Nico had never seen a place like the Wastelands before. Humans, elves, and dragons all live in harmony. He lost the amount of times he's pinched himself just to be sure he wasn't dreaming.
Before he thought that things like this wouldn't-couldn't happen.
Now that he's seen it with his own eyes he could feel his heart filling up with hope again.
Zander had shown him around yesterday and today he's going to take him over to the dragon field. Once he laced up his boots he marched out of the hut ready to start the day, but blinked when he saw dragon swooshing overhead dropping elves everywhere.
The people who'd been out doing a morning stroll stopped to stare and point.
Those who had the ability to use air gently maneuvered them to the ground for a safe landing.
"Nic!" Zander raced towards him, cheeks flushed and hair billowing around his face.
"Hey."
"What took you so long?"
Nico watched the elves tumble in the air. "I'm trying to figure out why its raining elves."
Zander chuckled. "These are the elves Prince Xavier is getting out of the mines."
"Wait..what?"
"Yeah! That's crazy, isn't it?"
Nico blinked. "Prince Xavier as in-"
"Kaya's husband."
He flinched.
"Look, I know you two aren't on good ground but she's been helping us for a while now. Kaya even helped Sawyer smuggle me and the others out."
Nico gawped at him hardly believing a word he was saying.
Kaya with the Revolution?
Kaya helping elves?
He had to be joking.
"Kaya knows she messed up. But she had to get you out, I hope you come around to forgiving her." Zander's brow furrowed. "How's Luca?"
Nico raised a brow. "Luca?" then it clicked. "Oh. Him."
"Yeah. He's a guard." Zander muttered, trying and failing to hide the blush on his cheeks. "He's a friend."
Someone coughed behind Zander and he jumped, spinning around.
Luca stood there wearing a bright smile. He wore loose-fitting clothes and was no longer wearing the sling. His little brother leaped at Zander squeezing him in a hug.
"How-?" Zander spluttered.
Luca's smile grew bringing out the dimples in his cheek. "I have my ways. How have you been?"
The little boy grabbed Nico's hand and dragged him towards the dragon fields. "let's give them some alone time." he winked. "I'm Foster. I'm eight."
"Hi."
Foster released his hand and jumped the fence. "This is when you tell me your name. You're Kaya's companion, yeah?"
"I was." Nico corrected through gritted teeth. "Nico."
"Cool name. C'mon, I wanna show you something." Foster rambled before taking off.
Nico's jaw dropped as he gazed upon the massive beasts before him. They were frolicking around, playing with fire, and some even appeared to be napping in the warm morning sun. He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of these seemingly dangerous creatures acting so carefree. "Well," he thought to himself, "I guess even giant beasts need their beauty sleep!"
It was a sight his father would've given an arm and a leg to see, his sister would run around trying to pet them and his mom would have scribbled a quick picture.
He took off after Foster making sure to watch out for tails and flying fireballs.
In the corner of the field under a large tree, a dragon sat there watching the others with what looked like disdain.
Foster slowly approached the beast with his hand out and eyes closed.
Nico was clueless when it came to dragons. He thought they were just big lizards with wings. But he did know one thing - never, ever, under any circumstances, look them in the eye. Because according to the ancient texts, if you do, they'll take it as a sign of aggression and toast you like a marshmallow. And let's face it, nobody wants to end up as a crispy critter just because they couldn't keep their eyes to themselves.
The dragon sat up and its nose nudged his hand. Foster sighed. "This is - was my mother's dragon, August." he opened his eyes and slowly rubbed the beast's nose. "When our mom passes, he felt her pain but couldn't do anything because he'd blow our cover."
"Blow your cover?"
"Because after King Kojo killed the Queen of the dragons the others, scared, fled and haven't been seen for years." he shrugged. "The dragons that the Dragon Rider Kingdom manages to grab are pups. And even then it's not even a third of their population."
"So..what, are they going to be used as soldiers?"
Foster gave him a look. "Dragons are usually friendly creatures unless someone threatens them or their rider. They've agreed to help us.. don't call them soldiers. They have a mind of their own." he plopped down on the grass.
He patted the spot next to him and Nico sat down.
"So, Kaya's former companion. What was that like?"
Nico startled by the sudden change in conversation blinked, taking a minute to compose himself. "It was nice."
Foster pulled out a piece of jerky and tossed it in August's open mouth. "Nice," he repeated. "That's it?"
"I'm not sure how else to describe it given that she-"
She didn't betray you. Not really, anyway." Foster plucked pieces of grass and began tying the pieces together so fast his fingers were blurring.
"How do you know?"
"She wasn't intentionally trying to hurt you, Nico. Kaya only had so long before her father caught on to her nightly 'walks." Foster's brows furrowed as he worked on his creation.
"What?"
"The whole time, Kaya has been working with the Revolution trying to come up with a solution to help you guys." Foster swallowed. "You know Kaya and you know she's not a bad person."
Nico snorted. "Then why-?"
"She had no other option. I'm sure she wasn't planning on- you know." his cheeks flushed. "But what else were she to do in that situation? What other lie could she have come up with?"
"That I was fixing the sheets."
Nico bit his lip wondering why he said that out loud. It had sounded so much better in his head. He looked at the boy and his eyes were glistening struggling to hold back his laughter.
"Fixing the sheets." Foster wiggled his brows. "Interesting."
"You're gross."
Foster laughed. "You said it."
"I didn't mean that."
"Mhm. Well, Kaya hasn't been feeling too well lately. You are aware of Queen Ariana's murder, no?"
Nico nods.
"Kaya took her death and losing you hard. Luca said she hasn't spoken in days and is barely eating." Foster held out his crown and put it on his head. "She's also..."
"Also what?"
Foster cocked his head. "How do they say it? She's with child."
Nico opened his mouth to laugh but choked.
With child.
With child.
Kaya's pregnant?!
He felt faint. Nico rubbed his temples.
They'd shared flesh.
He was a...
He was a...
Dad!?