Bonded

Chapter One

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India
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"I wish you would not do this, Kavya... I... I love your hair just the way that it is..." I do not mean to eavesdrop... But as the voices grow closer I cannot seem to keep my ears to myself...

Everything is so quiet here in the south wing's library, most people choosing to go to the grand library instead of this minuscule one tucked away... It's normally the perfect place for me to study... Not today though... Not with whoever that is coming so very close... Almost as if they might... join... me...

No sooner than I am done with the thought my suspicion is proven true, their voices drawing ever closer, my solitude disrupted as I fall prey to more of their conversation instead of focusing once more on the scrolls in front of me... Normally I would never... But... For some reason... I can not seem to lean away from them, their voices carrying so very well through this cluttered room of scrolls in drawers...

"I've told you so many times, Ronin... My hair makes us stand out too much... The other men already think we're strange... Even as a pair... Let us just collect the ink and then leave this place... I would rather like to have time alone with you before our shift this evening and I do not want all of it wasted on you helping me wash ink through my hair.." Their voices seem to call to the core of my being even though the words I hear brings heat to my face, my eyes tugging themselves so far to the side that I have no other choice but to turn my head to try and see if I may spot one of the mysterious men entering the one chamber of this palace that is usually my sanctuary...

My curiosity demanding to know who the pairing is...

And if they mean bonded in the same way that I think they do... Like how my tutor Master Qiao found himself bonded to one of my peers... Jian... The two of them not complete without the other... Constantly needing to be around one and other...But not ready to marry...

In the case of Master Qiao and Jian... It would be too inappropriate for the two of them to marry at the moment, Jian still his pupil currently... So the two of them are waiting to perform the ceremony that will give their dragons a great sense of peace... The wedding brand being something that Jian talks about endlessly every time we find ourselves awake after being sent to bed, Jian needing to have me and several of the other pupils share the same bed chamber as him so that there can be no chance of our Master causing a stir in the middle of the night trying to visit him improperly... Something about this palace being too full of scandal already... Master Qiao having insisted on it so that he might spare the pair of them any accusations of impropriety...

Which I can understand somewhat...

Maybe it is something one must learn more about by experiencing it instead of studying the scrolls that outline poems of what romantic love is and how precious it must be to those who know its charm...

For I am not sure that I truly understand the draw of constantly needing to be near another person...Maybe that's why I can't necessarily keep my eyes to myself at the moment... My mind far too inquisitive for my own good, something I have been told one too many times...

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Kavya

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"Unless you wish me to shave it I have no other choice, my Love... Not all of us are blessed with hair darker than midnight like you are... Some of us have to improvise in order to blend in." As the words leave my mouth I know for a fact that Ronin is only a single pace behind me as we navigate our way through the shelving in order to make our way towards the secreted stash of ink Commander Cho arranged with the Master Scholar to be set for me specifically in this cramped forgotten library, a pout gracing his face knowing that he shall never be able to convince me to stop rinsing my copper strands with the only thing dark enough to stain it...