“‘Ey there, Red. You want some tea?”

The trooper above waited for a response. His face was one of boredom, the dragon twice his size eyeing him being of no concern. “Err, sure. I don’t think I’ve had any of that stuff yet, though. What is it exactly?”

“‘S a hot drink. Helps you calm down, helps with sleep too. So I’ve heard. ‘S pretty good, the stuff. Want to try it?”

Victor scratched at his other foreclaw. “I suppose trying it wouldn’t hurt. But you said it needed hot water, right? How are you going to get any of that here-”

“We’ve already boiled a bunch, ya fool. Last I checked, people don’t ask you if ya want something if they can’t provide it to start with. How in Divinity’s name ya didn’t hear the fire popping with those big ears of yours is something I’d really like to know.”

The trooper bared his flat teeth as he pressed them down onto his lips, lightly scraping the stubble of the beard forming on his chin. Victor docked his tongue deeper into his mouth. It had been a few weeks, and even those who had resembled the knights from fairy stories had begun to look like aged street dwellers. Even William had slight growth, albeit short thanks to some handy work with a knife.

“Well, my apologies, then. I guess I must’ve been distracted by something else, heheh.” He bared his teeth in a defensive manner.

“Sulking off again, are we?” the trooper replied in a thickly accented voice, “Come on now, red. ’S been a good month or so. Can’t ya just let that sorry bastard slide off into the mud? ‘Cause I know what it is. I have ears. ‘Ve heard you whimper about that waste of breath plenty ‘o times.”

Victor clutched at his chest, looking off into a nearby batch of frosted ground. It was as if a hat had been glued to his head, and the glue was starting to itch. That was the first thing which came to his mind upon reeling from the feeling. Why a hat, he didn’t know. All that was clear was that it wasn’t pleasant in the slightest.

“W-well, how do you feel, knowing you killed a man, I doubt it-” How can I say these things about myself… “-I doubt it would be pleasant, would it?” The red dragon licked at his serrated teeth. The infantryman scoffed; little spatters of his saliva scattered through the air, some landing on Victor’s pale chest, much to his nerves’ discontent.

“Very nice, he says… Look at it this way, red. Ya killed one. I killed three. Ain’t botherin’ me. I’ll get your tea now. Don’t you dare try anythin’ funny again, ye?” he said, before strolling off to the main camp. Victor breathed out in relief.

Why do they all have to be so rude?

Come a few minutes later, Victor had a jar of boiling hot water shoved into his claws. Atop the water drifted what appeared to be a few bits of dried fruit. A quick whiff confirmed it. Apples and pears and various berries, all mingled into one scent. Curious, Victor opened his lips a little, gently allowing some water to spill over the edge, and into his maw.

Hmm… it’s… water, I guess. But with a light taste. I’m not tasting much of it, though… what is the appeal of this stuff, exactly? You can hardly taste anything except water, and I’ve had sensitive taste buds for… darn well over half a year now. It is nice and warm, though.

Victor kept drinking from the jar, even though the taste wasn’t the best. There wasn’t much else to busy himself with out here, in the middle of yet another village they had taken. Most of the residents here weren’t willing to step outside, instead preferring the comfort of their own homes. The troopers murmured amongst each other, speaking of traitors amidst the homes here, only to be shot down by others.

But he didn’t have any words to share. Their theories were rather silly; as if anyone would willingly step into this cold for any reasons other than which were absolutely necessary. Every other village thus far had welcomed them with open arms; if anything, it was a miracle that it took this long for a reaction like this to appear.

Shaking his head, he drank up the last of the waters in the jar. A soft ‘uh’ spilled from his jaws as he realised. Afterwards, Victor’s lips curled into a smile. Perhaps this ‘tea’ was something he should consume more often. In fact, it was now that he finally felt revitalised: all over his body, he felt healthy and well, as if he had just woken up from a wonderful dream. He wanted more. He jumped back onto his feet, scurrying his way to the camp fire where the others were calmly chatting away.

