ƒℓу ѕωιƒтєя тнαη αη єαgℓє

[~echo~]

Jacob didn't respond as he leaned back comfortably, relaxing to the point of laying down.

[Deleted]

"Why are you relaxed around me?"

[~echo~]

"Should I not be?" the boy asked, opening one eye to look at her questioningly.

[Deleted]

"No, not that." Elena shrugged, stroked the tip of her sword. "I am just confused. I am never relaxed. I sleep in my dragon's embrace, for he is stronger and better than I - I have protection."

[~echo~]

"Well," the boy started, "I have my wings. And I'm quick, and I sleep light. I don't sleep unless it is absolutely silent within a few hundred feet of myself."

[Deleted]

"Hm. I can work with that." She quirked a smile, quick and gone in a second. But oh, it was so pleasant while it had lasted. "Goodnight."

[~echo~]

The boy watched her and then nodded. "Good night."

[Deleted]

She curled against the tree, sword naked beside her even as her dragon appeared, cradled her in an icy grasp. She leaned into him, smiled.
"Sleep well." She murmured quietly before closing her eyes, turning her face into the strange, cool warmth of her One, struggling for sleep.

It didn't come, even as the dragon purred, as the breathing of her new ally echoed around her, even as the night animals chirped and hummed.

[~echo~]

Jacob didn't sleep either, but his breath was even as though he was sleeping.

[Deleted]

Elena rose from the embrace of her dragon, standing against a nearby tree.
Her head was tilted up to the sky, her eyes wide, face left exposed, vulnerable.
It was a raw beauty that showed in her, her breasts rising and falling with her breathing.
The voice that left her pursed pink lips was soft, unsure.
"I miss home, Momma. Why can't I return? I want to go back! I was two when they found me. I want to find home again." A tear slid down her cheek and she didn't bother to brush it off.

[~echo~]

Jacob heard her lament, but didn't say anything. He just didn't think that they were at all close enough for him to comfort her.

[Deleted]

She shook her head.
"No, I know I should stay. I should help this boy. But why? Why must I be the one that fights? I'm not a fighter! Leave that to Dahai."

She frowned, lowered her head, stared at Jacob's form.

"I am comfortable around him. Even now, I wish for his touch of comfort, yearn for it. Why? Because I am lonely. I wish for him to comfort me. With words, with hugs. And these are things he cannot give me."

[~echo~]

When this fell on Jacob's ears, he almost let out something between a chuckle and a gasp of disbelief- he held it in of course.

[Deleted]

She crossed to him, touched his hair with soft, sweet fingertips not quite steady.
"Why?"
Another tear, fast and hot, ran down her cheek, fell to land on Jacob's leg. She brushed at her cheeks, stood, walked to her tree.

[~echo~]

Jacob struggled not to tense when she touched him, keeping his eyelids closed but not tightly.

[Deleted]

"Why!"

And with that, a ball of ice, hard and cold as her soul, grew above her head, shattered. Ice fell over them, though the boy was untouched. It showed how powerful Elena was, even as she spun, eyes bright. Her dragon lifted his head, stared at her.
Come, and rest now.

She strode to him, collapsed against his chest, was enveloped with warm wings. She was crying.

[~echo~]

Jacob sat up, looking at her. "Elena, what's wrong?"

[Deleted]

The dragon stared at him, entered his mind. Pulled his mistress tighter against him.
She is hurt.

[~echo~]

What does that have to do with me? the boy asked. She was awkwardly touching me...

[Deleted]

It is none of your concern. The only thing you need to know, boy, is that she needs someone. Me, you. Someone. And you're not doing your job. So I must do it for you.

The last two sentences were more of a snarl than a soft murmur, and the dragon turned his face into Elena's hair, drawing her ever closer, supplying her power while weakening himself.