Cute scenes that I read from a few dragon stories.

"Christopher Paolini's Fantasy Fiction" was a great competition that's come and gone. Although the competition may have ended, the stories still remain. A lot of authors have put their heart and soul into making their stories. Some put their best efforts into constructing one masterpiece meanwhile others made more than one story not wanting to put all of their eggs in one basket. I personally like to see it as a lot of omelets were getting made, and the one chef- I mean author, that crafted the perfect recipe/sauce had their story's flavor savored by the judges. Some had cheese, others had onions, a few had mushrooms, a great many had a bit of bacon added to theirs (some even had turkey bacon), and the very rare few went entirely vegan. This challenge had so many different takes on the recipe that even the most strikingly similar stories had minute differences in their tone, setting, atmosphere, etc. You could tell which ones were a little overcooked from sitting in the skillet a bit too long, which ones had a bit of runny yolk leftover, and some where the ingredients were mixed perfectly so as not to get overwhelmed with one ingredient in a located bite.

The main prompt for this challenge was: "A grown dragon finds a lost — or abandoned — toddler in the forest. Write a fiction story about what happens next."

From dragons finding abandoned children, to children loosing their families due to warfare between dragons and humans, there sure were a lot of great takes on the dragons. Some being just dragons themselves, others acting as highly intelligent creatures on par with humans but lacking sapience, from dragons having mental (possibly even magical) capabilities like vampires utilizing telepathy to communicate effortlessly with dragons and humans alike or controlling people, dragons having wisdom surpassing the wisest lessons committed to human history, and that's not even discussing about the many forms that a lot of the dragons took. From the classic Western dragon that appears on the flag of Wales, to the Fuzanglong of traditional Chinese culture along with that of Imugi of Korean folklore; this challenge featured dragons of all unique shapes, sizes, backgrounds, history, myth and legend, and even unique capabilities from breathing fire to being apart of nature itself.

Now we understand that the dragons were the main highlight of the challenge. They were the star attraction of the show, and most stories surely set them up to be main characters, but these beasts weren't the only star of the prompt, there had to be either babies or toddlers in the stories.

Now this, integrated a problem into the stories, since babies are essentially drunk little people. Even though they may lack in motor coordination along with speech skills and etiquette, they're not always completely defenseless against the top link of the food chain as displayed in several stories. Most of the stories revolved around friendships, humanity being displayed, and large amounts of compassion. This meant that most of the dragons have some desire to care for the little ones regardless of differences between the species.

Going through a small list of stories that I read for the challenge, there's a few small scenes here and there that live rent free in my head out of sheer adorableness. Due to the main portion of the story revolving around dragons discovering toddlers or babies, I think a lot of people found it hard not to write something cute. Even while reading them, my overly active imagination went to work bringing their characters to life, as if I were a third person just casually observing. Personally, I think that means theses stories were well written enough to not just elicit my emotions, but I essentially was transported into the settings for the stories.

Without further ado let's talk about a few cute scenes from some stories. Disclaimer: These stories are not ordered in any way. There is no cutest to least cutest, or best written to worst, if anything the stories listed in this article are probably placed based on the chronological order that I read them in.

1. "Just Rewards" has been published by Cathy Holmes.

Like most of the stories submitted to the challenge (or at least from the ones that I've read) they tend to start out in tragedy. With a toddler or baby being found lost, abandoned, or just separated from its parents in general, this story starts off, as the title states, in tears.

When the matriarch of an expedition group assessing the damages done to a town, they hear a shrill sound emanating from somewhere. Upon finding that the source is a miniature human, Mina demands for the small being to fall quiet with the simple word "Silence." However, toddlers, no matter what age, are not fond of being quiet, especially if their needs are currently insufficiently met.

For me the cuteness of this scene is displayed in the defiance of the child along with the shock of Mina combined with it as well. Now, You must be thinking, "Thavien, how is a child biting someone cute?" It's not the bite itself, but the act of independency that one so young displays against insurmountable potential foes. It's not that the child doesn't care for its own safety, it's the fact that its fighting for its own safety coupled with Mina, the height of her clan, having a small fall from glory. It's a nice, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen" scene. The only thing lost and gained is pride and humility. Being on the top of the food chain doesn't mean invulnerable.

2. "Unethical" has been published by Natasja Rose.

The setting of this story is different as most fantasy fiction stories tend to take place in a time period before the (well, different worlds/universes, so more like "an") industrial revolution. Her story takes place during a modern time at a forested park. Reading about the parents strapping their baby into a car in a carrier flooded my mind with memories about sitting in a child safety seat when I was young (even memories that are just blur, I can recall times about a child carrier well before I was ever in pre-school).

What I enjoy about this story is how the baby's thoughts are expressed in third person. Sure, Astrid (nice How to Train Your Dragon reference, btw) may not be given quotation marks for her thoughts, let alone speech, but being able to read things such as that gives so much more personality to her character that connects the audience towards the fictional infant.

