Content
“I just don’t see what’s so interesting about trees,” Kyla maintained, giving the giant-dragoness-equivalent of a small shrug. Still she wore an idle smile as she kept an eye on the glowing grin of her little charge.
“They’re so big!” Toby answered with lingering awe as he looked up. The stiff breeze of that day’s weather came through again, rustling the leaves overhead in an audible wave. “And wooshy!” he added. He’d been outside the cave a few times now, down on the warm ground under the careful protection of his kin, but he still hadn’t quite gotten used to it all, not after all that time spent-
“You’ve been seeing them up close for years,” Kint pointed out. His voice carried notes of sympathy and understanding as he effectively voiced the little human’s thoughts. “Toby only ever got to see them from the mountain.”
“Yeah!” their littlest brother agreed. “They always looked really small. And I never ever got to see the bottoms.” He put a hand on the rough bark, the light off his digits illuminated the crevices.
“But you see firewood all the time,” countered their older sister, a bit playfully.
“No, that’s not the same,” Kint replied with a shake of his head.
“Nuh-uh, not the same,” Toby confirmed. He smiled up at his brother, who smiled right back.
Out of everyone in his entire family, Kint was the one who seemed to understand the most why he liked going out of the cave; why he wanted to explore the outside and see it up close and touch it. Kint had been the one to help get permission from their parents in the first place, and to help get their other siblings to volunteer as protection/transportation/playmates so their parents would actually say yes.
A particularly loud rustle from the wind up above pulled Toby’s eye toward another nearby canopy.
“Oh, that one looks nice!” he exclaimed, immediately starting off at top speed.
Kyla rolled her eyes in jest, still smiling, while Kint simply smiled, sincere, warm and proud. They followed at a much more relaxed pace, having longer and much longer legs, both easily capable of catching up quickly.
This latest arboreal interest brought Toby along the edge of a small lake, where the open space to one side helped this particular tree to be particularly eye-catching against the blues of water and sky and- Wait… there was another blue thing catching his eye now. Something moving! He looked a little further along the bank.
…*gasp*! “Melm!?”
The odd, blue-skinned creature stopped lapping at the lake and looked up.
The odd, glowing boy stepped closer and squinted intently over the moderate distance. This was definitely a melm, but could it be the same one he’d met once before? The hungry one he’d made friends with? He peered fixedly into the beady eyes, and some kind of recognition sparked in his mind, spurring his glow brighter.
“Melm!” he called excitedly, smile spreading into an excited grin as he started forward again in a hurry. “Oh, wow! I can’t believe I found you again! I -Hey, wait! Where are you going?!”
The recognition had been mutual, but the response… not so much. It seemed the moment the creature had placed the memory of the little illuminated human, it had promptly turned around and started waddling at top speed in the other direction: away down the bank of the lake.
“Melm!? Where are you-”
*NOOOOMF*
Evidently, little Toby had gotten all too used to the sound of dragon steps thudding up from behind, because he didn’t even notice his sibling’s approach until the cavernous red maw suddenly descended to block both his path and his view.
With the power of an apex predator and the care of a protective sister, the great tongue came swiftly to lift his delicate body off the ground before the massive jaws and pointed teeth snapped shut below to sever him from the outside world.
It didn’t take long for Toby to recognize his big sis’s mouth, or the sensation of it rolling and tilting around him as he began to slide deeper toward the drop of her waiting throat.
“Kyla? What are you- Hey wait! No! Stop! Don’t gulp me!”
The cacophony of squelches suddenly subsided into relative silence, as the massive maw of the dragoness obeyed his command. He nudged up gently against the edge of the hungry gullet, but it stayed shut.
Kyla half-panicked for a moment as she forced said gullet still, not at all having anticipated his reaction. It was very well understood that nobody swallowed Toby unwillingly- not when he really didn’t want it. More than understood, just the idea instinctively set an uneasy feeling into the gut of just about any of his kin. To disregard his feelings and protests would be to treat him almost more as food than family. It was the kind of thing you only did if you had a very good reason. And while his big sister did have a reason, it certainly didn’t warrant such extreme measures.
