A warrior’s heart

Chapter Six

"Wha-what-what on earth does that even mean? I'm Crowesian? What even is that country? Is it in Asia?" Nell was pacing his room as all of these new questions were spewing from his lips.

"It's 'Cowasian'." Ariella says, starting to get annoyed, "And no, it's not in Asia. It's the oldest society in the world. Even older then Egypt. We just live all over and blend in."

"But I don't think I've ever heard of it." He finally stops his pacing to face her.

'Why are we telling him anything? He's just going to blast this on social media.' Kia asks annoyed as well.

"Shush," Ariella says to the cat. She turns back to Nell, "It's very likely you haven't. Very little remains from before we essentially became a nomadic tribe thousands of years ago, but you probably have. One of our cities was 'Atlantis'."

"Wait, you mean THE Lost City of Atlantis? But that's just a myth."

'So says you.' Kia speaks up again.

"And I believe I said 'shush' Kia,"

"How do you know what that," He struggles to find the right word, "THING is saying?"

'THING!?' Kia gets offended. They stand up , 'Is he still calling me a thing again?!' Their haunches lift up and they hiss at Nell.

"Kia isn't a 'Thing'. They are a non-gender creature with an A-sexual reproduction system. Their most common, and regular, form is what you would call a dragon. How they're able to communicate is almost like one-way telepathy but only with their companions and one other person. Other then that they can comunicate with other companions. All Cowasians have a dragon from the time they're born. They're usually from their companion's parent's dragon. Kia is my life-long parnter," She pets Kia's head again. "They're the first friend you make and act like your conscience."

"If I'm Cowasian like you," Nell says, "Do I have one of these 'Life-long Partners'?"

"Usually they would find you if yours wasn't born from your parents. They can take the shape of any creature in the world, even humans. Have you had a voice whisper in your ear to choose a certain path? Or had a certain animal be very attatched to you?"

"No I don't," Then a memory, long dormant, surfaces, "Wait, there was a lizard who played with me and followed me around as a kid."

"That's a good start. Do you remember the name you gave it?"

"Draco?"

"Like from Harry Potter?" Ariella giggles a little bit.

"Well, the name means 'Dragon' and I thought it was one as a kid." He gets defensive and blushes.There's a sort of hissing sound coming from the distance and the two look around for the source of the noise. He pin points the location and a presence so familiar and kind comes back to him, "Draco?" He moves to the window and opens it before a creature the size of a hand came crashing into the room.

Kia jumps and stands guard in front of Ariella. The creature that flew into the room then shifts into a dragon as dark as night with silvery eyes. It was a large dragon that somehow managed to fit into the bedroom. Nell picks himself up from the floor and carefully approaches the creature. They tilt its head down to meet his. He lifts his hand and places it on the creatures snout and a once broken connection forms again between them.

"They've been waiting for me to call them back." Nell says after a long moment.

"Then it's offical. You're a Cowasian." Ariella suddenly gets scared as a realization occurs to her. "The Councel is going to be furious."

"Why would this 'Counsel' care about me?"

"Because you've been in the world your whole life and know nothing of our society. And because you are a Cowasian, and tried to destroy the world, there will be major consequences."

"Oh," He says, sitting on a chair in the room. "That is bad. Then what are we to do?"

"I don't know. Something like this has never happend before. It's unprecedented.

Draco wags his giant tail and Ariella flops down on the bed to avoid being hit by it but it does cause a picture to fall off the wall. "Draco can you shift for me?" They pause and shift into a pitch black lab. "Why is their coloration the same? Yours looks like a regular cat"

"Yes. That's because, when they're excited, they don't shift their colors to match what is considered normal. Kia has had years of practice to master that kind of camouflage. Draco just needs time to perfect it."

'Ariella, I think we have another problem.' Kia says at that moment. And draco turns to look at them before jumping up and chasing Kia.

"What is going on?!" Ariella asked confused.

"Draco keeps saying the word 'mate'. I thought you said they were A-sexual?"

"They are but they can't reproduce by themselves. Just like earthworms. And usually that means they're," She stops in the middle of her sentence and hides her face in embaracement.

