chapter 31, three more to go :)

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« You’re okay ? » Jozie asked when he finally emerged from his dark cave.

It wasn’t even said sarcastically. Adam had changed a lot, undeniably. But this, she knew about. This hadn’t changed. And this wasn’t something she assumed to be simulated. The woman’s first priority, despite all he did and said in front of her, was to know if he overcame it and was ready to interact. Because otherwise, it would just be a waste of time.

Anxiety crisis had always been a regular occurrence in him. When she first met him, like everyone, she believed it was a call for attention. After a few times, she already pitied him. She remembered him as a teenager, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, showing her his RMIs in comparison of normal ones. Back then, she didn’t understand all the implications of these festivals of lights on the medical documents. But even then, she clearly remembered thinking they were both too young to learn about these stuffs.

She sometimes wondered if her old friend ever had the opportunity to enjoy all the things normal people took for granted. Could he simply take the time to admire the wonders surrounding him, when his brain wouldn’t stop? Could he enjoy a relaxed conversation with a friend, when not once their own conversations had derived from mind puzzling matter? How was life, to someone having no capability to appreciate it for itself? He seemed more nuanced now, but younger… he was a never-ending storm. It was strange, but comforting that he never showed signs self-destructive behaviors... until she saw the newest him in action on this island, of course. Jozie was certain most people would have ended their lives just to stop suffering, if they were in his shoes. Maybe was it why his disorder was so rare…

So when he asked her to be left alone after this disturbing face to face with the locals, with violently trembling hands, she simply accepted it. Something told her that the old him would have been far ruder, and that it was already a minor improvement she should take. It didn’t erase how she felt, it just postponed it to a time he’d been in better conditions to listen.

In a sense, this was a skill she learnt because of him. Patience. It was harder than what people might think, to have the maturity to just take the event that caused an internal boiling, and file it for later, when it would be relevant and more effective. To take distance with the emotions of the moment. It brought a better perspective, and surely a more appeased life. It turned into a capability to decide when her torments would be worth worrying about. The rest of the times, worries remained stored, organized and methodically treated. Compared to him, the rest often felt easy to handle.

“Yeah I… I thought a lot.” Adam replied a bit hesitantly.

“About carving your face in the mountain again?”

“No…”

He had this gesture, putting the hands on the hips. In most guys Jozie met, it usually meant a dominant position. With him, it was the opposite. Like he opened himself. That was the Adam attitude for when he knew he had a lot to apologize about, and better had to put sincerity in his words. Or eventually she would put a punch on his body, somewhere undecided yet.

“I’m repeating. I recognize my old scheme.” He developed. “When you knew me, it was my beginning. I didn’t understand the world that surrounded me, and my response was always anger. Later life force me to evolve and I gained the ability to calm down, talk, understand. And if anything, it taught me the value of recognizing when I’ve been a total dick.”

Wow. This should be the first time he’d actually apologize instead of circling forever around the subject. Technically, it was only implied. But it was the closest she ever got without long minutes of struggles. Jozie felt lost. She had been irritated for so long, and for once that he recognized his faults straight away… she didn’t exactly know what to do with it.

“So…?”

“So, for once there isn’t any reptile around to listen to our conversation. And I’m not waiting for fate to bitch slap me again, to admit that my attitude toward you was intolerable. I’m still that guy who’d better throw up rather than apologizing or hearing apologies. But now I’m a guy who knows when he has to sit on his ego.
I’m sorry, Jozie. Infinitely sorry. What happened in my past and your future is in a time you and me aren’t responsible for anymore. I know I hurt you, a lot. What I did in spite all your warnings, I did it in despair, not because I didn’t listen to you. You were entirely right; I didn’t hope to succeed. I thought that… since there was no way out, I preferred you to think I was someone who deserved his fate, rather than a friend dying unfairly. You already know how megalomaniac I can be at times…
To me, having you here is a gift. I’d call it a second chance but we both know you already gave me much more than just one. What matters isn’t how you feel about me know. It’s my fault, and I entirely take responsibility for that. What matters, is that I have a chance to show you a version of me that is slightly less garbage than the one you know. I don’t want to miss that chance anymore. I don’t want to push you away another time.”

