"My mum always said
things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end.
If not always in the ways we expect".
― Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
She passed a hand trough her messy hair and looked at the small clock.
3:36
Well, at last she had slept some, even if it wasn't much.
She was right. The week was a nightmare.
Thankfully the day was filled with a light, fresh breeze and a warm sun, so painting the fence wasn't exactly a horrible way to spend time. Apart for the usual ache in the arms and back, but after years of chores she was used to it.
She was enjoying her time as she had almost done half of the work, prideful of herself for once that she was doing a very good job in such a short time, when Madam Spite had decided it was a time to pay her a little visit, just to turn her beautiful day awful, because really, why should she have some happy time?
"How much did you do?" she asked from behind her, her posture casting a shadow over her that obscured the light, bringing a feeling of oppression everywhere she went.
Madam Spite was quite an old and spiteful woman, around seventy years, even if Lily suspected she lied and she was way older, ancient really, if only the wrinkles on her white skin could speak. The woman was wearing an austere black dress that seemed to be done for a funeral, not for an orphanage, her white hair, with some few dark locks, were all the time sealed in a severe bun, making her already pale long face even sharper, and frankly, a little frightening.
In her nose there was a giant mole that, a lot of times, had distracted Lily when she was younger. When Madam Spite wanted to give her orders or just wanted to complain about something, that mole had always seemed attracted her attention. On the top, in fact, there was a small hair and she always dreamed to take that out.
She wasn't however brave enough to dare. She didn't have a death wish.
"Have you heard me, you good-for-nothing?" asked again the woman, a sneer on her face.
"Yes, Ma'am" Lily responded turning, so she wouldn't watch that stupid mole "I have already done more than a half" she added, indicating the part of the fence already done.
"Only a half? I expected you to be done by this time" spatted Madam Spite "You are a nuisance. I should have left you outside that damn morning" she added, her voice full of disgust for the girl.
Lily ignored her, not giving a reaction and continued painting. She knew the elder woman was waiting every day for her to snap, so she could have the perfect excuse to throw her out. She often wondered why, after all, she was the one doing most of the chores.
"I want this done by lunch, then you have to wash all the stairs" she ordered. After that, she turned and left, muttering something awfully similar to "wrench" and making the little branches snap under her weight.
She closed her eyes in an attempt to calm her old anger that was under the surface, always threatened to snap out. Lily wouldn't let that woman get to her, she wouldn't give her the satisfaction to see how much sometimes her words would hit just right and how much pain she could bring.
Lily opened her eyes again and launched down the brush in the colour bucket, making the paint splash around. There was simply no way she could finish before lunch, so she decided to ignore the orders and stop for a few minutes to relax her heavy arms.
It wouldn't make any difference finishing sooner, the evil housekeeper would still found something wrong on her job. A missing brushstroke, a nail hanging out she hadn't adjusted, whatever excuse she needed to scream in her ear.
She laid down on the grass and looked up at the clouds that were playing hide-and-seek with the sun. She calmed down a little and started to play with the clouds to distract her-self, trying to discern the forms.
She saw with the one that resembled a dog, but soon changed into a strange horse with five legs and two tails; then there was a lion and a hand. Lily saw a mouse with four ears and... was that a fish?
The clouds continued to change shape and size as they ran with the wind, in a vain race without prizes.
When a ray finally hit her face she closed her eyes, letting the wind caress her and savouring the smells of the grass and earth. She let her mind run with the clouds and the air, enjoying the moment and listening to some bird singing with the distant voiced of some child.
Another cloud hid the sun, but she had no urge to open her eyes, no hurry to move, she was finally feeling relaxed and in peace. The time started to lose measure and sleep almost come to take her in his fake world, but before that could occur, something else happened.
A long loud strange noise from above immediately made her opened her eyes in alarm. Lily jumped up on her feet in alarm the same moment something giant crashed down hard.
