Dragon's World

17.

After Maddie and I finish going through and resetting the traps, we spend until maybe a little after midday picking herbs and going through various plants. A month or so ago, Sandra returned back from a scavenge with a pocket sketchbook and tons of colored pencils, I think she was hoping Maddie would use it to color or whatever. However, Maddie chose to fill it with illustrations of various plant types with their names and what they're most commonly used for, like a log of plants. It's a great concept to have and I'm even considering trying to do that with dragons.

We return to the house with three rabbits, two squirrels, and a bundle of herbs once we see the Jeep pull into the garage. Sandra and John greet us when we get in.

"How was your little weekend getaway?" I give a little wiggle of my eyebrows towards Sandra as I hang up my bow and set the rabbits on the table.

"We definitely needed that," she hugs me.

"No neighborly visits or intrusions?" I furrow my eyebrows but keep my smile.

"Actually, we did have a run in with one single hunter. He looked like that one guy that showed up that one time, but I couldn't get a positive recognition on him since it was dark that night so," she shrugs. "But other than that, nothing! It's like we're the only people left in the world. I wonder what happened to everyone...," she mumbles as she feels the pelt of one of the rabbits.

"Hm," I chew the inside of my cheek before heading over to greet John. "Hey, any special loot?" I move my shoulders back and forth a couple of times with a smile. He laughs.

"Not much. I found a few pens and pencils actually, that I thought you might like, considering I couldn't find any sketch books. Maybe next time though, we did only go to a diner," he hands over the writing utensils before giving me a pat on the shoulder and walking past to Maddie. I had asked him to look for a pocket sketchbook for me too. He didn't ask why but said he'd try to find one.

Rune approaches. "Where'd you get all those?" He looks at my handful of pens and pencils.

"I asked John to keep an eye out for some stuff while he was out," I smile as I click a pen.

"What for?" Rune shakes his head a little as he picks up a pencil. "Are you going to draw me like one of those French girls?" He wiggles his eyebrows at me.

"An actual movie reference, I'm proud, but no," I laugh as I pat his cheek. "I'm going to make a log of all the dragons, that way if this ever happens again or if someone just needs to look back on it to refresh their brain on who does what, it'll be there," I smile as I walk over to the small cubby Maddie had put all her drawing utensils in. I stash the pens and pencils there as well.

"A dragon handbook, interesting. However, we already have one of those, right here," he points to himself as he leans against the counter.

"Sorry to say, your highness, but you're not always going to be around. We'll need something like this, it's called recording history, or well, species I suppose," I raise a brow at him, folding my arms across my chest.

"I think you and our historian would have a long, interesting chat if I ever brought you back to the kingdom with me. He loves talking about dragons and you love learning about them, a match made in heaven," he smirks.

"Maybe so. I simply like to know what I'm dealing with and why," I shrug before walking over to the rabbits with my knife out.

•••

After preparing all the fresh kills, I decided to make rabbit stew. I've only ever made this for Rune once and he loved it, but it was a good while ago, like a whole two years. I'm sure he'd be pleasantly surprised to know that that's for dinner tonight.