A/n

Here is the next chapter, sorry it has been taking so long, but it will be worth it! Enjoy the story!

Chapter 35: Repercussions

One can choose their actions they make but rarely can they pick the consequences that follow said action. It is a lesson that many learn over and over throughout their lives. Nor do we tend to see the full effects of the consequences until after that face.

-Saber's pov-

Thank Mr. Narrator, yet another one of your musings that isn't needed and is setting up those listening to get the wrong idea about my tale. Anyway, after I'd woken up Lara from the nap we both had directly following mating with each other, I knew that we needed to get back to Warfang. Now don't get me wrong, the relationship 'improvement' I had with Lara was nice and all, more than I would have thought. Okay, I with begrudgingly admit that mating with Lara and been freaking amazing in ways words don't accurately convey. Anyway, we got ourselves back together before starting on our way back to Warfang so that we might get back before dark.

By the time we actually began flying off on the journey it was a tad after midday which we could still make it to Warfang before dark with time to spare. Things were going wonderfully, saw nothing out of the ordinary as we were going along which is a good thing in my view. My streak of bad luck was leaving me be for the time being, and I certainly won't complain about that. So, count your blessing and all that, for example, no apes around that I could see or sense to take shots at Lara or myself. So, all and all, things were going nicely for us and when you consider the rarity such circumstances are for me specifically, things are great at the current moment. At the rate of speed Lara and I were traveling, I estimate that we should be back at Warfang for dinner.

However, the optimism I had only held for the first hour or so, which including boring landscape and little else. Then the nice-looking plan hit the first unexpected speed bump, and that bump really ended out being a serious doozy. Honestly, I should know better by now since my life has taught me the lesson many, many time, things rarely go smoothly for me with my plan "A". Thankfully, out of immensely ingrained habit, it's pretty much second nature for me to have a seriously flexible plan "B" completely ready to go. It's one of the ways I deal with the living hell my life can become in a heartbeat.

So, some of you listening would ask why might my plan "A" have failed in this instance? For the answer I'll refer to my usual reason number two, which is me being a freaking ridiculously strong magnet for all things weird and unusual. Now, I can't say if it's for usual reason number one is playing a part just yet, which is my bad luck doing its thing and screwing with me like it does. Anyways, the painful speed bump came in the form of a sight below us and it was Lara who spotted the oddity first and brought it to my attention. "Hey Saber, look down and ahead. Is that a dragon," Lara said to me.

At Lara's entreaty, I did as she suggested and looked in the direction Lara had indicated. To my surprise, sure enough there was a dragon with red-orange scales splayed out a small distance ahead of us on the ground. It's certainly not a sight you see every day even I have to admit that and I myself am not something most see on a normal given day for even me. And a normal day for me is different than what others would see as normal. Well, the best way to figure why there's a dragon out in the middle of nowhere like this would be to go down and investigate. Without further thought of this unusual scene, I dove down to the ground to see what could be figured out about this.

Now, by this time, I've gotten much better at the art of flying, including take-off, flight and especially the landing. Out of those three, landing was the hardest one for me to get down correctly and I had some bad consequences when I was learning. You see, when it comes to landing, timing is key and it took me several tries to understand that. Boy, did I ever do some spectacular plowing face plants as the first fruits of those laborious attempts! Those kind of face plants are the kind that when you hit the ground with your face, you keep going forward and your face tends to get deeper and deeper into the ground the farther you go. They don't feel nice to do those I'll say but I'm used to crap happening to me.

So, I came in to landed not too far from the dragon folding my wings to my sides before getting down to study the dragon and the surroundings to maybe figure out what was going on. The surroundings didn't tell me much to explain why there was a dragon here or how they got to this spot, so I dismissed them rather quickly for the time being. However, I didn't discount them as they could play a part in whatever had brought this situation about.

The dragon itself had red-orange over body scale color, but that was what Lara and I had seen from the air. Although, I did note that this dragon was male, mostly going off his body shape as there is a seeable difference from dragonesses. So, the dragon had neutral brown color that you see with hardwood floors for his underbelly and wing membranes. Not a color that I would have expected with the red shade and it's odd to think of hardwood for a brown color, yet that was what instantly came to mind when I saw the color.

My eyes flicked to his horns, they were different since I haven't seen any other horns like them and I've seen some weird ones while I've been here. The two horns reminded me of… a samurai's helmet like you see in those old Japanese flicks which I saw some with a "friend". The same one who is kind of responsible for the glitch of me switching to speaking Japanese with I get really mad sometimes, yeah, enough said. I got closer to the dragon and then leaned to the side to get a look at his tail blade and again was baffled at the difference. The blade looked like a Japanese bisento spear, the kind of spears that look kind of like a falchion on a pole or something like that.

With what I've seen of this dragon, he looked to be about the same age as myself, mostly by judging with size and length. Granted, I'm bigger, but then I'm larger than average when it comes to my age group by a noticeable margin. It's kind of nice for it to be that way, because as a human I was average if not slightly less when it came to size. But then my mind started to come up with possibilities of how this dragon ended out in this position. I mean, he was splayed in the middle of nowhere and is something that tends to have a reason for happening. One doesn't just appear in the middle of nowhere without cause or reason, that's one of the rules of the universe as well as logic. But I was coming up with nothing that made an amount of sense to be considered a possible reason for this scene to be as it was.

The sound of Lara land behind me came to my ears brought me out of my studying of the dragon and the scene. When I glanced around at her, I found that she had landed next to me and was tucking her wings to her sides. Once she had, she looked to me, "So, is he okay," she inquired.

I turned my head back to the red dragon and looked him over with a critical eye and noted that he was breathing even though he wasn't moving. That means that he's alive even if he might be injured which is better than the alternative of being dying or dead. That makes me believe that he was just either blacked out or sleeping, those were the best two possibilities I could think of with what I saw. The standing issue in this find is that if we stay in one place for too long, then the likelihood of apes finding us goes up. It would be much better if we can avoid a problem like apes for the time being, especially since my popularity with them has skyrocketed. They also hate the color purple, mostly due to my friend Spyro's actions against them, and Lara could be mistaken for him. After sorting my thoughts, I turned back to focus on Lara and proceeded to answer her question, "Well he is breathing, so that makes me think he is alive. However, whether he is asleep or otherwise, I have not the faintest clue with what I can see right now."

Lara moved to be on my right, looking at the red dragon with a worried expression which caused a twinge of pain in my heart. For some reason, seeing Lara be as caring as she is right now was really nice though I ignored the feeling and stayed where I was. Nevertheless, Lara made it harder to ignore said feeling when she leaned up against my side. She then, began nuzzling my with her head, but it wasn't in the normal way she does the action. I think she was trying to tell me without words that she wants me to comfort her. Why Lara thinks that I would be good at such a thing, when I've told her I'm not good with emotions and had to my embarrassment, I've also show how horrible I am with emotions I don't know.

We began discussing what we should do about this dragon being here for of course, we couldn't just leave the guy here. However, with the state he was in, there was little we could do for him and the more ideas were suggested, the more apparent that fact became. Yet, the situation changed when we heard a quiet groan from you guessed it, the dragon on the ground. Lara and I looked over at the dragon and he was moving around now as he brought his head up and put a paw to it.

Lara was the first to speak up between us and that was fine by me. I'm not against helping out others, do it often enough with varying results. Nonetheless, the sooner we get back to Warfang the better in my opinion. I was even more keen to get back to the dragon city when I took a moment to recall the events that had happened over the last week. Why would what's gone on in the last week matter right now? Oh ye of little faith and understanding, it makes a difference because my bad luck hasn't hit me like it regularly does for almost that length of time. That means I've luck buildup, and with my luck, that's a very VERY bad thing!

Now, before any of you listening cry foul on me with recent events, what had happened with Lara, both our fight/shouting match along with this morning, none of that falls under, 'my bad luck striking' really. My luck doesn't work like that often, it has far more consistency and predictable than what those two events did. The serious issue is the longer my bad luck builds, then the worse it will be when it releases on me and that worries me greatly with good reason. I know I've explained my unending streak of bad luck to those here that are 'friends', but I don't think any of them have really understood what I've been talking about. The only exception to that might be Tarra as she seems to have a similar problem, just not the magnitude that my luck has got to punch me with. That being said, I don't want to give opportunity or any help to my luck to be any worse than it usually is!

"Um, hey are you okay there," Lara asked the red dragon.

The male dragon grunted before he spoke, "Yeah I like think so all. My head feels like I've been battered about, like I just wiped out in the barrel of a totally killer wave before getting dumped and burned dudes and Wahines, so not cool."

Upon hearing the dragon's voice, I stopped my worried musing instantly as it was completely out of place here in the Dragon Realm. That voice also sounded like a few I've heard before and definitely employed the surfer lingo, but I'm having trouble remembering where at the moment. The dragon opened his eyes and when he had focused, his eyes were a light grey and just after seeing Lara and I, his eyes widened. The rather rare reaction was unexpected… actually, what am I saying, this is normal with me being a white dragon. When others see me, the one white dragon, one of the two expressions I get is shock/surprise. "Whoa, totally akaw dudes! You're like," the dragon paused, "you two are dragons, right?" Lara nodded, and the dragon kept going, "This isn't like, some sort of dream or something?"

Well no duh, captain obvious is the thing I wanted to say and was the point that came to mind. I mean, what else would we be if not dragons I ask you? He's a dragon himself too after all, or is he idiotic enough that he isn't aware of that fact? Nevertheless, I was keeping my peace for whenever I put in my opinion, I get trouble shoved back in my face for it lately. It would nice to get a bit of a break from that kind of thing though I can't shake the nagging thought that this dragon's voice sounds familiar. Yet, I can't for the life of me, figure out where or why exactly. But what's irking more than why it was familiar was that I couldn't remember where I've heard this guy's voice as I know I have heard it.

Lara tilted her head slightly in confusion, "Yes," she stated, "we are dragons."

"THAT'S TOTALLY RIGHTEOUS DUDES! REAL DRAGONS, MONDO BITCHIN ALL," bellowed the red dragon.

This dragon's voice, I know I've heard it before, but where was it? This is so frustrating and I'm stressed enough as of late, putting aside what Lara and I had done earlier today which relieved an amount of said stress. Still, I know that voice, but I just can't recall where or why I do know it, I swear it is on the tip of my tongue. "Dude, I've always like totally wished I could see a real dragon all, but instead, I like get to meet two of them, it's beyond epic and far out! This is the gnarliest thing that it's maxed out man! Wait till Jack hears this, he'll flip just as much as me, it's like entering an epic party wave dude," the dragon continued.

As I had listened more and more to this dragon, things started clicking in my mind and that answered at least on of the previous question I had. I did know this individual which told me where I had heard this voice, but that certainly still left the why unanswered. He shouldn't be here in the Dragon Realm and he definitely shouldn't be a dragon himself but he somehow was. And I know that there has been an amount of unexplainable crap since I got here, but this is pushing the envelope labeled ridiculous and ludicrous more than I unusually see. I say that because, with this individual there will come a slew of difficulties that the Dragon Realm just doesn't have that I have seen thus far, language being the foremost on the list. That being said, what is he doing here and more importantly why?

Lara was even more confused than before, "What are you," she started.

However, I could no longer stay silence, so interrupted her, "Sen," I barked in question.

The red dragon that I'm nearly positive now is one of those who was a "friend" back at the dojo, looked at me. I say that, since he spent time around me, more so than most others did and his surfer lingo is the exact same as before. "Yeah," he answered, "but dude, how do you like know my name man? I can totally promise you dude, meeting a dragon wouldn't slip from my head man any more than I would a rad re-entry." Sen paused for a moment, "Still though, your voice does give me a like awesomely shaka vibe dude. So, have we like bumped into each other going off maybe during dawn patrol man?"

I couldn't help myself but shake my head as it fell and it was accompanied by a sigh at having to deal with antics like this again, it showed how out of practice I'd gotten. This 'dragon' was named Sen Morrie and as I said he is a surfer and human, at least he was the last time I saw him. I foresee harsh times for me ahead as well as explain much more than I already do for other dragons and dragonesses, joygasms galore for me. I focused back on the red dragon that was formally human, "Perhaps I can jog your memory Sen, you were never quite able to beat me at martial arts, but you did respectably well when it came to belching. You did spend time around me a lot back at the dojo, so I think that should be enough to ring a bell," I said flatly.

Sen stared at me for a long minute, "Bro, is that you dude?" I simply nodded in reply to the question, then Sen gained one of his trademark cheesy grins which are annoying but I tolerate. "Sweetness bro, love the sick new look, white really is your color man, it makes you gnarly to the max dude." Sen paused for a moment, "But like, where are we man cause I've never seen any views like this one, and I've been some far out spots. Course, you'll not hear a dis from me that a Quimby deserves about being in this awesome place with dragons dude. It could use some more beach and waves if you catch my vibe bro, but it's like going over the falls and then slottin in followed by kickin out of a sick killer wave and tube man, its radical bro!"

Once again, I could only shake my head in response as I feel that this will be the start of many misunderstandings with others that I'll be expected to clear up. The surfer lingo is like a language unto itself and with how dragons have trouble with how I talk, I feel it will be much worse with Sen. This forces me to ask why oh why must other forces make my life like it is, I mean, what did I ever do to them to deserve this? "It slipped my mind that you had a fanatical interest with dragons and myths of the subject thereof aside from your surfer personality," I remarked, "this will take some adjusting to for many. Yes Sen, dragons are real here, would you please keep this in perspective and not freak out."

Sen looked at me like I was asking far too much of him, "Not freak out bro, I'm already freakin out dude with how totally shaka this is man. This is the most tubular thing to ever happen to me bro! A dream come true for me man, like seein a surfing legend nose ridin nug waves dude. It's like a totally sacred happening ya know bro," Sen shot back at me.

As I said before, the surfer lingo is a language unto itself and I only have a general understanding having been around Sen. Yet, out of the corner of my eye I did see Lara looking from me to Sen and then back to me with a somewhat confused expression on her face. "Saber you know this dragon," she asked me.

