Dragon Blossom

The valley of the faeries

When Frey arrived at the enormous indoor pool chamber, he found several guards surrounding someone on the floor. He made his way to see that it was the elderly King Finuaster, who had slipped and fallen backwards. Fortunately, Eri caught him before he hit the ground, but the fall itself and the king's scream had made everyone nervous, apparently fearing for his health. Now Frey was worried that the show of strength would draw attention to Eri.

The king seemed to be fine, but his royal doctor insisted on examining him. As the doctor checked him over, he thanked Eri by stroking her head.

"Thank you very much, precious, you are a very good and very strong girl," Eri smiled at the caress, "your parents have done a good job teaching you to take care of the elderly like me."

"The gatekeeper also used to fall sometimes, daddy says we have to take care of everyone, but first those who can't take care of themselves."

"Freydelhart, you must be proud of your offspring, but tell me, do you train her? I am only skin and bones but she lifted me like a feather before letting me down. A little girl should not spend her days like this."

"Daddy and I dance with swords some days," that was what Eri understood by training, she said it making gestures of thrusts and wide arcs, "Shooosh! It's very fun."

"I see, I'm sure your mommy doesn't like it at all, as a child she never allowed me. Anyway, doctor, leave that now, I'm fine, I'm sorry to have scared you all. Let's enjoy the warm water and a small snack with our guests. Guards, please watch from outside, we would like some privacy."

The guards and the doctor left shortly after. The king called Eri.

"Little one, you shouldn't wet your jewels like this, let me take care of that pendant for you, so you can swim more comfortably."

Eri was going to start making some excuse, she didn't want to be scolded, but Frey stepped forward.

"It's okay Eri, I think the king can understand."

Eri took off the pendant revealing her horns and wings, she looked at the king with hope in her face, he smiled at her. Prince Conerfin elbowed his brother as if to say "I told you so."

"You are even more beautiful like this, darling," he said, stroking her head between the horns, "Alistor warned me to keep an open mind, but this, the rumors are true then, they almost never are."

"Rumors, majesty?" Frey and Runa feared his answer.

"Yes, I'm afraid something like this interests everyone, when I saw her I thought maybe the rumors were malicious gossip and that the truth could be less complicated, but indeed, Erifreya Verrim Draconis is a dragon, perhaps it was too obvious that her title was not a mere hyperbole like her grandfather's."

"What you mean is that everyone already knows."

"Or at least they have heard about it."

"Can I go swimming now? Koro is waiting for me."

That day he had little to do, Frey allowed himself to play with his daughter in the water while in his mind he made many decisions, would they take Eri to look for the pegasus? Was it really the best alternative or was it just that he really wanted to tame it? What did he want for his daughter in the future? The king's questions had left him thinking.

That night he took Runa and Eri for a walk around the city. Because of their rank, they had guards following them closely, but they could move with some freedom. Eri wore her pendant despite everything, which Frey thought, reassured several people, it was better for them to come to love her, as happened to everyone, before giving them a reason to judge her.

In a small square by the lake shore, a man dressed in a tattered hood was telling stories to the children accompanied by a magic lamp and a screen, projecting shadows of the scenes he described using his hands, his wooden staff, and whatever he could find. His long, twisted mustache caught Eri's attention and they stayed to listen.

"... And then the little boy went in search of the legendary mandrake plant," he projected what looked like the shadow of a boy moving his legs on the screen, he moved away from the lamp to make it seem like the boy was really moving, "he crossed mountains and valleys, rivers and lakes, plains and steppes," his hands moved swiftly to create the shadows of each landscape he mentioned, Frey blinked when he really thought he saw the shadow of a river on the screen. Do rivers even have shadows? "and when he had traveled half the earth, he found a hidden valley among the highest peaks full of beautiful forests, where unicorns, pure griffins, jackalopes, and also simple goats lived," the story seemed to be made to list things that the man could create in shadows, the children screamed in amazement every time his agile hands improvised a new shape, or borrowed a candy from someone's hands that suddenly became the horn of a unicorn, or the head of a goat, the man had talent.

"In the center of the valley," the man continued, "instead of a mandrake, he found nothing less than a spring, but its pure and magical water was not the most impressive," from a small bag tied to his waist he took out a handful of a shiny powder and threw it into the air, the children screamed with excitement at seeing the rain of lights, Eri the first, "but it was the home of the lost fairies, and they, in exchange for not revealing where their home was to other humans, granted him a wish. Tell me children, what would you have asked for?"
The children shouted their answers in unison, some asked for endless candies, others a magic sword, Frey heard one say he wanted to see his grandfather. Eri shouted at the top of her lungs that she wanted to fly.

Runa shuddered under his arms, surely imagining Eri flying with her own wings, or trying with dangerous jumps as she used to made her nervous, but for him, it was very obvious, of course, who didn't want to fly? He imagined himself mounted on the pegasus, soaring through a clean, blue sky, his daughter by his side flying with her own wings. Despite what everyone thought, that part of him was still a child.

"But the boy didn't ask for any of that, a boring boy, isn't he? Instead, he asked for his mother to be cured of the curse, the one that had started his journey. And the fairies then granted him the power to cure curses and diseases caused by monsters. The boy was happy for a moment, until he realized that to return, he had to cross half the earth again. By the time he returned and his powers cured the curse, returning his mother's ability to speak, ten years had passed, and the boy was no longer a boy," he projected the shadow of the boy on the screen not only bigger, but more robust, it was like seeing him grow up for real, "and when he told his beloved mother about his adventures, she said: My wish would have been to spend those ten years with you."

The lamp slowly went out, leaving the last shadow to die devoured by the darkness.

The audience applauded and the children scattered all over the square excited to play that they were the hero or the creatures of the story, the ungainly artist passed the hat among the parents, Frey and Runa each gave him a gold coin, hidden between two of copper, they had enjoyed the show. After thanking, the storyteller disappeared among the people, on his way to the next square.
In whispers, he asked his wife, the love of his life.

"What would have been your wish?"

"That every day of our life was like today. And yours?" Frey thought, maybe too long, "Don't be embarrassed, I already know it would be to fly," Runa laughed as in those days, when they barely knew each other, when he barely realized how much he loved her, how much he needed her.

"I think," he finally said, "that I would wish never to have to leave you."

That night they decided that if Prince Conerfin supported them, they should take their daughter, simply, to be with her while she was that innocent little thing that everyone adored.