to wait?” she asked pleasantly.
Legon sighed. He figured it was better to get this over with now than later.
“Yeah, we can get to it. Listen, I can’t be in this territory anymore. My best chance at not being noticed is going someplace where no one knows me or this town. That means that it will be rare that I can visit here. My life could get dangerous and I want to protect everyone, including you, from that.”
Her eyes narrowed and a crease crossed the space in between. “Ok, that makes sense. So what’s the part I’m going to have a hard time with?”
“I want you to come with me. Now wait—hear me out,” he said as she pulled back from him. “Look, we both know what’s going to happen next spring. I was originally going to try and get money here before taxes, but that isn’t going to work. Furthermore, you aren’t safe here. I have no choice but to leave, and unless you want to be a slave or be killed by some idiot here, you don’t have a choice either,” he said, trying to be calm and reassuring in his tone.
The look on her face was blank. He could see her body becoming more and more rigid. He knew she was upset with him.
“So what, I come with you and then what? What do we become? Legon, don’t you get it? I will be seen as a freak everywhere I go. Nobody will ever want me as a wife and I will never be able to support myself. You’ll be stuck with me. I won’t let you throw your life away!” she said angrily, but by the end there was sadness in her voice. It tore at him knowing the pain she felt, but that’s why she needed to come. That was why he needed to be with her—to protect and shield her from the sorrows of the world.
“Look, we would be going someplace new and people won’t know anything about you, so you could be a seamstress or something. We can keep it quiet. Also, I’m not throwing my life away. I have to keep my head down until I find out what I’m going to end up being. Look, my way has more danger than I want you in, but staying here is worse. You are not going to be hurt by someone in town, nor are you going to become a slave. Do you get me?”
* * * * *
Sasha heard the resolve in his voice. She did ‘get him.’ The tone in his voice made it clear that if she stayed he would too, and when the day came that the collectors came for her, he would die fighting them off. She didn’t have a choice, and in truth she did want to go with him. She knew that there was going to be a high chance of danger and she understood that he didn’t want her in it, but he didn’t have a choice.
“Ok, fine. You made your point. When do we leave?” She was surprised at how it made her feel better.
Legon leaned over and hugged her tightly, kissing her on the cheek. “Thank you, Sash.”
She laughed. “Thank you for what? Why are you hugging me? You had to know I would give in.”
“Yeah I knew, but I thought I was going to have to fight you for awhile and pull the ‘mom and dad think it’s a good idea’ card on you. Now we can actually have a nice lunch.”
“The mom and dad card, huh? So you talked to them about it, did you?” It was no surprise that they would gang up on her, she thought wryly.
He didn’t respond, instead pouring the cedar into the glasses and handing her one.
* * * * *
Legon could feel the tension between them drop. It was nice to sit at the top of the hill looking out over the town, eating lunch. As he thought this, a slight shiver ran up his spine. Not too long ago he had looked out over this town in pitch black and seen everything. He knew now that it must have been the Elven side of him that night. The thing that confused him was why he was having dreams with the black dragon. After all, he was part Elf, not Iumenta, and that meant that he should belong to the good brother, not the bad.
“I’m going to talk to Kovos today and tell him that I’m