The Name of Names

~Five: The Days Pass~

Vanya made her way back out of the hall, dragon still on her shoulder, and headed towards her home. The streets were busy with elves, doing what they enjoyed without magic. Weaving, forging, painting, writing, and many other things, that each one practiced regularly.

Vanya watched each of them working, and remembered what she herself had been working on. The map of Alagaesia, for now. The whole world if possible.

"I'll be able to map as we go!" she murmured to the dragon, who nuzzled her cheek, sharing her excitement.

Vanya took a detour through the woods, deciding to work on her map before they returned. Singing the tree open, she retrieved the case, opening and taking the parchment paper out of it.

Using the ink and quill she also had placed near the tree, she began drawing, remembering the forest she was currently working on. The dragon she let down off her shoulder to sit or walk as it pleased.

She drew elegantly, and the forests grew under her pen it seemed. Her quill scratched on the parchment for several minutes until she heard a loud growl. Nearly spilling ink over her paper, her head snapped up. With unnatural speed, she bottled her ink, wiped her quill and put everything away.

Just as she had prepared to meet the danger, the dragon bounded into the clearing, a dead rat in his teeth. The sides of his mouth were stretched wide almost as if he was beaming, and his tiny chest swelled in pride.

She raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you the fierce warrior of the forest?"

The dragon settled down into the ground, and began stripping the meat off the small rat, using the hooked barbs on his tongue to aid in this process.

Turning away, Vanya stuck the case back inside the tree, singing it closed again. she sat again and closed her eyes, resting until the dragon was finished.

"At least I know you can hunt on your own now," Vanya noted, appreciating the implications. "Which means no more hunting for me. "

The dragon looked up at her for a second, before returning to his attention to his meal. When he was finished, Vanya disintegrated the bones and scattered them, returning them to nature.

When she finished, the dragon waited patiently to climb up on Vanya's shoulders.

"You know," she said as she crouched down to his level, "That you won't be able to do this forever."

He squeaked once in response as he clambered up on her shoulder, managing to smack Vanya in the face with his wing.

Once he was comfortably situated, Vanya stood up, and walked back to the town. She was used to going back and forth from the forest many times a day. This was no different than usual, besides the dragon around her shoulders.

The dragon let out a large yawn as they neared the house. Vanya smiled and went to her room to let him down. Putting him on top of the pillows, Vanya stepped back as he curled up into a little ball, soon sending puffs of smoke out of his nostrils in sleep.

Vanya left the door cracked as she left the room, climbing up the steps to her study, and pulling out a map of Alagaesia, drawn by someone else. She only looked at it every once in a while, not wishing to copy someone else's work. The only reason she checked it now was to compare where she was currently—Elesmera—to the sea.

"I don't know how far across the sea it will be." She mused to herself, gazing at the unmapped perimeter a second longer before putting the map away.

Going over to the bookshelf, she pulled out an ancient book on the history of dragons and elves, which included a description of the war between elves and dragons—the Fyrn Skulblaka.

Drawing her knees up on the chair she had sat down on, she opened it, the smell of the rustic book enveloping her. Smiling, her eyes turned to the pages, all written in the ancient language runes.

Time slipped away as the pages turned, and history passed in the stories Vanya read. She was interrupted about an hour later by a series of loud noises from the floor below.

A loud crash sounded. Then a door slammed open, apparently shoved open by a persistent snout. Thump, thump, thump, the dragon—as Vanya knew it was—walked over to the stairs, and began to climb with some difficulty.

Smiling, Vanya looked over at the top of the staircase as a grey-white head appeared, huffing as he climbed over the top step and nearly collapsing on the wooden floor.

Closing the book gently, Vanya set it down, going over to the still somewhat sleepy dragon and picking him up, setting him around her shoulders.

"Better?"

The dragon merely nuzzled Vanya's shoulder in response.

The days quietly passed, and Vanya decided the dragon needed a proper name. However, as she listed the names that came to her mind, she sensed disapproval of each one. And, she didn't know its gender, so that made the whole process more difficult. Eventually, she decided to leave it to the dragon to decide when it wished to be named.

Once again, I have been horrible updating this, but I hope anyone reading this is still enjoying the story. Things are going to get more interesting, I promise 😅