Acari

Chapter Eleven

Acari was sitting outside, drawing little shapes in the mud by the bank with her claws when Aphid came and sat beside her. Acari was a little agitated about how she smushed some of her work, but what could she do?

"If everything goes to plan, the queen will be having an announcement later this week," Aphid said with no clear emotion in her voice. "Which means that we can wait it out here until it's time for us to go."

"That's great," Acari replied. "Have you seen Ragnar anywhere? I've been needing to talk to him in private but I couldn't spare any time."

"Oh, yeah," Aphid said, jumping at the sudden question and fluffing out her scales. "He was off playing a game with Mango. I'll go get him." Before Acari could stop her, Aphid was already sprinting far out of earshot.

As Acari waited, she re-made her drawings in the mud that Aphid had been sitting on, making them even more noticeable than before. Maybe if the dragons noticed them before they got close enough to– Ragnar sat down next to her in the mud with a squelsh, RUINING HER ART and swishing his tail playfully. He seemed like he was in too good of a mood for a scolding (and to be honest Acari knew that her mud drawings weren't worth saving), so she just let him be.

"Why do you want to talk to me in private?" Ragnar asked.

"I'm just so confused," Acari said finally. "I want to know why you let me escape the other day, why you hadn't just killed me."

"Well, if I'm being honest, I couldn't kill you," Ragnar replied, turning his head to the river as it played around. "Batair would've had my head if anything happened to you. And besides, why would I kill the only dragon I've ever loved?"

This didn't really answer her question, nor did it make her less confused. She sighed and stirred the water with one claw. "But why me? There are so many options and you pick me? Your prisoner? You knew what you were getting yourself into and you still stood behind me?"

He twined his tail with hers, shifting a bit closer so that their wings touched. "I never really cared about that. Batair was just another outlet I found to distract me from the little things. Once I found you, I didn't need her anymore. You were brave and you didn't care enough about your life when others were around. Batair, well, she was just strong and had anger issues. You... I loved you so much."

Acari didn't know what to say. She never did around Ragnar. She brought him into a hug, Ragnar walling his wings around her body. Only then did Acari realize that Ragnar was significantly bigger than her, that he was probably older than her as well. That was a little weird to think about, but Acari didn't mind it at all. She was happy to have someone who was small enough to hug, but big enough to defend her.

As she and Ragnar began to depart, Papaya materialized suddenly in front of them, gagging and startling Acari and resulting in her falling into the river with a SPLASH! She could hear Papaya's laughter and Ragnar growling faintly above her. Despite being dripping wet, she smiled and laughed along with Papaya.

Few days passed. The group tried out many things over the time passing—painting with Seleste, fishing out of the river, creating mud castles, air stunts, and even playing tug-of-war with a very powerful rope Seleste made.

But nothing beats the day of the announcement. That day they were playing capture the crown, a game where one dragon wears the crown and others try and claim it as their own. (A controversial game of course, some saying that it teaches young dragons to rebel against the queen and whatnot, but Acari believed it was plain fun and that they were being paranoid.)

"Give it back!" Mango cried as Ragnar ran from him and the others, a sparkly, fake-gold crown on his head.

"You have to catch me first!" Ragnar teased, obviously going way faster than the rest of them.