Dragon's Fire

Five

Kayden 

    I found her outside the castle, walking around in the dark. I took her back to my room and she crawled into the bed. I watch her until she falls asleep, eventually I drift off too. I wake early and see her still fast asleep. I go to her, seeing she has hair on her face, I gently brush it aside, she doesn't stir thankfully. I grab my workout clothing and head next door to my gym. Keeping in shape is very important for me, I have to be in peak physical condition for me and my Dragon. 

    Once my workout is finished I feel like I need to fly for a bit, I head to the roof and stretch out, I start my run and jump off the roof, transforming. My Dragon emerges from me and I feel my body being taken over, I open my eyes and see everything so much clearer, more crisp. I flap my massive wings and I fly up into the sky, over the forest. 

    I fly over the land, seeing the rivers and the lakes. I should bring her to the lake, we used to go when we were children. I land and transform back to human form, walking along the shoreline. I sit down and look over the water, seeing the sunrise in the distance. 

I have fond memories here, 

    “Kai! Kai” Taryn calls as she runs over to me. I scoop her up in my arms and onto my shoulders. She calls me Kai because she had a hard time saying Kayden. 

“How's’ my Little Dragon?” I ask her

“I can make a fireball! She says happily, “Want to see?” 

“Of course Little Dragon” I say I look up and watch as she moves her hands and makes a small fireball and throws it towards the water. 

“Wow that was really cool” I say 

“Now your turn!” She giggles at me, bouncing on my shoulders. 

I move my hand and conjure the water from  the lake to make a giant water ball. I bring it right up to Taryn and over her head, it drops down on her and soaks her hair. 

“Hey no fair!” She giggles and shakes her head.  

“Sorry Little Dragon” I say as I bring her down and place her on her feet. She hugs my leg and I take her hand and we walk back over to our families. 

“Nice to see you again Kayden” My uncle, Taryn’s father Arthur smiles and shakes my hand. 

“You too uncle”, his wife and my Aunt Rose smiles and pats my cheek. Our parents are siblings, our fathers are brothers and our mothers are sisters, both from neighboring territories. They were all married off to each other, making a strong alliance between the kingdoms.

My own parents, George and Maggie talk to my aunt and uncle as Taryn drags me over to the water. 

“I want to swim!” She shouts. 

“Not now Little Dragon” I say as I get up and walk over to the table filled with food. I’m starving and have been waiting for this all morning. I am filling up a plate of food as I see Taryn shouting at me to watch her, she’s at the edge of the dock. I glance over just as she jumps in, she’s not a strong swimmer and she is in deep water. 

“Taryn!” Her mother screams when she sees her splashing in the water, she sinks down under the water's surface. 

    I drop my plate and run to the dock, diving in and swimming to the bottom of the lake and scoping her up and bringing her to the surface. I jump back onto the dock, placing her down. She’s not breathing. I place my hands on her chest and pull the water out of her body. She coughs and rolls over. Her mother drops down beside her and pulls her into her arms. 

“Oh baby. What were you thinking?” She cries at Taryn. 

“I just wanted to go swimming with Kai, mommy” She sobs. 

“I’m sorry Little Dragon..” I say shaking my head. Taryn is shivering and sobbing in her mothers arms. 

    She crawls out of her mom's arms and into my lap. I hold her and push her hair out of her face and use my powers to pull the water off her small body. She stops shivering and nuzzles into my arms. 

“She really loves you Kayden” Her dad sighs. 

“I know.. I love her too'' I sigh and pick her up in my arms, carrying her over to the table. I set her down but she clings to me. “I’m just going to get some food, do you want some?” I ask her. 

She lets go of me and nods, “Peanut butter and pickles please” She smiles a toothy smile. 

    For a four year old she is quite advanced and can hold a conversation with me, to my surprise. Whenever I visit she is glued to my arm, or leg. Whatever she can grab onto. I even end up having her sleep beside me at night because she refuses to sleep in her own room when I visit. I never had any siblings but I would imagine she would be what a little sister is like. I look down and see she is sucking on her thumb, my cute little sister. I pull her blanket over her small body and roll over to my side and go to sleep. 

    I get up and clear my head, she is no longer my little sister. Maybe I can have Theodora show her my memories and it might help to trigger her own. I transform back to my Dragon form and fly home, excited with my new idea. I get back to the castle around 9AM and I go back to the room, having a quick shower. Taryn is still sleeping, or at least pretending to be asleep. I go find Theodora and tell her my idea. 

