Kaida's eyes fluttered open, a small smile on her face that quickly disappeared as she took in her surroundings. She was laying on something soft, which in her mind didn't make sense, due to the fact that it was a cave ceiling above her. She tried to sit up, but found that she couldn't due to an arm wrapped around her. Her eyes widened, and she instantly rolled out of his grasp, onto the cold floor of the cave. She looked around frantically for the dragon but found no sign of him anywhere.

"Draco!" she cried out frantically, stumbling towards the cave entrance. "Draco!!" Her voice grew more frantic as there was no response. She stumbled out into the sunlight, and her eyes instinctively squeezed shut. She kept moving as her eyes adjusted. And then she felt her foot fall out from under her. Her eyes opened wide as she saw the forest floor far beneath. She let out a short scream that was quickly stopped when she didn't fall to the ground. It was only then did she finally feel the hand that gripped her wrist. She felt herself being pulled back to the safety of firm ground, and she let out breath of quiet relief. She turned to the person who saved her from certain death, and was greeted by bright byzantium colored eyes. His hair was black, but in the light, there was slight purple sheen to it, similar to Draco's scales. Two horns stretched up from his head, and a pair of wings hung from his back, again similar to Draco's.

"Thank you", Kaida replied curtly. "Now... tell me who you are, and why you had your arm around me earlier!"

The male laughed, and it was strikingly familiar to Kaida. "I probably should have been a bit more careful in my sleep. It was not my intention to put my arm around you, dear Kaida. I was merely trying to rest as well."

Kaida's mouth dropped open as she finally registered what was going on. "Draco?" she asked incredulously. The man gave her a cheeky smile, and Kaida stared in shock, and confusion.

"How... how is this possible?" Kaida asked. Draco shrugged, his smile disappearing as he looked out over the edge toward the east, where the sun was steadily rising.

""This world is very different from yours. We call it the Firmament. While we share many similarities, this is the realm the gods placed us in after we became constellations. We did many great things in your world with our magic, but once something happened, like with the Queen, Zeus would either grow angry, or become very proud, and we all ended up here. And then, eventually, as humans began to forget about magic, any magical creatures were brought here, such as the nymphs."

"Okay... so if you're the constellation, how can you move around with messing up the constellations in my world?" Kaida asked, an eyebrow raised.

"We are the beings that the constellations were named after. We are not ourselves the constellations. Zeus just arranged the stars to represent us. That is how the constellations do not move."

Kaida nodded, happy that some of her questions were finally getting answered. She was about to move closer to Draco, but paused. "How can I trust you are who you say you are? Sure, you have many similarities to Draco, but there's no proof that you actually are him."

Draco smiled softly, and moved closer to the edge. "Shall I prove it to you?"

Kaida raised an eyebrow, and Draco took that as a challenge. He leaned over the edge, and started falling down. In the rational part of her mind, she remembered that the man had wings, but she still ran to the edge, fear filling her system as she peered over.

A white flash of light filled the area, and Kaida had to shield her eyes for the moment when the light began to exceed the brightness of the sun. When the light died down, Kaida looked down at where the humanoid form of Draco was and saw the dragon she had grown accustomed to. He flew up towards her, and smiled as he landed on the ledge. Kaida stumbled it shook slightly, and she felt fear flash through her systems before it died down. Even still, she moved closer to the mouth of the cave instead of the edge of the ledge.

She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly snapped it shut as her stomach let out a very obvious grumble about how it was empty. She blushed, and looked down at the ground while Draco chuckled lightly.

"I will go find you some food", he said. "And then I will answer any questions that you may have."

Kaida nodded, and sat by the mouth of the cave while Draco leaped off the ledge. She watched as his wings gave a few powerful flaps, which kept him aloft in the air. She watched him fly until he was a mere speck in the sky, and then watched the birds as they flew around the mountain now that the big dragon was gone.

~ ~ ~

Kaida's eyes snapped open at the feel of a hand on her shoulder. She blinked a few times, clearing away the blurriness that came with her eyes being closed for a while. She stood up, and recognized Draco's humanoid form who was offering her smile. She returned the smile as she rubbed her eyes.

"Sorry", she mumbled. "I must've dozed off."

Draco merely shook his head, and held out one of his hands which contained several berries. Some of them were smooshed, but most of them were still nice and plump.

"These were the best food I could find that would suit your needs. I hope it'll be enough", he said, a soft smile gracing his lips.

Kaida took the berries from him, slightly grimacing as some juice ran onto her hands, but she ignored it in favor of filling her belly with the tart juice of the berries. All too soon, the berries were gone, and Kaida's hands were covered with juice. She didn't hesitate to look them off, and Draco chuckled lightly. Kaida blushed at the laugh, and gently lowered her hand from her mouth.

