𒊹︎Your POV𒊹︎
I rushed into my room, throwing my armor in the corner, snd stripping out of my under clothes. I didn't have time for a bath, so I scrubbed myself down with a soapy rag as best and as quick as I could, stumbling over to the closet to pick out an outfit. My fingers brushed a soft silk, and I pulled it out immediately(1). It was (f/c), and that's all I noticed about it before I was pulling it over my head, strapping on a pair of sandals, and rushing out the door.
I exited through the back door of the kitchen, snatching an apple on the way out. I took large and very ungrateful bites as I sped over to the gates, where the Queen was already waiting. I took the last bite of my apple, wiping the juice off of my overly stuffed mouth with the back of my hand.
"Sorry I'm late, Frigga. I really didn't mean to sleep in." I spoke hurriedly once I swallowed my food.
"It's quite alright. I hope my son was good company?" She spoke expectantly as she climbed upon her horse.
My face turned beet red as I got up onto Hilda's back. How did she know about Loki and I?
"Once again, dear, raised by witches. And I've never seen him this elated since he pushed Thor into the water trough when they were young." She chuckled as she pressed her heels into her horse's sides, leaving the palace gates at a walk.
"Well, y-yes he's good company.....oh who am I kidding! He's perfect!" I gave up the act and swooned over him.
Frigga had a joyous smile on her face as I continued to ramble on about how perfect her son was, and how much I loved him, and how much we cared for each other.
"Well, if it makes any difference, you have my blessing." She smirked as I sputtered beside her.
"We're not there yet Frigga!" I laughed and she shrugged, still smiling.
"Yet, my dear, yet." She emphasized with a pointed finger in my direction.
*****
We rode on horseback for quite some time out in the open countryside, and then we entered a forest with the largest trees I'd ever seen. There was a small path through the forest, not big enough for Frigga and I to ride side by side, so she took the lead, after all, I had no idea where we were going.
I noticed that the longer we walked on the trail, the thicker the trees got, and the more they blocked out the suns warm rays. Once the forest was almost completed dark, I felt a jolt pass through me, something foreign, yet so familiar. Where do I know that feeling from? I wondered as I dug around in my brain for answers. Then it hit me. When I was kept in the dungeons, I passed through the magical barrier of the cell, and the feeling was all the same as what just happened.
"Frigga, what kind of sorcery is around this place?" I questioned her warily as I kept Hilda as close to her as possible.
"Just a simple spell of disguise, my dear." She waved me off, and soon, we were at what looked to be a metal garden gate.
Frigga hopped off of her horse, and I followed suit. She informed me that we would leave the horses here, and I tied Hilda to a tree sapling. I made my way over to where Frigga was, to eye the gate. It wasn't anything special, just a gate that you'd put in your garden to keep other animals out of it. In fact, it looked to be abandoned. It was standing alone, covered in ivy and thorns, but still on its hinges, which also stood alone in the dark forest.
Frigga unlatched the gate and opened it, gesturing for me to go first. I looked at her skeptically, but stepped through it anyways, it only led to behind the gate in the forest anyways......or so I thought.
Once my body was through the gate, I found myself in the most beautiful sanctuary. There were floating islands, connected by thick vines, and waterfalls cascading down from the upper levels. I was surrounded by beauty, with large shade trees, small caves littered about, and a pond that seemed to shimmer in the warm glow of the sun. I turned around, to see Frigga, standing in front of a more well-kept gate that the one we saw in the forest. I was also met with the sight of overlooking the clouds.
I gasped softly as I looked out over them. We truly were on a floating island.
"I never knew that these existed outside of fairy tales." I spoke in awe as I took a step forward, my eyes anywhere but the ground.
"Dear, there are a lot of things that you are yet to find out. Follow me." She waltzed forward, like she'd been here a thousand times, and I had to jog to catch up with her.
"How come I've never heard of this place?" I spoke as I continued to look around at the enchanting islands. There were four in total.
