Miseré was a pretty seaside town. From atop the hill it was on you could see right down to its harbour as the streets and houses stretched down to the bay's shoreline. The sky above was clear, leaving the sun’s rays to cast down into the bay valley and reflect off of the water. Yara looked at the letter again. During her trip she’d repeatedly kept opening and reading it. She’d lied to Olivier of course, the letter did come from someone important, the one person she was afraid of seeing. The one person she was afraid of knowing what he thought of her.

  ‘We’re here,’ said Olivier, ‘do you see whoever sent you the letter?’

  Yara kept looking through the crowd to see the letter’s author. She couldn't see anything she could recognise him by.

  ‘No,’ she answered. Unfortunately she couldn’t see him in the crowd that walked Misere’s streets. They continued to walk on foot over the town’s main road until they got to another square. Here Yara looked through the masses again until she saw someone she recognised. His back was turned to them, but it was him. He was two heads taller than her. His rolled up sleeves revealed his broad, muscular arms. His hair, side swept and brown, was kept short. He turned slightly, revealing his straight jawline covered in a five-o'clock shadow, only interrupted by a now mostly faded burn scar. Yara's eyes caught his, they were like the purest steel. He hadn't noticed her yet. She hadn't seen him in just over half a year now, and even now she still felt the same way she did last time. Butterflies in her stomach. A child-like way to put it, but the only way she knew to describe how she felt. He'd never let it be anything other than that. Yara went beet red and Olivier noticed.

  ‘That him?’ he asked smugly. Yara nodded in response, she couldn't say a word.

  ‘Shouldn’t you go talk to him?’

  Now she shook her head. She didn't want to ruin this moment where she could just look at him. Just a perfect moment in time. He turned fully. His back towards the sun, the golden light outlining him from behind. His eyes lit up when he saw her in the crowd, when he recognised her. Yara's heart skipped a beat, her eyes widened, and she froze in place.

  ‘Yara!?’ he shouted her name to make sure it really was her. He sounded like he couldn't believe what he saw. He dashed towards her, nearly knocking her down as his arms wrapped around her, ‘I’m so glad I found you,' there was a big, wide smile on his face.

  ‘H-hi Laras,’ Yara had dreaded this moment at first, but now that he was finally there it didn’t feel as bad anymore. She wanted to melt in his arms. If it was up to her, she'd never allow him to let go of her.

  ‘Sorry, I should’ve asked first,’ said Laras, realising he might’ve overstepped his boundaries a little, ‘I know you don’t like b-.’

  ‘No, no it’s fine,’ Yara interrupted him. She almost wanted to ask him to hug her again. Olivier coughed.

  'This is really cute, but I should really go and get medical supplies,’ he said, ‘you two have fun now,’ he then left them to themselves and headed towards the market.

* * *

  Yara and Laras found a small restaurant overlooking the bay. The glittering, bright blue water in the inlet below was quite a sight. They'd ordered a simple breakfast before they'd sat down on the terrace outside. They'd started catching up here. Yara told Laras about the Mourner, about Ancaror, about fighting a Lindworm on the frozen surface of a lake. Laras' expression had been sympathetic when she'd brought up Ancaror, and he looked sceptical of her decision-making when she mentioned her misadventure in An Chreacht. Yara was personally more interested in how he'd been.

  ‘How’d you manage to get that letter to me?’ asked Yara, leaned forward over the table slightly.

  ‘You want the full story or the abridged version?’

  ‘An abridged version? wow,’ Yara chortled, ‘that’s new.’

  ‘I thought I should try something new, not everyone is ready for the overly detailed account of how I declawed a basilisk,’ Laras leaned back in his chair a little.

  ‘So how’d you do it?’

  ‘I was tracking this dragon, a big and mean grey wyvern from the mainland. I asked for eyewitness descriptions and they told me a light-haired woman had asked them the same questions,’ Laras stopped talking when a server brought them something to eat. He tossed them two pyrite coins and continued, ‘so I follow in your footsteps, but on the way to where I think you might be I find another clue for where that dragon might’ve gone,' Laras said. Yara leaned further towards him over the table without even noticing and the moment she caught herself she sat back on her chair again. Laras took a bite of his food.

