The Dragon Prince: Rebuilding the Bridge

Comfort

"Hey, Soren?"

"Yes, your highness?" the Crown Guard questioned as he looked over at the young king he had sworn to serve.

The boy smiled happily. "You know that red dragon? Her name's Pyrrah, and she's agreed to give you a lift back to Katolis so you don't have to ride! Isn't that great?"

"F-fly?" he gasped. "I...I've never ridden a...a dragon before."

"It's easy, you hold on and she does all the work. It will save you days getting back to the city. I really need you to tell everyone what's happened here."

Soren stared at the boy. He did want to go home, to leave Xadia and get back to some sense of normality. When Ezran had asked him to go home and explain that the war was over, he'd been happy. Perhaps Ezran knew he was internally tormented.

But he had hoped for a week's travel so he could deal with his torments on his own terms, in his own way. But if the king wanted him to return home quickly, he wouldn't disobey. Having packed up and said his goodbyes, since Ezran was staying to look after Zym and settle things with the Dragon Queen while Callum was not going to leave Rayla anytime soon, he headed off on the back of the dragoness.

Flying was amazing, the wind in his hair, the view...but he could live without the occasional bug getting in his teeth. By nightfall, they flew over the Breach and into Katolis. As it got darker, Soren leant forward and patted the dragoness on the neck. "Umm, excuse me? Pyrrah was it? Umm, do you think we could land? It's getting late and I'm sure you're tired. I don't mind a night in the forest."

The dragoness growled. He had no idea what kind of growl, but when they slowly descended to the forest floor, he guessed it had been a growl of agreement. Climbing down, he stretched out his shoulders and nodded. "Thanks, I needed to stretch my legs." She growled once more, then lay down on the ground. As the sun finally set, Soren found enough wood to keep a fire burning all night, and with remarkable precision, Pyrrah ignited the small pile.

They sat in silence. Soren was normally full of things to say, not liking the quiet and the things that came with it, but tonight, he just wanted to sit and stare into the flames to think. Pyrrah watched him for a bit, slightly fascinated by this odd human. She was surprised he was even walking since she was certain she'd heard some bones break under her attack during their confrontation. Maybe humans were harder to kill than she originally thought. Or maybe this human was tougher than he looked. Either way, it was clear he wasn't going to do anything interesting now, so she settled down to sleep.

Eventually, Soren decided he'd thought long enough and moved a bit closer to the sleeping dragoness. He wasn't sure why he did. Maybe he just didn't want to be alone.

The dragon's tail was nearest to him and he lay down beside it, feeling a warmth from her scales that matched the fire, but instead, it was from a living thing. It was the heat of life, and he smiled at it, reaching out and placing his hand on her tail before closing his eyes.

-----

Hours later, Pyrrah woke to the odd feeling of her tail being restrained. Confused, she raised her head and looked at what the cause could be. It was the human. She'd guessed as much, but...tears were falling down his face, and his breathing was rapid and sharp. His heart pounded as he gripped her tail tighter and tighter. He flinched and trembled, and then she realised he was actually asleep. She tilted her head and leant closer, huffing over him. The breath disturbed his hair but little else.

As he squeezed her tail so tight that she winced from the pain, she heard him speak. "N-no...don't want to...stop...D-dad. Clauds. P-Please..." then he fell silent.

The dragoness felt herself soften a little. She hadn't been there when it happened. She'd only heard from others, but the word was that this human had killed his own father. It was an illusion, but to the human, the illusion was just as good as reality. He thought he'd killed his own father. And even if that wasn't reality, his father was now dead, having fallen from the top of the spire. That she had seen, even if they couldn't find the body. And he turned his back on his family and...

She stopped thinking about it. Maybe that was why he'd been staring into the fire for so long. She turned her gaze back to him as he cried and held her tail. "Poor thing," she thought to herself, leaning over and gently breathing on him again, but this time in a slow, calmer breath, making sure it was warm and gentle. It appeared to do something, as he stopped shaking and loosened his grip just a little.

She leant forwards and softly licked at his cheeks, her tongue carefully wiping away the tears from his face. That calmed him down even more, the contorted expression of anguish, regret, and sorrow drifting away. She smiled as he relaxed, trying to think what else she could do to help him. She had an idea, but quickly checked to make sure no one was around before doing it. She did have a reputation to maintain after all. But they were alone. So, she lay down beside him, her whole body wrapped around him as she thought of every happiness she knew, her favourite places to go, her best memories...and purred. As gentle as a kitten in its mother's company, she purred.

The sound and vibrations finished what her breaths had started as the human completely relaxed before her and even opened his eyes. She stared at him with one eye, almost daring him to comment on the sound. She wished she could speak to him, give him words of comfort or advice, ask what was wrong, or tell him it would get better. But she was too young yet, and he was a human. Instead, she just moved her head closer until they were almost touching and she breathed another warm breath over him.

He smiled at that and released her tail with one hand to touch her snout boldly. "Thank you," he muttered sleepily.

Pyrrah just huffed sharply and turned her eyes away, but as his hand rubbed her nose, she looked back. The look of irritation was replaced with one of understanding. As Soren's eyes drifted closed again, Pyrrah pulled her tail closer to her body, dragging the human with it and allowing him to lean on her while her tail remained in his grasp. "Try and sleep," she wanted to tell him, but for being silent, she just purred over him. The human nodded as if he understood her meaning. Closing his eyes, a dreamless, restful sleep came forth with the young dragoness guarding him.