MEETING AN OLD FRIEND

Bartimus stayed in the room the whole evening and got not even a wink of sleep. His mind kept wondering to thoughts of Selene and King Collins sitting happily together. When the first Ray's of light entered the room he was quick to get up and head to the bathroom to take a bath. He felt refreshed physically but his mind was still in a turmoil. He wandered if Selene was thinking about him in the same way he was. His eyes were a pale grey that showed his sadness. He heard a knock at the door and went to check who was there and to his surprise it was Selene. Her puffy eyes were enough to tell him she had been crying.

Before he could say anything she came closer to him and hugged him tightly. His heart ached when he felt how she shook in his arms.

"I...can't live without you." she said between her sobs,"Why are you avoiding me even though our love has already been proven to be true?"

"Because we still have to break the curse and our love is not enough to do that. I can only cause you pain. I want you to be happy even if that happiness does not include me." he said in a few melancholy voice,"You should get married to King Collins."

"I do not care if we can only be together as a master and a servant. I just want you to be next to me." Selene said adamantly.

She pulled away from the hug to look him in the eye and he looked back at her in sadness. Her eyes were still puffy from all the crying she had done the previous night and it made his heart ache to see her that way because of him.

"I cannot bear to see you getting hurt like this..... so no matter what you say, I will not listen." Bartimus insisted and it brought tears back to Selene's eyes,"Pipper had told me that you would find your groom here and I think she meant.....it was King Collins."

Selene pushed him away from her in fury and he didn't try to close the space between them.

"He is not someone who I think of in that way." Selene said hoping to get Bartimus to understand.

"But you think of him in some way, don't you?"' he asked and Selene frowned,"It will make it easier for you to marry him because you share a friendship with him." he paused to guage her sad and self-pitying expression and then he continued,"Think about it."

"I cannot do that when the man I love is you. I cannot even imagine....consummating the marriage at all."

"Some things have to be done Selene." he said and then stopped when her breath caught and her heart beat quickened.

He walked closer to her and pulled her closer to hug her again.

"You have to make a choice right now if you wanted you could leave him afterwards."

Selene felt her heart squeezing her chest because she had not expected Bartimas to say such a thing.

"I will not play with someone's feelings." she said.

"So then you know that he has feelings for you?" he asked.

"I have known it for a long time. I have been trying to avoid it."

"Look on the positive side and let me go. He is probably a better partner for a human like you." "Piper had also told me something," Selene said suddenly and it made Bartimus become attentive, "She said that the bond between a dragon and its master can be broken with a simple ritual. We can do that instead. I don't have to lose you."

"I do not trust witches."

"Then why did you trust her when she said that I would find husband in Jezim."

"Collins' not the only man present in the palace."

"Or he is not the only one who I have shared a friendship with. You are also here."

Bartimous stepped away from Selene and she looked at him with curiosity.

"Selene....I cannot bear to see you die before me." "Isn't that's what you've been seeing all this time. Why should it be different?"

"I did not love any of those people the way I love you. That's the difference."

Selene's heartfelt warmed by his words and she smiled up at him.

"That's is why I am telling me to marry Collins. Being able to see you will be more than enough for me."

"But I need you by my side. I cannot be close to any other man except you. So this marriage will be pointless and I cannot live the rest of my life as a cheat. We should leave Jezim as soon as we can. I don't want to stay here."

"I have to find someone here first."

"Who?"

"Someone who can find out what's happening with my body."

"What is wrong with your body? Are you hurt anywhere?" Selene asked him feeling slightly worried that he may be in pain.

"No, I'm not. It's about how I am unable to control my transformation or rather why I turned into a human in the first place."

"I see can I come with you?"

"No, it might be dangerous. They might try to attack me when they found out that I'm a dragon. I don't want you to be caught up that kind of a situation."

"Will you be fine?"

"Yes, I will be. Just stay safe and stay within the palace with Grand tree so that he can keep watch over you."

"I wanted to ask you something yesterday."

"What about?"

"How do you know the King's grandmother?"

"She was my mother's master, the third master at least."

"So your mother had you while she was still dragon."

"Yes. It would be physically impossible for me to have been born a dragon if she had already broken her curse."

"I see... but what happened, why do you seem to not like her?"

"She had mother and father killed." Bartimus said emotion less.

"How did she do that?"

"She asked some hunters to come and kill them and they used her loyalty to her as a way to make sure that mother would not fight back."

"Why would she want to kill her own dragon?"

"I do not know."

"I'm sorry to hear that. This place must hold a lot of...memories for you."

"It does, mostly bad ones." Bartimus said sadly.

"So why did you not get a master here?"

"I had no person with pure blood left here to make my master."

"I see. Does the king have pure blood?"

"No, he does not."

"Are you truely the last dragon in existence?" Selene asked after a short pause.

"It is possible that there are other dragons among those who already broke their curses and they are living among the humans." he answered her as he led her into his room quietly and he shut the door.

"Don't you think Vancouver would have already found them?"

"The man I'm here to see is one. If he's not dead, we can bring him along with us when we leave Jezim. He is a very wise man and he knows how to plan his steps ahead."

"Like a family." Selene said excitedly making him look at her in confusion,"See our group is becoming larger and larger it's like building a family."

"It's not building a family. That involves the union between a man and a woman."

"We are that man and woman, Grand tree is my father, Vivian is my sister, Gabriel her husband and whoever that man is he will be your father. A family!"

"I'll be leaving." he said shaking his head.

"Safe journey my love."

After saying that Selene walked away quickly before Bartimas could say anything more and he smiled at her retreating figure and realized how foolish she had been to think that Selene would choose to leave him. He left the palace discreetly and went into the central town. There where not too many people in the capital but it did not mean that the streets were not as busy. The place was bustling with carriages of noble men and women moving around and also the public carriages. He did not get on a carriage and continued to walk to the familiar workshop where he frequently visited the old man when his mother was still alive. Even though they had been dragons at the time at least he was able to walk among the people here as the dragons were quite famous in Jezim. It was the only kingdom having three living dragons.

He stood outside the small workshop that now looked even smaller than it had years ago and after a few minutes he finally went in.

"How many times do I have to tell you people that I do not make chairs now? There's another shop to your left, you can go there." the old man grumpily said looking down at his lap lifelessly as he sat facing the door.

"I'm not here for a chair."

The old man froze even further if that was possible and then he slowly looked up at Bartimus who walked closer to the man and sat down on the floor in front of him.

"I did not think you would be alive." the man confessed,"I thought you died with your parents."