A girl's worth

Chapter 1

Sitting all alone on a grassy field, a girl is staring out towards the sea, watching it crash against the shore beneath her. The breeze is blowing around her, making her brown hair float every which way. She can just see the shapes of several dragons moving about nearby, making her smile. This place, this dragon island, is her life.

From behind her, a dragon comes inching closer, its blue body moving soundlessly across the grass. It observes the girl intently, watching for every movement from her. Just before it reaches the girl, she starts talking.

"Trying to scare me, Gaoth?" She asks teasingly without turning around. "You know you have to do better than that to get to me."

The dragon huffs, bumping the girl's back with its head before walking around her to drop down and place its head on the girl's lap.

"You're just a big cuddler, aren't you, girl?" The girl says lovingly, her hand moving down to scratch the dragon's head. At this, the dragon seems to relax instantly, which relaxes her rider as well.

The girl looks down at Gaoth, checking out the dragon. She's a Windslicer, a strike class dragon with the ability to fly at the speed of light. It has an exceptional sense of hearing and can blast white-hot fireballs with surprising accuracy. Her body is streamlined with slightly bigger than average wings. The Windslicer isn't easy to bond with but once it trusts you, it gets really protective.

In the distance, the girl notices something coming closer and closer, fast. Gaoth, noticing this as well, gets up quickly and steps in front of her rider, using her long and lean body to hide the girl from sight.

"It's alright, girl," the rider says, placing a comforting hand on the dragon's hide. "Look, it's just a terrible terror."

And indeed, as the thing comes closer, they can see the unmistakable shape of the small dragon known as the terrible terror. Its ability to fly great distances and its small size, which is comparable to a big cat, make them excellent messenger dragons as they can be brought along in carrier bags.

As the dragon reaches them, it immediately lands on the girl's shoulder, rubbing its head against her cheek. The girl chuckles, untying the little scroll that's wrapped around the little dragon's leg after which she gives it a treat from one of Gaoth's saddlebags.

"Here you go, little one. You did a great job," she says, before turning her attention to the scroll. She hums, turning to Gaoth who's eyeing the terrible terror suspiciously. "Cut that out, little miss, he's delivering a message from our Berkian friends. They're inviting us to a picnic."

The girl grins as she straps a saddle to the dragon's body, tying the saddlebags to it as well. "Well, we can hardly say no to visiting them, right? Especially when they promise some yummy dragon treats." She places the terrible terror in a special basket which she attaches to the saddle before she hops on as well.

"Let's go to Berk," she says, as Gaoth pushes off the ground.