••• ♔ •••
Xiaoting
"But that sounds too old! She's a baby but you're making a name for a grandmother." Jewel whines.
And for the hundredth time I sigh. "There's nothing wrong with, as you put it, an 'old' name. You ask me for a suggestion, I simply provide you with one."
"But it doesn't fit her." She flops back down on the pile of silk sheets.
"Then you decide it, as I kept telling you since the break of dawn." I sigh, putting my head on the ground.
"But I can't think of anything good!"
I ignored her ramblings and stared at the crawling little one.
"Xiao mei, come here." I soften my voice and usher her with my tail.
She giggles as I pat her bottom which makes her fall forward.
"Keep going," I say with a smile. "You can do it, xiao mei."
She gurgles unintelligible words as she drools saliva over the cotton-covered stone floor. And of course, she doesn't understand my words as she turns on her back and reaches for my tail.
"I suppose you've had enough exercise for now." I say with amusement.
A giggle from the side takes my attention. Jewel was also staring at the child with a wet towel on hand. She picks her up and wipes away the drool.
"My friends would never believe me when I say that my keeper who scared me by making me free fall from the sky is now innocently playing with a drooling baby."
I rolled my eyes. "I expect secrecy from this interaction, jewel. I have an image to maintain."
"Of course, Miss big scary dragon." She mocks and I simply ignore her by closing my eyes.
I hear them approach me and I felt the little one grabbing on to my scales. I leaned my head to the side to make it easier for her.
"Look at her grip. She's so strong already." The princess' voice was laced with amazement.
"That's to be expected. She's more than a day's old already." I answer noncomittedly.
I peeked my eye open at her silence and was greeted with her dazed expression.
Ah. I shouldn't have said that.
"A day's old!?" She shrieks, surprising xiao mei who was quick enough to hold on to a protruding scale, giggling at her own slip.
"Yes."
"I— How!? She looks between a year or two already!"
"That's just how she is."
"That doesn't explain anything."
"It explains everything."
She smacks my snout although I barely felt it. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"It does if it doesn't, it doesn't if it does." I chuckle.
"Ugh!" She shouts in frustration. "I hate your dragon talk."
She hesitated for a bit, "Is she, she's not, how do I say this— not exactly human then? Is she a product of magic or something?"
I looked at her silently before tilting my head to the side. "Would it matter if she is?"
"I mean, of course it does! It matters but it will not change how I look at her now. More so, she did not wish to be born nor does she have a choice on what she is, so I cannot judge her nor do I want to do such a thing. I'm just curious, really. Especially when you said that she is a day's old only." She huffed.
"I truly can't say for now. Maybe... maybe some day, jewel." I say with sincerity that I did not know I could ever express.
"You said that can't, not that you won't," she mutters, "Would you have told me if she were anything else?"
Without hesitation, "Yes."
"Then... my ignorance is for the best?"
"I believe so, yes."
"... Okay."
"Okay?"
"Well, not exactly. But if you think it would be better for both her and I, then yes, I think it's okay." She... pouts. Obviously not okay with not being provided an answer, but she does not push anymore. She tried to reach for xiao mei. I used my tail to lower the little one into her arms.
As she starts feeding her, she starts talking again. "... Is she Xiaoting's baby?"
I snort as a laugh rumbles in my belly. "Oh, that would be the joke of the century."
"I'll take that as a no?"
"She's not Xiaoting's youngling, jewel. I doubt she'll ever have one if it requires twining with the opposite gender." I chuckle.
"What do you—" Her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the meaning behind my words. "Is she— I mean, it doesn't really concern me, but, uhh, is she... perhaps like me?"
I smirk, "Take it as it is. But remember, princess," I stare at her seriously, "Shield your heart from her."
"I just want to be her friend! N-nothing more. I don't meet sapphics often so I just want to know. If there's more. Like me. People like her and me, I mean." She rumbles.
I chuckle. Adorable.
"Anyway, why are calling the baby xiao mei? What does it mean?"
"It's a simple endearment for the little one. It means 'little beauty' in our tongue."
"Wow! That describes our young troublemaker perfectly! Wait..." She pauses. "Beauty... beauty, hmm... Oh! But wait, I never asked but do you have a name, dragon?"
I hesitated, "Yes, but you can just call me by my surname Shen."
"I have been rude the whole time then. Sorry for not asking your name so soon."
I laughed. "Oh princess, I understand that manners was the last thing in your mind when I took you to my home."