  ‘I write a letter and hand it to this courier I meet on the road, and he eventually gets it to you,’ he said after he finished chewing, ‘and now you’re here.’

  ‘That I am,’ said Yara, now looking away from his face, ‘Why were you looking for me?’

  ‘Because you ran off, I was worried something bad might happen to you.’

  ‘You weren’t mad at me? Didn't feel I'm... you know... too far above you?' she asked ashamedly, glancing at Laras' face. He cringed up slightly.

  'I... I wasn't mad, no,' he replied, 'you're still... you didn't move on?' his voice had some disbelief to it.

  Yara's heart sank. Had he really looked at it as just a crush? She'd been so focused on what he'd said that she missed the hopeful tone to his voice, 'No I-,' she didn't want her heart to break all over again. This was why she didn't want to meet him. She'd done it to herself now, 'I meant what I said about you, about what you mean to me,' Yara said, 'I figured you'd at least be mad at me for just leaving without you.'

  'You didn't need my permission to go anywhere. You can take care of yourself, for the most part.'

  'At least there's that...' Yara said quietly, 'and I'm glad I know how you feel now,' she was hurt, and judging by the pained look on Laras' face he could tell. He might even have felt like she did now.

  'You know, we don't have to distance ourselves if you don't want that,' he said sympathetically, 'we just can't... you know... be together.'

  'Arran always thought you were an idiot for believing that,' Yara said bitterly, invoking her guardian's name.

  'You know why.'

  'He said your reasons were stupid too.'

  'He-.'

  'Nevermind...' Yara dismissed what he said, 'it was dumb of me to bring it up,' she also waved away any of her own feelings. She didn't want to talk about it anymore.

  'Speaking of Arran...' Laras said, pushing her buttons in a way she absolutely hated, 'how have you been... you know... dealing with it.'

  'Poorly,' she was short with him, 'you?'

  ‘Well... it’s not easy,’ he put a hand to the bridge of his nose, ‘wracked with guilt constantly. I sleep very poorly. Every day I feel like I could've- no, should've done more.’

  ‘Laras,’ Yara said his name quietly, 'stop.'

  ‘I could’ve stopped him from going.’

  ‘We both know he wouldn't have let you.’

  ‘That much is true,’ Laras conceded, he looked out over the bay. Its pristine water glittering brightly in the midday sun.

  ‘Remember that judge I told you about? He told me something I've really taken to heart now.’

  ‘What’d he say?’

  ‘What it came down to was that he’d want us to go on, instead of constantly mourning him.’

  ‘It’s worth giving it a try,’ Laras said quietly.

  ‘Looking back, it’s definitely helped me move on from how I used to feel,’ she glanced at him and went quiet, 'when it comes to Arran, anyhow.'

  ‘So… that dragon we’re both hunting,’ Laras wanted to move on before the silence got too awkward, ‘do you think you know where it went?’

  ‘I lost its trail when the Bloodmaiden attacked me.’

  ‘Bloodmaiden?’

  ‘Olivier told me its name, it’s this monster with huge claws on its arms that tackled me to the ground,’ Yara explained, ‘I’d show you the scar but I’d prefer not to in public.’

  ‘Why? is it in a particular spot?’ Laras asked. Yara snickered, nodded, and then used her finger to draw a line from where the scar started, all the way to where it ended. Laras whistled.

  ‘I got a new one too, side of my waist, a big burn…’ his voice petered out as he looked out over the bay, where he saw a grey shape approach. The shape was a dragon, the very same that both of them had been chasing separately.

  ‘You see that too, right?’ Laras asked.

  ‘Yep.’

  Laras stood up, his chair scraping over the cobble and mortar pavement.

  ‘We should get down there,’ he said as he started to run.

  ‘Laras wait!’ yelled Yara as she ran after him, ‘You’re not wearing your armour!’

  Laras stopped.

  ‘You’re right,’ he said, ‘You run as fast as you can, I’ll catch up with you,’ he patted her on the shoulder and turned to run down a road that split off from the main one. Yara whistled to call Helena and jumped into the saddle when she got there, immediately assuming a canter down the road while taking the slope into account. People ran past her to get away from the dragon that had already started to wreak havoc on Miseré’s harbour. A thick cloud of smoke and steam filled the air, which made it hard to see where she was going. Realising it’d be safer to continue on foot Yara got off her horse and made her run before she’d fall victim to the dragon. Now Yara was walking blind, with her large shield in her left hand and her sword in her right she carefully put one foot in front of the other. Though the fog around her was thick she could still smell the burning wood from the ships that’d been torched by the dragon.

