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I sat in front of the fireplace, sipping my tea, at peace with the world. Well, mostly at peace aside from the dragon who’s head was laying not five feet away from me. The wind was starting to pick up and blow through the door, overcoming the heat from the fireplace, but I wasn’t sure how to tell Teras to withdraw after how he reacted to the door being shut.

I glanced over at him where he was still slowly lapping the tea up from the bowl that I put out for him, wondering how I should broach the topic with the dragon. He looked at me and lifted his head, ears coming up. “The tea is good!”

“I’m glad you like it, Teras.”

He yawned hugely, mouth agape showing his rather impressive teeth, his jaws snapping shut at the end of the yawn. The dragon blinked several times as if puzzled by what had happened and I chuckled quietly. He looked at me, ears down, then they slowly came up and he actually seemed to smile. “I am getting tired.”

I nodded. “Yes, rather. It’s been a long day…” I left off, still wondering how to bring up the open door.

He stood and stretched himself out, then drew his head back. “I will sleep in front of door and help keep watch. You will be safe.”

I blinked. That certainly solved the problem. “Thank you, Teras.”

He bobbed his head and hesitated. “The fire will keep you warm enough? You won’t be cold?”

I shook my head. “No, I won’t be cold. The bed has plenty of furs; don’t worry about me, Teras, just keep yourself warm and I’ll see you in the morning.

He nodded to me, hesitated briefly, then withdrew. I walked over and shut the door, shaking my head. I guess one never knew exactly what a dragon would do, at least not this dragon.

I preformed my evening vespers and settled myself in the furs to sleep, hoping that the weather would still be clear in the morning.

I roused myself from a dreamless sleep and peered around the small bedroom I was in, at first confused as to where I was, then remembering the wood cutters hut Teras had found for me.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, stretching out as I did so, and reached for my cloak to wrap myself in, then put my feet in the house boots that I brought with me, grimacing at the coldness. I stood and looked at my clothes and grimaced further; they were filthy and wanted washing but I really had no other clothes to change into and my night things were hardly suited to the weather outside.

I yawned as I moved the curtain back and padded out into he living room to stir the fire, pleased that it was still reasonably warm inside. The woodcutter who built the hut certainly knew his business. I decided I would leave a note giving him credit at the local temple for whatever I ate and a little more besides.

I put the water on for tea and dug through the supplies to make breakfast, wondering if Teras had awoken yet. I decided not to check and to let the dragon sleep if he was. I wasn’t sure how much sleep he actually needed but couldn’t imagine that the last few nights had been very restful, or the last few weeks really.

As I prepared the food I heard a tentative scratch at the door and could’t help but smile. He was acting more like a giant cat than a dragon, scratching at the door wanting to be let in rather than just calling out to see if I was awake. I went to the door and opened it to find him sitting in front of the hut, peering down at me curiously.

“Good morning, Teras,” I said.

He cocked his head “Good morning. You slept well? Are warm?”

“Yes, just fine, Teras.”

He looked relieved and then perked his ears. “The food smells good!”

“Thank you, Teras, though I doubt there’s nearly enough to fill you.”

He shook his head. “No, I will hunt while you eat. I can have tea when I return?”

“Of course!”

He seemed to light up and lowered his head to sniff at me a few times. I managed to hold myself there and not flinch away as he looked me over and then nodded to himself as if assuring himself that I was well, then took several steps back, shook out his wings, and sprang into flight.

I went back inside the hut, shaking my head, and returned to making my breakfast.

Breakfast eaten I tided up as sound of wingbeats announced the dragon’s return. I was about to go to the door when he pushed his head in looked panicked.

“Teras-”

“Men! Men have seen me! They are trying to follow!”

I froze for a moment. What in the world should I do? While I could protect myself and probably Teras as well, if word got out that a sister was harboring a dragon there was no telling what the repercussions would be or how far beyond myself they would be felt.

I briefly cursed myself for getting involved with this again and now, seemingly, putting the order at risk. I quickly pushed those thoughts away; nothing to be done now and I honestly couldn’t say that I’d have done anything different in any case.

“Ok, Teras, listen to me: you need to fly towards your lair and stay back for awhile. I’ll put the men off your trail. Once they’re gone I’ll start towards the the next town and you can find me on the road if I’m alone. Okay?”

He started shifting his weight from foot to foot his head swaying back and forth “They may hurt you!”

“No, Teras, no one is going to hurt a Sister. I’ll be just fine. Now go, before they see you talking to me; I’ll never be able to talk my way out of that.”

