First exploration

Author's note:

For now I would use:

"For dialogues aloud"

'For mental conversations'

------------------------------

A sniff against my ribs wakes me from my sleep, a black winged lizard with amber eyes stares at me and seems to be probing me, I feel its expectation.

I get up, I feel better than yesterday, my body doesn't send me back any pain, I'm still a little hungry and thirsty but nothing alarming, I feel for the first time ready to face the day.

A wave of joy hits me and I turn to the dragon who jumps in excitement, this sight as well as his emotions make me smile.

"Little dragon, you're in a good mood today, thanks for keeping me warm tonight." »

After what just happened, I don't like calling him "little dragon."

"I won't call you little dragon forever, a hunter like you deserves a name!" Unless you prefer little mouse! »

He gently nibbles my leg while I laugh. "Let me think about finding a name for you, you don't name a dragon lightly!" While waiting for me to find you a name let's look for water"

We return to the village but apart from the trees we don't see much with the size of the grass that now populates this village.

We enter the first dwelling tree that crosses our path. The interior looks exactly like where I woke up but this time I take the time to poke around as much as I can.

The harvest is interesting, there are lots of useful things here but I haven't found any water or food so for the moment it doesn't really help us.

The only thing that can be useful to me for the moment is that I found weapons but they are in a bad state… I don't know how long this village has been abandoned but given the state of metal weapons that I found, it's been at least several years. Metal needs maintenance otherwise it becomes brittle and unusable, especially over such long periods of time.

Anyway, the lightest weapon I've found is a short sword, but it's still too heavy for me, it would be more of an annoyance than an advantage to walk around with this thing, especially in its condition.

A strong feeling of hunger and thirst passes through me and I look at the little dragon following me.

" You know ? I'm thirsty myself, it doesn't really help me that you keep sending me your thirst and your hunger... If you're hungry go eat the panther, I would like not to eat a corpse again if it's possible. Please don't walk away and avoid being chased by anyone this time"

He just grunts before leaving, he definitely doesn't like my humor...

Time passes and I'm afraid that if I insist any longer searching the houses, we won't have anything to drink when night falls, we'll have to explore the forest, an idea that I really dislike.

A feeling of thirst hits me once again but this time stronger. 'What did I just say? I understand that you're thirsty, I'm thirsty too! I'm coming, we'll fetch water in the forest'

I join my dragon but finally stay away when I see him devouring the carcass. He'll end up making me vomit if I look at him, but as soon as he sees me, he joins me with his mouth smeared with blood and I wince again.

"Glad you chose me as your partner, I could have been in that panther's place if you had attacked me in the tree" a shiver runs through me at the thought.

"Thank you for choosing me little dragon, I will try to be worthy to be the companion of a dragon"

In response, he growls again and I feel a little offended by this reaction… He's in a very bad mood when he doesn't have a full stomach.

We start to walk through the village, but with all this grass, I can't see anything. Seeing no source of water we leave the village and enter the heart of the forest.

During our walk, we do not encounter any particular problem and I take this opportunity to think about finding a name for him, but all the names that come to mind and that I propose to him are met with a clear refusal on his part.

"You're very difficult for a lizard (he glares at me but this time it's me who ignores him), I don't remember any elven name, let alone a dragon's, even though I find one, it will necessarily be very different from those usually given to those of your race. Are you sure you want a name out of my imagination? »

He growls in affirmation and confirms it to me mentally.

"Okay, you can't concentrate on watching while we're seriously picking out a name for you, let's stop and choose a name worthy of you." »