The wind howled in Aja’s ears and her heart pounded in her chest. It was beating just as frantically as her wings as she strained the muscles in a desperate urge to fly faster, faster! It was dangerous to fly this quickly this low to the ground, especially in the dense undergrowth of the forest. She was twisting and dodging bushes and tree trunks as best she could, but small twigs still snagged and scratched at the membranes of her wings as she drove herself to flee at a deadly pace.

Her lungs were tight and she sipped air between gritted teeth as she flew. Her claws dug into a branch she didn’t quite clear and she hauled herself up with scrabbling paws before launching herself back into the air.

Behind her, the previously peaceful woods were alive with the cacophony of vicious snarls and eerie howls. The blood thundered in Aja’s ears and she whimpered as she pushed herself to fly faster.

She ducked under one branch, then flapped furiously to climb over the next. If the circumstances were different, she might have found this fun. A breathless maze. But now, that maze might very well be her death trap, and Aja did not know what to do.

The furious barking grew louder and Aja was sipping air into squeezed lungs. She was too young yet to have the endurance of a proper dragon. She was going to falter and when she did, they would catch her. Tears leaked from her eyes to slide down the ridges of her scales. They blurred her vision dangerously and pain erupted along her nerve endings as she crashed into the next branch. The rough bark scratched along her scales and tore at her wings, while the prickly leaves poked at her eyes and nostrils. Aja barely had time to acknowledge the pain before she began to fall. She beat her wings frantically, but it was too narrow an area to get any true lift now that her momentum was lost.

Aja smacked several more branches on the way down, her claws desperately scrabbling for a hold to slow her descent, but all she managed was to tear layers of bark free in her grasp.

Hitting the ground flat on her back was like having someone forcefully grip both her lungs and compress them to a pinprick. Her jaws parted and her chest heaved as she fought for a breath. Pain raced up and down every nerve as she forced herself to roll over.

Smoke poured from her open mouth as she struggled to recover from the jarring impact. She was only down for a few heartbeats, but that was all it took for the sounds she’d been fleeing to finally catch up with her.

Suddenly, she was no longer alone as men dressed in dark blacks, browns, and greens burst through the dense undergrowth on noisy two-wheeled motor vehicles that reeked of gas and oil, and made Aja want to wretch.

By their sides were six dogs, all barking and snarling at her with their fur bristled and tails raised. They were large animals, with slick, coarse brown and gray fur coats, long legs and massive paws, and drool dripping from their massive jowls.

Aja cringed back from the various beasts encircling her. She curled her tail close to her body and blew a small puff of flame as a warning. It was feeble and the human trackers paid her display no mind. She flapped her wings once, wincing at the strain in the muscles. She would not be able to get high enough into the air to get away. Not from the ground without a running start, and the dogs could probably yank her down anyway. She shook her head and growled, spreading her wings again to beat the air as one of the canines mock-lunged at her. Their tails were wagging and their tongues were lolling. Now that the tracking was over, it had become a game to them. She was their prey and they were toying with her.

Aja pulled her lips back to show off her needle-sharp, ivory incisors, but she wasn’t even half the dogs’ size. She was far more afraid of them and they all knew it. She figured she could fight off one, maybe two if she was in the air and incredibly careful, but not six and not from the ground.

She glanced around and time seemed to slow. All of the humans were wearing protective coverings over their eyes and mouths, leaving just the bridge of their cheeks visible, and they were all watching her carefully. The dogs were prancing from foot to foot or pacing a wide circle around her. She knew if she moved, they would attack.

Feeling her throat close, Aja swivelled her head to glance desperately for any escape routes, any options available to her. She was surrounded.

One of the humans leaned over the front of his vehicle and aimed something at her. Aja cringed, expecting pain, but instead, she was bathed in a pale green light that made a strange clicking sound. The small device the light was emanating from beeped twice and then the light shut off.

Aja gulped as she watched the man study the small handheld screen he was holding. She did not truly understand how computers worked, but she had come to understand that the humans had a different way of identifying her – identifying all of them – than how her people did. She knew her mother and her father by their faces, but also by their smell and by the feel of their scales if she rubbed against them. Dragons imprinted on those closest to them, and she would know them even if she were blind and deaf and robbed of her sense of smell.

