“Here, drink this,” Maija said handing him a skin of water. He opened it and began gulping. The fresh water rushing down his dry throat felt amazing. He wiped away the dribble with his sleeve and raised his other arm over his brow to shield the late morning sun from his eyes.

He squinted and asked, “Is there somewhere quiet where I could lie down?”

“You can have my tent,” Maija sprang at the opportunity before anyone else could respond.

“Thanks,” Anders said. He followed them back to their side of the encampment.

“How did you get covered in blood?” Max asked, coming alongside him as they walked.

“Long story,” Anders said. “Zahara crashed, that was part of it. Dead dragon was the rest.” Everyone glanced at one another out of the corner of their eyes. Anders noticed their looks but was too tired to pay much attention. It was as if he’d just told them the world was going to end tomorrow. “I’ll explain in more detail after I’ve gotten some rest,” he said. “I need to sleep.”

Maija led him over to her tent. It was pitched slightly away from the others in their group and bordered a beautiful grassy hill at the far edge of the camp. She pulled the flap aside and ushered him in.

“You can lie here,” she pointed to several blankets that covered a cot.

Anders thanked her and laid down on top of the blankets, not wanting his dirty clothes to mess up her sleeping arrangements too much. Maija turned to walk back out of the tent as Anders called after her in a gentle tone, “Maija, wait.”

She stopped and turned, coming back several steps to the side of the bed.

“What is it?” she asked.

He held out his arm from the side of the cot and extended his hand toward her. She took his hand in hers and smiled, bending down; she kissed him softly on the lips.

“You can tell me all about it after you’ve rested,” she said.

He nodded, his eyes closing with the motion of his head. Maija took her hand and ran it through his hair several times, kissed him on the forehead, and left the tent. Anders was asleep before she’d closed the flap.

Anders stirred from his slumber twice before late the next morning. He woke the first time when Zahara returned. She’d dropped Ivan off at the medical tent where the elves were attempting to heal Natalia. He was glad she woke him, so he knew she’d made it back safely, but he fell right back to sleep as quickly as he’d awoken.

The second time was only for a moment and he wasn’t entirely sure it happened. He thought Maija woke him when she entered her tent. When Anders opened his eyes, the inside of the tent’s white canvas walls were brightly lit with the glow of the rising sun. He could hear the busyness of camp life bustling around them, muffled through the canvas walls. He turned his head to the side where he thought he heard Maija making some noise. He was surprised to see her lying next to him.

The cot wasn’t designed to hold two people, so their bodies were snuggled closely together. Her eyes were closed and she had a small smile on her face. She looked like she was dreaming of something sweet. Anders enjoyed how beautiful she looked in that moment. Her wavy amber hair was slightly ruffled from the pillow, exposing her ear on one side. Quickly he realized that he had never fully seen her ears before; she always wore her hair down. Seeing her ear now, he noticed that it came to a subtle point at the top.

His eyes followed the curve of her neck, her caramel skin ran down into the top of the blanket they slept under just below her collar. Anders’ eyes widened, she wasn’t wearing any clothes, at least not a shirt from what Anders could tell. He’d never seen her bare skin before. His eyes wandered, only for a moment, as he gawked at her beauty.

Suddenly he wondered if he was still wearing his clothes. He moved his hands to his sides and felt the clothes he’d been wearing from the search. He sighed in relief as he would’ve felt embarrassed if Maija, or any of the others, had undressed him while he was asleep. Bringing his head back down to the pillow, Anders fell back to sleep, snuggling with Maija.

When Anders stirred for the third and final time, his movements woke her from her peaceful slumber. He smiled at her and she pulled her arms out from under the covers and stretched them high into the air letting out a long and drawn-out yawn.

“Good morning,” she said, turning back onto her side, facing him and pulling the blanket a little higher up over her shoulder.

“It sure is,” Anders replied. “And from the looks of it, a late one, too.” He looked around the tent at all the brightly lit walls.

“Not too late, I hope. I want to check on how the elf woman you found is healing. We tried last night, but Ivan told us it wasn’t an appropriate time and to come back in the morning.”

