On the Road

Tanarin sighed inwardly. Behind his dragonscale armour and the silver mask concealing his face, all that could be seen of him was his eyes. And they didn't give anything away right now...

The girl wasn't deterred though, and continued to bombard him with comments and questions.

"So do you wear that mask all the time? What does your face look like?"

Tanarin's eyes narrowed slightly. "As far as you're concerned, this is my face."

This seemed to make the girl think for a while, giving Tanarin a short pause from the questions. The girl walking beside him looked the part of an adventurer, but he could tell she was new at it, and probably wasn't even past her teens yet. And now she was talking again... great.

"So what about your armour? Is it magical? It looks like dragon scales..."

Still keeping his stride and his temper, Tanarin continued down the road. "Yes, it's dragon scales..."

The girl's eyes went wide. "You killed a dragon? That's so cool!"

Tanarin sighed, this time barely audible. "I didn't kill the dragon, if you must know. The armour was a gift."

Though she was now jogging slightly to keep up, the girl's line of cheerful questions wasn't stopped that easily.

"So you know a dragon slayer? Is he famous?"

"As far as I know, he didn't either. The 'dragon slayer' who killed it is dead. The dragon fell on him..."

"Fell on him?" The girl looked a bit shocked. This wasn't the tales of heroism you heard about from the storytellers. "It must be such an awesome feeling to have slain a dragon... it's just..."

Tanarin sighed again, and stopped. "What?"

The girl continued. "I don't know what he was thinking, but I'll bet he never expected to go splat."

Tanarin shook his head and continued walking. He just had to lose her somewhere, or it was going to be a long journey...