So Close, And Witch Way To Go?

He stood behind the tree, glancing, waiting. Do they smell me? See me? He listened. The sound they made was odd, but somewhat familiar. It had been so long since his own whelps were this young. He peaked again from behind the tree and there they were, playing with some leaves, cooing. He looked a little more, a little less careful and he knew they spotted him, but they smiled, and not in a menacing way. He knew that they couldn't hurt him. He didn't want to hurt them. He was curious. How did this little human whelp end up all alone with no one around in the forest with them?

He dropped from two legs to four from behind the tree and crawled towards them. He was deep, cobalt blue and touched with silver on his face like a mask, on his legs, and his wings. He stood out like a sore thumb in the forest; the lone human whelp looked more natural with their little hat, brown hair sticking out, and brown smock than he did. He lay still in the grass, several feet back. The human whelp played with the bright leaves - tossing them up and watching them waft down. Once in a while they held them up to the soft sunlight, observing the patterns. The little whelp looked at him, smiling, cooing again. He thought the human was too small to move on their own from the patch where they were left. He didn't know much about humans. One this size needs to be carried, right? It can't move on their own. As soon as he had the thought, the little one turned off their bottom and started crawling towards him. He froze. This is a whelp! He ate more ferocious dogs regularly. He had eaten horses, jungles, drained lakes with his brothers and sisters and grazed on the merfolk. Yet this tiny human whelp had him petrified as they approached him.

They placed their small hands upon his snout, using his face to brace themselves to stand up. "Pee-dee," they cooed, running a hand up his face, over his scales, between his eyes. "Smoo-oove."

They speak. He remained unmoved. The little human petted his face all over, smiling the few teeth they had. "Pee-dee," they spoke again. They ran their fingertip over a healing scab where a scale had come off him days earlier, down the side of his face and over his exposed fang. This is just a whelp. He felt it, the little human's finger over his razor-sharp tooth and then their scream. The little one had cut themselves on his tooth. The child held their finger crying, falling back to a seated position on the ground.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you little whelp," he sounded more scared than the little one when he said it. When he scurried out of the position he was in and stood up. He could taste the little bit of blood that was left on his tooth. The taste didn't excite him, barely enough to feel anything, let alone hunger. "Please stop crying." He reached down to pick up the human whelp and when he did, the little child began to stop crying, they were starting to happily coo again, almost laugh, and very quickly, he began to see why. The cobalt blue and silver of his scales had transformed into the same pale flesh as the child with long brown hair the same color as theirs too. He wore a blue tunic and grey pants the same shade as his dragon body. "Oh Gods. What did you do?" He held the child close to him shocked, bouncing them up and down attempting to give them comfort. "Is this what your people do with little ones like you?" He felt so completely bizarre in this new body, yet it felt natural at the same time. "What's going on little whelp? Can you tell me?" He opened his embrace around the child on his hip.

They looked up at him with a smile, "Pee-dee," they pointed up at his face. They ran their hand over his arm, pushing the loose sleeve upwards. On his skin showed the end of a tattoo, he pushed his sleeve up a little further and could see a tattoo of blue and silver dragon scales with his wing on his new human flesh forearm. He may have had human flesh for the moment, but he was still a dragon, and the little human whelp was showing him he still was a dragon inside and out. "Smoo-oove."

He looked up and around, taking a deep breath, processing the last few moments. "Alright. We need to figure out who's missing you and maybe since you made me look like this, maybe you or someone you belong to knows how to change me back. How do we figure out how to get you home?" He walked back over to where the small child had been sitting. He hadn't noticed the pattern before, but they had been sitting in what was clearly a rune. He never had studied runes, but someone in his family had at some point. The information existed in his mind, but the rune symbol held no significance to him. In the minutes he had been observing the child, the breeze had swept up much of it and it was barely legible anymore. "I know you can't say much, but can you tell me anything about this?" He went to his knee and set the little one back on the messy rune, at the very least, he knew there was no power left in the spot. The little child cooed over the leaves, ones that were native to that part of the forest, and then he saw ones that weren't. He picked up the little branch, practically a twig, with a leaf and part of a shell. "Hazel? Here?"

The child turned to him, hopped, and tapped their chest, "Me!"

