Aspect lifted her ears as he walked towards her, listening intently. He sat next to her and explained himself the best he could. She was faintly amused that he decided to pet her, she purred quietly in her chest as she continued to hear what he had to say. It seemed difficult for him to articulate his thoughts. She silently watched him. His hand moved away from her and he held it out. He promptly dropped it back down and continued to pet her. He smiled at her and she gave him a smile back, though rather odd and toothy coming from a cat, but a smile just the same. She dipped her head into his hand as he stroked her, her tail flicking contently.

He complimented her on her color and she saw him blush. She was glad she was in another form, she gave herself away too easily in her human shape. She sat up and leaned against his side. She looked up at him as he finished speaking. "Personally, I don't think you're going mad having these kinds of dreams," she said to him. "You very well could have the gift of foresight. Maybe what you see isn't a memory of something that has been. It could very well be something that is yet to come. Though I'd generally prefer the world to end after my time here has ended." She gave him a smirk and lightly headbutted his hand. 

"The idea of your dreams being from an alternate world does intrigue me though. It makes sense to have different worlds at the same time, in different dimensions in such a way that one can't see each other but they still exist simultaneously. We could be sitting right here in our world, and yet there could be multiple different kinds of us in other worlds, doing the exact same things as we are now. It boggles my mind to think about it." She looked up at the stars. " The different versions of us could be limitless, in infinite universes, all paralleled over each other. I've seen just a glimpse of different worlds, through my many forms. Certain creatures can sense, see, or hear, things that humans can't, and likewise for the humans' ability over the animals. Like colors, we can generally see bright vivid colors. But dogs and horses and things only see a diluted version, and sometimes mostly gray. Butterflies and bees though can see many different colors that people can't even begin to comprehend."

"In that way, I could believe in alternative worlds lying together." She turned and looked at him, her eyes sparkled. "This girl you speak of, you like her, at least a part of you does. You seem bound to her, partially at least. I just ask, how do you know she's real? And if she is real, how do you know you can find her? I understand that people dream and have fantasies of those they desire. Lust, longing, affection, love, what have you. They can all create impressions and convincing mirages to those that feel strongly about those emotions. How do you know she's not just a figment of your imagination? I'd hate for you to get your hopes up on finding this girl, then realizing she's not real." She licked his hand briefly while still looking up at him. 

As Drake listened to Aspect, he could hear the ocean waves breaking against the shore. The constant stream of sound was calming, almost hypnotizing, adding a near mystic feel to the way that Aspect spoke. Perhaps it was fatigue, or maybe Aspect was something more than she appeared, but it seemed as though her words held a wisdom and power. She was certainly a unique individual, with a very unique perspective on the world.

Is she truly real?

That was the real question that had hounded him ever since the dreams had began. Aspect had hit the nail on the head firmly, so to speak. The idea that she could exist in this world would be a dream to most, but there was something that drew him towards Zets’ki. He knew that, at least, he could find some answers if he headed there.

“I know it seems crazy to think that she could exist. And, even if she did, she may not even be the person from the dreams.” He paused. “However, I have a feeling that regardless of whether or not she exists, that the end of it will be in Zets’ki…the place closest to the Celestials.” He ruffled the top of Aspect’s head once more. Her fur was soft at the touch. “I don’t know what will happen when I get there, or if I’ll find her or not…”

Drake sighed. The whole ordeal was complicated. “I don’t know. Maybe I am a little crazy, but…” He could feel the black dragon longing to see her. To know that she was safe from harm. But even if she is safe, that doesn’t mean she’s the same one….

He closed his eyes, and yawned. “Well…I guess tomorrow I can get to fishing. It didn’t really happen much today.” He opened one eye to look at Aspect with a half smile, “Do you still mind helping me out?” That had been a part of their original deal, but Drake wouldn’t push if she didn’t feel up to it.

Aspect laid down and closed her eyes as she listened to him speak. Zets'ki. She wondered if she'd been there before. The name was exotic and uncommon. Celestials, the angel people. She couldn't recall ever meeting an angel before. It would be interesting to meet one. She felt him sigh, she understood how he felt. Sadness and confusion were not foreign emotions to her. She stretched out her front legs, digging in the sand with her claws, making little furrows. She stretched out, yawning quietly. She rested her head down on the cool sand. 

"Don't worry about her for now," she told him. "We'll get there when we get there." He asked her about fishing and she smiled in her sleep. "I'm willing to help with the fishing. We should be able to finish by midday and then we'll make our way to Zets'ki." She sighed quietly and felt her breathing slow down. She felt sleep take her and gave into it willingly.

