The branches cracked underneath the footsteps of Im Nayoung and her direwolf of two years, Jay. Jay’s ears were perked up as Nayoung lowered her body to maintain her soft steps, cautious of her surroundings. She paused when she heard a low growl rumble through Jay’s throat, eyes scanning the area quickly. Jay kept on walking, now in a prowling stance. Nayoung followed with one hand on the handle of her sheathed blade.

    There was a growl from a creature other than Jay, this one much more high-pitched and raspy. It had come from up above and Nayoung quickly unsheathed her blade and looked up to find the creature to be a small dragon, no bigger than half of Jay’s body. It swooped down low enough for Nayoung and Jay to see it clearly but high enough to be just out of Nayoung and Jay’s reach.

    A voice rang out from beneath the treetops, light and melodic.

“Jasmine?” the voice called before repeating the name louder. “Jasmine?!”

The small, black dragon turned its head and rushed off towards the voice. Jay took off after it and Nayoung followed swiftly behind. The two of them stopped in their tracks when they came face-to-face with a young girl sporting dark black hair and a leather satchel that hung down near her thigh, the reptile resting on her left shoulder. Jay bared his teeth and Nayoung gripped her blade tighter.

It wasn’t a rare sight to see someone with a dragon, but Nayoung only ever saw rich people with dragons—and the dragons were usually much bigger than this one.

The stranger widened her eyes and looked between the very large canine and Nayoung.

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Nayoung almost laughed at this, and hiding her amusement proved to be difficult as her lips twitched up slightly. Who was this stranger to say that she and Jay were the ones to get hurt? The amusement in Nayoung’s eyes dwindled when the stranger frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Jasmine can easily burn the both of you to bits,” she said defensively, eyes narrowing. At the sound of her name, the dragon let out a quiet shriek, flapping its wings.

Nayoung scoffed as Jay kept his defensive stance, growling lowly. “Your little lizard would be considered a snack to Jay,” she replied.

The stranger’s frown increased with the demeaning comment. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and just be on my way,” she started to walk past the duo but quickly jumped back when Jay snapped at her. Jasmine leaped off of the stranger’s shoulder and flew towards Jay, beating its wings against his eyes as Jay attempted to shake his head, teeth baring. It flew off into the sky before Jay could bite it.

“Call your dog off!” the stranger commanded, sending a glare to Nayoung before looking up through the treetops in hopes of finding the small dragon. She called out its name multiple times.

“He’s not a dog. He’s a direwolf,” Nayoung stated through the repetitions of the stranger’s ‘Jasmine!’s, patting Jay’s head with pride. “Besides, you are on my land. Who are you and what is it that you want?”

The name-calls stopped.

“Your land?” the stranger inquired, looking at Nayoung.

Nayoung lifted her chin upwards. “You’re in the Im Kingdom. I am Im Nayoung.” she said. “State your name and purpose.”

The two stared at each other for quite a while before the stranger decided to respond.

“Kyulkyung,” the stranger, Kyulkyung, answered. “I am here in search of work.”

“You have a pet dragon,” Nayoung replied with the quirk of an eyebrow, tone confused and amused at the same time. “You could sell that thing for a fortune and not have to work another day in your life.”

“I do not wish to sell her,” Kyulkyung replied as she puffed out her chest, standing tall even with the couple of inches she lacked to be at Nayoung’s height. “Is there any work here or shall I be on my way?”

“There is work,” Nayoung nodded, the corner of her lips curving up. This girl was interesting. Nayoung wouldn’t mind getting to know more about her. “Of course there is. It is a well-populated kingdom.”

“Then I will stay for a while and work,” Kyulkyung said firmly before going back to finding her pet.

“What are you running away from, Kyulkyung?” Nayoung asked with piqued interest. Kyulkyung paused and looked at her with surprise evident on her face.

“Pardon?”

“You don’t look like you are from around here,” Nayoung explained. “What brings you here?”

