“Haah... it’s hot... ugh....”
Varen’s face twisted with pain.
He kept shaking his head, maybe because he was having a hard time, so every time the wet cloth slipped, I set it back on his forehead.
But a palm-sized rag couldn’t bring down a dragon’s heat. The fever had taken his whole body; sweat-soaked clothes clung to his skin.
Wet clothes trap heat. And now that night had fallen, the ambient temperature was dropping. Left like this, he could crash into hypothermia.
A sigh came up from the pit of my stomach. A hundred useless worries crowded my head.
He’ll be fine. Just like the Spirit said, a Dravergh is strong. And it’s just growing pains. He’ll get through it. He will.
I deliberately looked away and stared out of the cave. What’s that bright star called? Do they have constellations in this world?
I even studied the pebbles on the floor for no reason. Well, aren’t you smooth and pretty. One pebble, two, three, four...
“Haah... ha... Ceryl... ugh...”
Half out of his mind with fever, Varen muttered only my name.
“...Ah, seriously. Why are you doing this to me....”
In the end I got up, like swallowing horseradish whole.
His white cloth clothes were soaked with sweat and showed the color of his skin right through. Fortunately the top wrapped closed in front. I undid the tied cord, and a hard-built torso came out.
A chest like it would burst and abdominal muscles cut like with a knife tensed and rippled. I kept my eyes off that as best I could and soaked the towel full with cold water.
With it I gently wiped Varen’s nape. I worked it over him thoroughly, then lifted his folded arm and wiped the armpit too.
Neck and axillae have vessels close to the surface. Focus on spots like these and core temperature drops faster.
“This isn’t a person, it’s a large animal. A large animal...”
I kept repeating it, brainwashing myself. In between I shut my eyes and ran image training that the thing lying there wasn’t a man but a horse.
Otherwise I wasn’t going to have the nerve to put my hand on an adult man’s groin.
“Of all the things I’ve done in my life...”
It took more courage than jumping off a racing carriage with my body tied up. With shaking hands I reached for the waistband of Varen’s pants.
I managed to get hold of the waist, but actually pulling them down—another matter.
Varen was clumsy at producing clothes. He still didn’t understand why ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) clothes had to be worn.
With my hand at his waist, a reasonable doubt rose.
This bastard... did he put on underwear? He doesn’t feel like he did.
I calmed my pounding heart and eased the trousers down just a little, only a little.
“...No underwear.”
Confirmed. Going commando.
I put back what I’d lowered by a finger joint.
A deep, weary gloom welled up. I sighed like the ground would sink. The moment Varen first succeeded at Humanization flashed back.
He’d walked out through swelling dust. Wearing nothing. With the tail in front dangling.
...Fuck. How could I forget that.
“Haah... what am I doing.”
Just then, a hot palm snapped around my wrist. The wrist that was holding Varen’s waistband in that awkward position.
For a second I felt like throwing a prayer of thanks at the sky. The world hadn’t abandoned me yet.
“Why... why the clothes....”
Varen lifted his head without even properly opening his eyes.
It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding. Anyone would think a human was about to do something awful to a collapsed dragon.
I swear I’ve never had dark designs on a man the size of a door. I raised both hands to show I was clean and took a surrender pose.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Your fever’s too high, I was just cooling you down.”
“Haah... fever?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t doing anything weird, so don’t worry.”
Varen groaned and pushed himself upright. Something clear—sweat or water—rolled down the groove of his chest.
My eyes went there without thinking; I yanked them away.
“Ahem. How do you feel? You almost fainted again, and I barely hauled you here.”
He was still flushed and panting.
At least he was lucid. Wiping him down and bringing the heat down must have helped.
“Don’t... need it.”
“Like hell you don’t. You only came to your senses because I wiped the sweat.”
“A Dravergh... over something like...”
“Yeah, yeah. The greatest dragon.”
On the verge of falling apart and still the pride. I humored him and felt his forehead.
But my hands were cold from dunking the towel over and over. I couldn’t judge his temperature, so I checked once with my palm, then with the back of my hand. I touched the sweaty cheek too.
“Your fever’s not dropping. We’re resting here tonight.”
We had a long road ahead. Were we going to do this every day? Dragon growing pains last, they say. When does this end.
Thinking of the days ahead made my vision dim. And then something more shocking happened.
“Haah... don’t touch me.”
He flicked my hand away. He barely tapped it, but my arm turned with it, fingers still shaped like they were measuring his brow.
“...What?”
“I said don’t touch my body.”
