He does feel out of breath though.

Yifan is about to ask for a break, when he hears it. He stops abruptly and Lay’s hand falls from his. “Oh no.”

“What’s wrong?” Lay asks, turning back to him.

“He’s singing again.”

Lay inches forward slowly. He retakes Yifan’s hand and pulls him once more. “That’s a good thing, otherwise I couldn’t have tracked him. Come on. They’re close.”

Yifan enters the clearing and he wishes he hadn’t. His apprentice is singing at the top of his lungs, a little bit off-key thanks to the empty barrel of mead that sits on its side nearby.
 

“LUHAN!”

His apprentice snaps to attention, his lyre falling from his hands and onto the grassy floor, and starts reciting information.

Elves
Attack: +6
Magic: +4

Luhan burps. “Sorry….”

Weakness: Games, contests, singing.
Danger Ranking: Armed, Dangerous & y.
Notes: Do not fall in love with them.

“Love.” Luhan giggles. “Loooooovvveeee~”

Yifan covers his face with one hand and shakes his head. “You are drunk and you fail.”

Luhan relaxes once he sees Yifan. He picks up his lyre with an offended glare and starts strumming once again. “Oh please. For once in your life, live a little. Sit down. Meet my new friends.”

Yifan crosses his arms. “You mean the forest elves who stole you?”

“Sure!” Luhan plays a fast riff and dances around. “The one dancing his off to my tune is Tao.”

The lively forest elf does a twirl when Yifan looks at him. He keeps dancing, holding his cup of mead high, and smiling at his new audience.

Luhan points at the second elf with his lyre. “That one over there who keeps making that serious face but cracks up easily is Sehun.”

The blonde elf hides behind his cup. But when Yifan raises a brow, the elf grins bashfully.

“And the one sleeping on that branch is Kai,” Luhan says. “He doesn’t talk much, but he was the mastermind behind the mead.”

Yifan sighs and looks up. There is in fact a third elf draped like a panther on a branch. These elves had to be young by elf years, otherwise they wouldn’t behave like this. “Mastermind?” he asks.

“For sure!” Luhan says. “This is the faire’s mead! We stole it in protest.”

“What!” Yifan snaps. “We are supposed to be helping the faire, not hindering it!”

“Our people brewed the mead,” Tao says, still swaying to the music. But his gaze has turned darker, focused. “It’s an injustice and an offense that we were treated like mere workers and then banned from the celebrations. We brewed it. We are allowed to take it away.”

Sehun stands, leaving his cup on the ground, and going to Tao’s side. “We’ll only return it when our people are allowed to attend.”

“Otherwise consider it a very dry a-fair,” Kai comments from the branch. He stretches and finds another comfortable position, before closing his eyes again.

Lay snickers.

“It is a good thing that I have invited all the forest creatures to attend,” Yifan says, his tone a bit harsh. “Something my apprentice here should’ve informed you.”

“Luhan did say something about it,” Tao says, stopping his swaying. “But your invitation means nothing if the king doesn’t allow it.”

The way the elf says it has Yifan’s temper rising. He did not spend years of his life, training as a wizard, to be told his word means nothing. “I am the Great Wizard Wu,” he says. “My word might not be the king’s word, but it does carry some weight. If I say that you are all my guests, then so it shall be.”

Luhan nods really fast. “Yup, yup. Great Wizard. His word is law.” He snorts.

Yifan stomps his foot and swishes back his cape forgetting he doesn’t have it. He completes the motion, pretending he was swatting an insect away. “You will find the mead and take it back to the faire grounds at once—”

“We will not take orders from you.” Tao steps closer.

Yifan claps his hands together and when he separates them, energy brews between his palms. It turns into fire when he wills it. “Listen, young elf, and listen well. You came into my campfire and captured my apprentice,” Yifan enhances each ‘my’ with a higher flick of the flames in his hands. “You are not the first creature I’ve encountered today who has some problem with the Valentine Faire, but by all the stars in the night sky, you will be the last.”

Tao steps back, at the same time that Sehun moves closer. They’re protecting each other, working as a team.

“Take the mead back,” Yifan says. “Or you’ll deal with me and not with some silly knights.”

In the resulting tension-filled silence, Kai drops from his perch on the tree and yawns, stretching his arms up and arching his lithe body. “So noisy,” he says. “Let’s go get the barrels and leave the wizard alone.”

Tao and Sehun make noises of protest, until Kai barks a word at them in the elvish language. The two young elves settle down, with big pouts on their lips.

“Before you get on your merry way,” Yifan says, stopping them. He claps his hands together and puts the magic fire out. “I must ask you about the forest guardian. The white dragon?”

Tao arches a brow. “What about him?”