"Hazel?"

The little child nodded again. "Yeah!"

"Your name is Hazel, and you came from a place where there are hazel trees?"

"Yeah!"

He was taken aback by the little one's, Hazel's, astuteness. They were clearly more intelligent than they appeared for such a little whelp. He looked at them wide-eyed, and dared to see if Hazel could answer another question, "Did you get here by yourself?"

"No," Hazel said clearly, but didn't elaborate.

"Where did you come from?" Hazel tried to talk more but their babbling and pointing didn't make sense. Dragon whelps were coherent from birth; every fifth word or so Hazel said made sense. "I...show...rune...cool...here."

He looked at Hazel more confused than ever. He picked them back up and held them on his hip. "I didn't understand that, I'm sorry Hazel. Do you know where you are?" He turned them around in the clearing. "There is a river west of us, but I don't know what name you call it and I don't go to the town near here."

"No pom," Hazel said.

"Gods, I hope you're as smart as you sound." He hoisted Hazel up on his hip and started walking. Hazel would point and he would follow. Hazel would babble nonsense and he would listen. Every fifth word seemed to make sense; no coherent sentences. He would simply reply, "Tell me about it...Then what happened...What did you do next?" Hazel's voice kept him calm; he never spent any time around humans. He was still trying to figure out how he became human himself. He was scared and this little human whelp was his only key to getting back to his old self.

He had been walking an hour or so, switching Hazel from hip to hip and up to his shoulders, trying to find the strength to carry this child longer and longer. They were small, but he felt himself beginning to tire. He never had to carry other dragons when he was one. He looked down at Hazel wearily, "You mind if we take a break for a little while?" Hazel nodded with a smile. While he sat and rested against a tree, Hazel walked around in the mid-level grass. The grass parted as they walked and their head poked over the top, he could see and hear them walk around. He closed his eyes, feeling the oddly, natural feeling of the body he had been in for a short time. He never had worn clothing before, but liked the way it felt on his skin. Things felt different, smelled different. Suddenly, something sounded different. The rustling of grass stopped and he didn't hear Hazel anymore. His eyes shot open and he scrambled to his feet. He saw the split path in the grass Hazel had made, and there they were, sitting comfortably, smiling, playing with a small, baby garter snake. Hazel wasn't harming the snake, nor was the snake harming Hazel, the pair were gently studying each other in Hazel's hands while they cooed. He quickly yet carefully moved to Hazel, swept them up into his arms, and the snake out of their hands and tossed it away into the grass. Hazel let out a disappointed groan. "It could have bit you!" Hazel looked up at him with a little confusion, showing the cut on their hand his tooth gave them. The cut was barely scabbing, still red from earlier. "You touched my tooth. Now look at me," he said playfully. Hazel shrugged. He was still surprised by their continued understanding. "Until we get you home, you're my responsibility. Wherever your home is."

"No pom." Hazel said again.

"Right. Whatever that means." Hazel pointed in a direction and he reluctantly started walking them again. "I hope you're as smart as you seem."

The pair kept walking for a few more minutes. He kept following Hazel's pointing on the narrow path. It wasn't much of a path, but it was something. Suddenly Hazel let out a loud squeak-like laugh and it put him on alert. He stopped in his tracks, clutching Hazel closely into his chest. No one is going to hurt them. Down the trail was a woman. He glanced down at Hazel smiling and pointing. "Dagon," Hazel squeaked loudly to the woman.

The woman smiled at them as she paused from her berry-picking on the path. "Do my ears deceive me? Did the little one warn me of a dragon in our midst?" she said sweetly. She stepped towards them a little way, popping a few berries in her mouth. She looked around the area, "Must be an awfully big or small dragon. Or one so special only a toddler can see it." She looked at him, "I don't have any little ones myself, but I understand they are a literal handful at that age." She approached them and held up the basket full of berries. "Do dragons eat berries?"

He tried to hide his shock. "Excuse me?" His heart pounded in his chest.

She pointed to his exposed forearm. The way he had been holding Hazel and holding them tighter, his sleeve had moved up his arm, exposing his dragon scale tattoo. "Is the tattoo for your namesake or are you named for your tattoo?"

