The Dragon Who Was Left Alone

5. Tired Gold Scale

Sera had heated bath water for Soleil, who had finished his meal and seemed very happy and slightly drowzy. After handing the plate back to Sera, she had noticed how dirty the boy's hands were.
"We'll get you nice warm bath before bedtime", she had decided and hurried off.
"A bath?" He had asked from Taiga after a moment of silence.
"Kinda same as going for a swim, but you aren't in a lake or river. The heated water is in big barrel and you just sit there and wash off all the dirt with soap."
Now the dragonling was sitting in the warm water. The warmth made him sleepy, but Sera's sudden appearance woke him up.
"Don't fall asleep", she said and placed a towel on a chair next to the door. They were in a little room behind the kitchen, right next to the tavern's backdoor. Soleil looked at her curiously, before lowering himself to the water up to his shoulders. The warm feeling was lovely, just like Taiga's cape the last night.

Taiga and Sera were sitting in the kitchen in candle light while Soleil was in bath. Sera was telling Taiga all the stories she had ever heard of dragons and Taiga listened carefully while making a herb mix. She was always curious of stories told by travelers, even though they had often changed on the way, but usually somewhere was a seed of truth. And many of the travelers' encounters with magic weren't recorded anywhere, just told by them or other travellers in taverns around the land. If there was a more recent sighting of a dragon, even few years old story, Sera would probably know it.
"All the stories I remember are from my childhood, I can't recall any new stories from last, I think 10 years. Older travelers really like to repeat their old stories..." Sera went on about how merchant groups also did the same, when a creak of door was heard from behind them. Soleil stepped into kitchen the towel tightly around him. His blond hair was wet too and dripped water to the floor. The scales on his legs and tail were now shining slightly in the candle light and his claws looked more sharp and clean now that the dust was washed off. Sera almost dropped from her chair when she saw his dragon like legs, the scales covering them from toes all the way up. Even the way he stood was slightly different, his heels didn't touch the floor and knees weren't fully straightened to balance him and give better mobility. Sera hadn't either noticed his tail earlier, which was now swinging from left to right in a restless manner, the tip lightly touching the floor. Soleil shivered.
"How was the bath?" Taiga asked him.
"It was lovely, but now I'm cold."
"I have a shirt you can wear the night, come, let's go to our room. Sera showed it to me earlier."
"Thank you Sera, the food was good and bath felt lovely", Soleil said and turned to look at her.
"I'm glad you liked. Now off you go, before you'll fall asleep standing."
Taiga led the dragonling up the stairs in candle light. His claws kept little clicking sounds in the silent house. Taiga opened a door to a little room with two beds and a little dresser. She had already brought her backpack and cloack there. Taiga placed the candle on the dresser and after searching a tiny moment, Taiga found a shirt from her backpack.
"Here you go. It is way too big, I know, but you can use it tonight", she said on silent voice and gave the shirt for Soleil. He turned around and placed the towel on his bed to wear the shirt on. The candle light made his golden scales, that covered his body up to his waist, shine a bit. The few scales on the inner sides of his wrist were also clean now and the wet hair being away from his forehead revealed the bumps on his skull.
Taiga placed her backpack on the floor and sat to her bed, thinking. Soleil's body looked even less human than she had originally thought and she was worried how he would learn to live in human society. The different shape of feet and his claws made him basically unable to wear shoes and all of his pants would need a hole for the tail, which was an episode itself. It was so obvious note, like an exclamation mark, telling he wasn't normal. She sighed silently and noticed Soleil had successfully gotten the shirt on him. It looked more like a dress, reaching right under his knees. The long sleeves hid his hands totally. Now he looked almost like a normal child again.
"Let me help", Taiga whispered and came next to him. She took one sleeve and folded it few times. After repeating it for the other sleeve too, she grabbed the towel and gently rubbed his head with it, drying his hair a bit.
"I'm tired", Soleil whispered and yawned.
"Here, go to bed", Taiga asnwered and lifted the blanket on the bed enough for Soleil to crawl under it.
"No early morning walks now then, will you promise?" Taiga covered him with the blanket, leaving only messy blond hair and tired face to be seen.
"Yes, no early walks."
"Good night Soleil, sleep well."
"Good night." With that, the dragonling was already asleep. Taiga took the candle and walked silently out of the door and closed it almost fully. The wood in the stairs kept few silent cracks when she returned downstairs to the kitchen, where Sera was still awake.
"He fell asleep right away. The walk must have made him tired and he ate pretty much too."
"No wonder then, I'm happy he liked the stew so much. What he has eaten before, do you know?"
"I gave him apples, since I only took apples and bread with me to the mountain. Before he met me, I'm not sure what all he has eaten, but pinecones don't apparently taste as good as apples", Taiga laughed slightly. Sera shook her head.
"I'll need to give you some proper food this time. We have some dried meat, I guess I could give you a bit. What do dragons actually eat? Do you know how old he is, if he knew or could tell us what is best food for him?"
"Soleil is young, he has hatched less than month ago. And I'm pretty sure he would have instinct not to eat something that wouldn't be good for him, but I don't know much of dragons, no one alive does. Only mentions of encounters that have been recorded were with an adult one, with more of their characteristics and not this humanlike body. Soleil looks pretty much like a human child if you don't see his legs and tail. And some magicians will be able to tell he isn't human from his eyes." Sera nodded at Taiga's argument. She hadn't noticed anything odd in Soleil's eyes, other than surprisingly bright color, but she knew Taiga was good with magic and could sense something like that. All the stories told of legendary beasts as magical creatures with born ability to cast spells humans needed years of studying and many magicians learned to sense magic as part of their studies.
"I need to bring him to Hward in Taros", Taiga said quietly after a moment of silence.
"Are you serious? He is just a child, Taros is way too dangerous place", Sera almost hissed at her.
"I know you have never been there Sera, but I know you've heard the stories. Taros is... interesting city. It is the heart of many dark things, I know, but also home to some great magicians. Hward is rumoured to have moved there as well."
"Taiga, tell me, why couldn't you just settle down here? You and Soleil would surely be accepted by the people in the village and he wouldn't need to hide who he is. If you go to Taros or any bigger city, he will most likely be in danger." Taiga sighed. She hadn't expected this.
"You know me. 20 years of travelling, I'd be bored to death if I had to stay still for few months, not to mention settling down for the rest of my life. I've left that behind. And as for Soleil", she sighed again.
"I wish he wouldn't need to hide that he is a dragon, but not all humans are kind and accepting. I'm sure he'd be welcomed in this village that lives the way your father lived and was towards strangers, but... he'll need to learn about humans, he'll need to learn to survive in this world we live in. I won't be able to be with him forever, I'm starting to get old..."
Sera nodded, looking defeated.
"I understand. You want to offer him a way to learn as much with you as possible. But remember this, if you ever feel like your days of travelling are past, this village could use a magician. I'll make sure you'd always be welcome to settle here."
Taiga got up and hugged Sera, who was way younger than her, but spoke wise words that warmed her heart.
"Thank you my friend. I am pretty tired too, so I'll go upstairs too. Good night", Taiga said and turned to leave.
"Good night Taiga, I'll see you at morning", Sera answered and walked past the stairs, towards her bedroom.

