Work Text:
Soren has never felt so happy while at the same time quietly fearing for his life at the same time before. Standing barefoot in the throne room, being stared down by not only Lady Sorari and Ezran but also General Amaya, Opeli, Corvus, and Lieutenant Gren with a hungry baby dragon on his shoulder was not how he’d thought he’d spend his morning. He and Callum had arrived at the castle a few minutes ago to find more soldiers around than usual. After speaking with a frantic guard, they found out that General Amaya had arrived last night. And was looking for them. They found Ezran in the throne room talking to a very agitated General and Gren. After Callum got squeezed to near death by his aunt, Soren explained what happened. He tried to leave out some details, but Callum, probably as revenge, would interject and tell the whole thing.
Which led to his current circumstances. It looked and felt like everyone wanted to kill him.
“So let me get this straight.” Amaya said, well not really Amaya, Gren was translating.
“You lied to Ezran, your king, about where you were going, and then lied AGAIN to Callum of what you were planning to do, left him in a forest alone for hours, wandered to the border, did THIS to yourself, tried to lie AGAIN to Callum, and then threw yourself into a VOLCANO?!”
When said like that, it really does look extremely bad. And dumb. And crazy.
“Well, I didn't really threw myself in, it was more like I fell in.” Soren clarified, only to quickly shut his mouth when Lady Sorari’s glare narrowed further. He swears he could feel ice growing on his feet. Or maybe they were just getting cold from touching bare stone for hours.
“That doesn’t really help your case here.” Corvus spoke up, giving Soren an unimpressed look.
“And do not even begin to think that I do not see that scar tissue on your throat. That was not there when I checked you over yesterday morning.” The healer hissed out, making the boy duck his head in embarrassment. He really thought he could sneak that by her.
“There better be a good reason for all this, Lord Soren.”
Oh yeah, she was pissed at him. The title was back.
“In fact, I do. Don’t freak out.” Soren answered before raising his arm. Quiet gasps filled the room as his new dragon peeked out from behind his neck, climbing down to his elbow to get a better look at his sorta new home.
“The egg hatched!” Ezran shouted, hopping off the throne and running over to Soren to get a closer look. Soren crouched down so Ez could properly meet the little creature. Said creature tilted his head curiously at the kid.
“I hatched him. That’s why I did what I did. All of it…was for him.” Soren explained, not just to Ezran but to everyone in the room. Including Callum.
The young king looked up at him, eye to eye, before nodding his head with a look of understanding. It didn’t surprise Soren that Ezran would be the first to understand and forgive him.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, Wait! You had a dragon egg?!” Corvus asked, completely confused with the other adults. Oh yeah, Soren completely forgot that his egg hadn’t been common knowledge.
“Uh, yeah. For about a year now.” He answered, getting more flabbergasted looks.
“You had a dragon egg for a year?! And informed no one about it?!” Opeli questioned, looking at him like he grew a second head.
“Did Viren know about this too?” Amaya questioned, looking significantly calmer, but suspicious, hand movements slower now that she had an explanation.
Soren shook his head.
“No, I kept it away from him. I knew what he would do to it if he found out.” He replied gravely, receiving a nod from the General.
“You said that all you did was to hatch the dragon. Do not tell me that you plan on raising it yourself.” Opeli questioned, giving Soren a scolding look. The question caused a bit of anger and protectiveness to flare in his chest.
“Of course I am. He’s mine.” Soren answered sternly, glaring back. The mere idea of giving up his dragon to anyone or him leaving his side horrified and angered Soren, causing him to hold the hatchling closer to himself. The dragon, feeling his emotions through the strange connection that tied their minds together, hissed loudly in Opeli’s direction, long slim tail wrapping around Soren’s throat possessively. They both held the same sentiments.
They will not be split apart without a fight.
“I guess that’s a much clearer answer than anything else.” Amaya signed with a wry grin.
“We need to think of the logistics of this. To raise a dragon would be immensely difficult! How would you feed it when it gets bigger? Where would it sleep? You’ll have to train it as well and that has never been done before-”
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out, Opeli! We have plenty of time. Besides, he wants to stay with Soren, he doesn’t want to leave.” Ezran interjected, arguing in Soren’s defense.
“And right now he’s hungry.” Soren added.
Opeli stuttered, eyes darting between the two boys and the dragon hatchling before sighing, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead.