"What?" she asked softly. Draco only shook his head in laughter.

"Never would I have thought that humanity would have stooped so low as to lick their fingers,'' he grinned. This caused Kaida to blush even more.

"Humans are complex creatures that have many different faults," Kaida retorted playfully. Draco's smile disappeared.

"I wasn't saying that they didn't. Every creature has a fault. For dragons, it's our selfishness and greed," Draco explained. Kaida smiled softly.

"I know,'' she said quietly, wiping the remains of the berry juice on her pants. "I was teasing you."

This time it was Draco's turn to blush. "Oh,'' he said simply.

Silence overtook them, and Kaida fidgeted nervously as she tried to come up with something to talk about. She couldn't think of anything, and it made her kind of sad. She enjoyed talking to Draco, though she wasn't quite sure what made him so enjoyable to be around. Sure, he was kind, and he was funny, but there was something else that she couldn't place.

Draco coughed softly, and Kaida realized that she was staring at him. Redness overtook her cheeks and she looked away. Taking a deep breath, she looked back at Draco, who was watching her with a curious look in his deep purple eyes.

He was about to say something, before changing his mind, and going silent. A few moments later, he spoke, though Kaida suspected that it was not what he was going to say originally.

"You do not mind if I change back into my dragon form, do you? I feel safer in that form, even if this is my territory. The queen knows not to mess with me when I am here," Draco said. Kaida nodded, a question forming in her mind, but she waited for Draco to change back into his dragon form. She watched as Draco took a deep breath, before running off the edge. A surprised scream escaped Kaida's throat, and she rushed to the edge to see Draco surrounded by purple, glowing mist. She watched in awe as Draco's body shifted and morphed, before becoming the familiar dragon she knew. He landed on the ledge next to her before moving into the cave. Kaida followed quietly, unsure of what to say.

"That... that was incredible,'' she whispered. "I wish I could turn into a dragon like you. Or at least be able to fly."

The dragon gave her a toothy grin. "Perhaps one day you shall. But for now, I know you must have a lot of questions, and I did promise to explain things to you."

Kaida nodded and asked her first question. "You keep speaking of this queen. Who is she? Is she a constellation?"

Draco nodded. "Yes. You would know her as Cassiopeia. She was a queen before her... unfortunate bragging, and was placed into the stars as a queen, forever next to her king in the sky once he was placed up here."

"Oh... I've heard the story of her before. Wasn't she placed up here because she claimed she was more beautiful than the nymphs?" Kaida asked.

Draco laughed. "That is one of the stories, yes,'' he said. "And that is the most truthful. However, it is more accurate to say that she was placed up here because she was turned to stone because of Medusa's head. Poseidon placed her here with Cepheus, her husband."

Kaida nodded, before moving onto another topic, one that was completely different from her previous one.

"Anytime my name is mentioned to someone who hasn't met me yet, they know instantly who I am. Why is that? Why do people know me when they have never met me before?"

Draco sighed softly. "There was a prophecy. One that was given a long time ago, by the oracle Cassandra. Few really believed her until the prophecy was finally coming to pass. I can't recall all of what it said, but a name was mentioned. And then, several hundred years later, the person with that name magically shows up. And that is when I first realized that the prophecy Cassandra spoke of was true. The few people who always believed her suspected for a long time that you would be coming. The queen being one of them. No doubt she has already sent people after you."

Kaida was struck silent. She couldn't find the words to ask her many questions. There was a prophecy? About her? Why her? What even was the prophecy? How was she supposed to fulfill whatever this prophecy was? Why was the queen after her? Finally, she opened her mouth to speak, and all her questions spilled out. Draco didn't show any reaction to her many questions, but once they stopped, he calmly spoke.

"Yes, there is a prophecy about you. I don't know why it was you, but it was. For now, however, I will allow you to finish comprehending everything that has been told so far. The queen is after you because of the prophecy. From what I remember of the prophecy, it is told that you will defeat the Queen, though I do not remember how. You will have to figure out how to defeat her on your own," Draco answered.

Kaida's mind was reeling with information. Her neurons were firing at a million times more than what they should have been, or at least, that's what it felt like. Shaking her head, she tried to figure out what was going on, only to make her head start to hurt. She groaned, and brought a hand up to press against her forehead, hoping to help relieve the pain she felt.

"Ugh... I feel faint...'' she mumbled, before stumbling forward. Draco gently held her up with a claw, and Kaida tried to clear her mind. It didn't work. She shook her head again, which did nothing but worsen the pain. She groaned, and closed her eyes, which caused a burning sensation to go over her entire body.

"I need to lie down,'' she muttered. Draco didn't hesitate to help her over to his large body, where she leaned against one of his large legs, and passed out almost instantly.