SoD - Taking a Bath

Giving a Bath
The dawn rose softly over Lorilan.  The birds began to awaken as the first rays of sunlight kissed the dewy grass.  Soon they were filling the air with their songs as a cloudless new day began.
Gradually the home of those last few dragons, their family, and friend grew bright, the increasing light turning the small cliff face a few miles north of the minor city Arora.  There was a small clear slope of only about twenty degrees that ran about seventeen meters to a large cave in the rock face’s base.  Just outside it slept two dragons, a green and blue, and three humans.
Further down the cliff face to their right, where the drop off was not vertical, was a waterfall, a river pouring over the edge in a series of small cataracts.  At the bottom the river reformed and ran along the edge of the slope right up to in front of the cave before turning and winding into the modestly dense forest.
The place was, in many ways, and ideal home for the dragons.  The top of the cliff provided a perfect launching platform for glides, the open slope useful should the need for defenses arise, the forest cover from prying eyes but not to thick to watch for Shailon scouts or spies, and the river a constantly refreshing source of water, and fish for the humans.
The cave’s interior was one large cavern, the smooth worn stone showing that the river used to flow through it from a large hole in the ceiling.  Stalagmites created a series of lined paths, like fenced roadways, that led to clear spots.  It was here that Kylora slept, and where all the humans’ possessions had been situated.  Kendro and Rikku preferred to sleep outside, in the open air and where they could talk without worrying about echoes waking their mother.

Rikku sleepily opened her eyes at the quiet sound of a disturbance nearby.  She watched silently as Jeen blearily stumbled down the slope to the small, slow-moving river below and dunked his head into the ice-cold water.
Kendro was twitching in his sleep as he began to return from the land of dreams.  He and Jeen had slept separately, and neither looked like they had slept well.  The night before had been the first time since Kendro’s hatching that one of them had pushed the other away with such force and emotion.
Rikku glanced down as Dan emitted a tired grown, awoken by her movement, and rolled over from his back to his stomach, remaining tucked close against the warmth of his sister and under the blanket draped over him.  He smiled up at her before turning a worried look on his brothers.  Kendro had roused himself from his dreams and made his way to the river for a drink.  Jeen sat a few feet to the blue dragon’s left, silently staring at the sunlight’s dance upon the swirling water’s surface.
“They spent the entire night apart?” Dan asked quietly.
Rikku nodded in reply, watching the dejected pair by the river.  Neither looked at the other, but their body language spoke volumes.  Both felt guilt about the night before.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m all right,” Rikku replied quietly.
“You sure?”
“Yes.  I do not want Kendro as my mate anymore than he wants me as his.  But, the more I think about it, the more I know it has to be.  If we had been raised differently this would not be such a problem.  We have learned some of our history from mother, and it was not uncommon in the time of the Brotherhood for clutchmates to choose each other.  Kendro knows all this.  He knows what we have to do.  He just has not been able to accept it as the only course open to us yet.”
Dan was staring at Rikku as she finished speaking.  She had spoken matter-of-factly and had sounded as if she did not have any hope that Kendro’s and her future could somehow change for the better.
“Who are you and what have you done with Rikku?” he asked, only semi-joking.
“It’s me,” Rikku chuckled, smiling and restoring to her sunny self.  “I do hope for a miracle, but not even I can deny how heavily the odds are stacked against us.  Still, it could be worse.  Kendro and I could hate each other instead of caring as we do.  However, all of that is still a ways into the future.  I’m more worried about Jeen and Kendro right now.”
“It wont take them long to make up.  It’s kind of hard to avoid speaking to each other when your minds and souls are linked,” Dan chuckled.
Rikku smiled, nodding in agreement.  “Jeen will be the first to apologize.  He has always been too hard on himself in these kinds of situations, even when he’s not to blame.”
“Then Kendro will point that fact out, tell Jeen it was not his fault, and apologize.  Jeen will still attempt to take the blame onto himself, saying Kendro had reason to feel the way he did, and Kendro will deny the attempt by saying he still should not have spoken to Jeen the way he did.  Jeen will try once more to blame himself, and Kendro-”
SPLASH!!!
“-will dunk him in the river,” Rikku finished for her brother as they once again turned their attention to the pair by the river.
Their predictions had proved accurate.  Jeen was floating in the middle of the river, clutching Kendro’s tail and squirting water from his mouth.  Both were grinning widely as the dragon shook his tail, trying to dislodge the human limpet that was attached to it, whipping Jeen every which way.
“Kendro giving Jeen a bath?” Narwen asked, yawning as she walked up to Dan and Rikku from the direction of the cave mouth.
“You could say that,” Dan laughed as Kendro cracked his tail like a whip, flinging Jeen upstream.

