By evening, Kai had learned three things.
First, Ember’s dragon form was not gone.
Second, she was in no hurry to rush the process.
Third, every time Kai suggested another training method, Ember somehow found a reason to sit closer.
At first, he thought it was accidental.
Then her tail curled around his ankle again while he was sorting firewood.
Kai paused.
“Ember.”
“Yes?”
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
He looked down.
Her tail tightened slightly.
“That.”
“Oh.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“It is not stopping you from sorting wood.”
“It is making walking difficult.”
“You are not walking.”
“I might need to.”
“Then tell me.”
Kai stared at her.
“You want me to ask permission to move?”
Ember considered this.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You asked.”
“I regret that.”
Ember looked pleased anyway.
Kai opened his mouth to argue further, but a sound came from the trees.
A low scrape.
Then another.
Ember’s expression changed instantly.
Her wing shifted off his shoulder, and she stood.
Kai grabbed his weapon.
Three monsters slipped from the forest.
They were low to the ground, with bone-white masks and black spines running along their backs. Their limbs bent wrong, and their claws scraped through the dirt as they spread out around the clearing.
Kai barely had time to raise his weapon before Ember moved in front of him.
Her wings spread wide, blocking him from view.
“Kai,” she said.
“I know. Behind you.”
“Good.”
The first monster lunged.
Ember met it with a snarl.
She caught it by the skull and drove it into the dirt hard enough to crack the ground. The second tried to leap around her, but she snapped one wing outward, striking it midair and sending it tumbling into a tree.
Kai stared.
“You can hit things with those?”
Ember glanced back.
“My wings are not decorations.”
“Right. Good to know.”
The third monster rushed him while she was turned.
Kai raised his weapon.
Before he could swing, Ember’s tail hooked around his waist and yanked him backward. The monster’s claws cut through empty air.
Kai stumbled into her chest.
Ember wrapped one arm around him and tore through the creature with the other.
When it was over, Kai was still trapped against her.
“You can let go now,” he said.
“No.”
“The monsters are dead.”
“You were almost scratched.”
“Almost.”
“That is too close.”
Kai looked up at her.
She was calm on the surface, but her arm was tight around him. Too tight. Like she was afraid the world would snatch him away the second she loosened her grip.
The system appeared.
[Warning: Attachment threshold approaching.]
[Separation difficulty: Severe.]
Kai read the words and frowned.
“That sounds bad.”
Ember looked down at him.
“What?”
“The system says separation difficulty is severe.”
“Good.”
“Still not sure that’s good.”
“It means I will return.”
Kai blinked.
“From visiting your mother?”
“Yes.”
Kai relaxed slightly.
“Oh. Then, yeah, I guess that part’s good.”
The system flashed.
[Host interpretation insufficient.]
Kai ignored it.
Ember did not.
“What did it say?”
“It insulted my interpretation.”
“It is correct.”
“You don’t even know what I interpreted.”
“You looked confused.”
“I look confused a lot.”
“Yes.”
Kai sighed.
Ember’s arm tightened again.
“If I visit Mother,” she said, “I will return.”
“Of course.”
“If she tells me to stay, I will return.”
Kai paused.
“Would she?”
“She might.”
“Why?”
“Because she is my mother.”
“That explains nothing.”
“It explains everything.”
Kai decided not to argue with dragon logic.
Ember looked toward the mountains hidden beyond the forest.
“She will know.”
“Know what?”
“That I changed.”
Kai softened.
“That you became human-ish?”
Ember looked offended.
“Human-ish?”
“I don’t know the official term.”
She huffed.
“No. She will know I found something important.”
Kai’s face warmed.
“Oh.”
“She will ask if it is treasure.”
Kai blinked.
“What?”
“She likes treasure.”
“Of course she does.”
“She will ask if it is territory.”
“Well, technically this cabin is sort of territory.”
Ember looked around with doubtful eyes.
“This cabin is fragile.”
“You keep insulting my house.”
“It keeps proving me right.”
Kai sighed.
“What will you tell her?”
Ember looked back at him.
Her eyes were steady.
“I will tell her it is you.”
Kai froze.
His thoughts stopped.
Then, very slowly, they restarted in the least useful way possible.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“As treasure or territory?”
Ember stared at him.
Kai immediately regretted asking.
The system chimed.
[Host awareness remains critically low.]
Ember’s mouth curved slightly.
“Both, perhaps.”
Kai’s face went hot.
“That feels like something we should unpack.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
She rested her chin lightly against the top of his head, still holding him.
Kai had no idea what to do with that, so he did nothing.
Which, as it turned out, was exactly what Ember wanted.
Later, back inside the cabin, Kai sat by the fire while Ember leaned against him, one wing draped over his shoulders and her tail resting across his legs.
He had stopped trying to move her.
Mostly because it never worked.
“So,” Kai said, “we train until you can transform.”
“Yes.”
“Then you visit your mother.”
“Yes.”
“You tell her you’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“You show her you’re still strong.”
“Yes.”
“Then you come back.”
Ember turned her head slightly.
“You say that like there is another choice.”
Kai blinked.
“I mean, there is. You could decide to stay with her.”
“No.”
“What if she needs you?”
“She has survived longer than most mountains. She will be fine.”
“What if your territory needs you?”
“I will check it.”
“What if being back there reminds you that you missed it?”
Ember was quiet for a moment.
Kai thought maybe he had finally asked a smart question.
Then she shifted closer.
“If I miss it, I will bring the memory back with me.”
Kai looked at her.
“You make it sound that simple.”
“It is.”
“Is it?”
Ember’s eyes softened in the firelight.
“Kai.”
“Yeah?”
“I am using dragon form as my reason to stay.”
Kai blinked.
The words entered his head.
They did not immediately turn into understanding.
“You mean… because you can’t visit your mother without it?”
Ember stared at him.
Then slowly closed her eyes.
“You are impossible.”
“What?”
“Yes, Kai. Because I cannot visit Mother without it.”
“Oh.” He nodded. “Right. That makes sense.”
The system appeared.
[Critical awareness failure confirmed.]
Kai frowned at it.
“I understood that.”
[Negative.]
Ember made a sound suspiciously close to a laugh and pressed her forehead against his shoulder.
Kai looked down at her, confused but relieved she wasn’t angry anymore.
Outside, the forest settled into darkness.
Somewhere beyond it waited mountains, dragons, territory, and a mother fierce enough to burn the world looking for her daughter.
One day, Ember would fly there.
One day, she would stand before her mother in her true dragon form and prove that she had not become weak.
Kai believed that.
What he did not understand was that every day spent reaching that moment was another day Ember wrapped herself tighter around him.
Another day his cabin became the place she guarded.
Another day his warmth became the thing she sought in her sleep.
Another day the path back to her old life grew thinner.
Ember’s wing tightened around his shoulders.
Kai glanced at her.
“You comfortable?”
“Yes.”
“Can I have my arm back?”
“No.”
“Right. Figured.”
Ember closed her eyes.
“When I fly to Mother,” she murmured, “I will return before your warmth fades from my skin.”
Kai’s face heated again.
“That’s… poetic.”
“It is a warning.”
“To who?”
“Everyone.”
Kai stared into the fire.
“Okay.”
The system chimed softly.
[Attachment threshold exceeded.]
[Long-term return probability decreasing.]
Kai looked at the words, then at Ember curled against him.
He frowned.
“Return probability to where?”
The system did not answer.
Ember smiled faintly without opening her eyes.
And Kai, dense as stone and twice as slow, decided it probably wasn’t important.