There was a brief silence in which Nayoung noticed Kyulkyung’s jaw visibly tensing and relaxing multiple times, as if she were deep in thought.

“My people are nomads. It is how we live.”

“That doesn’t explain how you got the dragon,” Nayoung leaned on a nearby tree and tapped the long side of her blade on her index finger, tilting her head. “Tell me, did you steal it?”

“Do not accuse me of theft, Im Nayoung,” Kyulkyung growled angrily, walking off towards the direction Jasmine had flown off into. Nayoung smirked as she followed the girl with Jay walking right besides her.

It wasn’t long until Jasmine was perched on Kyulkyung’s shoulder once more. Despite the fact that Nayoung had ordered Jay to lay off, it was clear that Jay still had a grudge against the tiny dragon as he continuously growled throughout their journey back to the kingdom.

“The guards at the gate will have to check your satchel,” Nayoung said, pointing to the bag that patted against Kyulkyung’s upper thigh with each step she took. At the statement, Kyulkyung grasped onto her satchel strap protectively. Nayoung cleared . “We are an open kingdom, but not to those who are dangerous.”

“I am not,” Kyulkyung replied before glancing down at her bag and then back up at Nayoung. “Please do not let them take anything of mine.”

“What is it that you have in there?” Nayoung questioned curiously.

“A journal, some jewelry, a knife, a bottle, and some food for me and Jasmine,” Kyulkyung answered honestly. “I believe I also have some bandages, too.”

Nayoung nodded and hummed. “They won’t take anything.”

*

The guards knelt to Nayoung once she was in viewing distance and stayed down until Nayoung ordered them back up.

“Princess, you know it is not safe to go out all alone,” one guard stated. “Please take a squadron with you next time.”

“I am fine,” Nayoung replied. “I have Jay.”

Kyulkyung handed her bag over to one of the guards, who sifted through it quickly before handing it back. The guard then pointed to the dragon perched on Kyulkyung’s shoulder. “You will need a leash for that.”

“I do not have one,” Kyulkyung looked over towards Nayoung, eyes pleading for some help.

“Do any of you have thin rope?” Nayoung asked around. A few guards rushed around in search for some and then Kyulkyung tied the rope carefully around Jasmine’s left foot before tying it tightly around the strap of her satchel. The guards nodded and let Kyulkyung pass.

Once the two of them made it through the main gate, Kyulkyung stopped walking and turned to Nayoung, who also stopped.

“Thank you,” she said with a bowed head. “Sleeping on the streets of a walled kingdom is much better than sleeping in the woods.”

Nayoung wanted to offer Kyulkyung a room in her castle but she didn’t. Kyulkyung was still a stranger and, no matter how much she intrigued her, she just couldn’t trust her yet.

“Stay out of trouble, Kyulkyung,” Nayoung offered a small smile before departing with Jay by her side.

*

A couple nights later, in the middle of the night, Nayoung spotted a person sitting on the curb. She immediately knew it was Kyulkyung because of the little black dragon flying above the street. Kyulkyung gasped when she saw Nayoung and called for Jasmine in a whisper. The dragon immediately returned to its owner and Jieqiong looped the rope around Jasmine’s foot with ease.

Nayoung let out a small laugh and Kyulkyung avoided her eyes.

“I am sorry,” she apologized. “She does not have much time to fly.”

“It is fine,” Nayoung replied, sitting down next to Kyulkyung, not minding that the girl had quite an odor on her, mostly of burnt meat and hard liquor. “You can let her fly some more.”

Kyulkyung gulped before releasing Jasmine again. The dragon let out a satisfied, muted shriek and Nayoung thought that it looked like it was smiling with an open mouth. She grinned and watched the creature fly in circles, appreciating the way it flaps its wings.

“I heard Heehyun has given you a job,” Nayoung stated after a few minutes of just sitting there, watching Jasmine.

“Yes, she has,” Kyulkyung nodded.

When Nayoung didn’t reply, Kyulkyung spoke up again.