The largest, the one we were on now, branched off to three other islands, each terrain on them looking vastly different, snd each being a little higher in the sky. Frigga led me to a rickety wooden staircase that I didn't even question, and we climbed up many flights of stairs.
"I've kept it hidden away from watchful eyes for hundreds of years, so have out ancestors before us." She spoke as she gripped the handrail tightly.
When we started to reach the second highest highland, Frigga halted on the staircase, and turned around to look at me.
"My child, do not be frightened." Was all she said, before we climbed the final few stairs.
All of the air packed up and left my lungs by the sight I was met with. Dragons of all shapes and colors lounged about on the island, most asleep. There were about two dozen of them laying around. I wondered why I couldn't pick up on many thoughts. My own thoughts of awe outweighed most of their dreams, and the ones that were awake, didn't have much to think about.
All eyes snapped to me once I stood in front of these beautiful creatures. I gulped as wide and curious eyes met mine, and a whirlwind of thought bombarded my brain.
'Is that her?'
'It's the Great Dragoness!'
'She's real!'
'I knew she'd come to see us!'
'Someone go fetch Clay and Sunny.'
The last thought made my head tilt. Sunny and Clay were alive? I took a deep breath as I stepped forward, trying to figure out which dragon the thought came from. I looked past the many exited thoughts and moods, to reach a more somber, but skillfully covered up emotion. I turned around in circles as I tried to find the emotion again. It reeked of power and sadness. It was that feeling. I reached out for it, and as soon as I found it, the fingers of my mind grasped a cool, but airy mind.
'Who are you' I sent a thought to the unknown dragon.
There was a slight commotion, before an enormous dragon soared down from a higher island, and landed with a shake of the island right in front of me. This dragon was light blue, with a soft grey underbelly, it had four oversized horns on its head, and it looked as if it's face was in a permanent scowl(2).
'I believe you're looking for me.' A cold and snarky voice entered my mind.
'Yes. Yes I am. Where are Sunny and Clay.' I held my head up high to meet the dragon's eyes.
The dragon before me puffs our white clouds of smoke from his nostrils, before he whipped his tail out, smacking the small pond's surface with an ear splitting sound. I remained still.
Soon, two dragons were soaring down very ungracefully from a random direction. They both landed on the island with a thud, the golden dragon falling right onto her face.
I turned to them slowly, and a smile broke out onto my face.
"Sunny? Clay?" I questioned carefully, and their eyes lit up with fireworks once they noticed me.
A loud roar was heard, before I was nearly knocked clean off the island, Clay's huge face pushed into my front. I scratched his scales affectionately. He'd gotten a lot bigger, and a lot more stout. But he still compared to nothing when standing next to the blue dragon.
Sunny came up to me next. She was shy, and kept her body low on the ground. She stood tall to sniff my hair, and then I was on the ground. Her tail was thumping like a dog's, and she rubbed her face all over me, and I stroked her as much as I could with her wild ministrations.
Before long, I felt the collar of my dress being pulled, and I was picked up off of the ground, and set down beside the largest dragon. My legs were shaky, and my eyes were wide with terror.
"Enough. The Great Dragoness has other matters to attend to here." A deep voice boomed out, and I looked up at the dragon above me with an expression of shock.
"Y-you can speak!" I exclaimed as he looked down at me.
"All of us can. When we are in good company." He jerked his head over to where Frigga was sitting perched on a small rock, watching the interaction with a smile.
"Alright, uhm....I'm going to..." I trailed off as the other dragons started to whisper to each other, and I became very dizzy.
"I need to sit down." I slurred before my body went limp and I fell to the ground.
𒊹︎Frigga's POV𒊹︎
"Oh dear, is she alright?" I jumped up from my seat, rushing over to (Y/n).
I leaned down to check her pulse, being relieved to feel a pulse, and see her chest moving with her breathing.
"She is quite alright, your majesty. She was overwhelmed." Drakon spoke as he gently picked the girl up, and laid a wing down for me to climb upon his back.