Her question of me knowing Sen is kind of complicated, the truth is yes, but there is more to how then just saying I know him. Sen was one of those that was around me regularly back at the dojo and didn't avoid me like many do. So, what can I say in reply to the question Lara asked that she would understand? I was about to answer as simple as I could, but Sen turned to Lara with an expression of incredulity. "Whoa you're a babe and not a dude, uh Wahine? Anyway babe, who are you calling a dragon? I mean it would be tubular for me to be one," Sen said trailing off.

I felt my eyes roll at the response that Sen as he was showing that he wasn't paying attention to his situation. It wasn't odd or unusual for Sen to do such a thing, it's a hit or miss with him on attention span. So, as I was one that seemed to have to correct him in his lack of notice, I did just that, "Hey, captain surfer obvious, have you looked in a mirror recently? If you haven't, which I'm betting you have not, then look at yourself Sen," I said in a toneless voice.

Sen did as I suggested and looked down at himself. While he did so, I shifted myself to be slightly behind Lara and then I covered her ears as a gentleman should do for a lady. The reason I did this is I'm fairly sure what was coming knowing Sen's interest in dragons. And admittedly it was obvious with Sen's voice which can project well which I could appreciate, but not always. This was one of those times that I didn't appreciate Sen's projecting voice and I braced myself for what was about to come my way as I doubt it will be pretty or nice for my ears.

What came was akin to an air horn being positioned against my ear and then, its button depressed and was definitely broken in that position. Sen was yelling and it hurt my ears, but as I was covering Lara's with my paws, I'm forced to take the freaking loud shouting of Sen. "GNARLY DUDE, I'M A DRAGON, A REAL DRAGON! THIS IS NIRVANA FOR ME MAN! I'M TOTALLY SURFING ON CLOUD NINE NOW DUDE! I'M LOVIN THIS RIGHTEOUS HAPPENING, IT'S AWESOME BRO!"

I had the urge to throw a right hook and I likely would have if I wasn't covering Lara's ear like a gentleman like person would for a female. I had to ignore the urge screaming at me to nail Sen hard for yelling as he was as much to get him to stop since my ears were hurting. So, I resorted to bellowing back at the red dragon as I wouldn't take this without giving some sort of response! "SEN YOU IDIOT, FOR THE ANCESTORS SAKES WOULD YOU NOT YELL ABOUT THIS SO CLOSE TO ME! I WANT TO HAVE WORKING HEARING TOMORROW DANG IT, SO SHUT YOUR TRAP," I shouted at the top of my voice.

Sen managed to calm himself down somewhat after a few moments, "Sorry bro, it's just like this is something I've wished for this since I was a kid. This is epic for me dude, kinda like the first time I went body surfing bro, it's beyond sick man," he reasoned.

He can say that all he wants, that doesn't excuse him for potentially damaging my hearing thank you very much. I exhaled heavily before removed my paw from Lara's head then began shaking my head in exasperation at Sen's actions. Honestly, the guy was overreating for this situation and it wasn't helping anyone. He's talking like he normally does and that's problem number one on the list as it's doing more harm than good for him. Lara after I'd let her go just looked from Sen to me and back to Sen, "You two clearly know each other, how," she posed to me more than Sen.

I shifted my gaze over to Lara and thought for a moment, "Well," I started, "Lara, this here is Sen Morrie. Clearly he is a dragon now, but I assure you that he was human the last time I saw him." I paused for a moment to consider how to go about explaining this to Lara, "He and I met years ago and became acquainted at the dojo I spent much of my time around in the human world, mostly while we were learning and practicing fighting arts. So, I guess you can consider him a quote unquote friend of mine as he tended to spend more time around me than most did," I replied to my mate since that's the position Lara now has.

"I see," remarked Lara, but it was obvious to me that she still had more questions about Sen and me knowing each other.

That should have been the end of the subject and things move forward from there, but that would be to smooth. My life doesn't do smooth regularly so of course, Sen just HAD to open his mouth and rock the boat. "Dude bro, never pegged you for one to snag himself a nice babe like this bunny here, smooth moves bro, smooth moves. Totally primo dude, you should show me some of your epic techniques man, then maybe I can, like pick up a beach bunny in the future too man. So, who's the dragon babe with you bro, and does she have a sister dude? It would be radical to have a date with her if she does dude."

Amazing how with just a few sentences, one can sow lots of misunderstandings with others isn't it? Truthfully, it took great effort to not hit Sen at the moment as he wasn't giving a greatest impression for himself… scratch that, he is hurting himself right now and pulling me down with him. First, the surfer lingo is less understood than normal English, which I use and dragon kind understands enough to get by. Second, he wasn't helping my position at all, he was dragging it down with his own reputation dang it! Which will likely translate into me correcting and fixing things for myself and Sen with others which I am not the fondest of doing.

Now, as Lara and I have tightened our relationship recently, I was a tad worried about how she'll take this. Odd as it may be for me to care what another thinks of me, for some reason with Lara I can't help my do so an amount. So, I looked over to Lara fully ready to apologize for what Sen had said before I smack him upside the head smartly. But that thought came to a halt the second I saw Lara's face as she was baffled by her expression. I felt thankful for once that dragon kind doesn't always comprehend human speech as it was providing a mercy for me in this. It was clear that Lara hadn't understood what Sen had said which I would have to translate, but I could properly filter that. "Um Saber," she uttered, "he talks stranger than you did at first. I do not understand him really at all," Lara said to me.

And I'm glad and grateful that she didn't fully understand what had come out of Sen's mouth, it still caused a problem just less than I feared. I once again shook my head in frustration, as now I had to attempt to explain why Sen is so hard to understand. "Do not worry about it Lara, it takes most a period of time to understand what Sen here says for most. Honestly, I was always better at language skills and clear speech than he tends to be. The way he talks comes from the culture he is a part of which is different. The definition of a 'culture' is the group to which a human belongs with, usually of similar people. In human society, there are many different groups or cultures and most speak differently than the others, even if they use the same language. Some of said cultures are harder to understand than others. Sen's is definitely one of those cultures that is difficult to comprehend. You will learn to disregard a fair amount of the things he says as not noteworthy or really needed to be heard," I explained to Lara.

"Dude, that's really cold man! Why do you see the need to dis me like that bro? Aren't we friends dude," asked Sen.

My gaze flicked over to Sen and narrow my eyes smiling slightly, "What can I say, I just hate to lie, so I speak the truth even when it might be harsh at times but that's reality for you. As to the question of friends, that depends on what one consider a friend is and you should know my definition isn't the same as others," I commented.

Sen sighed at my answer, "You can still be like a total drain of good vibes dude, I would've hoped you'd gotten better having pulled a gnarly bailout on that uncle of yours which you were totally forced to bunk with man. You were a really drag and in a bummer of a mood, like you downed a Neptune Cocktail and then went selling Buicks most days because of the guy dude. It total puts off a gloomy vibe seein you like that bro," he replied back to me.

That's kind of harsh for Sen to say about me, I mean, a Neptune Cocktail is when a surfer has a bad wipeout and swallows a sizable amount of seawater. Then to say 'selling Buicks', that's to pretty much hurl up the seawater you swallowed, it's disturbing to imagine, more to see honestly. And I would know what that's like, I've done the 'hurl your guts up' before eating those fruits of unknown origin had taught me that unforgettable lesson again! However, back to Sen's point, "And have I not made an improvement since last time," I posed daring him to challenge me.

Sen waved a paw like he would a hand in a bit of a dismissive gesture, "You're not a noob anymore bro, but you're totally still need to go out surfing the waves and chill out dude, you're still a kook in being around others man. There's still room for you to improve dude, lots of room bro," he told me.

Now, being insulted isn't exactly new, but I can wave it off and I did so in this as a thought came to me. In fact, my smile turned into a smirk at that for I'd a reply ready for what was said and spike the ball back hard to my friend. Where what Sen had said is true, yet I had a counter point that can out do his statement, "True Sen, I admit that you have a point, but nowhere near as much as you will here friend," I returned.

Sen just gave me a dirty look in response, which meant I'd hit home as I'd aimed for. I meant no real harm by what I'd said, which simply put was 'I may be ignorant, but you're dumber than I am around here'. Yet, I wasn't going to let Sen say things like he had about me and not get a response in kind back. And I had pretty much won the exchange with my retort as Sen didn't reply right away.

Instead, he brought his right forepaw up and looked at it for a few seconds wiggling his three talon/toes as he stared at them. Then he shifted them in some way I wasn't able to see from where I stood but once Sen was done doing whatever he did, he made his forepaw visible to me. I stared at his paw for half a minute before my right eye quickly beginning to twitch with annoyance and anger boiled up within me at the sight I was seeing. From what Sen was showing me, he was daring me to give him a beating, at least with what he was doing and implying for me to do that's how I'm taking it.

Some of you might have guessed what my 'friend' was doing, he had one talon pointing up and the other two down. I bet most will guess which in one guess as to which talon out of the three was up as it is a human gesture that dragons wouldn't understand. In fact, this is the second time today that I'm glad the dragon race doesn't understand human actions, specifically silent insulting gestures. Sen was blatantly flipping me off with his right forepaw and telling me to screw myself. Yes, I know dragons only have three digits on any given paw, yet the gesture was clear and its meaning was even plainer and unmistakable!

The smirk on his face just added to the insult aimed at me and while I try my best to be nice to those around me, I have my limits! So, I glowered at Sen in response as I controlled my irritation, "Sen, you are very lucky I am very nice and patient," I stated clearly. "If I was not, then you would be feeling just how painful a beat down I can give and you are one of those who know what that entails." I gazed at Sen looking him straight in the eyes, "Now, put the paw down," I growled with controlled tones.

Sen kept smirk at me, which just added fuel to my growing agitation and irritation, "Let's see it, dude. I need stretches like I would before surfing man, and sparring with you bro is always sick fun. So again bro," Sen replied, before he showed me his paw with it being exactly the same as before.

Okay, pulling such a stunt once I'll ignore to be nice as a 'friend' and let it go and move on from there. However, when the chance to do that is refused and the stunt is pulled more than once is asking for a whipping from me. Sen wants a spar, then I give him one he won't soon forget, WHIPPING REQUEST GRANTED!

I lunged at Sen growling as I did so before I collided with him and we rolled a small distance, where we began to exchange blows with each other. Brawls like this happened a lot at the dojo, so you got use to this kind of thing and didn't pay much attention to this. It was how most of us guys at the dojo and quite a few girls too, let off steam and got things off their chests. Most if not just about all of the brawls or fights would end with things being settled or close to afterwards. In fact, they happened so often, you could say fights like this, they're a dime a dozen and so were ignored. There was always bantering and exchanging of blows to settle things, no hurtful feelings normally remained afterward. Better to get it out of one's system, wonderful advice that the teachers encouraged. That's the idea in mind, "You dare tell me to go screw myself," I snapped at Sen.

Sen smiled at me, "Yeah bro, sounds like something that would be funny to see man. So, sign me up dude," he challenged me.

"Take it back," I snarled as I swiped a paw across Sen's maw.

"You first bro," Sen shot back shoving his hind legs into my middle.

The impacted into my middle pretty much loaded my maw with ammo and I unloaded a belch right in Sen's face. Said belch was not quiet but long and pronounced, and might I say by the taste foul as well. Sen smacked my mid-section again, but also pushed my head to the side as my second belch came out. Our fighting continued for a couple of minutes with us exchanging swipes and hits with our paws and legs. It would've kept going if not for a screech from behind us snapped our attention off of each other since it wasn't normal for this activity. "YOU TWO STUPID MALES WILL STOP THIS RIGHT NOW," shrieked Lara.

We stopped mid swipe/punch and both of us looked in the direction that the shriek had come from. As I mentioned before this bout started, these types of fights were very common at the dojo, so most ignored them completely or watched from the sidelines. And for those that got too far out of hand, a teacher, normally Master Kai would step in and put a stop to the fight. Other than that, which was rare as all the students at the dojo knew where the line of too far was drawn meaning no one interrupted these fights. That in mind, it was out of place and somewhat alien to be told to stopped before getting done with the disagreement.

Nonetheless, the sight of Lara glaring at us in fury certainly got me to think about what was going on differently. I took a moment to consider what I was doing and how it could be seen by another and the facts sunk in to my brain. Lara might be getting the wrong idea about this skirmish of ours and I don't want her mad at me. I need to calm Lara down quickly as I don't want us to fight like we did that had gotten us into the current predicament. However, as fate would have it like it does, my luck picks times like this to rear its ugly head and strike me down. Well anyways, as it has a nasty habit of doing so, my luck did its thing and came in the form as follows:

"Oi babe, don't interrupt us! Let us, settle our differences like guys Wahine," called Sen idiotically.

In this kind of thing, I would normally agree with Sen, but he doesn't have a clue what he's getting himself into. I've learned that dragonesses aren't to be messed with or else there will be consquences. And it might do Sen better to find out himself the trouble he's asking for in this situation. I've already learned that there are defined lines that one doesn't cross if you want peace, and I've already found out where some of those lines are.

I did the 'smart' thing in this situation and immediately untangled myself as fast as I could before making some distance from Sen. I would prefer not incur Lara's fury to come down on me anytime soon, especially with her… happier with the two of us being in the relationship we were. If the anger I witnessed during our shouting match is anything to judge by, her fury would be hell to pay for and I don't want to see that. Call me a coward if you want, but there are things I just don't need to experience to know how bad it could be.

The next thing that I viewed, Lara zoomed through the air seemingly to almost teleport from where she'd been standing to where Sen was. The distance might only be around ten to fifteen meters but for her to traverse that distance in about two seconds which is fairly frightening. I mean, I had no idea she could move like that or that fast, I've never seen anything to suggest that she could do this! Note to self, never give Lara reason to do that to me wouldn't be pretty and is to be avoided.

