Chapter 23: Traveling Arrangements

Goren returned to find a mostly dry Lukka sitting between Kashira's legs with her back against the dragon's chest. She was completely bundled up in a blanket, and both of Kashira's paws were over the top of her, as if to forbid any chance at escape. That pang of jealousy went through him again. "I have clothes for Lukka and my sisters." He held up the canvas bag that he was carrying. "Also, I talked to the elves who know a few things about magic, and I got the components you said Lukka needed. If I didn't get the right thing, just let me know, and I can still try to go get it for us. I also bought a bunch of fresh bread, sweet rolls, a good cheese wheel, and a few sausages for you two."

For some reason, Lukka seemed flustered. "You really got things just for me?"

Goren nodded. "And I got a better cloak for you because the one I saw when I packed your clothes isn't going to be warm when walking to Arieton?" His tone turned into a question as he looked to Kashira to clarify for certain.

The dragon nodded. "I don't want to wait here without securing proper shelter. It would take days for a saddle to be made, so I think we will walk, yes. It will take a couple of days. It's either that, or this town has to accept a dragon on short notice and provide something you all can use for shelter." Kashira reached out to him with one of her paws, and it made Goren feel good to walk into it and hold her nose as she nuzzled.

When she was done nuzzling, Goren took out the bottles of components he had gotten for Lukka and handed them over. The gnoll smiled. "Um. Thanks, these look great and will work perfectly."

He kept his sisters in his pocket as he started a small fire to warm up the sausages for Kashira and Lukka. Everything about having my sisters in my pocket as I do work in the woods by the town that just stopped being my home is strange. He moved gingerly to not jostle them.

Lukka chopped and ground and mumbled about ingredients and measurements while whispering incomprehensible words to herself. Must be something about how magic works, he thought as he tried to just tune her out.

He toasted some bread carefully on the edge of a small pan he had brought for his walk home originally. He was starting to worry that he was going to overcook things when Lukka said, "All done."

A few drops, an awkward moment of turning away while his sisters got dressed, and at long last, he was hugging his sisters properly for the first time in months. He was so grateful that more tears threatened to come, so he made himself busy right away handing out food to everyone.

Ereza moved to Lukka once Goren had handed them both a meal. It was well past lunchtime now, after all the walking and shopping, and she was very hungry. Goren held Tomy while the little rabbit-like jayune stared at Kashira fairly openly. Lukka was wrapped in her new cloak and a blanket. She did tower over Ereza normally; there was almost two feet of height difference. But, with her sitting against Kashira's side, and Ereza standing, Ereza got to look down at her.

Ereza was wearing the nicest winter skirt she had ever worn, too long because it was sized for an elf rather than a jayune, with a shirt that was too baggy so her wings would fit beneath it, but it was warm. Her boots fit, which was a relief on the blisters. "I wanted... to say thank you."

Lukka smiled but looked away from her. "Really, it was an impulse. I already didn't want to be there."

Her rounded ears were so flat, and Ereza found herself really empathizing with the way the gnoll looked. She remembered that when Tomy was born, one of the neighbor women had barged into their fields, all full of fury. Their mother had been having an affair with the woman's husband. It destroyed their marriage, but her mother had coldly answered the upset wife that she didn't care how the other woman felt when she couldn't keep her husband's attention. Ereza recalled vividly how dirty it felt to be associated with her mother that day.

Ereza felt she could understand why Lukka couldn't look at her. She moved forward, set her food down to one side, and then kneeled between Lukka's legs and tentatively embraced her. She felt how stiff the gnoll got, and then a small tremor in the larger frame, but slowly, Lukka put her plate down. Lukka, ever so delicately, hugged her back. At first, she held only gently, so Ereza squeezed her, trying to convey that it was all right, and cautiously the gnoll clutched her more tightly, pressing her soft, fluffy body to Ez's, their chests compressing against each other as they competed for space. Just feel better. It's not so bad; you weren't one of them, and you wouldn't have been even if you had stayed. And, I've learned better now, and I want you to feel better...

I could cry, Lukka thought as she held Ereza. The long brown hair curled around her nose as she took a halting breath in, and she just clasped the soft frame against her own. Between the dragon insisting that I am valuable and wanted, and this woman seeming to forgive me, I could die here and feel that the Gods wouldn't hate me as much as I hate myself.

