Wings

It was early morning, with the sun still below the Orasobian horizon. Aldes was waking up, his eyelids slowly beginning to unlatch, his wings extending out to the leaves around him, and his tail extending to the tree trunk far behind him. The black and gray dragon took a long, deep breath and then slowly exhaled. He watched in satisfaction as a mild plume of smoke escaped his mouth and nostrils. “Finally,” he thought, as the sun’s rays began to pierce the thick leaves of the Asip trees. As the light began to assist in bringing Aldes’s awakening process to a finish, his stomach began to rumble very loudly, so he started to walk through the forest with the hopes of finding something tasty to eat.

As Aldes roamed the forest for breakfast, the sky continued to brighten and finish turning blue. The forest of Orasob exploded with the brightest rainbow of color. Partway through Aldes’s food-finding journey, he spotted Nalim the owl. “Good morning, Nalim!” exclaimed Aldes. “Isn’t it a very exuberant day?”

“Very vibrant, indeed!” Nalim replied happily. It was at this moment that both Aldes and Nalim heard the scream of what sounded like a small child. Aldes decided to advance toward the sound of the scream, at which point a small little girl graced Aldes’s emerald-colored eyes. He greeted the tiny lady in a small, pink dress with a simple “Hello.” The girl looked at him with an expression radiating shock and fear of Aldes the dragon. “Hello,” he repeated.

“Hello,” the girl said.

“I am a friendly dragon named Aldes,” the dragon explained to the girl. “Who and what exactly are you? I have never seen you or your species in this forest before.”

“My name is Aloiresto,” replied the little girl. “I am a human girl.”

The majestic beast looked at the little girl very carefully. They both knew there was something within the girl that was not settling well with either one of them. Aldes asked Aloiretso what her exact purpose was for wandering - alone, no less - in a forest, much less Orasob. “What is your rationale for meandering around in a place like this?”

“My mommy flew away with my daddy,” she explained. She then proceeded to explain that, in her relatively tiny world, she heard a lot of shouting and other random noises, all coming from her parents. “I have no idea what to do anymore outside of wandering new lands, looking for something that will make me happy.”

“So that is why you are roaming through Orasob?” asked Aldes.

“Yes,” replied Aloiresto. Aldes paused briefly, reflecting on his past and similar struggles when he was a tiny hatchling.

Out of fear that something tragic would happen to the little toddler, he said, “follow me.” The tiny female smiled and took Aldes’s front right claw as they wandered through Orasob as a few solar rays broke through the emergent layer to the canopy. As the duo was walking together on one of Orasob’s paths, Aldes decided it was an opportune time to address the noise Aloiresto had emitted mere minutes before. “Why were you screaming?” he asked.

“Well,” began Aloiresto, “my mommy and daddy have been screaming and fighting with each other for as long as I can remember. Their reasons for fighting have no meaning to me because they use many long and complicated words, and I don’t know what any of them mean.”

Aldes nodded in acknowledgment and then realized that Aloiresto was very small. He decided to try and ask her some poignant questions to try and understand her perspective as much as a dragon could. “How old are you, Aloiresto?” asked Aldes.

Aloiresto opened up her right hand and counted on her fingers, starting at her thumb. “One…two…three…” She stopped counting and paused, “...three!” she exclaimed, “I’m three!”

Aldes now realized that he was in something of a bind. He asked her to explain what her parents had been saying and doing. “It’s OK if you can’t remember everything that was said word for word, and it’s also OK if you are unsure of some of the details as to what exactly your parents did,” Aldes reassured Aloiresto, “just try your best.”

“OK,” said Aloiresto. “Today, they were texting each other about wishing they had an a-bor-tee-on…”

It was at this moment that Aldes stopped to listen to Aloiresto discuss how she asked them what an a-bor-tee-on is and that this was when the shouting started about how she found out. She told him that her father had started punching her mother, and Aloiresto was confused about why. Aldes, like a good dragon with character, listened intently, his eyes locked with Aloiresto as she spoke, going into as much vivid detail as her young mind could process and speak.

By the time Aloiresto had finished talking, Aldes realized that the sun had started to descend and the sky had started to blush in color. Aldes decided that Aloiresto, thanks to her parents, had limited options for anything resembling any quality of life. “Aloiresto,” said Aldes, “how about if I take you in?”

“What does that mean?” asked Aloiresto.

“You can come live with me,” said Aldes, “I will help you with anything you need in any way that I can.”

“You would do that?” asked Aloiresto.

“Yes,” Aldes confirmed. “I’ll take you to my cave and make you a home. I can help you make food, learn to use your body, and, perhaps most importantly, chase your dreams. My cave is even near a pool!”

“Wow!” exclaimed Aloiresto. “My house doesn’t have a pool.”

Aldes then took Aloiresto to his cave. When they got there, Aloiresto caught a glimpse of Aldes’s pool under the Orasobian sunset and commented, “Your pool is really pretty!”

“Just wait,” teased Aldes, “eventually, we can go deeper, and then it’ll be pretty.” He then went inside and made a bed for Aloiresto out of leaves, flowers, and various branches and twigs.

She climbed in and said, “At home, I don’t have any of this.” She warmed herself up, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.