Indebted

40

Esti had stayed up all night. Sat as close to the crumbling cliff face as she dared. Positioning herself such that she knew she was looking at the direction Atticus was. Getting farther from her each moment. Had he been exiled? Was he traveling as a prisoner or was he moving farther from her of his own choice? There was no way for her to tell, and the uncertainty was eating her alive.

Esti was trying to decipher what she had felt. He had been hurt, attacked, or worse, then it felt like something numbing and cold had washed over her, and there was less of Atticus. He has masked the bond. A voice that wasn't her own, inside her head again.

Esti shook her head. Looking for Atticus. He is hiding his experience from us, you will not find what you seek. The condescending voice of her dragon in her head again. Esti did not like the intruding presence as much as she felt she should. All her friends and peers with a dragon or beast spoke of how connected they felt. Esti was only feeling judged and found wanting by her surprise dragon.

"Why do you seem all fine with this?" Esti asked, out loud. Her words only heard by the winds whistling through the rocks. Dragons know. Esti wanted to trust the voice. "Why did you kill Quwent?" Esti asked. Out loud. Much too her dragon's disapointment.

No need for words, focus otherwise we will never be able to function in populations.

Esti nodded her head, hearing the dragon make a rather frustrated sound. You were supposed to be a child. The dragon lamented.

"I'm sorry." Esti said mindlessly, staring out over the horizon. Unsure what she was sorry for, just knowing she felt full of regrets, and hurts that never got to be resolved. Atticus had changed through her muted bond. He was moving farther, and farther away from her. She could feel the distance grow. Everything else still muted. 

Her parents dead or fled. 

Her dragon seeming to be disappointed with Esti in every way. 

Atticus fleeing farther from her. 

The weight of her life, what she was trying to hold on to was all growing too heavy.

The dragon, though it would never let it on, was just as confused and uncertain of their life as Esti was. The dragon not expecting what she saw in the memories of the lifetime they had missed. Atticus will come for us.  The bond was true. Opal the dragon knew it. 

The dragon promised. Unable to admit they had made a mistake in being harsh with Esti. Esti was not weak. That the girl wasn't a broken mess locked in a padded room or drowned in a well should have been more than sufficient proof to the dragon that the winds of fate were dancing nearby. Plucking and reweaving what should have been for what might be. Dragons were always selfish by nature, and all Opal could focus on, was how much things were not as they were supposed to be.

Esti was a waking ghost, a shell of herself ever since Atticus blocked their connection. The dragon nudged control away from the shocked girl. Beckoning Esti to rise, and head into the cottage. A hot shower, The dragon fully enjoyed the familiar tasks of ablutions. Afterwards, taking care to moisturize Esti's human skin afterward. Taking the time to oil, and set Esti's hair so it would fall in pretty waves in the morning. Before retiring to the comfortable bed, naked. Letting Esti fall into a deep sleep, the dragon sought her mate in the dreamworld. Seeking explanations. Glad that with everything that had happened, Esti had forgotten to question why Quwent had died that morning.

Opal had acted beastly after too long confined and suppressed. Esti's hatred, and anger twisted with memories of how he had manipulated and pressured her, along with the dark thoughts in Quwent's mind; It had been a maelstrom of emotions while experiencing a first shift. Opal and Esti should have met when Esti had still been a child, safe and protected during such a momentous occasion. Instead Opal found herself shifting, a complete lack of childish innocence from Esti, years missing in her timeline. A sense of awareness of the shared dragon memories flowing slowly towards Opal. Times had changed, drastically.