The Hunter and His Dragon

Overcoming Tribulations

A/N: So depicted above is kind of what I imagine King Robert Lightwood to look like. Of course, it's missing the crisscross zig zags that are found in Alec's pic. I'm thinking about maybe drawing all the dragons at some point (the main ones anyways) but that'll take time. I may post it on here if I think it looks good enough and y'all want me too. With that said, let's get into it.

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Flashback . . .

Dinner had been as lovely as ever. The little girl played with her brother after they were done eating, laughing at his giggles and food smeared all over his face, much to their mother's char grin. The fire was dying out to embers as the sun began to disappear fully behind the tree line. She was left now with her Father once more, mother and brother gone back into the house for the night.

"We should be going in soon." Father began to rise from the log he sat on, the old dead thing eliciting a groan as his weight left it. The little girl grabbed at his sleeve in a rush, face flushed in the cold air.

"No!"

"No?"

She shook her head firmly. "No going in until story time."

Her father frowned a little, gaze scanning their surroundings. There was plenty of good to living on the outskirts of the woods . . . but just as much bad too. His narrowed gaze was picking up on any sign of the latter. Leaves blustered with the wind, grass swaying in a sleepy tune.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have story time inside?"

And maybe inside would have been a better choice in retrospect. But there was no going back to the past, and being under the stars was something worth the chill. Or, at least it was to the girl. Being out here was worth every cold and cramp in her small bones.

"Nope. Want it out here."

The stories of the stars were better anyways.

He shook his head, though the fond smile he gave her revealed the warmth he held for his daughter. The tall man motioned for her to get up. The girl did so with a giggle of glee, accepting the position of sitting on his lap as he sat down and she plopped right on his legs.

****Magnus's POV****

He watched Maia carefully, every bit of him remaining tense as he waited for a reaction out of her. Out of all his friends, Maia would likely have the worst reaction to this information. That he had been living with dragons and had befriended them . . .

It would have been unheard of before.

At the beginning of their friendship, it was easy to bond over dragon hunting with Maia. Her tragic tale strengthened his resolve that exterminating dragon kind was the right thing to do. But since Alec everything changed. Because he knew now this was wrong. Because dragons, while big and scaly and winged, are just trying to live in peace the same as us.

Sure, there was the mystery of his mother's death to puzzle out, but he had the increasingly growing suspicion he only knew a small sliver of the truth.

"Maia? Say something please." He prompted her quietly.

It was with great difficulty he managed to keep his voice between gentle and hoarse.

Maia was not the type to be treated like glass.

And she did not like pity.

So all he could do was stare at her, patiently waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ragnor was doing the same, not looking at the potion bottle whose lid he was screwing back on the top. Maia's expression was like a blank canvas; no emotion was painted on it, her mouth flat and eyes distant. He wondered what she was thinking about, took a guess mentally.