“Very well, Your Majesty.”
Soren and Ezran exchanged a look of quiet triumph. Only for it to be snuffed out by Lady Sorari.
“Don’t think you are off the hook, Lord Soren. Your recent behavior and actions are alarming and your wounds need to be checked. So, for the next 24 hours, you will remain in your chambers where you will be kept under strict surveillance by guards and not allowed to leave for any purpose other than emergencies.”
“Okay.” Soren agreed. Not that there was really a choice. He expected that Lady Sorari would do this.
“You will not be permitted to have any visitors without my expressed permission during this and all of your meals will be delivered to you by the guards.”
“Okay.”
“You will also have to submit to a physical and mental evaluation where everything that has happened in the past 12 hours will be told to me and me alone. A written report will also be done.”
Yikes. No way was he gonna be able to lie to her either. She sniffs out lies like a bear sniffs out honey. He can still taste the fish oil.
“O-Okay.”
“Once that is through and once your 24 hours are finished, I will review your account and will determine the next actions that will be taken for you. Whether more needs to be done or if, somehow, what you did showcases a stable mental wellbeing and you could be trusted in your best interest to be out and about.”
This sounds like how his dad used to ground him.
“Yes, Ma’am.” He agreed, reluctantly. The head healer nodded, content for now.
“You are dismissed.”
Can’t only the king dismiss him? But after exchanging a nervous look with Ezran, just took the escape. After doing a quick bow, he made his escape to the kitchens first, Ez following behind him.
“Why does it feel like I just got grounded?” He asked Ez, leaning down to whisper so none of the adults would hear.
“Because you did. In fancy adult talk.” Ez whispered back. So it wasn’t just him then.
Midway to the kitchens, Soren’s hatchling got impatient and began to knead his shirt, huffing.
“Okay, I hear ya loud and clear. We’re almost there.” Soren said, giving the dragon a little under the chin scratch to distract him from his hunger.
“Do you think he’ll like jelly tarts? Zym really liked them. Also, why does he have those markings on him?” Ezran asked, blue eyes watching the exchange excitedly.
“I don’t know. He ate some of the gooseberries earlier as a snack while coming home and was fine with it. Right now, he just wants a nice big juicy steak. I’m not giving you an entire steak, we’re splitting it.” Soren answered, directing the last half at the hatchling, receiving a low hiss of displeasure in return. The two engaged in a silent staredown, wills clashing before the dragon huffed, giving in, and stuffed his snout down Soren’s shirt in protest. Laughing, the teenager scratched the spot between the two main spikes on its head in apology.
“And the markings…I don’t really know why they’re there. He didn’t look like that in my dreams.”
He hadn’t paid too much mind to the strange markings on his dragons snout, arms, chest, and legs since it didn’t seem to bother or hurt him, but now that he thinks about it, it was really weird. He had seen him in his dreams before and so had a vague idea of what he would look like. But the markings hadn’t existed in any of them. Was that bad? It didn’t feel or seem bad. In fact, it seems like the little guy is quite proud of them.
“Maybe it means he’s extra special!” One of a kind!” Ez suggested excitedly, hopping on the tip of his toes. His hatchling seemed to like the sound of that, lifting his head up to look down at the little boy before raising it proudly, puffing his little chest out. Soren snickered.
“Don’t make his ego get any bigger. Next thing you know, he’s gonna try to crown himself king.”
The small dragon glared up at Soren, not appreciating the mocking tone of his caretaker, and responded with a light nip of his ear lobe. Despite the sharpness of the needle-like teeth that he felt against his skin, Soren felt no pain from the action. Just a tiny bit of pressure, getting a chuckle out of him.
Arriving in the busy castle kitchens, Ez asked for the usual large platter of jelly tarts while Soren asked for an extra large steak. The smell of all the various food cooking around him made his mouth water. Soren could see the servants and cooks passing by, taking double takes and staring with wide eyes at him.
‘Why are they all staring at me like that? I get that not wearing shoes is kinda weird but not THAT weird.’ He thought in mild annoyance. Only to remember that he was still covered head to toe in ash and soot. And his new dragon was sitting openly on his shoulder, hungrily eyeing everything.
Yeah, that would explain everyone’s confusion.
“You should probably take a bath when you get back to your room. You smell like a bonfire.” Ezran commented after taking a big sniff in Soren’s direction, already digging through the massive pile of jelly tarts after just receiving it.
