2) Becoming Friends…

So the day Grace did not return to the tower, on my sixth birthday all those years ago, I had gotten very sad and began crying. Drakon was normally very harsh towards me. He would check every morning to make sure I was in my tower room and check every evening to ensure that I was in bed. He also would randomly come by to ensure I was obeying the rules and not leaving the castle, but I never knew when he would check. He had threatened me with fire a few times growing up when I tried to leave the tower and go outside to play. It had come so close that I had burn holes in some of my clothes and many toys were destroyed from his temper. So, I did my best to avoid him and not push any of his buttons, as I feared his temper. Something was different that morning though, he could hear me crying and kept coming to check on me over and over again. He did not grump around or even do any threatening when I leaned out the window. By the afternoon, I was still crying and he did something that shocked both him and me.

I was crying in my room when all of a sudden my door opened and Drakon came into the room. He was carrying a bunch of the prettiest yellow daffodils in his mouth. I had never seen any so gorgeous before. They were even so pretty that I paused in my crying to stare at them, and him carrying them in. He gently and slowly inched into the room towards me. I was shocked and did not move - just watching him as he came closer and closer. Then suddenly he changed directions and moved in the direction of my bed, bent his head down, and dumped the flower bouquet in the center of the bed. I remember smiling for the first time that day, and saying, "Thank you Drakon." He was clearly taken back by my statement, turned quickly and exited the room. He nearly hit me with his mighty tale in the process of hurrying out of the room but I did not mind, as I smelled the amazing fragrance of daffodils.

This became the routine for a while: I would wake up and look for Grace, she would be still gone, and I would begin crying again until lunch time. At lunch - Drakon would arrive with a new bouquet of flowers to cheer me up. They were different almost every day. He bought me beautiful blue bell bonnets, dazzling orange tiger lilies, brilliant yellow sunflowers, crispy white lilies of the valley, etc. The flowers were always gorgeous, always a vibrant color, and… always dumped on my bed as he rushed out of the room again. I would yell out 'thank you', trying to get it out before he would get out of the room. This continued until one day - I stopped crying and then Drakon stopped bringing flowers. I thought that seeing him every day would end too but it didn't. Drakon continued to keep showing up every day for that 'extra visit' in the afternoons, with new little gifts on most days. To this day, I'm still unsure where he got the gifts from, but I appreciated every one with a smile and a quick 'thank you' before he was gone again. This is how our budding friendship began.

Months later, I finally got brave and decided to give asking Drakon a request a try and see how it went. There was an old library in the castle. I knew this because I had snuck down there a handful of times when Drak was not looking, just to find one or two random books to read. It was almost my seventh birthday and I wanted to read some books on birthday celebrations. So when Drak came for the usual afternoon visit, I was waiting for him. He came into the room and I instantly hopped up off the bed and walked up to him. I asked, "Drakon, I would like to go to the castle library to get a couple books. I promise to not attempt to leave the castle. Please, may I go to the library?" Drakon was clearly taken back but after a small pause, his giant head bobbed up and down. I was totally shocked to see him respond - and even more so that he had said yes, but I quickly jumped up and down with glee as I headed for the door. I was not going to wait for him to change his mind and say no. "Oh, thank you Drakon. Thank you!" I gleefully said as I excitedly reached the hallway and started walking down the one that leads to the library.

Drakon, still unsure about what he had agreed to, followed me down the long corridor, all the way down to the library study. Inside, I just paused and stared at all the books. It looked so much bigger now than when I has to just rush in and rush out to avoid being caught. Drakon looked around the room once but then his gaze turned back to me as my excited six year old self just started darting all over the place looking at all the hundreds of books. When I finally picked a book, I sat down to read it. Noticing Drakon still at the doorway, I decided to read the story out loud, so that he could hear it too. He sat down and listened to the whole story, and so was our friendship solidified between us that day - as I read and he listened, keeping me company.

Thinking about all this, I smiled a wide grin and finished putting my hair up into a pony tail before going down the corridor in search of Drak. Drakon made sure I never felt lonely anymore from that day forward. Memory lane always started and ended with Drak being around, and he made every day special. I could not imagine life without him, and I was curious what he would do for this birthday… while I also hoped that Margaret would not show up this year and try to ruin it.

"Drak, Drak, where are you?" I yelled as I skipped down the hall beginning to think about what my gift would be this year. I remembered last year, he had hidden in one of the rooms a ton of Dark Chocolate Bonbons and Carmel Truffles. My mouth just began watering thinking about them. I had eaten the last one a few weeks ago. "Drak?" I called again. Of course, he had given me some amazing experiences for gifts too. For my thirteenth birthday gift, Drakon had taken my flying though the clouds. That was definitely an amazing experience. Calling him again, I realized that I was reaching the end of the hall with still no sign of him. "Drakon, where are you?" I said a bit anxiously as I started to worry and have fear creeping up. Drak never had disappeared - he was never missing. "Drakon?"