These humans knew them by that green light that she had encountered only once before. She whined pitifully as the human nodded and snapped his fingers. He whistled sharply and then one of the dogs barked loudly and snapped its jaws together. Its beady yellow eyes focused on her and Aja found herself frozen in terror as it leapt at her with jaws parted wide.

She cringed away and squeezed her eyes shut as the dog’s hot breath blasted her in the face. But she never felt the sharp teeth pierce or compress against her scales.

Instead, Lanna bolted upright in her bed with a gasp and clapped a hand over her mouth so that she wouldn’t cry out and possibly attract Heather. She was drenched in sweat and her arms were shaking. Tears watered in her eyes and she bit her lip, hard, until she tasted the bitter tang of blood spread across her tongue.

She pulled her knees close to her chest and hugged them before beginning to take several slow, shaky breaths as she tried to calm herself. Her gut clenched and her chest was tight, and she could feel Aja stirring deep inside her. The small dragon was just as distraught and Lanna closed her eyes before letting a breath whistle out past her clenched teeth.

“It’s okay, Aja. It was only a dream, just a nightmare,” she whispered to herself. She began to hum softly and continued her deep breathing until she felt the young dragon settle down once more. Lanna leaned back against the wall and felt the hot tears begin to stream down her cheeks and shudders wracked her form. It wasn’t just a nightmare, it was a memory.

Rather, it was founded in memory. Lanna took another shuddering breath and swung her legs over the side of her cot. When Aja had first escaped the warzone they’d been keeping her at, she’d fled into the forest. It was the smartest choice, really, with the thick foliage and high perches, it was the only way she could have realistically gone. Unfortunately, it was the predictable route too. The older dragons had taken to the sky. They could fly much further and faster than Aja could at the time. Anyone hunting her would have known she couldn’t have stayed airborne long enough not to seek cover. They’d sent dogs after her. She had been running from them not two days after they’d escaped.

Lanna pressed a hand to her chest. She had been just as terrified as Aja, fleeing for their life through those woods. Aja barely ate or slept, and when she did, it was always with droning howls at her back.

It had been a while since Lanna had heard those howls in her dreams, and even longer still since the sound had interrupted the waking world. She spent every single day hoping desperately that she would never have to feel that terror of running for her life, being hunted down like a rabbit in a field.

Lanna closed her eyes and chewed her lip. It had been months of Aja constantly moving, never able to settle, hunting bugs and mice and carrion where she could find it.

Aja had gone to sleep huddled where she could with a sick, starved belly and a hollow heart, and it had broken Lanna’s every moment to watch. They were both so young and she had felt so helpless buried deep in Aja’s chest. Sometimes she missed the warm darkness that used to cradle her before she was forced to take over keeping them alive. All Lanna truly wanted was to sleepily watch the days and nights slip by. They were the days Aja should be experiencing, and instead, she’d had to bury the small dragon down to the furthest pit of their shared soul just to keep them alive. Aja had given up, was too shaky and weak and sad to continue. Despite her playful nature, the young dragon had been ready to close her eyes and just not open them again.

But Lanna had wanted to live, wanted to see their home again. She wanted to know if there was anything left of her family and her origins. So when Aja had collapsed, she’d pushed and gathered the dragon close and begged her for one more chance at life. But Lanna had been so young too at the time, barely much older than Ben when she’d first stumbled through that forest. The deeper they’d gone, the less she heard the dogs hunting escaped dragons and the explosions and brutal sounds of the raging battles that ravaged the land all around her. She’d run deep enough that anyone would have gotten hopelessly lost and she’d stayed there, out of reach of human civilization.

Lanna had grown up alone, training herself in all the skills she’d need to survive and breaking down to let Aja free whenever she felt it was safe enough. But the people who had brought her here had trained dogs to pick up a dragon’s scent, a scent that was only faint on Lanna. She would have to be standing right next to one for them to notice it, really. So after a few close encounters, she’d accepted that until they were home and safe, she would have to live for both of them.

“I screwed that up last night,” she muttered to herself. It had been dangerous, but for the first time in over three decades, Lanna had finally felt right. They weren’t meant to live like this. Their childhood should have been separate, only meant to merge in adulthood. Lanna should have slept through most of it, and she was happiest when Aja was free.

She took a deep breath as a fiery fury flared in her chest. She didn’t hate humanity itself, she knew there were good people in the world. Heather and Carter were perfect examples of that. But she could not help loathing this land and the people who had dragged her to it. All the violence, all the pain, destruction, and death. She didn’t know what the war was over, but she knew no reason could ever justify to her the devastation her family and her people faced.