Lara landed on top of Sen and pinned him down with her hindlegs and used her wings to stabilize herself. This left her forepaws free to claw and rake Sen wherever she wants, and that's exactly what the dragoness was doing. To tell the truth, she was giving Sen a show lacking that honestly, I haven't seen in years. All that's left for me to say I suppose is where's the popcorn at a time like this, that's all that I see missing! Sen struggled against Lara but it was obvious that he wasn't going to get out of what he was in. "What the?! Whoa, back off wahine! Bro, lend me a hand man! Help a fellow dude with a major bail out man!"

There was no way I could miss Sen's desperate cry and plea for help made to me. However, there would be consequences I'd face if I interfere than if I didn't do so. That said, I took the time to weigh my options and the following consequences that would follow the action I would take. Now, were I to help out Sen as he's begging me to that would mean I've Lara mad at me for a while as the price I'd pay in exchange. I see it best that such be avoid that outcome if at all possible as I spend and am likely going to spend a great deal of time alone with her in the near future. Whereas, I won't be spending as much time with Sen going forwards as with Lara, so company priority and everything. My other option is to stay exactly where I am and let Lara keep giving Sen the whipping which he really did ask for as you listening should know. And if I'm honest with myself, this experience may do him some good to learn and he needs to know messing with dragonesses is something you don't do if you can help it.

So then, it's decision time for me, option one verses option two or rather it's dumb versus smart if we're being frank. Pardon the phrase, but I think I will have to go with smart on this Johny, so option two if you please. "Sen, as much as I would be willing to help you when you get yourself into situations, and normally I would do just that. But you see, I would rather not have to pay the price that would come if I did help you out in this. That being said, do not take it personally for it is not meant to be I assure you. However, this will be a valuable lesson you get to learn right now, so sorry to say you're on your own my friend," I answered.

"You're cruel dude, cruel," Sen shot back at me.

I would have replied to that with something to the effect of he made his own mess and to deal with it. But it was at this point that my bad luck decided it would be a perfect time to unload the buildup it had been collecting and with a vengeance too. It started with Sen's tail whipping around as he struggled to get Lara off of him sweeping in a clockwise arc. It clipped my legs and took them out from under me and caused me to trip and disrupted my balance. I tried to recover my balance but it was in vain and I was unable to recover my balance. So, I fell to the ground and started rolling towards the edge of the clearing the three of us were around.

I'll state that it's never nice to have my bad luck hit me, obvious from listening to my tale thus far right? Nevertheless, I've learned to be optimistic about the crap that comes my way and look at the bright side of things even when they are hard to see. So in this, I'm glad I wasn't in a worse situation as it could be worse in a few different ways that I can imagine. Rolling means I'll stop at some point and that should only be a sharp smack and then be done with this, I can accept that and walk it off. An example of this being worse could be if I was rolling down an incline and picking up speed, that would suck as there would be more to come with that.

I know by now I shouldn't tempt fate and my luck to conspire against me and there are consequences for daring them to do so, but they couldn't screw me that bad. I burst through the area of trees that made up the edge of the clearing, then I caught sight of a very steep mountainside descending hard for a long way below me. …I've gone and screwed myself over by daring my luck to do more than it hit me, I have got to stop doing that. This will be a very long day for me and I'm not liking that at all. "SEN YOU IDIOOOOOOT," I screeched as gravity got added to the painful equation I was now experiencing as I started bouncing down the slope.

-Lara's POV-

So, Saber and I had been traveling back towards Warfang and we would hopfully get there before dark. But then we had come across a dragon that was splayed on the ground and had not been moving. Saber had dove ahead of me, shortly after I had pointed out the dragon that had been laying on the ground below and ahead of us. I had followed him coming down to land slightly behind Saber as he had been looking over the dragon. The dragon had probably collapsed on the ground of this clearing after something happening to him. The really question is how he had gotten there and more importantly why.

I tucked my wings to my sides, then looked at Saber with a bit of a worried expression on my face. Saber turned to me and met my gaze, "So is he okay," I asked.

My handsome mate twisted back and looked over the red dragon again for a moment, then he turned back to me. "Well he is breathing, so that makes me think he is alive. However, whether he is asleep or otherwise, I have not the faintest clue with what I can see right now."

I really hoped that the red dragon was okay, to be lost out here alone is not nice for any one. There were many things that could happen to a dragon or dragoness out alone these days, most not nice. The dragon had red-orange scales as we had observed from the air and neutral brown color for underbelly and wing membranes. His horns were unlike any I have ever seen and I have seen some very unique horns during my life. The dragon was probably a fire elemental one by his scale color was not moving and that was worrying me the longer that was the case. He was not visibly injured as far as I could tell, but if that was the truth, then why was he not moving?

Then I wonder what Saber could mean by otherwise? Human language is so confusing and hard to understand for me even though I have tried to learn from Saber. I decided to close the distance between Saber and myself to end out on his right side. It was the spot I'm so happy to have as my own now as it was the position of a mate. I looked at the red dragon myself, still worried about him as I would be about another dragon.

To help the feeling wane, I leaned up against Saber's side breathing out soft contented sigh at feeling Saber's warmth. The warmth that Saber has makes me feel at ease, I can't say exactly why, but I love the feeling so much. Without really thinking, I moved my head to the same level as Saber's own and began using my head to caress Saber's cheek lovingly. I could not help myself in this action, I love Saber so much that I do not know how to express just how strong the feelings I have for him are. My joy at finding out he did not die was strong, but the feelings I feel now, are so much stronger than those. I am so happy to be by Saber's side, it is where I always want to be going forward! But right now, I need to focus on trying to help this dragon, no matter who he is.

Well, the two of us began to talk about what could possibly be done for this dragon for we could not just leave the poor dragon here as he was and certainly not by himself! As we were discussing our options on how to help this dragon there was a quiet groan from his direction. Saber and I turned our heads over to where the dragon was and found the dragon stirring. Thank the ancestors he was moving around now as he brought his head up and put a paw to it as if he was in pain. I moved forward and spoke up before Saber who as for whatever reason was keeping quiet, "Um, hey are you okay there," I asked.

The male dragon grunted, then he spoke, "Yeah I like think so all. My head feels like I've been battered about, like I just wiped out in the barrel of a totally killer wave before getting dumped and burned dudes and Wahines, so not cool."

Huh? His voice sounded very odd and the way he talked was different than any I have heard in my life. He used a couple of the same sounds that Saber does, which make what he says hard to understand at times. But Saber talks different than any dragon or dragoness does though I don't understand why he does. And then, this dragon had said words I have never heard before not even from Saber.

The dragon opened his eyes and I say that they were a light grey color. When he had focused, his eyes widened at seeing us for some reason. But I do not see why he would be surprised at seeing us, perhaps something happened to him for him to react so? Or maybe, it is because Saber is a white dragon, he is the only one that I know of… other than Koren so, Saber is the only one currently. I guess that is one of the unique things about Saber, but there are so many qualities that make him so amazing. I smiled hoping that would help him not be wary of us, the dragon responded to my gesture by speaking, "Whoa, totally akaw dudes! You like," he paused, "You two are dragons, right?! This isn't like, some sort of dream or something," the dragon questioned.

Yes, Saber and I are dragons as is he, so why does he sound so shocked about that? Saber was still keeping quiet, which was different for him and I would like to hear his voice right now. Normally, he has an opinion about most things even if he does not say it, so I wonder what he thinks of this so far. My head of its own accord tilted to the side as it does when I am confused, and with the way this red dragon is talking, I am very confused. "Yes, we are dragons," I said, not understanding what the red dragon was getting at.

I am so lost in this, and yet I did not get to finish what I was saying as the red dragon began to yell, "THAT'S TOTALLY RIGHTEOUS DUDES! REAL DRAGONS, MONDO BITCHIN ALL!"

…I do not know what is going on here anymore, I glanced back at my mate hoping that he might have an idea what is going on. Saber appeared to be to be thinking about something hard, yet the look in his eyes said that something about this dragon triggered something in Saber. The red dragon kept talking, "Dude, I've always like totally wished I could see a real dragon all, but instead, I like get to meet two of them, it's beyond epic and far out! This is the gnarliest thing that it's maxed out man! Wait till Jack hears this, he'll flip just as much as me, it's like entering an epic party wave dude," the dragon continued.

Real dragons? How would we not be real and why?! Who is Jack? None of this makes sense at all! "What are you," I began.

"Sen," shouted Saber from my left and that caused me to look over at Saber for I was curious if he knows this dragon somehow.

The red dragon, or 'Sen' as Saber had called him, stared at Saber for a long moment, "Yeah," he answered, "but dude, how do you like know my name man? I can totally promise you dude, meeting a dragon wouldn't slip from my head man any more than I would a rad re-entry." Sen paused for a moment, "Still though, your voice does give me a like awesomely shaka vibe dude. So, have we like bumped into each other going off maybe during dawn patrol man?"

Then do these two know each other? What is going on here?! I want to know what is happening here as I am so confused and lost.

"Perhaps I can jog your memory Sen, you were never quite able to beat me at martial arts, but you did respectably well when it came to belching. You did spend time around me a lot back at the dojo, so I think that should be enough to ring a bell," said Saber in response.

'Sen' stared at Saber for a long moment, while I was left to wonder. Martial arts? That was something that Saber talked about doing while he was in the human realm. Although, I do not get what burping has to do with anything. What is the connection between these two as there is one clearly.

"Bro, is that you dude?" questioned the red dragon. The dragon knew his name at least and Saber nodded in answer to him. So then, did these two meet somewhere before I met Saber again? Sen gave an odd grin, which I did not like for I have seen that kind of smile on some dragons. Most of the time, it usually meant dragons were trying to get my attention because they wanted something from me or just wanted me as theirs. Saber thankful is not like that, he is much better than those who would do that to me, he treats me wonderfully. "Sweetness bro, love the sick new look, white really is your color man, it makes you gnarly to the max dude." Sen paused for a moment, "But like, where are we man cause I've never seen any views like this one, and I've been some far out spots. Course, you'll not hear a dis from me that a Quimby deserves about being in this awesome place with dragons dude. It could use some more beach and waves if you catch my vibe bro, but it's like going over the falls and then slottin in followed by kickin out of a sick killer wave and tube man, its radical bro!

The way Sen talks is not getting any easier to understand at all the longer he speaks, the opposite really. There was also something in his voice that makes words even more difficult to know what is being said. Saber let out a sigh, before he spoke, "It slipped my mind that you had a fanatical interest with dragons and myths of the subject thereof aside from your surfer personality, this will take some adjusting to for many. Yes Sen, dragons are real here, would you please keep this in perspective and not freak out."

'Fanatical'? What does that word mean I wonder? I will have to ask him later, but still, it is clear that Saber knows this dragon from somewhere. "Not freak out bro, I'm already freakin out dude with how totally shaka this is man. This is the most tubular thing to ever happen to me bro! A dream come true for me man, like seein a surfing legend nose ridin nug waves dude. It's like a totally sacred happening ya know bro," Sen replied to Saber.

Okay, I have been trying to figure out what this is about on my own, but I cannot do this anymore. I need to ask Saber to help explain this as listening is not helping me figure out what is going on. I went up to Saber who was still staring at Sen, "Saber you know this dragon," I inquired.

'Sen' turned to me with an expression of great surprise, yet I have not a clue why though, "Whoa you're a babe and not a dude, uh Wahine? Anyway babe, who are you calling a dragon? I mean it would be tubular for me to be one," Sen said trailing off.

'Babe'? Wa-hiny? I wonder what those words mean for the terms are not ones that I know or have heard before. Perhaps those words may be other ways of referring to a female? I don't think I can be really sure, so I will ask Saber when we are alone next. Although, how could he have not known by my voice and figure that I am a dragoness? And 'who are you calling a dragon', well he is one himself clearly or does he not know that?

Saber then spoke up, "Hey, captain surfer obvious, have you looked in a mirror recently? If you haven't, which I'm betting you have not, then look at yourself Sen."

Saber sounded annoyed and kind of cold, even when I know that he is not like that. He is really very sweet, but appears to have a hard time showing that to others from what I've seen. And it was as Sen looked down at himself, that Saber put his forepaws over my ears. I do not understand why Saber is covering my ears as I could not hear at the moment because he was, so I was left to stare baffled at the view before me. The sight made only partial sense as I could not hear any sound, but could guess there was sound. Sen seemed to be shouting something I think, then I turned slightly to see Saber grimacing in pain, perhaps from the shouting of Sen?

My mate continued to hold his paws over my ears preventing me from hearing sound. I mean his paws felt warm and nice on my head and everything, so I am fine with Saber having his paws where they are. He was one of the select few that I would be comfortable with touching my head as he was. Yet I observed that Saber was yelling something back at this… acquaintance of his. After whatever Saber had bellowed, Sen appeared to calm down a little and stopped yelling. He then said something and following what was said, Saber finally let go and I could hear again. I gaze from this Sen to Saber and then back to Sen and decided to ask the question burning on my mind. "You two clearly know each other, how," I questioned.

Saber glanced to me, which still sent my heart beating faster than normal, "Well, Lara, this here is Sen Morrie. Clearly he is a dragon now, but I assure you that he was human the last time I saw him." Saber paused for a moment, "He and I met years ago and became acquainted at the dojo I spent much of my time around in the human world, mostly while we were learning and practicing fighting arts. So, I guess you can consider him a quote unquote friend of mine as he tended to spend more time around me than most did," Saber answered me.

Another human is he? That explains why he is difficult to understand when he talks, it makes me think humans are rather stranger creatures. However, they cannot all be bad, Saber is wonderful as he is charming to me after all. "I see," I replied evenly.

Keep in control of yourself Lara, as much as you love Saber and wish to show him just how you feel when it comes to him, such can wait. You can let these feelings of love out when you alone with Saber again, so be patient. I just hope it is soon, for I want to show Saber that he is not alone and that I will always love him so much. We had shared such a wonderful and close connection earlier and I know Saber had felt that too.

It was at this time that Sen spoke up, "Dude bro, never pegged you for one to snag himself a nice babe like this bunny here, smooth moves bro, smooth moves. Totally primo dude, you should show me some of your epic techniques man, then maybe I can, like pick up a beach bunny in the future too man. So, who's the dragon babe with you bro, and does she have a sister dude? It would be radical to have a date with her if she does dude."