“Yeah. If Lady Sorari doesn’t ambush me as soon as I get there.” Soren answered with a small scoff. Partially out of fear. With the way she had been glaring at him in the throne room, he’ll be lucky if he survives to tomorrow.
“She’ll probably give you maybe half an hour. If she’s in a good mood.”
“Which she is absolutely not.” Soren added.
When Soren finally receives his plate full of cooked steak from a wide eyed palace cook, the two make their way upstairs to Soren’s rooms. The Crownguard kicks open the door, having to use one hand to keep his dragon buddy from just leaping onto the plate and eating it all himself, heaving a sigh of relief of finally being back in his room. It’s only been a day away but it felt much longer to him.
“I have to go to a council meeting, but I’ll try to swing by and visit you later. If Lady Sorari lets me. Bye!” Ezran waved goodbye, giving Soren a bright smile before leaving, the heavy door slamming shut behind him. Soren only had about 3 seconds before his new dragon hatchling managed to find a way out of his hold, darting for the plate of steak. Only to be foiled when his human raised the plate in time, making him miss and land on the bed in a heap of wings and tail.
“You can’t wait two seconds? I need to cut it into pieces or you’ll choke.” Soren scolded, making his way to his work desk and placing down the plate, the hisses and snarls of his hatchling ringing in the quiet room.
“No, since you were eager to hop off my shoulder, you can walk your way over here.” He called over the dragon’s complaints. While the creature threw another temper tantrum, Soren focused on cutting half of the steak into pieces small enough for a baby dragon to eat. He didn’t want his dragon to choke and he didn’t want him to puke it all up on his floor. Or in his bed. Or on his clothes. He just doesn’t want him to puke at all.
Once he was done, the boy looked over his shoulder, snickering at the pouty look the small reptile was giving him. He was curled into a small pile, wings partially covering him up, head lying underneath his curled up tail. A very adorable little picture.
“C’mon, don’t be like that. You’re hungry, right?” Soren teased, holding out a piece of steak for the grumpy dragon. He can tell he wants to continue to pout, but hunger won out and eventually, the dragon hopped off the bed and waddled his way over to Soren. Soren held out his arm, letting the small magical creature climb up his arm and settle on his shoulder, the spiked end of his tail swishing against the back of his neck. Holding up a small piece of meat, Soren watched with no small amount of awe as his dragon, as quick as lightning, lashed his serpentine neck forward and in a split second, the meat had completely vanished from his fingers. Licking the juice from around his snout, the newborn dragon whipped his tail to and fro, orange eyes eagerly watching as Soren’s fingers picked up another piece, quickly snatching it away when offered.
And that was how they passed the time for a while. Soren feeds his dragon with one hand while using the other to feed himself. It was, what was the word, something with an m. Mesmerizing! That’s it! It was mesmerizing watching his new dragon move around, eat, and just be…alive!
He was alive! Both of them! Soren at the moment hadn’t had any doubts at the time of his survival. Soren now realizes how weird it was that he didn’t have any doubts. He had been standing on the lip of a volcano, bleeding out, but not afraid of dying.
In thought, Soren raises a hand to his throat, fingers gently probing the new scar that curled across his throat. It was healed over, but the scar tissue was still light and soft under his fingers, telling him that it still needed time to completely heal. The scars that now stretched across the underside of his wrists were thin and barely visible if not for the pale pink lines that stick out against his pale skin. They were mostly healed and when he pressed hard, he felt no pain.
There was also this strange…connection in his mind. It wasn’t physically there in his brain, but when he closed his eyes and concentrated on that heartbeat-like pulsing he distantly felt, he could picture a gleaming strand. A brightly glowing thread connecting his mind to something. Curious, Soren mentally tugged on it.
Immediately, his dragon’s head perked up, fiery eyes meeting his own.
Soren tugged the thread again. This time, the dragon tilted his head at the human. Distantly, Soren felt a sense of confusion sweep through him. But it was distinctly foreign.Out of body. It wasn’t coming from him. It was the dragon’s own emotions.
“So we are connected. Just like before, but stronger now.”
It all felt so strange. Like an out of body experience that he felt once when he was a kid. But it felt…right. All of it.
“We’re really in the deep end of this now, aren’t we, boy?” Soren asked his dragon, who flicked his tongue at him, tickling the human’s cheek.
