Different Sides

Eyna said it as if Sthuna had a choice in the matter.

No matter how much he hissed and spat at her, the demon squirrel wouldn’t stop harassing him. She kept bringing things and putting them in the cage. Food. Flowers. Weird stones she’d found and thought were ‘neat’. He’d snorted, getting angry at the start. But eventually she wore down his anger. He was just annoyed. Exasperated. He tried to give her the cold shoulder, but she made herself very difficult to ignore.

Probably the point.

In the absence of anything to direct his anger and annoyance at, he prodded at the things Eyna tossed in. Amongst the odds and ends, one of the stones caught his eye. An emerald, gleaming in the sunlight. He clutched it between two claws, turning it over. He supposed the stone had it’s… Charms. He was faintly reminded of Eyna’s own eyes. How they glimmered with fresh life like the stone.

The moment Eyna returned, he dropped it. And placed a clawed limb over top. He wasn’t about to give this human girl the satisfaction of seeing his interest in anything she gave him. She’d probably pelt him with green stones if she caught on to it.

The girl had returned with what looked like a large wheelbarrow. Her little rat friend was following her around, talking excitedly.

Sthuna narrowed his eyes. He flicked his tongue at her, displeased. She better not have been thinking of doing what he thought she was. As she got close and circled his cage he bristled at her, spines clattering. Even knowing it was fruitless, his pride would not permit him to just sit there. But the demon squirrel didn’t listen to a single warning he gave her. If anything, his warnings just seemed to make her worse.

Eyna gave a satisfied nod. “Alright! I've worked it out. I’m taking you with me.”

“Absolutely not!” The hiss emerged before he had a thought to stop it.

Eyna grinned. She was practically beaming. Disgusting. He realized his mistake too late; he’d played right into her hands. She had wanted a reaction. And he’d given her just that.

Eyna ignored his protests, pushing and tugging on his cage until it rolled onto her wheelbarrow. No matter how he hissed, or tried to plant his feet, she was adamant. The roots accommodated her determination. More foul magic. A combination of pushing and pulling to get him right where she wanted him.

“Here we go, Mr. Dragon,” Eyna said, her voice a sing-song melody, “Off to adventure.”

With a little grunt, Eyna lifted the wheelbarrow and began moving. Sthuna had his suspicions that the wheelbarrow was a fae construct. He doubted a human girl would otherwise have been able to push a dragon of his size, even young as he was, without help.

But what did she want?

Eyna pushed him along, chattering energetically. He really didn’t care if that particular oak tree was great for climbing, or that this stream was preferred by dragonflies. She was filling his ears with meaningless drivel. Sthuna, demonstrating what was, in his opinion, a mighty amount of patience and tolerance, settled for studying the springs on his own.

He told himself he was assessing the territory of his enemy. But there was a genuine curiosity in him, as much as he refused to acknowledge it. He had never had time to truly just… Look. He’d always been destroying things. Places like this one went up in flames, razed by his hunting unit, far before he got the chance to appraise them.

It was… Unnerving. Seeing all the life around them, and knowing that it would soon be smoking ruins. It was a world that seemed perpetually in bloom. In the natural world, seasons came and went. But this place used it’s unnatural magic to sustain an eternal spring. Thick flowering almond trees swaying in gentle winds. The fragrance of jasmine flowers and hanging vines of clematis. Tufted grasses in emeralds and amethysts, growing tall and clustering near the banks of rushing streams. Every manner of animal, from tiny birds with colors like gemstones, to larger fae beasts that observed their odd passage, peeking out at them.

Sthuna’s eye twitched.

They’d acquired a small parade. Fae creatures followed Eyna and her makeshift traveler, eyes wide and curious. And no matter how Sthuna growled in warning, Eyna’s cheery confidence seemed to make the creatures less fearful of him. They trusted her.

He could identify some species. Nymphs and sylphs, dancing between trees. He spotted what he suspected was a harpy of some kind overhead, disturbing sticks and leaves from the canopy. A flit of a púca darting into the bushes. But there were many that were unknown to him. Strange blends of animal and human, otherworldly and foreign, living and apparently thriving in this hidden oasis. Kind and kindred that would never have been permitted to multiply outside of it. 

Even amongst the species he recognized, there were variations he could not place. Colors he had never seen before. Striking displays so unlike the muted tones and mannerisms of the fae he knew and hunted.

He thumped his tail.

He knew what Aarik, his Keeper, would have commanded. That voice was a slippery, hateful thing in his head. Whispering along his scales, rasping and sneering. Look at how they proliferate. Foul beasts. All they know how to do is take, and take, and take. They need to die. All of them.

Sthuna snapped his jaws as one little pixie got too close. The tiny creature squealed, fleeing on tiny wings. They needed to die. They were too bright and vibrant to live. This whole place needed to go up in flames.

And it would.

Eyna rolled them to a stop in front of what appeared to be a small lake. He lifted his head, scenting the air. Fresh water. Deep. Clean. Routinely purified with magic.

Sthuna eyed Eyna suspiciously. What was her plan now? Did she intend to drown him until he answered her incessant questions? He puffed up his chest. He could survive without air for far longer than she could. An entire day, if need be.

“We’re going to fish!” Eyna made the declaration. “Well. I’m going to fish. Until you agree to be nice, you’re going to watch me fish. Then maybe fish with me someday.”

… Fish?

Sthuna’s chest deflated a little.

She didn’t have any instruments on her. He watched with reluctant surprise as she bound her long black hair in a knot, before breaking into a run. Her feet hit the small dock at the edges of the lake, thudding on the wooden panels. She reached the edge, and dove deep into the crystal clear waters.

Lily pads bobbed, vibrant frogs plunking into the waters and swimming away. Somewhere, in the distance, a flock of white winged water birds took flight. Their fae entourage chattered and giggled, wings fluttering and tails swishing. The mood was… Happy.

Sthuna followed Eyna’s silhouette in the water. It was almost.. Mesmerizing. Watching as she went deeper and deeper. She twisted and turned, graceful for a human. It didn’t take long for her to reappear. She broke the surface with an exhale, throwing her head back and laughing with delight. Raised in her hands was a fat, vibrant black and pink fish, wiggling and thrashing.

“I did it!” Her voice was flooded with delight.

What a feral squirrel, Sthuna thought. Diving and catching fish with her bare hands. Unaware of the real world. What must it feel like, to be so… Free? To just live in the moment, without the heavy, choking smoke of reality? To exist without the weight of the war…

Sthuna felt a pang of something strike his hearts. It hurt. And the pain made him angry. Eyna was a fool. A simple fool, lavished with the energy of a place that shouldn’t exist. So what if it was beautiful? The beauty was part of the deception. In the real world, people starved and killed one another for scant life-force. Desperate for even a grain of the energy that fattened the foul creatures in this place.

Sthuna turned his head away.

He wanted it all to end already. This place would be destroyed either way - what did it matter if the people were happy, or the place was filled with life? It was blasphemy anyway. He didn't care. He wouldn't.

Not when it would all be destroyed in the end.