  Yara nearly tripped and fell over a stone brick that’d been knocked out of some wall. It looked like it’d been cut in half, scorch marks still and tiny chips of metal covered the side that’d been damaged by the dragon’s breath. What the villagers had mentioned about its breath attack was true, Yara hadn’t ever seen anything like it, either in person or described in her encyclopaedia. She could hear the dragon’s breathing through the smoke. It knew she was there. Yara realised that walking deeper into the fog would just put her in more danger, but standing in place also wouldn’t help her. She thought about challenging the dragon by shouting at it and though it seemed like an incredibly stupid idea she went with it regardless.

  ‘Show yourself!,’ she yelled, ‘stop hiding and fight!’

  The sound of claws scratching stone was heard not too far away, followed by the sound of large leathery wings flapping. Smoke and steam gave way to reveal the dragon’s figure. It had a long, slender body, with a long prehensile tail that at the end of it carried six spikes, three for each side, with a good number of smaller spines that ran along the side of its tail as well. Its head was long and narrow, with long conical teeth meant for grabbing onto things. The creature had light grey skin with a spider pattern of black lines covering its back.

  ‘Stop hiding?’ she spoke with a feminine voice and scoffed at what Yara said, ‘I don’t hide.’

  ‘No you prefer to run,’ Laras said to Yara as he walked up next to her. His sword Drakeblight in both hands.

  ‘You,’ the dragon’s eyes narrowed, she opened her wings and flew up.

  ‘“You”?’ asked Yara as both she and Laras ran to find cover.

  ‘I’ve fought her before,’ said Laras, ‘see that section on the belly?’ he pointed up at the dragon. Yara saw that a patch of its scales had been shaven clean off. An open wound from a recent encounter.

  ‘I did that.’

  ‘You couldn’t actually kill her?’

  ‘That’s when it gave me the scar I mentioned. Felt like I was being boiled inside my armour.’

  A blast of the dragon’s breath attack struck the building they used to hide. It was like a beam made of burning hot flakes of metal, and the sheer force put behind it broke apart the walls. She'd landed again, judging by her heaving breaths the attack had left her exhausted.

  ‘Who’s hiding now,’ she said, her voice interspersed with exasperated panting.

  ‘Go, now!’ shouted Laras as he got to his feet. Yara followed suit and they charged to where the dragon was. She sat perched atop a house built near the edge of the harbour. The dragon attempted to fly again but quickly landed, instead she opted to climb down and follow her pursuers. Yara and Laras now faced the dragon head on. Through the visors of their helmets they stared down their target and approached calmly. Yara looked at her shield. The magical barrier it projected had started to flicker and weaken. She wasn't sure if the could keep that defence up a second time. Suddenly the dragon turned and swiped her spiked tail directly at the both of them. Laras managed to roll out of the way just in time but Yara was knocked to the ground. She’d missed one of the large tail spikes by a hair. The first thing she did when she hit the ground was gasp for air, as it felt like the force of the attack had emptied out her lungs. She heard the sound of heavy boots and metal on metal and she saw Laras’ cool, grey eyes through his visor. He helped her up and Yara immediately tried to get back into the fight. Her stance was a little unsteady, but she was ready to try agian.

  ‘Are you alright?’ asked Laras, focused on the target in front of them. His voice shook a little. He was worried, and it made Yara's heart jump slightly.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Yara said, trying to focus, to not think about him too much, ‘I’ve had worse.’

  The dragon vaulted towards them, and Laras swiped his sword at it when her head came close to him. The blade connected, leaving a vertical scar on her head. The dragon hissed as she pulled back her head before she slammed her tail into Laras at full force. He hadn’t seen the attack coming. Caught by surprise Yara kept looking back and forth between the dragon and Laras.

  ‘What will it be?’ asked the dragon, her voice dripping with contempt, ‘a battle you can’t win, or your friend?’ she took to the air again once she saw Yara walk over to Laras to help him stand up.

