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It wasn’t love at first sight. It was more like… shock at first sight.
Because who would expect to find their prince to find their divine deity out in the middle of the desert? Pandreo sure hadn’t. Yet there, with hair askew and sand particles clinging to every inch of her clothes, stood the Divine Dragon.
Then the Corrupted attacked, and he hadn’t had time to think of much except for tossing fireballs at Corrupted and keeping Bunet and Fogado alive. It wasn’t until she skidded back towards him, a painful looking gash on her sword arm, that it hit him that she was really here.
…Huh. He hadn’t expected it was possible for her to bleed.
He quickly brought out his heal staff and erased all traces of the wound. She smiled.
“Thanks, Pandreo.”
“Of course!” he exclaimed. “Anything for you, Divine One!”
“Just call me A-”
A growl cut her off, and they both turned just in time. As she blocked the Corrupted’s axe, he slung a fireball over her shoulder and straight into its face, turning it to ash.
“More - to your right!”
It was all he could do to keep up with her as they fought off the new wave of Corrupted. He was a priest, not a fighter, for the Divine One’s sake! But she moved quickly and fluidly despite the uneven terrain, running on the sand like she was born to do it. And every once in a while, just for a glimpse, a blue shadow would appear and fight with her - an Emblem.
His breath caught in his throat.
“Careful, friend.” The cheerful and all-too-knowing voice of Fogado drew near as the prince appeared on his horse. “I think I see your eyes sparkling.”
“Well, of course!” Pandreo said. “It’s the Divine Dragon!”
“Of course, of course,” Fogado echoed. “Is this the best day of your life, or what?”
Pandreo wasn’t sure yet. The sight of his god, however, dancing among the sand with the strength and fierceness of a thousand dragons, was already enough to put this day in close contention.
Was it sacrilegious to treat one’s god the way Pandreo did? Possibly. He asked himself is it sacrilegious to… often, with what had to be a hundred endings. Was it wrong to run a church the way he did? To throw parties? To treat religion like a celebration of life and not the way his parents would have wanted it?
He could normally brush it aside. His errant parents’ wishes aside, he liked the way he ran his church. If they returned and didn’t like it, well, maybe they should have never left.
But now, standing in the kitchen of the Somniel, Pandreo had to really think whether it was appropriate for him - for anyone - to hang out so casually with the Divine Dragon.
With Alear. She had taken him aside after their battle in the desert to thank him for his assistance - and to insist that she be called by her real name and not by her title. Most didn’t listen to her. He wasn’t able to, either, not out loud, but in his head he still tried to respect her wishes. Out loud was an entirely different subject. The Divine Dragon - Alear - was to be treated with respect and dignity!
“I want to eat her hair,” Bunet said.
Pandreo slapped him. “Do not speak of the Divine Dragon in that way,” he hissed.
“But her sorbet hair,” Bunet said with a groan. “The sweetness and excitement of the clashing colors could bring about so many different flavors…”
As always, Pandreo never knew what he was talking about. “She’s right there! What if she hears you?”
True to his words, Alear had just appeared and sat at a table not five feet away. From their position by the counter, where Bunet was cooking up lunch, they could easily be overheard.
Alear looked over. Pandreo flinched, but she didn’t look angry. Instead, she waved them over.
“Go on,” Bunet said. “I’m not done cooking.”
“But -” He paused. If the Divine Dragon wanted to speak with him, who was he to refuse?
But then Alear gestured for him to sit with her, and then she asked him about his church, and before he knew it, they were having an entire conversation about the wild parties he threw. Oh, the mortification! But oh, the fun he had speaking with her.
It wasn’t just that she was the Divine Dragon. It was the cheerfulness in which she expressed how fun his parties sounded, the laughter she broke into at what trouble Fogado got into at his last party, her wide eyes at the thought of anyone revering her at all.
She had no idea.
“Divine One,” Pandreo said, squashing down the guilt when she sighed at the title, “you have to come to my next one. Your attendance will really raise everyone’s spirits!”
She said she would think about it, but he could already see the hesitation in her eyes. Before he could explain to her just how much she helped him as a kid, Bunet set down two plates in front of them.
“Thanks, Bunet,” Alear said. “You really know your way around a kitchen!”
“I’ve practiced for years,” Bunet said. “Say, would you let me-?”
As Bunet explained his request to taste Alear’s hair to a bemused Divine One, Pandreo buried his face in his hands. Oh, the mortification. That was not how you spoke to your god.
“Hey there.”
