Dragon Dreams

Chapter 25: Tenaya (2/2)

I let out a small, nervous laugh.

A questioning expression took over her face. "No hard feelings, right?" she asked. "About earlier? I hope you're feeling okay. It's just part of learning, and I thought you improved a little."

I wasn't sure why she was being nicer to me, but I was fine with it. "Yeah," I replied. "No hard feelings."

"Want to keep moving?" she asked, already trotting on ahead. Her tail swished gracefully behind her as she glided along the river's edge.

I caught up and started walking beside her, not answering the rhetorical question.

"Hey, you never told me about your favorite food," my companion said. "Pas-ta, I think it was?" She smiled again. I didn't think I had ever seen her smile this much, or talk this much, but it was nice.

I laughed again, less nervous this time, and returned the smile. "Oh, right, pasta. Well, it's hard to describe—sort of chewy and really delicious."

As we continued to walk along the river, I tried to describe more foods for Tenaya. Some of them she had heard from Nyraz and couldn't believe in their existence until I swore it to be true. Ice cream was one of those.

"You eat the ice?" she asked incredulously. "And it's sweet tasting?"

"Yeah, it's not just ice," I said. "It's cold and creamy, and you can get all these different flavors."

"Do you miss it?"

I stopped.

My lilac companion also quit walking and looked apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"No," I quickly assuaged her worry. "I'm not upset." Her gaze held mine as I paused to weigh my response. "I just...You made me think about some things. Things that I should be thinking about but I've kinda been avoiding during my time here."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I did. But first, I had a question for her. "Have you ever climbed all the way up one of these?" I looked over and flicked my tail at a nearby evergreen stretching way up in the air.

Tenaya looked confused. "Climbed a tree? You mean, grabbed onto it and pulled myself up from the ground?"

"Yeah. You've never climbed trees before?"

"No. I wouldn't say it's ever occurred to me. Is it fun?" A raised eye-ridge indicated her curiosity.

"I think it is. It gives me time to think, and it's helped me find a new perspective. Just being off the ground, in your own private space—I like those times when I can clear my head."

Her eyes brightened. "Well, let's look for the tallest tree we can find and climb it!" No sooner were the words out of her mouth when she scampered away to begin searching.

"I guess she really does want to be more open and friendly," I thought to myself as I bounded after her. The idea of sharing this tree-climbing diversion with another dragon gave me a swelling sense of belonging. A big smile pushed back the corners of my mouth; I felt a lightness in my steps.

After a couple minutes spent chasing her, I skidded to a halt next to Tenaya and looked up at a particularly prominent tree shooting up before us. My tail swished back and forth in excitement, and my heart still pounded out a quick tempo from running. As my gaze traveled to the top of the mighty evergreen, the slight panting in my breaths soon evened out, and I simply said, "Looks good to me."

"Yeah?" She shot me a smile. "You first. I'm sure I can figure out the climbing well enough to follow."

I nodded, not needing to be told twice. I eagerly leapt up and buried my claws into the bark. Shimmying up a few yards, I looked down to see Tenaya testing out her claws a short way off the ground. "See?" I called out. "It's easy!"