There was no way to tell what time of day it was, but it didn’t feel to Kre as if any time had passed at all. He chalked it up to the fitful dreams he had, mostly about the priest fellow being all sorts of creepy and repeating his request in a veritable montage of spooky dreamscape clips.
The blue light nearby his head flickered briefly to life, as if timed to brighten up again once it detected that he was awake. ‘I should ask her about that light,’ he thought, interested to know if it was a magic trick he could learn.
When he looked over at Kitalia, she seemed to be resting in the same seated as she was when they first settled down, so he decided to leave her be for now. He stood as quietly as he could and stepped lightly towards where he recalled the door being.
It took a few tries, and he kicked a few bits of trash here and there, but he eventually made it to the doorway. Looking out into the main part of the ruined church, he spotted Bel kneeling in front of the altar. She had changed out of her white dress and was now wearing a loose-fitting leather huntress’ outfit. He looked around briefly but didn’t see a pack anywhere nearby, but then he remembered there was a second room opposite theirs, which was likely where she was staying.
He shifted his weight slightly, waiting patiently for her to finish her prayers, or whatever it was that dragons do at altars. As he waited, he wondered how long it had been since he himself had last prayed.
Kre closed his eyes and reached back into his memories but couldn’t seem to focus on the particular moment. There was a part of his memory that said it was related to the day his parents left for their assignment to the Jayde Line at the Northern Shore. They had debated for days after receiving their orders, wondering if Kre was old enough to be left on his own. The ranch wasn’t large in terms of work, and Kre typically handled the chores on his own anyway, so that wasn’t the real issue.
Most of the concern was whether he would skip Professor Marxin’s classes, as he was prone to do sometimes. They also figured he might continue get into those idiotic stage fights with the kids they considered to be a bad influence… all except for Landar, who they loved and wished Kre could emulate more. Their biggest concern, however, was that neither of them would come back from the assignment, leaving Kre parentless and alone.
In the end, they decided that the income from serving an active-duty tour would be necessary to ensure Kre’s future, once he left the nest. Thus far, the Jayde Line hadn’t presented itself as incredibly dangerous if the Tehynshins kept to their small section of the shore. There wasn’t much other news regarding the Northern Shore that made it back to the mainland, as the military kept a very tight rein on rumors and gossip escaping from their latest operation.
With all of that in his mind, Kre tried hard to remember anything about the day his parents left but couldn’t manage anything more than a mental fog before his mind immediately latched onto a different memory. It was frustrating, and Kre couldn’t explain why such an important event would be so hard to recall.