Drakon

acquaintance acquired

[⚔k i a  d r a k e⚔]

I watched in humour as Celeste, or Lady Pink, as I had dubbed her, wandered over to the shimmer dragon corner. Alistair sighed. "That girl never learns. Our taste is perfectly fine." I agreed half-heartedly as the shimmers began retreating, then looked panicked as they realized Celeste was nearing and they had nowhere to flee. "Look at those dragons go! Boy, this is even funnier than the court jesters." I squinted at their brightness, spotting a smallish dragon in the center. The shimmering herd seemed to be protecting the smaller one from Celeste, but that just made her more determined.

"Oh, just move! Let me get to the middle!" The lady in pink stamped her foot impatiently, then howled in pain. Well, that's what you get from wearing slippers. That's why boots are way better, in my opinion.

"You can't boss dragons around!" Alistair hollered across to the blonde. "You need to earn their respect and trust, and that takes time and patience!" Celeste ignored him, and he groaned, burying his head in his hands. "Patience is definitely not her strong suit. This is going to take quite a while."

He sat down on the floor, leaning back on Ironfang's side.  He placed his hands on his crossed legs, and he looked as formal as one could look while sitting cross-legged.  I almost laughed. I followed suit, leaning on his shoulder. "Since this is going to take a long time, I may as well take the chance to take a catnap." He stiffened, but I paid him no mind, dozing off.

***

By the time I woke up, the sun remained blazing down on us, and a shrill and incredibly feminine voice was still screeching at the top of her lungs. Me? Oh, I was glad for Ironfang's massive form, as he had curled his body around ours, effectively blocking out the sun. "I hope you had a nice nap," grumbled Alistair grumpily, "my shoulder hurts, my neck is cramping, and my ears are ringing like crazy."

"Are you calling my head heavy?" I asked incredulously. "And why would your neck be cramping? I only slept on your shoulder."

He shrugged. "Indirectly." I gaped at him with wide eyes. "For your information, I took a nap as well." I was suddenly aware of a muscular arm looped around my waist, pulling me closer. I gasped as I realized that Alistair and I were actually a lot closer than I thought. "My neck is cramping because you fell asleep on my shoulder, and I fell asleep on your head." I raised an eyebrow. "It was comfortable while it lasted."

A loud rumble sounded behind us, and the ground shook. I squeaked, almost jumping onto Alistair's lap in shock. What did I do that for? I was the queen of the shadows, lady of the dark... I didn't get scared by loud noises and shaking floors. Most of all, I didn't jump on princes' laps. Especially not crown princes I had just napped on.  I blushed a dark red, trying to cover my flaming cheeks with my hair. "What the bloody hell was that?"

The older boy smirked. "Oh, Ironfang snores. I can use that to blackmail him in the future." Don't try anything stupid, came a sleepy voice in our minds, I'm not as dumb as you are. Alistair huffed, focussing his attention on Celeste, who was getting closer and closer to the heart of the flock.

"OH MY GOSH YOU ARE SO CUTE!" I winced at the sheer volume. By gods, the girl was loud. "OH MY GOSH I AM TOTALLY KEEPING YOU YOU'RE SO CUTE I'LL GET YOU A PINK SADDLE AND PINK SHOES AND WE CAN BE PINK TOGETHER-" There was a loud roar from one of the shimmer dragons, which immediately shut Celeste up.

Alistair groaned. "We should go check up on her. Can't risk Duchess Rachelle throwing a fit." He stood up, politely extending a hand.

I thumped my head on Ironfang's scales, immediately regretting it. His scales were hard, and I whimpered in pain. "Can you go alone? I don't want to go anywhere." My head was spinning, and I may or may not have seen stars and little birdies flying around.

Alistair scowled. "If you don't get up, I'll have to carry you." Was that a threat? It sure didn't sound like one. I still shook my head, refusing to stand. "Okay, you don't have a choice anymore." Grunting with the effort, he plucked me off the floor and hauled me over his shoulder as if I were a slightly heavy knapsack.