“What are you doing up so late?”

“I have trouble sleeping,” Nayoung admitted, bending her knees and hugging them to her chest. “And it is really easy to escape the castle via my bedroom.”

“So you walk around the street at night alone?” Kyulkyung said. “Is that not dangerous?”

“The people here are kind, Kyulkyung,” Nayoung replied. “We do not hurt each other.”

Kyulkyung pressed her lips together in a thin line before pursing them a bit, lost in her own thoughts.

“I think the kindness of the people has a lot to do with the kindness of their leaders,” she finally said.

Nayoung looked at her with intrigued eyes, pupils glowing with the torches scattered throughout the streets.

“You think so?” Nayoung questioned softly.

“I know so,” Kyulkyung replied firmly. Her lips formed a small smile in which Nayoung returned. “You are a good person, Nayoung.”

“You barely know me,” Nayoung shook her head bashfully.

Kyulkyung tilted her head. “And you did not know me when you allowed me into your kingdom,” she countered. “But you let me in, anyway. You are a good person, Princess.”

“Please do not call me Princess,” the words left Nayoung’s lips before she could process them. Kyulkyung looked taken aback, eyebrows raising. Nayoung averted her gaze, watching Jasmine let out a small spray of flame from . “You are one of the few people who does not choose to pretend to be someone they are not in order to impress me—I would like that to stay true.”

The surprise on Kyulkyung’s face faded away and was replaced with a genuine happiness. “It will stay true, then,” she said. Nayoung looked up just in time to catch the growing smile on Kyulkyung’s face.

It was the first smile of Kyulkyung’s in which Nayoung could see her teeth—which were straight and pearly white—and it absolutely threw Nayoung into a whirlwind of emotions. Her stomach churned with a million fluttering butterflies—no, a million Jasmine’s—and her cheeks warmed up as if Jasmine had burnt her. Kyulkyung’s eyes were the most beautiful aspect about her smile, Nayoung thought.

They practically twinkled. It was beautiful.

But Nayoung shouldn’t feel that way about a nomad who she had just met. It wasn’t right.

She looked away from Kyulkyung’s smile with a shake of the head and her own smile on her face.

*

They meet again for the next week or two until Nayoung decided that enough was enough and that she shouldn’t get too involved with the girl who could very well be leaving any day.

*

The next time Nayoung saw Kyulkyung was when she walked into a local pub in search of a friend a month and a half later—weeks consisting of Nayoung avoiding the girl whose mere presence made her heart go wild. Kyulkyung was scrubbing the tables with Jasmine flying within rope distance all around her when Nayoung entered late at night. Kyulkyung looked up when she heard the door opening and blinked rapidly when she noticed it was Nayoung. The guard at the door greeted her and she politely responded before connecting eyes with Kyulkyung.

“Nayoung,” Kyulkyung said as a sort of greeting, unsure of how to act around her.

Nayoung nodded and looked around the dimly-lit room. The only other people in there was the blind old man Nayoung often saw around town and the guard posted at the door. The old man was asleep at the bar, though, back bent over and a small drool puddle forming beneath his lips. She hummed.

“Is Heehyun not here?”

“No,” Kyulkyung shook her head. “You just missed her.”

“I see,” Nayoung said, walking towards the bar and tapping the old man’s shoulder. “Mr. Lee? It’s quite late. You should head home.”

“Princess?” the man drawled out, drunk with liquor as well as sleep.

“Shall I find someone to you home?” Nayoung offered as the man stood from the stool, nearly toppling over.

“Nonsense,” he hiccupped, stumbling towards the door. Nayoung caught his arm as he tripped over a barrel. “Thank you, Princess.”

“Just stay safe, Mr. Lee,” she said. She caught eyes with the guard at the door and he nodded, knowing what she wanted. The guard followed Mr. Lee out the door to make sure he got home safe.

