Dragon's Key--Complete

Chapter Four

I woke the next morning feeling rested and well.  I had slept a full nine hours completely undisturbed and it felt good.  It had been a long time since I had allowed myself so much sleep that it felt decadent.

I stretched and then suddenly remembered that I hadn't left a note or anything for Henry and he would have no idea that Aaron was now a guest.  I suddenly prayed that he hadn't tried to lock Aaron back up in the basement.

Suddenly, I scrambled up and darted into the bathroom to get showered up.  I took an extra short shower, though my hair took longer than usual to wash.  It almost felt like it had been getting thicker since I'd been here and it distracted me for a few minutes before I finished up and darted out of the shower.

I only patted my hair dry and then twisted it to a loose bun atop my head and secured with a large, fluffy elastic.  It would leave some of it to the air to dry but wouldn't be getting my clothes wet like a braid would.

I dressed quickly and walked quickly over to knock on the door between rooms after turning the lock so that it was possible to open it.  I waited and there was no answer for the longest time.  I knocked again, starting to get worried and the door opened finally.

I looked up expectantly and wasn't disappointed.  Aaron was standing there in jeans and a t-shirt.  The jeans fit him perfectly, just a little tight without being impossible to move in.  The shirt, however, was just a bit too small, stretching across his chest.  My eyes moved down again and I grinned.  He was still barefoot.

“I'm surprised that you were able to find things that fit you so well among my father's clothes,” I said after a moment, amused.  There was no way they were so close in size.

“They're not your da's,” he said simply, moving back from the door to let me step into the room with him.  He stood there awkwardly by the open door, shifting back and forth on his feet.  “These clothes are strange though.  They're not the same fabrics and I'm not used to it.  It was always cast-offs that never fit down below.”

I had been exploring the room with my eyes while he spoke, to see if anything was different since last night.  At his last words, I turned in surprise, confused.  “Those aren't cast-offs?”

He shook his head.  “Henry stuck his head in this mornin'.  Said he'd been plannin' for me to be let go ever since Albert got sick.  He guessed at the sizes and that's why they don't fit.”

I looked him over once again, trying not to linger in any one place.  “I wouldn't say that they don't fit.  I am sure that if we drove to Cardiff right now, you'd fit right in.” Save for that hair.  It was long and thick and swinging along behind him almost absently, which seemed strange since I hadn't noticed him move his head enough to make his hair sway like that.  It drew me.  I wanted to touch it.

“You're sure? It seems tight to me,” he said, tugging on the shoulders of the t-shirt to get it to loosen up.

I turned quickly and walked over to the window to look outside and check the weather.  “I'm sure.  It's usual for men with uh, a muscled physique, to want to show off their hard work.” I was distracting myself, but also I was also thinking about how best to get him out of the house today.  It had probably been years since he'd been in a car.  I wasn't sure, but I thought that speed limits had been much lower in years past so he wouldn't be used to the current speeds.

He looked confused for a moment, looking down at how the shirt stretched over his chest and then back at me.  “My people have never had a difficult time with building strength.  It was harder for me, in that room, to stay strong.  Do you know, in a room that size, you can run in place, do push-ups and sit-ups and that's about it?”