“River, look at what I caught!” Lichen stood next to a freshly killed deer, his chest swelling with pride. The buck at his feet was brown with a white belly and tufted tail. On top of its head, a full rack of antlers extended outwards, splitting off into multiple pointed ends like tree branches.
“Nice,” Theo replied, observing it as she approached. “Very nice.”
Lichen couldn’t have looked happier. “Would you like any of it?” he offered, his smile breaking into a grin full of teeth.
“Oh!” Theo was pleasantly surprised by his sudden generosity. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Her claws nudged the carcass. She herself wasn’t hungry, but she was certain of someone else who was.
“Please do!” Lichen rippled with pride. He didn’t look as though he planned on eating any time soon, too busy calling out to his friends for approval.
“Thank you,” Theo said between her teeth, her voice muffled by the buck’s fur. Carefully, she tore a chunk of meat off. She heard a pop from somewhere inside the carcass- a noise that would have disturbed her a couple years back but not now. When she finally got the sizable piece completely detached, she gently placed it on a rock.
“What are you doing?” Lichen asked her, sounding thoroughly baffled as Theo began roasting the meat with flames from her jaws.
“Xander has to be hungry,” Theo told him, turning the hunk over and again blasting it with flames. She repeated this over and over until she thought it looked well-cooked on all surfaces.
“I hadn’t thought of that!” Lichen exclaimed. “I’ll have to offer him a share of my kill!” He began to amble determinedly away, but Theo called him back.
“No, Lichen. See, that’s what I’m doing,” Theo explained. “The boy can’t have raw meat.”
“Raw meat?” Lichen repeated after her.
“Yes, so I just cooked this.”
“Cooked?” Lichen was at a loss.
“I hope it’s good enough…” Theo worried out loud, looking the slab of meat over.
Just then, Xander appeared, picking twigs out from his clothes. Theo noted that he was looking much more relaxed, probably having realized the dragons didn’t wish him harm. He wasn’t sticking so closely to Jacinth now, either, making her pick up the pace to keep up with him.
“What smells good?” Xander stopped suddenly, peering over at the portion Theo had ready for him.
“I caught a deer,” Lichen boasted and Xander gawked at the dead animal.
“Whoa!” He laughed, running over to it. “These antlers!” He lifted up the buck’s head, staring into its large black eyes.
“He’s obviously doing better,” Theo mentioned when Jacinth joined her.
“I swear, he’s a frisk!” Jacinth uttered. “He’s been climbing trees, jumping boulders, sending rocks flying…”
“Yeah, boys will do that,” Theo laughed. “Looks like he’s taken a few falls, too.”
“Yes, but he just jumps right back up,” Jacinth snorted.
“Uh, excuse me,” Xander called. He was looking at Theo, pointing at the cooked meat. “Is this…?”
Theo smiled. “That’s for you,” she said. “Sorry if it’s a little burnt.”
“Thanks!” Xander practically jumped on it. “I’m starving!”
“He must be hungry,” Jacinth said. “Earlier today he climbed a tree and was eating the apples on it. Can you believe that? Apples!”
“What are apples?” Lichen asked her.
Theo couldn’t hear Jacinth’s explanation for Lichen. The smell of roasted venison was bringing back memories and she found herself caught up in the past.
She realized just how different the dragons were from the ones humans liked to tell tales of. The humans’ vision of a dragon was a greedy, materialistic monster that stole princesses and slept on hoards of treasures. And yet, the Colonists behaved completely different.
It’s almost as though humans envision dragons as huge, exaggerated versions of themselves, she realized. Power hungry, selfish beings…People have dug those characteristics out of their lives and concentrated them all into one appalling beast, just so that they, the humans, could arrive on the scene as the hero.
. . .
When the sun began to fall, Theo sensed a change in Xander. His playfulness was long gone and something seemed to be bothering him. He had gotten quieter but didn’t appear tired.
Theo tried not to watch him, but he just kept tossing and turning where he lay in his resting place.
He just needs to adjust to sleeping outside, Theo told herself. Or maybe he’s cold.
“You should take him to Damon,” Theo told Jacinth quietly. “He might have some things Xander could use.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you have to recognize a human is not nearly as equipped for living out in the woods as a dragon is. He needs a blanket, at least. We can’t have him catching a cold out here.”
“Humans are so weak,” Jacinth articulated. “How do they even survive?”
That’s the problem, Theo worried. They’re better off together.
Chapter 15