Chapter 5

Renlock sighed listening to Strut whining about his wings and Raimi, "you were warned to stay away from her, why didn't you heed the warnings?" Strut glowered "all I did was go see if she was ok, she didn't need to pin me to the tree, her and that human dragon that's always taking her part." Morpaw frowned slightly "the human helped her?" Strut snorted "no he just shoved me around when I got mad at Raimi for knifing me." Renlock looked closely at Strut "you must of done something to cause it, these ones here do not attack without provocation." Strut just flew up into his tree, which gave Renlock all the answer he needed. Shelaw sighed "he will not admit it but he misses her, if he would learn some patience and give her time, then things would improve. Which human dragon does he speak of?" Renlock shook his head "I do not know of which one Strut speaks, I will find out though." Bartolow set down his book "leave it be" Renlock frowned "you don't think we have a right to know what human shows an interest in Raimi, has she not been hurt enough to last a century and more." Bartolow stood up "confusion reigns in Raimi right now, will you make it worse by causing conflict where none is needed?" Renlock sighed "no that was not my intent, I am just concerned for her safety and well being, I shall leave things as they are for now but will say something if I feel the need."

Totally frustrated with the bread that refused to rise, Raimi washed her face and hands, then went outside, sitting on the cottage step she looked around, closing her eyes she cast her mind back many years to a time when she was a very young girl, at the foot of a mountain there had been an old woman, toothless and gnarled, who would sit out in front of her cottage in a rocking chair, her cottage had been festooned with color, flowers circled her cottage and all down the walk, behind the cottage she had a garden. The old woman would sit for hours and talk about her plants and flowers, each had a name and a story, she told young Raimi about which plants could heal, which could kill, Raimi used to sit and listen to the old woman for days on end whenever they camped at the foot of the mountains, each day after her training and her chores were done she would run to the old woman's. It had been the old woman who had told Raimi she was a magical being and bad times were coming, that she must hide her self and her magical dragon away, she must run into the hills and never come out, Raimi's mind skittered away from those thoughts. That's what I will do she thought, I will plant colored flowers to remember the old woman by, once again her thoughts quickly shutting out the sight of the old woman and her cottage and flowers going up in flames as she shrieked curses from her window. Raimi spent the rest of the day clearing the weeds and tall grass from around the cottage and where she wanted a walk to be, by late afternoon she stood up, her back aching, her fingers and clothes covered with dirt but she was pleased and would go hunting down flowers tomorrow, brushing off the knees of her breeches, and wiping off her hands, Raimi looked down at her dirty boots just before she went inside, with a worried frown she pulled them off and left them outside the door. Going into the kitchen she found a large basket sitting on the table with a note saying: just incase the bread had not turned out, Revanche. With a chuckle Raimi looked at the note again, so that was dragon boy's name, what an interesting name, taking the cloth off the top of the basket she found roast chicken, crisp green beans, a tureen filled with soup and a large pitcher of milk and a loaf of bread and butter. Each time she took a bite of the bread she chuckled remembering the look on his face as he peeled the bread dough off. Carefully she washed up her dishes having all ready broken several earlier in the day, she really had to keep in mind, when angry not to throw crockery. Shutting the kitchen window Raimi went into the bedroom, once again chuckling at the lacy coverlet, even though it was not quite dark she lit a candle and set it on a table that held a large mirror and on the top a comb and brush. Raimi whirled hearing a tapping at her window, with a frown she tossed it open "what are you doing?" Revanche grinned "I knocked on your door but you didn't answer and I saw the light in the window, I just wanted to make sure you got the basket of food." Actually Revanche told himself he had no idea why he had come back, he just had. Raimi nodded saying she had gotten the basket and thanked him for the food, she had decided to go talk to Cook tomorrow. Revanche turned to go then stopped seeing her frowning at a chest of drawers "is there something wrong?" Raimi looked up "no I'm just trying to figure out what to do with these things and what they are and which are something called undies" she held up the satin thing "like this, I can't believe anyone would wear something like this to the village or even for a walk." Revanche chuckled "that's because it's a night dress, you wear it to sleep in." Raimi gave him a "your joking look" with a raised eyebrow "to sleep in? why? you take off your clothes go to bed, get up and put them back on." Revanche laughed "well that's one way to do it but most women wear a nightdress to bed, when they get up they put on a dressing gown." Raimi gave him a what's that look, "in the closet there should be a robe of some sort, who set up your clothes Bitsy?" Pulling open the closet Raimi frowned then pulled out a warm velvet robe "is this a dressing gown? no it was Natalie that helped." Revanche grinned "yes that's a dressing gown, at the bottom of the closet there should be a pair of slippers to go with it, Mother usually is very thorough." Raimi nodded seeing the slippers "Natalie is your mother?" Revanche nodded watching Raimi go over to the drawers again pulling something out "is this an undie, or just tell me what an undie is and I can figure it out." Revanche almost groaned "no that is a chemise top, you wear it under your blouse." Raimi frowned "why would I do that if I have a shirt on?" Revanche thought now how do I put this "it's to cover your ahhh your chest, so if your blouse is sheer no one can see through it, or if you bend down and it opens no one can see your ahhhhh your chest." Pulling something else out she held it up "what about these?" Revanche couldn't help it he started laughing "those are undies, you wear them under your dress, skirt or breeches and before you ask me why, it's so your bottom is covered." Raimi stuffed them back in the drawer "that's just silly, who needs all these things and look at these, all a person needs is plain old socks under a pair of boots" she said holding up a sheer pair of stockings with tiny ribbons at the top to tie them on. Revanche just for a moment had a vision of Raimi smoothing the stockings up to her long thighs, shaking his head with a frown he asked her if she had any other questions. He moved out of the way as Raimi climbed out the window, with a grin he watched her point to an area by the front doors. "I want to plant flowers but where do I get them? even I know I can't just pick them out of the meadow." Nodding trying to keep a straight face he told her that when she went over to Zinmer to ask for Dinty he was the gardener and could help her with that. Raimi thanked him for the information and climbed back in the window, Revanche grinned "you do have a door" with a look of surprise Raimi nodded "I know that, but the window was closer." Raimi watched Revanche leave chuckling all the way, with a slight frown she wondered what he had been chuckling about, then put him out of her mind as she went to the back of the cottage and the bathing pool, stripping off her clothes she plunged in, with long strokes she swam the length of the pool at least fifty times, then floated for awhile before washing, she washed her dirty shirt and breeches, hung them up to dry then went to bed, her whole body sighing with pleasure as the down mattress wrapped around her. Raimi slept with her sword within reach and her dagger by her side.

