The Dragon Prince - Soren x reader (f)

- Over Hills and Up the Tower -

It takes us about 3 days until we see the tower in the distance. But we make it.

By the end of the ride, Soren's once smooth face has become adorned with stubble. I think it suits him quite well. And even though it takes a while to get there, it was a lot of fun along the way.

Sure, we had a great deal of land to cover, but oh my lord, riding horseback through Xadia.

It's indescribable. Absolute beauty.

Our first day was more focused on finding supplies to make sure we actually got to our destination. The night before we managed to grab a sack of food and some water skins.

But it wouldn't be enough.

So that first day wasn't as fast as we wanted. We stopped by every fruit tree we could find, trusting my memory of poisonous and safe food.

Luckily I could remember my lessons well.

We found this star-shaped blue fruit that Phillip took an immediate liking to. They were sweet with a bit of tang and the perfect amount of juice. Soren stuffed a lot of them in his bag. Although most of the day was silent. I could tell he was upset about Claudia, he had every right to be. And Viren...

Words can't describe what his father has become.

That evening we talked about the whole situation. He confided in me and I was beyond grateful. It was just like old times.

I completely understood his grief with his sister not joining us. It hurt him to leave her behind. "But," he told me, "if I could go back and change what I did... I wouldn't." I smiled at the statement. "I'm glad you're with me," he said.

"It would've been better if Claudia joined us also," I voiced his own thoughts. He smiled at me with a sure nod. "What happened to your father, Soren... is indescribable. And I'm so sorry." I apologised. "Claudia just can't realise what he has become... Denial is the way we handle what we can't handle," I explained. It was true.

He nodded at me, his expression downcast. But then he looked up and smiled. We had a good sleep that night, a couple hours after sunset till sunrise. It was a sense of normalcy. Neither of us had slept that well in a while.

The second day was when the tides really changed.

It was overall quite good for riding. We got in a nice chunk of the distance and only took a break when the horses wanted one. That's why, when we were riding through a rainforest area and came across a lake, we thought it best to set up camp then and there.

The sun was just about to set but the air was thick with humidity. Soren was fanning himself with a giant leaf to cool down.

But then it hit me.

The lake.

Which as the moon came out, I noticed was a Silverlake.

I only ever knew the ones close to my home, I didn't even think that more would be scattered across Xadia. You are able to decipher them from normal lakes only when the moon is out.

Because when the light hits the surface... the water glows.

And I'm not talking just some mere shininess. I'm talking millions of individual sparkling blue particles that are like a spectacular galaxy of stars.

It's truly beautiful.

"Hey, Soren," I called over. "How about we strip off some of his armour and get cooled off?" I asked, tilting my head towards the water. It wasn't big by any means, but still a decent 15 meters across. It would probably get to 3 meters deep in the middle. Perfect for swimming.