Jeen floated back to the surface and downstream a few seconds later.  He was facedown in the water, limp.  Kendro’s happiness faded to concern as his brother’s still body drifted up to the bank in front of him.  Worried, the dragon lowered his great head for a closer look, scanning what he could sense of his bondmate.  Jeen’s thoughts were blank and he was not breathing.  Had he hit a rock under the water?!
As the shadow of Kendro’s head passed over Jeen’s body, and his limp feet touched the sandy bottom, the human’s mind came to life, ringing with triumph.  Kendro was too slow pulling back as Jeen exploded from the river, sending a wave of water washing over the dragon’s muzzle as he flashed past and swung himself astride Kendro’s neck.
Got ya, Jeen crowed as he ensconced himself behind Kendro’s head and firmly grasped the dragon’s horns, and there is no way your are getting me back in that river without getting wet yourself.
Kendro smirked, snorting water from his nostrils.  As you wish.
Without further warning, Kendro crouched low and plunged his already wet head into the water.  Jeen gave a surprised cry as he found himself once again inundated in the river.  The force of the thrust flipped him over his brother’s head, but he maintained his death-grip on the obsidian horns.  He lay across Kendro’s muzzle, draped over the dragon’s face as it rose from the water.
Not this time, Jeen grinned cockily, his face mere inches from his brother’s right eye.
Fine, Kendro chuckled.  I did not manage to throw you this time.  You have won the battle, but you have not won the war.
“Is Jeen clean yet?!”
The bondmates turned at the call to see the rest of their family and friend at the cave entrance.  Dan, Narwen, and Rikku were rolling on the ground laughing, while Kylora stood, grinning and waiting for an answer.
Water dripped from Jeen’s sopping clothing and hair, running down Kendro’s scales.  The pair was seized by their own fit of laughter at what their antics must have looked like.  Jeen, completely in the grip of massive chuckles, weakly released his brother’s horns and rolled from the dragon’s muzzle.  He flopped to the earth like a landed fish and lay there, laughing too hard to speak.
“For the most part!” Kendro managed to reply.
Jeen regained some measure of control and pulled himself back up, using Kendro’s right foreleg.  Once upright again, he set off up the slope, his bondmate padding along beside him.  Every few seconds they would burst into quiet chuckles as the laughter bubbled from their systems.
“Glad you could join us,” Kylora smiled as the pair drew close.  “It is a good thing Kendro gave you a washing, Jeen.  You all have several busy days ahead of you…in Del Argone.”
Narwen’s contacts had arranged a meeting between her and representatives of several resistances to take place in three days.  The various groups were intrigued by the intimations that those spoken of in the prophecy had appeared.  Having the meeting in the capital city was not as crazy as it first sounded.  While Shailon’s eyes were turned out to Drakan Mountain and the regions surrounding it, they could sneak in and back out unnoticed.
Kendro and Rikku would fly Dan, Jeen, and Narwen to a point near the small town of Wetherlight, just over a day’s horse ride from Del Argone.  One of Narwen’s trusted associates would meet them at the town with a horse for each of them.  They would ride in, set up the meeting place, have the meeting, let Jeen and Dan get a feel for the city, and leave.  In and out in the same day to avoid attention.
The humans packed quickly.  They did not need to carry much with them; just their bedrolls, blankets, and some food.  Jeen left his magnificent weapon in Kylora’s care.  Both were too easily identified, and, while they had plans for Dan’s sword, taking the staff as well into Del Argone would be tantamount to turning themselves in directly to Dulong.  Jeen also had to leave most of his throwing knives, but he kept two, one in each of his arm sheaths.  No sense in being completely unprepared for trouble.
As the sun reached its zenith Kendro and Rikku took off, skimming over the forest top before rising into the sky.  Jeen sat astride Kendro and Dan and Narwen upon Rikku.  The dragons flew until just before sundown, landing in an out-of-the-way clearing with just enough time before dark for the humans to gather wood for a short campfire.