He attempted to relax, he didn't have another name, Dragon was as accurate and true of a name as any. "I was called Dragon first, then I got the tattoo." Technically, not a lie.

She sniffed a polite laugh. "I go by Tinka, my mother named me. And who is your little one here?"

"This is Hazel, I'm not their father, I'm trying to get them home. I'm not sure where 'No Pom,' is," Dragon said.

"No Pom," Hazel said and pointed.

Tinka put a hand to her lips as her eyes lit up. "I just came from North Pomme. I'm heading back there soon. If you would like to join me for some berry-picking."

Hazel cheerfully looked up at Dragon, "Beaw-wees!" Then looked to Tinka, nodding their head with a smile.

"I don't think I can argue with that face," Dragon said. He let Hazel down and they walked together back to the bushes; Hazel gripped two fingers on Dragon's hand.

Tinka talked more than Dragon, and he was grateful for it. The more she spoke, the less he had to, and he didn't want to expose anything he wouldn't have to about himself. She spoke on how lovely the weather had been for early summer: new beginnings for the season, great harvests of the summer berries, and how excited she would be for the first harvest of wild peaches in the next few weeks. When the bulk of the berries were picked and they all had sufficiently had snacked on many of them, the trio kept on walking to North Pomme together.

"I may know some people who may know Hazel. When we get to North Pomme I would be glad to help get them home," Tinka offered.

"That's generous of you," Dragon said. "I wasn't sure what to do or where to go."

"How did you come across Hazel?"

He had been hoping to avoid the question when she brought it up, he tried to say as little as he could while still being honest, "I had been traveling on the other side of the river with some of my family and I crossed. I saw Hazel all alone. I didn't think it was safe to leave them all alone."

"You're not worried about leaving your family unattended?" Tinka asked.

Dragon thought of the other members of his pride. He would be fine on his own, but that was when he was scaled and bigger, not when he was skinned and human. I can't go back to them looking like this. "They're fine. They know I'm fine on my own. I know how to find them when the time comes."

"You're a hunter? A tracker?" Tinka asked.

"I'm not as talented as others in the family." He didn't want to answer any more questions that would raise suspicions. "What about you? How did you know about the berries here? Or that Hazel meant 'North Pomme?'"

Tinka breathed through a laugh. "Oh, I spend a lot of time out here. Always on this side of the river, probably why we've never met. My husband and I live in North Pomme. I work at the Conclave, lots of students. I've heard enough of them to understand what Hazel means when they say, 'No Pom.'"

"I see." He looked down at Hazel gripping his fingers. Dragon smiled and picked them up. "Is Hazel one of the students at the Conclave?"

"No," Tinka said with a smile.

The trio started to reach the edge of the small path that met the main path. "Which way?" Dragon asked looking in each direction of the path.

Tinka sighed and kept walking toward the left, the north eastern path. Dragon followed by her side holding Hazel, who began to doze off in his arms. "Do you have any little ones of your own?"

"They're not so little anymore," he replied. Stop asking about me. "You said you don't have any little ones. Does that mean you work with them at the Conclave?" He didn't know what 'The Conclave' was. When human whelps become students. What the difference between a student and a toddler was.

"No. I work with a lot of the Sorcerers, Apothecaries, Druids, and one particular Alchemist."

"You're a magic user?"

"Only inherently, and only a little. I'm more of an...ambassador."

"What does that mean?" Dragon asked.

Tinka looked at Hazel fast asleep in Dragon's arms. She smiled, "How does it feel to hold Hazel?"

"It feels fine, I guess. They're not uncomfortable to carry. It wouldn't be right to have left them all alone."

"You care. You're not some brute," Tinka spoke softly.

"Of course not," he was a little insulted even though he could hear the kindness in her tone. They began to reach the clearing outside the forest, the city walls were in the distance. Dragon was sweating, a new sensation for him. "I never could hurt a little one like this, not intentionally."

"How about anyone you know?"

Dragon was quiet for a moment. "I saw Hazel pick up a snake like it was an old friend. I took it and threw it away because I was scared for Hazel. Maybe...Maybe the two made proper introductions and I didn't know. Maybe I was a brute and that little snake was innocent. It's been a long time since my family or me has met anyone new." He picked up Hazel's hand in his. "I forgot people could be kind." He was more than a little sad when he said it.

