Content
Clak flapped loudly as he touched down at the mouth of the cave, the sound announcing his arrival. Taking a few steps inside, he peered into the depths and waited.
“Oh, hello, Clak,” his aunt Thess greeted after a few moments, emerging from the inner chambers. “Always a pleasure to have you visit. Though you’ve just missed your uncle Rynn; he’s just gone hunting.” She was smiling, but he was not. He seemed a bit nervous, and a bit stiff.
“Actually, I’m here because I needed to ask you something.” His tone was polite, but forward. Her smile faded just a touch.
“And what is that, dear?”
“Please, can you tell me what happened with Toby? What made him so upset?” The genuine concern was clear in his voice. He watched her frown now and look away.
“Oh, well, it was just a mistake I made, that’s all,” she replied, half dismissive, half apologetic. “I hope he wasn’t too distraught over it. Though I’m sure he’ll be fine. That Toby is such a wonderful ray of sunshine, he is.”
“What was it?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your mistake. What did you do?” he asked plainly.
“What did I do? Well… I suppose I said some things to him I shouldn’t have. I wish I hadn’t. But it won’t happen again, you can be sure of that. Best we all just move on from it.”
“Please, if you could just tell me what you said, maybe… maybe I could help him feel better,” he asked earnestly, prying as gently as he could.
“Yes, well… I’m sorry, but I’d rather not speak of it. It’s for the best if we just leave the incident behind us.”
“Is there nothing you can tell me?” he asked one final time.
“No, Clak. There is not.”
“Okay…” the younger dragon relented. He considered his next words with regret and reluctance, as if he’d been saving them but hoping he’d never have to let them out. “But if you won’t tell me, I’ll have to talk to my father.”
Her gaze shifted, less apologetic and more offended. She rose several feet to her full height and looked down on her nephew.
“It is best for everyone if we leave this in the past.” She wasn’t usually the type to come off as authoritative and stern, but she did so now. “Let it die,” she told him.
“I can’t.” Clak stood his ground and met her gaze bravely.
“I do not know what has lodged itself in your head, but I am your elder and you will not show me such disrespect,” she scolded with a hint of a growl.
He shrunk back, just a touch; head lowering and neck retracting. But he kept his footing, and he kept his gaze. His next words were maybe a touch quieter, but they were loud enough, and they carried with them all his stubborn determination.
“I don’t like seeing my brother upset.”
He stared at her, unyielding, and she stared back, reproachful.
And then, finally, just when he thought he’d have to fly off in a stalemate, she dropped her gaze and sighed.
“Neither do I,” she agreed solemnly. The tension in the air quietly faded.
“…Then tell me,” Clak urged softly.
“…Perhaps, you might be able to understand…” she told herself, and then she finally looked back up at him. “Wait here.”
He nodded, and she turned away. Walking back to her inner chambers for a time, she could be heard quietly sifting through her possessions before eventually returning once more. At first, Clak was confused as to what she had gone for, until he finally noticed two tiny little scraps of something, that she held carefully pinched between two claws as she walked.
The dragoness extended her forelimb and dropped the torn, crumbled bits of paper on the cold, hard ground before her nephew. He bent down uncertainly, sniffing deeply in an attempt to understand, and nearly blowing the items away in the process.
“What is this?” he asked.
“Do you remember the day Toby found a bag of letters in your belly?”
…
“Written messages, with another human,” Clak summarized to himself, taking in the information with wide eyes. “And you helped him do it.”
“Yes. Perhaps I was a fool, still too rooted in ages past, but there was once a time when we dragons conversed with humans ourselves.” It seemed a fond memory to her, judging by the shift in her expression. “I felt Toby should be given the chance: to communicate with his own kind, to know another human, even if he was raised a dragon. But then came this last message…”
Her nephew perked up, giving his full attention.
“The human girl, Ambur, is traveling to stay with her uncle for a time, to the human town nearest us, where she believes Toby lives. She is quite eager to meet him. She wrote about her excitement at length.”
She broke her eyes away from Clak’s still-astonished face, as guilt returned to her own.
“I am certain that he would want to go there, to see her as well. That he would plead with me to take him… I could not bear the thought of placing that idea in his mind, any more than I could bear the thought of ripping it away from him. He does not understand the danger the other humans pose, to us or to himself. Even you, I’m sure, hardly grasp it yourself.”
