Iron and Fire

Ceto might as well have been trying to run in honey. With people trying to catch him to stop him from falling and then losing where Arin and the water dragon, Serene, half the time, he was starting to lose his bearings. With all the noise, the chatter was drowning out his hearing.

Dammit... He had gotten turned around as he stood in one place. How did they disappear so quickly?

Ceto was about to give up when another loud "Excuse me!" exploded somewhere in the crowd and the smell of the ocean hit Ceto's nose. He furrowed his eyebrows as he headed towards the smell and the shrill shouts from Arin.

"What part of lay low did he not understand?" Ceto muttered under his breath. Though, Serene wasn't laying low either.

After knocking into about 20 people, Ceto was finally out of the meeting rooms and out in the open. He could hear the rapid footsteps heading away and started towards them.

"Arin, wait! You said anything!" A whiny, almost like a gurgling brook voice called out, but Arin must have been having none of it.

"Anything did not include that!" Ceto kept up after them, thinking that maybe Arin was finally having a taste of his own medicine. Though, this seemed a bit much.

Ceto followed until he was past the brush and could feel an opening. He could hear both sets of footsteps as they stayed in the opening. It must have been a funny sight. Though, the shouting between them was obnoxious. Whatever this was, Ceto was probably going to have to interfere. He took a deep breath before stepping into the clearing.

"Enough you two." Ceto felt Arin run behind him and the water dragon had come to an abrupt stop in front of him. His sense of smell was burning his nose of sea water.

"The Elder's son..." A small voice responded, but all Ceto sensed was how close she was. "This has nothing to do with you."

"You are chasing my Vassal. It is my business. What has the trouble maker done?"

"Hey!" Arin was about to protest when Ceto felt the glare from the water dragon.

"Made a promise to me."

"Arin, what in Gawain's name have you promised her?" Arin muttered under his breath that Ceto couldn't hear. "What?"

"He said he promised to help me cultivate my eggs." Ceto groaned.

Of course he would promise something like that.

"Arin, did you really?" Another mutter that Ceto took as a sign of confession. Ceto let out a sigh.

"Serene," Ceto tried to keep his tone even as he spoke. There was no need to have a testy water dragon when humans weren't that far off. "As much as Arin would love to serve your request, I am afraid that his life indebted to me."

Serene looked between them, and Ceto was only sure of that by the fact of how he felt the glare.

"This is not over Ceto." Ceto puffed out his chest, though in a human form, that probably looked dumb. As a dragon, it would have been an assertion of dominance. But, unfortunately, in this human world, it may have been considered something different.

"Get out of here Serene." After a snarl and another glare, the water dragon disappeared, the tang of ocean air filled the spot in front of him before the smell disappeared too.

"Whoo... Thanks Ceto, I thought that water dragon was going to have my hide." He put a hand on Ceto's shoulder and Ceto threw him over his shoulder to the ground.

"I should have just left you to her, you Puck." Ceto glared at the spot where he thought he had tossed Arin.

"Oh come on, Ceto. Like you would let me just fall." Arin wheezed as he slowly got up.

"You know how much attention you brought to us?" Ceto argued. "We are trying to stay low and you are causing trouble with a water dragon."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Arin was brushing himself off, causing Ceto to get more mad at his arrogant attitude.

"Arin," Ceto's voice went dead serious. "You can't just endanger our lives for a joke. YOu may be the jester in the court and my friend, but that won't save you forever. There is worse than Serene and after the council meeting, Xeno will not forget." Arin sighed and took a step past Ceto.

"Our world and life is going to fade away, Ceto." Arin's voice was stoic. "The jester, the trouble maker is suppose to not let you forget the world. If I don't keep up the pranks, the jokes, all will be lost." There was a somber tone to his friend's voice made Ceto feel uneasy. Ceto kept forgetting that his friend was having it just as hard as he was. "But enough about that. How was it between you and Rose?"

Ceto sighed softly. He turned his head toward where he had talked to the girl. 'I wanted to ask you something.' Ceto furrowed his eyebrow slightly. What had she wanted to ask me? Ceto was brought back to the present with the snap of Arin's fingers.

"Earth to Ceto. I didn't get to see all the juicy bits before the chase." Ceto rolled his eyes.

"Nothing happened. We just danced and talked a bit."

"You sly lindworm." Arin punched his shoulder, causing Ceto to roll his shoulder and shake his head slightly.

"Well, we kinda got interrupted." He gave Arin a look. He heard the whoosh of movement as Arin's hands flew up probably.

"How was I suppose to know that the water dragon was going to be chasing me?"

"Says the dragon with the gift of sight." Arin scoffed.

"You know that my own future is hidden from me."

"So you say." Ceto curtly said as he stuffed his hands in his pocket. "What will be the excuse for this?" Arin must have shrugged since there was dead silence again. "Great." Ceto muttered under his breath.

He looked back the way that they had come. "She is going to have your ass later, you know that?" Arin sighed.

"Well, at least my ass is saved for now." He clapped Ceto's shoulder who shrugged it off. "Come on man."

Ceto shook his head. "Let's go home." Ceto started to walk before Arin grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"Wrong way, my liege." Ceto knew that he couldn't expect himself to get very far without Arin being there.

Even if the wyvern was a pain in the butt sometimes, he was Ceto's best friend. It was just going to be a long walk home and Ceto would get a lot more time to think of what Rose wanted to ask him.

Don't think about it, Ceto. You'll just drive yourself insane. Maybe he should have asked. Maybe he would have been more prepared.