The Dragon's Kiss

"You should get some sleep. I imagine tomorrow will be a long day."

Though Kel had said that, she struggled to let her heavy eyelids rest for more than a moment. If the bumping of the wagon over the rocky, overgrown roads leading away from Tael wasn't enough, her whirling thoughts kept her mind wide awake.

Were they going back to Serin's capital? If so, would she run into the emperor there? Or any of the others? Would any of them even recognize her dirt-covered, tattered figure?

If the capital wasn't their destination, were they going to an active battlefield? Would she have to fight against her own people? Or those from Pandreia?

Occasionally, the wagon slowed just enough to tempt Kel with the idea of jumping out the back and running far out of sight. The tantalizing thought was always overshadowed, however, by the crushing reality that Nesta and Harrow would be the ones to shoulder the burden for her desertion.

I suppose I'm an official Serin savage for now, Kel sighed to herself.

As she did so, she noticed, for the second time, a pair of curious golden eyes on her from across the wagon.

As she met the inquisitive gaze, the boy muttered something under his breath that she couldn't quite discern over the soft snores of his companion.

Kel scrunched her eyebrows together. "W-"

Before she could ask the boy what he'd said, a particularly unruly bounce of the wagon sent the both of them grimacing as they thudded against the walls behind them. Even the snoring boy's eyes flew open in shock.

After that, the boy never looked in Kel's direction again, making it clear that he had no intentions of speaking with her.

Though irritating, the mysterious mumbled words that had evaded her ears were a minor concern for Kel considering the mountain of worries she was already preoccupied with. It didn't cross her mind again until the small group of soldiers and new recruits finally reached their destination.

The Lion Camp.

The largest and most diverse of all the Dragon Emperor's military camps.

In the midst of wartime, this camp was especially efficient and both registering and training new soldiers, coordinating supplies to be sent out to other camps, and serving as the depot for returning and departing troops.

Like clockwork, the new recruits arrived via wagon or foot at the Lion Camp every morning and were made ready to depart to their newly assigned division within three weeks. Kel had heard about it before, but she never thought she'd get to see the bustling place up close, much less go through the recruiting process herself.

"Unload!" One of the wagon's attending officers barked as he unlatched the back of the wagon.

Kel obediently crouched in line behind the two silver-haired boys as they jumped down from the wagon. As she reached for the wagon's edge to steady herself when her turn came to hop down, however, her hand landed against something warm and smooth.

She whipped her head down to see what she had unintentionally grabbed, accidentally throwing herself off balance, to which the unknown object tightened around her fingers.

"Miss," came a whispered voice as her eyes locked with the same pair of golden eyes that had watched her all night.

Stunned, Kel allowed the boy to gently pull her to the ground. When her feet hit the dirt, the boy retreated his hand and gave her the slightest nod before turning to follow the order-barking soldier standing nearby.

"W-what was that?" Kel gasped, blinking in confusion.

Despite Nesta's earnest chest strangling and mud slinging, was her gender that obvious?

Should I have cut my hair after all? Kel lamented. Or…

She glanced down at her chest.

No. There's no way anyone would have guessed the figure of a woman was hidden under her tunic. More than just the distinct lack of womanly lumps, her entire chest was practically concave thanks to Nesta's furious wrapping and tugging.

Kel only had the luxury of fretting for a few seconds before a painful clap on her back shook her out of her thoughts.

"Come on, Boy! Don't be nervous!" the other attending officer grinned at her, nodding toward where the other two boys were already lining up.

After a brief registration process, where Kel did her best to remember every lie about the identity that Dash had created for her, the large group of newly pronounced Serin soldiers stood in formation, waiting for their appointment.

"Based on your previous occupations and physiques, we have already selected your sectors," the man in charge announced loudly above the hubbub of the camp. "After the next two days of testing your skills, further divisions will be made."

Kel's chance to confront her traveling companion about how he'd discovered her gender, or even better, throw a manly tantrum about being called a girl, completely disappeared after she saw the group she had been placed in.

Because she had a small build for a man, she'd been placed in the archery sector with dozens of other scrawny boys. Among the myriad of mop-like heads surrounding her as they listened to new instructions, Kel didn't see a single person with silver hair.

I'll have to confront him later on, Kel resolved. Before he has a chance to open his mouth.

The rest of the long day was spent performing a variety of tests, few of which having to do with archery. Alongside the kids in her division, Kel sprinted, hurdled, threw punches and dove between trees.

Based on the rough texture of the tree trunks she brushed against and light green color of the freshly budded leaves, Kel deduced they were fairly close to the Mevani border. Since their journey had only taken a single night, they were still on the north end of Serin as well.

When she first traveled to Tael, there definitely wasn't such a massive camp anywhere near the small village. Perhaps, as the empire had conquered westward, the Lion Camp had been moved that way as well. It was a bit strange, however, that news of the camp had never reached Tael.

Or, if it had, that such news had been kept from Kel's ears.

When evening fell, Kel breathed a sigh of relief as the training officers announced that it was time to return to lodging. She hadn't trained so hard in several months, and her muscles were screaming in protest.

The relief turned to dismay, however, when she was directed to a cot where another man was already sitting.

"T-that's my bed?" Kel questioned the man giving out bed assignments.

"With the influx of new soldiers and multiple troops passing through, we're short on beds," the assigner rolled his eyes. "All new recruits will be double-bedded until the troops leave."

"Is there a problem with that?"