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“Well, we found him,” Alice said, staring at the ocean-blue dragon at the bottom of the pit. A snot bubble extended from his nostrils, growing and shrinking in time with the rising and falling of his back. Alice turned her head towards Tafel, who was standing beside her. “Now what?”
Tafel rubbed her eyes a few times and wiped the dark expression from her face by pushing the corners of her lips upwards into a smile with her fingers. She exhaled and lowered her hands. “Don’t get mad,” she muttered. “Don’t get mad.” Her head swiveled around as she inspected the surroundings. “He chose the weirdest place to fall asleep. It looks like a beehive.”
“There’s traces of blood in these holes,” Mr. Skelly said. He held up his bloody finger which he swiped inside a nearby crevice. “These are the perfect size to house those larval-like things those chimeras were holding while attacking us. Maybe this is a nursery?”
“So Vur wiped out their spawning center,” Tafel said. She nodded. “That’s cool. Okay. Sure. I’m fine with that.” She chewed on her lower lip as she stomped down the muddy path leading towards the bottom of the egg-shaped cavern. Unfortunately for her, her stomps didn’t echo, muffled by the bloody mud instead. She strode up to Vur’s face and extended her staff to pop the snot bubble. With a splat, a stream of green goo dropped to the ground by Tafel’s feet.
Vur snorted twice and stirred. One eye creaked open. He made eye contact with Tafel. Then his eye closed again. Another bubble of snot rose out of his nostril, inflating like a balloon.
“Vur!” Tafel shouted and smashed the bubble by swinging her staff like a mace. “Wake up!”
A few mumbles escaped from Vur’s mouth followed by a jet of steam blowing out of his nostrils. His neck bent and curved towards his torso, burying his head into the crevice between his body and his wing. His tail wrapped around as well, blocking off the passage to his face. A fairy poked her head out of the space between his two wings. “Vur’s sleeping,” Stella said and put a finger to her lips. “Sshh.”
“I can see that!” Tafel said, her voice echoing through the chamber. “Vur. If you don’t wake up and explain yourself, I’ll…, I’ll…. Ugh….” She ground her teeth together and stamped her foot.
“You’ll what?” Alice asked from her position higher up in the cavern. The elementals floating around her drifted down and settled back into Vur’s body, forming the tattoos along his scales.
“I can’t think of anything,” Tafel said. “How am I supposed to get mad at a dragon? If I got mad at any other dragon other than Vur, I’d be eaten. Threats don’t work. Pleading doesn’t work. He can’t even hear me when he sleeps!”
“You know, a marriage is supposed to be a partnership between two people,” Alice said. “I don’t see why you have to resort to threats. You shouldn’t have to beg either.”
Tafel gave Alice a dirty look. “I don’t want relationship advice from someone who regularly hits off her partner’s head.” She turned her attention back onto Vur and frowned. “If he was in his human form, I could shake him awake. But I can’t shake him when he’s this huge.” She bit her lower lip and took a few steps back. The gem on the end of her staff shone as she pointed it at Vur. “Maybe I’ll nudge him with a glacier. Freezing Path!”
A brilliant blue light flashed, and a jet of white air flew out of Tafel’s staff. The air condensed into a wall of ice which promptly melted into a puddle of water that evaporated in an instant. Tafel’s expression stiffened as her staff stopped glowing. She waved it again. “Freezing Path…?” For a brief moment, her staff lit up before fizzling out. Tafel lowered her weapon and brought the end of her staff close to her face. She blinked and rubbed the gem a few times with her sleeve. “What’s going on?”
“Vur said not to wake him up,” Stella said. She was sitting with her legs crossed on top of Vur’s back. “So I canceled your spell.”
“You … canceled my spell?” Tafel’s brow furrowed. A long time ago, when she was still a child, someone had told her fairies could silence people. Was it Dustin? It was probably Dustin. She had forgotten about it since all fairies ever did to her was curse her. “Right. Fairies could do that…. The whole time that I’ve known you, you could’ve been contributing, but you weren’t!?”
“What?” Stella’s eyes widened. “I’ve been contributing this whole time! What do you mean?”
Tafel pointed at Stella. “You could’ve canceled out those blood arrow spells. Back in the eastern continent, you could’ve helped so many times when we were doing those random quests that Alice insisted on taking. But you…! Hah. I need to calm down.”
“For the record, those quests weren’t taken at random,” Alice said and adjusted her glasses with her finger. “I mapped out an efficient route for your request as a part of my guide duty. You should be more thankful. Don’t sound exasperated at me for doing what you asked me to.”
“You’re right,” Tafel said. “Sorry.” She glared at Stella. “I should be exasperated at the freeloader.”
Stella crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her chin towards the ceiling. “I’m not a freeloader. I’m an adorable mascot. I raise the morale of the party. Without me, you’d be a group of boring stuck-up people.”
Mr. Skelly turned towards Alice. “Are we boring?”
“I prefer the term studious,” Alice said with a frown.
“It’s too loud.” The ground and walls shook as Vur spread his wings, sending gusts of wind in all directions. He climbed to his feet and rubbed his eyes with the backs of his paws before looking around. His eyes rolled up to the top of his head to stare at Stella, who repositioned herself on his forehead. “How long was I asleep?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“…Really?” Vur asked, blinking twice. He stared down at his paws, flipping them over to inspect the fronts as well. “Then why do I feel so refreshed? It feels like I slept for twenty straight years.”
“You’ve not even twenty years old,” Tafel said and glared at Vur while placing her hands on her hips. “Do you have anything you want to say for yourself? About Diamant, I mean.”
“Eh….”
“There’s no moon!” Tafel waved her staff in the air, attracting Vur’s gaze which was slipping towards the ceiling. “Don’t say it!”