She shook her head and rose shakily to her feet. She grabbed her cloak from where she had hung it on the bedpost and wrapped it around her shoulders. She took another breath and forced some of the tension from her shoulders. She really should just start sleeping in it again. She always felt calmer with it on.

She contemplated going back to sleep for a bit. It didn’t feel like she had napped for long and she was still weighed down from the long day and night, but the sound of the dogs still echoed in her ears. She could still feel the hot breath down the nape of her neck, and she knew she would be unable to relax enough to sleep. The nightmare would be waiting for her when she closed her eyes and she wasn’t ready to face it yet.

She took the time to fold her blanket neatly at the foot of the cot. It was routine, but she also knew it was just to keep her hands from shaking. After the blanket, she got changed and folded her dirty clothes for washing later, and it was only when she finally ran out of menial tasks that she turned to face the door.

The bakery was bustling with a late morning crowd. Lanna could hear the hustle and bustle from the back as she stepped from her room. She took another breath and forced a smile. It was laborious sometimes, but she genuinely enjoyed her work at the bakery. Perhaps a few hours would help steady her a little better.

With that in mind, she wandered towards the front only to have Heather bodily block her way and make a shooing motion. “Lanna, why are you even awake? You must be exhausted still, go back to sleep. Are you alright?” Heather checked as she leaned closer. “You look haunted.”

Lanna shook her head. “I’m alright. I just had a bit of a rough sleep, but I’m fine,” she assured the woman. “I just want to work it off.”

Heather shook her head. “Oh no, the last thing you’re going to do right now is work. You stubborn girl, you are not a mule and you are going to work yourself to death, I swear.”

Lanna rolled her eyes and shrugged off the hand Heather had placed on her shoulder. “Heather, I promise that I know my physical limits. The work is a nice distraction. Yes, your hours are long and I work hard, but it is not my first job – far from it – and I promise you that I do not feel overworked or unhappy. This is the most comfortable work environment I have ever had.”

Heather smiled and when she reached out to cup the side of Lanna’s face, she let her. “I’m glad for that, Lanna, truly, but you are not going to weasel your way into the kitchen or behind the counter, no matter how you beg or reason. Now you can either go find something relaxing to do with your day off or I shall barricade you in your room for your own good, am I understood?”

Lanna frowned. She didn’t have any other plans for the day. Frankly, she was far more content at the bakery than anywhere else in the town, and it would be a long trek to the fields beyond just to stand by herself in the sun for a few hours. It was far too soon for her to risk another shift, so another island adventure was out of the question. “Please?” she pressed.

Heather sighed and held up a hand. “Wait here,” she instructed. “Right here, don’t you dare shift even a foot.”

Lanna frowned as Heather disappeared back into the front of the bakery, but she didn’t question the instructions. At least, not until Heather reappeared with a rolled brown paper bag in one hand and Ben’s hand clasped in her other. She handed the bag to Lanna. “Snacks for later,” she explained before she glanced at Ben and inclined her head. “Take her. Don’t let her back until the sun starts to dip,” she told the boy.

Ben grinned in response and then Lanna had the young boy yanking on her wrist. “Come on, Lanna. Let’s go play!”

Lanna scowled at Heather who only smiled in response. “You wanted a distraction, now you have one. Ben gets an afternoon out, I get an afternoon of peace, and you get something to keep you busy and maybe help you have a little fun; everyone is happy. Just don’t go too far.”

Lanna could not even find it in herself to be angry. Not when Ben was practically bouncing with excitement at her side. She was admittedly rather amazed that Heather would be trusting enough to allow Lanna to take her son out into town for the day. She enjoyed the young boy’s company but knew his mother was often rather cautious and protective.

It came with a bit of a sour note to it, as she doubted Heather would allow her anywhere near Ben ever again if she knew about Aja. She never outright asked anyone about their opinion on her people, but she knew it was generally one of fear and hatred. The war was started by humans and waged by humans, but most of the common folk only knew of dragons as vicious firebreathing monsters that ravaged the land and sunk ships with relative ease.

Many people had homes and fields and livelihoods destroyed in the wartimes and the stories were passed down. Her people were nothing more than distorted, shadowy monsters of history that hurt innocent people. Aja would be nothing more to Heather than a smaller version of a demon out to hurt her son. Lanna could not even fault her for it, because she understood. She understood, even if it hurt. Her people were not wild beasts with a bloodlust and short temper, but these people only knew what they had been shown by those who had control of passing on the history.

