A stranger in the hallway

Yesterday's incident continued to linger in Kurt's head.

Right when he was enjoying his time with his mother, someone in their dragon form appeared out of nowhere and tried to jump on him.

On one hand, it made sense, he was the son of the emperor, after all, it should be obvious that people would try to attack him sometimes.

With that said, this event made Kurt notice something he never thought about before.

"How come there are no guards in the mansion...?" he asked out loud while laying on his bed with his arms behind his head.

Dorothy was resting on top of his feet and staring right at him, keeping him company, 'Who knows...'

"Like... Seriously... We have maids, butlers, chefs, cleaners, gardeners... But never any guards! Isn't that strange??" he wondered.

'You guys are all giant fire-breathing lizards hiding in human disguises, right? Maybe the emperor thinks you don't need guards... Your mother did protect you after all...'

"I don't know..." Kurt responded while scratching his chin, "Mother managed to handle it this time... But what if there were more?"

'Then, can't you just ask for help? All the people in the park were dragons as well... Wouldn't they be eager to give aid to the royal family?'

"The people of the park..." he mumbled, now also realizing that nobody even raised an eye when that green-haired lady appeared. Is being attacked a common thing in this world? he wondered, "Ugh... I really want to go and talk to mom or dad, by my Dragonese still sucks... I probably wouldn't get most of what they say..."

'What a wimp... I managed to learn Dragonese when I was half your size...'

"You're a freaking owl... You ARE half my size..." he pointed out.

'My argument still stands!!' she yelled out while flapping her wings.

"Whatever..." he replied while getting out of his bed and exiting the room.

'Where are you going?' Dorothy asked while flaying after him.

"Library... If I can't talk to anyone maybe I can get some answers in the books..."

Dorothy landed on his shoulder and the two began to move through the mansion while trying to find the library. Kurt began to look around with more attention in order to confirm his theory, and just as he expected, he couldn't find a single guard or any trace of security anywhere.

He began to consider what reason the emperor might have for doing this. Maybe he was confident in the self-defense abilities of his family? Maybe there is some barrier around the mansion that keeps enemies away? Or maybe the war was progressing at such a positive pace on their side that he felt he had nothing to fear from possible invaders?

'Maybe he just wants you to fight...' Dorothy commented.

"What...? Why would the emperor want his own son to fight?"

'I don't know...' she shrugged, 'Maybe dragons just like fighting?'

That last comment stuck with Kurt little. He was about to say how silly it would be if all dragons just enjoyed fighting, but then he remembered that even his own mother, who he always assumed couldn't hurt a fly, still managed to take down that giant tree dragon lady by simply slapping her away like a volleyball.

Was Kurt supposed to have fought against her? But if he was, why did his mother stand in front of her? And if that was the case, how come he had never seen other dragons fighting before?

Maybe there was more to that theory than he imagined.

Kurt then raised an eyebrow after thinking that her guess was way too good to be just a guess, "Do you really not know? I find it weird that you would just send a kid to a strange world without having SOME knowledge of how things work..."

Dorothy rolled her eyes, 'Oh, please... I send people to different worlds all the damn time... You can't expect me to remember how all of them function. Do you remember the story of every movie you've seen? The rules of every game you've played? The details of every book you've read?'

Kurt just stared at her as if she had asked something obvious, "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I...?"

Dorothy stayed quiet for a moment and just sighed, 'Ah... That's right... I forgot you were a loner with no friends...'

"Uhh... Ouch?"

[Who are you talking to?] someone asked in Dragonese, interrupting their conversation.

Kurt turned around to see a tall lady with long white hair and wearing a golden dress standing in front of a room as if she was just about to enter it but decided to stop at the last second.

"Uuhhh... Who the heck is that??" Kurt whispered to his owl trying to not sound suspicious. He didn't expect someone to catch him talking to Dorothy while he wasn't paying attention.

'Well... Her hair looks like white like snow... So my guess would be... Cinderella?'

"Dory!! Come on!!"

[Hey, I'm talking to you!] the lady asked while approaching the duo.

"What did she say? She spoke too fast and I didn't catch it!"