"... At least you're self-aware." She chuckles. "Anyway, I finally thought of a name... Areum!"
"Areum." I tried the word in my mouth.
"Yes, it originates from the word 'beautiful' in the forgotten language of my ancestors. Well, it's not exactly forgotten since the royals are still required to learn it. It seems fitting with how you also call her little beauty." She smiles so big that her eyes disappear.
The smile on my face was now an automatic response to hers. "It sounds perfect."
"Yes!" She raises the little one, Areum, into the air who giggles and flungs her arms to the air. "A bit late but welcome to the world, Areum!"
I smile at the scene and remembered what mother told me when they finally decided on my name.
"Your father was so picky that it almost took a week to finally name you," she laughs. "It was worth the long wait because the name sounded perfect for you. We loved it so much that we showed you to the skies for hours, your father gliding through the air as I rode him with you safely tucked in ny arms. Nature deserved to know that a wonderful baby named Xiaoting will soon roam the skies as well."
Deciding on it before I think too much, I spoke.
"Jewel, would you like to ride a dragon?"
••• ♔ •••
Yujin
"I swear to the twelve kingdoms that if you dare or even try thinking about making both of us fall, I am hunting you even after death, dragon."
I was sitted on top of the dragon's head. I gripped a protruding horn in each hand after thoroughly checking for the fifth time now if Areum was securely strapped to my chest. Silken cloths repeatedly wrapped around me that I almost suffocated myself when I first tied it earlier. I was only convinced to loosen it a little when Shen said that falling high from the sky would be the last of my worries if we suffocated before even leaving the platform. I don't even know why I agreed to this ridiculous idea.
"Don't worry, I will catch you both when it happens."
I gasped. "What do you mean 'when'!? You could have said 'if'—" My words were cut off when Shen suddenly rushed forward and I screamed.
And we started falling.
"Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods!" The harsh whip of the winds made my eyes sore and I could feel the tears falling upwards. "We're going to die!"
The rumble coming from the dragon beneath me made me realize that she was laughing but I could not even think of reprimanding her amidst my screams and unintelligible shouts.
All of a sudden, she flapped her wings open and I almost jumped forward and crushed Areum if it were not for the horns I was clutching with a death-vise grip.
When I was finally able to get my bearings, I checked on Areum who was thankfully laughing with a teethless open mouth.
Then of course, I started kicking with as much force as the adrenaline that's still thrumming in my veins. "You! Are! Such! A! Jerk! You could have at least warned me!"
A chuckle came, "As you wish."
"But it would be useless now, isn't it!? I felt like my soul left my body and went back to the cavern! You—"
"Jewel, I believe you should hold on. As tightly as possible."
"—What?"
"If you do not wish to fall, you have to hold on to something."
"Why—"
Abruptly being pushed back by the winds, I quickly held on to the horn I previously latched on. I screamed once again when the dragon tilted upwards and the sudden feeling of weightlessness both excited and terrified me. The view around us was blurry and rapidly changing as we soared higher and the air got colder.
After what seemed like forever, which were probably only a few minutes, we broke through the clouds and we were immediately enveloped with calm and serenity. I unknowingly closed my eyes, so when I opened them once again, I gasped at the view in front of me.
"Wow."
I reached out a hand above me when we passed a cloud. I giggled at the weird feeling of air that was quite moist to the touch. Fluffy white blankets seemed to cover the lands below us, the sky above a brilliant mixed shades of blue and red and yellow, with the sun shining so bright and warm. The sunlight that hits some clouds took on a golden hue, casting such a welcoming light across the sky.
It's peaceful and serene environment, with a sense of tranquility that is hard to describe.
We were gliding peacefully through the air as I let the sense of awe and wonder envelope my being.
Shen starts speaking in a voice so calm that I almost mistook it as contentment. As if she would feel like that with a human on her head, I scolded myself. "The world is such a vast place. Right here, kingdoms no more than look like miniature models, unreachable mountains look like mole hills, and vast oceans look like ponds. All creatures are but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things, and that thought is both humbling and inspiring. It makes one feel... grateful for things they have and once had."
A tug on my hair made me look down, seeing Areum smile, I can't help but smile back.
I sighed, closed my eyes and quietly said, "Yes."
I do not know what prompted me to say that when there wasn't even a question in the first place, but I just wanted to say something. Something that would express my agreement to everything the dragon said because I understood what her words meant. I felt it.