I wake up to feel myself resting on a warm, familiar body. I look up and smile before kissing his chin, then hugging him and trying to bury my head in his chest. "Mmmh, the perfect pillow."
"So I am just a pillow now?" I heard him chuckle and his grip on me tightened.
"No...but you are a good one." I look up at his face smiling. "Now, what should we do?"
"We could just stay in bed and cuddle." he gently rubbed my back and made me purr a bit.
I look up at him, then sigh and get up. "I shouldn't stay in bed too long."
He chuckles then sits up with me. "Good choice, we wouldn't want people talking...more than usual."
I nod and get out of bed, going to the closest. "As we are now, some say we are practically already mates."
"I don't mind it, but I know your father doesn't like us being this close." I feel him behind me, and I turn around to push him out of my closet.
"First off, until we become mates, you don't get to see me in anything less than my swimsuit; second, my father is overprotective of me sometimes...especially with you."
He nods and stops at the doorway. I close the door and get dressed, choosing something a bit more revealing to tease him. When I walk out, I see him go red.
"So, ready to walk around today?" I offer my hand. He takes it as we head out of my room.
We walk around for a bit till we get to one of the landing platforms, and I walk to the edge. "The wind is nice today.." I close my eyes. I feel his hands on my waist.
"Yes, and the view is magnificent, especially with you in it."
I could feel my cheeks heat up and try not to look at him as I feel his arms around my waist. "I...Grey, that's unfair, you know I…" I try to think of what to say, but my mind goes blank.
"How is it unfair for me to hold my girlfriend?" I hear him whisper into my ear, making me want to purr.
"G...Grey..someone could hear you," I say as I lean back against him, feeling his muscular chest against my back.
"So? Anyone who comes up here already knows, and after your awakening, we can talk about being more." I can feel him whispering in my ear more as I purr.
"Even so...we still have a few weeks, and we have guests." I turn around to face him. "Let's go see if May or Retsuko want to do anything."
Grey chuckles but nods and steps aside while grabbing my hand. "After you, my lovely scarlet dragon."
I can't help but smile around him as we walk back inside; I ask a guard where May and Retsuko are, then after getting directions, head there.
"Sendria, mauve, is it just me, but some of the guards seem tenser. Did something happen while I was gone?" I could hear the concern in Grey's voice but didn't understand what he was getting at.
"Not as far as I know, but we can ask my father later if you want."
We get to Retsuko's room, which was right next to May's. I knock on the door and hear what sounds like someone falling, then other things falling before the door opens. Retsuko there with a shirt hanging off her head. "Hi, um, can I get one moment?"
I chuckle and take the shirt off her head. "Yes, but please try to be safe."
She nods sheepishly and takes the shirt before closing the door; we wait a bit before she opens the door again. "Come on in; I have plenty of room."
We go in, and I look around, seeing the signs that the room was a mess moments before. "Settling in?"
She nods and sits on her bed. "It's bigger than my room at home, but it also feels...off."
I nod and sit in a chair, grey sitting beside me. "So, Retsuko, anything you want to do?"
She seems to think for a bit before nodding. "Can we go explore the woods and the city? I've never been to a city before."
I nod and look to Grey. "We can also go shopping."
I notice him roll his eyes, having been on a shopping trip with my mother and me before. "I suppose I will tag along so that someone can carry all of your bags."
Me and Retsuko both laugh, and she gets up. "Let's go."
I get up, and we all head out, going down the long hallways to one of the magic elevators to not have to take the stairs.
As we get outside, I take a deep breath then watch Retsuko change to a werewolf. For a moment, I feel a foreign mind try to connect with my own and block it; then I look at Retsuko. "Is that you?"
I see her nod so let it in. "Sorry, I forgot that May told me always to ask first."
I sigh and nod to Grey. "It's ok, it's only Retsuko." then I pet her, watching her ears go back as she gets a happy look. "You really are beautiful like this, Retsuko."
She barks happily before taking off. I laugh before taking off after her, looking back to see Grey running after us.
I take out my wings and tackle Restuko as we both tumble around, she finally pins me, waiting to see if I try to fight, but I just lay there and laugh. After a moment, she licks my face and gets off. "I didn't expect you to catch me."
"It wasn't easy, I had to take out my wings, but it was fun."