Anders nodded, remembering all that had happened the previous day.

“How’d you sleep? You were out cold for a long time. Zahara fell asleep outside the tent right after she got back.”

“I slept hard,” he said truthfully. “I even fell asleep with my clothes on,” he added, looking down her neck to the edge of the blanket. “I hope that wasn’t awkward for you.”

“I tried sleeping on the floor, but I got cold, so I came into bed with you. I knew you were sound asleep and you wouldn’t notice. And, well,” she blushed, “I feel very uncomfortable sleeping with my clothes on. I hope I didn’t offend you,” she said biting gently at her lower lip.

“Oh no, not at all,” Anders said trying to show her that he wasn’t offended. “I hate sleeping in my clothes, too.” He attempted to pull off his shirt but struggled since he was lying down. “I’m glad you decided to come into the bed with me. If anything, I should’ve been sleeping on the ground; this is your tent,” he said with the shirt halfway off and his head stuck inside it. He jerked off the last bit that was giving him trouble. His head came out of the shirt with a bright smile, only to see that Maija had already gotten out of bed.

She stood facing away from him. His eyes widened as he caught the fleeting glimpse of her as she pulled up her pants, her exposed backside disappearing in a flash as she fastened them around her waist.

She could tell by the silence that he was watching her. She turned her head slightly to the side, letting her hair swing across her back. She giggled playfully at the dumbfounded expression slapped across his face.

“Oh, sorry,” he stammered, feeling like a kid that had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

She bent down and picked up her shirt, sliding it on over her head, then turned around. With both hands, she pulled her long hair up and out of the neck of her shirt, flinging it lightly behind her.

“It’s fine, Anders,” she said looking away from him. “If I didn’t want you to see me, I wouldn’t have let you stay in here.”

She walked to the cot and sat on the edge, “You’re funny. Did you know that?” She kissed him twice, the second longer than the first, then stood up. She moved to the tent door and slid on her boots. Putting her arms through her jacket sleeves one at a time, she said, “We should wake Zahara if she isn’t up already. And you need to clean yourself up. You’re still pretty filthy.”

Anders rubbed his cheeks with his palm. He’d forgotten he was in such haggard shape. He threw the covers aside and sat up, ready to get out of bed. He sat there with his hands on the edge of the bed slumped forward for a moment, sore from crashing off Zahara.

Maija looked at him, “Well, are you coming?”

“Give me a second. I’ll be out in a minute.”

When Anders stepped out of the tent, the first thing he noticed was Zahara sprawled out in the grass next to Maija’s tent still sound asleep.

Maija stood, waiting. “Have you ever heard her snore before?” she asked.

Anders shook his head, realizing that even though they were bonded he still didn’t know everything about her, “No, has she been snoring?”

“Yes, she snores mostly when she rolls over onto her back,” she said. “Let’s wake her up.”

Maija stepped toward her, but Anders said, “No. We’ve had a long couple of days. Let’s let her be until she wakes on her own.”

Returning to Anders’ side, Maija said, “Okay,” with a pleasant smile. He’d never seen her like this, the way she was acting the last couple of days. He liked it.

“I should go check in with Ivan and see how the elf woman we brought back is doing.”

“They aren’t in the medical tent anymore,” Maija said, grabbing Anders by the hand before he could take a step. “I saw them move her last night. They’re on the elven side of camp. Come on, I’ll show you.”

As they walked toward the elven encampment, Maija asked Anders about their search for the riders and dragons. Anders recounted looking for them using their newly formed magical abilities. He explained how they flew into an airmine and crashed along a mountaintop. “That’s how I got this cut on my head,” he said putting his hand up to his forehead to feel the hardened blood just below his hairline.

“That must have hurt,” Maija said with concern.

Anders nodded. He continued to explain how they’d found the first dragon and rider. “Killed by magic,” he said after seeing Maija’s shocked expression. “And Nadir said I should take this,” Anders pointed to the sword he had belted around his waist. “As a gift. He said the rider would’ve wanted me to use it in his honor.”

Maija frowned and held his right arm as they walked, bringing him closer to her, “That sounds like a terrible thing to see.”