“The Head Healer actually let you out of grounding? I don’t know whether to be impressed or worried.”
Recognising the voice, Soren looked up, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun, his dragon who had been napping on his shoulder waking up to hiss at Callum. Said boy took a step back, staying out of the jumping range of the possessive little creature. It has been a few days since he’s hatched, but he has quickly made it clear that he tolerated no one else other than Soren and that he does not like to share Soren’s attention. Callum still had the bite marks from when the dragon punished him for daring to touch Soren’s shoulder.
“Yeah, Lady Sorari had to eventually let me go since my story wasn’t changing and, well, I had living proof.” Soren explained, wiggling the shoulder the “living proof” was resting on.
“Yeah, I guess.” Callum murmured, sitting a few feet away on a small wall. He doesn’t know why, but something told Soren that something was wrong with the older prince. As he looked closer at Callum, he could see it. There were the faint beginnings of dark circles under Callum’s eyes that hadn’t been there before and if Soren squinted, Callum’s skin looked paler too. Something was wrong.
“Hey man, is, uh, is everything okay?” Soren questioned, trying his best to not look suspicious.
“Yes! I mean, of course everything is okay. Why wouldn’t it be? Everything’s A okay!”
Soren may not be a good liar, but Callum seems to be even worse. Soren could feel his face cringing at how obvious and bad the lie was. He wasn’t the only one. His hatchling’s snout wrinkled into a look of distaste before he screeched at Callum, spiked tip of his tail flicking against the back of Soren’s shoulders.
Callum flinched at the, in Soren’s opinion, dramatic reaction.
“That bad, huh?”
“Well…yeah. That was awful.” Soren replied, planning to be nice about it before a quick glare from his dragon made him reconsider.
Callum sighed heavily, in a way that Soren understood all too well, and sat down on the ground beside him. For a long while, he said nothing, fingers fiddling with the cloth of his red scarf. Soren knew the look of when someone’s trying to find the right words for something. He would know, he’s struggled with finding the right words for things all his life. He’s dealt with the irritated waiting, the snickers, the sometimes helpful and unhelpful suggestions, and the brush overs. Words were harder than most people realize, especially speaking them. They often didn’t come out right for him. There’s too many complicated words for simple things! And everyone expects everyone to know which one to use!
Soren wasn’t gonna do that to Callum, especially when he already looks like he’s having a hard time. So Soren waited patiently, playing with his dragon by wiggling his fingers in his face and yanking them back before he could bite. He didn’t bite hard, never breaking the skin, just enough to feel slight pressure. When Soren looks up again, he sees Callum staring at him with a certain look on his face. He didn’t know what it was. It looked kinda sad.
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you mad at me?” Callum suddenly blurted out.
Soren stared at the boy in confusion, raising a single eyebrow. That’s a weird question.
“Uh, noooo. Why?”
“Because…because I…” Callum tried to explain but trailed off, looking nervous. Soren’s confusion rose and was amplified by his dragon’s own mixed with growing impatience. Sensing the irritation and not wanting Callum to get bitten (again), Soren swiftly moved the angry reptile onto his other shoulder, much to his displeasure that he made sure to show. Ignoring the pissed off dragon, Soren slid closer to Callum, leaning down to look at his face better.
“Because?”
“I killed your dad!”
Oh.
“Again?”
Soren has no idea why that was the first thing that came out of his mouth. It didn’t even enter his brain, it just launched itself out of his mouth. Then again, when someone says they killed your dad when he was already dead, your mouth would probably say something dumb in shock too!
Callum stared at Soren with shock slapped over his face, mouth slightly open.
“It would be pretty awkward if you did twice, because that implies he was able to somehow come back to life like a zombie or something. Which would be really bad.” Soren rambled on, knowing he was in too deep now and digging deeper into his mistake in an attempt to recover it. Didn’t seem to be working too well. But at least Callum didn’t look so sad anymore. Now he just looked completely confused.
“What? No, no, no, I didn’t kill your dad twice!”
“Oh good, no Viren zombies walking around. That would be awful! I mean, he probably wouldn’t be walking around, since he probably went splat on the ground. Hard to walk when you have no body. Unless he is able to magically put himself togeth-OW!”
Soren was interrupted from his spiraling rambling by a sharp tug of his ear from his dragon, who had sensed Soren’s nervousness and the dark downturn of his thoughts and decided to intervene. Rubbing his aching ear, Soren gave the small hatchling an annoyed glare that was returned just as fiercely. Completely unapologetic.
