Chapter Text

In a cave in the mountains of northern Vale there lived a dragon. Not a nasty, dirty, wet cave, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy cave with nothing in it to lie down on or to eat: it was a dragon-cave, and that meant a certain sense of flair. Granted, the young dragon didn’t yet have much riches to her name, but at least she had enough to fill a smaller chamber deeper into her den. She had lived on her own for the past 50 years of her life, but if she lifted her head to the wind blowing outside the main entrance of her home, she could still smell the familiar scent of her birth cave where her father still lived 2 kilometres to the south, which was enough for her. As she lay basking in the morning sun outside her cave, she suddenly heard the sound of gently flapping wings on the breeze. When she looked towards the direction of the noise, she saw a shimmering, orange-gold dragon flying towards her perch.

“Blessings and good tidings be upon you this fine morning, sister dearest” the newcomer said while bowing her front legs deeply and splaying her wings along the ground.

“Yang, please stop.” The resting younger sister sighed as she rolled her eyes at her older sister’s antics.

“Indulge me here, Rubolynnhaerisha…” the older dragon looked up from her curtsy at her younger sister pleadingly.

“Ugh, fine…” the younger dragon rose to her feet with an annoyed noise. “Blessings and good tidings upon you as well, Yahnghiellewonhayrisha…”

Yang chuckled.

“There. Was that so hard?”

“Yes. What do you want, Yang?” Ruby glared at her visitor annoyedly. Yang merely sat down and transformed into her human form, never taking her eyes off her younger sister.

“Well, I was bored and thought I’d visit Vale town for a bit, so I flew by to see if you’d like to join me? You might even run into that black-haired elven friend of yours again. What’s-her-name, Blake?” Yang playfully nudged her sister’s scaly shoulder with a knowing smirk. Ruby just glowered at her very annoying sister as she lay.

“You’re planning on walking then, since you switched forms? Would take ages to get to Vale. Pass.” Yang fiddled with a lock of her long, golden hair as she looked herself over.

“I suppose you have a point there.”

“Yeah.” Ruby snorted out a small tuft of smoke.

“Flying it is, then.” With a smile on her lips, Yang walked backwards towards the edge of the cliff and backflipped out of sight, only to reappear in Ruby’s line of sight in her massive dragon form. “I’ll race ya, sis!”

“Wha-? Yang! Wait for me!” Ruby threw herself into the air, desperately flapping her wings to catch up with her sister.

Five minutes later, the two sisters could see the outskirts of Vale in the distance. They discreetly landed out of sight to transform into their human forms, then walked the last 500 metres to the city gates.

“Hey guys, lovely morning for a stroll huh?” Yang dismissively called out to the guards who boredly waved them through the gate.

“So… where do you want to go first?” Yang glanced over her shoulder at Ruby. “Bar? Maybe that new place with the dance floor?” Ruby kicked at the ground.

“Seeing as you’re the one who actually wanted to go, you decide.” Yang paused for a moment, the fingers on her right hand drumming against her thigh as she mulled it over.

“I’m gonna go find bar, maybe I’ll bump into some interesting characters…” Without waiting for a reply, Yang walked off towards the nearest building with a sign above the door reading The Bear’s Den. Stepping through the door, the two sisters made their way to two unoccupied stools by the bar desk. Yang gestured to the bartender who introduced himself as Hei Xiong as he handed Yang a list of drinks. Yang sifted through it, with Ruby reading over her shoulder.

“I’ll have the Strawberry Sunrise, please. Ruby?”

“Absolut Kiwi, please.”

“That’ll be 80 Lien. Who’s paying?” Yang reached into her pockets at the bartender’s question.

“10… 15… 20… 30… wow they don’t even circulate this coin anymore, back in the bag with you… 40… 50… and 80 Lien.” Yang handed over the Lien to the bartender, who turned around to make their drinks. A few moments later, they were both happily sipping away at their drinks.

“Ruby? Is that you?” Ruby flinched in surprise at the sudden mention of her name. Turning around, she came face to face with a slender, raven-haired female elf dressed in an immaculate white long coat over a black ensemble with a crisscross pattern of holes over her chest.

“Blake? F-fancy meeting you here…”

“Especially since we agreed to have our next excursion two weeks from now, yes. What brings you into town? Couldn’t wait to raid another dragon hoard? I’ve found a suitable one up north if you really want to go…” Yang discretely elbowed her younger sister in the ribs, making her yelp in pain.

“Uh, I’ll… I’ll have to pass on that one. That particular cave has a very grumpy tenant if I’m guessing the location correctly.” Ruby stuck out her tongue at Yang’s death glare without Blake noticing.

“Oh. Okay then. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for more hoards.” Ruby was about to answer Blake when the door to the tavern swung open and three armoured men stepped through. The one in front, a tall, muscular man with a large, golden bird emblazoned on his cuirass stepped forward as he removed his helmet.

“I, Cardin Winchester, head of Vale townsguard, hereby declare that we are closing off our gates out of town, as there has been reports of two dragons heading in this direction. We urge the populace not to worry, but we encourage you to be careful and report any further sightings.” Ruby and Yang slowly turned to look at each other with horror written on their faces.

Crap.