The Girl Who Fell From the Heavens

Dragon and Date

The dragon closed in. When it drew near it started lazily circling the group.

"Ah, so you are the fallen star I have heard so much about," it said in a masculine voice. "I have come to snuff out your flame."

Yula bared her teeth and snarled at the dragon.

"I won't let you," she growled.

"Then let us fight! I just hope you can fight and defend your friends at the same time."

The dragon stopped in front of the group and hovered in place, its great wings sending gusts of wind down at the group. Then, it opened its mouth and released a torrent of fire, turning the night to day. Yula leapt off her horse at the stream of fire. Her fingers lit ablaze, yet they did not burn, and the stream of fire split in two, each stream going off to the side. It was uncomfortably hot, but nothing more. Yula stood in the air, splitting the stream until it flickered and failed. The dragon flew at her and snapped its jaws at her. Yula dodged and ran down the dragon's neck, raking her claws on the dragon's flesh as she went, giving it a large, deep cut. Then, she leapt off the dragon, only to get whipped by its tail, sending her flying down to the earth, where she made a small crater.

Yula stood slowly. She thought that had hurt, but other than that, she was unharmed. The dragon had landed now, and was swiping at Jesper and the others with is claws. Jiro was parrying each blow, while Jesper worked to keep the horses clam and retreat. Water gathered on each of Yula's fingers. She clawed at the air and a massive wave of water came out from the ground before her. It swept the dragon away. Then, it froze, trapping much of the dragon's body within the ice.

The dragon thrashed about and breathed fire, but to no avail. Yula ran up to the beast and tore its throat open. With that, the dragon broke free of the ice and snapped its jaws at Yula. She easily stepped back out of range. The dragon took to the skies once more.

Small tornados surrounded Yula's fingers. She clawed downwards and a massive gust of wind forced the dragon back to the ground. Rocks formed around Yulas fingers and she clawed upwards, causing spikes of earth to erupt from the ground and impale the dragon. The dragon thrashed about on the spikes and broke free, but its movements had slowed and its breathing was heavy and ragged. Blood poured forth from its wounds. The dragon took to the skies again and made to slam its body down on top of Yula. Yula simply moved out of the way and calmly walked up to the dying dragon as it lay on the ground. With a swipe of her claws, she beheaded the beast.

Yula then made her way back to the group.

"That was incredible..." breathed Jesper.

"Something special indeed," said Jiro.

"That was so cool!" exclaimed Tina.

"Yes, it was," said Kira.

Yula shook her head.

"It wasn't anything like that," she said.

"You saved us all and killed a dragon," said Jesper. "Don't downplay that."

"Okay," said Yula.

Jesper patted her on the head, then he looked around and his face turned red.

"Well, we had best get back," said Jiro.

The five went back to the castle. Jiro went to report what had happened to the king while the others returned to their respective rooms. Jesper and Yula went to sleep together.

The next day, as they bathed, Jesper had something to ask Yula.

"Yula," he said, "yesterday made me realize something: life is short and it may end at any moment. So, I wanted to ask you, will you go on a date with me?"

Yula tilted her head and blinked.

"Date?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know, we'd go out into town, just the two of us. We'd eat at a nice restaurant, go see a play, whatever you want."

"Isn't that what we always do?"

"Yes... but now it would be official."

Yula nodded.

"That sounds nice," she said.

Jesper's mouth curled upwards at that. That made Yula feel warm inside.

They went on their date later that day. They went to the best restaurant Jesper could afford. It wasn't as fancy as the previous day's, but Yula was happy with it. The food was still good and the portions were much bigger. Yula ate a sandwich with beef and melted cheese, while Jesper had some kind of pasta. After that, they went to see a play. It was about a boy's journey to become king of the pirates. Yula didn't think it was as good as the other one, but it was still enjoyable. They also ate more of those salty snacks, which Yula enjoyed.

When the date was done, they returned to their room and laid in bed together. As they did that, Jesper pressed his lips against Yula's and made a kissing sound.

Yula tilted her head and blinked.

"What was that?" she asked.

"A kiss," said Jesper.

"Why did you do that? Only my mother ever kissed me and never on my lips."

"It's a show of affection between couples."

"Oh."

Yula kissed Jesper on the lips.

"I like it," she said.

Then she kissed him again.

Then, she went back to listening to his heart and fell into sleep.