Many times, mainly because it used to secretly enrage her to never get any correct one, Jozie had imagined what his excuses would sound like. Considering his emotional personality, she would have assumed he would crack into a lot of cries, begging for forgiveness. But he looked pretty confident saying them, while not sounding insincere. It was disturbing to see him smile, and even dare some light jokes.

“I’ll deal with it, I guess. If you’re not behaving anyway, you know you’ll become my punching bag. So I have nothing to reject here.” She allowed herself a little smile. Actually, those were apologies that suited her. Not too sentimental, not too careless.

“I’m not done… You know me, better than anyone on this island. And you’re probably the only one in this place who will dare to shut my loud mouth. So please, however tiring and jerkish I can be, never stop putting me back in my place. It helps. I don’t show it a lot but it helps. You make me feel safer when you’re around, because I know you got my back covered, even against myself.”

“Are you seriously asking me to keep criticizing you? I must say that’s where I see the biggest gap between the current you and the Adam I know.” Jozie teased him a bit with a smirk.

“I deserved it… but yes. What happened today is the perfect example of how far I can get when there’s no one to tell me I make stupid choices. It escalates badly.” He giggled a bit embarrassingly. “Now that we have a chance to prepare, we need to play smart and wise to make the best use of this time. I need you in this. Only you can be the safe guard of this place… by controlling me, and showing others they shouldn’t be scared of me.”

“After this morning, it won’t be quite easy to convince you’re a harmless kitty…” Jozie pointed, gathering her mind about that strange formulation. It was a lot to take considering how new this attitude was, apologizing, asking for help… But it didn’t make her lose her common sense. “But if you want my help, you have to be transparent with me. You reply honestly if I ask your plans, and you listen when I say you go too far.”

“If you accept that I may keep some personal stuff for myself… I’m your man.” Adam didn’t even take a moment to think about it. His hand rose instantly, like to conclude a transaction. Jozie hesitated a little, on the other hand, but prudently shook it. No conditions on his end? It was a bit off-taking to see him accept so quickly but… it was what she wanted, after all.

And she didn’t wait any longer to exert the benefits of the deal.

“You have to tell me about these guys you killed. And about Killian as well… It won’t come out as a surprise that I believe you now.”

“Anyone who saw Killian cannot deny his existence anymore. Let’s talk on the way.” He looked around, although no curious even dared to spy on them. It was a good side of the dragons’ coward behavior. She followed the steps by his sides, quite relieved to move a bit after staying there waiting for him to emerge from this lonely cave. “And for the guys I killed, could you be more specific?”

“Okay, you’re starting to scare me a little there. How many have you killed?”

“If we do not include Killian’s victims, then only those you saw. I do not entirely believe in responsibility for them either though.”

“Let’s start with these first. They were my point anyway.” She looked at him with a severe look. “More specifically, the lucky slices that eliminated three men.”

“This wasn’t luck, this is fifteen years of practice. And people who visibly had no notion of distances in fight, or even in combat himself. Which I found very strange for soldiers.” He replied thoughtfully. “I kept on training and practicing after you left for your… Jeff. It relieved a lot of stress. And it paid off. That’s all”

“You actually let me leave for someone called Jeff?”

“And you have no idea how touchy you’ll be about it one day. Love is blind, but also deaf as it seems.”

He openly teased her, on a subject she thought sensitive for him too. Yet, Jozie didn’t detect any undertext or hidden feeling. She tended to forget that ten years had passed for him, since this incident she hadn’t lived yet. Even him could move on, eventually.

“And what about yours? What’s the name of the woman who put this storm into a bottle? You mentioned this legendary creature earlier.” She asked in the same tone, reminding him that he hinted about this huge news. But the look on his face reminded her that he was trapped here, like her. Now she knew one thing that could instantly erase any trace of joy on his face. “I’m sorry… If you don’t feel like…”

“Helena.” He cut her with a short voice. “Her name was Helena. You would have liked her. She was the kind to speak her mind, and unafraid to talk to you like shit if you cross the limits. Imagine a fusion of my loud mouth and your natural talent for not letting anyone step on your feet. But with the body of a goddess, and the soul of an angel. Most of the time when I didn’t piss her off, she was the sweetest woman on earth, kind hearted, and my voice of reason.”

