to get away from him. Now. ‘Kleon?’ As if summoned, the man slowly turned to stare directly at them.

With a strangled shout Merce pulled the car door open and dove out, purse in hand. There was to much. To much, to much, to much. Amphora’s dread now mixed with a healthy dose of disbelief and grief, Merce’s own cowardice in the face of a dead-eyed hunter, and the knowledge that she’d have to abandon her only human companions to keep them safe. Bolting down the street, unable to hear anything but her on pounding heartbeat, she used the small crowds, darkness, and narrow roads to disappear from view of both friends and foe.

This all-consuming fear was new to Merce, but she quickly found it was a fantastic physical motivator. Not athletically inclined in the least, she still found the energy to keep running until the edges of the city were within view. Though, as she slowed to wheeze in air past the knot below her ribs, she had a feeling Amphora might have had something to do with it.

‘We’re not far enough away.’ Amphora murmured, still sounding dazed and confused. From where her hands were braced on her shaking knees, Merce looked back towards the bustling inner city. Logically, she knew she couldn’t have been followed for that kind of distance on foot, but a part of her longed to see Catherine and Anthony appear anyway. To know they’d followed so maybe she could explain, beg them to understand that it wasn’t them. She was trying to protect them – even if it was from herself. Instead there were just a couple of strangers staring at her wearily, whispering among themselves. ‘They can’t come. Not if you want them to stay safe.’ Amphora whispered into her ear sympathetically.

‘I know.’ Bitter sadness crept into her voice as she hunched her shoulders and turned towards the sign for a bus stop. The urge to run was still thrumming just below her skin, the painful ball of ice still sharp. No matter how much she cared for them, it was better this way. The dead-eyed man, she felt, was not going to be easily shaken. ‘Will it be this way forever?’

‘Perhaps.’

 -------------------------------

Across the city, a Zakhar received a text message with only two words from his brother.

'Found one.'

OoC :: Here's a quick synopsis, because this post seriously reflects my own manic mood and it's confusing. Basically, when Merce rolled down the window the scent of the 'dead-eyed man' reached Amphora's enhanced senses. This freaked the dragon out for two reasons: the man smells of dragonsteel, as well as a blast from the past. The man is Luca, who is one of Zakhar's brothers and the one who has the most dragon kills of the family. He also almost looks exactly like Kleon (Sree's husband).

I didn't touch on this much because I thought I'd have more time later, but Kleon is the the great x5 uncle of Zakhar and his brothers. Kleon's brother, after hearing about his fate as well as the fate of over 100 other innocents became obsessed with killing the dragon and became the first family hunter. So, basically Amphora flips out and just knows the have to get away from the hunter - which is what they do. Merce goes without complaining because she's never seen Amphora so scared and she does not want anything to happen to Anthony and Catherine.

It didn’t take Wren long to locate the starbucks where his target supposedly liked to get coffee. Unfortunately by the time he arrived it was rather late and it came as no surprise that his target wasn’t there. For the time being his plan had simply been to familiarize himself with the area so after buying a croissant and casually mentioned looking for an ‘old friend’ to the cashier who did not seem to know who he was talking about he headed off to explore the city. Although he had been to canada in the past he was not familiar with Toronto. After a few hours of exploration he decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel.

As soon as he walked in he spotted Kai Ji sitting on the table glowering at him. A moment later the cat turned his back to Wren and ignored him. Kai Ji was very obviously mad at him for some reason and Wren could only guess that it had something to do with food. Due to their schedule the last few days the cats feeding routine had been a bit messed up and although he hadn’t missed a single meal it didn’t matter. Kai Ji had been a spoiled palace cat for almost two hundred years, always demanding his meals at a certain time and eating only the best of foods. The cat had lived like a king and all that suddenly came crashing to a halt when Wren took him and left the palace.  Though Kai Ji had taken to the abrupt change fairly well the cat never once forgot his routine and always acted extra grumpy whenever it got disturbed. 

Thinking of this Wren laughed lightly, picked up the grumpy cat and forced a quick snuggle before Kai Ji managed to wriggle free from his grip. After that Wren washed up for the night and lounged on the hotel bed to read to manga for awhile. Eventually Kai Ji joined him on the bed though the cat slept on the farthest corner possible, still acting very much like a spoiled child who hadn’t been given his way. Seeing this Wren couldn’t help but recall the past he had just returned from battle when the prince suddenly sent a messenger to the military base he had been staying at asking him to return to the forbidden city at once. 