“Let me back out!” Toby instructed.
She felt the little human form start crawling across her tongue toward her teeth, and she followed his wishes, dipping her head back down to release her sibling back onto the ground, but even as she did, she made a point to sit down and bring the tip of her tail around in a protective shield. She spoke as soon as he was clear of her jaws.
“Sorry,” was the first thought she offered, letting it hang for half a moment before quickly explaining, “but melms are really dangerous. I just didn’t want you to get too close.”
Toby wasn’t bothered at all by his impromptu detour to his big sister’s mouth, of course, just by the wall of scales that was her tail, now blocking his path. He scampered up to it before she’d even finished talking, and only looked back when he realized it wasn’t moving out of his way.
“No, it’s okay!” the little boy assured confidently as he jumped up to start scaling the scales. “I already met Melm before. He can’t hurt me cause I’m belly-proof.”
“What!?” Kyla exclaimed. “When!?”
“When I was out with Kint and Asha,” he answered, quickly reaching the top of her tail.
She instantly shot a disbelieving, judgmental gaze at Kint, who’d been standing by awkwardly in silence for reasons that were now becoming clear.
“It’s… true…” the younger dragon admitted.
“You let Toby get swallowed by a melm!? And you didn’t even tell anyone!?”
“It was an accident! And he-”
“Hey!” The little boy’s shrill cry cut through their bickering despite the difference in volume. But it wasn’t actually directed at either of them. “Come back!” Toby pouted as he spotted the retreating blue figure, much further now that he’d been slowed down by his siblings.
The dragons looked down and noted his frown, which quickly took center stage in their minds, especially when he looked up at them with confusion and disappointment in his little eyes.
“Why is Melm running away?” he asked sadly. “Doesn’t he remember we helped him last time? We gave him food…”
“Well…” Kint glanced away, not quite sure how to put this delicately. “It did kinda almost die last time too. Cause it kept trying so hard to eat you.”
“Also…” Kyla added, “…we are dragons. Everything kinda runs away from us.”
The draconic brother nodded at the good point. The human brother had a thought flash through his mind.
Toby looked ahead once more and jumped off his sister’s tail, starting forward again.
“You’re going after it?” she asked.
“Can you two help? Please? I wanna show him we’re not so scary.”
The dragons glanced at each other hesitantly. But that look on Toby’s face… He really cared about this for some reason. The weight of the silent gazes settled on the larger, older, and most experienced of the group.
Kyla sighed, a great gust of air rushing down over her little human brother.
“Okay, fine,” she accepted, standing up again.
“Don’t hurt him, okay? And try not to scare him,” Toby cautioned.
“I know, I know. I’ll just stop him. Kint, you bring Toby over once it’s safe.”
He nodded. She spread her wings.
It was only a short leap and a glide for a dragon of her size. A few curt wingbeats out over the lake and then a bank toward the bank, lined up to pounce on the blue creature and the stumpy little legs on which it was attempting to flee.
Toby didn’t get to see her arrival. Another tongue was once again coming up from behind, though with far less urgency than the last. He lost sight as he was lifted off his feet, slipping back onto the squishy support of his brother’s tastebuds as the familiar rows of pointed white appeared to frame his view.
Kint’s mouth wasn’t nearly as big as their big sister’s yet. Even as he started taking his heavy, thumping steps, he kept his jaws open wide to give his passenger room to sit up, little feet knocking idly against the smooth, inner surfaces of teeth only double their size.
Toby squinted through the rush of cool outside air as his brother inhaled around him, and found Kyla once again, now back on the ground. He tried to get a glimpse of Melm too amidst her scales, but a fresh gust of warmth from the throat behind made him blink as dragon breath swirled about his face.
He tried to see a few more times, but after only a few seconds they had already arrived and the scene was clear. The relatively massive dragoness had laid herself in front of Melm, and wrapped her body and tail into an impenetrable, encircling wall of scales, which the short-armed creature was not equipped to escape.
