Bonded

Chapter Three

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India

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Calming down...

It is not something that I had been able to do before the others had come looking for me, a feigned stomach ache not enough to excuse me from dinner or Master Qiao's stern disappointed expression when Jian let slip that he had found me studying in our room with scrolls that should never be taken anywhere other than the libraries themselves without express permission... And that I had been sniffling over them, my tears having been dry before I opened the delicate texts... Not that they would know that...

I cannot find any fault with Jian relaying where and how he had found me... Maybe if he had told of my behaviors to one of our other guides through our journey of gaining knowledge I would be a tiny bit upset with him... One of our other teachers would likely punish me... But I know Master Qiao will not if he understands that I was startled, and had not thought of the repercussions of taking the texts with me when I had fled... And he knows very well that I would never open a scroll while my eyes are still wet and leaking... I value them too much... We all do... And as Jian's soulmate... I would never ask my peer to keep anything from him... It would not be fair of me to ever ask something like that...

I just wish that the pair of them would stop staring at me while we wait for the food to actually be served... All of us shuffled into one of the smaller dining halls that hosts those of us who are not important enough to dine in the main hall with the King himself and all of the important guests that come and go through the solid black walls that seem to be becoming more and more stifling every time I open my eyes... Feeling their eyes upon my flesh makes me want to run away from this place just as quickly as I had fled from the library... But I know that that is something that Master Qiao would scold me for... I need to at least stay and sample the dinner that was made so thoughtfully for everyone by the kitchen staff... If I did not it would be rude.

I know that on Jian's end he is just worried for me, tears not something he has ever really seen me express... And for Master Qiao I know he is only trying to figure out why I seem so distressed... Not that I would be able to accurately vocalize to him what is wrong with me... Not when I do not entirely understand why myself... I cannot explain to any of them why seeing that bonded pair of soldiers affected me so greatly... Or why I cannot seem to push them out of my mind in order to actually focus... Not when I should not have allowed myself to be watching them in the first place...

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Ronin

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"I am sure that they will still be there... Now come on, Ronin. It is not as though you need to fear a scholar... No matter how much mightier the quill might be than our swords unless she plans to use it to gouge your eyes out there is not a reason to delay finding her and apologize for ruining her quiet in the library." I know that my Kavya is correct... That the scholar I managed to spot earlier will likely be with her fellow classmates sharing a meal just as we had been told when we had headed into the Wing of Scholars only to find it nearly deserted, a kind pupil pointing us towards the dining hall that we are currently standing outside of... My boots the ones stuck to the floor preventing us from entering...

I just cannot know for sure if those piercing blue eyes are as bright as I remember... Or if they might be hostile... Or worse...

What if she flees from us with that look of fear on her face as she did earlier... As if she thought I might follow her and treat her just as aggressively as I had looked for her in the library when I had felt her eyes watching us... "We... We should forget this... We could just go back to the barracks and have the alone time you wanted, Kavya..."

My words do not sound convincing to my own ears, much less to Kavya's... My bonded partner seeing right through me to the center of my soul, knowing that if we walk away after coming this far that my mind will linger on the dragoness who had stunned me so very suddenly when she had met my eyes and saw the challenge there that would have neve been extended to her since she did not see, to be judging us as others normally do when we are gawked at... She seemed just curious... And I had scared her away...

I cannot tell how I feel looking for the woman we startled earlier... Part of me is terrified that she will take one look at me and run off like she had earlier... And part of me is actually hoping that she does so that I do not need to confront the strange knot that has spent the afternoon forming in my belly... I should have not mentioned wanting to find her until I could make sense of my emotions... I know how Kavya is when he sets his mind to something... And I know that no matter what I say now he won't give up on the idea of us apologizing to the dragoness and making sure that she is in no trouble for abandoning her spot in the library...

"I've already made plans for us later this evening to sneak away, and I'm rather taken by the idea of being taken in the moonlight, so that is when I would like our alone time to happen... Right now is reserved for us to find your scholar so that you might apologize for running her off with your loud mouth."

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Kavya

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"Excuse me, good sir. But I am not the only one who was not controlling his volume!" Ronin gives me the type of answer that I have come from him, but it does not stop the smile that spreads on my face, or the way that I roll my eyes at him as I tuck my arm under his and finally pull him forward...

"Excusing yourself is right. Though I've nothing to apologize for. I know how to whisper.", My words are meant to tease my gruff partner, and I know that when color rises to his cheeks that I have indeed been successful... Though I fear others might have heard my words due to how quiet it is in here... The dining hall not necessarily rolling with laughter and an abundance of cheer... But rather a fairly serious studious tone that honestly should not be surprised with how many golden leaves I see embroidered on sleeves just walking through the entryway into the small sea of tables and chairs... The air filled with sounds of chewing and the quiet discussion of what had been learned today... A completely different tone than every other hall in this palace...

A tone that almost makes me regret not visiting this dining hall sooner... For there are days when the boisterousness of those around us wears me rather thin, the same to be said of Ronin... His headaches happening more and more often lately... And I almost wonder if maybe we are able to make a friend out of the scholar that we had startled today that we might find a seat at one of these tables when we are not needed in the main dining hall...

The thought is a pleasant one that leads me to continue pulling Ronin around the room, the stares at us more appropriate than normal with the two of us wandering about with seemingly no real direction... My eyes searching for Master Qiao, the man kind enough to gift me the ink I need for my hair, surely understanding enough to tell us where his blue-eyed pupil is so that we might apologize to both of them for interrupting her solitude in the library where she must have been studying.

We do not get far though... For once I spot the Master I am on the hunt for, I find myself tripping over one of his pupils meaning to leave the bench they had been seated on, the food on their plate mostly untouched, the scholar clearly in some type of hurry to get away... Their chest colliding with mine driving me to fall into Ronin, my lovely soulmate doing his best to shoulder both of us so that we might tumble to the ground, my uniform sure to make it difficult to right myself if we fall...