“Heh… You always needed to have heroes to admire. Not surprised you married some kind of Superwoman; the others would have never gotten your attention anyway.”

“Well it was a surprise for me, because I never thought I’d get the attention of such woman. Helena was my hero and model in life. My light when I lost myself in my anxieties. She was my everyday motivation to become a better man… Because I had her, I felt like I had to prove I deserved her.” He laughed over his nostalgic tone. “She was one of the rare persons I ever saw as a better than me in every field. And I felt like the luckiest man on earth to grow and learn by her side.”

“You made quite the way up, from the guy who suspected old people to be conspire to waste younger people’s time. They grow up so fast…” Jozie commented with a little smile. It took a little subtlety to nuance the tease into a positive one.

She had a gut feeling that this wasn’t a story that ended with flowers and little cupids flying around. Mostly because of the way he spoke of it. In the past tense. Maybe because from this place perspective, it was in the past. But still… it rose some concerns. By keeping the conversation light, she hoped to avoid losing him again in one of his crisis. It was delicate to not fall into disrespect there…

“What can I say… I grew up, got a bit older. Couldn’t stay a misanthropic know-it-all forever.” He still laughed a little to the tease. “I just found more important in life than a childish vision. Someone who put a storm into a bottle, like you said. And the bottle was really comfortable, for a time.”

Jozie looked at him without a word for a moment. She realized that she had always kind of seen him like her weird little brother she had to protect, from himself sometimes. Socially awkward, loud mouthed and overly emotional. And now, he was talking to her like… an adult. A married adult. He wasn’t bragging. He wasn’t self-pitying. He was being realist and quite more mature. Part of her felt proud of him. The other admittedly felt uncomfortable that he might be somehow an equal now.

“She had to be one hell of a woman to cope with you indeed. Maybe an actual goddess, to make you change that much. You know the kind of miracles that turn water into wine, or Adams into respectable men, that sort of things...”

“Do you imply that I would I have never changed by myself?”

“Adam, be honest…”

“Alright, even I think that. I’m a stone-hard skull who always required the best on the task.”

“I prefer that…”
From the corner of her eye, Jozie could notice that one or two reptiles had appeared in the distance, intrigued. She saw them exchanging a look, lost by the interaction they witnessed. And despite the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, it made her laugh on the inside.

People also use to react like this, back in their city. The tone of their conversations could sometimes sound like they were scolding one another, about to cut each other’s throat in their most passionate exchanges. While in the core, it was only ever a game, roles they played naturally with each other. A fun dynamic to them, a cringing show to the rest of the world around. She had to admit, if shocking people was a fear when younger, it had turned into the biggest recurrent source of amusement. Faces were often priceless.

Adam also noticed the scaly watchers when he followed her look. Despite his rough appearance, he reacted in the good old way. An embarrassed expression and a swift avoidance of the stares. A bit more moderately than in her time though. And he hinted her on moving a bit further, until they reached the covered entrance of another cave. The cave where the dying lady was put under surveillance of the two dragons Adam used to hang out with.

“Do you think you’ll be okay?” He asked once he was sure the curious wouldn’t be looking anymore.

“Me? I should be the one to ask…” Jozie replied with a sincere surprise. “You’re the one who owe his life to pure luck. And now you tell me that you also have a wife waiting for you at home. How can you hold it together?”

“I don’t. Especially because my wife isn’t waiting for me at home anymore…” He sighed, sending some kind of dreadful confirmation to his old friend. “But one thing I know, is that fear won’t keep these guys away for long, like the old one said. And these reptiles, I’m starting to get results with them. If I crumble now, in no time they will be offering their throats to the blades of these savages again.”

“You really take this at heart, for someone who claimed he didn’t care.”

“I had to say I didn’t care. If these people thought I cared, they would have probably killed more after me, just to punish me…”

“So they were right, huh…”

“What are you talking about?”

“These dragons, Helios and Nimera. They didn’t believe you for a second, back then. They showed blind faith that it was a lie… Even that gigantic one you seem to know sounded convinced you had their interests at heart.”

