My stomach was hurting again. Not like the usual throw up pains, but really hurting. It was almost unbearable.

Leto's body vibrated under me and I snapped from my pain to look down at her. She flew away from a cliff and glanced back at me, concern sparkling sharply in her eyes. "You are in pain," she rumbled, not bothering to ask. She just .. Knew.

"Yeah, but it's nothing bad," I replied in my attempt to reassure her, gripping my arms tighter around her scaly neck to block out the slight pain in my stomach.

Leto fell silent for a bit and I closed my eyes, burying my face in her silky smooth scales, shivering. "Right. I'm taking you down," Leto decided, angling her wings another direction and scooping her flight downwards. "You should not be flying with this condition of yours."

"Excuse me?" I demanded in an offended retort, pursing my lips down at her. Condition? For goodness' sake, I was perfectly okay. It was just cramping. "I swear, I'm okay."

Leto let out a large sigh, seeming to be filled with a raging disagreement. This made me tighten my grip around her carefully, not because I was angry but because we swerved to the side for a long moment.

"Leto," I practically pleaded, my eyes giving her a begging look and my throat bobbing up and down. Little did I know I would break down right here, right now. But better to break down in the sky on my dragon than at home where a lot of people were these days.

Leto's eyes snapped from the sky ahead of her again and turned to me urgently, flashing with quick alarm. "What is it?" she asked, her voice thick with worry. "Are you feeling queasy? Queasy?" Her ice blue eyes searched my silver-gray ones. "I should take you down.."

"..It isn't that, Leto," I whispered, shaking my head rapidly and nibbling the inside of my cheek. "Please don't take me down yet ... I'm scared. Not only that, but nobody is involving me in anything for war preparations. They treat me like I'm fragile."

"You are."

This pissed me off, and usually I take Leto's words to heart and respect them carefully. But this? If this sounds absolutely bitchy, I'm sorry in advance, but I am not fragile. I don't break at the slightest goddamn touch of a finger. It couldn't take a sledgehammer to break me. Anger flushed my cheeks and I pursed my lips.

"I thought at least you would at least understand," I snapped coldly in the link, glaring at the back of her head. Her beautifully pointed, sharp white horns reflected sunlight into my eyes. I forced myself to look away, finding it to be blinding instead of reliving.

The Crystal dragon must have realized the dire mistake of her answer, but I found no hint of regret in her thoughts. Sympathy, guilt, but not regret. "Faye, please listen. I'm not going to apologize for being honest with you. And I'm not going to apologize for what I'm about to say--"

"Don't," I snapped, glaring down at her head harder and harder. "I don't want to hear it."

That's when it broke. By it, I mean Leto's seemingly never ending wave of patience. A low, frustrated growl vibrated through her body from the base of her throat. "No! No more of this attitude, Faye. You will hear me out because what I have to say needs to be taken closely to your ears. Are. You. Listening?"

I swallowed softly and relaxed my body against hers, my heart beating with stress and a slight hint of fear. Leto really was serious about this. "Yes.."

She let out a puff of hair, her wings flapping hard against the biting wind in order to keep her movements steady and straight. "Good. As I was saying, you cannot just keep trying to be the hero and dart right into the heart of the trouble. It's dangerous as it is in this world, and on top of that you are expecting a child. A child that you were blessed with after being told you most likely would never get the chance to conceive. And, I know you won't be happy that I'm mentioning this, but you seem to forget about the dangers of miscarrying."

Leto's voice ended after her long speech, but I knew she wasn't finished. I could tell by the way her mind scrambled with thoughts and words that she had much more to say to me, but was giving me time to consider her first words and catch up.

I was in a state of shock, followed by a big smack in the face from reality. Not even my pride could tackle down the realization that had just opened up to me.

How could I have been blinded by the fact that nothing else mattered than my need to prove I wasn't weak? My pride was returning, wishing to prove I wasn't at all weak but the opposite. At the same time I could feel Leto's, and possibly everyone else's, view. They didn't think I was weak, they just wanted to protect me and my unborn child.

Leto continued once she felt I had enough time to think this over, "Nobody sees you as a weakling, little one," she murmured gently, this time using a softer approach, "I think it is quite untrue. You are very strong, and you'll always be strong in your loved ones eyes. But you need to realize what the difference between wanting to protect you, and thinking you're weak is."

"You're right, I am sorry," I managed out, my enhanced hormones causing me to get quite emotional. Tears broke out in my eyes and sniffled. "I .. Just .. I'm not used to feeling this helpless. I want to be able to help. After all, the war is because of me."

"Not only you, but me as well, little one. The blame is not purely on your shoulders. In fact, there is no blame. It is just the strings of life controlling how we live. We are the puppets, and fate is the puppeteer."