Kyulkyung continued wiping down the tables after watching the interaction, a little smile on her lips. Nayoung noticed this and walked towards her with an amused eyebrow raised.

“What is it? What is so funny?” Nayoung’s hip bumped the table as she leaned over Kyulkyung slightly.

Kyulkyung shook her head. “Nothing is funny,” she said, looking up to meet Nayoung’s eyes as her hand grasped the towel a little tighter. “I just think it was real sweet of you to do that for that old man.”

“If I can do anything to help, then I do it,” Nayoung replied.

“You’re a good princess,” Kyulkyung commented, picking up the bucket of water and heading over to another table. She started wiping that one down. “The people adore you.”

Nayoung wasn’t sure how to reply, so she opted to change the subject.

“How are you doing with finding work? Are people treating you alright?”

Kyulkyung noticed the not-so-subtle topic change and let out a brief chuckle. “Finding work is going good. The people seem to avoid me—probably because of Jasmine, but I suppose that is better than to have a conflict,” she squeezed off the water in the towel into the bucket and continued to wipe down the table, ridding it of its crumbs and spilled alcohol. “I think by next month I will be able to move on and find my own place.”

“Move on?” Nayoung ignored the jumpstart her heart was given and continued to speak in a calm voice. “Where do you intend on going?”

“North of here, I think,” Kyulkyung replied before releasing a sigh and shrugging. “I am not sure of anything yet.”

“Well… you are always welcomed here,” Nayoung said as Kyulkyung picked up the bucket and walked to the counter up front. Kyulkyung smiled towards Nayoung and nodded.

“Thank you,” she said. She looked around the pub. “I have always meant to ask when we used to see each other at night but… where is your dog?”

“He is not a dog. He’s a direwolf,” Nayoung reminded the girl, walking towards the counter and leaning on it as Kyulkyung dumped the dirty water into the sink. She then hummed. “He disappears during the night and, truthfully, I have no clue where he goes.”

“He looks like a dog,” Kyulkyung replied, rinsing her hands once she cleaned up the counter. The rope once tied around Kyulkyung’s satchel was now tied around her wrist, her satchel hidden under the counter for safekeeping. Kyulkyung hissed as the dragon flew a little out of reach a bit too harshly, the thin rope digging into her skin. She pulled Jasmine back down and the dragon growled. “Jasmine does not like it here.”

Kyulkyung untied the rope from her wrist and tied it around a pole used to keep the structure of the building. Nayoung tapped on the counter and looked around the dark room.

“She doesn’t have much flying space, does she?” Nayoung asked.

“No, she does not. And letting her fly around the street once in awhile doesn’t do much,” Kyulkyung replied with a huff. “I am tempted to leave earlier than planned because it just is not moral to keep her tied to me at all times. She is a dragon. She needs to fly and be free.”

“Would you ever let her go?” Nayoung questioned, sitting on one of the stools and placing her chin on her palm. “Would you ever just let her be free?”

Kyulkyung hesitated.

“I have tried time and time before,” she admitted, lifting her satchel from beneath the counter and slipping the strap over her head. “Jasmine has always come back to me no matter how far we are apart.”

“That is special,” Nayoung stated.

“She and I are bonded,” Kyulkyung said. “We were born on the same night.”

Born on the same night.

The words made Nayoung think back to years ago when she had first learned about the creatures of the world—she had learned when she was the meager age of seven that a girl a couple years younger than her had been deemed Dragonborn because of her and a dragon’s birth time. The dragon and the human had cried at the same time, solidifying their bond to each other, and thus making them soulmates. She never believed it was a true story until now.

She couldn’t mask her shock in time and Kyulkyung’s face turned away as if she were ashamed.

“You are Princess Zhou Jieqiong of the Zhou Kingdom,” Nayoung stated, jaw dropping slightly. “Your kingdom…” she trailed off as she hinted at the sensitive subject. Several months ago the Zhou Kingdom had fallen to a raid planned by escaped prisoners, ones who were greedy for the several dragons the Zhou Kingdom had been known for. The prisoners had planned the attack for long before Jieqiong had even been born, living within cave systems and training monsters that no other people had been able to train before. The attack on the Zhou Kingdom shook all of the surrounding kingdoms with terror, the Im Kingdom included.