These are the first creatures to admit knowing the guardian. Perhaps they were willing to share more. “Do you know where I could find him?”

“You want us to take you to the Guardian?” Sehun asks, scratching his head.

“Yes!” Yifan exclaims.

“But he’s—”

Tao slaps a hand over Sehun’s mouth. “Of course,” Tao says and smiles wide. “We’ll take you. No problem.”

The trek to the forest guardian’s lair isn’t long. In fact, they only have to cross the clearing where the elves had settled, jump over a small creek, and find a natural arch of trees. The elves leave them at the entrance and go away to return the mead.

Yifan, Luhan, and Lay cross the arch into an area densely surrounded by trees with huge roots that curl around each other like the branches of a bird’s nest. The canopy is high above, but a circle remains open so the night sky is visible.

The dragon is nowhere in sight.

“He’s not here,” Yifan says, stating the obvious. Disappointment digs deep into his gut and he doesn’t know if it’s because he’s unable to finish his quest, or because he can’t see the magnificent creature again. To be honest, he was a teensy bit relieved as well. If the creature recognized him for throwing the rock, he was dead meat.

Troubled by all his mental dilemmas, Yifan is surprised when Lay breaks away from where they are and goes to stand in the middle of the nest.

An eerie sensation washes over him. “Lay?”

Lay’s brown eyes flash red. Yifan’s mind can hardly process what he’s seeing. The rest of Lay’s shape dissolves into mist, which swirls like a hurricane and forms the outline of a dragon. The form solidifies into scales, spikes, horns, ribbon-like whiskers, fangs, and the eyes….

Yifan clutches a hand to his chest, as those eyes stay focused on him. His heart only beats faster, like a trapped rabbit about to be eaten.

Luhan, all signs of drunkenness now gone, doesn’t open his notebook this time. He simply stares with wide eyes and recites.

Dragon
Attack: +20
Magic: +50
Resistance to magic: 100%
Habitat: In your worst nightmares.
Weakness: None.
Danger Ranking: Most Dangerous.
Notes: Run or you’ll die.

Yifan doesn’t correct Luhan on those stats even though they are completely exaggerated. His words—when he finds them—are directed at Lay. “Who are you?”

“I am Zhang Yixing,” dragon-Lay says, his voice echoing in Yifan’s mind. “The White Dragon of the East.”

Luhan gasps. He must’ve heard too.

Zhang Yixing. The most powerful dragon to have ruled the lands of the East. He maintained peace during the First Wizard War by keeping his lands neutral, and ended the second war by uniting the kingdoms with the surrender of the dragon clans. His name is known everywhere, but no one has ever seen his dragon form. Until now.

Yifan wants to speak. He wants to talk to this great being, but words fail him.

“Wu Yifan. Your king holds no respect over the creatures that inhabit these woods,” Yixing says. “He has disrespected them and their kindness, which is why I have retaliated. It is not the faire that I am against. It is him and those who follow his lead.”

Yifan was against it too. After dealing with the grievances of the creatures all day long, he knew the one in the wrong was the king. By the time night fell, he’d already decided to confront the evil beast. Not slay it. “W-we…I don’t a-approve of the way—”

“I know you don’t.” Yixing steps closer to them, body undulating and claws drawing up in the air like a hound begging. But the dragon isn’t begging, it’s looking down at them as a grown up might look at a child. “It is why I followed you, Yifan.”

The sound of his name brings all thoughts to a full stop. Yifan is having a hard enough time speaking to a dragon that he hadn’t caught up with the fact that this Yixing is Lay. This dragon is the young man who makes his blood race with a single look or touch, the one whom he’s wanted to kiss all day long.

“Today, you did well. Helping those is need is not what those in power often do, but you did.” Yixing falls back on his front legs, and snaps his long tail twice. “This is why I am giving you a task.”

“A-Anything,” Yifan breathes.

“Speak to your king and change his mind,” Yixing says. “Make him see us, like you see us.”

“You have to come with me,” Yifan says. The king will understand if the dragon speaks to him directly. “If you speak to the king personally, I’m sure he’ll—”

“My time of being the hero has come to an end. I’ve only stepped in as a defender of those whose powers are too weak to fight back. But this is your battle,” Yixing says.

Yifan’s heart breaks. This is the sound of a goodbye. Lay simply stuck around with him all day to observe his behavior, to decide if he was worthy of fighting for the forest’s cause or just another selfish human who didn’t care.

“I understand.” Yifan bows deep. His voice is controlled, hiding everything. “It was an honor meeting you, great dragon.”

Yixing spouts a puff of fire. “Well met, wizard.” There’s a surge of power and the dragon takes off, flying upwards through the open canopy and disappearing in the night. He takes with him a piece of Yifan’s heart.