Dawning Skye

As she steadily built her height, the smells from the various foods made her stomach growl loudly. Lenny laughed at her as she flew back and forth from one end of the field to the other. Telling her that she could eat as soon as they finished her training for the day.

“Your mother even ordered a special treat for you tonight! A whole roasted lamb, just for you! How does that sound?”

Zazzy nodded her head, but didn’t seem as enthusiastic as she normally was about getting to eat pure meat. Lenny thought it strange, but there wasn’t exactly anything he could do about it. Not with her in the air, at least.

“If you come down now, I’ll get the meat ready! How’s that sound my scaly friend?!”

Zazzy lit up for a moment, but then jerked her head up with a searching expression on her face. ‘I smell mother and father! And the nice Cat Lady! They’re where the good food smell is coming from!’

Without thinking it through, Zazzy took off; following her nose as she flew higher than normal. A tiny voice in her head sputtered about altitude and wind pressure, but she didn’t really understand it. If it wasn’t for her muscle memory, Zazzy wasn’t even sure she’d be at this point in her learning.

As the smells became stronger, more and more people came into view. She’d begun to feel a little scared when everyone started yelling and pointing at her, but she reminded herself that no one could get her in the air. With a big sniff, Zazzy turned and followed the air currents to find her mother.

A lot of other smells were mixed in, but Zazzy could pinpoint Skye or Tidas’ position from anywhere. Not just because of their smells, but something else. The three were connected on some level that the baby dragon didn’t understand, but had complete faith in.

.....

She knew how much her parents loved her, and vice versa. Skye told her multiple times, every time she saw her. Tidas had only said it a few times, but cuddled her constantly, even with her current size. Plus, every once in a while, when no one was around; they’d go for runs together. Even though Tidas was much faster than her on foot, she still loved it.

Coasting on a stream of air, Zazzy was hit with a strong wave of her mother’s scent. She couldn’t figure out where she was; all the humans looked tiny to her from the air. It was then that Zazzy realized that she was over five times higher than she’d ever been. Excitement surged within the baby dragon as she thought about how proud her mother would be..

Listening to the tiny voice in her head, Zazzy tilted her wings to circle around, and swoop in lower for a better look. More humans than she’d ever seen gathered together on the ground. They were yelling and screaming at each other over things Zazzy didn’t understand or care to know.

All she wanted was her parents and some yummy food.. Felling a touch desperate, Zazzy roared as loud as she could, hoping her mother would hear her over all the other humans. ‘She Has to be down there somewhere! I can smell her!’

Right as she was going to turn around and leave, Zazzy heard her mother’s voice. A deep kind of cooing noise escaped her as she saw Skye running out into the muddy field with a giant smile, and open arms. As Zazzy touched down into the squishy mess, Skye ran over and wrapped her arms around her while large crowds of spectators watched on in awe.

As Skye hugged and loved on the dragon, she realized how freaked out a lot of people looked. As Tidas came to her side and pet the happy, overgrown baby, Magnus hopped on to the announcement system to nip any issues in the bud now.

As the microphones crackled to life, Magnus spoke as clearly and quickly as possible:

“As you all may recall; last year, the Fae entrusted a dormant dragon egg to my daughter-in-law, Skye! On this past Yuletide, the egg hatched, and the baby dragon has bonded to Skye! The Fae told me that to separate them would cause the baby dragon to die, so I allowed her to raise it! What think you, my people?! Has she done her job well?!”

Knowing that they were talking about her, Zazzy turned towards the crowds with curiosity. When her mother told her in a low voice to ‘wave at the nice people’, Zazzy stuck her paw up in the air, and complied. The gesture earned cheers and enthusiasm in the most positive sense.

When several people started to step onto the field, several mage guards appeared out of nowhere, and stopped the majority of people from approaching. Only Shasta, the twins, the diplomats, and the dignitaries were allowed to pass. Even regular members of the court weren’t allowed.

If Tidas had his way, the diplomats and dignitaries would’ve been kept back as well, but the king motioned to let them through. He assumed his father was planning on using Zazzy as another example of the benefits to being Alcon’s ally. It irritated him greatly that his father was so Blatantly using his family for political maneuvers, but there wasn’t anything he could do but try his best to protect them.

The Sai diplomat was the first to stagger forward, still awestruck by Zazzy’s existence. He’d heard rumors that the princess had a baby dragon under her care, but he didn’t believe it; at first. When he’d heard some palace servants talking about how they missed seeing the ‘sweet baby dragon’ daily, it became hard to ignore.

Sending his own servants out to gossip amongst the palace workers had revealed what the king had just announced, and that the same Fae were actually the representatives for the Fae Royalty. He learned about the Sanctuary in the north, but he did already know about the Fae Nation to the south.

