“No,” Kre repeated, more calmly this time, his own eyes darting worriedly at the walls around them. “I keep hearing those words… ‘we’ll explain everything later’… but there never is a later. Between you and Kit and Red and… well, and even with Ser Terync… everyone is keeping secrets and hoarding truths when we could probably manage a whole heck of a lot better if we all understood everything.”
He paused to take a deep breath and silently wondered if he had overstepped yet again. Both of the ladies were silently staring at him, Kitalia with her usual look that indicated either confusion or disbelief, either of which would be resulting from Kre’s words and actions. Bel, on the other hand, wore her sad smile stoically, never wavering from her usual expression no matter how surprised she might be.
Kre opened his mouth again, fully intending to continue his rant against ignorance, but realized that he had no further points to address. His mouth slowly closed, part of him hoping that neither of the two saw his misstep.
It was clear that Kitalia noticed as she simply closed her eyes and shook her head in quiet shame on his behalf. When she opened her eyes, her expression changed to one of concern. “First, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I apologize that I have not been that forthcoming with all of the details, but in fairness, we have been spending much of our time fleeing something or other.”
“Fair,” Kre admitted, “but there were days we simply spent riding or walking when there was a chance to explain things.”
Kitilia shrugged in response. “In my defense,” she said with a hint of a smile playing at the edge of her lips, “I did not know if I could trust you at that time.”
“Do you trust me now?” he asked slowly, wary of the possibly depressing answer he might receive.
“I thought you were more concerned with knowing the facts of the situation, not with whether you are popular or not.”
Before Kre could respond, Bel stepped forward between the two of them. “Kitalia,” Bel said with a sigh, “perhaps it would be best if we simply answered Kre’s questions without causing him undue angst.”
Kitalia looked around at the walls around them and nodded once. “Perhaps there is wisdom in that course of action. Very well…” She turned to face Kre, “Yes, I have come to trust you as much as I can trust another person. You have shown yourself to be a faithful and loyal companion.”
Kre’s smile could not get any bigger even if he pulled at the corners of his mouth with his fingers. The strain of having to say those words tore at Kitalia though, and she only barely managed to stop herself from yelling at him to wipe that stupid grin off his face. She instead turned her passive aggressive attitude towards Bel. “How about you share a truth of your own now? How about you tell Kre what you are?”
All eyes turned on Bel now. She had winced with Kitalia’s words, as if they had physically struck her across the face, but she regained her composure quickly. Kre spoke before she could.
“That’s the second time you’ve used that specific phrase… ‘what you are’. What do you mean by it?”
“I will let Bel explain that,” Kitalia smirked.
“There’s a lot of context that needs to be explained. It’s not a simple answer,” Bel said with a thoughtful, almost faraway look.
“I can think of one word that will shorten it pretty well,” Kitalia responded almost smugly. “Then you can go into as much context as you want.”
Bel nodded, amidst Kre’s confused stares. “I suppose there is.” She looked up at Kre and gave him a hard look, her eyes moving up and down as if evaluating him without actually focusing on him. “I suppose you could say that I’m a dragon.”