At first, Wynblow was absolutely sure she had to hide quickly.
She was still wounded, and in a forest where it was difficult to fly because of the tightly packed trunks of the trees, encountering a human being was the worst that could happen.
Being human meant alerting the empire's strike force, and thus sending in a kill squad if no hunters were available to take her down.
Even though she had begun to trust Ewan, she knew that he was a special case, and that anyone who saw a dragon would only see it as a monster to be slaughtered.
However, when she heard the human's hesitant and distressed voice that had surprised her, she froze in place.
She was used to staying out of human affairs for the sake of self-preservation. But this voice, belonging to a seemingly elderly and isolated woman, had somewhat upset Wynblow's principles.
She was a single person, so it was already less threatening.
No, a human was still a human, no matter what.
She couldn't afford to reveal herself in the open, at the risk of having her presence reported to monster exterminators.
So she began to open her large wings again, to take her first impulse to fly away, when the voice came again.
"I can't... get up..." Said the old lady.
Wynblow frowned - or at least, the two scaly bumps above her eyes went down - and slowly folded her wings.
She wanted to help this person who was making her feel sorry for her. So much for discretion, she would find another clearing to land in.
Carefully, she descended the steep slope where tall, dry grass gradually gave way to a thin, low carpet of lush green grass, before changing to tall brush of heather and other dry, twisted wood shrubs.
Just at the fold between two hillsides, near the upturned basket that emerged from the thicket, was an old lady wedged between two clumps of branches, face down and feet dangling several inches off the ground.
She must have taken quite a fall, to end up in such a position without being able to move.
"Is... Is there anyone?" She asked, which stopped Wynblow dead in his tracks.
The human being must have heard the stones and pebbles tumbling or settling under Wynblow's heavy footsteps, and realized that someone was approaching her.
It wasn't as if the dragoness could hide her presence anymore.
"Do you... Need help?" She asked the old woman.
She was a little reassured that the human couldn't turn her head to look at her, otherwise she would surely have screamed in terror when she saw the huge spiny head of a dragon towering over her.
"Ah... Yes! I can't pull myself free!" Begged the old woman, her gray hair done up in a bun bouncing slightly with her movements.
On closer inspection, it was clear that she would not be able to free herself, which made Wynblow sigh.
Cautiously, the dragoness approached a bit more, poising herself on the increasingly sloping part of the hilly area.
"If... If I help you, don't look towards me, okay?" She asked anxiously.
"Don't... Look at you?" Asked the old woman, a little confused.
"I have a rather... Unpleasant appearance to look at, so do that for me, okay?" Negotiated Wynblow.
"O... Okay, it shouldn't be complicated to do..." Replied the old lady.
Well, if this woman kept her word, Wynblow would be able to leave as soon as possible without further questions.
Arching her neck like one of those wooden construction cranes, she began to move her head towards the old woman's completely exposed and vulnerable back.
The fabric of the clothes looked strong enough not to tear completely under the weight of the human wearing them.
Cautiously, she grasped the end of the old woman's tunic between her teeth, her canines piercing through the thick fabric with disconcerting ease.
She felt the human's skin lightly touching the scales on her throat, and held back from swallowing.
As long as she didn't do anything that could betray her, she would always have excuses to give on this or that detail.
Gently, she went up her hold of the thickets, before depositing it a little higher, the woman's face turned away from its direction.
By touching again the ground, the old woman breathed a sigh of relief, obviously reassured to be finally released from the painful posture where she had put herself.
"T... Thank you..." She said at last, starting to turn to the dragoness.
"Don't look at me!" Wynblow scolded, a gurgle escaping from her throat.
"Don't worry, young lady..." Continued the old woman.
She had finished turning to Wynblow, and the latter quickly realized that she would probably have nothing to fear from the human in front of her.
"...Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to look at you." She said.
The old woman's eyes were slightly clouded and without a specific focus, continually staring at an invisible point in front of them.
The old woman couldn't see anything, which split Wynblow between two conflicting emotions: relief that she couldn't be seen, and guilt that she was glad the old woman was blind.
"I... Sorry..." Finally managed to say the dragoness.
"Why are you sorry? It's not like you're responsible for my condition..." The old woman reassured her. "And you even helped me."
Not wrong. But that didn't stop the dragoness from feeling a little guilty.
Since the old woman couldn't see her true appearance, she had no reason to be afraid; which reassured Wynblow.
"Oh, and... Where's my stuff?" Asked the human.
Ah. She must have meant the basket that was left standing among the brush.
Quickly, Wynblow grabbed the container and its load of wood branches with her mouth again, before placing it next to the old woman.
The latter felt the contours of the basket before checking the interior with her hands.
She seemed quite satisfied that she had not lost too many pieces of wood despite the fall she had suffered.
Which was the signal for Wynblow to finally slip away.
"Well... If you don't need me anymore..." She said carefully.
However, no sooner had she turned her back, than the old woman gave a little whimper.
"I think I sprained my ankle..."
Wynblow frowned again. What kind of trouble had she gotten herself into by helping this person?
Reluctantly, she turned back to the old woman.
"You... Need help walking?" She grimaced as she revealed her canines.
"Oh, I could use some!" The old woman suddenly exclaimed.
This was calculated from the start, right?
"I... I can't carry you," Wynblow quickly apologized.
"Ah, I see... That's too bad..." Said the old woman, visibly dejected.
An expression that made the dragoness feel guilty again.
She certainly couldn't put it on her back without risking being found out. But maybe...
"I... I can offer you to lean on me," Wynblow offered.
"Oh, I see. Let's do that!" The old woman nodded.
Yes, that way the old woman probably wouldn't suspect anything.
Wynblow then lifted her long tail and turned it to place it between her and the old woman, before lightly touching the human's shoulder with her side.
"You can hold onto my arm," Wynblow lied.
The scales towards the end of her tail were much smaller, so hopefully...
"Oh, you have really rough skin... Are you a soldier or a hunter?" Asked the old woman curiously, while leaning on Wynblow's tail.
"N-No... I've always had skin like that..." Quickly pretexted the dragoness.
"You must be from the south, then?" Said the old woman.
"Ah... Yes..." Wynblow lied again.
As long as she went along with the old woman, everything would be fine. All she had to do was take her to her home or to a nearby village, and then she'd be on her way without being noticed.
To go unnoticed and not to arouse suspicion. It was the best thing to do.
The duo had already started to leave towards another mountainside for several minutes, the old lady having put the wooden basket back on her back and still leaning with her frail and wrinkled hands on the tail of the dragoness, when the human asked another question.
"By the way, I didn't catch your name, young lady," she remarked.
"Ah... Uh... Wynblow..." Quickly replied the dragoness.
"Oh, a name in the old language? That's rare, these days..." Surprised the old woman. "Surely your parents must have spoken it, for you to have that name..."
"Surely...." Said Wynblow with embarrassment.
She couldn't even remember events beyond a year, so remembering her childhood or her parents was a lot to ask. She didn't even know if dragons raised their young or abandoned them at birth.
Then again, it wasn't a parent who gave her that name. It was...