"What does that mean?" Nell pushes for her to finish but falls back when Kia and Draco come barreling toward him.

"It means that they're companions are also mates." She finally finishes as Draco finally caught Kia and was snuggling into them. But Kia was still trying to get free.

Nell looks between the two and Ariella before speaking again. "So because mine thinks they're mates. That means that we,"

"No," Ariella snaps at him before he could finish, "That doesn't mean anything between us. Our companions haven't completely accepted the other so it doesn't mean anything." She says firmly in denial.

This comment seemed to hurt him and Draco picked up on this. Giving Kia enough time to run away to Ariella. "Why would one dragon refuse the feelings of it's mate?"

"It's dependent on the individual. They could not be ready for a mate or refuse to accept because of their partner or because their partner is gone."

"Or maybe you're just choosing to reject me." He says.

A heavy silence hung in the air as neither said a word. Ariella was about to say something when a knock was sounded on the main door, "You have an important meeting, sir." A voice says behind the door.

"I'll be right there," Nell says without looking away from Ariella. He walks into his closet and gets dressed for the meeting and Draco follows behind and shifts into a black beetle that blends into the black suit that Nell had put on. He walks out and adjust his tie before looking at her from the door. They just stare at each other, not saying another word. Another knock at the door draws his attention and he just walks out and leaves for the meeting.

The door closes and Ariella turns to Kia, "What did I just do, Kia?" She slumps on the bed and holds her face in her hands.

'What you were trained to do.' Kia assures her, 'You put your emotions aside and handled the situation like a warrior.'

"But that's not what happened." she flops herself back down on the bed, "I was scared of what would happen so I shut it down before anything could happen and made things much worse."

'That Draco might think I'm their mate but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment.'

"But mother has always said that you would know who my perfect match is but was worried I wouldn't meet them since you never connected with any of the other agents. And don't tell me you didn't feel it too."

Kia was about to say something but just stayed silent. They had as much a part in this as Ariella did.

Three hours passed before Nell came back to his room to find Ariella and Kia had moved from the bedroom to the couch. The conversation they had before kept ringing in his ears. "I thought you would have left and gotten a differrent room." He says as he hangs his suit jacket on a coat rack. Draco had shifted into a cat and slowly made their way to Kia. They look at them in hopes that they could reconcile.

"I wanted to appologize for what I had said earlier. I-I'm not used to such emotions."

"But you're nineteen. Haven't you had a boyfriend before?"

"No I haven't. I did meantion that I haven't even had sex. My main focus was to be a warrior." She straightens her back and puffs out her chest in pride. "And a warrior doesn't lead with their emotions. They also don't allow it to interfer with the mission."

"So you're saying you don't know how to behave like a young adult?"

"Tha-that is- uh. That is correct, yes." Her posture deflates.

He nods and loosens his tie. He makes his way to his walkin closet. And before entering he says, "I'll be taking you to the mall and we'll be having the full experience of a 'normal' life."

"Ho-hold on, what?" She tries to follow him but he closes the door behind himself.

A moment later he's out of the closet wearing a dark blue, plaid shirt with a plain, white shirt underneath, faded blue jeans and men's tan, ankle boots. Ariella thought he looked amazing in casual wear like he did in his suit. "Ok, now what am I going to wear?"

Another knock at the door draws their atteniton. Nell makes his way and answers, "I have the clothes you requested, sir." a butler says, handing him the package.

"Thank you, Giles." He shuts the door and holds the package out to Ariella, "These will work for now."

She takes the clothes and heads into the bathroom to change as well. She was given a black tank top and a white cardigan with a feather pattern on it. Navy green shorts with a drawstring was paired with it. Her ass was almost too big and her cheeks peeked out of the bottom. Along with biege shoes, fake glasses and a double layer necklace. It wasn't a perfect fit but it'd work for today.

She walks out and Nell's heart skips two beats, and his groin twitches at the sight of her. He quickly clears his throat, "Are you ready to go?"

"And what do we do about our companions?" she looks over at Draco who was finally allowed to lay down next to Kia.

"They will be fine for a few hours. Shall we head on out?" He holds out his arm to her.

She sighs while rolling her eyes. She grabs the crook of his arm, "We shall."