A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 145: Fangre Was Home

"Hey!" He knocked at the door, almost banging it off its hinges. He never really did learn his strength, and years brought no wisdom in magic learning. "Are you going to get up, or just stay inside all day? There's a lot to do to prepare for winter. Or, are you just going to keep freeloading off the rest of us when we're actually putting in work all day?"

     "Stop lying. All you do is sleep anyway. Anastasia does more just by existing."

     "Harsh," Romulus responded, still banging on the door. He normally disliked his human form, since it took so much longer to get anywhere, but it was far past ridiculous at that point. Every Dragon that bothered to care or at least stick their nose into the situation took on the form and tried their hand at rousing the halfling from her own misery. "Hey, Ana! If you don't at least go hunting today, then Tear Fang's going to kick you out! He's coming back from Kera today!"

     But the room remained silent, its round wood door still in place. Their noses didn't pick up the smell of fire, so she must've not lit it recently.

     And the two Dragons began to worry, just a bit. No one had actually managed to see the lady since she holed up in her room a month prior. For sure, it coincided with the departure of the girl. As far as Lucia's expressions went, and the obvious behavior her daughter was exhibiting, it didn't seem as if they'd had the chance to reconcile.

     "She's not dead, is she?" Romulus turned to his partner, bronze scales itching where they'd failed to pull away from skin. He felt so vulnerable, and the prospect of having to bury a dead human made it feel like bugs were crawling on him. "She's still part Dragon. She doesn't need food that often, right?"

     Beo shrugged. His own yellow scales dotted his face decoratively, not from lack of skill, unlike his counterparts. "She's still part human, too. It's been a month. I wouldn't be surprised if she was dead."

     "But she's the daughter of a goddess and the mother of a Deviant. She can't die that easily."

     Beo turned with heavily-downward-pulling eyebrows. "You don't seem to understand human anatomy. Maybe I should drag you out of Fangre for once, and make you explore the world?"

     "I'm not trying to get slain by a god." Romulus turned back to the door, feeling his own arms awkwardly while crossing them. "I'll stay right here."

     It didn't smell like "rotting corpse," and they most definitely both knew what that smelled like. In fact, it didn't smell like anything at all.

     "Should we?"

     "Be my guest," Beo waved a hand towards the door, stepping back. His voice hit the air without context to anyone that hadn't been listening with their minds. "If the halfling is dead, I'm not telling Lucia."

     "And I'm not telling Tear Fang."

     The two Dragons glanced at each other one last time. They were somewhat attached to the halfling that had grown up in their community for eleven years before firing off on her own adventure in defiance of her parents. It wasn't much, besides teaching her how to hunt, attempting to teach her how to roar, and failing in teaching her how to fly.

     But it was enough to make them pause for a few more moments, before Romulus grabbed onto the handle and-

     "What?"

     "..."

     There was no one inside.

     "Thank Berdine," they sighed, letting a tension out of their chests they hadn't noticed was there.