You were 7 years old the first time you saw a dragon…

At that time the adults had already been responsible for filling your head with fears and lies: dragons were evil, creatures without feelings, dragons KILLED people. Never and under no circumstances should you approach a dragon or follow it, no matter what the situation was or where you were.

And, despite all their attempts to make you afraid of them, you were still... curious. While children your age spent all their free time playing with old rag dolls or pretending to be brave hunters, you were in the library looking for information or exploring the forest, in the area near the cliffs and caves. You even had your own explorer's notebook! (Actually it was just a small leather notebook, in which you occasionally drew and wrote about your failed searches, but you LOVED it)

Well... it will be better if we go back to the important part of our story. It all started on a warm summer afternoon; your parents had gone to visit some nearby neighbors, and you, as always, had sneaked into the forest to explore.

You walked through the undergrowth, following the path that you had marked with stones over the years. However, when you arrived at your destination you did not find a empty forest glade, but something much more amazing...

A dragon.

A huge gray-winged beast rested in the middle of the silent glade. Its body was dark gray with small fuchsia spots all over its spine; it appeared to be a female, of a powerful breed judging by its size. It had a tail with fins and tall spines, which continued all over her back, so you assumed that it was obviously a sea dweller… THAT WAS INCREDIBLE! According to your books (which obviously were yours, and you had NOT taken from the old library and then hidden under your bed), dragons of that breed were almost impossible to find, and were never seen in places so close to humans!

Tempted by your childlike curiosity you slowly walked towards the huge beast, which hissed and growled, but did not try to run towards you to attack you, much to your surprise... But you soon discovered why it was doing this; One of its front legs (the only legs that did not end in fins) had a large wound from which fuchsia blood oozed out. It was also curled up, resting close to her chest, instead of being straight like the other one. You thought it must be very painful if it did not even try to get up and attack you. Slowly you approached its injured limb carefully, causing it to growl aggressively this time and try to hit you using its fish tail, but luckily you also could get away just in time to dodge it.

After avoiding what would have been your certain death, you ran as fast as you could towards the body of the creature, which, thanks to your low height at that time, served you as the perfect shield. The dragon continued growling and hissing but, seeing that it could not attack you anymore because of your position, it slowly lowered its tail... although still looking at you with menacing and VERY angry eyes.

You, from your crouched position on the floor, took the opportunity to raise your head to look at it better; It (She?) was extremely tall, and had long, wavy black hair and two huge yellow horns that came straight out of its head. You could also see some kind of golden headband located in the part where its horns started, maybe it was a... queen? Like, a dragon queen? (Were those even real?)

The huge beast hissed when you tried to approach its wounded leg once more. With your stubborn attitude of 7 years old, you sighed and got up, in what was probably a pretty ridiculous attempt to look taller (... and perhaps also a rather suicidal tactic on your part). You looked directly into the dragon's dark yellow eyes, and you set out to try to communicate.

"I'm NOT going to hurt you, please: I JUST WANT TO HELP YOU, but I can not do it if you KILL ME". Of course, you had to speak very loud to be heard, which would have been very funny if you did not find yourself in this life or death situation.

The dragon looked directly at your little face, frowned and then exhaled small white clouds through its nose, but slowly (and seeing that you did not yield) it finally moved its tail. Very cautiously you approached its left leg, from which a small trail of fuchsia blood was still coming out.

Now that you were able to examine it more closely you saw what the problem was; It looked like a large bleeding wound, possibly caused by a hunter's trap. It extended from the claw until shortly before what you assumed was the knee of the beast, and it seemed fresh, so it seemed logical enough to you that it had not chosen a place farther from humans to stop to rest.

Carefully you turned to open the bag that you always wore when you went out of the village, dumping the objects inside into the nearest piece of land. Several things fell to the ground with a thud, including your notebook, pencils, a (your favorite sandwich), just in case you were hungry on your way, and finally some medical supplies. You have already hurt yourself several times in your many searches, and it had become almost normal for you to carry practically a whole first aid kit to your 'quests'.

You opened a homemade disinfectant and sprayed it carefully over the wound. The female dragon hissed, instinctively wagging its tail dangerously close to you, but did not try to attack: instead it stood still and waited uncomfortably while you continued doing your job.

With all the skill that a little girl can possess, you slowly began to wrap its leg in clean bandages. You noticed how the cold-blooded creature got more and more nervous throughout this procedure, so, and after thinking it during a brief second, you had the 'wonderful' idea of offering it your sandwich to help reassure it. The dragon first hesitated, suspiciously looking at your food as if it were poisoned, and then smelling it carefully. But it seemed to decide quickly, and began to eat the sandwich. It did not take it long to finish it, since it was a rather small piece (you were a child after all), but by then you had finally finished your work.

Its gaze went to the bandage. Your small but nimble hands had made the bandages take a moderately satisfying look: they were rolled up its leg, and stopped the flow of blood pretty well.

With a proud smile on your face you watched as slowly the dragon got up off the ground. At first it trembled a little, and you saw how its leg tensed when it had to bear the weight of its huge body, but soon it managed to balance itself again.

Then the female beast take a few steps through the forest glade, slowly starting to stretch its huge wings. It beat them lightly, causing a strong gust of wind on the spot. It flew a few meters, before descending slightly.

It gave you a yellow-eyed look, and then you heard it.

"Thank you"

It flapped its wings and lift off toward the clear summer sky. It disappeared among the white clouds, leaving you alone in that empty forest glade, with nothing but your memory, an empty disinfectant bottle and the remains of some broken bandages as a reminder of what you had seen.

You were 7 years old the first time you spoke with a dragon.