Partridge and Nithe

Each morning was kissed by the swirling orange haze of the rising sun. It illuminated the dark mountain, and a gap in the rocks held a steady stream of light that centered on a small rock in a large glittering cave. The cave was home, to a small, but spritely little creature. It didn’t know how long it was in the vast cave with the little light. It knew it was green, dark green in the light. It had a long tail, one with spikes at the end that it played with often. It knew it had long claws, that clacked on the stone surface. Its tongue was long, it used it to clean itself and its long wings. It never knew what its face looked like, but it didn’t mind, every other bit of it was strong and shiny, so its face must have been too.

It didn’t always go to the light, the creature, but when it did, it curled around the light, tight, basking in the sun and warmth. It did this for days, until one day, a sound came from the cave. Frightened, the small creature scurried into the darkness and hid behind some rocks. It watched in silence as a new creature, tall and sleek walking on two feet approached the light with a bag in their hands. The creature heard of these things before, long ago when it had a mother. Its mother told it, that the thing it saw was a human. Humans were suspicious things. They were loud and cruel and destroyed the very earth they lived upon.

The creature glared, wanting to scare the human away. It readied itself it would launch out and scare the human and the human would run and leave it be.

Before it could do such a thing, the human dug into the light. Curious, the creature watched. The human, after digging for some time, placed the bag it carried into the hole. It buried the bag and patted it tight. Then it walked towards a stream that the creature used to drink from and splash the spot with the water. Then, the human left, satisfied with its work.

When the creature figured it was clear, it walked to the light and sniffed the spot the creature dug at. It smelled sweeter there. So much so, the creature decided to sleep there that night, to be filled with the sweet scent that laid beneath.

The next day came, and the human came again. This time, the creature was too late to scurry away without being seen. It heard the human gasp, and when it felt safe to turn and look the human was just sitting under the light. It looked the creature’s way with a tilt of its head. Then looked back at the buried bag. The human sat for hours, and when the light finally dimmed, did the human get up, splash more water onto the buried object, then left the cave.

The creature once more came out of hiding and laid upon the sweet-scented object buried in the ground. It was determined to wake up early and hide. When the next day came, it was already hiding and watching. The human came, cautiously, with a delicious-smelling thing. Fresh meat.

The creature was excited now, but still cautious. It watched the human place the meat a ways away from the buried object. Then it splashed water on it and left the cave. The creature scurried to the meat, gobbled it up, and then slept in the same spot it had the night before.

Days repeated this way, the human would leave meat, and leave after splashing some water on the spot it buried the bag. Then the creature would sleep after eating the meat, right on that spot. After some weeks, the creature started to notice a plant growing from that spot. It saw life growing. It knew very well nothing had grown there before. Yet now after the human had visited, there was something growing. Maybe humans weren’t all bad.

The next day after seeing the sprouting plant, the creature hid like normal but watched as the human walked to the sprout. The human was excited, it quickly splashed some water on the plant, then talked to it. The creature didn’t understand what the human was saying but slowly crept out of the shadows towards the meat. The human saw, and the creature froze as the human looked its way.

The human moved, and without meaning to the creature grabbed the meat and scurried back into hiding. It didn’t want to, it wanted to stay out, it wanted to be brave, but it still wasn’t sure if the human would hurt it or not.

The human lingered for a bit, but then left like it did before. The next few weeks, returned to normal as the plant started growing more. It grew large and taller with every passing day, sprouting branches and leaves after months of being in the ground. The creature had gotten bigger as well, and braver. Last month, the creature stayed out of the shadows when the human appeared and ate the meat when it was tossed to it. It watched the human each time, growing more and more comfortable with the human.

A few months after that, the creature began to greet the human, they walked towards the baby tree that was growing, and with a helping hand, the creature used its wings to splash water onto the plant before walking the human out. The creature was now comfortable with calling the human a friend. The human talked to the creature, and the creature learned the human’s language. The human called the creature a Dragon. The human gave the creature a name. Partridge. The human laughed the first time it gave Par its name. Par never understood why. It did learn the human’s name. Nithe was the human’s name.

Par and Nithe spent their days with Nithe talking and par resting by the tree. Nithe had no children. Nithe could not have children. Bad humans had hurt Nithe so many times that Nithe would never be able to have children even if Nithe wanted to. But there were other humans Nithe told me about. Good ones that gave Nithe food when Nithe was hungry and alone. Or shelter when Nithe had no where to go. Par liked those humans. Par wouldn’t hurt those who helped. Par and Nithe continued for years, taking care of the tree. Until Nithe showed up one day, old and frail. Nithe died that day, beside the tree, beside Partridge.

Partridge understood it was old age. Partridge understood it would come. It still saddened him to lose his friend. Partridge spent days sad and mournful. Then it saw it. Partridge saw a flower on one of the branches of the tree. Excited, Partidge started to water the tree, like before. It would water it, find food outside the cave, then return to sleep and do it again the next day.

Partridge did this until the flower was different. Until it was large and golden. It smelled sweet, but not in a way that it wanted to eat it. It smelt sweet and kind and innocent, like a child. It grew and grew, until it got so fat it fell to the ground. Partridge was old at this point. Old and frail like it’s old friend. But partridge watched the large golden thing, every day, until it died.

It wasn’t long after that, that a young girl found the cave. She had wandered in, running from bad people that wanted to hurt her. She found the dead decaying dragon and the bones of a human man next to a large pear tree. She walked to the tree, and saw, a large golden pear in front of the dragon. Only, it wasn’t a pear.

You see, the girl wasn’t human. And neither was Nithe. The girl was Nithe’s sister, and they were both Nymphs. The girl’s name was Scylla, and she like Nithe, had a magic seed, that grew magic trees. The pear tree was not a pear tree, even though it grew pears to eat. The golden pear you see, was an egg, a dragon’s egg. Partidge, was the last female dragon, and instead of finding a mate, to make children, Nithe used magic, to help make children. All Partridge had to do, was care for the tree, and protect it.

Scylla sighed, opening her bag she had clutched to her as she ran in the cave. Out popped a baby dragon, looking onward at the large egg before it.

“Another friend” Scylla said to the dragon, “Soon, all your friends will hatch, and soon, all of you will live long free lives.”

Scylla grabbed the golden egg and smiled at the site of the dead dragon and her brother. “He told me of this dragon. He named her Partridge because he always saw her sitting atop the pear tree.” Scylla laughed, and turned to leave the cave, leaving Partridge and her pear tree with her brother Nithe. Where they could enjoy the sun, for all eternity.