Given the abrupt nature of the request Wren had panicked thinking something was wrong and rushed back to the city as soon as possible, it was typically a seven day journey between him and the city by horseback, he managed to make it in six days. What greeted him when he finally arrived, panting and exhausted was not what he expected. Everything seemed peaceful and he was simply told to go directly to the prince’s chambers. When he stepped inside he immediately spotted the prince looking rather disheveled as he seemed to search the room frantically for something.

“Chen Yun is everything alright?” Wren had asked, rather baffled by the sight.  It had been a long time since he had seen the regal and immaculate prince appear to be in such a sorry state. Typically the guy was so well groomed that not a single hair was out of place, his clothing always perfectly adorning his tall frame. Like his surname suggest the prince’s was gentle like a cloud and many would describe him as cool, distant and slightly aloof. This at least was how he was described in scrolls and in history.  Wren had always thought differently as the prince always seemed quite warm and cheerful, much like a sun kissed cloud at the break of dawn rather than a cool and distant one. Now his hair was a wild mess, his clothes where all out of place and he kept muttering something under his breath like a madman. What had happened to his usual calm and collected prince? Even odder still, the prince didn’t greet him immediately like usual. 

Just as he was about to step forward the prince suddenly shouted triumphantly and dove under his bed leaving Wren standing there in a state of shock. Moments later Chen Yun reemerged and finally turned toward him beaming, something squirmed in the wide sleeves of his changshen, before Wren could even ask what was going on Chen Yun suddenly pulled a tiny, black ball of fluff from his sleeve.

“Happy Birthday Xaioling!” 

Seeing Wren’s dumbfounded look Chen Yun laughed and explained warmly. “All this time we’ve known each other I have realized something and it’s something I have been thinking about for the last few years since you have been at war. You’ve celebrated my birthday every year since we met but we have never once celebrated yours. Do you remember a while back, one of the palace servants who I had stationed at your base randomly asked when your birthday was and you said you didn’t know? Well I have decided, today is going to be your birthday so Happy Birthday Xaioling!” 

Before Wren had even the slightest chance to react Chen Yun shoved the kitten into his arms and Wren stared blankly at it. He has rushed here thinking something was wrong and now this? He appreciated the gesture but how on earth was a warrior like him supposed to take care of a kitten when he was off fighting in wars? 

“Er, Chen Yun….” Wren was cut off before he could voice his concerns on this matter and as if having read his mind Chen Yun spoke without missing a beat.

“He’s going to be staying here with you, do to a recent attack on the palace father has decided to pull you from the front lines for awhile. We never caught the attacker so he wants you here to watch over me until the situation is resolved. If you get sent back out after that I will take care of him for you. So welcome home as well, so what are you going to name him?”

It was only a short dialogue but it was still quite a lot of information to process at once. Chen Yun’s father, the emperor had intentionally separated them, forcing Wren into a corner and leaving him with only two choices, go to war, rise through the ranks and come back to serve Chen Yun when he took over as emperor or leave the palace. The emperor was a shrewd man and had never liked Wren, although Wren hadn’t known it at the time but the emperor had long since suspected that his son wasn’t interested in women. The emperor had arranged for Chen Yun to marry a beautiful young women from a notable family when he was a child but now matter how much time they sent together Chen Yun never had a strong interest in her, he instead always preferred to hang out with his rescued servant Xaioling, so the emperor separated them and forced Wren to go to war. He hoped that Wren’s absence would finally change his sons view toward his fiance however even after they were officially married his attitude toward her remained much the same. He treated her well but kept her at an arm’s length, all the while he continued to communicate with Wren by pidgeon.

Of course Wren didn’t know all this, much less understood that the prince returned his feelings but couldn’t act on it. All he knew was that the emperor disliked him and didn’t want him near his son, he had thought that it was simply a bloodline issue. Commoners where generally not welcome in the forbidden city after all. So for the emperor to actually call him back to and request for him to watch over Chen Yun meant something big had happened. It wasn’t hard for Wren to deduce that the attacker most likely targeted Chen Yun and while the emperor didn’t like him it seemed that he did at least trust him.  Wren could only assume the attack happened recently based on the timing between him being summoned to the palace and his last communication with the prince prior to that.

“Your awfully cheerful for someone who had just been attacked.” Wren said doubtfully as he held the kitten u and studied it, Chen Yun’s smile didn’t waver in the slightest nor did he mention the attack. He knew Wren would quickly figure out the attack but he didn’t want to give the other party time to fret about it. “So what are you going to name him?”

