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A storm brought a barrage of rain down onto the earth of Daventry, making it slick with mud. The kingdom’s queen, an unassuming little girl named Gwendolyn, raced home from visiting her new best friend. She’d excuse these visits as “building better relationships and finding new allies for the kingdom”, but really she just wanted to have more adventures with Taskia and her pet dragon.
Her hood was up to protect her head from the rain, while her boots got coated in mud as she splashed through the puddles. Being queen meant a lot more responsibility than most little girls were ready to handle, so she always kept an eye out for the little joys. She jumped into the largest puddle she could find, and the water splashed onto some nearby bushes. That was when she heard the tiniest voice yelp from within them. Her curiosity was immediately piqued, and she crept closer towards it. She could hear her dad’s voice in her head, telling her to err on the side of caution and keep walking home. But what if it was a squirrel citizen from the kingdom of Avalon in need of help? Queen Madeline III wouldn’t be happy if Daventry’s queen did not assist! Yes, it was definitely her queenly duty to check inside a random bush because she heard a noise.
Carefully, the little Majesty crouched down and moved the leaves aside to look.
—
The rain drops tapped against the windows of Castle Daventry. Ever since that incident at dinner, though it had been a lie his mother made up to cover for him, Gart had remembered to keep his bedroom windows closed.
Gart still had a lot to think about since Gwendolyn assumed the throne. Mostly questions like “What happens to me now?” and “What should I do?”. He’d been spending a lot of his time reading in hopes of finding answers, but also to avoid the chaos that came with adapting to a new ruler. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t still feel a little bitter that Grandfather chose Gwendolyn over him for the crown after all. It just felt best to stay out of the way.
His thoughts were interrupted when something nudged his door slightly open.
“Gwendolyn? Is that you?” Gart called out, looking over the top of his book.
The door stood still in response. Gart was about to write it off as the wind or one of the dogs, until he felt a tug at his cape hanging off the side of his bed. He looked down to see a tiny scarlet dragon wildly shaking his head with the cape in his mouth, and growling like an untrained puppy.
“What on-HEY!” Gart grabbed his cape and pulled it back, starting a tug of war match with the little dragon as it kept tugging and snarling.
“Gart? Have you seen-?” Gwendolyn peeked inside Gart’s room to see what the commotion was about. “Pepper! NO!”
She rushed over to the little dragon and picked him up, prying open his jaws until he finally dropped the cape. “Sorry Gart!”
“What is that?!” Gart asked, finally getting a better look at the creature.
“Um…a baby dragon?” Gwendolyn answered with a nervous smile.
“ Another dragon? Where did you even find it?” He asked, checking the chewed spot on his cape for any tears.
“Hiding in a bush just outside. He was shivering so much from the rain, I couldn’t just leave him there!”
“Hmm…” Gart mused, dropping the thankfully unharmed cape. “Not sure if I like two dragon sightings so close to each other.”
“Well I do! I’ve been wanting to see dragons all my life, and now I’ve seen two in one season! I can’t wait to show him to Taskia tomorrow!
“Now, hold on. You weren’t planning on keeping the little beast, were you?”
“Why not? Taskia has one, and hers is way bigger than Pepper!”
“Oh stars, you’ve already named it?”
“Of course! If he’s going to be part of the family, he needs a name.”
“Well, good luck convincing the rest of the family to let him stay. Dragons and Daventry have never mixed well.” He said, recalling Rosella telling him about a three headed dragon that once threatened to eat her.
“But they’ve all seen Taskia’s dragon! It’s totally possible to tame them, and maybe this could be his friend! Taskia and I would go from being the Dueling Archers to the Dueling Dragon Archers !”
Even in the face of Gwendolyn’s unbridled excitement, Gart looked unconvinced.
“Aw come on Gart. Look!” She held the little dragon up towards Gart’s face. “He’s red, just like you! You know you like himmm!”
Pepper mewled and the prince finally smiled, unable to help himself.
“Well, I suppose he does at least have good taste in capes.” He relented, patting the tiny head and getting a laugh from Gwendolyn. “But what if there’s an angry mother dragon looking for him?”
“I don’t think there is, he was all alone.”
“Are you certain ? You’ll have to be positive if you want to keep him! I mean if Grandmother wouldn’t even let you keep your little rat friend-“
“King Nibbletooth the Third!” She corrected him.
“-Right. If she wouldn’t let you keep Nibbletooth , why would she let you keep Pepper?”
“Well…I wasn’t queen back when I found Nibbletooth!”
“Just because you’re queen, doesn’t mean that you can-“ Gart stopped himself. He was going to finish with “do anything you want” but technically she could. This little girl now wielded so much power it was frightening. She could attempt to raise a whole dragon army if that’s what she wanted.
“Gwendolyn…” He started. “Now that you’re queen, you have to start thinking about things in the long term. Would the time, effort, and resources that you’d need in order to care for this dragon be worth it? The food alone would be a huge issue! If we have a bad harvest year, you may be forced to choose if you want to feed your dragon or your people! If you choose the dragon, then people would starve and might be forced to leave Daventry. But if you choose the people, then we’d have a hungry dragon eating everything just trying to sate itself!”
Gwendolyns’s face quickly fell, and Gart felt a twinge of guilt for stomping on his little cousin’s dreams.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, and maybe I’m being a little harsh…”
“No, it’s okay! I do really need to start thinking about stuff like this more. People aren’t as easy to take care of as my stuffed bunnies! So...thanks Gart. I’m glad to know you’re looking out for me.”
“Of course Gwendolyn.”
As a small smile returned to Gwendolyn’s face, a thought occurred to Gart. Maybe this was his answer. With Grandfather gone and the crown on her head, Gwendolyn would need guidance and advice wherever she could find it now. She may not have been raised to rule Daventry, but he was. Perhaps this was the best way he could use that knowledge to serve the kingdom.
“You know…since you are the queen, perhaps you can help Pepper in another way. You have all the knights under your command now, you could have some of them search for a mother dragon missing a child. Carefully, of course.”
The light in Gwendolyn’s eyes sparked back to life. “So we could reunite him with his family, and then make more dragon friends!”
“There you go!” Gart nodded, though he would be satisfied as long as there wasn’t an upset mother dragon ready to eat them as revenge for her baby.
“That’s a great idea! I’ll go talk to the knights right now! Thanks Gart!” And with Pepper cradled in her arms, Gwendolyn took off.
Gart grinned and put his discarded book away on the shelf. Daventry was certainly going to be interesting with her as queen. He was looking forward to whatever would come next.
THE END