Kint lowered his open muzzle down into the ring, and as Toby approached the ground, he could see a very scared-looking Melm hurriedly waddling toward the far end of the enclosure. Or, at least he was pretty sure that was a scared look; it was kind of hard to tell from those little eyes and derpy face.
The boy felt the tongue beneath him swell and saw its tip rise over the pointed lower teeth, so he took his invitation to shimmy and slip along the slick muscle until his legs slid out. And the moment he was standing on his own two feet again, he started running right after the unhappy animal.
Toby felt the urge to call out for Melm to stop, but after only a moment the blue beast reached the far wall of his sister’s tail and realized stopping was the only option. He watched it wiggle anxiously in place for a moment, then turn around. Their gazes locked, and he saw its beady eyes widen as it realized it was trapped; trapped by a pair of massive predators, and a large furless creature it couldn’t digest.
The glowing child grew dimmer as his frown grew larger. He watched the poor thing cower down, pulling in its limbs and pressing back as far as it could get, shivering nervously.
“Hey…” Toby called meekly, slowing his run to a stop. “Hey, it’s okay…” He approached slowly now, one small deliberate step at a time. “You don’t have to be scared. We’re not scary.” He started to extend a hand-
“Toby,” his big sister interrupted from above, “maybe you shouldn’t get so close.” She had multiple reasons behind her advice; her voice sounding both sympathetic and protective.
“It can’t hurt him,” Kint confirmed with certainty, trying to lull one of his sister’s concerns. “It swallowed him a few times before, and actually it was the one who looked worse off by the end, if you can believe it.”
“Yeah, don’t worry, Kyla, I’ll be fine,” he said up to his watchful sibling, mustering a small smile for the sake of her worries. But it faded quickly when he tried to reach out again and saw Melm flinch away. “…We’re not scary…” he muttered again, sadly. But he was starting to understand now, the other reason Kyla wanted him to keep his distance.
But… but he couldn’t just give up, could he? If he had his sister let Melm go now, it would just run off into the woods and it would never stop being afraid! A memory of Ambur’s scared face flashed by.
But why is he so scared!? Doesn’t he remember when we gave him food? Maybe…
“Kint, go catch some food for him,” Toby said suddenly after a moment of silence.
“What?! Again!?”
“Please?” The boy looked up with his big, sad eyes. “I want to show him we’re friendly.”
The dragon looked to his big sister for backup, but it quickly became clear: even her size and power were no match against that face.
*sigh* “Okay…” Kint conceded.
“Maybe something from the lake?” she offered sympathetically.
“Yeah, good idea,” he agreed with lingering reluctance, but he shook off the last of it when he caught Toby’s little hopeful smile.
It didn’t take long, not even as long as last time. At Kyla’s suggestion, Kint took off and circled a few times over the water, before diving down and swooping just over the surface with his big maw spread wide. He dipped his jaw below the surface for a moment or two, then beat his wings again and returned to his waiting siblings, cheeks dripping.
Toby cocked his head- a little quirk of body language he’d taken from his kin- as his brother landed and walked over, leaning his long neck out into Kyla’s enclosure.
*SPLASH*!
In a roar like a waterfall, the dragon opened his jaws again and out fell a maw-full of lake all at once. It spread over the grassy ground in a wave, tickling at Toby’s feet before fading into the soil. But in its wake, something was left behind.
“Oh!” the little boy remarked, pattering over across the damp ground. Looking down, he saw a few fish wiggling around in the puddles. “Nice catch, Kint!”
“Thanks,” the dragon replied, unable to keep from smiling back at such an appreciative little grin.
“Okay!” declared Toby, determined and focused. He started reaching down. “Now, let’s- Hey! I said, let’s- Oh you guys are slippery huh? Stop moving around so much! We gotta feed Melm! Ha! Got- What!? Come on, just let me grab- Ugh! Kint! Did you have to drool on them so much!? They’re so slippy!”
“I didn’t drool on them! That’s just how fish are!”
“What, nuh-uh!” went Toby, incredulous.