Tinka stopped them on the path. "Who said I was a person?" Tinka asked with blunt joy.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not human, and neither are you, obviously, Dragon," she crinkled her nose as she said it. His eyes grew wide as his heart raced. Tinka glanced down the path towards the city gates to a familiar figure walking towards them. "You know how I said I was an ambassador? It's on behalf of people like Hazel."

"But Hazel's so young!"

"At the moment. How did you find Hazel?"

"By themselves."

"In a rune?"

"Yes."

Tinka giggled. "There's a term where Hazel comes from called 'premeditated.' They wanted to meet you; along with my brother here." As Tinka said it, her the figure from up the road approached them: Nestor the Cruel.

Nestor approached Tinka, Dragon, and Hazel. He opened his pouch, removed a vial and handed it to Tinka. "Successful mission?" Nestor asked.

"Either you forgot the plan or you need new glasses." Tinka slowly woke Hazel in Dragon's arms. "You're going to want to set them down for this."

Dragon slowly set Hazel on the ground on their feet. They rubbed their eyes for a moment, looked at the people around them, then held out their hand for the vial Tinka held. She handed it to Hazel and they drank it. Within a moment and a puff of steam, Hazel grew threw several life stages into a human adult in their mid-20s. "You were right, Nestor. There is something quite pleasant about being small and carried," Hazel said with a laugh.

Dragon shook his head in disbelief. "What?! What's happening? What just happened?" He took a couple steps back.

"It's still me. You found me in a rune in the woods and I did just a little blood magic to make you human. It's fully reversible."

"You can either blame or thank me," Nestor gave Dragon a small bow. "I've been wanting to learn more about dragons for a couple years. We've been planning this for months."

"So you decide to hold my body hostage with magic?!" Dragon yelled.

"Yeah, because you were so open to a conversation when we first met." Tinka handed Hazel the basket of berries and Nestor the shoulder bag she carried. Nestor knew what she was about to do and looked away. Tinka pulled her deer-skin out of the bag, flung off the robe she wore, wrapped her hide around herself, and transformed back into her deer-selkie self. "Do you remember me now? We met a couple years back. Your elder leader made me leave when your pride landed in the valley I was roaming in."

"Ah." Dragon was red in the face for more than one reason. "That wasn't my choice. That was her choice. My family and I don't roam with that pride anymore."

"We know. We've been tracking your movements," Hazel said.

"So what is this? Some revenge plan for kicking you out of the valley?" He said to Tinka. "Some experiment?" He said to Hazel." "Research?" He said to Nestor.

Hazel looked to Nestor and nodded. He pulled out another vial. "Some introductions don't go the way we want them to go," Tinka said. "I was once life-debted to Nestor, now he's my brother by blood, and we're not even the same species."

"I taught Nestor the Cruel in Herbal Apothecary. He was one of my worst students, but now he's one of my dearest friends. And that's how I met Tinka, and now she's my deer-friend," Hazel said.

"We thought we could revolutionize the next generation with a new introduction to dragons. Our texts about your kind are outdated by hundreds of years. Tinka has taught the Conclave so much about Selks and being an ambassador to the other forest Mythics. We didn't know how to ask. We had been tracking your behaviors with other animals and saw you were our best chance at an introduction. Hazel took a risk and you delivered. How we did this was deceitful and wrong. And we're sorry for doing this to you," Nestor said.

"If you don't want to help us, we will understand, but we wanted you to at least know why we did what we did. And you have our apologies. You deserve that much." Hazel said.

"If you like, I can take you back to where you found Hazel, you drink this vial, and you'll be back to your old self. All we ask is that is that you don't hold a grudge or punish other humans or selks for the choices we made. Everyone told us this was a fool's errand. This was our choice, not theirs," Tinka said.

Dragon looked at the trio: Hazel the Apothecary witch, Nestor the Cruel Alchemist, and Tinka the Deer Selkie. He took the vial out of Hazel's hand, seeing the cut on their finger his tooth made. The wax seal shined in the sunlight and the liquid in the glass moved back and forth. "Will it be safe for me in the city?" Dragon asked with a half-smile.

Some time later...