“I’m not sure I can Kayden” She says 

    “You were able to put me into her dream, how can you not just show her a memory? You see how scared she is, she thinks her family abandoned her, she thinks she's all alone. But I’m here, I’ve been looking for her! We have to do something!” I shout feeling frustrated. 

    “It’s not that I cannot do it, she is not strong enough. Not now at least. She needs time to recover. She was beaten and almost r***d, I saw it in her mind. She is terrified. She is scared out of her mind that you will discover she is not who we know her to be and that you will abandon her too” She sighs 

“What do I do?” I cry, feeling defeated, I slump to the floor. Theodora places her hand on my shoulder. 

“Give her time.. She will warm up to you. I promise” 

“How much time? She already tried to kill herself once. Now all she does is lay in bed, she won’t speak, won’t do anything.. How am I supposed to help her if she just blocks me out?” 

“Give her time Kayden.. Let her come to you” She says as she leaves the room. 

    I sigh and sit down looking out the window. She likes birds, I could see if she wanted to go for a walk in the forest. I get up and head back to the bedroom, I see her in the bed and she moves slightly to look at me as I enter. 

    “Morning.. I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk? See the birds?” I ask, she sits up in the bed and nods, her eyes brighten up a bit. 

“Okay well, first you have to shower and eat” I tell her, she hesitates for a moment before nodding. 

    “Okay, go shower or bath, whatever you’d like. I’ll get some clean clothes for you and some food” I say, she gets out of the bed and walks over towards the bathroom, I gently grab her arm before she goes in. 

    “No funny business” I warned her. She meets my eyes and nods, going to the bathroom. I hear the shower start up and see she left the door open and is starting to undress. I quickly close the door before I see too much. I head over to the kitchen and get some food put together, I wonder if she still likes peanut butter and pickles. I make one just in case. Once I am happy with the food I throw it all on a tray and bring it back to the room. I asked one of the maids to bring up some clean clothing for Taryn. 

    She takes her time in the shower, I check on her a few times just to be sure she’s okay. As soon  as I see that she is still showering I close the door, giving her some privacy. After almost an hour she comes out and smiles at me. Her hair is wet and she has a towel wrapped around her torso. 

    “I got you some clean clothing” I hand over the pile to her, she nods and goes back to the bathroom.  She comes back out in a sundress and a pair of flip flops. She goes over to the table and sits down to eat. I come up behind her and touch her hair gently. 

    “May I?” I ask, referring to her hair, she shrugs as continues eating. I braid her hair, like I used to when she was a child. I had hoped it would trigger a memory for her but it seems like there is no reaction. 

“Ready to go?” I ask once she has finished eating, like the last time I brought her food she only eats the fruit and a bit of egg, I’m not going to force it. 

    I take her outside to the woods, showing her where all the animals are, squirrels and chipmunks. There's an owl sleeping in a tree nearby and I point it out, she lifts her pen and paper writing down something. 

I heard the owl last night!

I watch as she walks around the woods, trying to feed the squirrels, they can sense her true nature and run away. 

“Why do you like birds so much?” I ask her as I sit down on  along and watch her lay down on the forest floor to watch the sky. 

She tosses her note pad to me, They are free to go where they please.  

    You were free once too, and now you are again. Free to run through the woods and laugh as you please. 

    I want to tell her everything, right now but I think back to what Theodora told me, she needs time. It starts to rain and I walk over to Taryn, 

“We should head back” I say as I hold my hand out for her to take. She stares at me and shakes her head. She gets to her feet and takes off running in the middle of the forest, the rain coming down on us. 

“Wait!” I call out, reaching for her. 

    “Come find me Kai!” A six year old Taryn calls after me as she runs through the forest. I watch as she darts in between the trees, giggling as she goes. She is barefooted and leaves small footprints in the soil. I hide behind a tree and wait, knowing she will come looking for me when she doesn’t see me chasing her. I climb quietly up the tree and watch as she runs along the forest floor. 

“Kai? Where did you go?” She calls looking around for me, 

Just a little bit further, I think to myself as she passes the tree I’m in. 

    I jump down behind her and grab her, lifting her up in the air. She screams and giggles and hugs me around the neck.  

“I found you Little Dragon” I chuckled.