Forest Adventures: Father and Daughter

SLAM!!

Elias slammed the door to the guild open.

"Hey kid it's midni-"

"There's a dragon!" Elias interrupted the receptionist, sweat running down his brow

"Bullshit" the man responded, glaring at Elias

"I saw it, it was huge and red a-and it spoke"

The receptionist looked at Elias, skeptical of what he was saying. "Really? A dragon? If there really is a dragon, what do you want me to do about it? Tell it to leave or something? Maybe offer it a beer?"

"N-no... Report it to the guild master or something I dunno."

Elias stammered, approaching the receptionist

The receptionist let out a sigh "ugh I'll do it tomorrow. I'm too tired and the guild master is in Silver brook right now, he won't be back till then anyway. Go to bed, it's late"

Tired and exhausted, Elias gave in and went to the inn he was staying at and collapsed on his bed.

***

"She's finally asleep. I'm surprised she managed to eat so much" Fyrielle said, curled up around Luna, who was sleeping soundly in her embrace.

Verethorn, also asleep, laid beside Fyrielle, letting out low rumbles with each breath.

Fyrielle let out a sigh "she really takes after him the most"

Yawn Fyrielle awoke to find that Luna was gone "Luna?" She called out. Looking around, Verethorn was still sleeping and Luna was no where to be seen "Luna?" She called out again, this time more anxiously, her worried voice echoing throughout the cavern. With a growing sense of urgency, Fyrielle shot up, her instincts kicking into high gear. She started to run through the tunnel, with each step shaking the cavern causing a stalactite to fall on Verethorns head waking him up "an earthquake?"

As Fyrielle exited the cave, the dense foliage brushed against her head momentarily blocking her view and causing her to run into a tree, knocking it over with a frustrated grunt."damnit!" She exclaimed. Frantically scanning the area, Fyrielle couldn't see Luna anywhere near the entrance, growing more worried, she called out "Luna!" Suddenly, a little burst of fire illuminated her face, surprising Fyrielle. Looking within the branches and burnt leaves of a nearby tree, was a little black dragon the size of large dog staring at her with a mischievous gleam in it's eyes. Relief washed over Fyrielle, which was quickly replaced with anger as she wanted to berate the little dragon, but stopped herself, recognising Luna's innocence.

As Fyrielle reached for Luna using one of her claws, the foliage around the entrance parted revealing Verethorn "what's the rush?" He yawned as he stepped further out of the tunnel, the foliage returning to their previous state.

"Do you have no sense of urgency?" Fyrielle snapped back.

Luna had stepped onto Fyrielles claw, gently placing her down onto the floor. "Luna had run off, what if she was hurt? She can't defend herself"

Verethorn looked at Luna and back to Fyrielle "she's fine though" he thought to himself aware of the dangers of saying such a thing. "How about I take her out to explore the forest today? I'm sure she'd enjoy that. We don't need to worry too much about food for her as well right now, I noticed she ate the rest of the deer you brought back, except for the bones"

Fyrielle thought for a moment before replying, her voice firm with a hint of concern "just be careful, I'll clean up the bones while you're gone and if you're not back by sundown I'll tear this forest apart to find you"

"I don't doubt that" Verethorn responded with a chuckle, understanding the seriousness in her tone.

"Come on" he said to Luna, who quickly followed.

"Seems she's a quick learner" he thought to himself after noticing Luna understand his words.

As Verethorn and Luna delved deeper into the forest, she was completely enthralled by the sights and sounds of nature around her. Verethorn, the expert in nature that he is, pointed out various plants and animals along the way, Luna, filled with curiosity, attentively listened to her father and marveled at everything around her.

Further into the forest they stumbled upon a field filled with vibrant flowers of differing shapes and colours. Luna was in awe at the sight in front of her, trotting around, chasing butterflies and smelling all the different flowers. After spotting a horned rabbit, she decided to sneak up on it and pounce, only the rabbit was too fast for her to catch, which led to Luna chasing rabbit around the field. After a few minutes of this, she shot a stream of fire from her mouth at the horned rabbit, setting it's back ablaze. The rabbit, being chased by a dragon several times bigger than it and it's back on fire, ran around as much as it could setting the field of flowers on fire. Luna paused, not knowing what to do about the spreading fire.

"I think that's enough of that" Verethorn chuckled, amused at his daughters antics. Four fines shot out from the ground beneath the horned rabbit, three of them holding it in place, the last tightly wrapped around its neck, quickly killing it.

"Tirjik'vi" Verethorn uttered in the draconic tongue, dark clouds formed above the flower field, Luna looking up, wondering what's happening. Suddenly, a downpour started to shower down onto the field, putting out the fires, leaving burnt flowers behind. After a few moments the rain stopped and clouds parted.

Luna, dejected, went up to some of the burnt flowers, knowing she caused this.

"Don't worry too much about it Luna, watch" Verethorn called out reassuringly, the flowers began to rise up, their wilted stems straightening and their petals regaining their colour. They appeared healthier than before they were charred by the fire. Luna's eyes lit up with a mixture of relief and wonder as she witnessed the recovery of the burnt flowers.

"That's my magic" he said, capturing Luna's attention. She ran up to her father and sat, looking up at him with an attentive stare. "Interested in magic are we?" Verethorn began to stroll into the forest towards with Luna closely following next to him "I use earth magic" he continued "more specifically, nature magic - the manipulation or controlling the elements of nature itself" a vine wrapped around an apple lowered itself down to luna, presenting the fruit to her and with one large bite, the apple was devoured, the sweet juice dribbling down her chin as she chewed it happily. "I'll teach you more about magic when you're a bit older"

As the day wore on, Verethorn taught Luna about the importance of nature, and as dragons, they should respect it "of course, your mother is more destructive than gentle" he chuckled "so it's our job to make sure she doesn't destroy any forests" with the sun going down, he decided it would be best they head home.

"Ah you're back" Fyrielle said, lying outside the entrance to the cavern "I hope you two had fun" Luna came running up to her mother, excited to see her

"She burnt down a flower field" Verethorn replied, walking towards the entrance

"That's my little Lou! You really do have a a bit of red dragon in you" Fyrielle excitedly exclaimed, looking down at the little dragon in front of her. Luna let out a stream of fire in her mother's face, glad her mother is so proud of her. "Your flames are hotter than this morning, I'm so proud of you" Fyrielle nuzzled her daughters head with her own.