Concern

As I stay kneeling in the snow, I find myself being grateful for everything that I have. Grateful and fiercely protective. Suddenly, someone clears their throat. I turn and look up to find Huan looking at me with concern.

He clears his throat again as he says, "Master Bolin will be back first thing tomorrow morning. Don't worry." I blink, not understanding why he was telling me something I already knew or why he was looking at me with such concern but then it hits me.

I guess my kneeling in the snow looked... concerning. Though I found it relaxing and calming, it would appear differently to others. I give him a small smile as I nod my head and stand up. I brush the snow off me and say, "Thanks Haun, I will wait for his return."

He nods with a faint smile and seems unsure of what to do or say next as he softly asks, "Are you perhaps hungry? A warm meal will help chase the cold away..." Was he worried I was going to get sick from this?

My smile grows as I say, "You know, dinner does sound good." He looks at me with relief as he lifts his arms and says, "This way please." As I follow behind him, I look up at the dark sky, wondering where Abell and Haoyu had flown off to. What were they doing?

You know what, it may be better that I don't know. One male dragon, one female dragon... alone at last. I clear my throat and shake my thoughts. As soon as I sit at the table, Haun pours me hot tea and says, "I'll be right back with the food."

I pick up the cup, blowing on it to cool it down when suddenly another thought pops into my head. Does this mean there will be baby dragons!? Oh my gods... how cute and adorable would they be? I blink and quickly shake my head again, trying to keep myself from getting carried away.

Is this how Aunts feel?

As soon as Haun sets the plates down on the table, I tell him to sit and join me. He tries to argue but I refuse to let him go. He silently sits and picks at the food as I ask, "How long have you been with Bolin?"

Haun glances at me before looking back at the food and saying, "My whole life." Before I can ask him anything else, Mago suddenly appears in my necklace and says, "Uhh, Lyra? We have company."

Huan perks up, instantly going on alert but he seems confused as he asks, "Company? Where? I don't sense anyone or anything." Mago scoffs and says, "Of course not, this is about a mile and a half out from the estate."

Haun looks surprised as his confusion grows. I softly say, "I've placed some countermeasures, so we won't get snuck up on like last time." I place my chopsticks down as I ask, "How many and what are they doing?"

Mago is silent for a moment before saying, "It's dark so it's hard to tell but two, maybe three? So far, they just seem to be looking around and inching closer." Haun quickly stands up, preparing to charge after them but I quickly say, "Wait! Don't do anything. I don't want them to know that we can see them."

Huan looks conflicted as he says, "I was told to kill anyone who tries to harm you. If they're sneaking around, they're clearly up to no good." I nod and agree as I say, "They're indeed up to no good as you've said but I have a feeling it isn't just them. I think they're just scouts."

Haun frown as a look of anger takes over his face. He sits back down and asks, "Scouts for what? To see if Master Bolin is here or not?" I shake my head as I say, "Probably not. Before we left the palace, we were facing an entire imperial army. Bolin took the King so I can only assume this is just the beginning."

I turn and look at Huan as I ask, "Did Bolin kill the King?" Haun hesitates before shaking his head and says, "Not yet." I nod and say, "I would bet my money on them coming here to attack and bring their King back. I would even go as far as to say that Weimin is possibly leading the whole damn thing. He's one hell of a snake."

Haun slams his fist down on the table, causing the plates to jump into the air as he yells, "Then I should kill them!" I shake my head and say, "No, if it's only a few of them, they're scouting for the army. If we kill them, it will alert the others. We want to be able to see and hear what they're doing so we want them to keep coming this way."

I take a sip of the tea with sharp eyes as I continue, "That way we'll know what their next move will be. They will come no matter what, at least this way we'll be prepared the best we can. They could come tomorrow or in a week, we don't know so for now, let us lie in wait."

Haun looks conflicted so in order to soothe him I say, "You wouldn't even know they were there if it weren't for Mago. So, while Bolin is away, we'll wait. He'll be back in the morning. When he gets here, we can discuss it with him. Otherwise, we'll just keep an eye on them. If they try to get in, you can kill them, okay?"

Only then does he nod and slightly calm down. I start eating again as I softly say, "Please keep an eye on them Mago and report all their movements to me." Mago agrees and slips away, spying on those who are meant to spy on us.

I seriously underestimated Weimin and his ability to stoop so low last time. It won't happen again. When I think about the odd Deity that showed up, I narrow my eyes. If he reached out to the Deity of the East, I bet he reached out to others.

Would they be coming before the army or with the army? Fei Yue was an odd one and more or less harmless, but I can't say that for the others that may come. There's no telling what will happen with them. I slowly chew my food before a wicked smile crawls across my face.

When Haun sees it, he inches back with a suspicious look on his face. The more time he spends with her, the more he realizes that she and Master Bolin are very similar. He clears his throat and asks, "What? What is it?"

I give him a downright wicked smile and say, "We have guests coming. It would be extremely rude of me not to prepare a grand welcoming party for them." Huan shudders in his chair, not knowing why or how but he KNOWS it's nothing good.

He suddenly felt pity for the men walking into this unknowingly.