The Valley Of Novem- Part 2

Ambrogio and Laco spent the entire day fashioning a nest for themselves in Novem. Ambrogio builds his out of wooden panels. He called it a house. It looked silly to Laco. He has never seen a nest with four walls and a roof before, but if his friend liked it, then so be it. Laco preferred the cave in the nearby mountain where the waters began. It was overlooking Novem, which made Ambrogio feel safe. Laco watched as Ambrogio cover the entranceway with a special panel called a door.

“Why are you doing that?” asks Laco, unsure of its purpose.

“To keep the elements out.” answers Ambrogio. “unlike you, I don’t have thick scaly skin to protect me from it.” He shows Laco a gash on his arm he had gotten while cutting the hole to enter the house. “But don’t worry, because I made a hole for you to look into so you can still see and talk to me.” He pointed at the small square hole in the side of a wall.

“That’s nice, but we should put something on the wound to protect it. I know just the thing,” says Laco.

Laco stretches his wings and flies away. He goes to a forest and collects yarrow, goldenrod, and calendula. He returns to Ambrogio, chewing the plants together to make a paste. “Here, I made this for you. This usually helps when I get wounds like that,” he said applying the paste to Ambrogio’s cut.

“Thank you, Laco! I can feel it getting better already,” smiles Ambrogio. Then his stomach growls, “You know where I can find food? All this building has made me quite hungry. ”

“Of course! Hop on my back and I’ll show you where all the best meat is,” says Laco. Ambrogio climbs onto Laco’s back, and off they flew.

Laco showed Ambrogio where all the best hunting grounds were. Where the juiciest berries grew. He showed him where the crunchiest bugs can be dug up from. Ambrogio wasn’t a fan of this type of food, which made Laco happy because these were his favorite. Unfortunately, poor Ambrogio was getting all sketched up from Laco’s scales. So, to help his friend, Laco created some clothes out of bearskin for Ambrogio to protect him from the wear and tear of riding on his back. Day after day, they explored everything. They climbed the tallest mountains together. Swam in the oceans with the tasty fish. It was around the eleventh day that Laco could feel something was wrong with Ambrogio.

“What is wrong?” he asks as Ambrogio set up the fire for the night.

“Nothing” shrugs Ambrogio, as he halfheartedly stacked the firewood.

“Oh, come now. I know something is wrong. You seem off like you are sad. Is it something I did?” asks Laco.

“No, no, it’s just, we have worked very hard to map and explore this world together. I’d hate to see it all go to waste.” sighs Ambrogio.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you are an immortal dragon with powers vastly superior to mine. Someday I’m going to return to the sands of time. But when will this happen? We do not know. I wish there was a way I could pass my legacy and friendship to someone just in case that day is tomorrow.” answers Ambrogio.

“Well, the sun is setting. Perhaps I could try to make another one just like you?” asks Laco.

“We could try,” answers Ambrogio. Laco bows down to allow Ambrogio to climb onto his back, which he does. Laco then takes off for the desert where he created Ambrogio.

When they arrived, the sun was almost gone.

“Quick, how did you create me?” asks Ambrogio, jumping off.

“Well, I plucked a loose scale from my hand and spit it into the sands like this,” answers Laco. He plucks a scale from his hand and spits it in the same spot as last time. But, instead of the last rays of sun hitting the spot, the first rays of the moonlight do instead. The sands still glow and swirl in the winds much like they did last time. Only this time, the sands formed a unique creature. This creature differs vastly from Ambrogio. It was smaller than him, with rounder hips and a bigger chest, for this creature was a woman.