The Little Dragon

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Sunday, May 31st

Third Person

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      "Stop crying," hushed a mother, brushing the sweat off her own brow with her free arm. The child has been crying the entire trip up the volcano, as if it knew it was about to be abandoned. "Hush, hush." She looked back at the fires from the village. It was war, and the men of the village were doing their best to hold back the fire benders.

    The mother regretted the child, for she was the offspring of a now-dead soldier. The mother was from an earth-bending family, while her father... a fire bender. She was ashamed of the child, and was left with the only choice now to abandon it in a place where she would never see it again. The baby kept crying, clutching onto the blanket that was much too hot for her now.

    They reached the top, where there was a little cave, she turned behind her to see if anyone had followed her. She turned back, her cheeks red with shame. She placed the baby in the shade. She made eye-contact with the baby one last time whispering a soft, "I'm sorry," before turning her back and raising an arm to her eyes to hide the tears as she ran back down the mountain.

    The baby cried and cried, never stopping even when the day turned into night, and night turned into morning. It only paused briefly while the baby dozed off for a few hours, before waking and crying again. Deep in the cave, a dragon was listening to the entire exchange. The child had stirred him from his Millenium sleep. Slowly, the dragon crawled out from deep in the cave.

The dragon reached the wailing baby, the daylight sparkling off his red scales. He dropped his muzzle down to the child; he hated humans, not even a rat would abandon their offspring. Suddenly the baby reached up and put a hand through one of the dragons' nostrils. The dragon retreated due to shock taking over his body. Then he noticed the baby was no longer crying, but giggling.

    How peculiar, he thought, and ducked his head once more. "I shall name you..." there was a pause in the dragon's speech, "Kaida." The baby raised its hands again, but now the dragon knew better. With his large mouth, he grabbed the blanket that was tucked tightly around the baby and brought it deep into the cave.

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    "Baba!" Little Kaida ran around the deep tunnels under the mountain. She was calling out for her father who was playing hide and seek with her. Uruloki took her in when she was just a helpless child, and now eight years later, he had taught her the ways of the dragon, she could hold her own against any bender.

    The only way to find her father in these dark tunnels was to track his heat. He had taught her that any and all humans have body heat that you can follow and take away. She turned a corner and his heat was gone. She knew then that she had taken the wrong turn. She turned around, slowly tiptoeing so that her father didn't think that she was getting close. This eliminated his chances of getting away when she did indeed find him.

    Soon the heat was overwhelming, her senses going into overdrive. "Baba!" She shouted, jumping onto his muzzle. She felt him chuckle.

    "You found me, Kaida." Her name rolled off his tongue.

     "It was easy!" She smiled, lighting her hand up with fire so she can see her father. "Can we get dinner now?" She walked over to Uruloki and climbed up onto his back.