What does the words 'doed', 'pegged' mean or any other those other words Sen said that I have never heard before? Sen's manner of speech is very different, even from Saber's and I cannot understand the meaning of most of what he is saying if any at all. And why did Sen ask if I have a sister? I do not, the only family I have now is Saber as my mother disappeared years ago and I do not know what happened to my father. I don't even have memories of my father, he went away when I was still a young dragonet. Mom had said something about my dad going off to help in the efforts against the Dark Master and his forces.

Back to the present, I noticed that Saber was looking at me, and I want to be nice to this possible friend of his. However, I still cannot comprehend his manner of speaking, I was baffled by it more than anything else and it likely showed on my face. Saber is very good at seeing the feeling of others I have found. So, I chose to voice my utter confusion, "Um Saber," I uttered, "he talks stranger than you did at first. I do not understand him really at all."

Saber shook his head, which he has been doing that a lot lately and I do not know why, maybe I will ask him later. "Do not worry about it Lara, it takes most a period of time to understand what Sen here says for most. Honestly, I was always better at language skills and clear speech than he tends to be. The way he talks comes from the culture he is a part of which is different. The definition of a 'culture' is the group to which a human belongs with, usually of similar people. In human society, there are many different groups or cultures and most speak differently than the others, even if they use the same language. Some of said cultures are harder to understand than others. Sen's is definitely one of those cultures that is difficult to comprehend. You will learn to disregard a fair amount of the things he says as not noteworthy or really needed to be heard," Saber explained to me.

So then, Saber has good language skills for humans? If that is so, then I fear to ask then what bad language skills are like as I cannot imagine myself. Sen responded to Saber's comment, "Dude, that's really cold man! Why do you see the need to dis me like that bro? Aren't we friends dude?"

I turned to Saber to see how he would reply to Sen, "What can I say, I just hate to lie, so I speak the truth even when it might be harsh at times but that's reality for you. As to the question of friends, that depends on what one consider a friend is and you should know my definition isn't the same as others."

I know Saber can be kind of rude at times, but he usually means well and I at least can see that with him. Although, if this is how Saber treats friends, then this explains a great deal of his problems. It is little wonder he is as alone as he is and it is sad aside from being as he put it, distained. Sen sighed at Saber's answer, "You can still be like a total drain of good vibes dude, I would've hoped you'd gotten better having pulled a gnarly bailout on that uncle of yours which you were totally forced to bunk with man. You were a really drag and in a bummer of a mood, like you downed a Neptune Cocktail and then went selling Buicks most days because of the guy dude. It total puts off a gloomy vibe seein you like that bro," he said.

Saber's uncle? He has said so little about this uncle of his, and the things he has said have not been good. Saber snorted softly, "And have I not made an improvement since last time?"

I would say Saber is nice the way he is though he has become better since we met again, especially today when we mated! The experience we shared was just so amazing even better than I heard it would be from other dragonesses. He was so big and felt so good… I will think about this later, it is not the time! Sen waved a paw at Saber, "You're not a noob anymore bro, but you're totally still need to go out surfing the waves and chill out dude, you're still a kook in being around others man. There's still room for you to improve dude, lots of room bro," he said.

All of us can improve I would say, but I get the impression that is not what the two are talking about. Saber smirked at Sen, which makes me think these two are arguing with one another, yet I have no idea as to what about or why. "True Sen, I admit that you have a point, but nowhere near as much as you will here friend," Saber returned to Sen.

Sen just gave Saber a dirty look in response to his statement, perhaps Saber said something Sen did not like? Then he did something that was weird and something I did not understand. Sen looked at his right for paw for a few seconds and then showed it to Saber. I saw his paw; but I do not see why he is holding it the way he is. He had his middle talon pointing up and the other two down. Is this supposed to mean something or be some sort of symbol? Perhaps this is a human gesture of a sort that Saber has not talked about? Sen was holding his right forepaw like this and smirking at Saber. When I glanced over to Saber, I saw him glowering at Sen, which made me think this gesture is not a nice one to judge by Saber being angry about it.

Sen, you are very lucky I am very nice and patient. If I was not, then you would be feeling just how painful a beat down I can give and you are one of those who know what that entails." Saber kept glaring at Sen, "Now, put the paw down," Saber said, he had started in a calm voice but had ending in a low growl, which alerted me that something was wrong.

Just how mean is this action meant to be with humans?! Sen kept his smirk as he answered Saber, "Let's see it, dude. I need stretches like I would before surfing man, and sparring with you bro is always sick fun. So again bro," Sen replied. Sen then showed the same gesture as before to Saber, to which my mate was getting angrier by the second about what Sen was doing. I just do not understand why he is!

Suddenly Saber lunged at Sen, growling as he did so, colliding with the red dragon. Then they rolled a small distance from me, where we began to fight each other. "You dare tell me to go screw myself," Saber snapped at Sen.

'Screw yourself'? …I do not get it, what does that mean? Sen smiled at Saber, "Yeah bro, sounds like something that would be funny to see man. So, sign me up dude," Sen said.

"Take it back," Saber snarled as he swiped a paw across Sen's maw.

"You first bro," Sen shot back shoving his hind legs into Saber's middle.

A moment later, Saber burped in Sen's face which got Sen to cough a bit before they kept going in their fight. They continued to fight for a couple of minutes, and that was enough for me. This had to stop now, these two were acting like dragonets when they were supposed to be young adults! "YOU TWO STUPID MALES WILL STOP THIS RIGHT NOW," I yelled at the top of my lungs.

They stopped mid swipe and looked at me as I glared at them furious at their actions. Sen then began to talk back to me, "Oi babe, don't interrupt us! Let us, settle our differences like guys Wahine!" Did Sen just tell me to stay out of this fight of theirs?! He will regret that greatly! Saber quickly got away from Sen, which I was happy about as I do not want our new relationship to get strained by disciplining him for being like a foolish dragonet. I rushed forward at Sen, pounced onto him and began to teach him a lesson on proper behavior that he will not forget! "What the?! Whoa, back off wahine! Bro, lend me a hand man! Help a fellow dude with a major bail out man," Sen called.

Saber better stay exactly where he is at the moment if he knows what is best for him! I continued to give Sen a beating when Saber gave his answer, "Sen, as much as I would be willing to help you when you get yourself into situations, and normally I would do just that. But you see, I would rather not have to pay the price that would come if I did help you out in this. That being said, do not take it personally for it is not meant to be I assure you. However, this will be a valuable lesson you get to learn right now, so sorry to say you're on your own my friend." Very good Saber, that is the answer you should give as your mate is doing this 'friend' of yours a favor!

"You're cruel dude, cruel," Sen responded as I kept going.

Sen will learn that is how things go when you choose to be foolish! He was struggling against me, but I am stronger than he is, so I was winning. I was pinning Sen with my hindlegs, balancing myself with my wings while I used my forepaws do give Sen a good scratching with my talons. Then, I heard something bumping against the ground though I was busy with Sen and the lesson I was teaching him, so I ignored it. "SEN YOU IDIOOOOOOT," screeched the voice of Saber.

I paused at hearing Saber's voice raising my head and turning it in the direction that Saber's voice had come from. I instantly got off of Sen and ran in the direction that Saber's voice had come from. I slid to a stop at the end of the trees to find there was a steep downhill slope. I quickly scanned the slope and quickly spotted Saber tumbling down the mountain side. Panic swelled up I me as I watched him rolling down the slope. Saber was hitting rocks and crashing into other things as he kept tumbling down the mountain. There was a rustling behind me and then Sen appeared, "Man, why does my bro always find the most gnarly stunts that end out being so much fun to do," remarked Sen

I could only stare at Sen with a look of slight confusion, "Fun," I questioned, "What are you watching?! Saber is not having fun at all! He is tumbling down a mountain side for ancestor's sake! He could get hurt," I chastised keeping the worry in me from getting out of control.

How can anyone find tumbling down a mountainside fun?! Sen shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean his method of descent needs some polishin, but still what a fun ride! And chill, my bro will be fine fer sure, the dude does the most epic things and comes out the other end of it without a scratch, talk about righteous," he said.

What does he… I do not have the time to listen to his unusual and non-sensical speech! I have to get to Saber and make sure he is alright and I pray to the ancestors he is! Saber has not even been my mate for a day, I cannot lose him! Without further thought I leapt into the air spreading my wings and dove down after Saber. I was gliding down trying to catch up with Saber, when from behind me I heard something scraping. When I glanced back and saw Sen… what is he doing?! He was standing on his hind legs on a long piece of wood that was the length of my own body length and was probably about three feet wide. He was balancing on his hind legs on the wood and had his forelegs out and his wings helping with his balance. The wood was sliding down the mountain side with him on top of it. "This is so totally radical! Now this is the way to do this dudes and Wahines! Hang ten," Sen stopped, "um, I mean six all!"

This Sen is truly an odd one, I do not know what he is even doing! It was then that a bellow was heard ahead, "THIS FREAKING SUCKS," Saber let out, then a moment later, "GWAAAAAAAAA!"

That was shortly followed by a clear audible crash a few moments later. At the sounds of what had happened to Saber, I shook my head and focused back on getting to him. When I got to the bottom of the slope I landed and looked around franticly searching for my mate, but saw no sign of him. "Saber, where are you?! Speak to me," I called desperately.

-Saber's POV-

The pain that was coursing through me was ! $#! horrendous, I'll state that outright even if my curse is being bleeped out . Then again, I would doubt careening down a mountain side, followed by slamming into trees is the most pleasant thing to do. It isn't the nicest thing I've done in my life, but it's not the worst either sadly. Yet, the event wasn't something I'd intended to do at all to begin with, nor had I wanted to do either. Actually, when I take the time to consider it, most of the things that happen like this, I don't intend or plan to do. This effect can be credited to my bad luck having its laugh while it gets its kicks.

"Saber, where are you?! Speak to me," called a voice that sounded a great deal like Lara's.

I let a groan out, and noted that I was currently oriented upside down with my back wedge between two closely grown bunches of trees. I made an attempt to move my body forward, but found I was wedged in good and tight, so stuck in between the trees. However, I did feel that when I'd shifted my body, I had scooched forward ever so slightly. Knowing that, I began to work shoulders backwards and forwards in sync with my hips doing the same movement. I needed to get unstuck from where I am right now before things get worse for me. It took me a minute or two to come to the point I was almost free from the trees holding me.

"Saber," called Lara in a near shout that was sounding more desperate than the last call for me.

I kept working my hips and shoulders, and I was almost there, so thought I was about to free and good to go. But then, there was a cracking noise on both sides of me and my thoughts of getting out just fine vanished. I heard a series of cracking which directly afterward, I fell forward and landed on the ground, stomach first forcing most of the air in me out. Well at least I'm free now, but my legs weren't responding the way I was telling them to. Why does the line "I've fallen and I can't get up" come to mind right now, it's ironic true, but still is it necessary?

[Probably not, but it can be rather amusing.]

Not helping Narrator, don't side with those that conspire against me please I have more than enoough of them. HEY YOU, MAN UPSTAIRS AND PUNK DOWN BELOW! THIS IS NEITHER FUNNY NOR IS IT THE TIME FOR IT!

The sound of someone approaching where I was came to my ears, and I forced myself to take deep breaths. Next thing I see, Lara appeared in front of me before she was touching me with her snout and talking fast. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't really understand what she was saying, only could tell she was worried about me. Nice of her to worry about me, since I not used to others doing that for me often if at all. I'm more accustom to others not giving a care about what happens to me or make my like worse than it already is. Still, it would be better for Lara not to panic, it would help me more if she was calmer. "Lara calm down, I will be okay, though I would not say no to some red crystals right now, think they would help," I remarked softly.

Lara nodded at my comment, "Of course, I will go find some, wait here," Lara said before she ran off.

I listened to Lara sprint off to assumedly going to find red health crystals meanwhile, I gave myself a once over. Surprisingly, I'd no major injuries, just bruises and muscle pain and after what I had gone through that's very unexpected. Looking a little closer and I was shocked to find that not a single scale had come off! After the distance I'd gone careening down, I find it hard to believe that I didn't lose a single scale or get at least one scratch! I mean, I could've sworn that I had scratches when I'd come to a stop wedged in between the trees. But now, there's no evidence of anything like that, it was certainly weird in my eyes if no one else's. Maybe this has something to do with me being a white dragon perchance? …Now that I think about it, I know very little about white dragons other than they are rare and for whatever reason they are kill by an unknown group. It would be nice for me to know more about white dragons since I feel I will need to know more in future.

[Something for later research for you Saber, need to put in the work and every thing.]

Yeah yeah, I know Narrator, and I will do just that when I find the time to do that, so keep your opinion to yourself. My ears picked up the sound of foliage rustling and upon turning my head, I saw Lara returning with a sizable red crystal in her mouth. The more time I spend with this purple dragoness, the more I seriously believe that it's a fluke that I found and managed to get this wonderful dragoness to spend her life with me of all dragons! I mean, yeah, if there was no other choice with dragons, maybe then I might be picked, but even then, I wouldn't be holding my breath for that happening. And yet, she is my mate and insists she will be by my side going forward, which for me is hard to swallow.

Lara came over to me and pressed the crystal against me and I felt the pain start to fade away. Ah! The miracle that red crystals are here in the dragon realm and I still haven't a clue how they work! There's nothing else like them, and at the moment I don't really care that I can't explain. Normally I would be irritated that I couldn't explain something in someway, but as the pain is going away, I don't in this. "That's much better, thanks Lara," I said to this miracle that came into my life.

She leaned forward and used her head to caress the crest of mine and then smiled back at me, which gave me a floaty feeling. She continued nuzzling me just under my chin with her snout and even licked my chin in a loving way. However, I took firm hold of the reins of my emotions and kept them in check and didn't let them have their way. I appreciate Lara's gesture of worry for my well-being even if I didn't exactly expect it, but there's things to do. I was about to say how we should go and get Sen so we could get him flying before heading for Warfang again, when I hear a commotion from the slope I had come down. "Righteous, righteous! This could totally become a new sport dudes! Land surfing," shouted Sen with glee.

