The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

16.1 || Rescue Mission

LIFE ON THE Sanctuary proved odd the following two weeks. Very few Paladins inhabited the castle, going in and out on surveillance. Josh never knew when he had his afternoon classes. Sometimes his trainers were out, sometimes they were resting, but other times they had Jodas shoot him a message to come to their classroom.

The days Josh didn't have training—and even some of the times he did—he made up for it by going into the forest and practicing. If he needed a partner, Boomer or Mara would offer.

Sparring with Boomer led to fewer lip battles, though.

Hisato started emphasizing Josh's light usage during class with instructions to meditate outside of them, and as much as he hated meditating, he did it every evening, Peter's jab about his limited abilities edging him to push further.

Are you going home tonight?

Josh twitched during his current attempt to meditate. "Later."

It's past midnight, Boomer pointed out. Your parents should be asleep now.

With a sigh, Josh opened his eyes. He extended his legs and stretched. "Mom hasn't been sleeping until late," he said.

Which was exactly why he was avoiding going home. His mom did her best not to make him feel guilty, but she couldn't help the small things, like how she couldn't sleep until she was near the point of passing out, or how she tried to question every person when they returned to the Sanctuary.

Josh hadn't lost faith in the rescue mission, but that couldn't make her pain stop hurting him. It was far worse when his dad showed any effects of Eli's kidnapping.

Yeah, he didn't want to go home yet.

Avoiding them probably doesn't make them feel any better.

"I'm not avoiding them, per se. Oh, don't give me that look," Josh said, and Boomer huffed. "I'm training. Ioana is trying to only use established teams for the search, but who knows if I'll be needed?"

Training and avoiding your parents, Boomer grumbled. I love having you here, but your parents have to miss you.

"I thought you wanted me to use lightning."

If you keep this up, I'm going to shoot lightning up your butt.

"You know, I really thought you wanted to hang out with me." When this earned Josh an exasperated glare, he grumbled and stood up. "Fine, fine. I'll head home."

Good. Boomer licked Josh's cheek despite his protests.

"You stupid giant lizard," Josh said as he scooped up his sword and shield from in front of a tree.

You tiny, elementless human.

Josh shot his dragon a glare as they started toward the Sanctum exit. Boomer looked straight ahead, his lips curled back into a proud grin.

Their walk through the forest proved silent. Boomer's presence chased away any sense of uneasy deja vu that the trip could bring. He had realized this the first night after Eli's kidnapping and followed Josh every time he left the Sanctum in the dark.

Wait. Boomer stepped in front of Josh to cut him off.

Josh peered around his body. They had almost reached the entrance back into the Sanctuary. He noticed the small spark of light a moment before Boomer spoke.

Jodas, are you opening the portal?

Relax, dragonling, Jodas growled back. I will not be bested again. A Paladin is simply returning for the night.