Tabatha

Wolf dragon from the clan of PixelTheft.


Art I drew.

Tabatha was a friendly little hatchling, and always wandering around exploring. She was curious about everything, and it was a pain for her friend and caretaker, Zerek, to keep an eye on her and keep her safe. Even through his constant vigilance, she managed to slip away. She was never a normal hatchling, and it seemed like the rest of the world knew this. She was between two worlds, animal and dragon.
It didn't take long for a small clan of dragons to happen upon her. While she greeted them warmly, they despised her. She was some sort of freaky mutant hybrid, and they viewed it as wrong. They captured her (which wasn't really very hard), and treated her cruelly. While normally bright and happy, Tabatha was soon fearful and reclusive. She couldn't figure out why dragons would be so horrible.
Fortunately, help wasn't far behind. Zerek came to her rescue. When he released her, there were no other dragons around. Just the smell of blood. Zerek had been injured fighting them, but he was just happy she was safe. "Come on. We don't want to wait in case they come back."
"Ah, right." Tabatha unsteadily followed him.

They walked for quite a ways, back in the direction of home. But it had been raining while they walked, and it was hard to find the scent. They became lost, and they could only continue for so long before Tabatha became exhausted and had to rest. Zerek tried to convince her to keep going, but she just didn't have the strength. So he curled around her, shielding her as best as he was able from the rain.
It was very early morning when he awoke from his light sleep, his ears perked up at a noise he had heard. Everything around them was damp, but it had stopped raining. He lifted his head and looked in the direction of the noise, and saw a fae and a mirror. The first white with light pink wings, and the latter being a vibrant shade of blue with dark purple wings. They noticed him, and he quietly growled, the obvious message being "Don't come any closer." But they didn't seem to understand that. He growled louder as they approached, and the little fae seemed to signal for the much larger mirror to stay back, as he just sat down nearby and watched.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I want to help," she said in a soft voice.
Zerek was silently watching her now. She was close, but seemed to be keeping a reasonable distance. He gently nudged Tabatha awake. She looked up with sleepy eyes, and seemed to be trying to gather the situation. She stared at the fae for several seconds before it registered. She made a small squeak of fear and surprise, and stuffed her face into Zerek's fur.
"It's alright, little one. I promise I won't hurt you." The fae seemed to understand that she shouldn't come any closer, though, as she didn't move even an inch.
Zerek gently nuzzled the little dragon. "It's okay, Tabby. I really don't think she means any harm," Zerek said in his low, coarse voice.
"B-but, those others were so mean. They hurt me and they were bad." She had pulled her face out of his fur just enough that he could understand her. Her voice was high and squeaky, and full of fear.
The fae was merely watching with curiosity and concern. "I know. But I think it's alright. They don't seem bad. I really don't think they'll hurt us. We're lost, and we don't have anyone to protect us. I think it would be in our best interest to go with these two."
"But you can protect us. You protected me. We don't need to. What if they're mean?" Tabatha was worried about what if they were mean, but the idea of being with others still appealed to her. She missed her parents, and even if these two weren't her parents, maybe they could still be okay.
With a little nudge from Zerek, Tabatha stood up and carefully stepped towards the fae, though she was still shaky from their adventures yesterday. Zerek decided to just grab her by the scruff, and walked carefully after the fae and mirror. After a few minutes, the mirror offered to let Zerek ride on his back, because everyone present could tell he was also tired, not to mention injured. He spoke a little with the fae on the way, and learned that she was Petal, and the mirror was her mate, Nocturne. Zerek carefully explained a few of the details of how they had gotten lost. He didn't want to explain the whole story, in case these two turned out to be hostile. ...Not that he was really expecting that at this point. Petal seemed to only have their best interest at heart.

After a couple of hours, they arrived at the lair, an earthen one, which meant basically it lead into the ground. Tabatha was still evidently scared at first, but warmed up significantly after they presented her with food, and she ate her fill. There were other dragons in the lair, but all of them seemed very warm and accepting, more than happy to add another member to their clan. She was allowed a warm nest where she could sleep and recover, along with Zerek.
After a couple of weeks, she had firmly accepted them as family, and Zerek didn't seem to mind in the slightest. He liked everyone, for the most part. As long as they didn't try and touch him too much. Tabatha decided to come forward, and tell Petal the whole story. And about what she was. Petal was pleased to hear it, as it meant Tabatha trusted her, and assured the little tundra that she was still just as accepted as before. The pair was relieved that Petal wasn't bothered, and have been living in the lair ever since.