What the !^$# hell?! My head snapped up and I gazed at the mountainside, and to my shock and frustration, I saw Sen using a long length of wood as a surfboard! The board's length was a little less than an average long board, but longer than a normal surfboard. My friend was 'surfing' at a time like this and down the mountain no less like he would on the sea! Yes, Sen is what you could call a surfer as he does go to the sea most weekends to do the activity. He even has his own surf board and is proud of it. The few times I went to the beach with him or dragged there, he's proven his skill in a way that was hard to argue that he knew how to surf on the ocean. But still, does he have to come down the mountain like that?! It just makes the way I was forced to do it look so much worse! Thoughts of how I could make him regret what I'd gone through because of him tripping me were going through my mind!

Sen reached the bottom and came to a stop and got off the 'board' then dropping to all fours again. "That was awesome bro! I see you still have that wonderful knack of yours to find the most righteous stunts man. Very nice indeed dude," he stated.

As I couldn't come up with anything to say that was nice at the moment, I grumbled at his statement instead. Yet, less than a second later, a thought stuck in my mind which was very pleasing to part of me that didn't like the pain that I had just experienced. As Sen needed to learn how to fly, it's the perfect chance to get Sen back for making me look like an idiot before! Hello opportunity, make yourself right at home! I kept my face straight and unreadable, "I will not be commenting to that. Still back to the point, we need to get going if we want to get to our destination today. However, with Sen unable to fly, that is not something we can do effectively." I focused on Sen, "So then, surfer boy, get ready for a crash course on flying."

Sen stared at me with his mouth open, "Dude, you serious bro," he asked. I nodded, to which Sen gained an expression that said Christmas had come early this year and he could surf all he wanted.

[Saber, state for those listening what you plan in this, or else I will be much less nice.]

Okay, fine Narrator, since you insist on this then I'll interate what you want as I already have enough gruff without you adding to it. I state for the record as the Narrator wants, I don't intend or try to be mean with what I do. There are times and instances that it may come off that way in the view of some but it isn't so. The reason I wouldn't doubt the Narrator is having me state this is since mostly when I do something in response to what someone around me does something that makes me look bad or ticks me off, it isn't nice. Personally, I think that it's fair to say that it doesn't feel nice to be embarrassed in front of someone that has a good view of you, especially for someone like me who most don't care about at all.

However, because I do on occasion retaliate, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy some of the not so nice things I get to do. Call it a personality flaw if you like, it is a more common one than most would think. After all, refusing opportunity would be utterly rude and completely stupid, that's how I will justify this! When I said Sen will be getting a 'crash course', I was being completely serious in quite the literal sense of the phrase. Sen will be learning how to fly by the 'sink or swim' type of method, which is my personally favorite method to go with when teaching. I told Sen to stay where he was for a moment as I went off to find the perfect place for the reven-I mean, for a proper place for Sen to learn and practice flying. Yes, that's what I intended to say the whole time, ignore my musings listeners, they are just my thoughts coming out.

When I found a place that fitted what I wanted, I headed back to where Lara and Sen were. I motioned Sen to follow me and he did so without second thought. Lara also followed us though she did so at a distance and stared at me with a worried expression. Perhaps, Lara might be under the assumption that I was about to do something kind of mean. And she wouldn't be off the mark really in thinking that for I pretty much am going to do. The smile that had come to my face was one I'd normally reserved for IC and none other. But after what I'd gone through because of Sen, I was willing to make an exception this time and go forward from there!

We stopped right before the trees ended, which hid what was beyond this point. That was a short cliff and a fairly good length drop to the area below. Sen has no idea of what he is about to do and that is what makes this so interesting I say. After all, I wasn't going to hurt him… that much, just going to give him a good shot of humiliation. For it's unlikely that Sen will be able to fly fine the first time, even I didn't get the idea right my first few tries. Plus, it's a healthy thing to get to keep humble, I happen to get mine from my bad luck striking me on regular basis. "Okay then Sen, this is the place you can practice flying, it's just beyond where we are. All you have to do is start running and spread your wings and start flapping, sounds easy enough does it not," I iterated, still keeping a straight face.

This is where my ability to keep a straight face, while saying something that I shouldn't is amazing. Sen looked at the vale of trees, then back at me, "Um bro, like don't take this bad or nothin, but you're not like holdin a bad vibe against me for the tuck and roll ya did down the slope are ya dude? I know you're not one to do that as a norm, but I just want to make sure we're totally cool going forward man," posed Sen to me.

I gave a nod to Sen, "Bad vibe Sen? No, I have nothing like that at all, like I said, to get to where we're heading, need to have you flying. It's going to be like surfing, you learn as you go. So, go on ahead and try flying out, it is a great feeling," I returned.

Sen nodded to me and took a few steps back and began to run forward towards the vale of greenery. While he did so, Lara came up to me, "Saber, what is beyond this point," she asked in a flat tone.

I glanced over at Lara and the look on her face told me she did indeed suspect me of foul play, and I'm guilty as charged of that. But I'll not admit that outright without a good reason, "Now why would you ever ask that Lara," I posed. Sen passed through the greenery and kept going onward, but unlike would continue for very long by my calculations. Yet, no matter what Lara would say, it was too late to stop what I'd set up for Sen to go through. Lara gave me a stern expression, "Because you only tend to smile like that when you are going to do things to Sparx," she replied.

I'll give Lara that she's very observant as well as absolutely correct about the smile I had right now on my face! For I did usually reserve this smile of mischief for IC alone and there's good reason to be worried if it were to be directed at anyone. The sound of scraping claws came to my ears and my smile grew a little wider, "For good reason," I said in a soft voice.

I waited for the signal that meant Sen had done exactly as I planned him to do, "DUDE BRO! SO NOT COOool," shouted Sen's voice fading as he fell.

I couldn't help the chuckle with me imagining what was happening to Sen as I could picture it well. My chuckling stopped abruptly when I noticed Lara glaring at me with a reprimanding look however, the expression didn't stop me from saying one more piece. "So as calculated, he could not stop in time before the end of the cliff and went over."

I listened hard to catch the sound that would signal that he had reached the bottom, but Lara began to chastise me, "What did you do," She nearly screech at me.

I shook my head to get my ears to work like they should again, for Lara screeching in my ear is not pleasant. But before I was able to answer, the sound I'd been listening for came in the form of a gratifying splash from below us. I turned to face Lara after hearing the splash, and found myself snout to snout with the purple dragoness. Said female had a rather angry directed at me, it caused me to swallow and take a moment to collect myself, "Now Lara, Sen embarrassed me pretty good. He probably didn't mean to but still, best he learn what happens," I was justifying but trailed off.

Lara's angry glare didn't change, nor did she let up, it certainly got me to back up a step at her insistence. Lara doesn't seriously… suspect me of really hurting Sen, does she? I would never knowingly at least, do that to anyone without them unquestionably earning that kind of punishment, and even then, I don't think I would do that. "Hey now, calm down a little will you Lara, it is not like I would do anything to hurt him badly, definitely not permanently injury! I made sure there was a deep lake below where he would drop into. The splash we both heard is conformation of Sen hitting the lake at the bottom just fine and dandy. I just conveniently forgot to tell him about the lake or the said long drop he did. Do you really think I would sink so low as to do something to maim him that he cannot recover from?! I would hope that you have understood that about me by this point. Sen can swim I assure you even if he is a dragon now," I reasoned.

My attempt to reason with the dragoness didn't help as Lara's expression stayed on her face as she glared at me. I sighed and rolled my eyes in acceptance of the medicine I was about to receive without a real choice. I would have to go down and check on Sen while behaving myself for the time being. I swear, this female is either going to make my life great or make it a worse hell than it already is! Honestly, I would rather not find out how that's possible myself, "Okay fine, yes dear, I will go check on him to make sure he is doing okay," I said and after saying that, I took flight and glided down to the lake below.

I descended down to the lake a distance below where Lara and I had been before and I saw some of the ripples that likely came from the impact Sen had made. I got to say, I was impressed that there were still ripples from Sen doing an unintentional cannonball into the lake, or maybe he did a belly flop. I came down to land next to the shore before settling myself on the ground looking over the lake for any signs of Sen. By how the water had been disturbed and volume of the sound of the splash, the water displaced by the impact had to have been huge. Kind of would have been neat to see, I would think, kind of wish I had thought about that earlier. It was then, I heard something surface in the water and I glanced over to my right to see Sen. He swam to the shore water running off his body when he reached the shore. I smiled at Sen, "Sooo, how did your first attempt go," I asked.

Sen looked at me a long moment, before he answered me, "Bro, tricking me like that is serious bad karma dude, that's like yanking my board out from under me man!"

Yeah, I admit it was kind of mean of me, but how would you learn anything and remember the lesson if it was easy. The hard-learned lessons are the ones you remember the most, "I'm a firm believer in the sink or swim method Sen, sorry but that's the truth," I replied to Sen.

Sen still had his paws and most of his legs in the water as he gave me a look that said 'really?' "Quite the convenient excuse dude," he remarked.

Sen got out of the water and came to sit next to me, water continued to drip off of him. I just continued as if nothing had changed, "Well, just see it as payback for sending me down the mountain side when you inadvertently used your tail to trip me and send me rolling down. I accidentally forgot to tell you about the long drop and lake below," I returned.

Sen glared at me after I said my piece, "Accidental was it bro," he questioned.

I smiled back at him though my smile was not one to comfort, it was one that says in a somewhat nice way to drop the subject or else terrible, horrible things would occur. Friendly intimidation does work on smoothing things over, I say that from personally experience. The temperature in the immediate area dropped at least ten degrees I swear. My voice didn't change at all in the tone, but my smile should be more than enough to get my point across, "Hey, unintentional consequences do occur. Random happenstances come up, unforeseen occurrences do appear and unexpected events come to pass, that's life friend. Sorry to be the one to break it to you, yet best that you just accept this fact and move on."

Sen flinched a little at my smile but after a long minute he sighed, "You can say that till the bunnies leave the beach bro, but," Sen paused, "You know what, I'm totally going just going to drop this like I would a sand facial dude."

I grunted in agreement, "It's probably a good decision on your part Sen," I commented.

My reply was followed by an awkward silence between us, but then Sen was the one to break the said silence, "So did you really intend to teach me how to fly bro?"

I nodded as I fully intended to get Sen into the air and that would require me to teach him the way to do so. "Yeah I do, I just wanted to get that out of the way," I said.

So, over the next hour I taught Sen the basics of flying and he had a bit of difficulty grasping some of the concept. Then again, I'd trouble when I had learned how to fly and I'd self-taught myself how to fly during my time in Carona. That being said, it's understandable that Sen could have a hard time with me teaching him. First, humans were not originally meant to fly as humans don't naturally have wings. We had to come up with a way to fly with scientific intellect, hence how planes came to be.

But I digress in this, so back to the current matter at hand, teaching Sen enough of the basics of flying so that he could get into the air and stay there for the journey to Warfang. Things moved along better when Lara joined us, which was about midway through my attempts to show Sen the art of flying. She helped explain some of the parts I'd more trouble with teaching and there were things I understood but couldn't say in words. I have no idea how she can explain in ways I can't, for she says the same things as I did pretty much, yet Sen seemed to comprehend what Lara said more than what I did.

Overall, it took a little over an hour, close to two, to get Sen into the air and him staying up, be it shakily so. Nonetheless, the point of this was we had him flying and that's what counts in this, with Sen flying, we could keep going towards Warfang. And so, we continued our journey back towards Warfang though it was slower than before as Sen was flying at a lower speed than Lara and me. Still we finally got back to Warfang in the late afternoon, more like early evening, since it was still light even if the sun was starting to set.

Lara and I landed in the lower tier square softly, and when we did, I turned around so that I could observe Sen come in. As I saw him start his descent, I noted that the angle he chose to go down with was deeper that he should have gone with, a classic mistake in the landing process. I continued to watch Sen as he came into land, the two key parts of the mistake that Sen made was the steepness of descent angle. And then, he started pulling up far too late from his dive, both of those facts combined made up the scene. All I managed to hear from Sen was two word shouted before he crashed, "WIPEOUT DUDE!"

This resulted in him slamming into the ground and did a plowing face plant for a little more than ten feet. If one said what Sen did looked painful, I would reply that it didn't quite say it, and I would know what I'm talkig about as I've done a number of plowing face plants. It's probably worse than any 'sand facial' Sen had received but I couldn't say much in that. A sand facial is a particular kind of wipeout that happens when the surfer gets dragged along the bottom face first. The real difference in this, instead of sand in this instance, he was going against stone and not sand.

At the sound of Sen crashing, Lara looked over to where Sen had finished his face planting. She was worried about him, which was clear as she went over to him and was looking Sen over. Whereas I, unlike her, just went over to the place he had come to a stop after the crash landing he recently did and looked down at him. "Hey Sen, you doing okay after that bad landing?" I paused before continuing, "I can tell you how you did the landing wrong if you would like."

Sen shook his head and faced me. "Yeah bro, I'm good," he began, "ate it pretty good but I can just walk it off dude. So where did I geek out on the return bro?"

"Dove too deep and pulled up too late and that equals you crash and plowing face plant," I stated.

"Okay, I got it bro, won't wipeout like that again," he replied.

He can say that, and I wouldn't doubt that he wouldn't crash land in the exact same way again. However, I feel that he will still crash in future, so I was about to reply to Sen, when I heard another voice, "Excuse me is he okay?"