Adam looked in the direction of the cave they were heading to. The one they left the unconscious lady in, under Helios’ surveillance. He looked a bit concerned. He never liked having the feeling to be read, but it was more than this. Like… embarrassment? Worries? Hard to tell…

“They probably think high of me because I must be some kind of storm for them too… A human that doesn’t kill them and survives a confrontation with his kind, I can guess it may look exceptional to them. They hang onto this, because otherwise, it would mean that they allow a potential killer to walk among them.”

“I don’t think they make a mistake here. I think you acquired their respect. They told me about things you did for them. And I didn’t believe them until I saw you facing these men. You can assume they are naïve, as you say, or maybe that they witnessed how hard you try. Like me.”

“Pff… Then they are fully naïve.” He rejected the idea instantly with a movement of the hand. “It’s stupid to glorify someone who just tries.”

“It’s not, when nobody does…” Jozie pointed. “If you don’t seek glory or recognition, it can only mean two things, Adam… Either the years turned you altruistic, or this fight has a particular meaning for you”

Adam looked around, then at her. It wasn’t his kind to measure his words, but he seemed to weight them before letting them out. Either he wasn’t sure, or didn’t want to tell.

“A bit of both, I guess… I think I just grew sick of gratuitous malevolence. I lied about not caring, because I didn’t lie on the rest. They are weak, defenseless, harmless. And… I’ve been there.” He bit his lip, like wondering if he should go further. Luckily, Jozie didn’t have to make him. “After you left, I realized how much I relied on you, depended on you. I tried to be kind and tolerant, to not repeat my mistakes. And I became a doormat. People are not nice toward people who are just kind. They can step on others without even being aware of it, or even shamelessly take advantage of them. Just because the victims don’t protest, or can’t represent a threat.
Until one day, I said stop. I wanted to be less scary to stop making people uneasy, but I understood they all thought I was just weak. So I showed them how strong I could be. To remind them that they took risks with me. That the guy they abused just because they could, might very well be more capable than them in that game if that truly was their wish to play. I had the strength to put limits, to stop being just nice and to be true instead.
But how many don’t? I stopped accepting to let bad guys thrive around me in our world because it reminded too much of what they did to me. I found it unfair. As a man who overcame this problem, I couldn’t let good people struggle eternally because of some douchebags I could literally break in half. I can’t accept it here either, because it’s even more grotesque. Someone has to show these people and these reptiles that being nice, doesn’t mean weak. And if anything, I’ll always be on the fairest side. To not forget where I come from. To not allow anyone to live such torment, when I can do something about it. Call it altruism if you like… I call it a never-ending battle for dignity.
And for that, hopefully, I don’t have to fight to death again. All I’d have to do, is make them unable to kill. Put a limit. This place is too vulnerable. I have to find a way to make it hard to take. So the reptiles living here can eventually say stop too.”

This left Jozie’s mind full of thoughts. So much had happened to him since the last time she saw him. Her old friend did mature eventually, the old hard way. With his own experience of good and bad. With his own decisions, with his own failures and success.

Ten years… It could sound like just a number, hard to measure in first mention. Maybe why it was so hard to relinquish what she knew about him. Time had given him some new traits, but even then, she saw her old friend in him. He still was her friend. But with much more to take into account now. Even his ideology and mentality had changed. It felt like she had to learn who he was from the very beginning, once again. However this time… the way he spoke made her want to.

It was less common that he seemed to think, to go through a social hell and still get out with the will to help those left behind. Most people she met in their old world, turned bitter, angry, and prone to perpetrate the cycle of harassment.

Jozie had her load of douchebags too, which she always put back in their place like they deserved. Annoyances, but who rarely tried a second time with her, at the risk of suffering more concrete lesson on how to respect limits. Because it felt easy, she used to get desperate by those who didn’t stand up for themselves. She took it as weakness, or lack of will. But because they were human, and thus had sometimes stupid reactions, it was also easy to think they deserved their condition.

Here, the woman found it harder to not agree with him. Was it because these creatures weren’t human? Like in the movies, when she felt sadder for a pet’s death rather than the main character’s? A natural sympathy toward a being who didn’t have a trace of evil in it, and couldn’t even understand why it happened? Strangely, this thought reminded her that they weren’t dealing with puppies and kittens. These creatures were intelligent, and only harmless because they chose to, because obviously… could a human even fight one of them, if they weren’t so submissive and waiting for their fate?