“They are!”
Kyla chuckled, and Toby looked to her in search of the truth.
“Are fish really always like this?” he asked skeptically. In his experience, the only thing slimy like this were the bellies of his family. But admittedly, aside from that one that had swallowed him, he’d only ever seen fish that had been long dead and dried out from a flight back to the cave.
“It’s true,” she confirmed, “fish are just pretty slippery… But Kint’s drool probably made it worse.”
“Hey!”
She chuckled again. Mystery resolved, Toby furrowed his brow to return to his task.
Too bad for you, fish, I know all about slimy things!
“Alright, you, come here!” he demanded, and dove back into the fray. It took all his cunning, both his hands, and even one of his feet, but after a few moments, he managed to get one of the fish precariously held within his arms. “Yes!”
Despite the victory, it continued to take all his skill not to lose his hold while he stood up, so he quickly rushed back over to the still-cowering Melm and hurriedly dropped the offering at the blue feet. It slid shortly over the grass, still floundering.
“There you go! All yours!” Toby announced proudly.
But the blue creature didn’t seem quite so excited. It eyed the fish a few times, but always returned its gaze to the looming, glowing boy.
“…Maybe give it some space?” Kint suggested. Heedfully, the little human took a few steps back.
“It’s okay,” Toby soothed as he retreated. “It’s all yours, see? You can eat it…”
All could see the tension start to fade on the blue face, but the air still hung silent for a long moment.
Eyes settled on the fish…
…
… *MELM*!
In a blink, the long tongue suddenly shot forth and snagged the fish right off the ground. Though it was too quick to see how, it obviously didn’t seem to have any problem keeping hold of the slimy offering as the scaly blur rushed straight down the blue gullet and into a fresh little bulge.
*wiggle* *wiggle*
The glow from Toby’s smile cast brightly onto the twitching lump as he leaned a bit closer. In fact some of it even shone straight through onto the fish within, right through the odd, semitransparent skin as it was stretched thinner.
“He ate it! He ate it!” Toby called excitedly, but he kept his eyes fixed for what he knew would happen next. He remembered: this thing’s belly was a lot different from the ones he normally explored.
It was only a few seconds before his eager ears started picking up on the muffled bubbling sound. He focused on the details he could make out in the scales, pressed up against Melm’s see-through insides, and his eyes widened a little when he noticed it all starting to get ‘blurry’, the shapes shifting and skewing as frothing liquid surged up to cover the newly swallowed meal. The sound grew to a dull roar as the bubbles filled the entire bulge, blocking the fish from view. And then only a few seconds later, the little lump started to shrink away, smaller and smaller, until finally it was completely gone, with no trace of the fish that had just been inside it.
“Whoa…” Toby marveled. “See!? Isn’t that cool!?” He turned to his siblings. They too had been watching curiously, though not quite on the same level as their little brother.
“Weird to actually kinda see it happen,” remarked one.
“Yeah,” agreed the other.
Toby quickly turned back toward Melm, seeing the blue creature shifting from the corner of his eye. It stood a bit taller now; looked at him with a little less fear.
“Good, right?” the boy asked with a happy grin. “You want another? Here…”
He motioned for the melm to stay put- not that it understood the gesture- and quickly rushed back over to the pile of still-flopping fish. He plunged back into battle immediately, and with all he’d learned from his first attempt, managed to wrangle another one into his grip in only half the time.
Waddling in a clumsy hurry, he deposited the meal at his new friend’s feet, and quickly took a step back.
… *MELM*!
The delay was shorter this time, with the fish only spending a few moments back on the grass before being snatched up into Melm’s maw. Toby took half a step closer as the sounds of the blue belly returned, churning digestive fluids rushing up to claim the fresh food. He tried not to even blink, so he wouldn’t miss any little glimpse of the super fast stomach at work.
“Hehe,” giggled the boy excitedly as he looked up from the now empty gut. “You want more?” He pattered back over to the pile, but this time turned around and beckoned. “Come on, they’re over here, see? Eat all you want.” He gestured at the scaly, flopping food, then took a step back.