“Alright, what is- Hey! Red! What do ya think you’re doing?!”

One claw on the kettle, Victor froze in place right in the middle of all the other troops, who now stared at him with disgust in their eyes. “I, uhh, I would like some more tea, please.”

The trooper from earlier scoffed. “More tea? Forget it. Not everyone’s gotten theirs yet, ye daft lummox. I almost gave ya an entire kettle’s worth of the stuff just now anyway, ‘s that not enough? Do I need to tap a constant stream for a river or somethin’?”

Victor lowered his head a tad, still well above all the humans near. “No, no… nevermind.”

It was then that Victor’s ears shot up to catch wind of an obnoxiously drowned out yawn. One whose artificiality was evident from the first patch of noise. “Alright, enough with this stupid bickering. Is this seriously what you lot are up to? Complaining over tea? Come on now, tea of all things.”

Jim kicked a patch of snow into the burning logs. “Hey, the abyss’s yer problem, ya bastard? Tryin’ to get us all to freeze to death, or somethin’?”

“Here goes again,” Jim said, sticking his hand out towards the fire as if he were presenting some novel concept to an audience of fools. “Like this is the only fire we could stoke.”

“Urgh, you haven’t got the foggiest as to how difficult finding good wood for this crap is,‘ a thus far quiet participant replied. “You go have fun searching the woods for another hour if that’s what-”

Jim scoffed. “Like clockwork. Point is, you’re all at one another’s throats over nonsense. Are any of you aware that we are at war, and that our enemies may just poke their heads out at any moment? And just how many of you are aware that there’s no one on sentry duty right now?”

The troopers exchanged dirty looks with one another. “Uhh…”

“Exactly. Divinity almighty, you people are morons. I’m surprised you’ve managed to last this long. Now enough of this petty nonsense. Drink your tea, get back to your jobs on the double. Last thing I want is to die out here for the dumbest of reasons. Captain William’s busy talking to the town’s council, and the purple’s with him… I guess. Anyway, less slacking, more watching, less loitering.”

“Alright, alright...”

Like a flock of birds come the appearance of a stranger, the troops flocked away in silence, only those who had yet to receive their afternoon tea remaining gathered by the fire, watching water in a kettle boil over the fire. The air in the town thickened; one could taste the annoyance and the tension in the air,.

Victor wandered off to a quiet space at the town's borders to shake his wings loose. A little stretching was necessary after being grounded for so long; he had the cloudbusters to thank for that. News from other groups brought plenty of tales of arrogant drakes getting more than they bargained for after a spell of arrogance. Victor didn't protest. A giant bolt to the chest wasn't a pleasant way to go.

But alas, rusting wings meant sore legs. Not a day of proper rest went by; the orders were to advance until they reached a stream still some days off, after which they’d march further towards the final goal. No complaints, no tears or anything of the sort allowed; just pure concentration. In this slight bit of respite, Victor sighed off into the vast nothingness arrayed around the village.

At least no one’s pointed the finger at me yet.

The woods were solemn. At most other times of the year, one could hear the birds chirp, or the leaves rustle, or critters splash in nearby streams. But winter had put an end to those little things. The birds had migrated, the leaves had fallen, and the streams had frozen over; all that was left was the empty wind howling in the distance. It was as if life itself had gone absent, and all that remained was merely waiting to wither away in its absence.

Victor’s legs quaked. So many times he’d dropped his belly onto the cold; the thought alone brought the bitter cold over him. He peeked at the crying sky, and groaned. The spring thaw can’t be far off now, can it? I don’t recall ever going through a winter like this one before. Urk, what if it’s no ordinary winter after all…? What if something is-

“Ah, there you are.”

The red dragon received a harsh wake up call from behind. His reaction was as if an arrow had just flown by his head. “Aah!”

