Chapter Text
The Gift
Turtle shifted nervously on his claws. “So…do you like it?”
Peril looked at him, completely blank-faced, her eyes flickering back and forth between him and the necklace in his grasp. Her tail twitched slightly, giving a small tapping sound against the stone floor. For his part, Turtle legitimately couldn’t tell if this was a positive or negative sign.
“It’s…pretty, certainly,” she finally said in a very even tone, “And I do like the design. Very Skywing.”
That at least was good to hear. It was why he’d picked it, after all.
“And…?” he prompted, trying desperately not to sound too pushy.
She gave a snort of smoke. “And it will melt in about three seconds if I put it on.”
Turtle resisted any urge to laugh at her bluntness. “Yes, I realize that,” he told her, “Do you really think I would offer you a gift of jewelry without enchanting it first to be impervious to firescales?”
She gave him a skeptical look. “You should have led with that, then.”
“I didn’t think I had to, but I guess I should have known better with you,” he joked as she plucked the necklace from his claws. The feel of the heat of her scales on his claw an odd feeling, but not entirely unpleasant. It couldn’t hurt him, after all, not since those protective enchantments he’d cast so long ago now that still persisted, and it only gave a slight tingling on his scales where other dragons would be scorched.
Lifting the necklace up to the light, Peril admired it for a moment. “You really shouldn’t have,” she told him, “I mean, using a spell like that on me…”
“I can hardly think of anyone better to use a spell for,” Turtle told her, and he meant it, “You deserve something to decorate yourself with just as much as anyone else.”
“Don’t get sappy on me now,” Peril snorted, but there was no edge to her words. Indeed, she could almost have looked like she was tearing up. She gently rested the necklace around her head, adjusted it a little, and gave a smile. “I…don’t think I’ve ever really had a piece of jewelry before,” she said, her voice so much softer than usual, “Not really.”
“I know,” Turtle rested a claw on hers, feeling the heat of her scales, “I wanted to be the first to give one to you. I’d have offered to enchant it to remove your firescales so you could have more if you wanted, but you made it clear that you’re not ready to get rid of them quite yet.”
“I’m not,” she affirmed, reaching up to touch the golden pendant on the chain, “They’re a part of me, after all, but…I always did want a piece to call my own. It’s…hard sometimes, never to be able to dress up like others can.”
Turtle smiled, “Well, now you can.”
“Yeah…” she traced her scales with a claw, running it along the edge of the necklace, feeling it. Turtle watched her, admiring both the beauty of the necklace, and the dragoness that wore it.
Yes, he thought to himself, that was a spell well used.
And as that thought was still on his mind, he almost jumped in surprise as Peril suddenly stepped right up into him, putting her wings around him and pulling him into a tight hug. His eyes widened—even though he was one of the extremely few dragons Peril could hug, Peril never hugged. Yet here she was, and there was suddenly a warmth inside of him not due to the heat of her scales.
“Thank you,” Peril whispered to him as she held him, and he was sure he could hear the hiss of steam as tears from her eyes met her scales.
“You’re welcome,” he said, not sure what else to say. But there was more to be said without words as he held her in that embrace, one not just of simple thanks for the gift he’d given her, but much, much more. And while Turtle himself didn’t even realize it yet, it was the first of many such embraces to come, and of something far more beautiful and wonderful than a single golden necklace could ever hope to be.