Melm glanced up at the looming head of the dragoness that surrounded him, but Kyla remained still, as did Kint. Hesitantly, the little blue beast took a step forward.
“Yeah, that’s it!” Toby encouraged.
The dance was slow and jerky, with Melm advancing slowly, then watching for a response, stepping back every time one of the massive predators breathed too loudly, or whenever the little undigestable prey cheered too excitedly. Toby ended up taking several steps back to give his new friend some room. But soon, the entire pile of fish was well within melm-ing distance.
*MELM*! *MELM*!
It glanced around cautiously as the two lumps formed one in its belly. Toby gently stepped a little closer again, trying to get a better look, though this time his sister distracted him.
“Don’t you see this kind of thing all the time?” she asked. He did practically live in dragon stomachs, after all.
“Kinda,” the boy admitted, though without looking away. “But not see-through from the outside like this. Plus, Melm does it crazy fast.”
She made a face, like she couldn’t quite understand how such a small difference warranted this much interest.
“Bellies and trees,” Kint remarked, catching his sister’s look. Not that he really understood the ‘bellies’ part- not from Toby’s perspective at least. Still, all that really mattered was that it made Toby happy.
Silently, Kyla found herself reaching a similar conclusion, and both big siblings took on little smiles, as they watched their little brother’s excited face literally lighting up with each new fish that disappeared into the blue belly.
“See? We’re not so scary, right?” said Toby as he watched. “We’re nice.” He didn’t get any direct reply, but watching the quick tongue snatch up the last of the food was answer enough. Now right next to Melm, after having slowly approached step by step, he watched one final time as the lump of wriggling fish beyond the blue-tinted skin began to bubble and churn and fade into a frothy haze, shrinking away into nothing before his very eyes.
Speaking of eyes, realizing his feast was gone, Melm quickly started to glance around, flicking between the ground and the gaze of his onlookers.
“Sorry, that’s all,” Toby told him.
The sound drew the creature’s attention and it looked right at him. Toby smiled wider, glowing brighter as he looked back. Despite being so close, it wasn’t backing away now- or trying to eat him like it had the first time.
“Huh, look at that,” Kyla remarked. “I didn’t really think that would work.”
“I mean, if anyone could make friends with a random dangerous predator, it would be Toby, right?” Kint replied.
“Heh, yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Melm flinched as the surrounding walls of scales, previously still and calm, suddenly started to shift.
“You’re getting up?” Toby asked his sister, smile faltering.
“You just wanted to show this melm we were nice, right?”
“Oh, um… yeah, I guess so.”
As the dragoness rose and unwound her lengthy body from around the little pair, the blue beast finally saw the trees- a sight it hadn’t been sure it would ever get again- and immediately started waddling toward the familiar green. But even while it went, it kept turning around, its little beady eyes flicking between those watching it leave.
The gaze hung on Toby for a moment, and despite his reluctance, Toby smiled and raised a hand to wave.
“Bye, Melm,” he said, a little sad. But the more he thought about it, the more that sadness went away. Now Melm knew for sure that they were friendly. Plus: Kyla, Kint and Asha all knew his scent now, so if he ever wanted to say hello again, he could just ask one of them for help sniffing him out.
“So… what now?” Kyla asked, as the last trace of blue disappeared into the brush. “More looking at trees?”
“I do know a few really big ones around here you haven’t seen yet,” Kint suggested.
“Oh yeah?” The boy sounded instantly interested.
“Hehe, yeah, this way.”
Kyla rolled her eyes, but smiled, turning to follow her brother’s lead off into the woods.
“Hey, um, Kyla… you’re not gonna tell anyone I let Toby get swallowed by a melm, are you?” said brother asked hesitantly. “I mean, he did end up okay.”
“Well…” She let the question hang for a moment. “I might if you keep dragging me around to look at trees all day.”
“Kyla,” Toby scolded disapprovingly.
“Fine, fine,” she relented, giving up her teasing. “But you definitely owe me one, Kint.”