Pandreo had been enjoying a quiet morning by the fishing pond, but it appeared it was not to last as Fogado dropped down beside him. Normally, if Fogado did appear this early, he’d bring along an instrument so they could wake up the rest of the Somniel with an impromptu performance. Today, his hands were empty.
“You’re up early,” Pandreo said. “Got any plans?”
Fogado shook his head, smiling. “Just talking to you.”
The prince settled himself on Pandreo’s right, taking in the view of the pond, the slight ripples from fish underneath and the morning dew dropping from plants on the banks. Above, the morning sun rose, illuminating the dock on the other side of the pond. In an hour or two, a Brodian prince would likely come to fish on the dock, but for now it was just Pandreo and Fogado.
“So,” Fogado said, because they couldn’t just have a peaceful morning watching the water ripples, “I hear you’ve been talking to the Divine Dragon.”
“That’s right,” Pandreo said. “I’m trying to convince her to come to one of my parties.”
“Pandreo, Pandreo, Pandreo - you’re going to let her hear you howl?”
“Well.” He couldn’t say he had thought that far ahead, but. “If that’s what the party needs, you can expect me to provide it!”
“Ah, good. I just had to make sure your crush wasn’t making you lose all of your senses.”
“My-?” Pandreo’s ears burned. “We aren’t ten, you know, and that’s our deity you’re talking about! Show her some-”
“Reverence? Love?” Fogado asked cheekily. “Pandreo, my fool of a friend, are you sure you worship her as you would any other dragon? Divine or otherwise?”
“Of course I do!”
They’d been traveling with Alear for some time now. Not only had Pandreo been able to fight alongside her several times, he’d also been able to hang out with her. Whether it was picking fruit, sharing a meal, or even that awful time she convinced him to work out with her - well, he hadn’t regretted a single one. Even after she made him do twenty five push ups in a row and he nearly collapsed under the weight of his own frailty. Again: he was a priest!
Putting the push up incident aside, he was beginning to learn how to talk with Alear as a friend. And that, he thought, was the best way to express his faith: by showing respect and friendship to the Divine Dragon.
He explained this all to Fogado, reveling in how he managed to resolve his earlier crisis of faith. There was nothing sacreligious about being friends with the Divine Dragon, probably, as long as he still showed her the admiration she deserved. That mostly meant no parties until she was ready, but it also meant he didn’t do things like fall in love with his own deity.
Fogado listened patiently. Then he thought for a moment.
Then he threw his head back and laughed.
“I’ve never seen you put so much thought into anything before,” Fogado said, still chuckling. “But for someone who usually has the wisest advice, I think you might have outdone yourself this time!”
“You don’t agree with me?” Pandreo asked. Was he too forward with Alear, and even Fogado had noticed? Was treating her as a friend who was also super holy not the right course of action?
“Oh, I disagree, alright, but not for the reason you think. I think you may be in denial.”
The burning of Pandreo’s ears had now spread to his face, but he hid it by turning away. “That would be brash.”
“Falling in love with the Divine Dragon? I’d say half the Somniel already is.”
Ugh. That was true.
“Even so…”
Fogado trailed off as footsteps sounded on the dock. Instead of Diamant or Alcryst or one of their retainers, however, it was Alear, a fishing pole held unsteadily in one hand. She didn’t seem to notice them as she cast her line and sat down, staring straight ahead, somewhere to their left and into the trees.
“Even so,” Fogado tried again, this time in a quieter tone, “I think you still have a good shot.”
Ha! Him, with the Divine Dragon? Fat chance. Fogado wasn’t one to lie, not to him, but it still didn’t seem right. Alear probably deserved someone much more holy. Someone like… like…
Well, there was just no one up to it!
“Thanks for cheering me up,” Pandreo said, “but it’s not going to happen.”
There was a twinkle in Fogado’s eyes that he couldn’t ignore no matter how much he tried. “Sorry, friend, but I think you’re wrong on that one.”
“Pandreo?”
Pandreo’s head whipped up to see Alear waving at him, having finally noticed she wasn’t alone. The morning light caught just right on the blue of her hair, shimmering like the pond.
“Oh, and Fogado, too! Good morning!”
“See what I mean?” Fogado murmured before he raised his voice. “‘Morning!”
“D-divine One! Good morning!” Pandreo exclaimed.
His voice didn’t squeak, no matter what Fogado might say later. He was a dignified priest of the church, one which revered the Divine Dragon, and -
Oh, forget it. He really was in love, wasn’t he?