*******************************************************************

The morning sun woke her and her eyes fluttered open. She took a deep breath and stretched out before standing upright. She saw Drake still sleeping and walked around him in, so she wouldn't wake him. She jumped up on the rocks surrounding the alcove, enjoying the feeling of the warm sun on her fur. She watched the sunlight dance off the waves for a short while. She remembered her agreement with Drake and sat upright. Pelican. She felt herself tilt further upright her body lengthening, particularly her neck and head. Her paws rotated outward as her shoulders shifted in her back. Her hind legs flattened, turning into flippered feet like a duck. Her tail disappeared and her front legs became large feathered wings.

She stretched them out, enjoying the feeling of the wind rippling against her feathers. Her large long beak would take some getting used to, she normally didn't take this form. She turned around and half flew half dropped back down into the sand beside the sleeping body. She walked to him awkwardly, still adjusting to her capabilities. She nudged him with the tip of her beak. "Drake, Drake," she whispered. Her jaw adjusting to the large length of the beak. "It's time to get up now. We have a busy morning and a long flight ahead of us this afternoon in order to get to Zets'ki." She flapped her wings once, getting used to strength and the power behind them. 

Drake smiled as she recalled her promise to help with the fishing. It wasn’t soon after that things grew quiet once more. The draconian listened to the sounds of the ocean for awhile longer before the exhaustion finally took him, and he fell into a deep sleep.

As per usual, Drake dreamed of the other world. Luckily, this was not a nightmare like most of them. Instead, he dreamed of a small, personal airship sailing through the skies, with a dark haired man at the helm. His pure silver eyes glistened in the sun, and the smile on his face near radiant. Standing beside him was the blurred image of the raven haired woman, though distorted, as thought the dream were refusing the acknowledge her existence.

Even with the distortion, the dream felt pleasant. The airship was clearing the skies with ease, the wind whipping past them as they sailed the clear skies. It was as if the two had not a care in the world. Soon, though, the dream started to shift, and the skies shifted to oceans. The figure of the raven haired woman was replaced by a red haired woman and her excited gaze. The ship had changed as well, now a sea vessel, meant for catching fish.

Oh right…Aspect and I were going to catch fish… He looked over to Aspect, who seemed to be trying to tell him something, but he couldn’t hear her over the sounds of the waves.

“…rake…” She said. “Drake. It's time to get up now.”

—-

Drake opened his eyes to see a strange looking bird staring down at him. Wha…? He blinked. Is that a pelican? For a moment, he was disoriented, but the real world was catching up to him. “Aspect?” he asked. She was talking about how busy of a day they had ahead of them.

Right. The fish. He got up, and stretched himself out. He let out a long winded yawn, finally starting to feel a bit more awake. “There we are. Right, a long day before we…wait, we?” He vaguely remembered hearing her say that the night before, but he had thought he had misheard her. “Wait, you’re coming to Zets’ki with me?

A part of Drake was happy. He’d have a traveling partner, and Aspect was an amazing person. The other part of him though, was worried that he might have another magical mishap like before, and end up Gods knew where. But, that was Aspect’s choice, and she seemed a capable individual.

“Right…we have a lot to get done.” He shook himself off, and started back towards the ocean. “I take it you have a plan?”

Aspect watched him sit up and yawn. She shuffled her wings, slightly impatient, she forgot that some folks weren't morning people. She heard him speak and cocked her head at him. "I intended to go with you, yes," she told him. "You really didn't think we were going to walk to Zets'ki, did you? Walking takes much too long for my taste." She awkwardly turned and half flew half jumped onto the large rocks. Once he was walking towards the beach, she spread her wings and casually glided next to him. "If I remember correctly, people usually bring a box or a string of some sort to hold onto the fish that they intend to keep." Her eyes were trained to the supplies still up by the beach, but fortunately not sucked out to sea. 

She found what she was looking for and landed. Underneath some of the gear was a large box made of wood and reeds for drainage. "Here," she nudged it toward him with her long beak. "This is what we need. I can bring the fish back if you want to put them in this box. Just make sure they don't get away. If you need anything, just yell." She smiled at him, she couldn't tell if it was visible or not. She turned toward the ocean and readied herself. She pumped her large wings and was airborne once again. She glided gracefully over the water, her eyes keen, better than her human eyes. She could easily see through the water and spot fish a short way down. She opened her beak and felt the water and fish get sucked inside.