“By the way, don’t you find it strange?” Jozie voiced her interrogation. “Big reptiles, with sharp fangs and claws, probably carnivores… One might think they’d rule over this island as unchallenged masters, and yet they are the ideal victims. Not a single moment I felt threatened by their presence, however scary they might look at first glance. I realize I didn’t hesitate to entrust them the surveillance of a lady unable to defend…” Jozie felt little worries gaining her as she voiced it.

“I assure you the girl will still be untouched when we get in.” He nodded, a bit thoughtful. “You’re right, this is strange. I felt it too. You know me, I don’t give my trust easily. Yet I turned my back to them only minutes after I met them, certain they wouldn’t even think of attacking. I sense absolutely no trace of aggressivity in them. This is… unnatural, especially in their life conditions. I see no evolutive advantage in their passiveness and coward attitude. That doesn’t help to survive. And where do they come from? We didn’t have such creatures in our time… I’m glad I’m not the only one here to consider them as a mystery on their own. They make no sense.”

“Are you helping them, or studying them?” She suspected, whispering to not get heard.

“Can’t do both? In some extent, you are always studying those you spend time with. It’s natural” He shrugged. “It doesn’t spoil anything that they speak our language. Another mystery I can’t get… One million years has passed, and we still speak the same way. It’s unthinkable on such time scale… In fact, this whole island doesn’t make sense to me. I wouldn’t be surprised to realize that I’m in a weird dream, but this one I don’t seem to wake up from. So the best we can do is deal with it for now…”

“I hate to ask the annoying question but… how do we do that? As soon as they understand that we don’t have the explosive Killian threatened them with, nothing will stop them from trying again. It’s not like we had true means of defense or something.”

“Step by step.” Adam replied with a smile. “I think I know where Killian got his hands on those. There’s only one place nearby, one I couldn’t enter earlier, but which he must have had better luck with. I see no other explanation. We’ll see what we do once there. First things first, I really want to check on our guest. It’s on the way, and that should be worries easily wiped from our minds.”

“I agree, can’t get her out of my head either since we mentioned her.” Jozie sighed, a bit relieved to meet an objective that didn’t sound so hard to reach.

Both were about to finally step into the cave, when a big shape emerged from the darkness, first announced by distinguishable yellow eyes. To Jozie, strangely, it felt like a little relief too that the head that got into the light was a known face… or muzzle. These dragons were definitely scarier when not seen clearly, because in the light… nothing. Not even discomfort, or distrust. Now that she had put her finger on it, feeling like this about them was odd. Absence of fear toward a being dangerous in appearance, that she didn’t know so well, was not natural.

“Nimera? Is there a problem?” Adam asked, concerned.

The dragoness looked uncomfortable under their stare. She looked at Jozie, then stared at Adam hesitantly. It took her a few seconds to finally voice her request.

“N-No, Helios just insisted for me to ask you if he should do anything else with the sick female human now that the wound is closed?”

“So the bleeding has stopped. That’s good news.” Adam replied with a smile. “Let’s not make him wait then, we were about to come and check anyway.”

Following the dragoness, the humans sank deeper into the darkness of the cave. Until finally, they reached the room lit by the ceiling crystals. A soft blueish light that had an appeasing effect, in Jozie’s taste. When they entered, the unconscious lady was seemingly in the same state as they left her. The male dragon was even respecting a little distance, although Adam’s blood-soaked shirt was still wrapped around her arm.

Now that she thought about it, it was fortunate that she brought his vest back on this island. Jozie would have felt a bit uncomfortable to see Adam walking half-naked….

“So… has the bleeding stopped?” Adam asked, in a rhetorical way. Even Jozie could tell that the blood was almost dry on the fabric, when she came closer.

Even if Adam looked directly at the male dragon, the reptile looked around like he hoped someone else could be addressed to. So easily afraid, this truly was bizarre... Their appearances alone should have sufficed to define them as killing machines. In a simpler world, the woman could have just seen threats in them. But their behavior was too… nice, in contradiction with what they looked like. This bugged her more and more.

