With a tight hug on the girls and a promise to come back soon, she walked out the door. The cold wind bit her face and her already fevered body began to shiver after the first few steps.
"Can you ride? It's faster that way," asked Skye. There was no emotion in his voice, and Ahri began to wonder if he was more dragon than human. He had barely said anything to her, and even for her reserved standards, it was uncomfortable.
"I don't know, my first experience wasn't the best," she bit back, unsure as to why she was being sarcastic.
"I didn't know it was your first ride."
"Would it make a difference if you did?"
"No," he replied, but had the decency to look at least a bit guilty by his answer. "But I don't think you can walk either. I'll take you in my claws."
She didn't know if her widened eyes were missed by him, of if he chose to ignore her, but next she knew he took off his fur coat and turned into a dragon right before her eyes. The change was fast, and she couldn't begin grasp how it happened. She almost wanted to slow down time to understand the way his magic worked, but she knew her mind couldn't comprehend the phenomena.
She stood speechless for a long while, and his black eyes stared at her with silent expectation. His snout lowered in her direction, and for the first time she could see the details of his black scales. Spikes and horns drew a pattern of death on his head, and she could almost taste the heat that came from him.
Her left hand, moving at its own accord, raised to touch him, but a gush of wind brought her back to her senses. A pang of pain crossed her head and she had to close her eyes to bear it. The dragon, noticing her distress, took a few steps back and prepared to take off.
His coat was on the snow-covered ground, and she took it in her hands before they could leave. It was still warm, and she welcomed the extra heat on her arms. Before she could prepare, Skye flapped his wings and freed his claws from the ground.
Ahri knew she had already traveled like that on the first time, but she was knocked out and earned a sore rib from the trip. She was not looking forward to finding herself between those blades again. However, her desires were not taken into consideration, and in a swift move from Skye, she found herself trapped in his right front paw.
Ahri expected to hear the sounds of his wings flapping to take them off the ground, but was surprised to be graced with silence. The first time around she thought she was just too stunned to hear it, but now she was sure. The ground moved away from her, and the trees looked like white and green dots bellow, but she was still impressed by the quiet.
Her thoughts wondered back to when her mother brought her to the woods for the first time. 'Listen to the quiet, Ahri. Danger comes with no warning'. She was trapped in the claws of a beast, weak and vulnerable, but she still couldn't feel the fear. Despite her mother's words, despite the helplessness of her situation, she felt free.
The ride was short, and no more than a couple of minutes had gone by when she felt the descent. Before her, a mountain range stood tall, too steep to allow for the vegetation to stick. The snow granted her truce and had stopped falling, but the yield from the past few days painted the black rocks with streaks of white. In the midst of the imponent wall of stone, an opening.
Ahri felt weightless as the dragon dived towards his lair. The opening was huge, but so were the open wings of the beast that carried her. Ahri closed her eyes as Skye dived into the gap, and only opened them when she felt the ground beneath her. By her side, wings retreated into a man's body as the dragon returned to his human form. He covered his body with clothes folded by the floor and refused his coat when she motioned to give it back.
Around her, dark walls of stone opened up to form a cave with multiple ramifications. Torches lit the way to at least four different corridors, and Ahri was dying to begin her exploration. Her host, however, was looking at her with an odd expression.
"I don't have a guest room," he mumbled, and then pointed to the far-left corridor of stone. "But you can stay there. I'll bring some stuff so you can sleep properly."
Ahri nodded slowly, failing to hide her disappointment. Sure, he was not obligated to show her around and make her feel at home, but it would be nice to know the place. And maybe know a bit more about that silent man that was offering her shelter.
She followed the path inside the cave, using her hands to guide her in the parts the light didn't reach. The narrow walls gave way to a medium sized chamber, and heat climbed inside Ahri's clothes like a warm blanket. But she could feel her fever rising again, and soon the chills would begin to run through her body like a convulsing child.
Ahri removed her heavy coat, suddenly understanding why Skye had dismissed his own when they first got there. She walked around the room with her hands to the wall, feeling the temperature and memorizing her surroundings. The walls were warmer on the right corner, which made sense. Most of the volcanic caves were to her right, and as soon as she was feeling better, she'd explore everything.
Right now, she just wanted her head to stop throbbing. She ran out of pain medicine the day before, and now all she had were two doses of antipyretic roots. There was no way she'd spend them so soon, so she decided to lay down and hope the fever wouldn't rise too much. With her coat folded as a pillow, she found a smooth surface and closed her eyes.