The Soulguard, A Dragon Who Can See Spirits

Chapter 11

A couple of days later Haduwig has gotten healthy and trustful enough to be let out in the rest of the compound. He is still mostly staying on the ground even though his injured wing is completely healed. Haduwig has learned to trust most of the Avengers enough to let them touch him, but Noku and Wanda were the ones that earned his trust fastest. On this day of 11th of June, Haduwig is perched on top of the fridge in the kitchen, observing the Avengers lounging around the living room adjacent to the kitchen. As Wanda came to his field of vision fanning herself, Haduwig glided from his position to the Sokovian witch, perching on a back of the couch near her. "Oh, hey Haduwig." Wanda says and gently scratches Haduwig's neck. "How are you handling the heat? It is boiling today." Wanda continues. Haduwig lets out a high pitched sound similar to a purr, showing his contentment. Wanda stops petting the bird after a while, earning a whine from her feathered friend. "Could you wake up Noku? She has been sleeping the whole morning and it is time for her to eat something." Haduwig blinks slowly and uses his strong wings to lift himself to the air, gracefully flying towards the bedrooms and almost flying straight into Clint, who was just on his way to get a glass of ice water to cool him down. "Hey! Watch it!" The man yells after the bird, who chirps joyfully.

The bird reaches Noku's door in no time and lands on the ground, pushing the slightly ajar door open, he makes his way to the sleeping dragon. He chirps once but Noku doesn't wake up. Chirping again, a bit closer this time, the result is the same. lightly pecking Noku's snout while chirping doesn't work either. Haduwig puffs out his feathers, determined to wake up the, for him, sleeping giant by any means necessary. He takes hold of the fur on Noku's neck tugging at it with all of his might. It wouldn't have worked if his wingbeats didn't cause Noku's nose to itch. Scrunching her snout, Noku moved her front paw to get rid of the reason for said itch, only to swat Hadowig. With a surprised shriek Haduwig let's do of Noku and tumbles around the mattress, waking the dragon in the process. Noku jumps up, startled and confused, listening carefully for her surroundings before Haduwig's scent makes itself known. Huffing, Noku sits down and chirps at the bird, who chirps back, irritated. A kind of conversation takes place between the two before Noku stands up again and starts moving towards the door, Haduwig lifting himself in the air to perch on the dragon's back. The pair travel to the living room where the Avengers are lounging around different kinds of fans. "This heat is unbearable..." Sam groans from his position on the ground. "Stop whining, it is going to be like this for the next week." Tony groans from next to a large fan, his face showing discomfort. The others voiced their complaint too, while Noku walks over a Steve shaped obstacle on her way to Wanda and Nat sitting on a couch with hand fans. An 'oof' can be heard as Noku steps on the stomach of her next obstacle, Bucky. The dragon reaches Wanda and lifts herself on the couch, laying down between the two women, Haduwig still on her back. Nat angles her hand fan towards the dragon and chuckles amused as Noku angles herself to enjoy the small breeze.

"Should we go to the waterfront? We could cool down in the water?" Clint asks suddenly. "The sun shines from the cloudless sky though. Is there a good spot with some shade? We could go to the indoor pool too." Wanda questions next. "There are a couple of spots with trees nearby." Steve says. "And as Noku can't swim, the indoor pool is not the best option." He continues, making Nat scoff slightly. "Noku knows how to swim, she just isn't very good at it." "Yeah, right. She would sink like a rock if no one was there to keep her afloat." Tony jokes, earning a pillow to his face. "So let's pack some snacks and towels. Anywhere with a shade and the slightest breeze is better than in here." The others voiced their agreements and started to prepare everything for their day at the waterfront. Steve and Wanda started with snacks and drinks, placing them in two coolers, while the rest, minus Natasha, disappeared to gather beach towels and such. Natasha was unable to move from her spot on the couch as Noku had claimed her to be a 'comfortable breeze', so the Russian angled one fan towards Noku while using the other hand fan to cool herself down. After a little while Wanda came to the two on the couch- Haduwig had vacated to the kitchen as Wanda had given him treats- and picked the fans out of Natashas hands. "Go get yourself ready, we are leaving in a minute." Wanda says and Natasha could now see that Wanda had changed to her swimwear with an oversized t-shirt on top. Nudging Noku from laying on her lap, Natasha nods. "You don't need to wait for me, I'll meet you outside." The Russian stands up and groans at the feeling of pins and needles on her legs as the blood starts flowing to them again. Noku whines loudly when Natasha moves from the couch, heading towards her room and Wanda chuckles. "Come on, let's head outside to cool down in the water. And no more whining, Nat had to stand up to get ready." Wanda says as she sees Noku turning towards her with an expression that usually indicates an incoming whine. Noku huffs and gets up from the couch, lazily heading towards the entrance of the compound. 'It's hot, I want to sleep.' Noku says while Wanda walks beside the dragon and ruffles the fur on Noku's head. "I know but let's head out. You can sleep at the waterfront after we get there."