  'Come on, you're gonna be okay...' Yara looked at his side. His chestpiece had been caved in slightly, and there was a hole at the centre of the dent. He was bleeding and she felt her stomach drop.

  ‘Pathetic,’ the dragon said, her maw locked in a sneer.

  Yara opened her visor and threw the dragon a look that could kill, ‘you’ll be fine,’ she repeated in a careful and worried tone as she helped him stand.

  ‘Can you open my visor?’ he asked, ‘I feel like I’m gonna be sick.’

  ‘Oh, sure, okay,’ Yara opened his visor and helped him keep balance, fortunately for him he didn't have to vomit, ‘I’ll get you to Olivier, he’ll know what to do.’

* * *

  She was right, Olivier did know what to do. He used a spell to detect what exact injuries Laras had, and he got to work immediately. One of the injuries sustained was a cut on his abdomen. A tail spike had pierced his armour and its tip had dragged through his flesh. Yara had already helped Laras out of his armour and she occasionally had to help Olivier with a spell.

  ‘Apply pressure to the wound, please.’

  ‘Like so?’ Yara pushed on both sides of the injury through the shirt.

  ‘Do you want his shirt to fuse to his body?’ Olivier asked incredulously.

  The thought made her snicker, but she had to shake her head. As funny as that would be, she'd like to see him without it on one day.

  ‘Take off his shirt then,’ said Olivier. Yara's face went red, it was as if the healer had read her mind. Laras' face was equally red and he wanted to protest, but Olivier shushed him. She'd thought about it plenty of times, how he would look, but her imagination didn't compare to the real thing. He was well-cut, but his skin wasn't tightly wound around his muscles, they were relaxed. She saw the big burn scar he'd mentioned and tried to look away, it was just as nasty as he'd said: rippled, patchy, and reddish. Yara started applying pressure to the wound, his muscles tensed up as she touched him, and he groaned when she came close to the wound. She had to make an effort to put any unnecessarily provocative thoughts out of her mind.

  ‘How does it look?’ asked Laras. He tried to look at the injury but found it difficult to from the angle he was laying at.

  ‘You look- I mean it looks good,’ she said tersely, ‘the wound looks good,’ she had trouble focusing on what she was doing. Her eyes darted around, taking a good look at every inch of his body. Fortunately enough Olivier began to rapidly close the wound with a spell. Yara stood up and threw Laras his shirt when Olivier finished.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  ‘Put that on,’ she said. She'd seen quite a bit, and though she didn't mind it at all, she wanted to focus again, ‘We have a dragon to kill.'

  ‘He’s not coming with you,’ said Olivier in a commanding tone, ‘and you’re not going either, not in your condition.’

  ‘I don’t need any healing.’

  ‘You got knocked across a street.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ said Yara, looking away.

  ‘If I may, I don’t think tha-.’

  ‘Let her go,’ said Laras, ‘she’ll manage.’

  ‘How do you know, this is the first time you’ve seen her in months!’

  ‘I know her well enough,’ he said confidently, ‘besides, I’ll be going with her to watch her back,’ he tried to get up but instead grunted in pain.

  ‘I’m going on my own,’ Yara winced when she heard his groan. She hated that he was hurt.

  ‘Not without me, not alone.’

  ‘I’m not going alone,’ she looked Laras in the eyes. He gave her a confused look before his eyes widened and he nodded.

  ‘Take mine if you don’t have any anymore, my horse is outside.'

  ‘I will,’ said Yara as she walked out, ‘thanks, Laras,’ really she was thanking him for more than just that offer, but she wasn't going to say what else for.

  ‘What is she taking?’ asked Olivier, ‘a potion? Some sort of spell?’

  ‘Really, that's none of your business.’

* * *

  Yara searched her saddlebags with her gauntlets on. The thing she was looking for was sharp like glass and most likely at the bottom of her bags. She heard a muffled clink of glass touching glass and grabbed onto what was making the sound. It was three small pieces of black crystal that when held up to the sun’s light appeared almost pale yellow in colour.

  ‘Saints I’m glad I didn’t lose any,’ said Yara to herself as she took one piece of it into one hand and pulled her sword out of its sheath with the other. With a shrill ringing she dragged the crystal over the blade of her sword. The sound pierced her ears, leaving her with a slight headache as she put the other pieces back in her bag.