Ereza smelled good, like sunshine in a warm field, and Lukka felt a longing to keep holding her. There was a relief, a warmth, that she had never quite felt before when holding someone like this. But, she made herself let go, only to find herself blushing as Ereza casually settled in her lap and picked up her plate. Lukka didn't have the slightest idea what the motivation was for it, but she was perfectly happy not to correct it.

After everyone had eaten, there was a content silence, in which Tomyra got down from Goren's arms and carefully moved in front of Kashira. She was only about three feet tall at most, and Kashira gently lowered her nose to the little girl. "You are really Tomy's friend? Even though you are a dragon?" the little girl said as clearly as she could, though there were still letters of hers that needed work at her age. When she could reach Kashira's nose, she rubbed it over, curious about the scales, her nose, the way the texture changed on her nose over the nose bridge compared to around her lips.

Kashira smiled. "Yes, we're friends, sweetie." She spoke in a low, soft voice to not scare the little one. She'd not been near anything so precious or fragile in such a long time. Her heart fluttered as the little thing made a happy squeal, and the tentative rubbing touches turned into a full hug on her nose. She breathed out slowly, the little one giggling as the warm breath ruffled through her hair.

Ereza remained perched in Lukka's lap. "So, we are going to Arieton next?" she asked.

"Yes," Kashira answered, holding her head still as Tomyra caught hold of her mane and pulled herself up on her nose. "My intention is to walk us there because there are quite a few of you now."

Lukka took a deep breath then. "But, if you walk the whole way, it will be easy for the gnolls to track you, and I am sure that flying is much quicker."

Goren came and scooped Tomy from Kashira's nose, causing a peal of laughter as she squirmed. "We would still need a saddle," he said uncertainly, not looking forward to trying to stay on her a second time without something to fully brace against if flying were involved. "Especially because there are four of us."

Kashira nodded now that her nose was free. "I do not think we should attempt to proceed without something to properly hang onto." She scooted Goren closer, with Tomyra giggling even louder as she was lightly pressed between Goren's arms and Kashira's paw. She was gratified to hear Goren huff at her because, while the other three did not know, they both knew she was referring to the tumble he took off her.

The dragon smiled as she nuzzled against the two jayune in her clutches. Honestly, it feels like it has both been a lot longer than a couple of days, and yet, somehow, much shorter than that. I suppose I am feeling really close to them, after everything that has happened, so that makes it feel like it has been longer?

Lukka breathed out slowly. "As much as it pains me to point out, with a purchase of enough fabric, we could tie it about your neck and make a sling. At least some of us could be carried that way, even if you fly."

Kashira grinned at the gnoll. "And how would I carry the others, hm, gnolly?"

Lukka looked away from her and snorted and didn't answer either way. It made Ereza blush. Kashira wondered if the rabbity woman had a guess, and didn't know how to react to the idea, or if she was picking up on the flustered reactions of Goren and Lukka.

Kashira exhaled; she supposed that Lukka really did have a point about the situation. She hummed. "Well, then, you can have it your way," she said with a smirk that made Lukka look almost like her fluff was standing on end along her neck and down her back.

She reached into the bag that still hung from her wrist; it was feeling bulky with all the random things she was accumulating in it between Goren's and Lukka's packs. She found her gem, and then she called for some bolts of fabric from it that she thought might hold significant weight and be long enough to be tied about her neck.

It took some patience, but Lukka, Ereza, and Goren were able to get the fabric secured around her neck with some clever sewing and reinforcing rope, and all three of them were able to rest in the hammock without any slipping in it when Kashira stood up and walked around with it. They did tend to compress toward each other at the center; Lukka was heaviest, so both jayune were slipping toward her. Kashira lay down again. "All right, Ereza, Lukka, you two out. Goren, you and Tomyra stay, please."

Goren felt a tightness in his chest, since he knew he was evidently staying to hold Tomyra through the flight, and that meant...

He reminded himself that he shouldn't be somehow jealous like this. He reminded himself that he shouldn't be acclimated to getting swallowed up. Yet his cheeks still burned as he held Tomyra and the other two left the sling.

"How did you find a dragon, Goren?" Tomyra asked, sounding anxious to him also.

So for now, he focused on telling that story, of how he had gone off into the storm, but keeping it as bright as possible. They both needed it.