'She's telling you to give your owl all your money.'

"Dory!!!"

'Fine, Fine... She's asking who you're talking to...'

[Ah! Ai wuas jiust puactishing mai spuieech!] Kurt tried to explain in the best way he could.

The lady began to lean forward and started to hold her chin while studying the two of them, [Mmmm... I haven't seen you before... Are you a new employee? No... Your clothes are way too good for that...]

"What's she saying??"

'She's saying that Star Wars really should have stopped after the first trilogy... And honestly, I have to agree.'

"Dory!!!" Kurt yelled while glaring at his pet.

Dorothy turned away to hide her laughter, 'Sorry, sorry, I can't resist! Kikikiki! I need to get these out of my system before you learn how to speak by yourself!'

[Ah... You must be the emperor's latest son... You two have the same red hair after all... And I can see a few of his features in your face...] the lady mentioned.

"Uuhh... Should I even bother asking for your help...?" Kurt wondered.

'She's saying that the world is going to explode in five seconds unless you walk on all four and howl like a dog. I swear, on my name!'

"Your name was given by me!!"

'Well, maybe next time you will give me a better one...'

"Ugh..."

The lady realized that the boy didn't understood a single thing she was saying and simply smiled while caressing his hair, causing Kurt to blush a little upon seeing her closer and realizing that she was rather beautiful.

[Mmm... I bet You're Sabiri's child... So she finally managed to do something useful for once! Hihihi.]

"What is happening...? Why is she laughing like this? Why is she touching my hair??" Kurt asked while trying to stop his body from shaking and his face from burning.

'Mmm... I have a few joke responses to that question, but I feel I can't use them until you turn sixteen...'

"What does that even mean???"

[Well, it was nice meeting you... See you around kiddo!] the lady waved while finally going into her room and leaving the boy and his bird alone in the hallway.

"Well... That happened..."

'Indeed... I wonder if it will be as funny when you meet the others...'

"What others?"

'You'll see! Kikiki.'

____________

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After a couple of hours in the library and picking out any books that resembled anything that might give insights into dragon behavior or dragon biology, Kurt finally decided to take a small break after finishing up a tower of eight books.

[Ugh... That was exhausting...] he commented.

'Oh, hey! Your dragon speech got a little better!' Dorothy commented while observing him from the top of the tower.

"Thanks... I think seeing so many words in this language gave me a few hints..." he replied while resting his head on the table.

'So... Did you find anything?'

Kurt stared at her for a couple of seconds and took a deep breath before giving his answer.

"Well... I found a couple of details about the history of the empire and how it was formed... I assume..." he added, "It's kinda hard to tell..."

'Still suffering from the language barrier?'

The boy kept his head down staring at the pages and trying to grasp just what exactly he was looking at, but he was still not familiar enough with the writing of this world, "Very much so... It would be one thing if they used words to write, but they actually rely on symbols. I think I got a surface idea of what they're talking about in these books but not the actual details... We might need to be here the whole night..."

'I think this might have a problem then...' Dorothy commented.

"Why?"

'Look up.'

Kurt did as he was told and before his very eyes, a figure drenched in black appeared. A large shadow of the size of a bull staring right at him with a piercing glare of blood-red eyes. He was about to make out its appearance but the lights of the library suddenly burned out, leaving them all in darkness.

The only thing he saw was a pair of floating red dots staring right at him.

"Uuuuhh... Hello...?" he mumbled while slowly starting to tremble, "C- C- Can I help you...?"

The figure stepped forward and revealed a pair of arms with razor-sharp claws that would shine with the light of the moons appearing through the window.

"Guess not!" he shouted while closing his book and jumping out of his chair.

The kid began to dash towards the exit door but a second figure appeared before him, this time with a long tail sticking out from its behind.

"Oh... You brought a friend..." Kurt noted while giving slow steps backwards.

A third figure popped out on his back, this one with large horns sticking out from its head, standing still and blocking his path.

"Friends... Plural... Oh... Even better!! Haha... Ha... ... Ha...?"

Kurt had nowhere to run. The three figures circled him, all while continuing to hold their red glare as if they were staring into his soul.

[Take him...]