  ‘Here’s hoping it works,’ said Yara as she set out for one of the beaches that the town bordered on. She walked along the top of the cliffs when she couldn’t find an easy way to get down onto the beach itself, and it was here that she heard the distant sound of leathery wings hitting the air. She looked around to try and find where it came from, but all she could see were the grey water of the bay, and the dark clouds that had now filled the sky. The sound came closer until a dragon emerged from above, what little sunlight broke through the thick clouds reflected off of its scales. It was a wyvern, though not the same one that’d attacked Miseré. This one had a hide of gold and grey scales, with a pattern of black vertical stripes. Its horn crown consisted of four large horns, two on each side of its head. The dragon landed near to Yara, and she had to walk a short distance to get to him.

  ‘You called for my help?’ it said with a deep, rumbling voice.

  ‘Hello, Ashfallow,’ said Yara, ‘I did,’ she looked at Ashfallow’s head and his eyeless gaze met hers.

  ‘For what purpose? To talk?’ he asked, ‘you know not to waste my time.’

  'You have more than enough of that, can't be doing that much,' she mouthed off to the dragon, ‘Laras and I fought a wyvern before, it injured him and I don’t think I can fight it on my own.’

  ‘What makes this dragon different from any other.’

  ‘The way it fights is different from ones I fought before,’ Yara said, 'its breath can destroy stone.'

  Ashfallow raised his head and sniffed the air.

  ‘Very well, I will help you.’

  Together with Ashfallow’s help Yara scoured the beach for any trace of the dragon. She’d look up occasionally to see how Ashfallow’s search was going but he gave no sign that he’d found their target. Yara inspected some of the stones on the beach, nuggets of metal stuck out of several fragmented and blown apart rocks. The dragon had been there, that much was sure. She looked up again, only to find that this time Ashfallow was gone. He’d disappeared into the clouds, which meant that he was preparing for an ambush. Yara gazed out over the bay and spied a collection of spires which jut out of the water, atop the lowest one sat the dragon she was hunting. Her snout was partially open and submerged into the water, while her tail stood ready to strike any oncoming prey.

  Yara realised that shouting at her would fall on deaf ears. The crashing of waves in windy weather would drown out any sound she’d make to draw her attention. Instead she continued to walk along the waterfront to an area where the cliffs receded into the ground again, leaving a sort of clearing. The clearing between the cliffs had large round boulders strewn about in a haphazard manner. Yara kept an eye on the dragon as she continued to walk over the beach. A cloud of black smoke began to slowly envelop the beast, and when it cleared up the dragon was gone, with only the wake of a splash remaining on the water’s surface. Now she waited. Ashfallow had ambushed the creature and made his presence known to it. Not much later the dragon broke the water’s surface again and spread her massive wings to catch as much air as she could to fly out and reach land. Ashfallow followed shortly after. The dragon they were hunting hissed at him when he landed in front of it.

  ‘I thought I would never see the traitor for myself,’ she said, her voice seeping with hatred. The beast lunged forward at Ashfallow and he retaliated by jumping to his opponent’s side and biting it in the wing.

  Ashfallow growled a name, 'Thago,' he said, 'I had hoped you would have stayed far away from my territory.'

  ‘It’s no surprise you felled the Cruel King, he was weak,’ said the dragon, ‘you will always remain his greatest failure.’

  Yara ran at the target as well, and supported Ashfallow as he wrestled their foe. She cut at the dragon’s joints whenever Thago was distracted by the ash wyvern who had attacked her.

  Eventually she broke free and flew up. Her movement was slightly impaired by the injuries her opponents had caused. The creature made a turn once she was far away enough from her foes and began to steer itself using its hind limbs as a rudder while preparing to strike with her tail. Ashfallow also took flight and began to charge to intercept the other dragon, he roared loudly as he tackled into her. With his full weight he brought both of them down with a loud crash.

  One sound made itself audible over the clawing, scratching, and roaring the two dragons were doing: the sound of bone splintering and breaking in two, followed by a howl of pain from the female wyvern. Yara immediately saw what’d made the noise, one of the dragon’s bony tail spikes had broken off completely when it collided with one of the boulders. Ashfallow bit down on the creature’s wing again and ripped off a piece of flesh, and in retaliation the dragon swung her tail at her assailant. Ashfallow had to jump off of Thago before he’d be hit. The dragon’s tail nearly slammed into Yara when she went to retrieve the spike.