“mh… Yes, the wound is totally closed.” Helios replied a bit timidly.

“Excuse me?” Adam asked with surprise. “You said totally closed? You mean the blood stopped flowing out…”

“Y-Yes, that… but that’s normal when skin covers it, r-right?” the dragon asked like he was afraid to give a bad answer. Or simply intimidated.

Adam exchanged a look with Jozie. Both knew that the other was thinking about the same thing. She had seen the wound. It was quite deep; it had pierced into the biceps. The kind of bite wound that took weeks to heal, and usually left a scar. Both Adam and Jozie had the same reflex, going for a check. Adam carefully unwrapped the blood-soaked shirt he used as a fortune bandage, and revealed the arm of the woman.

Both froze at looking at the wound… or rather the absence of wound. They checked her entire arm, and even the other one in case they had ridiculously mistaken. But nothing. Just smooth, pale immaculate skin.

“How is that possible?” Adam voiced what Jozie thought.

“Do you think there’s a chance she’s a mutant with regenerative abilities? Or that they made huge improvements in their therapies?” Jozie suggested, while the two dragons timidly approached to watch.

“Or maybe another effect of this island… When I said this place doesn’t make sense…”

At this moment, the lady began to moan in what seemed to be distress. She didn’t wake up, but she squirmed a lot. Adam immediately took a step back, afraid he might have hurt her. Was she having a vivid nightmare?

“What’s happening to her?” Adam asked, visibly worried. “And… what’s that noise?”

Jozie was too focused on the helpless struggles of the sick lady to hear it until he made her notice. Like a long, constant disgusting fleshy sound that made her cringe. The source seemed to come from lady, who kept moaning in obvious discomfort with her back turned to them. And when she turned again to lay on her back, she finally calmed down, with a frown of discomfort on her face… There was something making a lump on her shirt, on her chest.

As Adam didn’t dare to go check, probably due to where the mass was, Jozie was the one to timidly step forward, and bring a hand under the clothes. Her fingers closed on a material that felt hard, like some kind of plastic, covered in disgusting fluids. And when she pulled it out, it revealed to be some kind of small object, with a tentacle like tube attached to it. Blood was dripping from it, letting guess that it wasn’t meant to be outside.

“What is that thing?” Jozie wondered, while Adam came closer to inspect. His eyes could tell that he was shocked, and thus, had a clue.

“I think it’s an implantable chamber… It’s used to inject products in arteries when regular veins are too damaged by the treatment. It’s like… her body rejected it. And quite radically.”

“Is that a good thing?” the male dragon asked with interest, visibly intrigued by this unknown object. At his side, the female used her tail to slap the back of his head. Clever. This he couldn’t bite.

“I’m not sure… but it was definitely not going to be of use here anyway. So she’s probably better off without it. She could be in some sort of healing process, but it’s too soon to tell…” Adam said with a little smile.

Jozie blinked, for she wasn’t sure of what she saw. But she did notice his eyes getting a bit humid in relief, even at the pale light of the crystals in the room. It was more than a possibility in his eyes, assuredly. And that simply seemed to make him… happy. Considering how hard the earlier hours of the day were, for once she didn’t want to tease him on his sensibility. Because it kind of touched her to see him sincerely moved.

“At least a good thing in that mess… I’m glad for her.” He concluded, putting the device on the ground next to the unconscious lady. He took off his vest and carefully put it under the head of the woman. “Maybe we should give her some space for now.”

Jozie was a bit concerned at seeing him taking back the blood-soaked shirt and unfolding it.

“You’re not going to put it back on you, are you? Urhhh….” She couldn’t hold back when Adam indeed put his head into the main hole of the disgusting clothe, and inserted his arms. To what he simply replied by pointing at his face, where traces of his enemies’ blood still were visible.

“At this point, do you think I should still care about hygiene? I’m probably already a concentrate of hepatitis and all kinds of infections with all the blood I’ve been covered in. At least this one’s dry. And this is until I get new clothes. By the way, I thought you had searched her?”

The question took Jozie out of her disgust to make her grin. To that, she couldn’t reply but with a teasing tone.