It was a strange feeling, like filling your cheeks with water and then having fish swim and flop around inside your mouth at the same time. It was a relief when she flew back and was able to empty her catch into the basket. She made several more trips, and gradually the basket filled up. She made one last trip after the basket was full to the brim. She caught two decent sized fish and flew back. She dropped them at Drake's feet. "These are for us." She said. "I'm starving."  She shook herself off, letting her change into whatever form her body felt like taking. As long as it wasn't a pelican. Human, I guess. She was quite relieved to be able to walk on land and talk normally again. 

"Alright, do we have everything?" She asked. She gathered some of the supplies and helped carry the fish box. "Where are we taking these too?" She was glad that the fishing had gone so well and hadn't taken terribly long. The sun hadn't even reached its high point yet. Which was good, they still had a long way to go before they reached Zets'ki. Even flying would take them a little while to get there. I'd be fun, she was curious to see how well Drake's dragon form could fly. It did have wings after all. Anything would be faster than walking.

It was still a bit of a surprise to Drake that Aspect was going with him, but he couldn’t argue with her. Having a companion along would make the trip easier, and help pass the time. Finally, he was ready to go, and the two walked the beach back to where Drake had left the the supplies the previous day, He was thankful that the supplies had not been washed away by the tide.

Aspect said her piece about the container for the fish, and flew off. If anything, it seemed as though she were being a bit impatient. Apparently traveling was something high on her list. Drake wasn’t complaining, though. He wanted to get to Zets’ki as fast as possible.

Drake watched the pelican form of the woman fly out to the ocean a ways out, and then dive with the utmost of grace. The dive itself seemed practical enough that Drake committed the motions to memory. He would have to try that at some point, once he got better at flying. It wasn’t soon after when she came back, her mouth full of fish. Several more trips later, and the basket that Drake had been lent was filled to the brim with fish.

Aspect withheld two, though, stating her desire for food. Drake nodded in agreement, “Food would be great. I’ll see about making it when we get back into town.” That brought about the question of where they were taking the fish.

“There was a tavern near the edge of Nisshoki. I made a deal with the owner for some coin and lodging, though I guess I don’t need the lodging at this point,” Drake stated. The two started off towards the tavern. It took no time at all , even on foot, for them to reach Nisshoki and the tavern Drake mentioned.

As the two walked in, Drake was greeted with a warm smile. The tavern was bustling, even this early, and there were rumors about of a dragon that was heard the previous night. Whoops… Coin was exchanged for the fish, and Drake asked if they could also use their kitchen. Since it was shortly after their breakfast, it was little issue to borrow, so Drake waved for Aspect to follow him back.

“Did you hear them talking about the dragon?” Drake asked, blushing slightly. “I guess I shouldn’t have.”

Aspect followed Drake back to the tavern, carrying some of the fishing gear. The building was large and there were many occupants inside. Drake was greeted by smiles and she stayed close to him as they made their way to the tavern owner. She couldn't help but hear some of the people talking about the previous night. It appeared more than a few of the coastline people had heard Drake roaring late last night. This seemed to be a source of great excitement, but judging from the lack of physical activity, it didn't appear to be something of great concern. She wasn't worried about it, within a few hours, she and Drake would be miles away from this place. 

She put the stuff down for the shop owner and watched as Drake and he exchanged money for the fish. He directed them back to the kitchen, behind the bar, and she followed him. After the door was closed she shook herself and again resumed the shape of a small red tabby. She leaped up next to the stove where he set about cooking the fish. She flicked her tail as he mentioned the commentary about the dragon. "I heard it," she said, casually cleaning her paws. "It would be harder to have not heard anything at all." She watched him for a minute. 

"I wouldn't worry about it, it wasn't a big deal," she told him. "For all, they know it could have been a sea serpent or a sea lion or something. We'll be gone soon anyway, no use worrying. You shouldn't regret being who you are, Drake. There's no point in it. You shouldn't care about what people think." She heard the door crack open behind her and she looked behind to see one of the staff peek into the kitchen. She seemed perplexed there was a cat in the kitchen. "What are you looking at," Aspect said to her firmly. "Begone!" She hissed at her and swung a clawed paw in her direction, resulting in the door being promptly shut. She huffed, puffing her fur out slightly and quite content with herself.

"I have met gods, some of them very great, in fact. I don't really care about the opinions of men anymore. The gods determine our fate after this life anyway, the mortal opinion dies with the body." She looked down at the stove and licked her lips, eyeing the frying fish. She couldn't remember when last she'd eaten. "Are they almost done?" she asked. She gave him a toothy smile, she was ready to eat. The smell was divine and the food was fresh. 

