Whenever
Riva looks at me, I almost expect her fire cloak to ignite. After all, she is a
fire dragon, though I would have never guessed that based on her appearance.
Normally, fire dragons have red or orange scales, but Riva’s scales are gray
and blue. But her odd scale colors don’t make her any less fierce when she is
angry or provoked. When that happens, her scales shine brightly and small
flames rise from them, which soon turn into a blazing fire that cloaks Riva.
I
see her resting in the forest. She is lying down, but her eyes are open,
indicating that she is still alert to potential danger. Most likely, she was
just hunting but decided to relax for a few minutes before returning to her
cave. I step on a twig, which alerts her to my presence. She picks up her head
and looks in my direction. Almost surprisingly, her fire cloak does not ignite,
though her scales start to shine as if they will burst into flame at any second.
She just stares in my direction.
Another
person would flee, but this is not my first encounter with Riva. I have seen
her before and even managed to earn her trust, which is not an easy thing to
do. Riva is slow to trust others, especially humans. In fact, the only reason
she would even speak to me initially is because I am only half human. My other
half is one of Riva’s kin. Yes, I am half dragon.
I’ve
been this way for as long as I can remember and most people were not exactly
accepting of a hybrid girl in a world run by humans. They rejected me because I
was a freak…or maybe they were afraid of me. With the large blue wings on my
back, my spiked tail, horns, sharp claws, and fangs, I must have looked like a
demonic monster to some people, despite looking primarily human. But Riva does
not fear or reject me.
I
approach her. The first time I saw Riva, my approach was slow and cautious. At
the time, I did not know that Riva could set herself on fire, but I did know
that Riva would still be quite dangerous if she decided that I was a threat. Of
course, now I approach Riva as a friend or an ally (Riva insists that we’re
allies, not friends). She watches me, somewhat suspicious, but this is Riva.
She is weary around everyone, including me, despite claiming that I earned her
trust. Once I asked her why and she said that when you trust someone too much,
you lower your guard and they can easily betray you. I guess she was talking
from experience.
When
I’m close enough, Riva gives me a silent greeting and I give her a small wave.
I sit next to her, but my tail makes sitting somewhat awkward at first and I
have to shift to get in a more comfortable position with my tail off to the
side.
“What
are you doing in the forest?” I ask Riva.
“Hunting,
she says, confirming my earlier thoughts, “And you?”
“Just
going for a walk,” I reply.
Riva
scoffs, “Why walk when you can fly?”
Of
course, she is referring to the wings on my back. Since I am half dragon, I
have some draconic abilities. One of them is flight. My wings are large enough
to carry me though the sky and Riva has seen me take flight before. We have
even flown together a number of times.
“Because
I enjoy walking,” I say.
Riva
only rolls her eyes, but she is a dragon, not a hybrid. She does not always
understand why certain things bring me pleasure when a dragon might not enjoy
them. She does not see the point of walking long distances when flying is
significantly faster. Especially since most humans would gladly give up the
ability to walk if they could fly instead. But I just find walking relaxing. Of
course, I also love flying and would never sacrifice my wings or the feeling of
complete freedom that comes from being airborne that Riva and all other winged
dragons are addicted to. Despite being a hybrid, I have become addicted to this
feeling as well.
Riva
suddenly turns, as if she is detecting the scent of some wild animal. I do not
register any scent, but I’m just a hybrid. My senses are sharper than those of
an ordinary human, but they will never be as strong as the senses of a dragon.
Sure
enough, a deer walks into my line of sight. Riva looks like she is considering
chasing it, but decides not to. I guess she has already satisfied her hunting
needs for now. The deer leaves and Riva’s gaze shifts to me. She’s probably
wondering why I don’t hunt very often when my dragon instincts should be
prompting me to. But she only sees this forest as a hunting ground and does not
see the point of coming here for anything other than a hunting expedition
(unless she is promised treasure of course). Naturally, she does not understand
why I walk around in the forest for no reason, but she’s used to seeing me
here.
That
is how we met actually. I had been walking in the forest like I was today when
I saw a dragon moving swiftly; most likely she was hunting. Her scales were
gray and blue and she wore two golden necklaces. This was also one of the only
times I saw her without her scales shimmering and threatening to ignite. But I
guess I had gotten too close because she detected my scent and soon her
attention was on me.
I
should have run (or flown away), but I didn’t. I stayed because I was surprised
to see a dragon. They rarely appeared these days and most people thought they
were extinct. Besides, I had never met one of my kin I felt more connected to
dragons than humans, despite my humanoid appearance.
The
dragon was also surprised to see me, but for different reasons. Hybrids were
extremely rare and the majority of hybrids took on the feature of wild animals
like tigers or wolves. Hybrids based on creatures like dragons were even less
common. Some people even believed that such hybrids did not exist (unless they
happened to encounter one). The dragon obviously did not expect to see me, a
humanoid girl with dragon wings, walking through the forest.
I
convinced her to talk to me and learned that her name was Riva and that she was
a fire dragon, despite her unusual scale colors. We met a few times after that,
usually in the forest, but occasionally in the sky. During one of those
encounters, Riva showed me her fire cloak. During another, she gave me lessons
in hunting (she was quite surprised to learn that I didn’t know how to hunt).
And during a more recent encounter, I brought a sketchbook and drew Riva lying
in the grass. Since all dragons are naturally vain, Riva had no objections to
posing for me.
I
stay in the forest with Riva for a while. Despite the fact that she insists
that we are still allies and not friends, I think she really does consider me a
friend. She is just too proud to admit it. But I could be wrong. It’s often
hard to tell with Riva.