“I was not present during the attack,” Jieqiong stated, rounding the counter and sitting on the stool besides Nayoung. “I was out with Jasmine on a walk when it happened.”

Nayoung examined the girl’s face. Jieqiong was younger but looked aged compared to Nayoung. She looked exhausted.

“I ran,” she shrugged when she said this but the emotion behind the words made it clear to Nayoung that Jieqiong felt guilty. “And now Jasmine and I are all that is left of the Kingdom.”

“It is not your fault,” Nayoung whispered harshly, as though not to break Jieqiong but to get through to her. “The attack was not your fault. You should not blame yourself for it.”

“I should have done something,”

“What could you have done?” Nayoung countered, not up for Jieqiong being so hard on herself for something she had nothing to do with. “Jasmine is still a baby, she couldn’t have fought against all those prisoners.”

“But I could have,” Jieqiong huffed, standing from the stool abruptly and stalking off to one side of the room, pacing back and forth. Nayoung followed her. “I could have commanded the older dragons to fight back, or something. They would have listened to me. I could’ve…”

Nayoung gently grabbed onto Jieqiong’s shoulders, leveling their eyes.

“Listen to me,” Nayoung whispered. “It is not your fault.”

“I could have saved more people,” Jieqiong whimpered, the tears starting to fall. Nayoung was quick to pull Jieqiong into her arms. The girl’s slender arms looped around Nayoung’s waist instantly, her face burying itself into Nayoung’s neck.

Nayoung brought one hand to rub Jieqiong’s back soothingly as the other arm held her close by her shoulders. The younger girl’s body shook with quiet sobs that she had been holding in ever since she arrived at the kingdom.

When Jieqiong started to calm down, Nayoung pulled away and wiped at Jieqionq’s tear-stained cheeks with the pads of her thumbs.

“You can stay here, Jieqiong,” Nayoung said. “I can ask to allow you to let Jasmine off the leash—hell, I’m the damn Princess—I will allow you to let her off the leash.”

Jieqiong sniffled and let out a broken laugh. “Thank you, Nayoung.”

“Stop thanking me,” Nayoung smiled softly, patting Jieqiong’s cheek. “Now, close up here so you can come back with me to the castle.”

“Pardon?” Jieqiong widened her eyes, wiping at the last of her tears and sniffling the rest of her snot up. Nayoung took a step back.

“You are royalty,” Nayoung stated. She didn’t say that Jieqiong was also somebody whom she cared about. “I refuse to let you sleep on the street.”

She began to head to the door and stopped when she didn’t hear Jieqiong following her. Nayoung her heel and looked at the girl confusedly.

“I do not think it is smart for me to tell anybody who I am,” Jieqiong said, walking towards Jasmine and untying her from the pole, tossing the rope into a nearby trashcan. She then walked up to Nayoung, worry on her face. “The prisoners…”

“They will not lay a hand on you, Jieqiong,” Nayoung promised. “You are correct, though. It is better for us to keep quiet about this. Still, you can sleep in the castle.”

“Would that not attract attention towards me, Nayoung?” Jieqiong frowned as they exited the pub. Nayoung smiled.

“I told you that it is easy for me to sneak in and out of my bedroom, did I not?”

bleh so school has kinda been an to me LOL sophomore year is PRETTY LIT! 
but anyway this story was originally just gonna be a little drabble oneshot thing but of course me and my brain just HAD to make it deeper and now it’s this long oneshot and i probably will never finish this as a story if i were to make it a whole story so let’s just leave it at this, yes? 
it’s weird bc i was lacking inspiration so hard and then i just suddenly… did this. in a day. LOL. i want to hear ur thoughts!! <3

-dd.