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"I don't know." Gold still had his hands around Kayin's waist and was not very happy that they turned around. He wasn't going to let go, but now it was weird. "I was going for a walk and the assassins appeared. I was able to evade them for a while, but… well. Here we are." Gold shrugged. He had no idea how he'd gotten all the way here and it bothered him.
Kayin gently pulled Gold's hands from around her waist. "If I tell you I won't let you fall, I mean it. Now it looks like you want to kiss me."
"Sorry if I have a hard time believing that." Gold pulled his hands put of Kayin's grasp. "And I can assure you, I don't." He gave him an annoyed glance. Why did she have to think of that immediately?
"Trust me, if you did attempt to kiss me, I would shove you off my dragon without hesitation." Kayin crossed her arms, shifting slightly. Aspen let out a chirp, blowing a plume of fire. "Yes, yes. I will buy you a chicken when we land."
"Just another unneeded reason," Gold sighed. "Why was that the first thing you thought of, anyways?" He clasped his hands together and tried very hard to not think about how unstable he felt at the moment.
"What else would I think of? That you were going to bite me? Lick my nose?" The corner of Kayin's mouth turned up. "Honestly, it was just the path of logic."
"Why couldn't I have just done… nothing?" Gold sighed. "Nevermind, it's useless. How much longer do you think?" The change of subject was very random, but he didn't feel like arguing about that topic any longer.
“Hm.” Tipping his head back, Kayin looked up at the sky and examined the sun overhead. “Forty minutes, give or take.”
"Hmm. Alright." Gold nodded, then raised his eyebrows at Kayin. "Are you going to turn back around, or are you just going to stare at me for the rest of the trip?"
"Stare at you, probably. More interesting. Hopefully intimidating as well." Kayin shrugged.
"Alright then." Gold closed his eyes for a few seconds. "Are you sure I'm that interesting? I think literally anything else would be," he continued, opening his eyes again. "It's not intimidating, it's just annoying."
"Which can become intimidating," Kayin retorted. "And besides, this way I can see what is happening behind us, and if anyone if following us."
"I guess." Gold let out an exasperated sigh. He had no idea what to do with his hands now but settled for crossing his arms. That seemed to work. "Who would follow a dragon into the sky? Do they have dragons too?"
Kayin raised his eyebrows. “Do you not know what magic is? People don’t need dragons to follow us. I’ve seen people riding griffins, and pegasi.”
"I know what magic is. I have some of it," Gold said rather crossly. "But all the magic I know of is tied between humans and gods. There aren't any other creatures like that involved." For now, he would pretend he knew what griffins and pegasi were. He had a feeling Kayin would laugh if she knew he hadn't heard of those things. They flew, and that was all he knew.
“I have magic and I’m most certainly not tied to a god of any kind,” Kayin said vehemently.
"Well… then you have different magic." Gold gave Kayin an annoyed look. "I'm not from here, remember? Things here are different from where I'm from, apparently. You don't have to be so defensive."
“I’m not being defensive,” Kayin snapped. “And of course you’re not from here. You’re much stupider than the locals.”
"Alright, alright, call it what you will." Gold ran a hand over his face and wished he could jump off this dragon and not die. "Oh, wow. Thank you very much."
“You’re ever so welcome. And pardon me, but it’s true.” Kayin crossed his arms.
"Ah, right. If you were thrown into an entirely new situation with no idea how to leave and no idea what was going on, you would be fine? You would just learn everything very quickly and adapt instantaneously?" Gold sighed. "Of course you would! Because hikama-forbid someone doesn't know something."
“Look, just because you can’t adapt doesn’t mean I can’t,” Kayin growled. “And I do know a lot because I make it my buisiness to.”
Gold narrowed his eyes at Kayin, trying to think of a response. Halfway through Kayin's second sentence, however, her voice cut out. His lips were still moving, which meant… Gold's eyes widened and he whipped his head towards the place where he'd last seen Lekin. Nothing. "Lekin!" He shouted, looking around wildly for the bird. "Lekin! It's really not funny when you do that!"
Aspen grunted, tipping his head toward the ground. There are archers below us, the dragon said. Kayin quickly turned back around to sit facing forward. He yanked on the reins and Aspen went into a steep incline.
Gold's heart was hammering in his chest. Lekin was alive, but that was all he knew. If that bird died… he didn't know what he would do. Lekin had been his companion since before he was able to walk. Losing them would leave a huge hole in his heart, one that would not be filled easily. Gold snapped back to reality as Kayin turned around, gasping in surprise as the dragon suddenly changed course. He instinctively grabbed onto Kayin, trying as hard as he could to not hold on too tightly.