Page 27 of Finding Her
“Have you ever shared this with someone else?” Her cheery voice didn’t match the weight of the question asked. She didn’t know better.
“Yes, one person.” A lump rose in my throat, but I swallowed it down before it could be detected. “But I don’t need to talk about that.”Please respect this boundary. Don’t let me ruin this.
She was silent for a moment, looking in my direction for the first time in a while, scanning my expression. I forced neutrality for what felt like the millionth time since finding her.
“Alright,” she conceded much to my gratitude. “What do you like to do here? I want to experience it all.” The subject change was glaringly intentional.She’s trying to help me.
“We’ll squeeze in as much as we can.” A wave of relief washed away my tension. “Swimming was an excellent suggestion for today. Tomorrow we can try flying a dragon; the treetops are beautiful to see in the autumn, and there’s a special field I’d like to show you. We can explore the beaches together. We can climb mountains. I can teach you how to forage...”
She hummed a contented note. “What will autumn be like?”
“The air will smell crisp. The greens will become oranges, yellows, and purples. The pinks will go away for the season andthe grassy floor will become a bed of leaves. We’ll need to sleep off the ground to avoid getting covered in them.” I had made that mistake before. Waking up had been a musty and disorienting experience.
“Ah.” She looked up at the canopy above. “So that’s why you took us to that special tree. It’s huge. We can make a little nest and cuddle up.” She shimmied her shoulders with glee.
“I would have made us anestanywhere you wanted to sleep. Admittedly, though, I find a branch of that particular tree to be quite comfortable.”
“Cuddle up”. I was certain she meant the words generally, but my heart raced at the thought of her curling against me for the night.Flesh to flesh. Body heat melting us together. Limbs intertwined.Regardless of her intentions, at least she wouldn’t be alone on my couch tonight. It was an improvement. Maybe I could actually sleep soundly for once.
Faeryn
Graysen directed my attention to different types of dragons as we strolled through the shade of otherworldly trees. The experience felt like an exhilarating twist on bird-watching. Amidst the subtle rustling of leaves, the noises of the island inhabitants announced their presence even when out of sight. Many species chirped, some trilled, and several rumbled in a near purr. The pitch varied significantly by the creature’s size, composing a pleasing otherworldly symphony.
Dragons consistently turned to stare at us with curiosity as we passed, likely not used to two-legged fleshy creatures in their territory. Although their chiseled features were intense, their expressions reminded me of baby deer seeing people for the first time. They cautiously watched from a distance as if ready to run, some ultimately fleeing, while others dismissed us as a non-threat and resumed their activities.
The purple-leafed trees surrounding us had a uniquely soft bark, almost fuzzy. The wood split around the trunks, creating holes to nest the small “Tree Dragons”, as Graysen had called them. They were about the size of a cat, with rough brown or gray skin covering their thin bodies. Their beaked snouts would regularly emerge from the hollows of the tree as wepassed, one individual braving a snip at the end of my hair with a fascinated chirp.
“So, tell me,” Graysen started, his hands clasping behind his back. “Did Earth have dragons?”
“In storybooks and fairy tales,” I answered. “But they were traditionally the bad guys.”
“The bad guys?”
“They would burn down villages and trap princesses in towers,” I elaborated, thinking it sounded quite silly as I watched the local fauna scamper around as harmless as a damn squirrel.
“Oh.” He raised his brows. “I wonder where they got that from. Why would a dragon want to trap a princess?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered. “It’s just kind of part of the damsel in distress experience. You know—a trope.”
“Ah.” He nodded his head acceptingly. “I wasn’t aware there was a literary trope for women in difficult situations.”
A laugh escaped my lips. He was, after all, currently walking with a living, breathing damsel in distress.
“It’s the most common type. A witch casts a curse or locks her in a tower… or both. The princess has a fairy godmother to make her pretty, so that a handsome knight on a white steed is inclined to slay the dragon and rescue her. They share true love’s first kiss and live happily ever after.”
His lips twisted to the side in disapproval. “Is it rude of me to say that sounds like a rather patronizing plot for children to consume?”
I cackled louder than intended. “When you put it like that, it would have been nice to see the princess pick up a sword at some point.” Or use her own magic. Or tell the villain to go fuck themselves. Or do anything other than be a passiverecipient of others’ actions. “What kind of stories were you told as a child?”
“Stories like the one about how the ocean came to be. There’s a good deal of mythology here. The pink-flowered trees surrounding us supposedly came from the uterus of Mother Nature. And the dragons come from her laying with the bravest warrior to ever exist. That’s why where you find dragons, you will also find these trees, and vice versa. They share a mother.”
I tilted my face against a ray of daylight breaking through the treetops. “I could listen to you tell me these stories for hours.”
“Happy to indulge upon request.”
We walked in comfortable silence for some time. Graysen’s eyes were glowing with a gentle delight. His lips were turned up ever so slightly. Since coming here, his shoulders had left their permanent residence by his ears to slope in relaxation. He walked in evenly paced steps with a composed posture.
I wish I could say my own behaviors were so cool and collected. My head whipped around, trying to catch every detail of my surroundings. I hopped loudly over branches while his long strides barely noticed them when they broke beneath his arches. My movements were inconsistent and flowed with my mood and interests. Graysen was nothing if not predictable in his movements, unperturbed by obstacles and distractions. It struck me just how differently we navigated our expedition despite being similarly enthralled with the environment.