“Yes but not there, I have some decency… Nobody hides anything there, you watched too much porn.”

“Oh.” The female dragon by their side let out with a weird expression on the face. And Adam reacted instantly when her stare became too insistent on him.

“What?”

“I once asked the old one about exotic human words… I know what ‘porn’ is, I just didn’t imagine you used this…”

“What is it?” the male dragon asked with curiosity.

“For god’s sake!” Adam sighed, with a lassitude that made Jozie laugh frankly. After all these misfortunes and emotions, the woman couldn’t help but feel satisfied to give him this friendly public embarrassment. He turned toward Jozie, and stared at her with a little smile containing a desire for revenge. He put his hand in the horizontal in front of her, like to symbolize a level. “This is right below the day you made my father believe I was gay, Jozie.”

“Really? Yet I’m sure I’ve done better here.” She replied with a proud giggle. It wasn’t even intentional, but she loved seeing him feeling awkward, just like in the old times.

“It would have been, if the former didn’t happen on my eighteenth birthday. At least this time, I don’t care enough to spend three days convincing them of the opposite.” Adam replied, with a little smile on his own. She had to admit, this game of tease was more fun to play now that he recognized a good one. “So you, you stop making everyone believe I’m a pervert. Nimera you stop listening to every crap she says, and you Helios, don’t ask for things you’d regret to know. Does it work for everyone here?”

The dragons looked quite confused with a seemingly firm order spoken with a smile and almost goofy face. Although the female looked at them like she had somehow understood it wasn’t serious matter, the male took it for a genuine scolding. The poor things wouldn’t have lasted long in their city, if that was all it took to unease them!

“And you? What shall be your part of the job?” Jozie asked with a smirk.

Adam glanced at the unconscious lady, definitely sleeping more peacefully than minutes earlier. And he smiled. Surviving the encounter with an army had seemingly gone way over his head, but strangely seeing a hope for her was enough to make him smile.

“With her being out of my concern list for now, it leaves finding means of protecting the place. But we still need someone to keep an eye on her, just in case… Helios, thanks for volunteering.”

“Me? Why me?”

“And why not? Besides, you want me to teach you to defend, right?”

“I… don’t see the connection…” The male insisted.

Adam looked at him, with a face he tried to make severe. But Jozie could notice little twitches in the corners of his lips, and wriggling fingers in his hands. He hoped Helios would protest, and was happy he did, on the inside.

“You probably learnt by now that you could be dangerous. You’re big, you have more natural weapons than I have. So you need to learn to be even more careful than I am. if you want to learn how to fight, you’re going to first prove that you care enough about others to measure your gestures. I’m not going to teach a mindless cloud to become a reckless storm. Prove you can take care of someone weaker, then I’ll teach you to beat someone stronger. That’s how I work, and It’s not negotiable if you want to keep training with me.
Plus, after Jozie and me, you’re probably the only one I’d judge worthy enough to remain here. If humans come, you can alert us with a roar, and last long enough for us to come to the rescue. Don’t jump to the conclusion this is inevitably a punishment. This is a proof of trust because you, unlike all your friends, you already proved you could hit a human. Be aware that the more I’ll teach you, the more I’ll tend to rely on you. This is a tacit term of our agreement. There are many to defend, and too few who can fight. I need to know if I can count on you, Helios.”

“You can.” The male dragon replied with a slightly more assertive tone.

The speech made Jozie rise an eyebrow. In ten years, he also learnt how to talk and convince! She thought he’d use authority, like many when facing reluctancy. But he actually made it understandable and acceptable for the dragon. And this, considering where he started, blew her mind.

It still was a form of authority, Adam didn’t leave him much choice despite the appearances. But more… subtle. ‘Subtle’ and ‘Adam’ without a form of negation was like dividing by zero to Jozie. It gave an impossible result. The day Adam talked with patience and rationality to someone not agreeing to his point of view, definitely would have fitted in the case ‘impossible’. And yet, she witnessed it with a pinch of amazement.

“So, where’s out next stop?” Jozie asked. “You said it was on the way.”

“Indeed… Ladies, we’re going underground!” He announced joyfully, taking the lead toward the corner of the room. Toward stairs that Jozie hadn’t noticed until now.