*Katerina's POV*

I sat back down, unsure of what to do now that the dragons were pretty much confining us to the clearing. Simply knowing I wasn't allowed to go far made me restless, which made no sense since this meadow was so large that seven dragons had plenty of room to spread out without coming near our corner.

Trying to distract myself, I asked Brandon, "Do they usually hunt for you?"

"Usually. I have a couple of snares in my belt pouch, but I rarely have to use them. They're good hunters and don't mind sharing part of a kill."

I shifted side to side restlessly. Whenever I was nervous, stressed, or my mind refused to settle, I needed something to keep my hands busy, and this was one of those times. I looked around, trying to find something constructive to do.

There was nothing more I could do to the shelter, and it was too early to start cooking bread. But my waterskin was almost empty.

I stood up. "I need to refill my water."

As I dug the two pots out of my backpack, Brandon checked his waterskin. "I'm just about out too." He also got to his feet.

Randel continued to stare at the flames as we left.

Brandon and I walked in companionable silence. As we got closer to the water, we both slowed down and exchanged a look.

"There's no naga in there, right?" I asked nervously. "I know I got water from here this morning, but after the earlier events..."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. It makes you cautious."

"It's clear," a deep voice said from the side. "We checked it when we came back. There's no naga within a five-minute flight of here and Qwest is checking farther afield." The blue dragon had its head turned to watch us walk past.

"Uh, thank you," I said, not used to speaking with the other dragons and even more unsure of why we weren't allowed to wander if they'd checked the area.

"Thanks, Diondin," Brandon said, relaxing.

"That kind of looks like watercress from here," I said, pointing to a clump of greenery quarterway around the lake. "Feel like checking it out?"

"Sure. It's been a while since I had watercress."

My nerves were tightly strung and I flinched every time a fish or frog splashed in the water nearby, dimly calling to mind the days following my parents' deaths when I'd also been jittery and on edge. Dragonflies zipped around us like aerial jewels as we walked on the sandy shore.

"What are you thinking?" Brandon quietly asked, also glancing at the ripples where a fish had jumped.

"All sorts of things. Like how many more naga might be around and if I'll ever be able to approach water again without wondering if one is waiting to ambush me. I don't understand why they attack humans without any sort of provocation."

"Because killing all the humans is the easiest way for them to eventually wipe out the dragons," Brandon murmured.

"Huh?" I stared at him, unable to figure out what he meant.

He shrugged. "It's why the dragons spend so much effort and magic keeping the naga out of the lands held by humans. From what I've heard, a very long time ago, there was a great war when the naga managed to take over the land between the sea and the western mountains. The dragons protected the foothills and eventually forced them back into the ocean, but every human between those places was killed."

"But that's a huge area. It'd take me two months to walk that far."

"That's how few humans were left. Just look at how fast we build and multiply, and yet, the areas to the east are almost completely uninhabited."

"I never thought about that." I tried to consider how many people lived east of the mountains but failed. The number was simply too great. But I had seen how fast villages grew and expanded, and yet never wondered why they were so few and far between.

How would killing all humans harm the dragons? There were various accounts of dragons burning down castles and entire villages if they were insulted or attacked, but if it was true, that could explain why they tolerated humans for the most part.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I wondered why some dragons had riders. What did riders do? From what I'd seen and heard, they just tagged along with the dragon as it went about its business, but surely there had to be more to it than that. The dragons were far too watchful when their riders went into cities for it to just be convenience.

"Oh, it is watercress. You have a good eye."

"Thanks," I murmured as we began picking handfuls of the lush greenery. I glanced at him and Diondin, trying to figure out why a dragon would want a rider. Rakota always made it seem like an annoyance.

"I think this is enough," he said, unaware of my scrutiny. "We can set it on that big rock while we refill our waterskins."

After setting my collection down, I began filling the pots with water. As Brandon filled his waterskin right from the lake, several blue gems near the opening glowed as the magic purified the water. When I stood up without filling my waterskin, he gave me a confused look before realization dawned in his eyes.

"Oh, you don't have a purification spell?"

I shook my head. "No. They're too expensive for most folks. I'll just boil it."

"Nah, here. You can borrow this." He twisted the wire with the crystals off the flask spout and held it out.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's good for thousands of uses, so one refill isn't a worry. Just wrap it around the opening while filling it."

"Thanks." I gently took it from him and followed his instructions. The crystals glowed blue as I filled my waterskin in a mere fraction of the time it normally took me when I had to boil everything.

I put the stopper back in and handed the purification wire back. "Thank you."

"No problem. Feel free to borrow it whenever you like."

I wasn't sure I was brave enough to ask, so I didn't reply. I'd boiled my water for years. It gave me something to do when setting up camp or settling down for the night.

I put the watercress into the water-filled pots and picked them up. "I can use this water when I make bread. No sense in making two trips."

We headed back and shared our watercress with Randel, who took it, but muttered something about turning into a rabbit. Out of habit, I set the water to boiling while nibbling on the crunchy stems and peppery leaves.

Rakota stretched and walked over. "Tomorrow we're taking all three of you to other villages to try and find the rest of those mages. You said you needed more flour. Can you get it in those villages?"

"Yes, and it'll give me a good excuse to chat with the seller."

"Good. We don't need to make an extra stop then."

"Can I be a tax collector again?" Randel asked, perking up.

"That's up to Andar and possibly Katerina and Brandon," Rakota said dismissively.

"It was actually kind of fun," he murmured, not bothered by the non-answer he'd received.

The other red dragon appeared overhead and landed nearby, holding something in one hand. She glanced at Rakota as she walked closer and dropped what looked like a deer leg by the campfire.

"Here you go."

"Thank you," Brandon and I replied at the same time.

Without replying, the two dragons began walking back to the others.

"If you want to cut pieces of that off, I can start the bread," I offered.

Brandon coerced Randel into helping him slice up the venison while I mixed the dough. I found a twist of salt and herbs in my backpack and lightly sprinkled some on the meat before putting it on sticks. I made sure to put Randel in charge of keeping the flames at a specific height and didn't let him cook the meat.

It didn't take long before the smell of bread and roasting meat filled the air and made our stomachs growl.

"The bread is done," I said. "I only have two pans, so we can cut a third off each loaf to keep things even."

"The meat looks ready as well," Brandon said, getting to his feet to check.

After a bit of preparation and a few swats at Randel's fingers, we each had bread and as much meat and watercress as we desired. I had taken the two cutoff pieces and a large helping of meat. It wasn't often I got venison, and certainly never freshly roasted like this.

Randel put a slice of meat on the bread and took a big bite.

When Brandon nibbled on his piece of bread, I shrugged apologetically. "Sorry."

Had Randel not been present, I would have used some trail rations to make soup and not dared to offer him this quality of bread.

"It's not bad," he said. "Especially when you just had flour, water, and a bit of salt."

"It's great!" Randel said enthusiastically. "Way better than the bread in the castle! It keeps you full for a long time."

Brandon tilted his head and regarded the other rider with a puzzled expression, although I wasn't sure whether he was confused by the open praise that didn't suit Randel's normal demeanor or perplexed as to how he could gobble up the low-quality bread like it was candy.

"I'm really beginning to question what kind of bread those kings were feeding him," I quietly murmured.

Brandon's lip twitched up as he fought against a grin.