Revanche chuckled all the way through dinner, Rav and Natalie looked at each other from time to time as he chuckled. "Care to share what's so funny?" Rav finally asked, Revanche grinned "it's one of the new dragons, Raimi, she goes in and out of her cottage using the windows, I don't think I've ever seen anyone vault through a window as fast as she did today going after that one dragon Strut." Rav chuckled "she is rather unusual from what I've seen, I've met the dragoness but not the human yet." Revanche started laughing "Mother, you should of explained to her what the clothes were that you stocked her drawers and closet with, she thought the nightdress was for going into town or for a walk, not to mention having no clue what undies are." Natalie nodded "I was going to go over tomorrow afternoon to see how she was doing" Both Rav and Revanche caught the reserved tone Natalie had used. Rav raised an eyebrow "is there a problem?" Natalie smiled and shook her head "not at all, I had just heard Raimi had marked her territory no trespassing and felt a moment's concern that's all." Revanche chuckled "I think that was aimed at Strut, not the others, I had no problem going in other then getting slapped in the face with a glob of bread dough." Laughing he told her about what had happened with the bread and about Raimi pinning Strut's wings to the tree. Rav chuckled "from what Brand said this Raimi could ride your Mother and Pax into the ground something I didn't think possible, he also made a comment about how well armed she was, that is a bit of a concern, it won't do for Laurel to have someone frightening the villagers." Revanche grinned "maybe tomorrow when you see her Mother you could mention she doesn't need to go out carrying battle gear." Natalie nodded sipping her wine. Later that night as she got ready for bed, Rav lay watching her "care to fill me in on why your disturbed about this Raimi." Natalie set down her hair brush and turned "it's not that I'm disturbed by her, it's ohhhhh how shall I explain without sounding like a mother hen clucking." Rav chuckled "just cluck and I'll try and ignore the hen part." Natalie smiled for a moment then frowned, telling Rav about what Shelaw had told she and Bitsy about Raimi, "she is a dragoness and woman filled with terrible conflicts, filled with pain and anger, and confusion, I don't want to see Revanche hurt that's why I'm so concerned with the interest he seems to be showing in her. He is finally recovering from Chloe's death, the idea of him walking into a relationship with Raimi frightens me." Rav sighed "from what you just told me I seriously doubt if Raimi would be interested in a relationship with anyone, I wonder if I should have a talk with Revanche, just let him know that he should be careful and not expect anything more then a possible friendship with her." Natalie shrugged "I really don't know what to do at this point, I like Raimi, I would hate to spoil either of their chances at something but I just don't see it happening." Rav snuggled Natalie into his arms "then we'll just take a watch and wait attitude and not say anything until we see the need." With a leer he winked at her "want to go to the beach again?" Natalie laughed "are you sure that's how they do a tropical dance?" Rav grinned widely "ohhh absolutely."

