When Destiny Burns, Ep. 1: A Halo and Inheritance Cycle Crossover

Chapter 5. 4 Operator pt. 2

He did not feel very fond of the prospect of waiting for months at and end, especially not when there wasn't anything he could do about it. However...if he were to spend his time stuck in this world...he might as well do some cleaning.

He had an empire to tear down. And his dragon could assist him in doing so.

After an hour of three of nonstop marching, the dragon swooped down from above.

"Done?" He asked her.

She did not answer.

That meant she was either shocked by something, or still mad at him. And given her complete lack of injuries or natural predators, it had to be the second one.

He liked silence in its natural form alright, but he did not want Aeraleth to remain silent for a prolonged period. He was going to work together with her for what was probably a very long while, she he might as well make something good out of it.

She touched down on the ground and folded her giant wins.

"Aeraleth?" He asked her, trying to get her attention.

Silence in his head.

"Are you suited for diplomatic negotiations? "

A tang of surprise ran through their mental bond and she indulged herself in answering him, albeit in a snarky and angry fashion. 'I am a dragon; diplomacy is something I am ill-suited for.'

"Then we may have a problem."

'How so?'

"I'm not suited either."

Aeraleth couldn't keep herself under control and a deep reverberating growl escaped her throat. He felt that she was amused and quickly realized that she was laughing.

'You, not suited for building relationships with people? How surprising!'

What? She didn't know that already? "No, really. Talking generally doesn't work for me."

The dragon's laughing grew louder and he could actually see her flanks rising and falling rapidly with each deep breath she took in her laughing fit. 'I would have never figured that out on my own.'

"Pay closer attention, then?"

The dragon turned around and confronted him again with her face. She was now officially larger than he was, standing a full head higher than him. Her body had to be longer than eight meters right now; her talons were almost as large as his combat knife and some of her teeth were already of that size.

'I was being sarcastic,' She told him with a hint of amusement.

Ah. That explained it. It was a problem that had a tendency to reoccur quite a few times; he was unable to properly understand sarcasm and neither could he convey it himself. Lucky for him, sarcasm wasn't used that frequently in his life. But still, it was another obstacle that stood in his way when it came to diplomatic relationships.

"I didn't realize that," The Spartan said. He found it rather hard to formulate his thoughts and sentences in a way that did not insult the dragoness. He had decided that he wanted to make the best out of whatever time they had, but that did not mean he could overcome the communications-blockade just like that. So if he had to talk in a way that did not directly relate to issuing or executing orders, he really had to struggle to find the proper words.

They continued to Beors, both Spartan and dragon trying to overcome their communication problems.

'How come someone like you found himself here?'