  ‘PIN IT DOWN!’ she shouted at Ashfallow, who dove in on his target again, yet again letting out a deafening roar. Yara picked up the bone and got out of harm’s way as the two giant reptiles wrestled each other for control. It didn’t take long before Ashfallow had his jaws firmly locked around Thago’s neck. His claws dug deeply into her wings to stop her from escaping. Yara ran towards the very same weak spot Laras had pointed out to her before and jabbed the bone spike deep into the dragon’s flesh. Blood began to seep from the wound, she died slowly and without a word. Yara looked at Ashfallow, who now released his grip on his prey’s neck.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, the dragon lowered his head to her level.

  ‘I trust this will suffice?’ he blew out through his nose and the blast of warm air blew Yara’s hair around. she nodded. Ashfallow then raised his head again, ‘return to your kind, we will speak again another time,’ he sniffed the corpse and his maw opened in a toothy grin as he nudged it with his snout. Yara decided to let him eat and to do as he'd asked.

  After a decent walk back over the beach Yara found Laras sitting on a bench in the harbour. He got up when he saw her.

  ‘How’d it go?’ he asked, ‘I could hear the fight back here.’

  ‘We won,’ Yara replied, she walked up to him, ‘How are you?’

  ‘Feeling better than before.’

  ‘Good, that means we can get a drink,’ she said, as she walked past Laras, ‘you’re paying.’

* * *

  Yara woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, she opened her eyes to a sleeping Laras lying next to her. He looked so peaceful, so calm, maybe even a little cute. Unfortunately that's when it sunk in that she was lying next to him. In bed. Half-naked by the look of it. She sat up, bad thoughts began to fly through her head and combined with the pain from the headache she started to panic. She was afraid she’d done something stupid, something so incredibly stupid, or worse, that she'd made Laras do that stupid thing with her. Yara’s panicking woke Laras and he immediately sat up straight. He was still fully clothed himself. Quickly he gave her the bed’s blanket that they’d slept under and Yara used it to cover herself.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked apprehensively, at first he wanted to put a hand on her shoulder but before he could she looked at him with a little fright in her eyes.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asked Laras, ‘you can tell me.’

  ‘We didn’t… you know…’

  ‘No, no we didn’t do anything,’ he said to assure her, ‘don’t worry, I didn’t touch you. I wouldn't dare.’

  She let out a sigh of relief as a wave of calm washed over her. She moved to sit at the side of the bed and Laras followed suit.

  ‘I can tell you what happened last night if you want?’ he asked, she leaned her head on his shoulder and grunted.

  ‘My head hurts…’ she said, ‘don’t be too loud…’

The Night Before

  ‘Come on! More!’ shouted Yara as she slammed her half-empty tankard down onto the counter. The man behind the bar gave her a concerned look as he took the tankard and refilled it. She was in the middle of an arm-wrestling match with another patron and still she found time to drink ale. With a thud and the sound of creaking wood she landed the man’s hand onto the bar.

  Laras stood not too far away, talking to a barmaid that’d just served a few others in the tavern. He’d chosen to remain mostly sober, leaving it at a single beer before switching to water. Though he mostly wanted to focus on his conversation with the girl he had to keep an eye on Yara as well. The barmaid put a hand on Laras’ arm as he explained to her what exactly he did for a living. It appeared Yara caught onto what he was doing however, as she got up from her stool and walked towards him and the barmaid, who left when she saw Yara coming.

  ‘Hey,’ she said as she got close to him, ‘have we met?’

  ‘We came here together, Yara.’

  ‘You look like I know you.’

  ‘I’m Laras, remember?’

  ‘Oh right,’ she laughed, ‘I don’t remember you being so…’ she let her eyes explore every inch of his tall, muscular body, ‘well, you know,’ still with a tankard in hand she wanted to take another swig, but Laras stopped her. He took the tankard from her hand and put it on the counter.

  ‘I think you’ve had enough.’