I turned to see who had just spoken to see a dragoness I didn't know. She appeared to be a little older than myself by a year or a bit less. The dragoness herself had yellow scales that were almost a golden shade. Her underbelly and wing membranes were colored a royal purple, which was an interesting contrast to the almost gold scales. I noted that her horns are shaped like lightning bolts which was probably one of the more intricate horn shapes I have seen. Then there were small line spikes that ran down her back along her spine and ended at the tip of her tail just before where her tail blade would be. I glance inadvertently to her tail as I have developed the habit to get a look at a dragon's or dragoness's tail blade for future reference. You can never know when that kind of information can be needed! I was a little surprised and baffled to see she had no tail blade, but there were no signs that it had been ripped off like Tarra had on her tail. Yet it is entirely possible that dragons and dragonesses can be hatched without a tail blade, I suppose.

My gaze switched back to her face where I saw she had purple eyes that were a slightly darker shade than Spyro's eyes are. I was wondering who she was and what her story is though most of all, why she is asking if Sen was okay. "Uh yes he is miss," I replied leaving the end open for her to supply her name.

"Oh, my name is Voltlyn," she returned.

Voltlyn is it, that's a rather unusual and interesting name out of those I've heard thus far. I wonder who came up with that one, yet I don't know if I want to know the thought process behind her name. My guess is someone who is more likely intellectually inclined that came up with the name as the name sounds like one that a smarter dragon or dragoness would come up with. Not like that's any of my business or anything, "Well Miss Voltlyn, my friend that botched his landing will be fine," I assured.

-Tarra's pov-

I had been freting since Saber had gone off looking for Lara. I was worried for both of them as they were out and alone, that was dangerous during these times. My concerns grew when neither Saber or Lara came back when darkness fell. I had not slept much the whole night as I was plague by nightmares of what could be happening to the two of them. So when the morning came I was tired and in a gloomy mood as things had not changed. The day went by much the same, and I just walked around moping that Saber nor Lara had returned yet.

It was not until evening was coming on, that I caught a scent I knew instantly as it was Saber's own. That meant that he had returned to Warfang and I hoped that he had Lara with him. Having them both back safe would have my worry settled and it had been painful last night and today for me. So I followed my nose and Saber's scent so that I could find where he was and things could come to an end. I made my way down to the lower parts of Warfang and I was looking around for Saber.

I had missed him for the time that he had been gone, my heart had ached for Saber. With the things that Saber had done to comfort me, I had liked those actions and few if any really did that for me. He listened to what I said and he did not shy away from or ignores me like a number do. The warmth that came to my heart when I was around Saber especially was in contact with him was something I had never experienced before. I realize that I have come to like Saber more than just a friend much like Lara does.

I do not know how Lara and I will settle that we both like Saber and want to be his mate. I do not want our friendship to be broken with us fighting over Saber and who will be his mate. But I do not want to just give up on Saber being my mate as I have never met another like Saber. I have been thinking on this yet I have not figured out a way to bring it up with Lara. My hope was that if Lara and I could talk about what we felt towards Saber that maybe we could come to an understanding and not become enemies.

So, I was relieved and happy when I saw not only Saber but also Lara a short distance from him. There was another dragon with them that I had never seen before who had red-orange colored scales. He had neutral brown color with his underbelly and wing membranes. His horns came out on either side of his head. Where this dragon had come from I could not say, but he seemed to have come back with Saber and Lara.

Honestly, the moment I saw Saber, I could not ignore the urge to get to him and embrace him as he was back and safe. As I approached Saber getting through the crowd I did call his name, "Saber!"

I could tell that Saber had heard me as he began looking around after I called out to him. However, he did not see me apparently as he just kept glancing around as I was working my way closer to him. Lara had also heard me as she was doing the same as Saber was with me closing the distance. When I got close enough I leaped at Saber shrieking his name in joy before wrapping his legs around him as I made contact. I ended knocking over Saber but hugging him felt so right to me that I believed he would forgive me. A few moments passed with me continuing to embrace Saber befor he spoke, "Hey Tarra, you mind getting off and letting me get up please."

I realized how awkward this probably is for Saber with me hugging him like this, so I released him and got off, "Sorry," I mumbled.

I faced Saber again and he waved a paw in dismissal, "It is okay," he said calmly.

Things felt like they were falling into proper place again with Saber and Lara back safe around Warfang. Not only had Lara's disappearance really worried me, the mood she had been in before she left scared me. She is my friend, my first real friend I had and so my best friend, I wanted her to be happy with her life. Lara had always been there for me when I needed her and so I wanted to be there for her through difficult time as she had been for me.

So, I was glad that Saber had managed to find Lara as he said he would to me before he set out. I know I should not doubt him when he had said that as he had found Lara before when others including myself could not. Saber was just so dependable I was finding and that was one of the many good qualities he has. Sure, he has his faults and problems as we all do, but he keeps going inspite of those. Maybe that is one of the things that attracts me so, he never gives up even when things are hard. I often wish that I could keep going as Saber makes it look so easy, but I do not think it is.

"Well you finally made it back at least," commented the voice of Spyro.

Lara, Saber and I glanced in the direction from which the voice came and saw all Spyro and Saber's other friends approaching the square. I agreed with Spyro on Lara and Saber coming back safely with all the rumors of Apes being busy. Dragons had been assaulted if they traveled alone in the recent weeks and the evidence pointed towards the apes being the ones responsible. And then Saber and Lara stick out among the dragon race along with Saber having been around the apes by what he said himself. The two of them could be targets of the apes and get hurt on their own which worried me.

"Ah excellent, wonderful and good tidings that you have gotten back from your search, though it would have been better if you had come to the guardians," said a different voice.

I turned my head to see who had spoken and found it had been one of the dragon guardians. It was the yellow dragon who I believe was the guardian of electricity that I think his name is Volteer. From what I have seen, the dragon liked to talk more than most do, but he speaks on things I do not understand most of the time. He was not like Arkanis as he can talk on a subject and make it simple to comprehend and does not use big and odd words. However, as he was one of the elemental guardians, those of us there listened to what he was saying.

"After all, with the realm as it is these days, it is very dangerous to travel alone," Volteer said and then gave a few sentences that made no sense to me. "What if the apes had found and captured you both, that would be a dredful turn of evens were they to come to pass." The yellow dragon again said a few sentences that did not relate to what he said that I could tell before he seemed to return to the subject he was on before. "And where I know at your age, the world appears so open and filled with possibilities…"

How long was Volteer going to talk like this? I am so lost on what he is talking about as I could not keep up when he would say things that did not make sense to me. When Saber said things or words that I did not know, he would normally explain what they meant. Volteer was not doing that at all and that was making it hard to figure out the subject that was being talking about. My head tilted on its own with the confusion that I was feeling and it was growing as Volteer kept going. Yet, after a bit another spoke over Volteer, "Your rambling again dad, and likely confusing some of them."

I looked at the dragoness that had interrupted Volteer who I had not really looked at much before this point. She looked to be a year or two older than any in our group from her height and length. The dragoness herself had yellow scales that were almost a golden shade while her underbelly and wing membranes were colored a royal purple. Her horns were shaped like the pictures of lightning bolts I have seen in books before now. Then there were small line spikes that ran down her back along her spine and ended at the tip of her tail just before where her tail blade was. However, I did not see any tail blade and no sign in it having been taken out, so she likely had not been born with one. It was a rare thing as I understood, but not unheard of by what some adults have told me.

By what she said, guardian Volteer is her father, which there was some similarity between the two. Then Saber opened his maw, "Um, forgive me if this seems rude or being none of my business, but did you just say dad when you were addressing Volteer as in that he is your father by birth," Saber hesitated, shook his head and then kept going, "or hatching in as is the case with dragons?"

Voltlyn stared at Saber and nodded slowly but did not say anything in answer to Sabers unexpected question. I did not understand his surprise that a guardian would have a dragonet, they are dragons and dragonesses like the rest of us are. But then, he did not seem to get along with the elemental guardians for some reason which I did not know. There was an awkward silence after Saber's question before he spoke again, "I am sorry for a question like that. It is just hard to see you and Volteer being related, at least I have a hard time seeing it."

The dragoness Voltlyn nodded again, "Yes, I get that quite a bit actually. I got a keen mind from dad, but thankfully not his need to talk, at least that is how I see it."

With the matter apparently settled, I leaned against Saber to show how happy I was that he had come back. He did not push me away and the warmth I felt with him was wonderful and unlike anything I have felt before. Although I did note that Saber was kind of stiff for whatever reason, my guess is from the journey back. "Well at least Saber and Lara are back and safe," Cynder said and I was in full agreement.

Without much thought I rubbed my head against Saber's jaw, liking the smooth feel his scales had. Being in contact with Saber produced a tingling warmth that spread all around my body and I enjoyed the feeling. And I wondered, if this was what came with being another's mate, then being Saber's mate was definitely something I wanted. I cannot recall a time I was happier than I am right now leaning against Saber. I understood why Lara could be desperate to be around and with Saber if this was the feeling that came with it.

However, I was brought out of my happy thoughts when I heard a growl. I glanced around and to my surprise, I found that the growl was coming from Lara herself. In fact, I blinked several times thinking I was just imagining things since Lara did not growl at me often if at all. She had only done so a few times and it was when I had not seen danger ahead of me and she was protecting me. But Saber would not hurt me, I know that for a fact, so there was no danger that I could figure, so a baffled expression formed on my face.

"Yes thank you Cynder," Saber said, "Indeed Lara and I are back safe and sound. But you see there is something I need to tell you all." I was only half listening to what Saber was saying as I was staring at Lara trying to figure out why she was growling. "Um Tarra," Saber uttered, "could you give me a little space please."

No matter what I could come up with, nothing could explain why Lara was growling, even less with it directed at me. And she started when I had been around Saber I think, and she had not stopped since then. Yet that did not make sense at all, Saber would not hurt me nor was there danger around him. So, I do not understand why lara is doing what she is and I could see no reason for her to growl at me. And when Lara finally spoke it did not help my be less confused, "Tarra get away from him now!"

Her tone of voice was even more confusing as it was stated as a demand, but that was unlike her. "What are you talking about Lara," I asked puzzled at what was happening.

"Um, Lara," Saber said, "this is really neither the time nor the place for you to do this. I got this under control, so let me handle this please. We can settle this without getting violent."

Violent? What is Saber even talking about? Besides, I have just as much right to be around Saber and pursue him as a mate as she does. She is not his mate yet so he is still free to chose any dragoness he wants including me. The thought of Lara laying claim to Saber already was irritating to me though I do not hate Lara at all. "What if I do not get away from him Lara," I challenged, "You do not own him."

I was not going to back down in this even if I am facing me best friend. Saber was the first dragon I have been around that I feel close to being at ease as most dragons make me really nervous. I want Lara to find happiness, but I also want to have my own happiness in my life too. "I told you to get away from my mate," growled Lara at me.

I blnked at what Lara had just stated, processing what it meant. As the implication of the statement sunk in, pain began filling me. If what Lara said is true, then she had already mated with Saber while they were away from Warfang. That would mean that Saber is taken and that I cannot be his mate. I swung my head to look at Saber hoping that he would do something that would say that Lara was mistaken in what she had said. He gave me a smile but did not do anything that denied what Lara stated. Saber did not lie often if at all, so since he was not denying what Lara was saying, it was true.

It hurt to comprehend that my best friend had gone and become the mate of the dragon I had been hoping to have. I did not hate Lara as she is my friend, but I felt hurt and somewhat betrayed by her right now. I had been trying to help her feel better about herself and what had happened with Saber. Yet she had gone and used that to take him for herself and that fact would not leave my mind. That got an angry feeling to come and quickly grow within me and I could not help but glare at Lara, "You," I snarled, "You Thieving Tramp!"

I lunged at Lara and dragged her down to the ground and began scratching anywhere my talons could get to. A moment later Lara fought back against me but I ignored the scratching being done to me. My anger was controlling me, the pain in my heart from realizing Saber would never be my mate was not going away. Lara was snarling me, "You quiet little sneak! You dare call me a thief when you were trying to take him for yourself," she growled.

I would not let her accuse me of trying to steal when she had gone and taken Saber for herself. "You are one to talk," I snapped, "You run off in order to lure him off and take him, you cunning purple backbiter!"

Lara and I fought each other with no one interrupting us as we clawed and swiped at one another. The injuries were mounting as we kept going at each other, yet Lara and I ignored the cuts and gashes that we were giving the other.

-Saber's pov-

Okay, if someone could tell me how coming back to Warfang turned into this chick fight, I would appreciated the explanation. Because I'm trying to wrap my head around how things degraded to this point. I thought I had the situation under control and that I could get things to go through with little incident. Yet apparently, my efforts went to hell in a handbasket quicker than I saw or realized. Now, I'm no stranger with a situation sprialing down to hell, but I can usually see signs of that coming on. However, in this, I saw little to nothing to predict this outcome, though I knew it could be a possibility.

With Lara and Tarra vying for my attention as they have, I suspected there could be a fight between the two at some point. The two wanted to be my mate and as far as I've seen, poligomy and harems aren't things around the Dragon Realm. So, it was eventually going to come down to me choosing one of them over the other. I hadn't been looking forward to when that decision would demand a choice from me. And in essence, Lara had helped that decision along while we had been away from Warfang.

[There are those that would be happy to be in the position you are in Saber. Having girls fight over you and whom you will end out with.]

Keep your ! #! $ mouth shut Narrator, you're not !# ^^ helping me!

[Your tab is up to $340 by the way.]

I really want to curse right now, but my tab is getting steep and I don't want it to climb all that much higher. Cursing fiddlesticks to you Narrator and being a tight wad! Anyway, not to say this chick fight isn't intriguing to watch and all, but then what chick fight doesn't have a kind of charm? The two dragonesses that are friends of mine kept going at each other as the rest around watched the spectical. However, I didn't want these two fighting each other as they are friends and this is going to hurt that relationship. Then should this keep developing or rather spiral down as it is, it could form into the same kind of fight Lara and I had yesterday. That should be avoided the best possible as the results with Lara and me shows.

Sen came up beside me and stared for a moment, then shook his head, "Dude bro, when did you like become such a magnet for the babes and wahines man?"

