Serial Saturday: Tea With A Dragon

Part 2

Previously…

When I went out in the morning, bleary-eyed and desperate for a cup of restorative Vanasoom tea, the little green dragon with white and blue eyes emerged from under the leaves and pushed under my hand.

And spoke its first word, sending it like a lightning bolt into my mind.

‘Food?’

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And now, the continuation…

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The jolt of that single word reverberated through my skull, as if I had struck my head against stone.

I yanked my hand back, breath catching in my throat. The little dragon tilted its head, white-and-blue eyes swirling with something unreadable, something far too intelligent for such a tiny creature.

‘Food?’ The word came again, softer this time, as if coaxing, pleading.

I stared down at the dragon, my heart pounding.

“That’s not possible,” I muttered, rubbing the tip of my finger it had bit yesterday. “You can’t just—”

But I knew better. Magic was woven into the very soil of this land, humming beneath the roots of the Vanasoom. And yet, hearing a voice—not a sound, but a presence—in my own mind was something else entirely.

The dragon nosed at my palm again, the touch light and dry. I felt a wave of something unfamiliar—not quite a thought, not entirely an emotion. It was hunger, raw and insistent, a gnawing emptiness that wasn’t mine.

I sucked in a breath. “You really are hungry, aren’t you?”

The dragon let out a small keen, a warbling sound, but now that I knew better, I could feel it more than hear it. An urging.

Hesitantly, I reached out, fingers hovering just above its smooth green scales. The little thing didn’t flinch. Instead, it pushed forward, nuzzling its head against my fingers. A warmth spread up my arm, not just from the dragon’s body, but something deeper, something that settled beneath my skin like a whisper in a forgotten language.

I pulled my hand back again. I needed to think.

The dam should have come by now. If this hatchling had been left behind, then something must have happened. Either the storm had scattered its family, or worse—

No. I shook off the thought. No sense in borrowing trouble I had no way of solving.

The dragon sat back on its haunches, tail curling around its tiny body. Its eyes never left me. The moment stretched between us, and though it made no sound, I heard it clear as day.

‘Food?’

I sighed. “Alright, alright.”

Back inside, I rummaged through my stores. The last of the smoke-cured fish had been eaten yesterday, but I had a bit of dried venison. I softened it in warm tea as before, the rich scent of Vanasoom leaves curling through the air.

When I brought the food outside, the little dragon leaped forward eagerly, but this time, I kept my fingers well clear of its sharp little teeth. It devoured the offering with gusto, licking its snout afterward. A wisp of smoke curled from its nostrils, and it let out a satisfied little chirrup.

Then, as if entirely at ease, it padded forward and curled up at my feet.

An impossibly tiny dragon, looking at me as if I were the one responsible for it now.

I swallowed. “No, no, no. This is temporary,” I told it. “Your dam will come back for you. You’ll go back to wherever dragons live, and I’ll—” I gestured vaguely at my garden. “I’ll get back to my life.”

The dragon blinked up at me, utterly unimpressed.

I sighed again and eased myself down onto the ground, my knee protesting the movement. The little creature’s warmth radiated against my leg, a steady presence.

‘Lost them.’ The words came so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that I barely recognized them as something other than my own thoughts. They weren’t, though. They were the dragon.

I stiffened. “What?”

The dragon shifted, its tail flicking over the dirt. ‘Storm. Wind. Fell.’

I swallowed hard. The images from my broken sleep—lashing trees, rushing wind, the sensation of falling—flashed in my mind.

Not my dreams.

The dragon’s memories.

I stared down at the tiny creature, realization settling over me like the weight of a thousand stones.

The little one wasn’t just lost.

It had been torn from its home, its family. And now, it had no one.

Except me.

I ran a hand down my face. “Well. This complicates things.”

The dragon blinked at me, then nestled closer.

‘Find?’

Turning my back on it wasn’t an option. I might have been a sword-for-hire before, but I wasn’t heartless. The likelihood was slim of the youngster finding their Dam without help.

“I need to think about this. But there’s no point in you staying out here.” I rose from the ground stiffly and awkwardly, then stooped to pick up the baby dragon. “I’ll take care of you until I figure something out.”

To Be Continued!