TW: Mention of k*lling someone (jokingly)

"Greetings, traveler! I'm Patton, come on in!"

Roman blinked. This Dragon-Witch was much different than the one guarding the village's gate, and he was starting to wonder if he could trust him. Patton noticed his hesitation.

"It's alright, this is a safe spot for anyone. At least pop in for the night? It's awfully late." Roman nodded, and stepped inside.

The cottage was relatively small on the inside. There was a kitchen corner with cabinets and counters, each filled with bowls, pots, pans, and other assorted items used for cooking and baking. Various herbs hung from the ceiling, and in the middle of it all was a large black cauldron— at least that explained the pink smoke.

The rest of the place was a bit bare, just a wooden table with six stools across from the kitchen area, and a corner with comfy chairs. Roman assumed this was some sort of family/parlor room.

Patton looked over at him with kind eyes. "Just head upstairs, and I think you'll like the room with the red door."

"Alright."

Patton looked a bit surprised, but then again, it was the first time that Roman had spoken. He headed up the stairs separating the kitchen and parlor.

It was still quite dark, but he thought he could see the red door Patton had been speaking of. He walked over to it, and sure enough, it was red. He opened it, and it made a small squeaking noise. He walked inside.

The room was small, but not unlike his quarters back at home. There was a bed on his left, a dresser on the left wall, and a desk on the wall in front of him. He closed the door, and realized he still had on his pack. He took it off, along with the cloak he had put on before he left, and placed them on the bed, and leaned against the wall.

Only six hours earlier he had been back in his home country of Ciciero— was this part of the woods still in Ciciero? He had never been all that great at geography— and now? Now he was in a strange cottage, with a strange man of a strange species.

But all that mattered was getting into the Dragon-Witch village. If he could do that, he could—

"Now is not the time to think about what 'could be'! Now's the time to plan." he told himself. He got up, and started pacing around the room, something he often did when he had to think of something.

He obviously couldn't get in the normal way, and the gates were much too high to climb or jump over. There might be other entrances, but they too would probably be guarded.

He paced for what felt like half an hour, but nothing came to him. Suddenly, a knock on the door startled him out of his half-trance.

"Kiddo? You ok?" Patton opened the door a bit and stuck his head in. "I heard your pacing, do you want to talk?"

Roman looked down at his feet for a moment. "Yeah," he whispered. He needed to get whatever he was feeling out. Obviously, he couldn't say what was really happening, he doubted Patton would like to know he was a knight for Cicero of all places, but maybe he could change the story a little bit...

Patton opened the door and walked over to the bed, where Roman was sitting. He looked up at him with kind eyes. "What's going on?"

Roman took a deep breath. Part of him hated to lie, but he brushed that aside. It was just acting after all, right?

"A few days ago I received a strange note. It held some directions. I went to go talk to my friend,"

Here, he stopped. He knew that Janus would literally kill him if he told a stranger his name. He once mentioned it to Thomas when he had first become a knight, and somehow Janus figured it out. He had ignored Roman for a week.

"Yes?" Patton inquired. Roman continued, having momentarily gotten lost in that train of thought.

"My friend, Dee. He said it was probably nothing, just our friend Leo pranking us, but I was pretty sure it wasn't him. I thought it over for a few days, and last night I decided to go and follow them.

"I was trying to get to... wherever the directions lead me, but I got lost, and wound up here.

"The thing is, I know I have to get wherever these are bringing me. And I don't know how long it will take to get there. I just..."

Patton gave him a soft smile. "You feel like you're leaving your friends behind?"

Roman nodded. "Yeah. But the thing is, Dee isn't like a friend. He's like, family, I guess?"

"FamILY." But Patton said it differently, with an emphasis on the "ILY."

"What?" Roman asked him.

"FamILY," he said (The same way as last time), "Is different from a normal family, or a friend group. It's the people your closest too, the people you can't live without. FamILY doesn't have to be blood-related. It can, of course, but not always. FamILY changes sometimes, but not often, because the people you let into it are the special ones, the ones that never leave."

Roman thought about that. "Yeah," he said. "J-Dee is my famILY." He sighed. "He's my only famILY."

Suddenly, the guilt really hit him hard. He had left Janus. Completely abandoned him, the only notice being the note. What would he say when he saw him again? A tear trickled down his cheek, and he brushed it aside, hoping Patton wouldn't see it.

He did.

The Dragon-Witch hugged the knight, his arms and wings (which, surprisingly seemed more leathery than scaly,) wrapping against him.

"Do you have the directions? I might be able to help you get there." Roman panicked for a moment, realizing that if he didn't have these directions, he would surely get busted. But then, he remembered something.

He reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out a worn and folded up piece of paper. He smiled at the nostalgia it brought, then frowned at the memories that came with it.

The green-eyed man passed it over, and Patton unfolded it. "Draconison," he whispered.

Roman looked at him. "Draconison?" he asked, pretending not to know the name.

"Draconison is the Dragon-Witchian village closest to here. But you're a human, correct?"

"Yes," Roman answered, glad that this didn't seem to be so bad to him.

"Then you won't be able to get in without another citizen vouching for you. I would, but as I live out here, I'm not allowed to. I do have some friends in the village though..."

Roman smiled. If he could win over these friends of Patton's, he could get in and out, easy. "Thank you for your help!"

"No problem kiddo!" he responded, and headed on out.

Roman waited until he heard Patton's own door close, then unpacked his pack. He put a few clothes and other important items on the dresser, then looked at the item on the bottom.

He took a deep breath, then pulled it out.

It was a small framed portrait of four people. His father and his stepmother, sitting side-by-side. Then, there was Roman on his father's lap. He looked about eight. And next to him, on his stepmother's lap was his half-brother, a deranged grin on his face.

He smiled at the memory, then put it back into the pack. He placed it next to him on the floor, and finally fell asleep.

Look! Another crappy chappy!

This time it's not as late as the last one though...

Please comment your general feedback, and any spelling or grammar mistakes I made.

Have a great day/night!
-Pencil