“Ack! Divinity almighty, Victor! It’s only me!”

Victor lowered his guard upon hearing the familiar feminine voice of Celesta speak. “Sorry...” he whispered, one claw over his heart. Nggh, did she really need to sneak up on me?

Celesta laughed. “You’re too precious, Vic. I mean, I thought you would have smelled me coming, yet it was a surprise still,” she said. She wandered to Victor’s side, where she lowered herself onto her haunches. “So, what are you up to right now? Why would you be out here without a fire or even without your armor on? There’s plenty of space indoors left.”

The red dragon swallowed his saliva. “I don’t know myself, to be honest. I guess I like being alone, that’s all.”

“Hmm, I see, I see...” Celesta raised a claw to her chin. “It’s a bit empty out here though, isn’t it? Nothing but trees and trees. It’s not very appealing. But I suppose opinions differ on that,” she said, before having a visible epiphany. “Actually, why did you come all the way out here? Just curious.”

Victor sighed. “Well, I just like being alone. Away from all the troops for a while. It helps me think better when I’m truly alone, not surrounded by people who wouldn’t even spit on you to put out a fire.”

Celesta, following in Victor’s footsteps, sighed as well, albeit with her tail tapping into the snow instead of being nestled against her side. “That’s understandable. We have some nasty brutes in our ranks if I do say so myself. They take some time getting used to, but they’re good people once you get to know them,” she said. Victor rolled his eyes.

I could’ve sworn some of those brutes split off to form a cult in the woods not too long ago.

“It’s tiring though. Even something as simple as getting some tea’s a struggle with them.”

Celesta raised her brows, as she laid one of her forelegs on top of Victor’s. “You can always talk it out with them, though. Surely they’d know better than to pick on a dragon of your size.”

Victor shook his head. “No, it’s more than that. It’s...” he paused to breathe, “a long story. I don’t like being out here. It’s cold, it’s exhausting, every day out here is spent hiking while living in fear of being attacked. It’s tired me out, Celesta, I don’t know how else to describe it.”

The wind echoed. “I’m not too surprised. You’ve never struck me as a very talkative type, Victor. And given your situation, I don’t think anyone’s surprised you’d feel this way. Of course, my hope was that you’d grow more fond of these sorts of things, or at the very least more accepting of them after this is all set and done,” Celesta said. Victor had but a sigh to give in reply.

“I wish it were that simple, Celesta. But I’m not a warrior. I might’ve thought of myself as one when I was younger, I guess. But I don’t have the heart of one. I’m a coward. A wimp. A fool. Why on Terris anyone thought it would be a good idea to send me off to war, I do not know. It’s a miracle I haven’t found my grave yet.” Victor stared at the ground by his feet.

“Easy now, Vic. You’re not a coward simply because you do not enjoy hurting others,” Celesta said. “If anything, that’s commendable. A lot of people could learn from you.”

Victor shut his eyes. “If only others saw it that way.”

“They’ll learn one day. They won’t have a choice forever… and Lokahn will be all the better for it.” Celesta winked. “You know… being around you has made me realise that. I haven’t met any other dragon with such humility as you do, Victor.”

Victor licked at his lips, eyeing the lavender dragon with filled eyes. “Is that so?”

The lavender dragoness spread one of her wings out over the red, and gently pressed her snout against the side of his neck. “I… I haven’t been very honest with you, these past few weeks, and it’s pained me for too long now. The truth is… I care about you, Victor. It might be very difficult, I know, but…” her cheeks puffed up; she had nothing more to say. Victor’s cheeks too puffed out; that strange sensation tugged at the strings within him once again, for reasons he couldn’t explain.

“I care about you too, Celesta. I might be wholly unprepared for anything that isn’t buttering toast, and afraid of my own shadow, but…” he stared ahead into the misty woods. Even the trees, as sad as they looked with their wettened bark and empty branches, still had their compatriots at their sides in the end.