Faint wingbeats filled the silence following her sentence.
“Rynn returns from his hunt,” Aunt Thess said with new urgency. “I implore you to understand me, Clak. Knowledge of this must not spread, especially not to Toby. If not for my sake, than for his. He does not deserve to bear the consequences of my mistakes.” She looked to him with a sincere, worried expression.
Clak finally pulled himself out of his mildly-overwhelmed surprise and back into proper composure, just as his uncle touched down at the mouth of the cave.
“Oh, I see we have company,” the elder dragon said politely.
“Hello, Uncle Rynn. We were just finishing our conversation,” his nephew greeted in reply, trying to move past the lingering tension in the air.
“Oh?”
“Yes, well,” Aunt Thess began. She glanced down quickly, realizing the tattered remains of Ambur’s letter were still sitting on the ground. But Clak had already taken a quiet step forward, covering the paper before it could be seen. “He visited to ask my advice, on cheering up Toby.”
“I did hear the boy was upset,” Rynn replied sympathetically, weight thumping against the ground as he walked inside. “Whatever she’s suggested, I’d suggest you listen well,” he added, nodding with a smile towards his mate. “No other dragon for quite some distance knows more of humankind.”
“Yes, Uncle Rynn,” Clack replied courteously. Then he looked to his aunt, traces of worry still peeking through her composure. When he’d arrived, he’d been angry and suspicious; upsetting Toby, forcing him to keep secrets. But now he realized the truth was much more complicated, and her harm much less intentional. She really had been trying to… “Thank you,” he told her sincerely. “For always looking after my brother.” He offered an appreciative smile.
She looked back into his eyes with unspoken thoughts and replied earnestly: “Always.”
And that was the last of their conversation. Clak took his leave and left the cave, beginning the short flight back to his own. He could feel the extra weight, still reckoning with all that he had learned. He wasn’t sure what to think, or how to feel. When he touched down again, he simply stood at the entrance for a long moment, collecting his thoughts while still safely away from the prying eyes of other dragons.
And then he finally spoke.
“Are you okay, Toby?” He used a quiet voice, but the voice that replied from within his belly was even quieter still.
“Uh-huh.” Deep behind layers of scale, muscle and bone, the meek little boy glowed faintly in the recesses of his big brother’s stomach. Hidden from the world.
“You kept your promise,” Clak told him. “You didn’t tell me the secret, she told me everything herself. Now we both know, okay?” There was plenty to unpack, but before any of that, he just wanted to make sure his brother wasn’t feeling guilty, and that he knew they could finally talk. That had been the goal, after all.
“Yeah,” Toby muttered, barely loud enough to be heard.
A long silence followed. Clak had hoped that, once he’d learned everything, he’d also know what to say to help his poor little brother. But this was far more complicated than he’d been expecting. And even with his new knowledge, there was still plenty he did not quite understand. One thing did seem clear to him, though.
“…You really liked writing to Ambur, huh?” he asked the boy in his belly.
“Yeah, she was nice… and funny…”
Clak thought through the later portion of Aunt Thess’ explanation. He’d felt Toby stir the moment she’d mentioned this last letter, the one he didn’t know about. And he’d felt the excited little wiggles as she’d described what had been written.
“…When you heard she was coming closer to us… you did want to go see her, didn’t you?”
Toby did not react excitedly now, though. At some point, in listening to everything, the little boy had realized the fact for himself. Clak could remember the moment; the moment he’d felt his brother go still. Excitement drained. The moment Toby realized that their aunt was right.
“…It’s okay,” the boy answered, pausing for what might have been a sniffle. “I know I can’t go… It’s too dangerous…” He echoed the elder’s words and paused again, before adding one last whimper. “She’s gonna be sad, though…”
Clak’s frown deepened. On some level, he was proud of his brother for understanding, but still… He gently laid down, there on the ledge of his family’s cave. Toby felt the stomach walls press in closer, as his brother’s weight compressed the belly around him. Several gurgles sounded in his ears.
“Do you want to tell me about her?”
The question tugged at the sad boy’s interest; his glow brightened just a bit. He had always wished he could tell his family about his new friend.
“O-Okay…”