“How about Chen?” 

This time Chen Yun’s smile finally wavered. “Don’t name him that!” He knew Wren was just messing with him now. Likely indulging in a bit of petty revenge due to how Chen Yun had summoned him but Chen Yun could just imagine the look on his fathers and uncles faces if they heard that Wren named the cat after him. No one in the royal family liked Wren aside from him, not even his wife, no matter how hard he tried to convince them Wren was a good, trustworthy person they just didn’t like him. Chen Yun never personally understood why other members of royalty hated commoners so much. After all, weren't they all people? His wife and his father, the people who should have been closest to him especially seemed to hate Wren. 

“How about Chen Ge?”

“No”

“Yun Ge?”

“No!”

“Chen Shixiong?”

“Thats even worse!” 

“Hmm, what about Chen Shidi?”

“Absolutely not.” The prince refuted, adding random honorifics to the name would just make things worse!

“How about you name him them? If not I am naming him after you.” Wren threatened with a dandiacal smile. 

Seeing that he would lose this little war the prince could only give in. “Fine, how about Kai Ji?”  

“I like it” Wren said in response to the name, gently prodding the little kitten. This seemed to annoy the little Kai Ji whom immediately gave a cute little growl and bit Wrens finger.  He had to admit, the feisty little kitten was rather adorable. 

For the next few months Wren stayed by Chen Yun’s side, guarding the prince and working together with him to try and keep the ferocious little kitten out of trouble. Kai Ji absolutely took over the prince’s side of the palace, dominating the halls, soliciting snacks from all the servants and successfully wrapping both the forbidden cities highest ranking prince and his guardian around its tiny little paw. Despite the attack that lead to this event those months where surprisingly peaceful and full of both warmth and laughter but they did not last. Once the attacker was caught and his men subdued Wren was immediately sent back to the front lines. After that he only got to see Kai Ji and the prince on occasion.

Years later the prince finally succeeded the throne when his father got ill and the first thing he did was call Wren back to be part of his royal guard. By then Wren was a skilled and battle hardened warrior who had risen to the very top of the ranks. After so long on the battlefield it wasn’t easy for Wren to return to such a peaceful life but with Kai Ji’s and Chen Yuns help he slowly but surely moved on.

One night Wren distinctly remembered was when he was sitting by a desk, at the time he was carefully scrutinizing a peace treaty offered by to the emperor, Chen Yun offered to them by a powerful clan that the previous emperor had been at war with. As he was jotting down any loopholes or possible points of problem he spotted in the long winded document Kai Ji wandered over to greet him as usual. After he returned from the war Kai Ji had acted like he didn’t exist for awhile so Wren made it a habit to carry around a small pouch of the cats favorite treat, smoked fish with him to win the little cat over again. It didn’t take long for the little cat to learn he carried these treats and soon he started visiting Wren the same day, every time in his study as Wren worked on various paperwork related to the politics happening at the time. It had become somewhat of a hidden tradition between him and the little cat as Chen Yun had forbid everyone, including him from giving the cat snacks. Apparently while he had been gone Kai Ji had gotten quite fat from being spoiled by all the palace servants and Chen Yun, fearing for the young cats health had put an end to it. 

Of course Wren didn’t really pay much attention to this after he got caught and was scolded by  Chen Yun, he had simply gotten sneaky about it instead. What did it matter if he spoiled his pet a little anyway? As long as he kept the snacks in moderation and Kai Ji didn’t grow fat from them he figured Chen Yun wouldn’t know unless he somehow managed to catch Wren red handed.

Like every other day, Kai Ji came in, devoured the strip of smoked fish Wren gave him and immediately left to attend whatever it was palace cats did but this time as the cat walked away Wren couldn’t help but notice that the cat looked rather plump from behind. As soon as he realized this Wren couldn’t help but grow worried, had he been feeding the cat too much? Could a single small strip of smoked fish really turn the sleek cat he had returned to into a pudgy little puff of black fur? If Chen Yun noticed this Wren would surely be the first one to get scolded, after all who else would dare ignores the orders of the Emperor of the Forbidden City? The only other person who would possibly dare to do such a thing was Chen Yun’s wife, Xu Qing and she was the one who originally pushed the emperor to put a halt to the servants spoiling the cat. She was the strict one in the relationship.