“Lanna?” Lanna shook herself when Heather’s voice cut into her thoughts. “Are you sure you’re alright, hon? Maybe it would be better if you went back to bed for a little while longer; you seem a little spacey.”

Lanna shook her head and forced a smile. There was no sense brooding on things she could not change. She was not a threat to Ben and though she felt a little guilty because she was basically lying to Heather and Carter about all of it, there was nothing she could really do to alter her situation. “No, I’m fine,” she replied. “Come on, then, Ben. Where would you like to go.”

“Outside!” Ben urged, rather unhelpfully. Lanna chuckled and took his hand.

“Bring him back for supper,” Heather called at their backs as Lanna began to lead Ben out the back exit.

Lanna turned and glanced back before nodding. “I will,” she promised.

The sun was warm and a light breeze tossed up her hair as she stepped outside. Ben was skipping hand-in-hand with her as they made their way around to the street. Unlike Lanna – who always felt a little nervous among strangers – Ben was smiling happily and waving to every person they passed. It made Lanna smile as he eagerly greeted the other members of the town. He was a ball of energy that reminded her of Aja, of herself, back before the fear and isolation had warped her.

“Lanna, have you ever flown before?”

The question had Lanna’s heart stalling in her chest and she glanced down at him. He was staring up at her with wide, curious eyes. “What do you mean?” she inquired when she found her voice.

“Sometimes when mama takes me down to the beach, we see some of the balloons and the fly crafts from the city out over the water. I want to fly someday,” he told her. “But you have been all over the place, right? Have you been in one?”

Lanna shook her head. “No, I haven’t.”

“Well, I am going to,” Ben decided. “I want to know what it’s like to fly.”

Lanna didn’t know what to say to that. She almost wanted to pity Ben at that moment. Flying felt wonderful. On a whim, she hooked her hands underneath Ben’s arms and hoisted the young boy up onto her shoulders. “Hold on tight,” she advised as she gripped his legs and began to jog down the cobblestone path.

Ben squealed with delight and braced his hands on her head as she ran. “Faster, Lanna, run faster!” he urged. His fingers tangled in her hair and Lanna winced slightly as the motion pulled at her roots, but she just laughed and indulged his request.

It was easy to lose herself in the physical activity despite her former exhaustion, and Lanna spurred herself faster with each overjoyed holler that echoed from Ben’s throat. The wind whipped through their hair and Lanna smiled brightly.

Her heart was pounding in her chest when she finally slowed back to a walk, and she was gasping for breath.

“You’re so fast,” Ben called as he patted her head.

Lanna reached up and gently lifted him off of her shoulders and back down onto the street, where she recaptured his hand. “You have to be quick in the open country,” she told him with a wink. “Have to be able to outrun the forest cats.”

“You’ve run into forest cats?” Ben asked. His eyes were wide as he angled his gaze up at her.

Lanna laughed and shook her head. “Thankfully no closer than to hear them growl at night, but it still pays to be able to make a quick getaway, yeah?” She leaned down and tickled his sides, and Ben jumped and squeaked with laughter.

“Hey, Lanna, stoooop,” he howled.

Lanna smiled and relented. Her experiences with forest cats were a bit more intimate than she would ever tell Ben. It would be hard to explain how three and a half foot wild cats could charge towards her and snarl, then turn tail and flee if she growled back. One or two had been bold enough to attack her and she had needed to outrun them once or twice, but for the most part, other predators recognized her as a threat they probably didn’t want to battle with, while prey panicked.

She sighed and continued down the street with him. “Want to go have lunch down by the docks?” she offered.

“Okay!” Ben agreed eagerly.

Lanna smiled down at him and her heart squeezed. She’d been doing well at the bakery. Heather and Carter did quite well for themselves and were generous with her. She was running out of time and she was going to miss them all when she had to leave, but she found herself immensely grateful for the time she’d gotten with them. She had been so young that she had only fragmented memories of her own mother and father and her siblings. Heather and Carter and Ben reminded her what it was like to have a family, to have people who cared about her.

Within her chest, Aja stirred and Lanna felt her sorrow as thick as her own. If they had the choice, Lanna knew a part of each of them would choose to stay at the bakery.