The Dragon's Kiss

"Is there a problem with that?"

A surly voice came from behind Kel as she stared uneasily at her assigned bed.

"Ah, Sir!" the assigner hurriedly nodded.

Kel followed the man's lead and whirled around with her head bowed.

"No problem, Sir," she stated, eyes glued to the pair of large leather boots in front of her.

"Alright, then," the voice replied. "Captain, when you're finished here, please come see me."

"Yes, Sir," the assigner responded.

Kel remained fixated on the ground until the thudding of the leather boots faded. She needed to be more careful from now on. Catching the attention of the higher-ups was a recipe for disaster.

"Commander Blaser seems scary, but he's actually a bit of a softie once you get to know him," the assigner grinned to Kel as she slowly turned back around.

Kel offered the best half smile she could muster in return. "Ah.. right."

"Now, go ahead and get settled for the night."

Later, it turned out that Kel wasn't the only one who had misgivings about bedsharing.

Many of the soldiers divided the bedding materials between them: the cot for one man and the blanket for the other to sleep on the ground with. Others, especially in cases where one of the partners was much larger and stronger than the other, left one man on the cot with the blanket and one man curled up in the dirt.

And, in a select few cases, the partners agreed that sharing both the cot and the blanket would be the most comfortable option.

Kel, despite her bedmate's burly and intimidating appearance, found herself in the third situation.

"I'm fine with sleeping on the ground.." Kel insisted, awkwardly scratching her head. "I don't even need a blan-"

"Come on! It's way more comfortable to just share," her easygoing bedmate argued. "There's plenty of room here for the both of us. And I don't have any strange sleeping habits!"

The strong man patted the cot next to him and flashed Kel a grin with at least two missing teeth.

It wasn't as if Kel had problems sleeping in close proximity with men. She'd been doing so for most of her life. The issue was that they would have to share the same bed. And the same blanket, for that matter.

She was confident with how Nesta's wrapping job appeared on the surface, but if that man happened to brush up against her body the wrong way…

Kel shivered.

"Please don't mind me. I'll sleep down here," she said firmly, lowering herself to the ground.

"How can you ever get married if you can't even handle sharing a bed with another man?" her partner shook his head, tossing their assigned gray, scratchy blanket on top of her.

"How, indeed," Kel chuckled back, setting to work spreading the blanket over the ground.

Fortunately, there was just enough of the woolen material to both lay on top of and cover herself with.

Just as Kel was preparing to dive into her snug nest, a prickling sensation shot through her neck. Amidst the crowd under the canopy, a pair of eyes had fixated on the back of her head. It wasn't a simple curious gaze, either.

Someone was gazing at her intently.

Faking a yawn, Kel reached her arms above her head and then slowly twisted her torso to one side. Slowly, she scanned the men around her as she stretched.

Out of the corner of her eye, nearly beyond her gaze, she caught a familiar golden glint.

The silver-haired boy.

Kel quickly spun around to face the boy just in time to see him settle down on his cot, rolling so his back was toward her. She hadn't gotten a clear look at his face, but she was almost certain it was the boy that had been staring at her in the wagon and then called her 'Miss.'

Had his golden glare been the one piercing her?

"Tsk." Kel clicked her tongue, about to turn back to her own bed when she noticed something strange.

The silver-haired boy had both the cot and the blanket. Forced to settle in the dirt next to him was his bedmate, a stocky man with biceps as thick as Kel's waist.

"That can't be right," Kel breathed.

The massive man should have easily beat out the half-starved refugee for the bedding. If he was actually a gentle giant, like Kel's nosy bedmate, they should be sharing at the very least.

A chill crept down Kel's spine as she tore her eyes away from the bizarre situation. She couldn't say exactly why, but she knew one thing for certain:

That kid was dangerous.

As the skies darkened, the noise began to die down and the soldiers drifted off to sleep. And, once again, Kel found herself spending a restless night inside a Serin military tent.

The sleeping canopy had no sealed door. There were no guards waiting outside. Kel wasn't a prisoner this time.

But still, paranoia wound its way between her groggy thoughts and hazy dreams. Amidst the worn leather boots and grim faces peering at her in her mind, the silver-haired boy's whispers echoed.

"Miss."

"Miss."

"Mi-id"

"Kid! Wake up already!"

Kel groaned, slowly opening her eyes.

"I heard from my training officers yesterday," Kel's bedmate lowered his voice to a whisper as he stared eagerly at his dazed partner. "The first soldiers in line for breakfast get an extra serving of rice."

"Rice?" Kel rubbed her eyes.

Dawn's gray glow illuminated the rest of the slowly rousing tent. It appeared many of the new recruits had experienced the same sleeping trouble as Kel; though, they were probably worried over vastly different things.

A few men, Kel guessed having received the same tip as her bedmate from their own training officers, earnestly tidied their cots and made their way outside.

Kel slowly brushed the dirt off her blanket, her partner having finally abandoned her, and set it on the cot. She didn't want to be one of the first soldiers out, but she also didn't want to be one of the last. Her aim was to exit the tent with the least conspicuous timing.

Once the majority of soldiers began to leave, Kel moved to join them. As she made her way toward the door, she noticed an unmistakable silver head waiting patiently just outside.

"It's probably just a coincidence," Kel mumbled to herself, still feeling unnerved from her restless night. "It has nothing to do with me."

Unfortunately, her fear that the boy's waiting did, in fact, have something to do with her only increased when the silver-haired kid fell into step directly behind her as she passed by.

Again, Kel tried to stifle her suspicions.

It's only a coincidence, she repeated to herself. Stop getting worked up over nothing.

But then, why did his piercing golden eyes, once again, seem to be focused on her?