  ‘To drink, maybe. I could do with a lot more of you…’

  ‘We should go back to the inn,’ said Laras, ‘I don’t want you to get in a fight.’

  Yara laughed again.

  ‘I’d love to,’ she said as she got closer to him and grabbed his hand. Laras led her out of the tavern, and they’d made it halfway to the inn he was staying at when Yara stepped in front of him and pushed him up against a wall.

  ‘What ar-,’ Yara pulled down his head and then pressed her lips onto his. That was the first time they'd done that. Laras wasn't sure whether or not he should kiss back, but her lips were soft, welcoming even. She pushed into him more, her tongue very nearly entering his mouth. Their lips parted again. Her breath on his face, their eyes meeting for longer than just the split second she'd normally allow. Laras found himself wishing for only a moment that that kiss had lasted longer.

  ‘I should’ve done that a long time ago,’ Yara said, all giggly and in a drunken stupor. Immediately after their kiss had ended Laras felt her hand slide down his body and to his crotch.

  'What’s it like?’ she asked playfully. She was smirking, with a hint of something more hidden in her expression. Laras' face on the other hand went beet red. He caught on to what she was doing and chose to play along to get her someplace safe.

  ‘Come with me and I’ll show you,’ he said, taking a gentle hold of her arm and guiding it away from his delicates.

  Yara bit her lip and eased off of him, once more taking his hand and following him until they got back inside. The innkeep was sweeping the main room when he saw Laras and Yara pass him. Yara made suggestive gestures with her free hand as she continued to follow Laras up the stairs and into his bedroom. She pushed him onto the bed and haphazardly took off her shirt before she climbed on top of him. Yara kissed him, that same feeling as before washed over Laras, and when their lips parted he looked her directly in the eyes.

  ‘I... I don’t think I feel like it actually,’ he said, hoping that she wouldn’t get mad, 'I don't think we should do this.'

  ‘Really?’ Her expression changed from eager to pouty and she got closer to his face again, ‘but you were... well,’ she smirked, 'you were hard when I-,' she lowered her body onto his.

  'I know, but-.'

  'But what?' she interrupted him.

  'That doesn't mean I want to.'

  'but I...' she pouted again, 'are you sure?'

  ‘I am,' he replied.

  'are you suuuuuure?' Yara drew out her words as her face got closer to his again. Laras knew that they'd both regret it if they went through with it, so he tried his best to shut down the situation. It appeared to have worked, appealing to her sober self hidden in there somewhere made her ease off of him.

  ‘Awf… fine,’ she sighed and dropped herself next to him on the bed, quickly becoming drowsy and nearly falling asleep. Just before that could happen Laras could hear her mutter something.

  ‘Hey… Laras...?’

  ‘Yeah?’ he replied, choosing to indulge her drunken self.

  ‘You know that... that I love you... don't you?' she asked.

  'I know,' he said calmly.

  'And you love me... right?'

  He had to deliberate for a second. He wanted to say yes, he knew he felt that way too, but he didn't want people to bother her about any prospective relationship.

  'Please say yes...' she pleaded, 'pleaaaaase.'

  'I... I do.'

  Then, as if satisfied with that answer, she fell asleep.

* * *

  Yara’s face had gone beet red at around the middle of what Laras had told her, but she didn’t even want to look at him out of shame after he explained what she'd said before falling asleep.

  ‘I didn’t put you in your shirt again and I didn’t move out of the bed because I didn’t want to wake you up,’ said Laras, ‘you looked very peaceful.’

  He put a hand on her head and she didn’t shake it off.

  ‘I can’t believe I did that,’ she said.

  ‘Yara it’s fi-.’

  ‘It's not fine!’ she said, ‘I shouldn’t have put you in that position.’

  Laras patted her head.

  ‘It’s fine, really, it is,’ he said, ‘you weren’t yourself,' Laras assured her.

  'Are you sure?' she asked, echoing her words from the night before. Laras nodded, and for Yara it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her.

  He took his hand off her head and she lifted it up, now supporting it with her own.

  ‘Not myself, right…’ she muttered, something then occurred to her, ‘did we pay?’

  ‘Oh right, I should go do that.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ said Yara, though when she stood up she remembered that she wasn’t wearing a shirt and quickly covered her chest, ‘can you get me my shirt first though?’