He gathered up the front that had fallen open and tied it closed, proper. Then he sat up straight, put distance between us, and even scooted farther away.
I stared down, blank, at my palm. To be precise, at the hand Varen had knocked aside.
“...Come here. Are you in a lot of pain? You’re hurting a lot, right? Did something happen to your head?”
“No. It didn’t. So... Ceryl, keep your distance.”
I got fussy and took his face in both hands. I cupped his cheeks and turned it this way and that. From left or right he looked like a statue—absurdly handsome—but nothing else was wrong.
He was drenched in sweat, face beet-red, panting; his eyes a little glassy, yes.
But he was Varen.
“I told you not to touch me.”
After my hand was brushed off a second time, it clicked.
People don’t know this, but a veterinarian needs an eye. Even if there are dozens, hundreds of animals coming through the clinic, you have to be able to remember each one.
There are breeds of dogs that look like copies of dolls. Then you sort them not just by faces but by behaviors and habits.
Meaning: no matter how identical, you won’t fool my eye.
“Who are you. Where’s my dragon boy.”
Varen would never. He wouldn’t bat my hand away.
Even with a fever, he’d edge in and ask for a kiss.
I’d let my guard down. Three days without proper sleep and a forced march, and I’d failed to spot some rotten mage’s dragon swap.
Damn it. What a mistake.
“Stop talking nonsense.”
So he could even copy that rude tone. Not your average talent.
I raked him with suspicious eyes from head to toe. Varen snorted.
“Move. That won’t bring the heat down.”
He scooted even farther from me. Still too hot, he flapped the front of his top for air and didn’t so much as look my way.
Aside from knocking my hand away, this was the usual Varen. So why the sudden behavior he’d never shown before?
I hummed, thinking. The dragon was burning with growing pains. Big on the outside, but his insides weren’t finished.
Above all, his mental age was around Kallen’s or lower. Then there was only one answer.
“Sorry for touching you without asking. I’ll respect your boundaries.”
At my even voice, Varen frowned. I lifted my mouth corners and gave him a gentle smile anyway.
I finally understood why rookie parents fear adolescence.
“Still—won’t it be hard if the fever keeps up? Will you let me wipe your sweat?”
“...Why are you talking like that?”
Not that, then.
“Ugh...”
Even a short exchange drained him; leaning on the cave wall, Varen clutched his chest.
His face made me drop the teasing. I went to him at once. I set the wet cloth to his forehead again and this time laid my fingertips carefully at the nape.
I didn’t study traditional medicine, but I can take a pulse. As expected, it was running faster than baseline.
“Is it because holding Humanization is hard?”
“Hah...”
“I’ll find the safest spot I can. Somewhere you can rest even for a little. Can you hold out till then?”
Surely this huge forest has a place for one dragon to lie down.
We’d have to keep watch on all sides, but if he could sleep in his true form, he’d be good for days.
Varen panted and stared at me. Then he voiced a complaint I hadn’t expected.
“No... I’ll stay... like this....”
“What kind of stubbornness is that. You’re suffering.”
“It’s not... Humanization. So, it’s not... necessary.”
What is this dragon stubbornness.
He didn’t look like he had the energy to argue, so I let it go for now. It wasn’t something we could settle this minute anyway.
I dropped down beside him. I’d appointed myself the dragon’s guardian, but with the kid sick and nothing useful to do, all I felt was frustration.
Part of me wanted to throw him over my shoulder and run for the Spirit. But do that, and we wouldn’t reach the Belzena Mountain Range by next year.
At first Varen in human shape was just awkward. But the more I looked, maybe I’d gotten used to it; now this shape just looked pitiful.
I pushed the sweat-soaked long hair back from his face. I went to wipe his nape with the cloth again and, right on cue, he knocked my hand away.
“Haah... I told you... don’t touch...”
“Why are you doing this since earlier. I get that you’re in your adolescence, but is that the issue right now?”
“With that... a dragon’s heat...”
“Then how do I do it. Just sit here and watch?”
I was angry at myself—useless in front of a dragon burning with fever. As a guardian and as a doctor.
If only I had an antipyretic. Come to think: how long was Kallen going to take with those herbs.
“Fine, then hold on a second. I’ll get—”
“Should I tell you?”
I’d started to stand when Varen caught my arm. I settled back and met his eyes.
The fevered dragon’s gaze was hot too. He stared at me with hazy eyes.
And in a voice I hadn’t heard from him before—boiling up from the chest—he said,
“Tell you... how to bring down... a dragon’s heat....”
“......”
“Do you really want to know?”
