The Dragon Prince: Breath of Hope

Chapter 6- Darkness

"Rayla!" Callum called, running outdoors to her, but stopped quickly when she turned around and pointed her sword at him.

The assassin blinked for a moment. "Callum!" she gasped, stepping away from him and lowering her weapon, "I'm so sorry. But... whatever you do, don't surprise me when I'm practicing or you might lose a finger." She smirked a little, "I mean, could you imagine going around with only four fingers?" She wiggled her four digits at him to make a point.

The point was lost on the dragon who just looked confused. "Umm... you manage?"

She shook her head and rolled her eyes with a fond smile, "You were looking for me?"

"Oh, yeah, I wanted to ask you if you've seen my book? The one I draw in? I can't find it."

"You left it by the tree over there," she said, pointing to the tree in question.

Hurrying over, he found the book and opened it, checking the inside. The pencil was still in the slot and he took it out, sitting against the tree, and drawing with a smile. He soon got engrossed in his work.

Her practice disturbed, the Moonshadow elf decided to call it an end and walked over to him. She couldn't help but peek at his illustration, "Wait... is that me?"

He looked up at her and beamed, turning the book to show her, "Yeah!"

"Nar, that can't be me... you made me look far too pretty."

His smile vanished and he stood by her side, "No way! If anything, I didn't make it pretty enough! You're far prettier than this Rayla!" He looked down at his work, "Besides, this one's wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Your eyes..." he said, speaking to the picture and touching her eyes on the paper, "They aren't right. Your eyes are way better than this. But they're always changing, I couldn't pick a memory I liked, so I kept changing it..." he sighed in frustration and looked at her, concentrating on her eyes, "They're so... intense. It's hard to draw them from memory."

"Callum-"

"Do you think I could draw you while looking at you?" he interrupted, eyes full of hope, "It would be easier if I could look at you while I did it. Please Rayla?"

She glanced away and twisted a lock of her hair around her finger. She was kind of nervous over the request, "I-"

"Pleaseeeeeeeeee~" he begged, dragging the word out.

Looking at him, she let out a breath and conceded, "Oh alright."

"Thank you!" he exclaimed, wings spreading wide with joy and his tail wagging. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to a rock, forcing her to sit on it, and then began to turn her body and head, messing with her hair until happy with her position, "Right," he said at last, sitting himself on the ground, book open to a new page, and ready to draw.

Rayla frowned as she was forced to model, "How long is this gonna take?"

"Rayla~" he groaned, "Don't move."

"But..."

"You're moving!"

Deciding to humour him, the elf sat as still as she could, waiting as the dragon did his drawing. About fifteen minutes had passed before he appeared to be satisfied, "Yeah, that's it! Perfect!"

"Can I move now?"

"Yep. I'm done."

Stretching, she groaned and walked over, "Alright if I have a look?" The prince smiled and passed her the book.