The Dragon of Charred Scales

The Past and the Future

Oculeera

Both of us in human form to be inconspicuous, we walked down the pathway towards our room. Despite the words Harogbas spoke to try to calm Novayar, he still seems shaken. Though not a wing, I place my arm across his shoulders, hoping to give him some comfort.

"Thanks," he said weakly.

"You are not alone, remember that. No matter what burdens you must endure, you always have others to lean on. Not just me."

"It feels like you are the only one who cares, though."

I shook my head. "That's the problem with keeping us in isolation. Any dragon clan has at least a few hundred dragons, most with the desire to help other dragons. If you ever sneak away to find someone to talk to, I will help to hide your disappearance."

Just like I did when he flew away from Harogbas.

"But what if I trust you more than anyone else? You know better than anyone what I'm going through."

Soon enough, we reach our room. I hold open the door for him and close it behind us, almost running into him as he merely stood at the end of our wall.

"If I am the one you trust the most, then I feel honored that you trust me that much," I say to him. "Go lay down, calm down for now. Then if you want to talk about everything, we can."

Novayar did not budge. "Do you know who your father is?"

"No. Never really thought about it. Geeo never said. But I was not brought up like you."

"No, I guess. I want him to be like a father to me, just like I want Jheecu to be proud to be my mother. That bothers me as much as the prophecy and everything else. Perhaps both do care but haven't shown it."

I shook my head. "Harogbas said he cared for you. He gave you a choice, which no other dragon in power has. Remember that. Now, lay down."

He nodded. "I will. Sometimes I wish you were my mother. You've done more for me than Jheecu. And she might die before ever having the chance to be a mother to me."

Head hung low, he approached his bed and plopped down. I went to mine, sitting on the edge.

His last sentence flooded me with a variety of emotions. Of course, one day I wanted to be a mother. That is my instinct driving me. But it also hurts me as a female dragon to see another feel hurt about their own mother. After all, what he said about me and Jheecu is wrong. I may have spent more time with him and taught him more than her, but she laid and nurtured his egg, guarding it and keeping it warm so that he could hatch at all. Our mothers give us the greatest gift of all. To forget something like that goes against our nature.

And no matter how anyone can spin things, the thought that Jheecu has some sort of illness that is killing her is saddening. He really needs to meet with her as soon as possible,

But it is not just his bloodline that makes his mind race. Harogbas clearly has plans that Xanmet-kal would order him dead for. Novayar just sees the responsibility that may be his, not this hidden danger. And that worries me the most.

And why do any of that? We are human and dragon. We are free to choose which form we want to live our lives as. We have successfully hidden for ten thousand years. It is hard, perhaps harder than ever, but we have done it.

"I can't settle down," Novayar called from across the wall. I think only a few minutes must have passed since we returned. But calming down does seem impossible after what we both heard.