Through Smoke and Ashes

Eleven||Surprise

A few days had passed, and I still had not found a name for my dragon. I've thought of a few, but he's very picky. Or so I thought he was. Every name I mentioned, he seemed to ignore what I said. The only way I knew him to be alive was due to his tail twitching every so often as his scales baked in the warm sun. I hadn't gotten a reaction from him in quite some time, and I wondered if he was sleeping.

"Listen, I know you can hear me, okay? I can't keep calling you dragon. You need a name, just like every other living being." I wiped a hand down my face when I realized he was still ignoring my words. It wasn't uncommon for him to act this way. For the past few days, he's shown little to no interest in me, only checking in on me when my stomach growled from hunger. He would then leave for hours, and I would have no choice but to stay put, so he was able to find me. Also, I didn't want to get lost.

I only knew he cared because he brought back a carcass after hours of being gone, either a pig or deer. Once, he hauled back a moose, but he even struggled to carry it around. The moose had been close in size to him, and because he was so small and young, he landed in a heap of exhaustion, sleeping it off until the following day.

"Could you just let me know if you like any of the names I'm saying? Or else I'm just going to refer to you as a cat, and you'll just have to suck it up." I nearly cracked a smile when I saw his head swivel in my direction, and his eyes slit into thin lines as he examined my face.

He made his way towards me."Name." I was sitting beneath a tree, sheltering myself from the warm sun. Spring had made its way here fast, no snow littered the ground, and the air was already tainted with the humid air of summer. But the winter season still wasn't over, and winter's melt was just around the corner. I wonder if this island ever got snow.

The dragon circled the tree and peered over my shoulder, looking at the messy scribbles littering the paper. I sighed, moving on to the next one. "Naxan?"

I turned to look at the dragon who bobbed his head. "Good."

I cracked a smile. I was happy he didn't ignore me, but I also wondered if he didn't care what he was called, just as long as I was finally quiet—and not nagging him. I pondered for a moment, my smile faltering.

He caught my gaze and held it for a moment before turning around, lightly hitting his tail against my leg as he weaved around the tree to the other side. We've been making slow progress, our bond strengthening and forming more than a feeling. We could adequately communicate as well as we could, and he willingly approached me instead of shying away or growling at me. The only frustrating thing was it felt like I was talking to myself half the time.

Running a hand through my hair, I worked the knots tangled into the brown waves. My thoughts consumed me as I thought more of the dragon sitting beside me. He occasionally looked over at me, and I could hear his echoing voice as he repeated his name in his head. It was faint; he wasn't talking to me.

"Do you like the name, or are you just pretending?" I asked him, placing my fidgeting hands on my lap.

Tilting his head, his sapphire blue eyes filled with an emotion I couldn't pick up on. "Naxan likes."

A small smile made its way onto my face, and I nodded in contentment. Slowly bringing my hand up, I felt the sudden urge to touch his hardened scales. I placed a hand on his cheek, feeling the warmth radiating off of him in waves. I kept my hand still, hoping to not ruin the achievement of him allowing me to be this close to him.