Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 19: Silence Speaks a Thousand Words

-Sorry, everyone, but I didn't get home until it was almost six at night. That might be the norm from now on thanks to my job. Now, without further ado, enjoy!

-NFD

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Despite Nana Astra offering her help and getting permission, Nibbler was still afraid to be near her for too long. In fact, Nibbler was afraid of being near anybody except for me. So, I had a dragon stuck to my side constantly. That wasn't what was bothering me, though.

I didn't know if Nibbler was male or female.

Nibbler was very scrawny, likely due to malnourishment, so the usual physical features that I relied on were absent, meaning I was clueless as to Nibbler's gender. The only way I knew to check on my own was something that was very wrong to do. The males back home did that to Aurora, and Dad always called them 'perverts.' I didn't want to be a pervert.

The alternative was embarrassing, but I had no other option. I did my best to keep my voice down so Mom wouldn't hear—I didn't need that embarrassment—and asked Nibbler directly; male was one tap and female was two taps. I got a surprised look but, luckily, Nibbler didn't make a big deal out of it. I got two taps from her tail, telling me that Nibbler was a she. Then, she shot me a questioning look, and it took me a while to figure out what she was asking. Surprisingly, she didn't know my gender either, let alone everyone else's. I told her that I was the only male here and that everyone else was female. She seemed content with that answer.

I wondered how she didn't know that. Compared to everyone else in my family, excluding Dad, who wasn't here, I was obviously a male with my broad shoulders and head. Maybe she'd been alone for longer than I assumed? What kind of common knowledge was she missing? Where were her parents? Most importantly, what happened to her tongue and vocal cords? Did they hurt? I couldn't imagine what it was like to be incapable of speech. For that matter, how long has she been unable to talk? When she was healed, would she know how to talk anymore?

So many questions, so few answers.

Everyone else was asleep by now, though Nibbler needed help from Nana Astra to do so. For now, she laid curled up to my right, the side opposite of the rest of my family. My questions and what I'd seen kept me awake long into the day, and I had long since given up trying to sleep.

I felt a lot of things, but most of all, I felt anger. I was angry at whoever or whatever hurt Nibbler. She didn't deserve to lose her tongue or have her vocal cords broken. As far as I could tell, she was a good dragon, so why would anyone do that to her? There was only so much we could do without speech-

"Vaskr." I jolted, looking to my left to see Nana Astra standing next to me. "You should be sleeping."

"I can't," I whispered to not disturb Nibbler, my head drooping with fatigue.

"You need sleep," she pressed. "Do you need help?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to. I'm thinking about stuff."

She frowned. "Thinking can wait until after you get some sleep. Growing dragons need all the sleep they can get."

I shook my head again. "I don't-" Her paw darted forward faster than I could react, expertly poking under my jaw. I collapsed with a faint moan, unconsciousness rapidly consuming me.

Someone shook me gently. "No... just a little longer," I grumbled groggily. Whoever it was didn't back down, shaking me again before tapping my head three times. "Lemme sleeeep..." The tapping started up again, but it didn't stop. I cracked up open my eyes with a disgruntled groan, seeing a grey face with a wide, ecstatic grin. It took me a few seconds to process who that face belonged to. "Nibbler...?" She nodded happily and stepped pulled back to reveal a big pile of assorted meat, land-prey, and water-prey alike.