“What I mean is…Are you…mad at me for-for what I did to your dad?” Callum asked, hesitating and looking down at his shoes, as if afraid of the answer he would receive.
“What makes you think I’m mad at you?” Soren asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?!” The boy finally shouted, lashing out at Soren.
Oh boy, he looked really mad now.
“The way you changed when we came back from the Spire! You stopped eating, sleeping, even talking! Right after I told you what happened to Viren! You changed! You got worse! You were obviously grieving! You were wasting away right in front of us! And I…I did nothing. I sat there and did nothing. And it led to you throwing yourself into a volcano. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.”
Soren watched in silence as Callum yelled and raved, watched as tears began to run down the boy’s face and his shouting quieted to a mere whisper, the anger fading away to grief and sadness. Once Callum was silent, Soren turned his body to face him head on, leaning forward to gently place a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder.
“You think what happened to me was your fault?” Soren asked, trying to make sense of Callum’s breakdown.
“Wasn’t it? I took away your dad. I know how much you loved him. Claudia is missing because of the choices I made.”
“Callum…I was never mad at you for what happened. I never blamed you. Blame you for what? For saving Rayla? For protecting the Dragon Prince?”
Callum shook his head, as if Soren wasn’t understanding what he meant. Which probably was the case. Soren couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Callum blamed himself for things that were obviously not his fault!
It wasn’t until Callum’s eyes rose up, not to meet with Soren’s eyes but stopping at his neck, that it finally dawned on the Crownguard what he was talking about. Sometimes, Soren forgets about the scar on his neck.
“For this. For everything, really. But this in particular.”
Soren had enough. He wasn’t just gonna sit here and let this kid keep blaming himself for Soren’s actions that had nothing to do with his family.
“No, no, no, no! We’re not doing this. Do not blame yourself for yesterday, Callum. It had nothing to do with you. No, I mean it! Yesterday had nothing to do with you. Or my dad or Claudia. Nothing, okay? I mean it.”
“But-” Callum tried to speak, only for his mouth to be covered by Soren’s hand.
“No. What I said back in the Throne room was the one and only truth, Callum. I meant every word of it. Everything I did, I did for him. Him and for myself.” Soren continued, speaking as seriously as possible. He needed Callum to understand this, but he didn’t know how to clearly tell him in a way he would understand. Soren had never been good with words!
Feeling something warm move on his shoulder, Soren saw his little dragon crawl onto his shoulder closest to Callum, leaping off it onto Callum’s shoulder. Both boys froze, Soren out of curiosity, Callum out of fear. The little dragon has already made it quite clear in the one and a half days he’s been alive, that he despises everyone except for Soren. Some had to learn the hard way through bloody fingers and clawed faces. So one cannot blame them for being on edge.
But the little creature did none of those things. Instead, he curled around Callum’s neck loosely, nuzzling the prince’s cheek gently in an out of character display of affection. Callum’s tense shoulders relaxed, raising a hand to gently pet the tiny rows of spikes on his head.
“All for him.” Callum said, a light of understanding beginning to shine in his eyes again.
“All for him.” Soren repeated.
The peaceful atmosphere lasted a few more minutes before Soren felt the dim snap of patience ending from afar and had no time to warn Callum before the dragon bit Callum’s ear.
“OW! You little-!”
“Okay, that’s it. You little rascal, get over here. One of these days, I’m gonna put you in a cage as time out.”
Soren spent the next day helping Ezran with his lessons, since he’s still being closely watched by Lady Sorari. Or well, that’s what he was supposed to be doing.
“Ugh, I forgot how much reading they make you do for lessons. These books don’t even make good pillows to sleep on.” Soren complained for the tenth time. Of the hour. He couldn’t help it, it was the only way he was staying awake. Ezran wasn’t doing much better either. Poor kid nearly fell face first onto the old pages as he kept dozing off. The only one not five seconds from falling asleep was the little dragon, and that was only because he kept trying to chew on the book covers. Honestly, Soren was tempted to let him.
“Mrs. Miller says we must learn from history in order to avoid making the same mistakes my ancestors did.”
“But you already did that. You’ve done what none of your ancestors could’ve. So, I still don’t see the point of this.” Soren dropped the book he had been “reading” down onto the table, only to cough from the wave of dust that flew up from the impact. Why were all of these books so dusty?!
