Prestige Advancement | Dragon Companion | Gabriel

Gabriel’s hidden Spring had never felt so full before. The Spring was tucked deep within the forest, hidden behind curtains of hanging vines and heavy green leaves. Water spilled gently over smooth dark stones, feeding wide blue pools that shimmered beneath the shade. A small wooden house sat near the water’s edge, half-swallowed by ivy and moss, with its little porch facing the falls. It was quiet, secret, and safe.

At least, it had been quiet before Gabriel hatched four babies. Now the Spring echoed with splashing, chirping, growling, squeaking, and the occasional dramatic thump of a hatchling falling over its own feet. Gabriel stood beside the lowest pool with a damp towel in one hand and a bowl of carefully prepared food in the other. His pale purple striped body was already soaked from chest to tail, though he had not entered the water once.

“Gaia,” he said.

The brown raptor-like hatchling froze on top of a mossy stone. Her green crest stood proudly along her head, making her look far more important than a baby dragon had any right to look. One claw hovered over Strogan’s tail. Strogan, the green hatchling, was sitting in the shallow water with her mouth open and her tongue hanging out, completely unaware that Gaia had been about to shove her tail aside for blocking the best sun-warmed rock.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. Gaia slowly lowered her hand.

“Thank you,” Gabriel said.

Gaia huffed, as if she had only been trying to help. Strogan turned her head, saw Gaia, and wagged her tail so hard that water splashed up over both of them. Gaia squeaked in outrage.

Zip, the dark brown wyvern, startled at the splash and flapped her feathered wings. She lifted herself awkwardly off the ground, only to drift backward into a hanging curtain of vines. Her rows of sharp little teeth poked out from her mouth in a permanent grin, making her look terrifying despite the tiny embarrassed chirp she made.

God lay in the warm sand nearby, grey belly up, all four pairs of hands folded over himself like a very serious little statue. His black and purple celestial markings stretched down his back and tail, dark and beautiful in the dappled light. His face was stern, as if he were thinking very deeply. Gabriel knew he was not thinking deeply. He was sleeping.

“God,” Gabriel said. “You cannot sleep through shed checks.” God opened one eye. Then he closed it again and Gabriel sighed. These were his first hatchlings. Not his first dragons, of course not, but the first ones he had hatched himself. He had watched each egg tremble. He had whispered encouragement through each crack. He had warmed them, turned them, cleaned them, and slept beside them when storms shook the roof of the little house.

He had thought hatching them would be the difficult part.

He had been wrong.

The difficult part was convincing four baby dragons that food was still food even if they hadn’t liked it yesterday Stopping Gaia from organizing everyone into positions they had not agreed to. Keeping Zip from apologizing every time someone bumped into her. Keeping Strogan from eating leaves, pebbles, towels, and one very unfortunate wooden spoon. And the difficult part of all was getting God to move.

“Everyone over here,” Gabriel said, setting the bowl down. “It is time to check your skin.”

Gaia came first, of course, trotting over with her chest lifted proudly. She tried to stand beside Gabriel rather than in front of him, as if she were his assistant and not one of the babies being checked.

“No,” Gabriel said. “You too.”

Gaia’s crest drooped and Gabriel gently lifted her chin. “You can help after.”

That pleased her enough to allow him to examine her shoulders and tail. She was beginning to dull slightly along her sides, the early sign of a first shed. Gabriel rubbed warm water carefully along the tight patches. Gaia stood still for exactly seven seconds and then Strogan bounced over. Strogan did not walk so much as tumble forward with joy. She shoved her snout into the food bowl, sniffed, sneezed, and knocked the bowl sideways. Gabriel caught it just before it spilled.

“Strogan.”

The green hatchling looked up with big innocent eyes. Gabriel pointed at the towel beside him. “Sit.” Strogan sat immediately, club tail wagging dangerously. Gaia chirped sharply at her. Zip finally untangled herself from the vines and crept closer, head low. She looked nervous, though Gabriel had never known her to do anything unkind on purpose. Her teeth simply made every expression look a little dangerous.

Gabriel held out one hand to her. “Come here, little one.”

Zip placed her snout against his palm. Her teeth grazed his fingers. She froze but Gabriel did not pull away. “Careful.” Zip made a tiny whining sound.

“I know,” he murmured. “It’s alright. Everything is fine.”

