The tale of the fox and the dragon egg

Chapter 25 - The nameless friend

With the dark hair covering Lan Zhan's face from the side, it was not possible for Wei Ying to catch a glimpse. He did not need to.

"You knew the immortal?", he questioned, silver eyes travelling to the still glowing scale in front of them.

With the silence that followed, Wei Ying couldn't help but fidget in his place. By the look of the dragon,he had expected that. Maybe not the silent minutes that followed.

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The woods of the burial mounds stretched far and wide in front of them.

Wei Ying had always wondered how such a thick forest with hungry huge trees could withstand the harsh sun with the high temperatures in the day and the cold winter of the night. Maybe the leaves were long accommodated to such a housing, but the rapid change would bring everyone to their knees in the end.

Maybe not him. But he was not everyone.

It was strange, to see this place from up above like this. And not fear for his life. The first time that he was thrown into the Burial Mounds was a nightmare and the last time he left them too. Both were on swords, him in an iron grip and look at him now!

Standing on top of a blade, not held down, but out of his own free will!

There were still some hands, clawing at the back of his mind, because this couldn't be right. On a blade, above the Burial Mounds? Was he crazy?

The answer was yes.

Especially when he thought of why he was here in the first place and who was standing behind him on this thin blade. Strangely enough, the dragon behind him remained like a strong boulder he could lean onto. It was surprising. For the last days, there was nothing good between them, or at least the fox had thought so.

The embarrassment of the more than dramatic situation with that – that – that beast on four paws as well as the shame after it – because who ran to the one person, he swore to ignore then and screamed to safe him? – kept him on his toes. But once again, after he expected a question, a speech, some words, anything at all, Lan Zhan stayed quiet.

This was Lan Zhan, he reminded himself, he didn't talk much anyway.

But maybe he liked him because of exactly that.

They were able to stay in silence, without it being too much to weight them down. Especially on the first day of their travel, when he heard the calls of his little radish grow less and less, more silent as the distance between them grew. Wei Ying mourned the loss of his little A-Yuan's words and hated that his body finally relaxed after so many days with the cries of his child in the back of his mind.

As a result of his finally relaxing shoulders, his mood slowly got better, but the grieve and guilt grew.

With all the time at hand, the fox had the opportunity to truly think about his own thoughts, feelings and what he did. To Lan Zhan in particular.

Truly, Wei Ying didn't feel shame in a very large section of his life. Only thinking back towards his years as a young spirit and the countless shameless deeds he allowed himself, even he cringed now. Thankfully, Lan Zhan did not know him back then. He didn't want to think about what he would have thought of him!

Thankfully for him, he finally had a chance to open his mouth. Within the first day, right towards the end, he had been fidgeting on his sword. And after they landed to rest for the night, Wei Ying's eyes had followed the dragon through every motion of starting a fire and rumouring in his pouches.

Wei Ying had been trying to get himself to open his mouth, but he was never good in this.

It was too late the moment Lan Zhan pressed two steamed buns into his hands. All the courage left him as the fox leaned against the tree and dove into his meal, distracting himself from the failure he felt that was himself. He couldn't even open his mouth right now!