Bonded

Chapter Eleven

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Ronin

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"M-Must you?" We had told our sweet Darling that it had been time for us to take our leave, our shift drawing so very close that we may very well be late to our starting post for tonight's patrol... Not that either one of us could care about getting scolded at the moment... Not with the wonderful way India slowly eased past his shyness for the most part... His hands now attached to both of us by our sleeves as if he is strong enough to keep us with him always... Something that the two of us most certainly be happy to do... 

"I'm afraid so, Love... But I swear that we will not be gone for long... We shall be here before you even open your eyes..." Kavya is the one that makes the promise while letting his eyes rest so heavily upon India's beautifully flushed face... The smallest chirp rising from his chest that lets us know that he and his beast have come to the same conclusion that they do not wish for us to part from his company... Not that we want to... If we didn't have patrol tonight I do not think either one of us would be able to take ourselves away from standing at his door waiting for him to wake once more so that we might be the first one to see his smile... 

Sadly though... We both must say our goodbyes to our raven-haired beauty... Even though none of us wants Kavya and myself to walk away... Though... I will say that we are more than tempted to stay... If India pleads with us one more time I am not sure we would be able to stray from India and all of his stunningly delicate mannerisms... Everything from the slow way he blinks at us every time we intrigue him right down to the way he scrunched his nose when trying not to laugh at something humourous that one of us has managed to amuse him with... 

These last few moments spent dallying with him in the hall have been so joyous that I had found myself right next to Kavya with my body framing the other half of India so that he might know he will always be sheltered when we are near... 

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Kavya

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As much as I do not want to tear myself away from India, I can feel it when Ronin rests his hand on my back, the signal that it is now past time for the two of us to take our leave... I know that we must... 

It feels as though we are both leaving behind an important part of our hearts... And my beast is making his discontent more than known, the heat radiating from the fire within me likely turning my face the same color of my hair if I were to rinse all of the ink out of it...  

At first, I could only feel my dragon's curiosity over the strange pull that both Ronin and I feel towards India... But... Not long ago India's own beast had felt pleased enough by our attention to start chirping at us through him, the unexpected bursts always causing India himself to end up flustered and adorable, his eyes darting all around behind us into the hall to avoid having to look either of us in the eyes over his embarrassment... The embarrassment he did not and does not need to feel... Not around us... 

I know that I myself found his chirping to be ever so endearing rather than a display of bad manners or a poorly behaved beast... Simply the sounds rising up from a dragon so very pleased that they could not keep themself quiet... Hearing India's beast become so overwhelmed by our affections that he could not keep himself quiet had been so very charming that I do not think a single soul in this palace could ever find anything about the sweet chirps being anything other than wonderfully lovely with how light and soft even his beast's voice comes across... As if even his beast knows that India spends most of his days tucked away in that empty library... And that silence is normally needed for India to concentrate on the reading of his chosen scrolls... 

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India

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When Ronin and Kavya start to pull away from me I almost find myself feeling a strange sort of fright, my hands tightening on their sleeves as if I might convince them not to walk away... Even though I know that it is not as though the two of them have a choice... 

I don't think I would ever feel such strange sensations mix themselves into the fire that burns in my belly... All of the talk of love that I've been subjected to thus far by Jian and the others... And all of the scrolls and poems I had poured myself over trying to grasp how to understand the strange pull that some people have on each other... 

None of it could have prepared me for how strong of a feeling it is that has washed itself into my system... It's so very strange to have been overtaken by so many emotions at once... But now that I've had a taste of it I do not wish for the moment to end... I want them to stay here with me... And I finally understand why Master Qiao is so insistent that Jian not have his own chambers... I can only imagine that when he parts ways with Jian every evening that he wishes to stay long into the night just to be close and continue their strange conversations... 

The moment that they step away from me the warmth that they had been radiating so powerfully around me dissipates and I find myself left cold while exchanging longing looks with both of my strange soldiers as they try to convince themselves to actually take their leave of me instead of staying here to tell me how much they find themselves drawn in by the color of my eyes and speak of how wonderful they find each new part of me that they manage to glimpse of me... All of them shared with a hesitant glee burning brightly in my core... 

The memory of our first shared laugh together over the jumbling of Ronin's words when I agreed to let them fetch me when their patrol is over so that they might walk me to the dining hall to break my fast while they snag a morning meal before heading to rest now going to be kept so closely to my heart to try and keep my body warm as they retreat... Neither of them turning to actually walk away... Kavya being bold enough to step back towards me with a look on his face that I do not think I shall ever forget, Ronin beating him to what I think must have been his objective when he joins his partner in rushing back to me...His lips finding my cheek before he reaches back and pulls Kavya back to us so that my other cheek might be blessed as well...

It is quick...

And it is flustering...

And then they are gone...