Soleil woke up to morning sun disturbing his sleep. He rose up to sit on the bed, still halfway under covers. Taiga wasn't in the room and the door was closed, but her backpack was still next to the other bed. She had left her staff on her bed next to her cloak.
The dragonling stretched his arms and got up. He reached towards the ceiling and bent his tail left and right. After turning back towards the bed, he noticed a little pile of clothes at the end of it. On top was dark green shirt that fit his size way better that the one he had used earlier. Under the shirt was brown pants and a little belt with two rolls of bandages.
Someone knocked the door just when Soleil was about to undress the shirt borrowed to him. He turned towards the door and after walking to it slowly, opened it slightly.
"Good morning Soleil", Taiga greeted him.
"Did you sleep well?" She asked while opening the door more and walking in, before closing it again. Soleil nodded. He walked back to the pile of clothes.
"Sera got those for you this morning. She even made the pants have a hole for your tail, which was great, because I'm terrible when it comes to making or fixing or modifying clothes... I just came to get something from my backpack, but say, do you need help with the clothes?"
"I'm fine", Soleil answered.
"But why is there bandages here? I'm not hurt."
"I was thinking with Sera and we thought that it might be good idea for you to wear bandages in your feet since there isn't shoes you could wear. I know you have scales, but the bandages would slightly protect you from all the walking we'll do and softer the impact", Taiga explained while taking them from Soleil. She asked him to sit on the bed and tied the bandages on his feet and few times around his ankles. She let the heel uncovered to allow more movement and didn't cover his toes and claws either.
"Are they too tight? How do they feel?"
"They feel funny. Not too tight, but funny and weird."
"You haven't worn anything like that before, it might take a moment to get used to it. Say if they feel uncomfortable and I'll take them off, okay?" Taiga asked worrying of the dragon's feelings.
"I will, but for now they are fine", Soleil said while staring his feet. He took few steps cautiously and made few circling movements with his ankles.
"Yes, they are fine", he smiled at Taiga.
"In that case, I'll leave you to get dressed up and wait downstairs. You can leave my shirt on the bed", she said while walking to the door.
"Oh, I almost forgot! Here it was", she said after returning to her backpack and taking out little leather pouch. Taiga walked out of the door and Soleil heard her footsteps go down the stairs.
After he was alone, he changed into the new set of clothes. The pants fit well and the hole Sera had made was in good height. She had used Soleil's old pants to try to figure out good place. Also the shirt he was given was better than the old one, the sleeves in this one weren't too long. He felt different from the dragonling who had stepped into the tavern yesterday. He wasn't dirty, he had new clothes, he had eaten. Well, he was hungry again, as his stomach loudly let him know. Soleil opened the door and came down the stairs just to almost run into a little girl.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you", she said while carrying a basket full of apples. Then her face turned into confusion.
"Wait, we haven't met before. Who are you?" She asked while looking Soleil from head to toe.