Alec watched the two men as they conversed near the tree line. The others-Ryders he could see, now that anger wasn't clouding his mind-were roaming about his yard and tending to the drae's wounds. He continued to rub the creature's head as he contemplated what he had just experienced moments ago.
Truth be told, he was still pissed off. It would not be the first time someone accused him of something he did not do, but it had been years. The experience had forced him to relive the times he was constantly being thrown in jail back in his early teens. He hated being reminded of how the people of Gelun treated him. But he was especially angry at himself for letting them do whatever they wanted all those years ago.
You were young, his inner voice spoke. It wasn't your fault. They took advantage of a ten-year-old's grief and helplessness to vent their own grief and frustrations.
It was ignored once again.
His gaze went back to the two men, distracting himself from his thoughts. The two seem to be in another not-argument. Judging from the way they kept looking at his direction, the subject was probably him. It was difficult to hear the full conversation because they were so far away though.
"He's...skill...No doubt...recommend...academy," He heard from the one with green eyes, Gael Fenrin. He heard Kreis scoff.
"Just...kid managed to untie himself...famous knots?" Kreis Hildegen said. Gael glared at Kreis, who seemed to have been being sarcastic.
"Yes...don't forget...'kid' gave you...injury," he said. He heard Kreis' groan of irritation.
"You are never going to let that go!" Kreis shouted, causing Gael to chuckle. They continued to look his way from time to time, as they continued their conversation in much quieter voices.
"Weirdos, the two of them," he murmured to the drae. The Ryders tending to the creature's wound heard him and let out quiet chuckles. But the two, did not make any other comment. They seemed to agree with what he said. He could not blame them. Judging from the time he saw them earlier from the caravan, these group of men and women seemed to have been suffering from the bickering of the two weird men.
He looked down at his lap when the drae let out a low growl. It-he, Alec decided-surprised him by trying to stand, straining his large body in attempt to surround and shield Alec from something.
"What-" his voice left him when he heard familiar beating of large wings. Instead of one, there seemed to be two. He turned his head and looked up at the sky near the tree line. His eyes caught the sun gleaming off the silver armor of two adult draes. One black and the other white. The two circled above twice, before landing in front of Gael Fenrin and Kreis Hildegen.
"Hey, Asher, had fun hunting?" Gael Fenrin asked the black drae. Asher gave him a nod, but Alec could tell by the body language, the hunched wing and pleading eyes, that it was not satisfied. His own drae would look similar every time he did not feed him more meat.
"We'll get you more food when we get back to the inn, Asher," Gael Fenrin seemed to know this too, judging from his words.
Alec watched as the man ran a hand over the white star markings on his Asher's neck before getting ready to mount the saddle nestled between where the creature's neck connected with its wings. But before they could do so, he stepped back when Asher stood on his hind legs while looking attentively around them.
He looked over to find Kreis' white drae also doing the same, causing the man to knit his brows. As if in sync, the two Drae's eyes landed on Alec. He stilled when the two draes started to approach. His hands going to his own red drae's head to calm him as he tried to tuck Alec under his uninjured wing.
"Iris, Asher, get back here!" Kreis Hildegen said. But the two Drae's paid no attention to them whatsoever. They crossed the small space between them and Alec, while racing each other.
Before the two Drae's could reach him though, the red Drae pounced in front of Alec in a blink of an eye. His teeth protruded out and he growled at Iris and Asher. The two stopped at once, and did the same towards him.
"Easy boy, you still haven't recovered," Alec tried to calm the red drae. The two draes watched as he rubbed his drae's neck, the red creature's form sagged slowly back to the snow, a delighted purr in its throat.
The draes moved closer to him, and their noses twitched as if sniffing his scent. Alec's face scrunched in bewilderment at what they were doing, until they paused for a brief moment when the red drae growled. They stepped even closer to Alec, causing him to trip over the red drae's tail. Iris and Asher looked on at him with an unrecognizable glint in their eyes. Alec could see their Draeyer's' brows rise to their hairlines at what the two did next.
"Hey...hey...stop..." Alec said as he lay on the snow, a laugh slowly making its way out of his throat. The black and white draes stood on either side of him as they licked his face with their big tongues. Gael and Kreis watched as Alec continued telling them to stop, filling the open air with nothing but his slowly growing laughter. His hands shot out and placed each one on Iris and Asher's snouts. Laughter still escaped him as he petted the two, enticing delighted purrs from them. They were so cute that he couldn't resist.
"A Sentire?"
Alec turned to the source of the voice, and found the two men looking at him. He frowned when he heard the word. He had heard it before, when he learned of the new program that was introduced in Arktis Skyland's Icefall Academy. Sentire was the collective word used to refer to people who all had varying abilities that was greatly different from ordinary people.
Are these two weirdos calling me a Sentire? He thought. He shook his head and ignored them. He preferred to lavish some attention on the two draes instead. They were a lot easier to deal with than their own Draeyers. In fact, he found it a lot easier to deal with non-humans in general.
The two men continued to watch his interaction, causing him to grow uncomfortable. A while later, it was so unbearable that he couldn't focus his attention on the draes.
"Are you not going to leave yet?" he glared at them.
"It's kind of hard to leave when our draes are currently putty in your hands," Kreis Hildegen said. An amused smile played on his lips as he said that.
Alec paused, looked down at the said draes lying on the snow next to his legs. He refused to look embarrassed and took a deep breath.
"Iris. Asher. It's time for you guys to leave," he said to the two. It took some coaxing, but the draes finally left him a while later. Soon, the two men left on their draes, and the other Ryders rode their horses to town.
Alec was severely disappointed when Iris and Asher left. A grumble came from his left. His red drae was glaring at him with a bit of resentment in his eyes. Alec paused.
"Wait, are you jealous?"
The drae knocked him down on the snow with his snout as response.
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"Sorry it's taking so long to come up with names for you to choose from. I've only come up with one so far," Alec told his drae. He sat once more on his porch with the creature laying on the snow at his feet. "I've never been good at naming things. I just want your name to be special."
The drae gave soft growl, before forcing his head on Alec's lap again. Alec smiled as it purred against him and warmed him up from the cold. It had taken a while to coax him. It turned out that the drae did get jealous of the attention he gave Iris and Asher. He wanted to laugh, but he was sure that would've made his drae angrier.
They remained in that position for a while, doing nothing but gazing at the twin moons and the stars. Alec had never been so happy and at peace in years. It was hard to believe. It was...
This won't last long-.
He batted the thought away with a fierce growl. The drae looked at him in concern before curling his long neck around his body, resting his head once more on his lap. Alec hugged him tighter. Such thoughts were unbecoming. Alen had taught him better. He was trying to be better.
Alec was pulled out of his thoughts when the drae nudged him. His snout soon pointed towards the sky. Alec let in a gasp as he saw the local silver firebirds dancing in the sky. The light from the moon gave their silver flames an ethereal glow, making them appear as incorporeal creatures from a different world.
He looked down at his drae and noted the disappointed look in its eyes. "You want to fly and join them? Your wing is injured, big guy."
He heard a grunt. Alec took that as an "I know."
"I wonder what it's like to fly."
The drae flapped his uninjured wing and nudge him with his snout, pointing to a spot on his back. Alec tilted his head. The drae had to repeat his actions twice more before Alec understood.
"You want to take me flying?"
A grunt and a nod.
"Thank you. But let's wait until you heal."
A dissatisfied assent came from the creature.
"That's a promise then," Alec laughed.
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My precious babies 🥰🥰🥰