Touch of Flame

Ravina was on her knees washing the marble floor while Chanan cleaned the pillars and then went on to cut the overgrown plants outside. She would feel his eyes on her sometimes and she wondered why he watched her and what his intentions were but although he kept staring she didn’t feel uncomfortable with him. Usually meeting new people and having small conversations made her extremely uncomfortable. This man only made her curious.

She had this feeling as if they knew each other. Perhaps it was just his peaceful energy she thought and continued to wash the floor. When she was done, she felt exhausted.

Ravina was used to mental exhaustion but this physical exhaustion was new to her. She was grateful for the wind blowing inside both entries, which dried the floor quickly and helped her cool down.

Chanan left his shoes outside and stepped in. “You do this better than I do.” He said looking at the shining floor. “You must be exhausted now. Let me bring some water.” He said and went into a room.

Shortly after he came back with two cups of water. “Do you want to sit outside?” He pointed at the exit that led to the view of mountains.

Ravina nodded and stood up. Then she followed him outside. The temple was built at the edge of the mount and gave a beautiful view of the green landscape beneath and the sky and mountains ahead. A fence was built around the edge to prevent from falling.

Ravina went near the fence to enjoy the view and Chanan came to stand beside her. He handed her the cup and she took a sip from it.

“Are you enjoying your stay in the land of dragons?” He asked.

“I like the lands.” She said.

“Are you being well treated here?”

“Yes.” But she could only trust his good treatment. The others could just be looking out for Malachi, just like she would not interfere if her sister was happy with a dragon.

“Did you start with the mission you came here for?”

She became thoughtful. She never really figured out what exactly she wanted to do with the breedmate bond. The escape plan happened before she could make a clear plan. She just knew that this knowledge would be very beneficial to her and that just being a breedmate and becoming queen would be revenge enough for those who hated her kind.

But besides all that, her first and foremost reason why she put herself in this situation was to find her sister, and her new plan of making Malachi the protector of humans didn’t sound bad. She just wasn’t sure if it was possible.

“How do you know I am here with a mission?” She asked.

“They all come with a mission. Dragon tamers.”

She turned to him full of curiosity. “You said not all breedmates are dragon tamers, then how do you know if I am one?”

“We have had visions about you and waiting for you to come.”

“We?”

“Me and my fellow priests.”

“Did you see me in your vision?”

“No. We didn’t know if you would be a man or a woman. It is my intuition after having met and now my conclusion of you tells me you are the one and I have never been wrong before.”

“You have met dragon tamers before.”

“Yes. I have lived for over three thousand years. And in those years I have met three dragon tamers.”

Three thousand years?

“What do they do, the dragon tamers?” She asked.

“Well, many things. Dragon tamers come in times of crisis and tyranny. Power corrupts people.” He said staring ahead. “It is common among the kingdoms of living creatures for a hierarchy to exist and for the dominant to rule and exert control over others and among those who rule, abuse of power is common.”

Was he talking about his own people ruling over her people because if that was the case then she could see what he meant?

“The dragon tamers I have met have each been different from the other, but the thing they have in common is that they are people who gain influence in the dragon world and use that to tame those in power. They bring some sort of balance.” He continued.

She would bring balance? She could barely balance herself.

“Could you be mistaken?” She asked.

He watched her carefully. “Even if my intuition was wrong, there are too many other signs to ignore. You happened to be king Malachi’s breedmate. That already gives you some authority.”

She shook her head. “That is only if he makes me his queen. It won’t be easy even if he decided to do it.”

“Well, you have never had it easy.” He said. “That is why you are a tamer.”

She frowned. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

He smiled. “You could say that I wish for a world where there is peace and our people can live side by side in harmony. Don’t you wish for such a world?”

“Is it possible to have such a world?”

He became silent for a moment.

“What did the previous dragon tamers do? Did they succeed?”

“Come with me.” He said going back inside.

Ravina followed her back in and then he led her into a small secluded room. There were boards of paintings everywhere.

“Did you paint these?” She asked looking around as he went to look through a shelf.

“Yes.”

Ravina guessed that it was probably him who painted the beautiful landscapes on the temple walls then.

He came back to her with a tray of rolled papers. “Come,” he said and led them back to the temple. He sat them down on the marble floor again. Then he read the small text on the side rolled papers, looking for a specific one.

When he found the one he was looking for, he unfolded the paper. It was a painting of two people. He turned the paper so she could look at it.

“This is the first dragon tamer I met. His name was Arshan. He was a breedmate to the queen Hiroshima.”

Ravina looked closely at the painting, studying the man. And then the woman. They looked lovely together. The man sat on a chair and the woman stood to his right, one hand resting on his shoulder.

Her eyes went back to look at the man. She felt something strange looking at him. “What is his story?” She asked.