It took four days of travel to get to the northern lords' main territory.
The route we had traveled, took us to the back side of the mountain that held the northern palace. The mountain was huge; it reached above the clouds blocking the sight of its peak.
"Any hopes that the palace is below the cloud line?" I muse, eyeing the cliff sides with caution.
"Not likely..." A hand slid across my back and settled on my hip. Sesshomarus nose brushed against my temple as he murmured in my ear "from my families records, its near, if not fully at the top. An advantage to ambush trespassers"
I close my eyes, willing away the heat in my cheeks. Now was not the time to think about the demon lords' affections.
"I'm assuming you will be going the rest of the way on your own?"
There was a beat of silence, his hand squeezing my hip.
"...Rin will stay with Jaken and Ah-Un. If you would like to join me, I am more than capable of protecting you" He spoke after a moment, seemingly contemplating his words.
I blink, turning my head to look at him, only to make eye contact as he was already staring at me.
"Will I not get in your way?"
"Never"
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After leaving Rin in the care of our two companions for protection, Sesshomaru and I began our accent up the mountain.
The journey up the mountain was going to be a complex path through thick clusters of trees and long winding tunnels systems within the mountain.
"They use the clouds to their advantage. Anyone who fly's is as good as dead, I cannot protect you in an air ambush" Sesshomaru patiently explained when I had questioned why we weren't flying.
"Speaking from experience?" I muse as we enter the first cave of many.
"All dragons show the same hunting patterns when in the air. That is why they are fairly predictable; they see no point in changing something that works" the dog demon scoffed.
"That is pretty foolish" I nod to myself "When I learned history in the future, Patterns like that always end in failure" I sigh with a shake of my head.
"You much of had knowledgeable tutors"
"Oh no. It's taught to everyone! Most humans in the future despise it but there's going to be a thing called public schools..."
Discussing the future or education and public-school systems was an unexpected topic to fill our travel time but it definitely worked.
By the time I got done explaining the Japanese grade system, along with the mind-boggling concept of going abroad to a different country for learning. sesshomaru was thoroughly shocked learning of humans being able to travel that far, I vaguely brushed past the topic of human air travel to save both of our sanities. It has now been a few hours.
We had reached a good halfway point; the air was thinner with us being up so high. It was starting to get dark, but I could see how close the clouds were now.
"It will be difficult to maneuver around once we reach the clouds" I point out, settling down next to the dog demon in the small grotto we came across. It was just big enough for us to lay in if we wanted. Currently we were sitting with our backs against the wall facing the entrance.
"Once we reach the point of no sight, we will fly. I know no dragon to be able to see through the thick of clouds." Sesshomaru soothed, wrapping his fur around me when he noticed I started to shiver.
"Do dragons have a strong sense of smell like Inu Yokai?" I blink, tilting my head when he snorted at my question.
"Quite the opposite. A dragons power mostly resides in the mouth. the most common ability is to breath fire..." He trailed off, looking down to meet my eyes.
"you're telling me..." my mouth drops when all he does is twitch his lips up.
"Oh, there's no way they're that foolish"
"Indeed, my dearest"
A/N: I got paranoid half way though writing this thinking I was writing the word cloud too many times lmao
