The Soul of a Dragon

Chapter 23

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Anyway, back to the story...

Vara

With a loud huffing sound, I land on my precious buttocks once again. I scoff and laugh at the same time, a weird noise resulting from that.

"You know," I say without looking at her, "there's another particular dragon that's as stubborn as you. Maybe it runs in the family?"

The light fury narrows her eyes at me and reveals her sharp teeth in a crooked growl. However, we've been doing this back and forth the entire morning. Seems like I haven't learned from my previous attempts. As the dragon nudges her snout against me to ask for cuddles, my smile turns into a frown. Even though she trusts me and we've been getting closer, I know it's time for her to go to the Hidden World. But...

Now, the light fury female and Aria are playing with a small wooden stick. They argue over who gets to keep it.

...is it also time for Aria to leave?

"Not that I'm judging your preferences, but I hear the ground is not that comfortable to sit on all day." Snotlout flops down next to me and rest his arms on his knees.

"Sshh, it'll hear you."

"Who? The ground?" He scoffs. "People and animals walk on it every day. I think its days for crying about that are over. And why are we talking about the ground like it's a person?"

I shrug my shoulders. My eyes focus on the dragons again and sadness fills my heart again.

"Hey," Snotlout bumps his shoulder softly against mine, "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

A short laughing bark escapes his mouth. "Right. Tell me."

I bow my head to let my hair fall down like a protective curtain. "I just...reached a fork in a road."

Snotlout remains silent for a moment, then says, "Let me venture a guess...you already know which choice is the right one but it's going to hurt, so you avoid deciding for as long as you can to spare yourself the pain."

There's nothing else for me to do but nod. He's absolutely right and I hate that.

Sighing, he puts a heavy arm around my shoulders and pulls me towards him. I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. "Then you know what you have to do. But I'll be here to guide you through this...difficult time. I'm like...your spiritual mentor."

"You sound like Tuffnut."

"I know. That was my best attempt at imitating him. But...maybe his nonsense has some truth to it."

I gasp and open my mouth widely in shock. Turning slightly away from him, I look at him and whisper-shout, "You did not just say that."

"And you did not just hear that," he replies with raised eyebrows and a serious expression on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I say (not very convincingly) and lay my head on his shoulder again.

"I like you this way."

"What way?"

"You're doing exactly what I tell you to. Like a lap dog."

"Take that back."

"Nope."

"I'm not your lap dog."

"Yes, you are."

"Wha-"