Hearing a tapping on the outside kitchen door Cook pulled it open "well hello, didn't anyone answer the front door?" The dragoness Raimi smiled "I didn't go to the front door because I wanted to talk to you about teaching me how to cook." Cook frowned "your not a puffer are ya?" Raimi chuckled saying no she wasn't a puffer would try very hard not to set anything on fire, but she just couldn't live on crunchy eggs the rest of her life, she could make a fair stew but that was all other then roasting small animals on a spit. Cook chuckled at the idea of crunchy eggs "you're a bit big for the kitchen can you shrink down or something?" Raimi shook her head and looked around then changed into her human form, Cook frowned "ya can't be bringing those arrows and what not into my kitchen, that I won't have." Raimi not happy about it but wanting to be able to cook nodded and took off her bow and quiver, unbuckled her sword belt and set them just inside the kitchen door "will that do?" Cook nodded "I suppose so, come on in and let's see what ya need to know."

Connor standing in the dining room heard Cook sigh "no, no, you tap the egg on the side of the pan, ya don't smash it like ya want to kill it, that's right just a tap, no wonder your eaten crunchy eggs." Connor with a laugh walked into the kitchen "Miranda you still trying to figure out how not to poison us all with your cooking?" Raimi froze seeing the look that was suddenly in Connor's eyes as he walked towards her, Connor grinned "who have we here, I don't believe we've met, why don't you come out and join me for breakfast and let Cook finish up." Raimi's lip curled "we have met, your Connor, Laurel's son, I'm Raimi the dragoness and I'm here learning to cook, why don't you saunter back out and wait for your breakfast because that's all your going to get." Connor seeing the hostility in her eyes smiled carefully "just a suggestion, your a pretty dragoness but your a strikingly lovely woman, can't fault a guy for trying" he backed out of the kitchen seeing the anger flash across her face. Just as he backed out of the kitchen Alex walked into the dining room, with a raised eyebrow and a soundless whooooo Connor looked at his father "take a peek in the kitchen" Alex frowned "why?" Connor just grinned. Alex sauntered into the kitchen "coffee ready?" Cook nodded getting Alex a cup and filling it "the pot will be out on the sideboard in just a minute" Alex his eyes sliding over Raimi nodded "no hurry" then he turned and left. "Who's the amazon?" Alex whispered, Connor laughed "that's the dragoness, Raimi" Alex seeing the look on Connor's face frowned "that one will chew you up and spit you out, don't even think it, Connor." Connor grinned "it might be worth a try" still frowning Alex shook his head, he knew a dangerous female when he saw one and from the look in her eyes she wasn't going to be messed with. "I mean it son, it would be best to stay out of her way" Connor frowned, Alex could see that he was going to argue the subject and sighed. Laurel walked in a not quite awake Zara in her arms, hearing voices in the kitchen Laurel glanced at Alex "Raimi is in the kitchen having Cook show her some cooking tips" Laurel smiled and went in the kitchen. Zara giggled at the look Cook gave her, then seeing Raimi smiled "Barto Bear?" Raimi smiled back "sorry he isn't with me this morning." Zara ohhhh'd watching what Cook and Raimi were doing with interest, Laurel chuckled knowing Zara had never seen a human Raimi before, drinking her tea she asked Raimi how she was getting along, Raimi listening to Cook tell her she wasn't beating the eggs into submission just scrambling them told Laurel she was doing fine, then commented she wanted to ask a man named Dinty about flowers, Laurel smiled saying Dinty would be thrilled to talk flowers with her. Seeing that Zara was getting a little to interested in what Cook was doing, Laurel left saying she would see Raimi later, Raimi shredding cheese like Cook showed her nodded not looking up. Laurel set Zara in her chair and gave her a piece of toast with jam on it "where did Connor go?" Alex still frowning sighed "he went out back to the stables, he is a bit angry with me at the moment." Laurel looked up in surprise "I told him to stay away from Raimi" Alex explained. "Why did you do that? I don't understand" Laurel asked a confused look on her face. Alex set his coffee cup down "from what I saw of Raimi, she is a very angry, dangerous woman, bitterly so, Connor is too young and inexperienced to deal with a woman like that, he'd wake up some night with a knife at his throat." Raimi carrying a platter of eggs into the dining room said nothing, simply set them down on the sideboard and went back into the kitchen, "ohh Alex" said Laurel looking towards the kitchen door. Raimi wanted to laugh hysterically, didn't they realize she was more afraid of their precious son then he could ever come to fear her, shocked to feel a prickle of tears behind her eyes, she took a deep breath, she was here to learn how to cook, that was all, nothing more, she set the hurt in the deep hidden recesses of her mind and turned to Cook with a smile "what about making bread?"