Dragon's Wings

Chapter 1

Covering her mouth, Rashmi yawned. They've only been on the move for a few hours now, but it felt like forever. Hopefully, they were making good time. Rolling her shoulders, the sixteen-year-old glanced at the horse next to her, where Jyoti sat in the saddle.

"Bored?" Jyoti asked, a smile on his face. "You don't have to stick with me, you know. I'd be fine on my own!"

"But then you'd be bored," Rashmi pointed out. Jyoti rolled his eyes in response, lifting one foot out of the stirrup to kick Rashmi. Laughing, she avoided it with a sidestep. "Besides, my only other options are to stick with Dharma driving one of the carts up front or find Prema and Pravin who are looking after the younger kids currently."

"I can see why you'd want to avoid that," Jyoti replied mock-gravely. Once again, she laughed at her best friend. "Do we have a shift with them later?"

Flicking back over what she had been told earlier this morning, Rashmi considered the question. "I don't think so," she said slowly. "Wait, no—sorry, I take over Dharma's position, and you've been rostered for supervision with Dharma."

Jyoti pouted. "Where's Shadow?" He asked, changing the conversation topic.

As always, the name brought a smile to Rashmi's face. Shifting the light blue headscarf, Rashmi showed off the black figure of a dragon is curled up on her neck. "You know, it doesn't really need a name; it's not real," she said as she fixes her scarf to keep the sun off of her neck. Soory Ka Hraday was one of the hottest places on Honba, and despite her dark skin, Rashmi wasn't about to attempt fate to get sunburnt—unlike Jyoti, who appeared to not have a single concern out in the sun, rarely bothering with a hat or a headscarf of his own.

"It does so," Jyoti argued. Letting go of the bar, he gestured at her. "It moves, and so it's alive. That's how these things work."

"You know that's not true," Rashmi countered. "It's like—a tattoo, just a magical one. So what if I have a moving magical tattoo? It's not abnormal."

"Rashmi, you have a dragon," Jyoti replied, stretching the word. "It's not rare—but you could fly one day!"

"So could you," Rashmi answered. "But, we live in Soory Ka Hraday with our tribe, so we won't."

Jyoti snorted, shaking his head. "You're a Sensitive," he remaindered her. "They'll pick you up sometime soon, and you'll go to one of those prestigious schools and leave me here and go and befriend a dragon and fly!"

"I wouldn't leave you," Rashmi said mulishly. They've had this argument numerous times, they both know how it ends. They've both argued this topic relentlessly, more so in the recent months, both having completely shifted their views in directions they once never would've thought of.

"I love you, seriously, but you would love to explore the world and you know it," Jyoti said seriously. "You could almost say it's in your blood!"

"So what if I'm half-Fae?" Rashmi immediately argued. Jyoti had never brought up her blood to make fun of her, so she sighed instead, letting go of her annoyance. "Yeah, I get it. The Fae are wanderers and don't stick to specific territories like us, it's only natural that I'd also want to wander, especially when I could fly because I'm a Sensitive with a connection to dragons, blah, blah, blah."

Jyoti reached over and tapped her on the head. "You're such a bore," he teased, mouth curving in a smile. "I–"

A high-pitched whistle rung over Jyoti's words, instantaneously silencing the pair. "Rashmi!" Jyoti called, dismounting off the wrong side of the horse. "Go!"

"Dragon!" Someone shouted further down the line. Without hesitating, Rashmi grabbed her bar with one hand and slipped her left foot in the stirrup, flinging herself onto the saddle. Apurva danced in place, clearly sensing the tension.