The problem was, Wren doubted that what he gave Kai Ji was not enough to make the cat, not unless someone else was also sneaking the cat treats. Intrigued by this little mystery Wren put aside his paperwork and quietly followed the little cat. Now that he thought about it how abrupt Kai Ji was at leaving him every night after his snack was a bit odd. Normally when Kai Ji’s favorite treat was present the cat would hang around in hopes of getting more and even if he didn’t usually the cat was slow to leave. Thus Wren could only conclude that the cat must be going after another snack! Why else would he move so fast?

Following the cat through the halls of the massive palace Wren soon arrived at the door of Chen Yun’s chamber. Kai Ji had made a beeline for the place, going straight from his room to the emperors. The heavy wooden door was open just far enough to leave a cat sized crack from Kai Ji to squeeze through. Wren stood outside the door thoughtfully for a moment, normally he would knock respectfully these days when he came to Chen Yun’s room. He didn’t just barge in like he did in the past but today was different. He knew Chen Yun would likely be working on paperwork and he preferred to keep his desk facing the window, which meant his back would be toward the door. 

After giving Kai Ji a short head start Wren quietly pushed open the door and snuck inside. As he had expected, Chen Yun was not in the main room and Kai Ji was nowhere in site. So Wren quietly headed toward the emperor's study.  There he was met with a sight that had him grinning triumphantly from ear to ear, after endless nagging and finally getting scolded by Chen Yun for spoiling Kai Ji he finally caught the emperor red handed. Wren studied the figure before him  for a moment, his eyes couldn’t help but linger for a moment at the perfectly carved figure of the man before him. By now he had long since realized the feelings he had for the emperor but there was nothing he could do about it.

So waiting for the moment Chen Yun had Kai Ji taking a treat from his hand Wren suddenly let out a dry cough, announcing his presence and causing the young emperor to nearly jump out of his skin and knock over jade bottle filled with ink with hit the ground with a loud thud. The emperor whirled around to face the person who snuck up on him and when he saw the smile on Wren’s face he knew he had been caught red handed.

“Oh, what was all that about spoiling the cat again?” Wren teased as the emperor stared at him, his mind clearly whirling as he tried to come up with a decent response to this. 

“Xaioling, its not-” However before Chen Yun could even finish his excuse his wife, having heard the noise from his study from her chamber across the hall had swept inside looking worried. Despite Chen Yun’s attitude toward her she still cared for him however upon seeing the cause of the chaos was Wren, Kai Ji and a spilled bottle of ink she quickly relaxed. Although she had initially disliked Wren as she blamed him for the emperor not loving her she eventually came to tolerate Wrens presence.  After all while everyone else, including her, saw the cool, calm, collected and aloof emperor Chen Yun showed a different side when Wren was around. 

The first time she saw it she had been insanely jealous but now after the years she had somewhat come to appreciate it. The moment Wren appeared the prince’s cool and distant cloud like demeanor immediately warmed as if being touched by the sun. Wren was the emperor's sun yet not even he knew it at the time, his presence alone seemed to make the emperor happy and for that she had chosen to forgive him. As long as her emperor was happy she would be happy too, even if it wasn’t her that caused that happiness. Only she and the previous emperor knew this, as for Wren and Chen Yun, it was impossible for her to tell whether they recognized their feelings or not. 

“Here I was wondering why Kai Ji is starting to get fat and now I see why!” Wren taunted, acting completely innocent however Chen Yun quickly refuted him stating that he only gave Kai Ji a little, not enough to make him fat and that if Kai Ji was still getting fat then he must be getting additional snacks elsewhere. It was the truth of coarse as the other culprit was the man standing in front of the emperor, Wren though he had absolutely no intention of letting Chen Yun onto this. Instead he gleefully teased and taunted the prince, thoroughly enjoying how flustered the emperor was becoming after having gotten scolded.  

After bickering about this for a good thirty minutes, Xu Qing finally rolled her eyes having enough of this. “You two sound like a married couple, why don’t we just agree to find out who the culprit is? Obviously more than one party is guilty of feeding Kai Ji.” As she spoke this she glanced surreptitiously at Wren, the empress was a smart woman. She knew who the other culprit was, it was dead obvious to her. After all who else would have the guts to disobey the emperor's orders over such a small matter? 

“I suppose we should find this person shouldn’t we? Afterall we can’t have a cat ball rolling down the halls of the palace can we?” Wren agreed wholeheartedly with Xu Qing knowing he would appear suspicious if he didn’t.