He whined and opened his mouth and I darted forward and put my hand over it. “Teras, do as I say!”

He jerked back and stared for a moment and seemed to sink in on himself. “Yes,” he mumbled and turned to take to the sky with one last look at me, his wings beating furiously as he gained height. I watched till he went out of sight behind some trees and went back inside the hut.

I decided my best course of action was to pretend to live here or say that I was lost and had taken shelter from the storm here. The men should trust me easily enough and then move on about their business or, worse cast, escort me to the next town. As if a White Sister were not more than able to care for herself!

It wasn’t long before I heard the sounds of several people moving through the forest, making no attempts to quiet their passage. I took a deep breath and sat down in front of the fire place, praying to the Maker for peace and calm.

Moments later I was startled by a loud pounding at the door, despite knowing they were coming. I again prayed for peace and went to the door to open it.

Standing there was a huge man, easily surpassing six foot tall, covered in furs. He stared down at me with brown eyes that peered from underneath shaggy brows and his mouth drew into a frown from what little I could see of it behind his bushy beard and mustache.

“A sister? What’s a sister doin’ all he way out here alone?” he said in a deep voice.

“Taking shelter from the storm,” I told him in a quiet voice.

He grunted. “Dangerous, out here alone…”

I clutched my staff which I held out of sight behind the door. “As a sister I assure you that I am more than capable of handling myself,” I said firmly.

He stared at me and grunted again. “You seen a dragon about?”

I shook my head “No, if I had I’d have taken care of it.”

He let out a booming laugh. “You? By yourself?”

“Clearly you do not understand the nature or the power of the sister hood,” I said in a taut voice. “Was there anything else?”

His eyes narrowed and he stared. “I suppose not. Though if you’re so powerful perhaps you should join us hunting down this hell spawn.”

I shook my head “I have other matters that must be attended to. If you require the assistance of a Sister or Brother you may contact one in the next town.”

He grunted yet again. “I suppose so.” He turned and tromped off through the snow calling out to his other men that waited just beyond in the forest.

I shut and barred the door, keeping a tight grip on my staff. Of all the rudeness! No greeting and no respect. I shook my head. That one was trouble and it would be well that he were away.

But that would keep me here another day, waiting for them to move on. I considered. It would be easy for me to stay put, but I was sure that Teras would be worried if I didn’t move on soon. If he were to come back to check on me those men could well see him and then we’d have more troubles on our hands.

I decided to leave that afternoon, no matter. If the men were close by Teras would just have to keep his distance. Hopefully he would be stealthy enough to remain unseen.

I made my way back towards the road, my snowshoes doing a fair job of keeping me from sinking knee deep or worse. It was slow going but there was little to be done about it; I didn’t have the materials to make skis.

The weather had cleared up and the sky was mostly cloudy which was really a good thing. Had the sun been shining down with any real strength the snow could start to melt and become an untraversable slush. I thanked the maker for such mercies.

Back at the road I took a quick look around to see if I could spot the dragon anywhere but he was nowhere to be found. I also looked around the ground to see if I could see any signs of the men but there were no tracks of any sort. Again, I thanked the maker. Likely they were just trappers but something about them made me wary.

I was walking through a rather thick grove of trees on either side of the road when I heard the crack of several branches being moved. I turned towards the noise, staff raised, ready to defend myself if needed but saw nothing. I frowned. Probably some animal.

I had no sooner turned back when something struck my staff hard enough to knock it from my grasp and set me to staggering. I righted myself, feeling anger and fear course through me and turned to face my attacker.

“Told you a sister shouldn’t be out here all alone,” the bearded man I had talked to back at the camp said with a feral grin. He reached towards me and I quickly slammed my palm into his solar plexus causing him to double over.

Twin over hand strikes knocked him to the ground and I added an awkward kick with my snow shoes for good measure. “And I told you I was more than able to defend myself, fool!”

I turned to grab my staff and was blindsided by two other men, tackling me to the ground. I struggled to get out from under the man on top of me, kicking to dislodge the other grabbing my legs. I cry of pain told me I connected with my heel to something sensitive.

I mustered my strength and managed to roll the other man off of me. He quickly got to his feet and clumsy charged at me and got a thumb in his eye for his troubles. His momentum knocked me backwards and I scrambled to my feet.

Something large and heavy struck me in the back of my head. I groaned and fell to my knees. There was a sudden flash of light and I lost consciousness.