Traveling with Nomad Dragons

um, new chapter? Idk what to call this

“Oh, Aria! It's so good to see you! Why didn't you tell me that you were coming?” said the girl in a rush, gripping Aria in a hug. “I didn't even know it until a few days ago.” said Aria breathlessly, as the air got crushed out of her.

Aria and Arrow got pulled in to the door by the girl. Zena and I slipped in just before the heavy door banged shut behind us. For a few minutes there was just girly screaming as Aria and her friend hugged each other. Finally, they quieted down and her friend invited us to sit down by the large fire in the front room, placing thick, heavy blankets around both of us.

I sat by the fire for a good half hour, getting warm and listening to Aria and friend catching up on each other. Apparently, the girls name was Evelyn and she had met Aria when Aria had been traveling. I wondered how long and how far Aria had traveled. Eventually, they were finished catching up and Evelyn turned her attention to me.

“So, who's your little friend?” she asked Aria. Aria glanced over at me, seeming to remember I was there. “Oh, just a newbie that I picked up.” Aria muttered. Evelyn gave a sour look to me and looked between me and Aria for a minute. “My name's Juniper, and this is Zena.” I said softly. “Well, it's nice to meet you.” said Evelyn brightly. “You both must be hungry. Care to help me with dinner until my husband gets home?” I shook my head and followed them into the small little kitchen that also had huge fireplace in it.

She put me on peeling potatoes duty, sitting me down in a stool by the fire with a small pile of potatoes next to me. I picked up a potato and a knife. There wasn't a clock anywhere so I couldn't tell how much time had passed but, it seemed like hours as I sat there, peeling potatos, watching Zena and Arrow chase each other around and listen to Aria and Evelyn continue to talk.

After a long time, there was a rushing sound of the wind and then a loud bang and a deep voice called out, “I'm home!” We were just finishing setting up the small wooden table that groaned under the large amount of food placed on it, Evelyn had cooked twice as much for the guests. “We are in here!” Evelyn called. There were a series of heavy footsteps as the voice called out, “What's for dinner? It smells delicious, as always.”

A large man with a full on brown beard walked into the room. He smiled when he spotted me and Aria and cried out, “Aria! Why didn't you tell us you were coming!” He walked over and gave Aria a hug who said, “I didn't know until recently.” “Well, we're always glad to have you here, and who's your friend?” “This is Juniper and Zena.” said Aria while rubbing her side. “Wonderful!” cried the man striding over to me and lifting me up in a hug. I gasped as if felt like my ribs were cracking but, then he put me down and I manged a weak smile.

We then all sat down and ate the dinner we had prepared, which was actually really good. Then after dinner we were shown the room me and Aria would be staying in. We were invited to stay up a little bit to continue to talk. Aria joined them but, I declined, saying I wanted to go to bed early. I crawled into the bed, under the warm blankets. A minute later I felt Zena snuggle up beside me and soon I was fast asleep.