Water Touched - A Dragon Tribe Origin

Chapter Thirteen - Tai

Awkward would have been one word to describe her dinner with Darien. Creepy was another, not to say he was creepy exactly, but the situation they were in together was unsettling. She appreciated him at least trying to make an effort. The table in their den was set with a couple of candles, and his cooking wasn't horrible either. He claimed to have made dinner himself. Classic baked chicken and mashed potatoes, not fancy necessarily, but more of an effort than pizza or take out.

"Y-you had something you wanted to ask me?" he inquired quietly as he picked through his food. He seemed to feel the same way she did: uncomfortable, and unsure, and not all too hungry. "Earlier, I mean, you mentioned something, I mean."

"This is going to seem kind of strange," she started and then paused for a moment, trying to find the right way to ask. "This whole thing is weird. Although, maybe to you it's not weird at all. Anyway, dragons have been following me around my whole life. Was that you?"

He actually choked on his food, coughing and pounding at his chest before taking a drink from his water glass. "Y-yeah?" He shifted some and cleared his throat, seeming to regain some confidence. "I-I mean, yeah, i-it was. M-me."

"Why?" She set her fork down and gazed at him from across the table, leaning forward in curiosity.

"I thought you were interesting," he said. "All of my life, I was told I was going to find my future bride on your island. I was told to think carefully over my decision. When I first saw you, I didn't know necessarily if you were the one, but as time passed, and I kept surveying the island I found myself drawn to you again and again. I liked watching you."

"You liked stalking me," she said, her gaze narrowing.

"Y-yes, if you have to call it that," he said, and glanced down at his hands. He frowned. "T-there wasn't any other way to make sure you were still eligible unless I checked up on you. I didn't spy through your windows and watch you undress or anything. Most of the time I watched you walk the beach. Public places where I could get a-a taste of who you were. I found comfort in seeing you on occasion, and then when time got closer and closer to our wedding date, knowing you were going to be with me. Y-you noticed me. Did you feel anything?"

She shrugged and took a small bite, thinking through what he said, completely forgetting about their psychic connection and that she was about to repeat herself when she spoke out loud. "I thought maybe I was supposed to be a priestess or something. I always wondered if there was a reason the dragons, or you, I guess, followed me around so much. I was just wondering."

"I-it's how I fell in love with you," he whispered. She barely heard him say it.

"You honestly think that?" She hoped it didn't sound judgmental. All she wanted was to understand where his head was at.

"Yeah, I do." His solemn gaze was enough to convince her that he believed every word he said.

Tai chewed on her lower lip for a moment, then spoke before her mind could do it for her. "I think you're a little delusional, Darien. We don't know each other." How could he honestly think this was true love and destiny? He nodded at her slowly, every second slouching more in his seat as if he were trying to hide from her. "I think you have a lot to learn about how to make a girl love you, and one of them isn't marrying her and...well...you know, the first night you meet her."

"I only went through with it because you wanted me to. If I remember correctly, you were pretty insistent," he explained. "And don't even start with the whole, 'you didn't know what was going on' thing."

She glared at him. "Knowing you were a dragon, and we were married, and being with you was going to change me physically afterward, would have made me think through it a little more carefully."