For the most part, Drake wasn’t worried. The entire town seemed to be in a good mood, which led him to believe that nothing would come of it. Aspect had assumed a cat form while Drake went to work in the kitchen. He wasn’t the best of chefs, but he knew how to do some basic seasonings, and in a short time, the smell of freshly cooked fish filled the air.

Someone peeked into the kitchen, as if curious what the duo were up to. Aspect didn’t take to kindly to this, and shooed the man away, which caused Drake to laugh. “That wasn’t very nice, Aspect,” he said between chuckles. “Maybe he liked the smell of the food. You can never know what others are thinking, right?”

It was interesting that Aspect had met Gods. Were the deities really so interested in the world? It seemed as though every time Drake turned, he was meeting someone with unique powers and traits. Was this the will of the Gods as well? Fate. That word again. He hated it. It always left a bitter taste.

“I don’t believe in fate,” he said in reply to Aspect. “Fate means that we don’t have choices. It defeats the whole purpose of living. I’d like to believe that not even the Gods can control our choices. It would be easy to think that were just on a path that we can’t deviate from, but…” He smirked. “Maybe we’re just cutting our own path instead.”

“Yeah, it’s ready,” Drake said finally, moving to dig through a cabinet for some plates. He served the fish out, and started to eat on his own plate. “So, as soon as we’re done here, we’ll head to the outskirts of the town and take off from there. Hopefully I can build up some stamina on the way….the full transformation took a lot out of me.”

It didn’t take Drake long to devour his fish, and he let out a satisfied burp. “Oh…pardon. Are you ready to head out then?”

Aspect cocked an ear as he laughed at her. "Well, maybe they shouldn't be peeking in where they weren't invited." She walked along the countertop and sat by the stove. She enjoyed watching the fish cook in the skillet. She listened to him speak as he brought out some of the plates out of the cabinets. He took the fish out of the pan and put one on each plate. She crouched over it, enthusiastically. She dug into hers with relish. She hadn't had fried fish in a long time, it was delicious. She had momentarily forgotten what it tasted like. The thin oil dripped on the plate and she lapped it off the ceramic with her rough tongue. 

She carefully picked her way around the bones in the fish, leaving a small pile on the side of the plate. She finished eating and waited for him. "Perhaps Fate is the infinite amount of paths that we can take," she licked the grease off her paws. "And life is just the path we choose out of the infinite. I don't know. Some people are destined to do or become certain things, others don't. I don't know why that is. I prefer to do my own thing and wait for it to catch up." She smirked at him. He finished eating and she stacked her plate on top of his. 

"I'm ready to go when you are," she told him. Sparrow. She jumped off the counter and transformed halfway to the floor. The little rust and white colored bird flew up and perched on Drake's shoulder. She dug her claws into his cloak to keep from falling off as they made their way to the door. "Let's go find a large open space so we can take off without causing too much trouble. It probably wouldn't be the best idea for them to see you turn into a dragon." She rode on his shoulder as they left the kitchen and the tavern. She saw the inn worker that had popped in on them in the kitchen. She stared at her the whole way through the inn with her mouth gaping open. She appeared to look frantically for the cat after they left the kitchen. Aspect couldn't help but puff up her feathers and sit a little straighter as they made their way outside. People were so easy to mess with.

As soon as they finished the meal, Aspect’s form changed to that of a bird, and perched on his shoulder. He winced on instinct but there was no real pain. Still, it was a little unnerving to have someone on his shoulder. Something I’ll just have to adjust to.

They existed the tavern with no problem, with Drake taking a moment to nod to the owner in thanks before they fully left the building. It seemed Aspect was more than content with messing with the poor woman who had peeked in on them earlier, to which Drake sighed. “You’re a tad mischievous, aren’t you?” he noted.

The town was as busy as it had been the day before, but maneuvering through the crowds wasn’t overly difficult. In time, they found themselves outside of the town, Drake veering from the known path and finding a clearing well away from others. “This should work,” he said. He shrugged his shoulders, indicating that Aspect should move.

Flames surrounded Drake as his body forced a change, and once more the great black dragon was standing proud. Without hesitation, the dragon spread its wings, and with a powerful thrust, shot himself into the sky, hovering in the sky. All right. This…this should work. At least for awhile. I guess I’ll get to test how long I can hold the form for, then.

His crimson eyes looked for Aspect. I…I can’t talk to her. Huh. I hope she knows that. He let out a low, almost annoyed growl. Another thing I’ll have to get used to. All right then…let’s be off then… He looked around, trying to orient himself in the direction of Zets’ki. That way.