Water Touched - A Dragon Tribe Origin

Chapter Eleven - Tai

Darien was thinking something. Tai got blips of his thoughts into her mind, but they were coming in like a walkie-talkie with a low battery, full of static and unclear.

Are you hearing me the same way I'm hearing you? There was no response. "Fine, ignore me." She walked through the hall of what he called her new home and tried to take it all in. It was a beautiful building. For an apartment, it still had a nice homey feel to it similar to a house. Actually, if she hadn't gazed out the window to notice they were on an upper floor, she'd have made the assumption she was in a mansion of some kind. It was so large. The one floor was the size of her entire house growing up. No, she thought as she rounded the corner to see another endless hallway, it's bigger.

While she'd originally wanted to curl up in bed and eat the bagels Darien had brought her, the idea of him stepping out of the bathroom and possibly confronting her again gave her all the motivation she needed to explore instead. She needed to walk, to clear her head, to figure out some kind of a plan for what to do next. And she was also a whole lot hungrier than just a bagel could satisfy.

He said to the right... She followed the hallway to where she hoped the kitchen was. Upon entering the room, she saw two other young women who didn't look much older than her. Both were a whole lot prettier than she'd ever be. They were putting together meals for a group of little boys sitting around the dining table tucked against the far wall. None of the boys could have been older than three.

"Hi, you must be Tai," one of the women said. She had gorgeous long, brown hair that flowed past her shoulders. There was something classy, almost regal, in her appearance and poise. Her skirt and blue blouse didn't have a crease, and her hair was pulled back with a matching ribbon. Cute, yet sophisticated, and she radiated with a great deal of confidence like she owned the room and wanted anyone to try and fight her for it.

The woman held out her hand. "My name is Katelyn. It's so good to finally meet you! Are you hungry? I'm making some pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Or if you'd rather have something else, I can whip that up too."

Tai didn't want to say yes, to inconvenience Katelyn even more than she probably already was, but her stomach rumbled at the thought of a solid homemade breakfast. How could she say no? "Maybe one," she said nervously. Darien had said everyone was nice, but what if he was wrong? What if they decided to treat her poorly because of how she was treating him? Clearly, he'd already told them something about her.

"It's a lot, I know," Katelyn said.

"I have a big stomach," Tai said. "We'll go for two."

Katelyn laughed. "I meant waking up here for the first time. We've all been in this position before. He doesn't mean you any harm, none of his family does. You'll be surprised to find you are so deeply cherished by him. Honestly, he's been gushing about you for years."

Years? Tai blinked, not realizing it had been so long. Sure the dragons had followed her around for a long time. She vaguely remembered noticing it starting when she was eleven or so. There was a distinct memory of two flying overhead while she was at an outing with her mother. A larger dragon and a smaller one. From that moment on, she only saw one in the sky every six or seven months—until the past year. The dragon had been around at least once a month, sometimes twice, to survey the island. Knowing what she knew now about the mystical species, the pieces slowly started to fall into place. It was you.

Huh? Was the reply she got from him.

Never mind, we'll save it for dinner. She'd been quiet for too long. "I know the intentions are good and all. Not having a say in the matter is a big problem for me, though. Can't say this was how I wanted to meet my future husband. On the plus side, takes the guess work out of the process, right? Can't find a guy, get a dragon to steal you." She tried to not sound so bitter when she said it if only for the sake of being polite. Katelyn and her other, now, sister-in-law were not the ones responsible for what happened to her. Tai didn't want to take out her anger and frustrations on them.