FINALLY, YELLOW WAS healed enough to leave alone for a while. Stree’Sta’Ba stayed with him most of the time, but his mate, Bee’Cay’Ra had arrived with their three hatchlings and was taking her turn now and then. Yellow still would not move his leg and Nock visited regularly to check the progress, but had not yet wiped away the poultice. Still, Yellow was awake, and welcomed attention from many different members of the group, which allowed Bert to roam a bit.

  Letting Mira and Nock know he wanted to stretch his legs a bit, Bert left his sack up against Yellow and followed a path out of the camp. A Wyrm Person tossed him some food and a waterskin. It was a beautifully sunny day, and Bert was happy to be moving.

  Walking along a loosely-beaten path that ran alongside a creek, Bert stopped suddenly when he heard a branch snap.

  “Good ears, coinbiter!” a voice said from behind him.

  “It’s the wyrmrider!” a second added from above.

  Bert turned slowly, watching as a man came from behind a tree. He wore the usual clothing and had two large daggers at his side. A woman walked deftly down a thick branch above, tossing her bow down to the bushes before grabbing on and dropping down herself. Bert nodded a greeting.

  “You will leave Smee’Fa’Ya behind?” the woman asked. “Off to see your woman instead?”

  Bert felt his face flush. “No, nothing like that. I’m just out for a walk. Yellow…Smee’Fa’Ya is being well cared for.”

  “Travel well, wyrmrider,” the man said, nodding. “Take note that you leave our protection. The area seems safe enough, but don’t travel far.”

  Bert hadn’t realized the Wyrm People patrolled this far out. He had been walking for at least an hour already. “Thanks, I’ll be okay. I wanted to follow the creek a bit further.

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  “There is plenty of beauty to enjoy,” the woman smiled at him. With that, she climbed the tree like a sped-up squirrel and quickly vanished into the leaves.

  “You didn’t hear it from me,” the man said quietly, “but I think she might be jealous.” He clapped Bert on the arm and walked off the way he had come.

  Shaking his head, Bert continued following the creek. There was plenty of beauty to enjoy, as he had been told. He had been so busy with decisions and battles that he hadn’t had time to simply be. He stopped to watch a group of ducks splash and eat from the bottom of the creek. They seemed to have not a care in the world. Walking, he looked up and marveled at the way the sun shone through the tiny gaps in the leaves overhead. The cooling feel of wind on his face mixed with the call of birds and insects from the forest. The sound of the water trickling down and splashing calmly on rocks added to his mood. Maybe the Wyrm People were right to worship nature. In Wyrmgate, things always moved so fast. People said they worshiped God, but they seemed to worship coin. Everything was about getting something or somewhere. Here, just walking on a path, it was about being somewhere. Cat had said she hoped to blend the two cultures somehow. She even said she hoped to follow the Wyrm People in their freedom of personal choice. More importantly, she talked about that as a way for the two of them to be together. Of course, he wanted that, but he found that the old way of thinking said that he was wrong to do so. She could get more without him than with him: who cares what they felt? If they had been Wyrm People instead of a princess and orphan, no one would blink twice at seeing them together. Maybe he could find some way to blend the cultures as well? Why even bother returning? Out here, he had made allies and friends. He had formed an unbreakable bond with a dragon! Was he going to buy a house in Wyrmgate, become a blacksmith and have Yellow sit on his roof while he watched Cat and Darian ride by on feast days? He could stay with Dray, Mira and Nock and live a life of purpose instead.

  He realized he had been walking long and his mood was beginning to sour rather than flourish in all this beauty. He took a deep drink and bent to refill his skin in the flowing creek. He saw a bed of grass on the other side, full in the sun. He hopped across a few larger rocks and laid down in the grass, looking up at the sky. It was too bright, but felt amazing. He stripped off his cloak and tied it over his eyes, resting his head on the bulk of it.

  Surely he could enjoy this a moment and let his mind take a break.

  He slept easily.