Page 150 of To Fight and To Fold

Unable to resist, she lifted a hand to wipe at the shine of Aaryn's bottom lip before turning to—come face to face with a dragon. Who at one point might have been familiar, but was currently coated in sparkly orange dust.

“What happened to you?” Thea asked on a laugh.

“Starspark!” Aaryn chided. “What did you do?”

“He’s been rolling in moon blooms,” Thea mused. “It’s like catnip for dragons.”

Aaryn giggled and reached out for him, but Thea caught her hand as Starspark’s snout began to twitch. “He’s about to sneeze. Run!”

Starspark decided it was a game, and their screams of delight made the nearby druids laugh as he made chase.

Neither of them were paying very close attention as they tried to outrun a dragon, and crashed right into Runa. "I've been looking for you guys!" Runa said. Thea heard Starspark inhale, and spun them both around before covering them with her body.

As Starspark’s entire body swelled and released with his sneeze, the pollen caked into his scales burst into a small cloud. Between laughing and coughing, Thea was sure she’d inhaled half of it.

Thea slowly turned to glare at Starspark, and their giggles turned to howls. She glanced back over her shoulder. “What is it?”

“Your entire back is orange,” Aaryn gasped out through chuckles.

“Starspark!” Thea groaned. He didn’t look bothered in the slightest, and she stared him down as Runa and Aaryn brushed her back off.

Carissa finally joined them, holding a fist to her mouth to keep from laughing as she assisted.

Thea’s eyes were watering by the time she finally gave in. You win this one, she thought at the dragon.

"This is a beautiful celebration. Why doesn't Evergale do these? Oh, yeah—" Runa said and giggled. "Because Evergale sucks!" she leaned back and shouted, and nearby some others agreed wholeheartedly, toasting and calling out.

"Let's dance. You wanna dance?" Runa asked, and tugged at Thea and Carissa's hands.

Aaryn and Thea shared a look and let Runa drag them along near the fire, where a band had begun strumming. Playful notes filled the air, and...

Well, dancing with Aaryn and watching the golden light play against her skin wasn't the worst. Nor was the way they clumsily bumped together, not entirely by accident, even if an intoxicated Runa had more to do with it than anything.

Even Carissa, despite everything, cackled to the night sky at Runa's antics.

31

NO KISSING IN THE MOSS PIT

Aaryn's cheeks still burned, less from the heat of the fire and more from the memory of Thea leaning so close, their lips, the lean⁠—

At the events Aaryn had been to, had decorated or organized, they'd never danced this lively before, arms around waists and tugging one another closer than polite, laughing raucously and shouting with glee during exciting spins.

She remembered the stiff arms of the prince around her and shook her head, letting the twang of string instruments keep her in the moment.

Runa yelled drunkenly as she pulled her in with an arm around her neck.

"I don't know this one," Aaryn whined, and Runa laughed, attempting a short tutorial with clumsy feet. They lurched, and a scream of a cackle slipped out as she hugged Runa to her side. Her arm brushed Thea's, and she caught her gaze around the former guard's shoulder.

The dark depths of her eyes were shining with humor and something more intimate, something caught in the light of the fire amongst the dozens of people around them and yet shared just between the two.

Something gone before Aaryn could deduce its source.

"Thirsty?" she asked, and Aaryn nodded.

"Alright, I'll be back!" Thea told them, and Aaryn clutched both Carissa and Runa close—mostly to hold Runa up.

Then she was disappearing into the crowd, and Aaryn was left with her friends.