Yes, Astrid played the main role throughout the entire story, and as much as I want to call the entire story cute, I should only call out a few specific scenes. For instance, the scene where Astrid is gnawing down on the cursed bracelet like its her new teething ring I absolutely adored. Having my wisdom teeth removed and years before when dealing with braces, I remember having something pleasantly cool on my gums helping tremendously to alleviate the soreness.

Aside from that one scene, the other scene was Astrid's parents, Kristoff (uh- hold up a second, is that a Frozen reference) and Gerda, discovered that their daughter was replaced with a dragonet. The growling, pouting, and little spurt of fire is body language that universally displayed (yes, I know that human children can't breathe fire) annoyance. Even in a drastically different anatomical form, Astrid is still capable of displaying enough of her emotions across to display her frustration. Sure, a little dragon sat before her parents, but the fact that it's still Astrid in the skin of a dragon lets us know that the curse of the bracelet may change their form but it may not alter their mind too drastically.

3. "The Origins of Raine" is a story published by Sara Jane Triglia.

Aside from its fantastical narrative and background setup "The Origins of Raine" is also filled with fantastical images that support the story adding a bit of constraints to the characters (i.e. giving us forms to work with) and enhancing the imagination of the audience as well. Sara took a lot of time and dedication in writing this story as well as editing her pictures.

The cute scene that really got me in this story takes place when Raine's family is celebrating her birthday under one roof for the evening. Her father, David, relays the story of how he and Nuri were blessed with Raine. When Raine is beaming with happiness and pride in the fact that everybody's taking in the delight that she is, she exclaims, "I'm a blessing!" Thus, she flaps her tiny, little, wings just merely hovering above her father's lap. When I first read this scene I let out an audible "Awwwwwe." I do have to say that if these scene were animated, especially if it were an anime I definitely would've called it "kawaii."

4. "The Sweetest Sound" is a story published Heather Hubler.

Taking her time diligently crafting this short story epic, Heather's work is less of a revenge story and more of bringing justice whilst returning the world to a natural state of order undoing all of the perversions brought about by two sinister brothers, Neth and Noth.

Starting off sad, her writing displays a lovely sense of lightheartedness (especially with the research that she had to do for writing the phonetics for this story). The main cute scene that I found here was when her main character, Aerin, first blinks at the dragon, Sazo, and then proceeds to repeat "Unerstan?"

I don't know why, but the mispronunciation of words by such a little tike, sort of melted my heart a bit. Then when Aerin goes on to say "Iana no more. Bad men no more. I safe. I s-s-ad," followed up by bunching up into a fetal position just made me feel a bit sad for her. It's weird to think about it, but tiny and helpless beings sort of get an automatic cute pass, especially because it makes us desire to protect them. You can blame parental instincts since it's for the survival of the species, but as babies humans are a lot less independent than a lot of other species. Baby turtles, alligators, and even deer are more than capable of hiding on their own. Sure, mammals may need more assistance than their reptilian and amphibious friends, but I will have to say that Heather's story brought out a bit of a protective instinct in me. As much as I wanted to pick Aerin up myself and tell her "Shhhh, shhh, shhh, everything's gonna be alright. Don'tchu worry." As a member of the audience I couldn't, just like how Sazo couldn't since his size, scales, and talons make him incapable of doing so.

One last note, having a deep voice is like a cheat code when it comes to soothing people, babies included, to sleep. It's helped me before not just with babies in my own family, but it's even made a few marines in training fall asleep.

5. "Lilith of the Valley" is a story published by Gina C.

This story is fantastically fun and the author, Gina, definitely spared no expense when it came to world building. Her story pulls a lot of references from Biblical text and lore and even subtle hints to real life biology that most people would come across as children enjoying the luxury of playing amongst plants whether it be in a front yard, forest, garden, etc. As an excerpt from my own comment on her story Gina "took the "fantas" from "fantastical" and shoved it right into "fantasy" making sure demonstrate what one can do with a world full of imagination!"

The cuteness immediately starts right with the action at the very beginning of the story. As much as we like to think of baby's as "drunk little people" most of the babies that are Fairies and Faeryns have a higher level of awareness. Even though they may have chubby little cherub like bodies, with dimples and their hands and creases in their arms and legs, they're fully capable of walking and running from birth. Now, that may not be as cute as most people would think (kind of like a comparison of toddlers to babies), Gina's fairy babies make up in adorableness in the tiny department. Like so small one would use the word "smol" as a description.

The fairies that are born are barely the size of a bee. As cute as that is, I'd be more afraid of accidentally squishing one in my hand, let alone going about a regular walk through a field of flowers. Still, highly adorable, and the thought of a tiny baby stretching their arms as they awake brings a slight smile to my face.

6. "The Dragon & The Wombat" is a story published by Kyle Cejka.

This story written by Kyle Cejka brings a lot of comedy that I would say was desperately needed for the competition. Most fantasy stories are intense with huge amounts of action. This story was packed with both action, humor, and adorableness.

