36 CHAPTER 36: OH...
"What is that noise?" Ashen complained out loud to no one but himself, stirring up from sleep as the noise he heard gradually became louder even though from the only window in his room, he could tell that it was still midnight and nowhere close to the early hours of the morning.
"Why the hell would someone be fixing something at this time?" He grumbled loudly to himself, as all he heard from the other room seemed like someone was using a heavy object to continuously hit the wall that connected both their rooms, in almost the exact position he laid his head, on the bed leaning on the wall.
Rubbing the already fading sleep from his eyes, and just in case, Ashen picked his wand which he had placed under his pillow for protection, getting off the bed and moving towards the door to ensure that it was locked and no unexpected visitor would be able to barge in.
The noise continued, as the intensity of the banging became louder and he already began considering whether to step outside to tell people in the next room to suspend whatever they seemed to be doing till the next morning when he suddenly heard a man's deep voice coupled with some heavy breathing.
"I will choke you. Smack you and slap you harder,"
Distressed, Ashen moved to get up as his mind began to wonder what the hell was going on in the room next to him and if a woman had been kidnapped and was being hurt, as he could easily hear a woman gasping for breath,
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Ashen suddenly heard a familiar voice speak from somewhere beside him.
Shocked and with his wand pointed in that direction, he was surprised to see Green, the small creature that had healed him in the exam, who he hadn't seen since then and whom he had immediately assumed had decided to stay behind on the island because of its absence.
"Green?" He couldn't stop himself from asking as he stared at the familiar creature, whom he was grateful to but who he also couldn't help or be wary of since the beasts that were capable of human speech was so rare that he could only count them on one hand and only the kings of the empire and their household were known to have familiars who were even capable of such feat, whose mere existence could buy a whole town.
"In the flesh. Even though it's dark, I can clearly see that you don't seem extremely happy to see me. I was expecting a more...mmm...jovial, arms stretched out wide, greeting," Green replied, folding himself back on the bed in a way that allowed him to use his wings to cover most of his back and body, peeking at Ashen through the holes meant for his eyes.
"Of course, I'm glad to see you," Ashen replied doing his best to try and be convincing even though the expression on his face was more of a worried one.
"It's just that I don't understand why you would stick to me," he said, directing a questioning look at Green, still a little cautious since the darkness of the room allowed him to mostly see its red eyes as they stared intensely at him,
"What am I meant to stick to? A tree. I woke up feeling extremely comfortable and uncomfortable, so I popped out of my shell, turned to see you lying half burnt up next to him then I saved your life and does this not mean that you owe your life to me? Since the more I stare at you and from the books I read, that tells me you're a human and I'm a dragon, the more I came to the conclusion that you didn't actually birth me"
"Reading? Reading what?" Ashen asked with both disbelief and curiosity staring at the puny thing in front of him, ignoring the last part of its sentence of it being a dragon to be nothing but a joke.
"I haven't just been resting. If this is a world I'm going to live in then I need to know more. I borrowed a few books from the academy and I've gotten to know a lot about humans. You are part of a very weird but important species," Green said eager to tell Ashen about all he had been doing and had gained, while Ashen already got lost in a particular part of the conversation,
"...borrowed books from the academy? What do you mean by borrowed?" Ashen asked with a horrified look on his face knowing fully well that in all his days in the academy, he had never been allowed to leave the library section with a single book, regardless of how often he visited the place.
"Well. The right word is stole, but I'm not a thief. So, since I have it, If I end up returning it then that definitely is borrowing, so I'm kinda right,"
"Of course, you'll return it. The moment we get back to the academy,"
"Some," Green replied, bobbing his head up and down in acknowledgement of Ashen's words.
"Some?"
"Well, you see...at first, it took me a while to figure out that books were for reading. When you passed the library and I saw loads of them, I instantly assumed them to be food,"
"You...you stole them?" Ashen slightly yelled, as the horrified expression on his face matched the tone of voice he used to convey his feelings,
"Some," Green replied with a shrug, deciding to wait until it was morning before he brought up the topic of food with his current caretaker/mother.
"You…," Ashen began about to go on a long speech about the appropriate and none appropriate things that green could do and how those things would most likely affect him in the future when again, a loud noise from the room connected to Ashen's own could be loudly heard of whipping and slapping of what seemed like human flesh,
"You want me to hit you more right? I will have you begging on your knees before the night is over." Shouted a male voice as the whimpers and groanings of a female could be heard immediately after,
"No...no...don't hit me that hard…," Ashen heard the woman reply in a playful tone as he again turned towards the door wondering whether or not to go next door, to make sure that everything was okay.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you and moreover. It should be over soon...if the guy is any good," Green said with a sigh, and in a slightly annoyed tone as he also would like nothing more than to go to sleep wanting to lie on the bed comfortably and not disappear in a tiny space which was one of its powers.
"What do you mean?" Ashen asked, a confused expression on his face as Green merely shook his head unable to comprehend how he knew more about what was happening than a fifteen-year-old boy belonging to the same species,
"Ah...Ah...I'm coming. I'm coming," came a shrill noise as the groaning and pounding on the wall became more intense only for the room to suddenly fall into absolute silence in contrast to the noise.
"Oh…," Ashen murmured diving back into his bed with a sudden look of realization on his red face, slightly thankful for the darkness of his room as he tried to go back to sleep.
"Yeap...oh," Green muttered to himself as he tried to do the same.