Before we left, Drakon gave a stern look to the rest of the scaled creatures.
"We are to be left alone." He spoke coldly, and he vaulted himself off of the island, heading to the highest one, that was so high that the human eye could not see it.
The island was so high up in the realm's atmosphere, that you could see a few stars scattered about. He placed her down on a large, flat rock once we touched down. I slid off of his back with ease, and motioned for Drakon to join me, away from the rock where the girl rested.
"Are you her partner, Drakon?" I spoke with worry as he crouched down to my level.
"I am afraid so, your highness. I felt her the moment she was born. I've been studying her emotions carefully for the past several years. It took everything in me not to swoop down and grab her when her parents abandoned her on that street." He growled lowly.
"This can't be, Drakon." I started to pace the island as I chewed on the inside of my lip in worry. "You know what happened with the others that were your partners." My voice was desperate as I stopped to look at him.
𒊹︎Your POV𒊹︎
My eyes fluttered open, being blinded by the sun. I could hear a muffled conversation, and I tried to tune myself in. I listened through the large dragon's mind, which I learned to be named Drakon, a legendary name that meant 'great dragon'. I listened to their conversation as best as I could, and worry erupted into me once Frigga expressed her concern about him being my partner.
My brows raised at this. He's my partner? I thought for sure that it would be Sunny or Clay, but upon further inspection, I realized that it was, in fact, Drakon. I searched in his mind for a reason to back up the Queen's worry, but as soon as the finger tips of my mind brushed his painful past, he slammed the door to his mind right in my face.
It physically hurt when he pushed me out, and my head split with pain. I cried out in agony as my heartbeat thundered in my ears, each beat being more painful than the last. I felt as though I wanted to claw my eyes out. No, I did want to claw my eyes out. I held my head in pain, and I didn't even register the pained grunt that came from the dragon in front of me, or the fact that Frigga and Drakon were now by my side.
"I'm going......have to.........sleep." Was the broken up phrase that I caught out of Frigga's mouth, and then I was out like a light.
𒊹︎Drakon's POV𒊹︎
The splitting headache finally left when (Y/n) was asleep, and I huffed out of my nostrils in relief. I didn't mean to shut her out that forcefully. I just felt her inside of my head, and then she went for my past partners, and my grief turned into anger, and I shoved her probing mind out of mine. The amount of force that I had used had given her a cluster headache(3). It was almost as if I'd smacked her with my tail.
I felt guilty for hurting her like this. This is how I lost my past partners. I was so guarded and had so many walls built up, and I became defensive when someone got past them. In every past event, I'd killed my partners when I pushed them out. She, however, did not die instantly. It game me some closure to think that she'd live, and that she would make it. Another part of me felt disgusted with myself. She was so curious about me, and she didn't fear me when I approached her. Now she'd never want to see me again. I cant go through losing another partner, especially not by choice.
I'd had two other partners, both of them died at the claws of my insecurities. I wasn't going to let this one be met with the same fate. I'd been following her life for too long to let it slip between my claws now.
Most dragons know when their partners are near, but I knew who she was as soon as she was conceived, as creepy as it sounds. Not every child radiates the power that she has. I've been following the plot line of her life ever since she was born, and I remained at a distance, wanting her to discover me on her own time. I may or may not have stepped in when her life was in danger, including the time when she was small, and a man was going to kidnap her in the woods. That's when I met Clay, and took him back to the sacristy with me. I took Sunny there as well shortly after.
I carried the Queen and the (h/c) haired girl, (Y/n), to the exit gate, and I stuck my claws through the open gate just enough to lay the girl on the back of the Queen's horse, and then I'd left the forest just as quick as I'd entered it. I found myself sitting at the garden gate, waiting for her return.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) Your dress for the day, just imagine it's your favorite color:
(2) This is the large blue and grey dragon you encounter
(3) A cluster headache is a severe type of migraine that occurs on one side of the head. Many of these come in clusters, or groups, and are extremely painful.