“Yes you do, what of it?” Rial asked.

Harmoni’s eyes bugged a little wider, though her mouth closed tighter, if anything.

“Wait. Are you telling me people actually believe you’re evil for that? That’s not how anything works.” Rial tugged on his ponytail again. “There are other explanations for having corruption magic near you. Not many, but there are some. You might be cursed. Or you might be carrying a cursed or corrupted item with you. If you were near cursed or corrupted magic for a long time, or during a significant event, it can stay with you for a while as ambient energy. Anyone with even the basic understand of magic should know this. What is the world coming to?”

“But. . .”

“If you’re going to say those are all farfetched, that might be true if I was dealing with someone completely random, but not in this case. You're sincerely bonded to Fleck, and I doubt he'd put up with someone evil.”

About time.

Harmoni got Fleck's frustration. Their bond hadn't stopped Cembra from judging. Among others. But this also wasn't the first time someone had used Fleck as the reason Harmoni wasn't evil. She agreed Fleck wouldn't bond with someone horrible, but it still seemed like the wrong logic to use.

“The cloak has to sit for about an hour,” Rial said, patting her back. “What do you say we get some lunch?”

"You have plants?" Harmoni asked. From her, admittedly limited knowledge, elves and imps had pretty different diets.

Rial blinked. "Oh right. Half elf. Damn. Yes, I do have plants."

He stood up and gestured for her to follow.

"You know foxes?" he continued. Harmoni frowned, not sure where this was going, but nodded. "Well, my diet is a little like that. Foxes do eat things like fruit or nuts, but meat is part of their diet. And a kind of vital part if they don't want to slowly starve."

Ah. Harmoni had not known that information about imps.

Fleck didn't get it. He was still thinking about Harmoni's "corruption." She was so insistent that she wasn't evil, but also didn't believe people like Rial here, giving her an out. Did she want to be evil?

No! Of course she didn't! Her brain still was denying the idea of being evil. It could shut down the implications real fast. And if she wanted to be, she could start acting horrible, which she obviously wasn't going to do.

Obviously.

It was just. . .

She wasn't sure what it was, actually. Maybe the "outs" she was being given just weren't very satisfying.

~~~

Harmoni and Fleck headed home, Harmoni enjoying the feeling of her new cloak against her shoulders. It was gray, and not much to look at on the outside. But it was soft. It felt good against her.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Fleck bobbed along beside her, sometimes spinning around her legs like a puppy with too much energy.

He did have a bit of energy. He couldn’t spend it all up at Glow and Rial’s small apartment.

They turned, going around the courtyard, rather than through it. It was darker than Harmoni had expected. She’d been out this late on her work days, when the afternoon was free, and it hadn’t been this dark before.

Fleck shrugged. They didn’t get winter, but the days could get shorter.

He launched ahead of Harmoni with a single bound, and froze. He was pretty sure he heard a dragon calling.

Harmoni stopped, straining her hearing, her pointy ears twitching. The sounds of the city were obvious. Dragons and riders moving around, doors opening and closing, the sizzling of someone cooking outside. But she knew that wasn’t what Fleck was picking up.

In the other direction, she could hear it now, a low moaning on the wind.

That was a call for help! The dragon was in trouble! Could be in pain! They had to go!

Fleck was ready to run off immediately. Harmoni was a bit more . . . worried. What if the danger was still there? If a dragon was calling for help, what hope did the two of them have? Her mind instantly flashed to worst case scenario, Wyss Village.

Fleck growled, and if it was anyone other than Harmoni, his reaction would be worse. But he didn’t have time for this. If Harmoni wanted to stay here like a coward, she could. He was going to help the dragon.

He took off running towards the edge of the city. It was only a street or two over from here.

Harmoni shook her head and ran after him. She was still scared, still didn’t want to do this. But right now, she needed to make sure Fleck stayed okay. If something happened to him, well, she couldn’t even imagine what happened next. Her mind just stopped as soon as he was in danger without her.

That was more important than her fear. So she followed him. She couldn’t hear the moaning dragon anymore, but she could just stay behind Fleck. He seemed to know where he was going.

Fleck couldn’t hear the dragon anymore either, but he could smell a dragon out there. It was even easier now that they were out of the city, fewer competing smells. He ran out into the sand to where the scent ended, but no one was there.

Fleck spun on the spot, sniffing and scanning the sand. Nothing. Just sloping sand dunes everywhere but behind them.

He knew Harmoni had caught up to him by now, and that she was concerned for him, but he ignored it as best he could.

He climbed on top of the nearest rise in the sand, but he couldn’t see anything from there either. It wasn’t just the lack of dragon, there was no evidence a dragon had been here in the first place. The scent just disappeared. There were no footprints except him and Harmoni. But they had both heard the dragon, and Fleck had smelled them. He wasn't going crazy. He knew someone had been here.

Harmoni, meanwhile, was getting worried again. If a dragon had disappeared without a trace here, what stopped the same thing from happening to them?

Always just thinking about the two of them?

‘Well keeping us alive is important, yes!’ Harmoni mentally snapped.

She took a deep breath. Fleck understood her fear in other occasions, because he could feel it through their bond. Likewise, she could feel his concern, his fear for another dragon’s safety and protectiveness over the species. She liked that trait of his. She didn’t want to fight him.

Besides, getting mad at him was a little like getting mad at herself. Their emotions were like two very full cups sitting next to each other. Separate, but easy to splash into each other even when they weren't trying.

Oh. Oh Fleck was getting mad at himself, wasn't he?

“I'm sorry." And he'd know she really meant it, was speaking out-loud partly for emphasis. "But I don’t think we can do anything now. Standing in this spot isn’t going to make the dragon reappear, and we don’t know where to go from here.”

And it was now dark, the sand looking sort of blue below them. Would they even be able to find their way if they kept wandering the desert?

. . . Fleck hated that she was right. He growled again, but turned around, and fell into step beside her. The two headed back towards Xentron City.

Harmoni was still trying to comfort him, suggesting they go to someone or come back in the morning, but it rang a little hollow. The dragon was gone. By tomorrow, the scent would have faded even more, and any trace in the sand would be gone. The window of opportunity had passed.