The first thing I noticed about this story was its cover art. Dropping the formalities, "Straight up, it looks dope." If You could judge a book by its cover, this story is a great as its artwork. The artistry and writing are neither lacking.

Right out the gate, Kyle hits us with the majesty that is his dragon, "Throdenixen." With a name befitting of a dragon for a fantasy story, the audience is meant to marvel at the dragon and all its glory before a hilarious calamity strikes.

Being an old dragon, Throdenixen is incapable of escaping the loss of youth. Yes, even though dragons on average tend to live longer lifespans than humans, which includes having a longer portion of their lives in youth in comparison to humans, dragons are still subject to old age and all its benefits as well as its detriments. In Throdenixen's case, a cramped pectoral muscles which is crucial to him flying, or as Kyle writes "the sheer power of defying gravity with each powerful flap of his mighty wings --."

The cuteness of this story, in my personal opinion, occurs when the dragon asks the child (which is affectionately called a hairless wombat) if its still alive. The child shouts, pointing its hands into the air, "Gan!" Which to Throdenixen was either insane or incredulously stupid, and Throdenixen's a flying dragon used to high altitudes. Not even he would want to be thrown into the air without any way to control his own flight path.

Remembering myself as a child wanting to do several fun activities "again" and seeing it amongst my own family members, that scene absolutely describes a child. It's typically two polar opposites: completely filled with fear and panic, or overly enthusiastic with energy. Kyle's writing displays this perfectly.

If You want to read a story that has hilarious grumpy old-man vibes, this is the story meant You.

7. "Pearl and the Human Hatchling" is a story written by Carla Kerr.

This story features a dragon lacking one prime feature that most dragons would despise to be caught dead without (since, if they're caught without it, it might just spell out their death), fire. Though protected from fire and flames, Pearl was incapable of being protected against the social bias of her own kind. Lacking the ability to breathe fire Pearl finds a small human capable of exploding into flame.

Yeah, reading that seriously gave me some "Jack Jack Attack" vibes. First I was scared that the child just straight up died, serving as bait for a trap to kill a dragon... Then I was calmed by reading the rest of the story. Much like Pearl, Abi was exiled from her community. Dragons that can't breathe fire are suspected of having a disease or ailment and other dragons don't want that spreading to them, nor their children. Human children that can't control their fiery explosions are just as dangerous, if not even more so, as an adult dragon.

So, doing what she can, Pearl adopts the little human and struggles to raise her. The cute scene that sticks out in my mind of this story is when Abi's asleep on the cave floor kicking her legs from time-to-time. The only thing I could think about was "da' widdle wegs." Heck, trying to sleep is one thing, but trying to get comfortable enough to sleep is another. Have You ever tried chasing the cold spot on the bed as a kid since everything else was just too hot? I know I have. Only other thing I got reminded of was how a parent would play with their baby's legs and about how baby's even need to be farted, not just burped (hey, gas can be painful).

8. "The Fly, The Dragon And The Unstoppable Magic Of Love" is a story published by Kelli Sheckler-Amsden.

Now this is a weird scene that some might think is oddly cute, and others would think of it more as disgusting. Kelli's story revolves around a dragon that was turned into a fly that finds a grieving mother. The moral of this story is not that we have to right the wrongs of others in order to help people, but that we just need to be there. Although having magical wishing scales would help out a great deal too.

Now where is the cute scene for me? As the scene it's not what one would typically think to be cute. When most people think of a fly they think of an animal that's comes in first place as an annoyance, and second place as a harbinger for disease. Heck, even the dragon mentions that he's been turned into a "shit eating, ordinary stable fly." Plus, the close up picture used too reminds me about the episode in SpongeBob SquarePants in which a butterfly terrorizes Bikini Bottom.

Now the scene that I found cute is when the fly places its magical scale in the palm of mother's hand. Which is sort of weird cause most people would probably think of a fly touching them as pretty nasty, especially if that fly happens to eat dung. Having dealt with flies in my own house, I admit that I personally don't enjoy their company. Escpecially knowing that they spit into their hands. Sure, it's because the world around them is filthy, but I can't help but think that they're always thinking of something diabolical like, "Hehehe, time to make this human a little sick. *cough* *cough* *spit* *spit*"

Yet, insects have proven to make great pets and people do care for them. So, the sight of a fly placing its leg (acropod?) in a human palm isn't too far fetched. In all honesty, it reminds me of how a lady nurtured a flightless bumble bee. So, as nasty as a fly that eats dung really is, the scene, the gesture, the act of selflessness in it of itself, and the willingness of a mother who'd do anything to rescue her child makes this scene, well at least to me, cute.

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And there You have it folks. These are a few scenes that I found cute. It would really mean a lot if You would go and read these authors' stories, I know I greatly appreciated reading them. Without those stories, I wouldn't have this article.

Thank You for reading.

Sincerely,

Thavien Yliaster