Despite Fear

Parents are expected to raise their children. Guide them, protect them, and nurture them. It's a parents job to prepare their children for potential dangers and these lessons give insight to things that should be feared. It has been noted that small children have been seen playing with rats and snakes- things that terrify many adults- with little hesitation. Without prior knowledge, children have no frame of reference on why they should be afraid. The instincts that other species have don't seem to apply to humans, unique among the anthropic societies. Dwarves and Orcs and Elves seem to have a disposition to those innate fears and terrors. It is very easy for other species to take advantage of humans' helplessness. Knowing these things, one would assume only the most tragic circumstances when a baby girl, lost in the woods, crying in the arms of her late mother, is discovered by a 10 foot adolescent dragon. In this instance, the baby wasn't afraid. Draconids are extremely rare to see near any settlement, let alone the largest human city, so having never seen one, she wouldn't know it was threatening. She felt intrigue, fascination, and curiosity, but no fear. In this rare instance there was truly nothing to fear at all. The baby girl stopped crying and reached out her hand. The dragon, as gently as he could, curled his body around the child and her mother. As the sun set, the dragon would protect the baby. He knew what frightening things called these woods home. But of all the evil that lurked to bring the girl harm, it certainly wouldn't be him.

As dawn came and the warmth of the rising sun approached, it amplified how cold the mothers body had grown. The entire woods was perfectly still. Of all the things that could have brought such a grim end to the mothers life, it's hard to think of one that would spare the baby, let alone not scavenge the woman for food. And more curious yet is what brought the woman so far away from the city. It could have been illness or delusions or another human, too mournful to hurt the little girl. The dragon knew the baby was also growing cold. She awoke and began gently crying, growing weaker as the moments passed. An orphaned dragon is powerful enough to hunt and fend for themselves but a human baby cannot. It's rare for a dragon to act thoughtfully toward their own, let alone a member of a weaker species, but neither of these two were raised by their kind. The baby began to grow quiet. The dragon rose from the ground to nuzzle her and raise her spirits but his sharp scales scratched the baby's soft skin, making her groan and flail. Knowing she must be hungry, the dragon began to forage for small things, picking up berries and insects to give her to eat. Reptilians don't nurse like humans so the dragon only began to grow panicked as the baby seemed to refuse to eat. He paused in frustration to watch what the baby could do but she just grew still. As the silence again set in he knew he must act.

He grabbed the baby in his mouth by her gown and began to carry her toward the settlement, each still moment causing him to rush more furiously. He tried to fly up but the force of him preparing to take off jostled her violently, causing her to cry now more loudly than before. He stayed low and rushed toward the town over logs and streams. When he approached a clearing, he noticed a few small houses along farm land. He placed the baby on a log stump and looked around for another human and spotted a few women walking along. He let out a loud roar to get their attention. They looked over and started to scream and point and curse at the dragon. He didn't understand. Why would they reject their own baby? Would they harm the little girl? The women began to approach while waving their arms and screaming. All he could think to do is again wrap himself around the baby girl to show she was safe and needed help. He let out one more roar and as he did, he was interrupted by an even louder roar. A rifle. A shot right to the neck and into the skull killed him instantly. He was too frantic to even notice the gunman taking aim. One can only hope it was painless.

The little girl was now sitting on a stump, surrounded by the late dragon who gave up his life to protect her. She sat up and pushed at his tail but he was still. The faces of horror and screams from the folk overwhelmed her. She looked closely at the dragon's face. Sharp scales, gnashing teeth, piercing eyes. The dragon had made her feel safe just moments before. But now she was afraid.