Dragonspeaker: A Dragonslayer Sequel (Reupload)

Chapter 9: Rowan

ROWAN

"So what do you guys plan on naming the town?"

"I don't know."

"How long will it take to build the town?"

"I don't know that, either."

"...is it safe to assume you guys don't know what you're doing?"

Rowan wasn't sure how much more of Bluebell's questions she could handle. She was half tempted to start ignoring her, which Rowan knew far too well that Bluebell would call her out for - her other option was just to tell Bluebell to wait until they met up with Grove and the others, which Bluebell wasn't going to do, from past experiences. Instead Rowan only groaned, glancing back at Bluebell.

"We'll figure things out once we group up."

Bluebell sighed expressively. "Isn't that just your fancy way of saying 'I don't know'? It's okay, you can tell me. I won't judge you - well, maybe a little bit."

Rowan resisted the urge to snap at Bluebell and inhaled sharply, still walking along the path. Bluebell seemed to notice, now staying quiet. That...is a development, I suppose. I can work with this. She couldn't help but feel a smidge bad, but attempted to shrug it off. Apologising would just lead to more questions from Bluebell, and Rowan wasn't in the mood to answer things that they both knew that Rowan had no answer to.

The rest of the walk was silent, much to Rowan's relief and...guilt, was it? She wasn't entirely sure. Soon enough, they finally reached the entrance to Talisman - and as Rowan expected, the others were waiting for them. With them she spotted both Mallow...and Camellia? What did they bribe her with to convince her to help? Before Rowan could say anything, Cranberry came rushing over to her, almost tackling Rowan to the ground.

"Cran-" Rowan yelped, though her shock was quickly drowned out by her own laughter. Cranberry pulled back, giggling as well.

She tilted her head. "Feeling any better?"

Rowan shrugged. "Not by much."

Cranberry was about to say something else, but she took one glance at the smirk on Bluebell's face and grumbled something Rowan couldn't quite catch, her cheeks flushing. Rowan felt her own face heating up, but didn't comment on it. Grove walked over to them, chuckling as well.

"Glad you're doing a little better," He replied, his voice soft. Rowan only blushed in response, unable to hold back a smile. "We managed to convince Camellia and Mallow to help, despite Camellia being...well, Camellia-"

"Excuse me? I never agreed to help!" Camellia snapped, marching up to Grove. "I only agreed because I wanted to give someone here a piece of my mind!"

Thyme blinked quizzically at her. "But we asked if you would like to help us build our new village..."

Camellia whipped her head around to glare at him. "If I wanted to hear your opinion, I would've asked!"

Grimacing, Thyme avoided her gaze. "I was just saying."

Camellia shot one more venomous glare at him before turning back to Rowan. "Anyways. You."

Cranberry looked as if she was about to slap Camellia into the dirt. "You touch Rowan, and I'll-"

"Cran, don't. Its inevitable, anyways," Rowan sighed, placing her hand on Cranberry's shoulder. "What is it, Camellia?"

"You know very well what it is! You know, the lying to us for several years about Wren? Our sister? I can't believe you!" Camellia stopped briefly to catch her breath, huffing rather heavily. "I knew you never cared about us much, but to hide something so important like this? Inexcusable."