The ground shook with force, making the earth quake for the power of the hit as leaves and dirt lifted, creating a dark fog. She looked in front of her in fright, trying to comprehend what was the big shadow that hadn't been in the garden before, heart racing for the scare.
And then in front of her, instead of a crater, stood the most beautiful and dangerous creature in the world.
A dragon. A dragon was on the garden of her Orphanage. She couldn't believe her own eyes.
Everything seemed to stop as she locked her eyes into the deepest ones she had ever seen. Giant, intelligent and gleaming golden orbs were watching her with a longing expression.
They looked into each other for what seemed hours as she felt something stir in the deepest angle of her heart, like an old forgotten connection, as if a friend she hadn't seen in too much time was finally with her again, like a missing part she didn't know she had lost had finally returned.
And even if it could have eaten her in a single bite, the gentle expression its eyes were sporting showed her that it wasn't a savage creature like the old women always liked to say, it seemed kind and gentle.
Lily didn't feel afraid. She didn't hear the shout of the children of fright and awe, or the yelling of fear of the housekeeper. She had all her attention to the eyes of the beautiful, dangerous creature in front of her.
The moment broke when the dragon moved its wings, making her attention slip to the massive body. It was huge, probably almost seventeen metres tall as its head almost reached the top of the Orphanage, and it was all pitch-black, even darker than the night. The only thing made of colour were his eyes.
The only words what could describe it and that jumped in her mind were magnificent and powerful. The face was decorated with big thorns that formed a ring around it, like a crown worth only a king, the black wings were now retreated on the back, but she didn't doubt they were even larger that the body. From its neck to the way down the tail laid a line of dangerous thorns. At every breath it took she could see the muscles under the dark scales, muscles that seemed to be made of steel, like the big claws that could destroy a house with a simple wave of its leg.
Then it began to slowly approach her, almost afraid she was going to bolt away, making the earth rumble with each step, until it was just a few feet away.
Lily didn't move from her spot, never thought of it for a second, because it just felt right standing in front of it, as if it had always been her place.
It lowered the giant head until they were inches from each other and started sniffing her, making all her long black hair messier than before with his long breaths. The dragon made a noise that sounded like a grumble, and it closed the eyes, letting out from the month a cloud of smoke that engulfed her, making her suddenly cough for the acre smell of sulphur.
"Mine" a deep male voice suddenly rumbled in her head, resounding strongly "My human" it said again.
She looked at him month agape, trying to understand what was happening, but her brain seemed to have suddenly gone into shock. Was it speaking to her in her MIND?
And a dragon? Her? It wasn't possible. How could she have a dragon, a beast so strong and powerful that seemed nothing could ever stop it?
Somewhere, deep down, she felt some old painful hope emerge again as she looked into his happy eyes. It hurt even thinking it could be real. She had to be hallucinating, too tired, too little sleep.
The moment of self-induced trance was interrupted when someone cleared the throat in an attempt to capture her attention. She was so busy looking at the dragon, that Lily had failed to notice that someone else had arrived.
There, little away, was a beautiful girl on top of a gryphon, with long red hair and pointed ears. She had never seen an elf, but she was sure the girl that was getting down from the beast, was one of them.
She started to come towards them, walking gracefully and without making any sound, the dragon didn't even mind her presence as he continued to grumble and sniff Lily undisturbed.
The woman was wearing a strange and heavy suit, with a lot of fur and under it some finely decorated metal. She was taller than Lily, at last a head, pale and with beautiful green eyes that resembled the leaves of a forest.
"Hello" she said in a melodic voice.
Lily didn't answer, still in complete shock for the situation, her mind fried.
"We have searched you all week, you know?" she continued talking with a perfect white smile "This big boy was getting a bit frustrated. He almost made me have a heart attack when he suddenly launched himself down and crashed right in front of you"
"Who are you?" Lily finally managed to crack out.
"Oh, how silly! My name is Arya and that big girl there is Calien" she replied indicting the big Gryphon that had sat down on the grass, not interested in the conversation.