The dragon leapt at the book, as if to punish it for being so dusty, only to be, once again, foiled by Soren catching him.
“Listen you, stop trying to attack everything that moves.” He scolded, only receiving a glare in return.
“Have you named him yet?” Ezran asked, putting aside his book to focus on the duo.
“No. All the ones I suggested, he hated. Even the scarier sounding ones, he hated. This guy is just super picky.”
The guy in question huffed and began to knead Soren’s shirt, demanding a snack. The nerve of this dragon. Still, Soren reached into one of his pockets and tossed up a piece of burnt meat, watching as sharp white teeth snap it up. That was still pretty cool.
“Maybe you can find a good name in one of these old books? Some of them are pretty cool. Here, this one is about cool military leaders from around the Pentarchy. Maybe he might like one of them?” Ez suggested, passing Soren a book that he vaguely remembers. He had to study it when he was a trainee. Probably was the one time where studying was actually fun.
Taking it, he opened it to a random page and said aloud the name.
“Marulian Caesar, an Ancient Katolean general who once conquered what is now parts of Del Bar, Southern Neolandia, and over half of Duren. What about Caesar? He was one of the best of the best.”
But the little dragon wrinkled his nose and shook his head. So, Soren turned the page and read the next leader.
“Barca of Karathage, the legendary king of the Karathagean tribe who led his people against King Kohen I during the Second Charge of Karathage. What about this? It’s a pretty simple name.”
The dragon thought about it before shaking his head again. So with a heavy sigh, Soren continued on. For the next half an hour, Soren would suggest names of famous military leaders and their deeds, and his hatchling would turn them all down. There were some that Soren liked and felt disappointed when they were turned down.
“Aw, come on! That last one sounded really good!”
But if Soren was stubborn, then this dragon is stubborn x50. So the search continued.
“Ignacio Zaragoza, a famous Neolandian general who is famous for his miraculous victory against the invading Durenian army. He was outnumbered 1 to 10, with his small army of 600 against the 6,500 of Duren. And yet, with the loyalty and teamwork of his troops combined with his keen strategist mind, Ignacio did what was thought to be impossible and not only prevented the Duren army from advancing further into Neolandia, but even chased them out of the country, sending them back to Duren with major losses. What about this one?”
Unlike with the others, the dragon didn’t immediately refuse the idea, instead looking down at the page with interest. Soren faintly felt the foreign, out of body sense of satisfaction that he has a vague suspicion is coming from that strange bright connection that tied him to the dragon.
“I like it! He sounds really cool and really smart.” Ez piped up, adding in his own opinion to help sway the interested creature. Callum, who was passing through during his break from his Sky Magic lessons, nodded his head, agreeing with his younger brother.
"I think it would also fit you. It means "Born from Fire" and, uh, it's fitting." Callum sent Soren a look that Soren agreed with. It really was a fitting name and it sounded nice.
'Born from Fire. Fire and Blood.'
After a few more minutes of quiet thinking, fiery colored eyes met with blue and Soren finally received a nod.
“Then Ignacio, it is!” Soren proclaimed proudly, Ezran cheering as the dragon now named Ignacio let out a celebratory screech, spreading his large wings in pride. It’s good they decided to read in Ez’s rooms instead of the library. That’s when Soren was hit with an amazing idea.
“That means you can have a nickname! And I already know the perfect one! Iggy!” Soren announced, eyes shining brightly. He felt like his happiness was doubled, his face hurting from the large smile that was stretched across his face. He couldn't remember the last time he smiled so big and so much since he was a kid.
“Iggy!” Ezran echoed, the dragon now dubbed Iggy flapping his wide wings and hopping around, blowing away papers and turning pages of the various opened books around them. But neither Soren nor Ezran minded, laughing at Iggy’s antics while Callum sighed heavily in the corner (out of Iggy's range. For now). Because of the mess they were making or from the fact Soren gave a dragon a nickname, no one knows.
Soren felt a faint breeze ruffle his hair gently and felt something brush past his ear. Reaching up, he plucked out something soft from his hair and held it in front of him, raising a brow in interest. A blood red leaf.
A bell-like sound of laughter faintly reached his ears, carried on the wind through the room and out the open window once more. He didn’t need to ask. He would know her presence anywhere.
It was nice to know that she approved.