Some of the games were ran by Fae, and had Fae-made wares as the prizes. Those booths and stalls shut down half-way through the day for lack of prizes and/or food left. Alfred even had a stall that he sold food out of. The dishes were common ones, but he still sold out before the events had started.

As the Sai representative cautiously walked up to Zazzy, he swallowed hard before asking Skye in a trembling voice; “M-May I.. touch her? I-I’ve always wanted to see a real dragon, but..” the man smiled brightly; “I still can’t believe that she’s real.”

Skye beamed at the man as she replied; “Aye, Mr. Fuu. You should be fine to pet her as long as you harbor no ill will towards her.”

Mr. Fuu’s smile widened; “Oh, never, dear princess.. Dragons are sacred, revered beings in Sai.. I could Never wish for anything bad to happen to such a splendid, beautiful creature..”

Zazzy may not have understood every word that the man had said, but she understood a compliment when she heard one. She trilled happily at him before leaning down and sniffing at him. When she began to nudge at his pocket, he reached in and pulled out a small pouch full of little hard candies from him home.

Showing a few to Skye, she beamed and said; “Oh aye! I know that sugar candy! Genie used to give me a few pieces whenever I did well on a test. I think he called it konpeito, or something like that.”

The man looked to Skye with a quirked eyebrow as Zazzy stole the candies from his hand; “Genie? The previous diplomat?”

“No, I had a tutor from Sai named Genie, but his real name is Jin Laos,” Skye had a nostalgic smile on her face as she spoke.

Mr. Fuu’s face lit up with shock at the princess’ name drop; “Jin Laos?! The brother of Senator Wei Li?! HE was your tutor?! The man known as ‘the Jin of Darkness’?! The former General of the Shadow Corps?!”

Skye’s expression went quizzical for a moment; “The ‘Jin of Darkness’?! Hahahahaha! More like ‘Jin of the Wind’..Oh! Jin, Genie; I just got it, haha!”

Skye’s reaction to the news was not exactly what Mr. Fuu was expecting, but he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. ‘I’m touching a Real Dragon! Not a wyvern, but a REAL Dragon! I can’t believe it! No one back home will believe me, but I’m Really touching a Real dragon!’

As the diplomat from Sai internally spazzed out, Shasta brought the twins over. Their eyes were nearly bulging from their sockets as they walked up to Zazzy in awe. They looked to Skye expectantly, then turned back to Zazzy upon her nod of approval.

Unsure of what to do, both the children and the dragon stared at each other for several moments before Anna absentmindedly muttered; “Pretty eyes..”

Upon hearing the compliment, Zazzy lowered her head to sniff at the twins. When they reached their hands out to pet her, she gently bumped into their hands with a soft cooing noise. As soon as they made contacts the children squealed with delight.

Hearing them and seeing their smiles, Zazzy donned an enormous smile as she happily trilled at the tiniest humans she’d ever seen. She sloshed in the mud as she lightly swayed her tail, which made Tidas grab Skye by the shoulders and move her to the side a few inches.

When she looked up at him questioningly, Tidas flashed his wife a nervous smile and said; “Gotta watch out for that tail..”

Skye laughed at her husband’s utterly serious expression he had on his face after speaking, but understood why he was being cautious. It was funny to think of now, but Tidas had gotten seriously injured when he first showed her Zazzy’s Place, and he’d made a fat joke about putting her on a diet.

As they watched the children take off across the muddy field to play with Zazzy, Skye and Tidas both kept a watchful eye on that swinging tail of hers. They were bombarded with questions from the delegates as soon as the children started to play.

Seeing a very Large group of Alconians behind them with weary expressions, Skye turned to Magnus and asked if she might do a wee Q&A with the gathered people. Magnus beamed his approval at his diplomatic daughter-in-law, but Karena continued to stare daggers at her.

Marco watched from his seat next to his wife. He hadn’t moved an inch, which irritated his father quite a bit. He was too focused on watching Skye to care. She’d been proving herself worthy of her position all day, and he couldn’t even describe how surprised he was when he watched her water art display earlier.

For the first time in a long time, Marco was actually moved by something. The beautiful colors and aerial display made his heart skip, and caused a ultra rare smile to cover his face. The more he watched Skye the more intriguing she became to him.

The moment everyone froze in fear, she ran out to greet the creature without hesitation. No fear of repercussions, no fear of anything at all.. Just a brilliant smile that shined far brighter than the sun to him. As he watched her approach him to use the announcement equipment, a dark smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

‘I can’t wait to make that smile all mine.. I’ll lock her away so no one else can enjoy it’s warmth be me..’