“Good, now how should we punish the culprit once caught?” She asked watching Wren out of the corner of her eye, whom of course gave no reaction to this. “Punish? It’s not that much of an offense…” Chen Yun replied however Xu Qing pressed on. “There must be one, you cannot tolerate any sort of infraction on your reign! If people are disobeying you on something so small what do you think might happen with more important stuff.”

“I guess.” Chen Yun admitted reluctantly “What do you have in mind?”

“Lets put them to work for a few months, why don’t we give the rest of the servants a holiday and make the culprit take care of cleaning and cooking for our side of the palace.” She said without missing a beat.

“I am sure the servants would enjoy a holiday but cleaning and cooking? Are you so sure the culprit would even know how to take of those things? It may not be a servant who is spoiling Kai Ji”  Both the Emperor and Wren hadn’t failed to notice how Xu Qing said the rest of the servants, thus implying that she seemed to think the culprit was a servant. 

“I am very certain that this culprit would know how to do this as this culprit is one of the few servants who worked in both the cleaning and cooking department.” Xu Qing stated confidently as if she knew exactly who the culprit was. Hearing her words Wren’s smile wavered ever so slightly, who else could she mean but him? He started off in the kitchens but had both cleaned and cooked for awhile but how did she know? Unwilling to give her any hints he didn’t dare show anything else on his face. 

“It sounds like you already know who the culprit is?” Chen Yun questioned, clearly not taking the hints his wife was dropping. “Absolutely” she responded and before Wren could react she snatched at a string hanging from his clothes. At this point Wren hadn’t even realized that the drawstring from the pouch he kept Kai Ji’s treat in was actually hanging free from his shirt.  Startled by this both Wren and Chen Yun watched silently as she dumped the contents of the pouch onto the floor and Kai Ji jumped down from Chen Yun’s desk to devour it. 

“How did you know?” Wren couldn’t help but ask as he looked at the smirking empress. “Kai Ji was staring at it the whole time. Kai Ji is a cat, who ignores everyone unless they have something he wants.”

“Ah, Kai Ji you traitor, you just ruined your snack time…”

“So Xaioling….what was all that you were just teasing me about?” Chen Yun suddenly spoke up slowly the look in his eyes imperceptible.

“En, how about we just end this thing here? Why don’t we just agree to a snack limit for Kai Ji? What do you say, we take turns giving him snacks and we will give him a smaller amount? I will give him a snack one day and you the next?” Wren suddenly said meekly in an attempt to mediate the situation. He didn’t mind cooking but he certainly didn’t want to clean the palace! So he used the only weapon he had available and that was spoiling Kai Ji. Thankfully his words seemed to distract Chen Yun from whatever he was plotting, he too clearly did not want to stop spoiling Kai Ji.

Seeing that she was about to loose out on the situation Xu Qing quickly interrupted them. “I swear you two are like two fathers spoiling their children!”

Hearing this Wren laughed awkwardly and Chen Yun face flushed red with embarrassment however Xu Qing mercilessly continued. “Since the culprits have been found, I am sending our servants on the holiday for two months. The culprits can work out and split the servants duties among themselves. I don’t want to see a speck of dust in this place and Kai Ji will never forgive anyone who causes him to miss a meal!” 

As she spoke this she snatched the treat pouch Chen Yun was still holding and with swinging both pouches around on one finger she swaggered out triumphantly knowing full well that she had managed to take advantage of this situation and win, leaving the two men staring blankly after her neither one wanting to contemplate their fate for the next two months. 

It was only when Wren felt tears flowing down his cheeks that he finally managed to pull himself out of the memory.  Even though it had been such a fun and happy time, the memories these days came with the pain of knowing that Chen Yun was gone. Shaking his head Wren quietly wiped away the tears and went to bed, he tried not to think of the past too often but every once and awhile a memory like that would sneak up on him. He missed them both terribly and in his heart he longed to go back to those times, if even only for a brief time so that he could speak with Chen Yun one last time. 

The entire time Suibien was very quiet in situations like this the dragon couldn’t help but feel guilty. After all he was the reason why Wren couldn’t grow old and pass along side the people he loved, instead he was forced to leave year after year, century after century knowing that they were dead.

By the time the morning came around Wren had returned to his usual cheerful self. He knew what Suibien felt and he didn’t want the dragon to feel guilty over something neither of them could control, thus he chose to act as if nothing happened so both could move on.