I let out a scream, smacking his back repeatedly with my hands. "Hey! Put me down! IRONFANG! CONTROL YOUR BOY!" I'm sleeping. "ALISTAIR RUSSELL SELWYN!!!" Alistair continued walking, and I kicked him in the chest. He yelped, but didn't put me down. "HELP! I'M BEING SEXUALLY HARASSED!" I screamed again, but to no avail. The dragons paid me no mind, and Ironfang looked asleep. I doubted it. I kicked Alistair again, limbs flailing. I felt vulnerable in this position, draped over his back like some sort of bag.

"Stop moving." Alistair's husky voice seemed to be strained with exertion. "You're just making this more difficult for yourself." I huffed in irritation, finally giving up. If we kept arguing, I doubted it was going to go anywhere anyway.

When he finally put me down, we were in front of the herd of shimmer dragons. They gladly parted for us, revealing an excited Celeste and a not very enthusiastic shimmer dragon. "Uh, Celeste, you should let go. The dragon doesn't look too comfortable." Her name is Ci-Brighttail. She's very young. "I stand corrected. Her name is Brighttail."

"Well why should I let go? Brighttail is my new dragon! Look at her, isn't she cute?" Brighttail was flickering in and out of sight, looking annoyed and terrified at the same time. The young shimmer was probably trying to go invisible, so Celeste couldn't find her. I felt sorry for the poor thing- she'd be traumatized for life.

"Just let go." Alistair snapped sharply. Celeste pouted, releasing her hold on the poor unfortunate little dragon. Brighttail flew off, but she didn't go far, wings flapping uselessly. Her mother passed when she was a baby, so she didn't have much chance to train. Ah. That explained it.

"Humph! You two are no fun." Celeste marched off, nose in the air.

"Good riddance, I say." I muttered under my breath. I turned to Alistair, narrowing my eyes. I grabbed him by the collar, pulling him down to my level. I glared him in the eye, and he looked fearful. "We need to talk." I began dragging him back towards the stairs, me walking purposefully and him trying to bat my hand away.

"I learnt the hard way that those four words never end well." Alistair joked with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, right." I scoffed.  Another question came to mind.  "Does it not pain you how your cousin Celeste acts?" I asked curiously.

"It does, I ignore her." He answered, hands in his pocket, out of his statuesque princely form. "Why?"

"You boys are so dense." I muttered. "Poor Brighttail is only a child, can't you just let her play around for a while? Celeste, on the other hand, is like a dog. You need to give her a command the moment she does something wrong, and don't even give her a chance to try it. That's how it is on the streets."

"Why don't you tell this to Terris or Cecil?"

"Because Terris will kill her, and Cecil will probably get fired but you? You can do what you want because you're the damn bloody prince so start acting like it."

He raised his hand in mock surrender, before he dropped them.  "Okay, okay, bossy boots." I heard a small cough from behind us. Torship had interrupted us. Again. Bloody Turnip. I swear, that man was stalking us.

"His Majesty would like you to join him for dinner, Miss Drake." He grumbled stiffly. "You might want to go into a dress or an evening gown. I do not think his Majesty would like it if you came to the table dressed liked a man."

"We will be there shortly. You are dismissed." Alistair replied curtly, and Torship scampered off. "Now, back to the matter at hand. How about we try an actual introduction? Like how normal people greet."

"We're not normal people." I retorted.

"Then let's try. Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Alistair Russell Selwyn, Prince of Lukar." He bowed, kissing the back of my hand. I resisted the urge to flinch and smack him in the face.  If it was somebody else, I probably would've done so already.

"Pleasure to meet you too, your Highness. My name is Kitana Drake, Queen of the Shadows." I answered with a small laugh and a not so perfect curtsey. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

image: inspiration for brighttail