Kirishima's PoV

I woke up with a slight smile on my lips. The echo of the beautiful dream gave me a feeling of warmth and love that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I felt for Katsuki at my side and frowned confused when my fingers only touched dry grass.

Alarmed and confused I straightened up and needed a moment to orient myself. Right, of course. I wasn't at home. I was in the realm of dragons. The dream had pulled me into a completely different reality. I looked to the side and looked into the grey eyes of Tetsutetsu, who stared at me openly.

I embarrassedly stroked one of my red strands of hair from my face. I had apparently shifted back into my human form while sleeping. Completely. In this form I would have been immediately identified as an enemy by every dragon. Probably it had been the dream but ... damn, something like that mustn't happen to me by mistake.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to shift," I said embarrassed and straightened up.

I've never seen a person up close before, Tetsutetsu said, curiously tilting his head. Smaller than I had imagined.

"Dragons are physically clearly superior to humans," I murmured.

The silver dragon surrounded me and sniffed at me. It was a bit awkward for me, but it was okay for me if he changed his picture of people and lost his fear of them. His intense gaze glided over my bare skin, examined my clothes and then got stuck on my double swords.

Are these death bringers? he asked. Even if his gaze seemed interested, he had struck his claws into the ground and had stayed stiff, his muscles tense.

"You don't have to be afraid of them," I said calmly and drew one of the twin blades with a slow movement. "You're right, it is a death bringer. A sword. But look, it doesn't shimmer. It's not a dragon blade and it can't get through your scales."

But it shimmers, doesn't it? He asked uncertainly.

I smiled. "No, just a little, because it's made of steel. A bit like your scales. The iridescent blades of the dragonslayers look very different." Carefully I stretched it towards him, and he took a careful step towards it. I watched as the silver dragon carefully nudged his snout against the steel blade. A dull sound was heard as the scales hit the metal.

It may seem ridiculous that a dragon, such a mighty creature, was afraid of such a small piece of metal. And he was really afraid. Tetsutetsu hardly let it show, but I saw his flanks tremble.

Only then did I realize how much the war had left its mark on the dragons. Tetsutetsu was a common dragon. He carried no hatred in his heart like the green dragon we had met in the destroyed village. He represented much more the common folk who had grown up with the fear of humans. Apparently, a lot of educational work was needed.

Tetsutetsu looked like a human being promised by a dragon that he would not bite and who now stuck his head in the mouth of the animal to look at the sharp teeth. He showed me that he trusted me but seemed overly relieved when he withdrew his snout.

Nevertheless, I was glad that I had this experience here with Tetsu and not between many foreign dragons of which I didn't know how they would react.  Because if I hadn't seen the fear and suspicion with my own eyes, I certainly wouldn't have understood it or even underestimated it. From the people's point of view the dragons were clearly superior to them: they were bigger and had a natural armour. They could breathe fire and their sharp claws and fangs were deadly. The dragons understood physical confrontations, because it was their way of fighting. They didn't understand human inventions such as swords, catapults and other weapons. Why should they? They had everything by nature to defend themselves. But that unfamiliarity with our weapons culture, if you can call it that, was the reason it seemed to cause discomfort and fear. The human weapons presented something magical and deadly for them. Although I thought I was beginning to understand what was going on in the heads of the dragons, I still felt as if I was only scratching on the surface.

Carefully I put the sword back into its sheath on my back. Then I turned back into a dragon. The human form was simply too dangerous for this realm.

I have to admit, I've been a little doubtful about your story that you're half human so far. Not really, because I didn't want to believe you, but it seemed to me like too ... unlikely and unreal. A Kirishima who is a half human. And I thought they had long since given up fathering your kind, the silver dragon said thoughtfully.

I pulled the little scales between my eyes into a little frown. I've heard that for the second time in the last few days. Have the Kirishimas, explicitly tried for a long time to produce half humans? For what reason?

Tetsutetsu shrugged his shoulders cluelessly. To be honest, I don't know why they did that either. Probably nobody knows except the Kirishimas themselves. I only know, and this is generally known, that the Kirishimas were always particularly interested in the half humans and moved that time to the Human Empire at every solstice. There were many rumours why it was more important to them than anything else, but I never really believed them. But some time ago they gave it up. At least I thought so, but now you are standing in front of me.

I made a thoughtful humming noise. I had the feeling that there was more behind it ... Anyway it was certain that I should travel as fast as possible to them.

Hey, Tetsu ... could you tell me where the Kirishimas live? As you know, I don't know anything about this realm.

I can't just tell you, I can take you there. The silver dragon winked at me, spread its wings and jumped into the air.

Bakugou's PoV

I was in a bad mood. And by that, I mean a hopefully-someone's-trying-to-rob-me-so-I-have-someone-to-beat-up bad mood. Since I left Miss Crownway's and Tomoko's little house this morning, my mood had been dropping continuously.

I had thought about what it would be like to return to the capital and I realized that it might not be that easy. Of course, Shimaya was surrounded by a well-fortified city wall. Since the royal court was on the inside of the walls, there were strict access controls to the city. Access controls that I could deliberately ignore in my time as a dragonslayer. But now I wasn't just an ordinary citizen who had to line up at the long queue and ran the risk of waiting half a day for it to finally get there. No, I was a traitor believed to be dead and as soon as they recognized me, I would probably be handcuffed. What an incredible humiliation to return in this way to the city where I had spent most of my life.

My horse stumbled briefly, and the unexpected movement ripped me out of my thoughts for a moment. The shore of the Kirano was very stony and impassable, so I couldn't cover the distance too fast. That only dragged my mood further down.

There wasn't a soul to see. The river was a trade axis that stretched from the northern mountains to the southern forests. From time to time I saw small cargo ships, but otherwise there was pure wasteland. But when I let my gaze wander a little, I saw that the river was gradually widening. I sighed relieved, because apparently, I would soon reach the big Kowada Lake. That meant I had reached my destination for today.

Then there were two more days left. Only two more damn days I would have to travel to get to the capital. And how I should enter through the city gates was still a mystery to me.