A Scale of Sapphire

Aoife

It wasn’t long after Terry shared their story that a sudden wind rolled over the village center. Willow, sprawled across my lap at the time, grew suddenly tense as it did. It would seem the plants had yet another message for her. Some day off this turned out to be.

While the rest of our assembled population continued to enjoy the fruits of our community's labors, Erica, Willow and I returned once again to the garden, ready to hear what Crab Apple had to say, ready for yet another round of earth-shatteringly exciting news.

Or maybe it was just a couple teenagers.

A couple of young humans.

Arriving from the exact same direction the goblins had come from.

Fuck. Maybe this was significant after all.

It could be a coincidence, sure, but that wasn’t a bet I wanted to take. If these two really were the ones who’d hurt the goblins, if they really were from Cyrus’ village, we needed to proceed with extreme caution. At the pace they were currently traveling, the two would likely reach us by tomorrow evening at the latest. We needed to intervene before then. The three of us returned to the bonfire as quickly as we could to relay what we’d learned. In the morning, I’d gather a team, we’d make contact, and we’d go from there. Simple.

Matt

“I don’t want to hurt you.” The moon dragon looked down at me, a sad smile on her face. I struggled violently against the vines that bound me, straining to reach for my sword, my potions, or anything that would get me out of this. “You’re victims of Cyrus as much as I am, but I need to make sure you’re not going to hurt anybody. Can we talk, please?”

She waited patiently as I continued to fight my restraints. I twisted and pulled and gave it everything I had, but no matter what I did, they continued to hold fast. Eventually, my frantic writhing died down to the occasional, half-hearted tug, and then dropped further to nothing at all. Aoife just kept waiting, the whole way through, watching me with that gentle smile.

“You done?”

“What the hell do you want from us, lizard?” I couldn’t work up the energy to struggle anymore, but that didn’t mean I had to be nice. Cyrus might be bad, but I had no reason to believe the monster-loving dragon before me could be any better. “You know who sent us, so why not just cut the shit and freeze us to death!”

Not the wisest words, in retrospect, but she didn’t exactly catch me at the best time. I was already stressed enough from my recent revelations about Cyrus. A second dragon was the last thing I needed.

“I told you already, you’re victims too. He hurt you, and you know that. I heard you two talking well before I revealed myself. All I want is to stop all this stupid fighting, and killing a pair of helpless kids isn’t gonna help with that.”

“I’m nineteen!” For some reason, that’s what my frazzled mind latched onto as I struggled to process what was happening.

“An age that clearly ends in ‘teen’, thank you for pointing that out.”  She turned away from me for a moment, looking instead towards Chelsea. “I heard what you were saying earlier… I know you have no reason to trust me, but you should know that I understand what you’ve both been through.”

Chel just cringed away, and I saw a brief flash of hurt in Aoife’s eyes. I found myself struggling once again, wanting nothing more than to comfort my friend. Shockingly, the plants obliged. They didn’t let me go, but instead, they loosened their grip and moved with me as I approached, even allowing me to go so far as to wrap my arms around her once again. Aoife stayed quiet for several more minutes as I did, only speaking up once I returned my attention to her.

“I want to let you go, but I can’t be sure either of you will be safe if I do, and I can’t say for sure that you both wouldn’t hurt my people either…” She sighed, giving us both a measured look. “If I were to let you go right now, what would you both do?”

Chel was still shaking in my arms, the first hints of starvation were still gnawing on my stomach, and I was no longer certain I had a home to return to. If I was being honest with myself, I had absolutely no clue what to do. I had no idea what would be best. Aoife wasn’t asking in hypotheticals though, she was looking at me expectantly. She wanted an answer.

“I’d probably sit here a while, and then I got no clue. Maybe I’d try to do the job I was sent out here for, maybe I’d wander off into the woods and never look back. Only thing I’m sure of is that I go where Chelsea goes.”

“Alright then. I guess you’ll be staying with us for a while.” Chelsea curled inwards even further on herself, and I squeezed her even tighter. There’s no way we’d be staying with another dragon. Not a chance. Not after the first one screwed with us so royally. Aoife noticed our reactions, and began rubbing her temple, clearly frustrated. “I understand your hesitation, but if you go back to Cyrus, you’ll only hurt us all, and if you wander off without a plan, you’re going to die. I can keep my distance from you. You’ll never have to talk to me, or even look at me again if you don’t want to, but I’m not going to let you get yourselves killed if I can help it.”

She began to back away from us, and I felt a subtle tinge of fear, barely noticeable before it was gone, fade from my mind. Now that I understood what dragons were capable of, I recognized it for what it was. Even if it was subtle, the moon dragon had been influencing our emotions this whole time. I couldn’t trust her. I wouldn’t.

“Willow, babe, would you be willing to escort these two home?”

The vines receded the moment she finished speaking, reassembling into a pair of roughly humanoid masses of fibrous tendrils. Dropping from an unseen branch up above, a tiny pixie, with emerald wings and green hair landed gently on one of their shoulders.

Despite her size, she displayed immeasurable confidence as she looked us over.

“Sup.”