The Dragon Blood Guardian *COMPLETED*

Sister Kiiri

And though Kiiri was as silent as the sisters that evening, leaving me only with a whispered wish for a pleasant sleep, in the morning I discovered my guide to the little town of Exton only felt the need of a still tongue when within the confines of the white temple.

"He looked like he got some color back, didn't he?"

We bounced along on the back of a single alpaca, which had seen one too many trips up and down the mountain. Despite my protests, I was advised to sit on the shaggy beast's rump, while holding tight to Kiiri who managed the reins.

"I suppose he might have," I answered. We'd started off the moment the sun broke past the mountains. However, I had been awake for nearly an hour before that as I'd spent the majority of the night tossing and turning through plans and expectations for the day ahead. I spent some of that time meditating in Vincent's room, watching his still face and counting the number of times a slow, pained breath passed through him. Sadly, Kiiri found me during this observance and had decided to spend the few hours it would take to reach the valley to discuss the sisters' progress on the beleaguered pirate captain.

"He might have?" she asked with a light laugh. "How could you not tell after staring at him for so long?"

"The lighting was low, the fireplace was in need of..."

"Aye, I saw that. I smacked Brother Den across the ear over that, but it took me a good five minutes to go find him and you were still there in the same position I left you..."

"Perhaps you could explain to me how best to fool these townsfolk into believing I'm another maid hired by the mages." Before we left, Kiiri handed me some peasant clothes. To my dismay that included a long woolen dress and a starchy white apron to match. At least the maids had enough sense to wear decent shoes.

"Well, this town first came about to aid the shrine," said the sister with a lofty tone. "Many centuries ago, the first sister created the western shrine because of it's alignment with the sun and the proximity to the sea. She was prepared to see her brethren survive by farming the valley on their own, but industrious folk saw to relieving us of that duty and so it's been since."

"Right..." I didn't know where this was going, but we still had some ways down to go and at least she wasn't talking about Vincent any longer. I trained my eyes upon the distant rooftops crawling into view and hoped that Kiiri would eventually lead me to the information I needed.

"As such the town is loyal to the shrine. When that citadel just up and decided to carve their way into a nearby mountain, well they didn't know what to do." She huffed and shook her head. "Now, I try to listen to the great sisters' wisdom and I do know it is difficult in today's society to be a mage, so I understand that the dark mages needed a quiet refuge to congregate and refine their magics, but I know they picked here simply to gain access to Exton. They didn't even have any building plans sketched out when they came waltzing up, offering pay to any laborers willing and able to construct their citadel."

I considered Kiiri's bouncing blonde hair and petite shoulders. She was young, maybe my age at the most, and I wondered how old she must have been when the mages had come to build their palace.

"I remember I was playing around the statue of our first sister, waiting for my lessons when the town elder came racing up the mountain, wanting to speak with the twin priestesses. He said the dark mages had come to town wanting the townsfolk to build their citadel. They were also offering more pay than the shrine did. I thought we should go down there and show them the defensive capabilities of a white mage, but Sister Jani told me that I was too young to understand the trials of all mages. She told the elder that so long as we, the brothers and sisters of the shrine, could still till the land and harvest the crops then they would be happy.