She relaxed and climbed close enough for him to check the skin around her wings. Her feathers ruffled when the warm cloth touched the dry patches near her shoulders. “There,” Gabriel said. “That feels better, doesn’t it?” Zip gave a soft chirp of approval, her small wings lifting up and then down as if to show the vernid it felt better.

Behind him came a crunch and Gabriel turned. God had rolled just far enough to reach the basket of chew sticks. He had one in his mouth, two in his primary hands, one in one of his secondary hands, four trapped beneath his tail, and another pressed to his chest. Gabriel started trying to figure out the best way to handle the current situation. God simply stared back with the same grave, unreadable face.

Crunch.

“Those are for everyone.”

God slowly wrapped his tail tighter around the little pile, gripping the ones in his hands a little tighter and Gabriel noticed how they began to give, a hint that God’s earth dragon heritage was already showing.

Gaia growled, a sound he was sure was supposed to be threatening but coming from such a small dragon, it didn’t hit quite the way she wanted. Strogan noticed the chew sticks then and immediately lumbered toward them. “No.” Gabriel said.

Strogan stopped dead and there was another crunch as God continued chewing.

Gabriel walked over, crouched, and gently took the four sticks in God’s pile of chews. God’s jaws remained clamped around the one in his mouth. Gabriel also decided that trying to get the rest of the chew sticks out of God’s hands might not be possible. 

“You can’t do this and hog everything from the others.” Gabriel said and God blinked slowly and then he set down two more of the sticks, leaving him with the one in his mouth and the one in his secondary set of hands. The purple vernid supposed that was better than nothing.

Gabriel split the now re-acquired chew sticks between the last three hatchlings, he placed one in front of Strogan, Zip, and Gaia. The brown raptor-like dragon looked very pleased, though she waited for the others to eat theirs before eating her own, as if making sure order had been restored. Gabriel smiled faintly.

“You like being in charge, don’t you?” In reply, Gaia chirped happily.

“Right. Back to business.” And back to business he would go. The first shed was supposed to be simple. Warm water. Gentle rubbing. A little oil where the skin was tight. Plenty of rest. Food if the hatchlings felt like eating. And Gabriel knew hatchlings could get a little iffy towards things and he supposed this was just one of those things.

Gaia wanted to be rubbed only on the left side, then became offended when Gabriel did not immediately rub the right side too. Zip wanted to be in the shade, until she wanted to be in the sun, until she wanted to tuck herself under Gabriel’s arm and hide from both. Strogan wanted to help but only succeeded in drenching everyone in water and God wanted to sleep through the entire process, snapping at water Strogan was kicking up in her attempt to “help”.

Gabriel sat in the grass with all four around him and wondered, not for the first time, how something so small could require so much work.

“Right. Food, yeah?” he said, reaching for the bowl he had carefully prepared. It was a mixture of different things that the dragons may or may not like. He understood babies could be finicky. There was a bit of fish, fruits, soft tender meat beef perhaps and some chicken. All four hatchlings looked at it. He called Gaia forward first, showed her the bowl and nodded when she glanced up to watch him carefully. She sniffed the bowl before stepping back, chittering to her fellow hatchlings. Gabriel wasn’t sure what she had said but it must have been a good thing because Zip approached, sniffing the food herself before settling on the fruits. Then it was Strogan’s turn. Gabriel had to lift the bowl up to avoid Strogan crashing into it when her own tail tripped her up. She went for the fish, chomping it down like she had never eaten before.

God was still laying down when it was his turn. He grumbled, a low sound but made no move to stand up. So Gaia took the opportunity to pick what she wanted out of the remaining food options. She went for the chicken and Gabriel smiled warmly at her when she glanced up at him and he could swear she was smiling back.

Gabriel stood up then, moving over to where God was laying. When he approached God yawned, showing every tiny tooth in his mouth. Gabriel eyed him. “Don’t bite me.” God’s mouth closed with a loud SNAP that made Gabriel jump just a little.

The vernid narrowed his eyes at the small hatchling before showing him what was in the bowl. He was pretty surprised when the bipedal baby scrambled up from his laying position. Even more surprised when he shoved his head into the bowl and ate almost as aggressively as Strogan had. So… God liked beef, Gaia liked chicken, Strogan liked fish and Zip, much to his surprise, preferred fruits and what not.

Perhaps these hatchlings weren’t going to be as much a handful as he had originally thought. Hopefully.