Zoe Rainhard's point of view
Since my forced confession to Drake and the sudden arrival of Mork and Ness to our journey, just as Drake's dream had foreseen, barely 15 hours had passed, 15 hours that felt eternal, due to the null communication between us, because of how awkward, embarrassing and painful all this was for both of us.
Sighing heavily, I looked ahead while we flew at high speed through the clouds. Mounted on Mork, my eyes locked onto Drake's figure, who was a few hundred meters ahead on Ness's back, turning his back to me and maintaining a distance that felt cold despite the mana cloak he was wearing.
God... how difficult all this is. I thought, feeling a knot in my stomach remembering what happened in the tent.
With remorse, I lowered my gaze to my hands, which were still trembling slightly remembering that sensation. I don't know... I don't know very well what happened to me that night. I had never behaved in… in that way before, let alone lost control of my body in that form.
I closed my eyes tightly, feeling how shame heated my cheeks. My behavior has no excuse… but if it did, at least it would be that that was the first time I felt a man's pheromones... the first time my instinct reacted with such violence. I let myself be carried away by the heat, by the need to be by his side, to feel him... and that caused all this disaster.
Guilt ate me up inside. I deeply regretted having shown him that so animalistic facet of me, having broken the "siblings" bubble in such a dirty and abrupt way.
With a look charged with sadness, I looked up again towards Ness and his rider.
"Although I didn't say it directly with words..." I whispered in a low voice. "It is obvious that he realized what I feel for him."
Unable to turn back, I resigned myself to the reality that he would never see me as his sister again, and that I had probably stained our relationship forever.
Biting my lower lip, I made a painful but necessary decision. The best thing will be to act a bit distant from now on. I need to give Drake the necessary space to think, to process everything I told him about my parents... and about us…
I just hope he digests it quickly.
…
After a few more hours flying in the great silence between us, we finally began to descend to land in the vicinity of Barton, a key commercial city to resupply before the long journey that awaited us towards the border with the Kingdom of Dunumese.
We landed in a wooded and remote area to leave the dragons hidden and safe. Without exchanging more words than necessary, we walked to the city, where the bustle of the people contrasted painfully with the coldness that was created between us.
We bought supplies without problems, dried meat, water, some tools and warm clothes to endure the rest of the winter.
Once Drake finished storing the last sack of supplies in his dimensional rune, he stopped in the middle of the main street, turning his back to me before making a farewell gesture with his left hand.
"I have to go do something." He said dryly, without even turning to look at me. "It will be better if you return to where Mork and Ness are and wait for me there."
"Eh? Do what? Drake, wait..." I started to say, confused by his sudden change of plans, before seeing how he blended into the crowd.
Feeling a pang of anxiety due to his strange behavior, I immediately activated Perception, trying to locate his mana signature so as not to lose sight of him among so many people.
Here you are... wait, what? I thought, without understanding what had just happened. His trail, which had always been so clear and familiar to me, had simply disappeared at a point not far away, leaving me very confused.
No... I must have done it wrong. I thought, shaking my head while I moved in his direction to see it with my own eyes.
Upon arriving at the exact point and seeing nothing, a heat surged in my body, making me close my eyes and concentrate even more on the spell, expanding my detection range to cover dozens of blocks around, I searched and searched with desperation, without finding any result.
Impossible! He was here a second ago! What happened!?
Panic began to climb up my throat, forcing me to try to locate him a third, fourth and fifth time, forcing my ability to the limit, but nothing… making it seem as if the earth had swallowed him.
"Drake!" I shouted, forgetting discretion while I started running in one direction, moving like a madwoman, pushing people who crossed my path. Ignoring their complaints and looks of annoyance, my eyes scanned every face, every alley, every shop, hoping to see his white hair or his cloak.
Why can't I feel him? Is he blocking his presence? Why would he do that? Has he... has he abandoned me? I thought in my head, feeling how that sudden idea dug deeper and deeper into my mind.
No, no, no, that cannot be… that could never be… I thought, denying the madness of the idea after thinking it.
Hours passed, and after finding no trace whatsoever, my desperation transformed into a slow and agonizing torture.
Finally, when the afternoon arrived and the sun began to hide behind the buildings, dyeing the sky a dark orange, my legs failed. Without mental strength to keep running, I let myself fall onto a park bench that, luckily, was almost empty at those hours.
I sat there, with agitated breathing and a wandering mind. Looking at the sky, I saw how the first stars appeared, and at the same time tears began to well up in my eyes.
Drake, I thought... I thought giving you space was the right thing. I said to myself while feeling how my spirit drifted further and further away from me, due to the loneliness I felt at that moment. I thought distancing ourselves a little would help things calm down... but this... this is unbearable.
The pain in my chest became physical, a suffocating pressure that confirmed to me a truth I had been trying to ignore.
Slowly, I lowered my gaze from the sky to lock it on the ground. Tired, exhausted, I wiped my tears with rage while feeling in my delirium the reality of my feelings or perhaps obsession for Drake.
"I can't..." I whispered with a broken voice. "I can't live without him."
I clenched my fists on my knees, finally understanding that my plan to be distant was stupidity. I couldn't just walk away, I couldn't let him leave my side, neither as a brother nor as anything else.
"I have to find him." I said, getting up from the bench despite the tiredness. "I have to find him and confront this situation once and for all, because if I lose him... if I lose him for real, my life will have no meaning."
With that determination burning in my chest, I breathed deeply, filling my lungs with cold air to calm my racing heart and clear my mind before starting to look for him.
Just when I was about to take the first step, I felt a hand touching my back. Turning quickly, with nerves on edge, I realized it was Drake, although he was wearing a different hood, one of coarser and darker fabric that hid a large part of his face.
My eyes lit up, and my lips parted to say his name with emotion, relieved to see him safe. However, before I could say anything, Drake, looking frantically around as if searching for invisible threats, interrupted me, with a firm grip on my wrist, one that bordered on painful.
"Why didn't you go to where Mork and Ness were?" He asked with a voice a bit annoyed, lacking the warmth I expected to find after our meeting.
His coldness was a direct blow, making me fall silent instantly, feeling how the emotion turned into a lump in my throat.
"I-I…" I stammered, unable to formulate a coherent excuse before his hard gaze. "I-I, I just…"
Without letting me finish again, he sighed, before pulling me by the wrist to force me to walk at his accelerated pace, while looking around every so often, as if he wanted to prevent other people from seeing us together.
"Quick, we must leave." He said passing through the people, continuing to pull me as if I were just a burden.
I felt completely confused, with my mind blank before his sudden change of mood and the urgency in his voice. Without protesting, I let myself be led, swallowing the questions and the fear I felt due to his strange behavior.
Without saying another word, we returned to the wooded area where our dragons rested, only to leave immediately even though it was a very dark night due to the lack of a moon.
Surely something happened that forced him to act like this… yes, that must have been it. I thought calmer, after digesting the scene in the city.
I just have to find the right moment to approach again and ask what happened… yes, I will do that… I continued with doubt, while we flew through the dark airs, hoping that that opportunity to talk would come and come… until finally days, weeks and finally months passed, without anything being solved, realizing that it would not come.