I look over and see Grey catch up with us, not out of breath, but I could tell if we had gone for longer, he might have been. "Having trouble keeping up with two girls?"
I see him raise an eyebrow before sitting down. "When one is a dragon and the other a werewolf, they can run circles around most."
Me and Retsuko laugh and nod. "Fair enough, now let's try walking."
They both nod as we walk the rest of the way, Retsuko sometimes running ahead and sniffing flowers or chasing a bird before running back.
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After walking for a bit, we get to the entrance to the city. I get us in and then lead Retsuko to the shops. Watching her excitedly look at the shops makes me smile. "She's always a kid, huh?"
"Yeah, but the atmosphere around here..it feels tense." I look at him to see him looking around.
"Relax, your imagining things." I go to Retsuko, who had found a cute dress she wanted to try.
I help her try it on, and then we buy it. We go to a diner and sit down to eat.
I watch them talk about something while I order. "Hey, leaving me out?"
"No, I was just confirming with Restuko that things felt off, tense, honestly." Grey said while looking around; I roll my eyes and see Retsuko nod in agreement.
"Your both are imagining it; this place is fine." I look away and around, no clue what they were talking about.
"We can just forget about it for now." Grey holds my hand, and I sigh and nod.
"Ok, but I do want to know what you mean."
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We walked around more once we finished eating, but I kept seeing Grey glance everywhere, almost nervous. I can't understand why.
As we get to the entrance again to leave, I notice Retsuko looking back at something, but I don't see anything.
"So, did you two have fun?" I try to get them not to look so worried; it started to get annoying since nothing was wrong.
"Yeah, it was fun, and thank you for buying them." She nods happily.
We continue to make our way back, Retsuko back to how she was on the way to the city as I hold Grey's hand. "So….care to explain?"
He looks at me and sighs. "I know you might be annoyed at me for this, but...before I came here, I saw the same signs in my homeland..before the civil war."
I look at him, confused. "You're probably just paranoid, Grey; after all, you just got back from the elven lands where the civil war was going on."
He shrugs and then pulls me against him, his hand on my waist. "I hope your right."
I roll my eyes. "There has never been anything close to a civil war since the six dragon tribes came together tens of thousands of years ago; the people here live happily."
We continue to walk back, but I couldn't get what he said out of my head. There's no way we could have a civil war, we have Arca, and we all work to help each other thrive...right?
I try to get it out of my head as we continue back to the mountain. "Grey...can we go flying later? I need to clear my head."
He nods and kisses my cheek, making me blush. "We can do whatever you want, Sen."
As we get back to the mountain and ascend the elevator, I look out over the cavern extending below, with many bridges spanning it. "I still don't understand why we have this cavern unless it was always here."
"Didn't you ask your father at some point?" Grey asked me.
"No, I never thought to, snd I don't really need to." I continue to look at it as we reach the top and get off.
We make our way to Retsuko's room, where I see May standing there taking with my father. Seeing us, she waves and comes over to hug Retsuko. "I see you did some shopping."
Retsuko nods and shows May some of the dresses we got. "And Sendria paid for it all."
"Did she now? Well, thank you, Sendria, and I wanted to talk to you about something. Can we talk in private?" May motions to her room. I nod, and we go in; I sit in a chair as May leans against a wall.
"So...how was Retsuko?" I could see that May was a bit concerned.
"She was fine. A lot of running around, but once we got to the city, she stayed close." I smile and remember how childlike Retsuko seems to act. "I can understand your concern. She is a child at heart, honestly."
She nods and sighs. "I love her and how carfree she is...but I also worry."
I get up and put a hand on her shoulder. "She is safe here; you know that."
She nods and looks up. "It's not easy, you know..but that's just life, I guess."
"Yeah, it is, and we're stuck with it, for better or worse."
We talked for a bit, me telling her about how Dylan was like growing up and telling me about Delco and Retsuko. We exchanged jokes and laughed, but to the end, the same nagging feeling came up again.
"May...what do you think of this place? Does anything seem...off to you?"
She looks at me, seeing the concern in my eyes, and sighs. "I don't know...it's only been a day...I can feel something, but it ould be just me missing my home.."
"I understand...Grey mentioned something, and it's been nagging at me."
"Well, give it time. We have a few more days before your awakening; I'll keep my eyes open."
"Thank you. Now let's go out and enjoy everyone's company." She nods as we head back out.