I knew that Sen wouldn't help me in the Dragon Realm for several reasons and here is one of those. His culture is difficult to comprehend for those who haven't seen it and none here have. That leads into his manner of speech which was a separate yet connected problem and even that doesn't quite say it. Let me put it to you listeners this way, the way I talk inference and sarcasm included is much easier to understand for the races of the realm. So if my language skills are seen as better than Sen's, those here will have an extrememly hard time with it. That in mind, I gave Sen a look to say that he wasn't helping the situation. "I have not the faintest idea when this started or why it plagues me as it does. The females just began flocking to me and it is not just dragonesses! It isn't like I asked for this as I would not do so as I dislike this attention it brings me," I snapped.

Sen looked at me like I was saying nonsense, "Bro, you're livin a dude's dream man! Drawing the wahines and bunnies like a shaka boss, it's awesome dude, totally sick man," he replied.

Instead of understanding my position, Sen is cheering me on, which doesn't help me in the slightest. I supposed I shouldn't be surprised that Sen sees this as a good thing, he sees my misfortunes as "neat stunts" after all. If I want to get this going in a better and different direction, then I would need to make that effort myself. "Saber, who is he," asked Seth.

I glanced over at Seth and was thankful for his question as it helped me clear my head and calm down. The cat fight was irking me as I'm one of the central causes of it and that doesn't sit well with me. "His name is Sen," I started but hesitated, "he is a friend of mine, I guess."

Sen mocked the action of being hurt at my statement, "Saber dude, how can you be so cold to me man? We have been friends for years bro and done lots of things together dude."

I twisted my head over to gaze at Sen for a moment with an expression that said "really" to him. Then my eyes flicked over to where the fight was still going on uninterrupted which wasn't what would be best. Then I refocued back on Sen, "Would you please shut your trap for the moment," I chided Sen. "As much as I enjoy watching a catfight, I would rather not let this one keep on going as it is!" Turning to the friends that I had hear, I made a plea for help, "Can I get some help to stop these two from injuring each other further and ending up in the healer wing?!"

It took some time and effort, but we managed to end the catfight by separating the two from each other. It had been Seth, Sen and myself pulling Lara away from Tarra while Spyro, Cynder, Cyra and Fredrick tugging Tarra from Lara. It wasn't separating them that was the hard part, it was keeping them apart as they still tried to fight each other. The situation wasn't helped when Volteer spoke up, "I must say that it has been quite some time since a fight between dragonesses has occurred and all over a dragon for a mate…"

As usual, Volteer's opinion isn't needed and doesn't help either and I would have said as much. After all, the Guardians should know by now that I will speak my mind regardless if it was seen as good manners. They tend to be the fondest of my views or opinions but I couldn't care less about what they think about me. However, I was beaten to the punch with Voltlyn rolling her eyes at Volteer, "Dad you are not helping, so would you give it a rest."

To my surprise, Volteer went quiet with Voltlyn's comment, which I won't complain about personally. His commentary was just adding fuel to the flames that we were trying to put out and you don't add fuel to a fire you're trying to extingish. I turned back to look at the two dragonesses and found that they were not hurt really badly, but it was by no means a clean result from their fight. Both had cuts and gashes sporatically over their bodies that would need time to heal. And all of this was over "Ownership" over me, it irks me and I don't like it at all, but this is out of my paws really.

After both dragonesses were taken to the healer wing, the rest of us managed to get our act together enough to go to the mess hall and ate dinner. Afterwards we separated when we got to the temple for the night. Sen went with my other friends and I asked them to watch out for him. I did give them a short explanation about how Sen was a human that was now dragon for unknown reasons.

After that I headed for my room as Lara and Tarra were told they would stay in the healer wing for the night. There had been something said about a lecture of some sort coming their way, but I hadn't been listening to much about that. I would fetch Lara tomorrow and hopefully have a chat with Tarra and explain things to her. I feel that if I can explain things that it would smooth things over for me and the two dragonesses. Don't quote me on that afterwards, but I want to try and see if things would be better between us.

So when the next day came, I visited the healer wing which is a place that I'mm the most fond of and with the time spent there should explain why. Granted, I had ended out there after going through a window and dropping a good distance, but that's besides the point. Anyway, Lara and Tarra were released and both looked rather down about things. Tarra slipped away before I could talk to her so I would have to find her later on and explain things. Lara on the other paw, wouldn't look me in the eyes, which wasn't helpful either.

Let me tell you, the whole day felt like a freak waste as neither dragoness talked to me or even seemed to look at me. And throughout the day, my frustration built up even as I kept it inside and didn't let it show. It was in the evening as I was heading towards my room I was racking my brain for an idea to get this to be solved. I had found out which room Tarra as staying in so I could talk to her tonight. And it was my hope that if I could properly explain the circumstances and the events that had happened with Lara and me, then I could clear up the misunderstandings with Tarra and we would be good again. I would also need to have a conversation with Lara about things and straighten out facts. That wouldn't be a fun talk but it was a necessary one in my view.

So when I got to my room, I found Lara lying on the bed still covered in the bandages that she got while in the healer wing. And I still never will understand why girls do what they do and this is an example of my point. Lara fought her best friend and got injured in the process all to "protect" me or her "ownership" of me. I would state for the record that I am owned by no one and don't need protection as I can take care of myself fully. My bad luck has made sure that I can look after myself and carry myself through all kinds of situations and there is no denying that. Yet here Lara is paying the consequences of her actions and there is no real reason that she should have done what she did at all. Does anyone else see something I don't and if so then they can explain it to me then.

Neither dragoness's actions make any sense to me, but then fighting over me isn't something I've dealt with. Now, fighting over who gets to fight me is a different matter, but that's not the point in this. Nonetheless, I suppose that I will talk to Lara first and then go and discuss things with Tarra and explain my situation. That in mind, I made my way to the bed where my mate was getting my thoughts into order. Make no mistake, I don't appreciate what the two did to each other since it now falls to me to fix things.

Yet I have a hard time getting mad with Lara for some reason or another which I can't fully explain. It could be something to do with my draconic instinct or its feelings developing for Lara, I don't really know. That's not to imply that I'm not feeling put out about the way Lara had acted as I'm irritated, disappointed and I was hurt to a degree. I'm hurt that Lara apparently doesn't either trust me enough to handle a situation or she thinks she can do it better than me. I mean, do I really come off as so untrustworthy that I can't properly speak for myself and lay things out correctly?

Lara's breathing was a little shallower than her normal breathing pattern I noticed as I got closer. Even with the current condition that Lara was in, I had to admit she looked rather cute still in a way. How I can find a dragoness to look cute and yes even somewhat attractive as well at a time like this is beyond me. My draconic instincts has done things to my brain I've found out and still discovering more stuff. But there were more important things to do and know need to be done and better to be done sooner rather than later.

I exhaled to get my mate's attention, "Lara, I will ask this even though I doubt I will understand your reasons. Why did you see the need to fight Tarra over me," I asked. "I assure you there was no need for that nor did it help anyone in the end. No matter the results, I will still be your mate, that will not change. I am not so unfaithful as to let a fight determine who I will spend my life with."

Lara appeared to think for a moment before she answered me, "I do not know," she finally said. "I just," she hesitated, "When I saw her with you I got jealous of her and I could not control myself."

I blinked and stared at Lara for a moment as her answer didn't make sense to me, but unfortunately, that's not exactly new with her. Yes, I figured that whatever her answer would be I wouldn't understand it but still. Once again, girls are strange creatures and are hard to understand. That's my story and explanation and I'm sticking to it and will refer to it thank you very much. "Okay, makes little sense to me, but I will accept your explanation as you gave it," I replied before sighing. "I comprehend that you see the need to guard what is 'yours', but I am fully capable of defending myself and I have no need to be protected from a friend. Tarra is my friend and will always be no matter what while you are my mate. Your position will not change Lara, so you do not need to defend that title or standing."

There was a moment of silence which got me to look at Lara again wondering what she was thinking and no saying anything to me. I found she was looking at me with tears coming from her eyes and a smile on her face. I couldn't come up with a reason as to why she was giving me that look, and so, I was baffled at the expression. "What," I asked.

"You called me your mate," Lara uttered.

Is that what she is overjoyed about? That's just the truth that I've had to accept as I know she won't let me forget it anytime in the near future. And truthfully, I could end out with much worse for a life companion. Actually, I should rephrase that, I've had worse companion, like my bad luck as a prime example. I swear, the things you learn from the most unexpected individuals and places. "Yeah, that is what you are for me," I stated. "You are my mate, what is so odd about me saying that?"

I didn't know what to expect in reply from Lara in this, "That is the first time you have said that to me outloud," she returned.

There are times that I'm just completely thrown off by how such small things can make Lara happy. I sighed and rolled my eyes though a small smile did find its way onto my face as I moved forward and kissed the crest of her head. Don't ask me why I did the action as I don't know, it just happened with my body moving on its own without my brain giving orders. Maybe this is my draconic instincts interfering with my intelligence again. My instincts never actually went away or disappeared into whatever part of my mind it came from. It has been affecting my brain ever since this morning really. I've been exerting a lot of effort to keep the miasma that my draconic instincts at bay and stop them from taking control like they had earlier. I have managed to keep a fragile balance between my human intelligence and my draconic instincts though it is more difficult to a degree around Lara. Nonetheless, I did have at least one other thing to do tonight before I'll let myself sleep and I want to sleep. "Listen I am going to go check on Tarra. You stay here and get some rest, understand," I posed.

Lara's response to my plan was to frown which I suspected, since she wouldn't agree with my idea of talking with Tarra without her there. However, that would defeat the purpose as they would be too focused on one another rather on what I was saying. "But," she started but I put a forepaw over her mouth.

I would have Lara hear me out in this even if I have to be somewhat forceful about it. What I have to say needs to be heard for things to move forward, "I will be fine Lara," I assured. "You do not need to have me in your sights all the time though I would not doubt you would disagree. I can take care of myself and have been doing so for many years now." I exhaled heavily, "I am worried about Tarra as she is still my friend and should be yours as well more than mine. Perhaps you were so focused on me to not notice that she is hurting from both the fight and what was said before it, more the latter than the former."

I paused for a moment to organize my thoughts so that I might deliver them in such a way that there wouldn't be a misunderstanding. "I was hoping to break the news of us becoming mates gently," I remarked, "Nonetheless, that certainly did not happen and we all know it. Instead, there is a mess to clean up and relationships to repair from how things when. And as such things seem to be becoming normal for me, I get to be the one that cleans up said mess. It is ironic since I am not good with relationships and am really new to them as they are here."

I stopped and looked Lara straight in the eyes before I continued, making sure I had her full and undivided attention. "Lara, how many times do you want me to say that we are mates before you believe me," I asked. "I can handle things that come up you know, I have been doing the idea for years and have gotten pretty darn good at it. And it may surprise you how much of the time my methods can work when you give them a chance." I sighed, "Do you seriously want your friendship with Tarra to end completely for good over something as small as a misunderstanding over me?"

Lara's expression changed to sorrow at my question but it also told me that she was thinking about what I was telling her. Apparently, the thought of losing Tarra's friendship was a painful idea for her and I didn't blame her. To lose a friend over something as foolish as acting like an idiot in the heat of the moment is something you will regret for the rest of your life if you don't make-up with your friend. There are just times you have to do things you don't want, but you just do them to keep friends, it is a lesson I've had to learn. She looked down at the bed, "Well, no I do not want Tarra to hate and avoid me," she admitted, "But we…"

[You have played a part in this as well Saber you know.]

Yeah, I know that Narrator, no need to remind me what I'm in the middle of thank you, so kindly shut up. At Lara trailing off, I sniffed audibly as we're all at fault for the current predictament as it was frustratingly. Yes, I was at fault just like they were since I had put off telling Lara and Tarra how I felt straight out. I had thought I could just send non-vocal hints that I wasn't interested in the type of relationship they were wanting, yet I was wrong and I admit it. That in mind, I sighed, "I am not blind you know Lara, I have been well aware for a while now that both of you wanted me as a mate. And," I hesitated, "I should have said something before, but I did not and that is my mistake."

Lara stared at me with surprise, "You knew," she questioned.

That reply makes me seriously wonder how naïve and blind male dragons can be and are in general about what dragonesses do around them. Spyro of course, takes the cake of naïveté and there is no contest in that so far. However, I would hope and don't think that all males are like that around dragonesses, yet I could be wrong, who knows? I sincerely hope that all dragons are not as blissfully ignorant as Spyro tends to be. That would have its own set of issues that I want nothing to do with and really should change.

I shook my head a bit, "Neither of you were very good at hiding your affection for me even if others might not notice. Tarra was a tad more subtle than you are Lara, still you both made it fairly obvious in my eyes. Perhaps male dragons can be and tend to be that dense and blind," I shrugged, "I do not know. Although if Spyro or Seth are anyone to judge by, then male dragons are and I am sorry they are as I would bet it is frustrating." I gazed into Lara's eyes, "However, I am not so dumb not to see the signs that say you both liked me more than friends do and wanted more. I may have acted like I did not see it, yet that is what is called 'fainting ignorance' to give a hint. It is a tact to say I see another's actions, but am saying I am not exactly interested at the current moment and doing so in a nice way. Nonetheless, things worked out a little differently for everyone than I think any of us originally envisioned."

Lara looked away from me at that, but I continued, "So, I will see you in a while as I go and talk with Tarra now." After saying that I exited the room leaving Lara to rest and I headed over to Tarra's room. I'm hoping that the talk with her would be a little easier, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that wish. I have the feeling that Tarra will be harder to calm down than Lara was having her accept the facts as they are now.

I knew that when the question of who would be my mate officially was answered that the other one between Lara and Tarra would take the decision pretty hard. Still, that doesn't make this any better for me to deal with as I have to pick up the mess. And I am not fond of damage control or cleaning messes that I didn't intentionally make. Yet, I seem to get to do that kind of thing a lot more lately since getting to the Dragon Realm.

