21 Kyte Village

Akai opened the door and his vision entered a bright uplifted village. He saw Nera next to the door. Akai wondered if she was listening. Nera stared happily into the distance watching as the other villagers did their business. Akai looked at what she was watching.

His eyes opened in surprise. It was a sunny day. He saw children playing. Villagers happily worked fields of healthy crops. They waved to each other and smiled. This village wasn't suffering like others he saw during his travels.

Nera noticed Akai next to her. "Hey, Akai. Are you sure you want to walk around, yet?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I need a walk to think," Akai said as he walked slowly using the cane.

Akai walked slowly, but everybody was friendly with him. Nera followed him to make sure he didn't trip. Miura left the cabin and watched Akai walk away.

As Akai walked, the children waved at him with pleasant smiles. Akai smiled and waved back as they went back to playing with each other.

"Nobody here seems to be afraid of dragons. What kind of village is this?" Akai asked Nera.

"This is Kyte village and why would we be afraid of dragons? Dragons only give good fortune to us," Nera replied.

Akai listened and looked around the village. The village looked to be doing well-off. He could tell that the fields were filled with crops. The houses weren't grand, but they were homely. There were children and elderly.

"Other villages that I've visited would usually be plagued by monsters or have some kind of trouble. But this place. This place seems too good to be true," Akai said.

"Well, of course, we do have some troubles. We can't control the rain, and we have the occasional pests."

"I don't believe that. The crops are plentiful and everybody seems to enjoy their life here. I don't know how it would be possible for prosperity for a small village."

Nera smiled with a young optimistic view.

Akai continued, "You didn't quite answer a question I had. I am in human-form, but my wings, tail, and scales are showing. If I was anywhere else, I would be facing soldiers by the dozens. Why isn't anybody afraid of me?"

Nera replied, "As I said, dragons are a sign of good fortune for us. I don't know much outside the village, but here, dragons are sacred. The nearby forest dragons offer us protection. We know how a dragon looks."

Upon hearing those words, Akai froze.

"Sacred? Good Fortune? I have never heard those words along with dragons in a long time. For as long as I have been traveling the world, I have never seen a village where dragons believe us to be anything but a monster," Akai said as he looked towards the crops and the nearby forest.

As Akai looked at the forest, he wasn't able to sense any nearby dragons, but if Miura was telling the truth, Kytlmyne must be in there. He wasn't sure about Kyte village. He didn't know what to believe. He's never seen anything like this village.

Akai asked, "What is this village's relationship with the ancient dragon, Kytlmyne?"

Nera was bewildered and replied, "Oh, you know Kytlmyne? He's the dragon that watches over us. I guess I should have expected that dragons would know each other better."

Akai knew that just because both him and Kytlmyne were dragons, they didn't personally know each other.

Nera continued, "There was an old legend of Kytlmyne passed down from parent to parent. It says that he along with many other dragons bring peace to this village."

Akai looked at Nera, and her smile was contagious. At that moment, Akai began to smile as well.

But then, he looked back at the forests. He couldn't sense the dragon nearby, but he knew that if he traveled in there for some time, he would find Kytlmyne eventually.

"Thank you, Nera. Thank you for everything that you've done. Without you, I may be sitting in an early grave."

Nera blushed and was embarrassed. "Oh. As I said, it was no problem," she said looking away hiding her blush.

Akai gave off a smile and Nera smiled back.

"I will still need some days to recover. I hope that it isn't too much trouble for me to stay."

"Of course not. You're welcome here as long as you want, Akai," she said sincerely.

They both smiled. For a moment, Akai forgot about his mission, but only for a moment. He still knew what he needed to do. He just didn't know how.