She was a beautiful creature, deep brown with golden eyes on the eagle head. The body was of a lion, except the forepaws who also resembled the one of an eagle, and two big feathered wings rested lazily on the back where a saddle was secured with some bags.
"We are the one who will explain to you what will happen to you and your dragon from now on" she continued, still smiling.
"My dragon?" Lily asked her, finally making her brain work a bit. She didn't dare hope, they couldn't be right, this had to be a cruel joke "Are you sure this is not made a mistake?" she asked again, hating herself for how weak she sounded.
"You are not a mistake" said again a male voice inside her head, wounding indignant at the simple thought. She turned and saw that the dragon had stopped sniffing her and was now simply watching her with his big intelligent eyes "I choose you" he simply added, as if it was a normal thing.
"But are you sure? I'm not a fighter, nor I am brave or strong" she replied, looking at him with some pain in her eyes. She just didn't want another delusion.
"I don't care" he added as he sat down his big body, shaking a little the ground, so he could watch her better "You are mine and I am yours, everything else doesn't matter" he told her, infusing with his eyes the sincerity of his words.
Lily felt tears building in her eyes for the joy as the words sank down. Finally, finally she felt like breathing again after ages of neglect on her poor longs, always constricted by pain. Finally, a tear rolled free because the relief she was feeling too much to be contained, because she was quite sure it wasn't a dream after all.
She quickly wiped the tear away as she smiled at him and nodded. He replied by nodding fierily back at her, almost as if proud.
"It's never a mistake when a dragon chooses a rider" added the elf with an encouraging smile, putting a hand on her shoulder in a heartening way "And it's a great responsibility to be one"
Lily simply smiled in reply.
Suddenly she remembered she wasn't the only one who lived there and looked behind her. Sure enough, all the children had their faces smashed on the windows with mouths agape and eyes wide open. The housekeepers were behind them with expressions that went from horror to disgust, but mostly terrified. Madam Spite however, seemed to have eaten a frog and was behind herself with anger. Definitely not a good sign.
"Do you have a place where we can talk?" asked Arya also seeing the audience "We need to be sure you will accept to be a rider and then talk about other things". She looked at the beautiful elf in wonder.
"I can choose?" Lily asked astounded. She had never heard of that, she always assumed that once chosen, there wasn't much more, except going to the Academy.
"Of course you can choose! We don't force anyone to do anything" she replied with a kind smile.
"You don't want me?" he asked, voice full of sadness, making her head snap in his direction. She looked at his beautiful eyes and saw the hurt that her words had caused.
"No! I didn't say that. I was just surprise" she replied immediately at the dragon, reassuring him.
"Good. Because I wouldn't go anywhere without you" he replied and Lily smiled. A true, giant smile made of pure happiness that for years hadn't marked her face. It almost felt unfamiliar smiling so much.
"Ok" she simply replied and the dragon made another puff of smoke that made both girls cough and laugh.
"Would you stop doing that?" said Arya mildly annoyed, waving his face away with her hand "I swear, every dragon tries to suffocate me"
The dragon made a noise that maybe would have been a little laugh, but only resembled a growl. In a moment, all the children and housekeepers had run away from the windows, knocking things down on the run.
"So where can we talk?" she asked, ignoring the noise "Somewhere private would be nice"
"We can go in my attic, it should be ok for that" replied Lily, indicating the roof.
"Yeah, it should be ok" replied the elf with a nod after looking at it too "The dragon and Calien can wait us here"
She nodded and started to make way to her room hoping that everyone had retreated somewhere and not behind the entrance door. She didn't want to meet anyone. Especially Madam Spite. Not now that she was feeling as her heart could explode from happiness.
Lily looked twice behind her to see if the dragon was really there and not a fantasy product of her tired mind.
He was. He was still in the same position as before, lying on the ground and occupying almost all the garden of the Orphanage, watching her with his beautiful golden eyes.
I can't believe it - she thought, still stunned - I have a dragon.
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Moon_Lily