Taming the Dragon

The dragon, for all that he was pretty, had a terrible personality.

Eyna was no stranger to stubbornness. Haughtiness. Arrogance of all sorts. But this guy? He was a contender for the worst personality she’d ever encountered. Everything made him angry. She’d tried talking to him to learn more about him. Angry. She’d woven him a little flower crown to put on his head. Angry. She even snuck a prized honeycake to share with him. Extreme generosity on her part. Not only had he been angry, but he’d outright squandered it by striking it out of her hands with his tail. And then he squished it by rolling on it. And then he scratched at it until it was nothing more than honeycake dust.

And that was just excessive.

Eyna told him as much, only to be met with hissing and snarling. He’d outright refused to talk to her, even after Mother had removed his muzzle.

Mother had placed him in a tight weave of roots and fae magic that kept the dragon bound. The roots coiled like a hand around him, leaving him just enough room to move around. The fae magic woven between each root meant that things could go in, but he couldn’t put anything out. Including his acid. Which, as Eyna and half the Heartsprings had noted by this point, he loved to use. He spat at everything that came too close. Even the tiny little fae, no larger than her pinky. They’d merely been curious about this mysterious new guest. And the dragon had been positively unhinged in response.

Again, excessive.

Saffron outright refused to come anywhere near the dragon. She’d declared it was on account of ‘outside contamination’. But Eyna was fairly certain that the dragon scared her. Pepper, though, didn’t seem to mind approaching. When Eyna had asked about that, he’d just shrugged.

“Reckon I’m just a rat. Whatever’s got ‘em so worked up, it don’t involve me.”

Pepper contented himself with stealing some of the extra snacks Eyna had brought over in hopes of winning the dragon over. And, when that was all said and done, he fell into a pleasant nap in the afternoon sunlight.

Eyna didn't bother him. She had a dragon to socialize.

“What did they ever do to you?” Eyna frowned. She didn’t expect an answer. And she didn’t get one. He turned over, back to her, utterly ignoring Eyna. The long, sharp spines on his back, reminiscent of a lionfish, flared and rattled his displeasure.

Eyna just smacked the dragon in the spines with a bundle of roses she’d collected. When he didn’t react, she started pestering him. Pulling up fistfuls of grass, and showering them on his head through his confinement. He didn’t move, but she saw his eyelids twitch. She grabbed more, raining grass on his head. A bundle of clover landed on his snout.

The dragon sneezed.

One blood red eye rolled open, slit pupils focusing on her for a moment. He looked livid. Eyna held her breath. Was he going to speak?

But - no. He just huffed. Then turned inwards, tucking his snout into his side, one forelimb on top. Putting himself out of danger where Eyna couldn’t bother his nose. He seemed sore about the whole ‘fingers in his nose’ business from earlier.

“You! You keep ignoring me.” Eyna folded her arms. “Aren’t we supposed to be bound together or something? Our ‘fates are tied’! Shouldn’t we at least be talking about all of this? I know you can talk. You talked to Father. Not that you had anything nice to say to him, but still…”

Eyna curled up against the dragon’s confining roots. “Mother and Father say this means I have to leave with you. But I don’t want to leave. The Heartsprings are my home…” 

Eyna reached down, digging her hands into the grass. Pulling up fistfuls of it. “I know you seem to hate it here. But it’s really a nice place… All my friends and family are here. If you got to know them, I’m sure you’d love them too…”

Eyna’s throat tightened. To distract herself, she changed the subject. She held up her arm, eyes falling on the hard scales that were growing there. She brushed her fingers over them. They felt smooth and polished and so out of place on her body. “... Does this mean I’m going to become a dragon? And you…” She tilted her head back, looking at him. “You’d become a human?”

The dragon’s tail thudded like a displeased cat. No answer, of course.

Eyna continued, undaunted. “... It doesn’t sound so bad, being a dragon. You’d get the short end of the stick, turning into a human. But I’d get to fly around in the sky. Breathe fire.” Eyna paused. “Or acid? Dragons always breathe fire in the stories. But you haven’t been breathing fire as far as I’ve seen. Bet you’d like to, though. Try and burn everyone. Especially Father. You really seem to have it out for him.”

There was a snort that sounded either disgruntled or mocking. Eyna couldn’t tell - but it was probably both.

Eyna sighed softly. “Mother and Father seem to think it’s a bad thing. Father especially. There’s so much they haven’t told me about this curse. Mother said it was complicated. But they’re hiding things from me. I just know it. Like. How does the curse even work? Why did your bite cause this? Did you know this would happen?”

A single red eye was watching her. She turned, trying to capture his attention. “Did you? Is that why you bit me? Did you mean for this to happen?”

There was a long silence. The dragon just stared at her, pupils flexing and dilating with the passing rays of sunlight. Eyna was certain he was going to roll over and ignore her again. But, finally, he spoke. That voice, the one she had briefly heard and almost convinced herself was just the hiss of his acid.

“No.”

Eyna immediately perked up. “You talked! I knew it! You can talk!”

The dragon seemed to regret his decision to speak up. For a serpentine looking creature, his face was very expressive. He was grimacing, she just knew it. But she took that as a good sign; she was winning him over if she was getting him to express himself. 

Eyna tried to press him. “‘No’ what? ‘No’ you didn’t mean it? ‘No’ you didn’t know? ‘No’ that wasn’t why you bit me?”

The dragon grunted, trying to bury his face in his clawed forelimbs. Covering what she presumed were his ears.

“No, no, no, you don’t get to clam up on me now. The ‘no’ you meant is important! Hey. Hey! Tell me. Tell me now, or else, I’ll-” Eyna paused, considering. What could she threaten him with? The dragon hadn’t responded to her pestering. Not as much as she liked, at least. She needed to change up her tactics.

“You know what? We’re going to be friends. I’ve decided. I’m going to introduce you to everyone. I don’t care if you’re hissy and grumbly. We’re going to explore.”

Much to the dragon’s displeasure, Eyna clambered all over his cage. She started to pull it, trying to figure out how she’d get it to move. She could roll it, and the roots naturally adjusted. Like a big ball. But the dragon seemed upset about being turned nearly upside down. Couldn’t imagine why that was. He snarled, planting his feet down to prevent her from moving his cage.

Eyna hopped off of the bundle and started circling it. The roots belonged to Mother. She couldn’t just cut them. She could ask Mother to remove them, but that felt like letting a parent in on a secret plan.

“Wait here. I’ve got an idea.”