Home is a Treasure Beyond Price

Chapter 5

Here was a fact that Nick never expected to learn firsthand: a sleeping dragon resembled a cat that had curled itself up into a ball, chin resting on it's tail. As Nick watched, Cadenza began to stir; her wings twitched, then eyelids slid slowly up to reveal clear, cyan eyes. Their gazes locked for a moment before Nick looked down at his plate, cheeks hot at having been caught staring.
Cadenza yawned, the forest of sharp teeth in her mouth glimmering in the watery morning light. she uncurled herself and stretched her wings out before pulling them back in.<Nick,> she said, in a sly, sleepy tone that made Nick immediately wary.
"Cadenza."
<I believe there was mention of grooming last night?>
Nick nodded.
<Well, then.>
Cadenza got up, stretched her neck and tail to the accompaniment of little popping sounds, and walked into the river until she was submerged. Without meaning to, Nick held his breath while he watched the shifting surface of the water and waited until Cadenza breached the surface, like a monster rising from the depths. Water cascaded off her as she raised her wings and emerged from river.
<Don't dawdle, Nick,> she said, as she walked passed, and out of the cave.
Nick hurried after her with a rag and a frown. When he was just out of the cave mouth, he had to duck when Cadenza shook herself like a dog and flapped her wings, making water droplets shimmer around her in a sparkling cloud. Little curls of steam wafted off her as she settled on the grass near the entrance and said imperiously, <Here.>
Yes, master hovered at the tip of Nick's tongue, but he stifled the impulse. Cadenza would almost certainly take a liking to the title and insist that Nick continue to use it. That was to be avoided at great cost. Using the rag in his hand, he began wiping Cadenza down, not surprised to find that the heat of Cadenza's body had already dried up all the water. Whoever had groomed Cadenza before Nick hadn't been particularly diligent, if the amount of dirt trapped between her scales was anything to go by.
Nick worked his way from shoulder to haunches. He studied the diamond-shaped scales that covered Cadenza, already planning out how to capture their grainy surface and the ridges at their edges using his charcoals. If he had the chance to get close enough to a dragon to do a detailed study, he was not going to waste it.
Cadenza's breaths grew deeper and slower. she slipped into a half-doze as Nick worked, eyes going slitted and unfocused. About halfway up Cadenza's neck, Nick hesitated, then switched over to the left side and worked his way down again. Snout and face and teeth could wait for another day when he was less wary of bringing his tasty flesh near Cadenza's abundance of sharp teeth.
When Nick was done, Cadenza looked herself over with a pleased expression
<You have done a fine job, Nick. I thank you.>
"You're welcome," Nick said, flustered by the easy praise. He staggered backwards when Cadenza snapped open her black, leathery wings with a loud swooshing sound.
<And now to breakfast,> Cadenza called out, as she took off from the clearing.
Nick shielded his face when the backwash kicked up the autumn leaves littering the clearing floor. "I just cleaned you," Nick shouted after the departing dragon.
<We can do this again when I come back,> was the infuriating reply.
Nick watched her fly away, impressed, in spite of his irritation, by the beauty and grace of Cadenza flying. It was only after he went back into the cave that he realized Cadenza didn't seem at all worried about Nick running off while she was away hunting