|•| scarred roses |•| slow updates |•|

| one: a dragon's heart |

◇ pov: toya ◇

I found Sevi when I was about five or six. I wasn't allowed out of the house much, and had to constantly practice the piano.

My father wasn't nice, to say the least. I remember as a young boy, my fingers would be aching from hitting the colour coded, smooth notes of the piano, and yet he'd tell me to continue with no remorse at all.

Sevi's egg - the egg he hatched out of, that is - was in my backyard. I had no clue how it got there, but it was there, and I didn't question it at the time.

I kept it warm under my bedsheets, snuggling it when my father would yell at me for messing up a note too much and leave me in my bedroom alone. Unknowingly, I was creating a pre-birth bond with Sevi.

A pre-birth bond is something that very few species have. Usually, it's something dragons have with their mother. It's an interconnection that comes from sharing their warmth, or their scales-or my skin, in this case- bonding with the egg in a way? It's hard to explain, but it's really simple.

Anyway, after about a year, I thought Sevi was dead. I'd even named Sevi, well, Sevi, after the number seven. Why? I don't know. I was like eight. People have named their household cats worse.

I was going to host a funeral, or something, but when I got flowers for the weird funeral thing, the egg cracked, and I could see a small dragon nose poking out of it.

Anyway, it's now, and it's been a year since I was kicked out and disowned for rebelling against my father and having a maturing dragon that he somehow didn't know about in the house.

I live in the castle- well, not in the castle. I live next to it, near the knight barracks, with a few of my close friends. Sevi sleeps outside, which he doesn't mind.

"ya! Toya! Wake up!" Wha- oh. It's Mizuki, shaking me awake again. I recognize their voice, even though I haven't opened up my eyes.

"Good morning, Mizuki." I try to say, though it comes out more like, "Gumornimizukee". Mizuki laughs, and I open my eyes to see the morning like peeking through my curtains.

I rub my eyes. "Another early morning?" I ask them, and they nod. "Well, we need to train you to actually be able to fight! You should be glad you're under my wing!" They joke.

I laugh. Mizuki had somewhat of a habit of making jokes like that. I personally wasn't that amazing at fighting, but Mizuki says that the point is that I try my best.

I lift myself up off the comfortable bed in my room. "I am glad, Mizuki. Now, I'd appreciate it if you left to let me change into some actual clothes." They frowned jokingly. "Can I choose them today?"

Aside from being the best knight in Solaria, Mizuki also had the best fashion taste- in my opinion. I nodded. "Choose away." Their eyes lit up. "Ahh! Thanks, Toya!" They smiled, going to scout through my closet as I got out of bed to grab some breakfast.

Rui was waiting at the kitchen table. "Toya, did you sleep in again?" I nodded. "I don't know why, but I can't get a proper sleep schedule ironed out anymore." I sighed. "You still have bed hair." I looked upwards, and it did look like my hair was a bit messy.

I grabbed an apple and took a bite. "Well, that's because I just woke up." I sighed. "Mizuki went to choose my clothes." I nodded to him, and Rui raised his eyebrows. "Are you glad that I'm not?"

I sighed. "I feel like you'd probably strap lit torches to me or something." I sighed. Rui smirked. "What if I did?" I frowned. "I would run." Rui looked straight at me, narrowing his eyes. "You can run... but you can't escape!" He said, pouncing on me, tackling me to the ground. I screamed, then realised I wasn't in imminent danger.