Day 4: Unexpected Help
Sentence: Writing
Sentence: Writing
Someone's here...
The voice jolted Sage awake. She had not realized that she had fallen asleep while enjoying the sun underneath the branches of The Refuge. She had not meant to, not while Shale and Morning were out hunting. Shale had been determined to take the growing tundra out more often ever since his frightening adventure. Was the spiral he had seen here now?
"Friend or foe?" She whispered into the leaves.
"We have not seen them before" with this response, a nature sprite descended from the trees, touching their nose to Sage's in greeting. This is how she and the tree communicated, through one of its more magical guardians.
"Then I will be on my guard. You hide where you'll be safe, Refuge." Sage nodded to the sprite.
The sprite just laughed. "You worry too much, my protector. Don't you get lonely sometimes? Don't you want to try to make more friends instead of scaring everyone off? I have plenty of room under my branches!"
"It would go against my sworn duty to let my guard down too soon," Sage reminded Refuge, wondering why they were so easily trusting. They were even more in danger, now that they were harbouring a fugitive.
Almost as if Refuge had read her find, they spoke up again.
"It's been nice having more dragons around," Refuge sighed. "Are you sure Shale and Morning have to go?"
"It won't be safe here forever, we already assume one dragon is going after Morning, there could be more. Besides, I don't want you getting hurt in the fray." Sage grumbled. Why was Refuge pushing so many buttons today?
"I have stood for centuries before you were born and I will stand for centuries after you pass. A little bit of plague magic can't hurt me. I just worry about you, that's all," Refuge softened.
Sage rolled her eyes. "Worry all you want, I've got this covered, I can look out for myself. Now, where is the newcomer?"
Refuge pointed to the west, just as an imperial wandered in, looking around the clearing with awe. In that moment, Refuge disappeared into the foliage.
"Can I help you?" Sage got to her feet, a growl on the tip of her tongue. "You are on sacred ground."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't want to intrude. I just wanted to warn the dragons in the area about a dangerous dragon nearby. My name is Alps, and my pronouns are they/them. I don't suppose you've seen a young plague dragon around, probably recently left hatchlinghood, no biological parents present?" The imperial asked, holding themself with confidence dispute their apologetic approach.
"Aren't you from lightning? Don't tell me plague prejudice has spread all the way over there," Sage rolled her eyes. "They aren't any more dangerous than any other."
"Oh, goodness no! I didn't mean to imply-" Now the imperial was thrown off their rhythm. "I just wanted to let you know because whoever it is is in grave danger! There's an assassin nearby, a powerful one too! She won't stop at anything to get what she wants, and she is very good at acting innocent. So, if you see a colourful spiral, don't trust her."
Sage narrowed her eyes. "We've seen a dragon like that around, swirling eyes?"
"Yeah, the swirling eyes are a new development, she didn't have them when-" Alps suddenly grew embarrassed.
"Hold up, do you two have a history?" Sage asked.
"We used to date, before I realized we had completely different values. This was years ago, ancient history now." They laughed awkwardly. "I just don't want to see anyone getting hurt. We have to end this war between nature and plague somehow, before even more lives are lost meaninglessly."
Sage regarded the imperial, trying to decide whether or not she could trust them. They didn't seem to be threatening, but appearances could be deceiving.
"Woah! What kind of dragon is that?"
Morning bounded up to the imperial, giving them a huge sniff. "See! I told you I smelled someone new!" The tundra turned back to Shale, beaming brightly with pride.
Sage watched as Alps regarded the kid, and saw the looks of surprise then they met his eyes.
"Oh, this is not good," Alps murmured. "She's close, she's really close."
"What does that mean?" Sage snapped, suddenly growing in concern.
"What are we talking about?" Shale sauntered up, curiosity etched on his face.
"Yeah! Why does everyone seem so serious?" Morning's head tilted to the side as he asked.
"I think it might be best if I stay for a while, if you'll have me," Alps offered. "Once this fella is discovered, you're gonna have a whole lot more than Adriel raining down on you."
"Mom? Dad? What's he talking about?" Morning asked, suddenly concerned.
Sage and Shale made eye contact and she could tell he was thinking the same thing. Morning's time of innocence was over. The sooner he knew the truth, the better.
@Drachenschwinge @Dynami @Leopardmask @Sabariel @BarbaraFett @Disillusionist @Dakala @Wufflesnuff @Tirtouga678 @chippertowns @Aetherstorm @MisterMylez @cartographic
I won Alps in the Secret Santa Daily Dragon raffle, and so they get automatically added to the 'locke under dragons received in special conditions rules! Also, because they are the first dragon I have gotten outside of my 'progens' and Adriel, Alps is going to be a founder of my alphabet legacy challenge! Which means they are going to be immune to death (and on the occasion they faint in Coli, I must roll for someone else to die in their place) until they have gone on the nest for the B generation.
Also, I was on hiatus when koi came out as a gene and GOSH is it PRETTY!!!
