As much as it annoyed him, Rei the dragon knew this was the best deal he could get.

  The fight showed him they knew what they were doing, their acts with each other showed they really care for each other, and the Big One actions showed him he could at least try to trust them.

  [Rei] “Does not mean I should just fucking roll over”

  So he would draw a line and make it clear, no more games, no more politeness.

  It's the best deal the dragon would ever get, but he would throw it on her face, he was petty enough for that, even at his own detriment.

  The dragon was close to saying Fuck It, and going back to Square one, maybe another round would clear things up.

  Them she talked.

  Her laughter was filled with wonder and regret, I made her remember her beloved and that makes her regret what happened.

  The apology was heartfelt, and the reason made sense.

  Weird, Unexpected, Surprising, Unbelievable, Scary.

  The context behind what they expect him to be, a simple beast to be tamed, one that would be well treated, well cared for.

  But one that always needed to be shown power and dominance before friendship.

  His talent surprised them, a Simple Beast doesn't know how to fight, does not know how to project Intent.

  His anger Scared them, such deep anger, and such unexpected control.

  Mana uses they could just not explain.

  All the signs of him being an Ancient being, one of the long lived beasts that had broken through Awakening intelect after amassing greater amounts of power.

  How he gave all the signs of one, but was clearly not.

  How the Mana changed in his passage, how deep of a mark he left in it, a mark of deep knowledge, how he used it to heal with practically no waste, how unbelievably hard that would be and how effortless he made it appear.

  How his island was something comparable to great amounts of power that ‘Divinity’ wilded, but it was clearly only his, something that made even less sense.

  [Rei] “Everything they saw me do put them on a corner, they were as confused as I am, and only her beloved could cut through everything and get to the heart of the issue, they wanted a new powerful companion”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The dragon could see it now.

  They were experienced hunters, they saw a Hatchling dragon, practically a Dream for any tamer, and even more so for a Kobold to have, their natural affinity to dragons an even greater edge.

  They were desperate for an opportunity like that and they grasped it with all they had, unexpectedly they bit more than they could chew and now were choking on it.

  [Rei] “And the Big One saw it and asked for my help …”

  [Rei] -Fine … -

  The dragon said in an annoyed huff, resigned to the Kobolds.

  [Rei] “You win you scary bastard”

  He thought back to the Big One and how with one act, he put all this in motion.

  *** *** ***

  Las could feel the turmoil in the dragon's mind, the consideration and the annoyed anger simmering on the back of it all.

  And then, it was over, she knew she got her point through and it was accepted.

  [Las] “Thank you beloved”

  [Rei] -Fine … I accept your apology … now what ?-

  Las heard the Dragon genuine question, and that's true, now what ?

  He accepted the apology and the underlying deal, he was annoyed that it was the best deal he could get and it was forced on his hand, but he wasn't gonna lose it out of spite.

  He actually liked them now that he saw some of her memories, that word carried what he thought of them and he liked it, they were trustworthy.

  And she was also dealing under the table, she was gaining much more information than he was.

  Now that she knew for sure that he had no idea what he was doing, everything she was hearing bubbling below the surface of his mind made sense.

  Dream Speech was more, it was communicating in the true sense, you spoke what you meant and what you meant was also spoken, all you needed to know about what was spoken was there, loud and clear, you could see as much as you wanted, and only someone trained could limit the flow of information.

  But that was one aspect, the greater one.

  The other amplified everything the Dragon was doing back in the Real World.

  She thought it was a trick, there was no way everything he was thinking was actually his thoughts, it had to be a trap of some sort, a way to toy with her … but now she knew it wasn't.

  The whole time she was doing exactly what he feared her doing, she was scanning his mind, but what was only supposed to see the surface thoughts, was now giving her access to too many things.

  As long as the Dragon was not focusing on one thing, his mind wandered in every direction.

  And, as weird as it was to her, she could read much more than he could. It was an uneven exchange, so uneven in fact, that she regarded it as a trick, a defense against what she was doing.

  It was not. She was actually hearing him think and there was so much.

  The Dragon was still projecting like a master, but hiding nothing like a complete novice.

  All of his unfiltered thoughts passed through, his mind was open and speaking for all that would listen and she could hear, there were so many trains of thought that even now that she knew it was useful information, it was still hard to parse through.

  He found then very adorable and that was somehow made all the difference to him, he was alone and would like friends, he didn't like being pressured into things and would like to get even, he would not, because this was a good deal, he was afraid of not knowing what to do, and his anger flared every time his mind wandered there, he wanted to scratch his claws affectionable on her beloved, he wanted to lick her, Kow looked very throwable, how her and the big one mated? The imagery on his mind, the laughter at the scene, a hint of arousal, the thought of him doing it, more laughter and arousal, what were their deal ? Magic was a thing, how magic worked ? He used it … how ? What more could he do ? His experiments with Dream Sand, his thoughts on the Dream Plane, something Outer Space something, back to how cute they looked and maybe he could give them a lick, her beloved looked like a golden furred tamed wolf … she had to agree … back to magic, back to fear, anger spiked, back to the deal, what he knew of the world, back to knowledge she could not parse, back to mating habits …

  Every time the Dragon got quiet, the air was filled with all of the voices in his mind, and Las had to wonder.

  [Las] “How can he ever focus ?”

  She would keep that part quiet for now, he would know, but hopefully after they ensnared him in their group, nothing like a friend asking for forgiveness.

  [Las] -I … don't actually know, we are friends now ? … Hi friend -

  She said with a blushing smile and a cutesy wave that she knew would have an effect on him.

  She was not above cheating in the matter of making a friend. If her Beloved cheated with the help of Kow on his matchmaking, she could do the same with their newest companion.

  And now we have reached the end … [Of this chapter / arc] … anyone has any thoughts ? … yeah ? hold onto that, cause that’s a rhetorical question [Kidding].

  I just now though about how those 20k + change words amount to 2 days of in universe time … ooof, that’s gonna be rough.

  From here on out the plan on my notes [Those ARE a thing, ignore all evidence of the opposite], is to now figure out the Kobold tribe, maybe introduce some Goblins there on the ‘War Arc’, and explore more of the forest and everything that is there, this is the ‘Beginner's zone’, but not actually, i’m trying to keep the world flowing, but as i didnt put big geopolitical plots [or any plot], i’m gonna keep it small at first, middle of nowhere, every one with limited everything doing their best with what they got.

  aaaaaaand that’s it, Hope yall like it, peace out, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.