Now, I can understand some of the reasons that Tarra might see me as her ideal mate as we have some things in common. We have a streak of misfortune that others don't and most wouldn't understand from what they see. Tarra has been through tragedy as have I so we can sympathize with each other to an extent. I won't deny that Tarra is a sweet dragoness when you get to know her. She is shy and has issue opening up to others and I can easily understand that difficulty, the story of my life after all. And I wish her the best at finding happiness for her life and will help her in what ways I can.

However, the final choice for whom my mate would be was mine in the end and I had made it. I can't undo or take back what has happened and I'm not the kind that shurks responsibility when it comes. Granted, I had been under the influence of alcohol, not that dragons would likely understand what such an inference even means, yet that wasn't the issue. That is no excuse for the actions I took and I won't use it as one, I would keep my integrity and live with my decision. I would explain that to Tarra and help her in what ways I could even if I don't know how that will be.

-Tarra's pov-

Why do the ancestors hate me so much that they would do this to me? For the first time that I can remember, I meet and befriend a dragon that is nice and can understand what my life is like. Just as I start to work up the courage to tell him how I feel, he is taken by another dragoness. Then that dragoness has to be my best friend as well, it hurts so much that I cannot describe it. This feels worse than when my mom passed away and that had been painful beyond belief.

So, why does my life have to be like this then? I felt the tears flow as I cried at how my life had changed from being happy to miserable in the space of a day. I could not stop the tears though I tried, but my heart was screaming in pain. It was then I heard a knock at my door and I wondered who would be here now? I told everyone to leave me alone since I did not want others to see me like this.

"Tarra, you in there," questioned the voice of Saber. What is he doing here?! Why would he not be with Lara since she is his mate now? "Can I come in and talk to you?"

Talk with me? What more is there to say? I do not think my heart can take anymore changes like had come already. Yet, my voice came out on its own, "C-come in."

I could barely choke the words out as I had managed to stop crying momentarily. The door opened and Saber entered my room as his pawsteps said. I was not able to look at him at the moment, yet I could hear him come closer. He came over and sat down next to me on my bed as his weight on the bed told me. I did not turn to face him since I could not do it without more pain in my heart. "Tarra, this is probably a very stupid question to ask, but I will anyway," Saber said, "Are you doing okay?"

Saber asks me if I am doing okay?! How can any expect me to be okay? I have lost my chance to have the one male I liked and to my best friend no less! Of course I am not okay, but what can I say in this? "I," I hesitated, "I-I do not k-know."

I was on the verge of tears again as I said this to Saber as my heart ached so much. Then I felt a paw followed by a wing go around me and I swung my head around to face for the first time since seeing Saber before the fight. He was smiling at me kindly, "Well, so that you know, I am here for you should you need someone to talk to or just someone to be next to you for company," he stated.

But… but that makes no sense, why would Saber do that for me?! I hurt his mate, he should want to stay away from me. "What about Lara," I mumbled trying to push Saber's hold off me.

I could not accept his kindness at this point, I do not know if I could keep refusing it if he keeps showing it to me. Even if Lara hates me now, I do not want to hurt her and her chance for happiness with how much she helped me. However, Saber kept his hold on me and did not let my refusal affect him, "What about her? She is resting currenly and will recover with time so there is little to worry about with her," he replied. "You on the other paw look like you could use some company of a friend, so here I am to provide that company."

He is not making any sense with his words! Why is he spending time with me the one who hurt his mate?! "But is she not your mate," I said bitterly, "why are you here with me, another dragoness?"

I wait for his answer even though it was most likely going to hurt to hear. Saber took a moment to think, "Well, I cannot really deny Lara is my mate as we," he hesitated, "did that activity." Saber admitting he mated with Lara hurt as I knew it would, and I expected him to finish up what he was saying and leave. "Yet, why that should be a reason for me to not be here for you when you clearly need company is confusing me," he said which got me to look at him. "What should it matter which one of you I am with? You and Lara are both important to me and that is what counts. You are not just another dragoness, you are far more than that to me Tarra."

What is he saying?! He chose her over me, so why is he doing this? "Because she is," I began but Saber put a paw over my maw.

My eyes flicked to gaze at his, "Yes, Lara is my mate and there is a story to how that happened. You Tarra are my friend," he stated firmly, "That will not change due to one event. I do not want our friendship to become strained because of something like this. That is why I did not really respond to either you are Lara as I did not want things to get awkward or worse. I value our relationship far too highly than that to let that occur. I will still be around when you need me, all that has changed is that there will be a very select few things that I will not be able to do for you. That is all this means, nothing more," he finished.

I felt the tears begin to flow as Saber said all of this as it sounded too good to be true. He brought me into a hug and when he had I could not keep the emotions back and I began to cry into his chest. All throughout this, Saber was comforting me like he had several times before now. Why is he so nice to me?! "Everything will work out Tarra, I promise," he assured. "I am sorry I will not be able to be the mate you deserve, but I do not doubt he is still out there waiting to be found by you. Nevertheless, do not forget that I will be here for you as your friend always, whenever you should need me."

I cried harder at hearing this without being able to stop myself any more. Saber is so kind and caring towards me and I have never had anyone other than my parents and Lara that does this for me. After I was able to calm down I had to ask the few questions I still had, "Saber you said there was a story to how you and Lara became mates, so how did it happen?"

Saber grimaced slightly at the question, which surprised me. What could have happened to make Saber make a face like that? He sighed, "Well, you see," he started, "when I went off to find Lara, I did find her just as night was falling. So we could not make it back to Warfang without there be a high risk of being attacked. That in mind, we found a place for the night and things," he hesitated, "went differently than I think either of us had expected."

Saber began to tell me about how he found Lara, but by the time he had found her it was getting dark. That of course meant that they would be unable to return that day to Warfang as he said. During that night Saber talked about how Lara had found some odd fruit that they later found out had something Saber detested but used a term that I did not know. "These fruits had what," I asked.

"A liquid that is called Alcohol, which is an extremely horrible idea and one that none should try. Due to the effects of Alcohol, our judgement was not only unsound but like it was not there at all." Saber paused for a moment, "We did things that were not exactly planned and that we would have unlikely done if not for our condition. Lara did not have any problems other than not being able to remember the experience. I on the other paw was not as happy at the activity though it was not because it was Lara or the activity itself, but the circumstances under with the idea happened." I nodded only partially understanding what Saber is saying. "But I am not one to make excuses for things I do even when the decision was one that I should have done differently."

He continued with the story with going on with how the morning was a miserable one due to the effects of this 'alcohol'. When he got to the part of meeting the red dragon he and Lara returned with, I was shocked that Saber told me that the dragon had been a human he knew. Yet that red dragon had been a human, which explained the unusual way he spoke. He was really hard to understand with words 'doed' and 'bro' all the time. Saber did not say words like that, so it was different. I am not saying that he is bad or anything, he is sort of cute in a way. When Saber finished his story, I kind of understood better what had happened with Lara and him. I did not like it, but I can see why Saber says that it is not Lara's or his fault that they ended out as mates. I am happy for Lara, yet at the same time I am sad that I did not end out in that position.

Saber apparently noticed my feelings of glum and sorrow since he hugged me a little tighter, which I would not complain about. I feel a bit guilty at him doing this for me when I think he should only be doing this kind of thing for Lara. So, I will just keep this little unexpected surprise to myself as I am happy that Saber says he still wants to be around me. I know I should not be scared that he would just leave me alone if he chose Lara instead of me, but I could not help it! "Tarra you need not worry," he said, "I will not just leave you by yourself as I am your friend and will be forever."

Somehow, Saber always seems to be able to know what to say to comfort me. It will be hard to find another like him as he is the first I have been around like that other than my mom and Lara. He is certainly the first male I have been around like this and he is so unique that there is unlikely another like him. Saber smiled at me and I feel like I will melt every time I see him smile, "Just have faith that things will get better Tarra. They will, it just can take a little while sometimes."

Then Saber did something I had only dreamed about, he kissed me lightly on my lips. I was stunned and shocked that he had done that and could only stare wide eyed at him. "I would recommend not saying anything about that to Lara," Saber muttered to me, "I think she would be rather ticked at me for doing such a thing with anyone else other than her. Yet, you needed a pick me up and that was the best I could think of."

Saber left my room after that and I just sat on the bed still in shock at what Saber had just done. After a minute, I touched my lips with a paw feeling where he had kissed me with my thoughts racing.

-Saber's pov-

Well, I hope that helped Tarra understand things as they stood as well as cheer her up. I know that if Lara ever found out that I kissed Tarra even lightly, she wouldn't be pleased with me at first. I doubt it would help me if I were to say that I kissed her to help comfort her… no, Lara wouldn't really care about my reasoning right now. I hope she will see why I did it eventually, and I would give her the time in the hopes that she would understand. I guess I should make my way back to my, I mean our room for the time being.

As I headed towards my room I happened to bump into Sen, "Dude bro, didn't expect to pass you this late, like what's the dealo man," he asked. Then he got a look of realization, "Oh wait, let me guess, the usual MO I take it then bro." Sen then gave a knowing smile, "If you were like planning to pull a prank bro, you should've totally told me dude. You know that I'm all for helping in that kind of thing bro since they're always epic and have a shaka vibe dude."

[Would you like to explain what Sen is talking about Saber?]

Not really Narrator, but intuition tells me that you were making a statement and not a suggestion. So, where do I start with this idea? The language, the subject or Sen being himself? For the record, I admit there was a time that I would go out at night to set up pranks to be sprung on others. However, I don't do that kind of thing so much any more, it escalated to a point that I had to pull back and curtail things. Don't ask for further detail, it isn't pretty and I'm fairly ashamed about what happened. And on those jaunts, I wasn't always alone, but had the assistance of others for the prank setup. Sen was one of those that did participate from time to time and he said that it was a fun activity. So when Sen says "usual MO" he is referring to the times we went out pranking others.

And I will neither confirm nor deny that I have thought about pranking a certain fly I know who annoys me often. Actually, I've done more than thought about it, but that's neither here nor there and I'll leave it at that. And if he thinks that he is safe from me, he don't know me very well for I know where he sleeps and that's enough to work with. However, I have been restraining that very powerful urge to do that to him showing my discipline I've learned. So, Spyro better be pleased with me for not making him an only child which I see that as doing him a favor. "Sen," I started, "I'm not out to pull a prank on anyone, tempting though it may be for at least a few here that I know. I am showing my wonderfully developed self-control that Master Kai has taught me over the years and he would be beaming with how I'm doing. And besides, I can do such at any time I choose and feel like it," I paused, "If you must know I was comforting a friend."

"That's cool bro, reallly mellow and sweet vibe dude, I wasn't trying to pry man. So, was this friend a wahine bro," he asked.

I flinched at what he asked as I don't like the implications that Sen was making! I mean, someone could take what Sen is saying as me basically cheating on Lara and I'm not and I will not do such a thing! My concern is here in the dragon realm, appearance is taken to be very literal more than intentions. "Oh, so it was a babe then, righteous bro," Sen remarked, "Saw you are smooth with the wahines before dude, but didn't know you had this much shaka with the babes, awesome man. You need to show me a sick trick or two of yours bro."

What can I say in my defense which Sen would actually take seriously? His view of the world is so different that what I say rarely goes over as intended. "I," I began but stopped, "that's not what," my voice came to a halt again, "you've got it all wrong Sen."

Sen just smirked in such a way that it should be illegal if you ask me, "If you say so bro. You doing epic things is never bad, like a sweet wave being surfed," he said before walking off down the hall.

I would be shocked if this ends here and that's what I don't like to be honest, but that is the result of Sen's unpredictability. Things could be worse, instead of him I could be dealing with another I know that is more difficult than Sen is. That doesn't make things as they stand better, but I don't think Sen would spread rumors, he isn't like that. It's a saving grace for me around here as I have enough going against me and making things harder already, don't need to add things.

I took a couple of deep calming breaths and pushed my frustration at Sen out of my mind for the time being. I continued walking towards the room Lara and I would be sharing tonight. I entered the room to see that Lara had fallen asleep while I was gone and I suppose I should follow suit in this. So with that decision made I went over to the bed and got in, thankful that the bed was big enough for the both of us. When I had slid in Lara shifted a little showing that she seemed to be able to sense my presence somehow. I say this due to the fact that seconds after I slipped into the bed she started snuggling herself up against me. Lara, perhaps by instinct wrapped he paws around me and pressed her underbelly against mine. She entwined her tail with my own and placed her head under my chin. After she had done all this she let out a contented sigh and kept sleeping on.

Honestly, what am I going to do with Lara at times like this? She can just be so outright cute without even knowing it and I can't deny it in my heart. Her looks and actions could be lethal if I'm not careful and defend myself against them. Heck, it may already be too late for me, I could already be falling for Lara even more than I have already. Well, I guess I could do worse things than that but I'll not ask or dare other forces to show me how. Yet, I get the feeling that this time is more a 'calm before the storm' and that storm I fear is the one I am preparing for and that's worries me.

A/n

That's where I'll leave off for this chapter. Where to begin with this chapter, there's a number of things that I ended out changing? The additional points of view, of course, I'm keeping the Narrator (aka me) commenting when I feel like it. Tarra's view when Saber and Lara return was something I debated for a time, but I'm happy how it ended out as it I think gives a view into how she sees Saber and not wanting to hate Lara for her being Saber's mate. Yes, Lara and Tarra were both vying for Saber's attention, the vote originally was for my interest, but there was a "fight" going on in the background. The next subject Sen, I know he was a surfer before, but he's even more one than before. Some of you have said that you enjoy Sen's mannerisms and wave of talking so do hope you'll enjoy how he is now. As always, please some of you write a review and tell me what you think, see you next chapter.

Boltirontic

I'm glad you are liking the rewrite, and I intend to finish, just coming in spurts. And I will neither confirm or deny there may be more that comes after what I've written already, we'll see.

Jdm

Thanks, I've learned stuff as I've written, so I want to make what I have done better. And the narrator is to bring humor into this, I assure you.

UltraNova1225

Yep, hope you liked it so far.

ArcticDragon Rider

Thanks for noticing the improvements, it takes work and time to make this story better than it was before aside from grammar.