When an elf dies, the blue leaves fall, and new spirits rise.
Emary knew this to be the case, yet her resurrection came as swiftly as her death. The vicious dragon claw stabbed through her cleanly and ripped through her heart, but she awakened at the bank of a river.
Her eyes blinked open to a clear sky and the sound of rushing water. The remnants of a blue magic spell floated up and away from her. Though, she was alive, she couldn't be happy.
The fact that this blue magic floated towards the sky proved that they were all truly dead. The sacred spell…the real reason for those tattoos.
A tightness gripped at the elf princess's chest. She closed her eyes and held back her tears, knowing that she would never see them again. Their entire bodies must've been burned away by blue magic, and they would become spirits among the forest.
Emary took a deep breath and sat up, feeling the wind dance against her mostly bare skin. Since the dragon claw had penetrated straight through her chest, the majority of her body was on display from her torn top. Yet she couldn't bring herself to care.
"Where am I?"
She sat atop a cliff next to a river, and the rushing of a waterfall made itself known nearby.
Did someone move me here? Why?
If anybody had moved her, they were nowhere to be found. And Emary could no longer bring herself to care. Once again, I made the wrong decision. Once again, I betrayed their trust.
She walked towards the cliff's edge, looking at the frothing where the waterfall touched down into the basin. From this high up, would she die if she jumped? And yet, if I did that, I would be making the wrong decision again. I would betray them again. Over and over, I keep letting them down.
Emary let Bery down. She let her father down. She let her tribe down, and worse of all, she let herself down. The cruelest fate for her was to live, but that was reality.
Finally, her tears fell freely.
///
"Are you sure it's wise to move? Shouldn't you wait in the tower for lady Valerie? Administrator, I would advise for you to go back."
Bery shook her head at Yuri's words. "I can't go back up there. I finished the painting, and I would rather not stay put right now. My legs are too restless, and I am too worried about what might happen."
"What about the worry of lady Valerie? Should you not simply wait there?"
"When did you start calling her lady Valerie anyway? I love her, but I'm not a prisoner. Besides…"
While Bery was walking through the halls, something outside the window caught her eye. The silhouette of a woman lingered on top of that familiar waterfall. At first Bery wondered how Valerie got back so quickly, but she quickly realized that it was not her dragon.
Bery's eyes widened when she approached the window and saw the pointed elven ears.
"Emary?"
Bery sprinted through the hall to get outside. She had no idea how she would climb up the cliff when she entered the basin, but she ran nonetheless. And she wouldn't have to do such a thing anyway.
Upon noticing the cat, the elf's leapt down several rocks and reached the bottom quickly. She sprinted, meeting the cat halfway and throwing her arms around her.
"Emary? You're…"
She wanted to comment on the state of the elf's attire, but the elf gripped her tightly anyway. Her eyes were red and puffy.
"Bery, I'm so glad that you're alive," the elf said, choking down her sobs.
"I'm okay, but Emary you...What happened? Did the army get to you?"
After clinging to Bery for a little while, the elf was finally able to let go. Though, all she could do was hang her head.
"Advising, Emary seems to be in a deep trauma state. The administrator should first tend to her clothing."
Before Emary could speak, Bery gripped her hand. "Come on, we need to get you inside."
"Bery, I…"
The cat shook her head. "You don't need to say anything right now."
Emary nodded reluctantly, letting herself be pulled inside of the stone castle in the mountain. With the advising of Yuri, Bery led the elf girl to the bath and laid out some of her own clothes for her.
"I am not sure that any of these will fit you, but a gown would probably be okay."
"Thank you…"
Bery wanted to say something else, but she left her alone in that room and shut the door. She could hear the sobs of the woman behind the door. The cat wasn't sure what to think about this, but she knew one thing was for certain. Something deep inside of Emary had broken.
The strong-willed green eyes of the elf became dull and lifeless. Emary was the one person that Bery never expected this to happen to.
She always came to the village and bought Bery's paintings, and she would always smile while doing so. She carried herself as an elf should. She always seemed to have it together.
"Administrator, sometimes the feelings that humanoids project onto others aren't true. Y.U.R.I is able to recognize this as an unbiased spectator. How someone is seen is not always how they are."
"Is that how it is?"
"Yes, didn't lady Valerie also turn out different than you expected?"
It was at that moment that a tap on her shoulder made Bery whip around, spotting the dragon in question standing there.
Bery didn't wait for the dragon to speak. She flung herself into the dragon's arms and clung to her like a needy kitten.
Valerie smiled and rubbed behind Bery's ears, forcing the kitten's chest to rumble with her purrs. "I expected you to wait in the tower, but this is also a pleasant surprise. Though, I smell someone else here too."
"It's a friend! Emary she is...distraught!"
The dragon chuckled before kissing Bery's forehead. "I wasn't going to rebuke you for bringing someone in here. At first I was worried, but if they're your friend, then it should be okay."
Bery nodded. "I brought her into the bath and gave her a change of clothes. I don't really know if there is anything else we can do."
"She is an elf, no? Perhaps we can give her an elven feast. That might lift her spirits."
"And what about you? How did everything go? Did you…"
Valerie wrapped her arms tighter around Bery. "They will no longer climb up this mountain, but I am ashamed to say that I did have to use a bit of violence to force their capitulation. For now, we should all take a load off. Matters like this should be discussed with clear heads and satiated stomachs."
It was then that Bery noticed the rumbling of her own tummy and heat flushed her cheeks. "I would like that…"
Valerie giggled. "You are just too cute."
The dragon took Bery's lips with her own and savored her kitten.
Once again, Bery didn't know how to feel, yet her head didn't matter as much when her lips were sealed.
"Notice, Administrator Bery's head is clearer when she doesn't think. It's better to stop thinking of pointless things and allow yourself to be swept up by the current."
And when did you start making your own sayings? It's not like I'm completely stupid!
Bery could have sworn she heard the thing in her arm laughing, but in the end, she assumed it was her imagination. It was much easier to allow herself to be carried by the dragoness all the way through the castle and into the dining room.
"I don't have anything prepared for the occasion because I wasn't imagining that we would get an elven guest. So it looks like we will need to do a little improvisation."
"Do you really not mind?"
Valerie shook her head. "I trust you completely. I have said it before, but I do not wish for you to go without friends. It is my wish to make you completely happy. I have already captured your heart, and in order to maintain such a thing, I simply need to keep spoiling you like this. Isn't it so? If you wish to have an entire kingdom, I will create one with you, and if you wish for it to be only us two, I will make it so. There is nothing in this world that I won't do to keep you. You are mine."
Bery once again felt her heart pounding in her chest. Even though she was supposed to be worried about her friend, she was being swept up in this dragon's antics! This horrible, terrible, fiendish, hoarding, beautiful, sexy dragon!
The dragon in question licked her lips. "Every time your eyes glisten and your cheeks redden it makes me want to eat you like a delicious apple, savoring every bite."