Chapter 1: Pointed Sticks and Fluffy Clouds

Yúla was of the opinion that life was good.

She had a consistent source of food, a good burrow with a slowly increasing hoard of shiny rocks she has found on the forest floor, and a caretaker that loves her and her him.

Sure, the brown wizard got snappy with her every once and a while, and the little piece of timber has whacked her on the snout on more than a few occasions, but she knew he cared for her. She trusted him completely, and knew he had her best interests at heart.

But this new grey wizard?

Glancing down to the newcomer, she sniffed his hat. She took a moment to memorize his scent, just in case he ended up becoming a threat she would need to track down and kill.

She didn't know what to think about this new wizard.

Oddly enough, through her observation, she picked up faint traces of similar scents to her Radagast. Forest wilderness clung to the wizard, but unlike the brown wizard, the grey one had a few other familiar scents clinging to him.

However, there were a few others that somehow reminded her of her own scent. An odd smoke and cooked foods along with the odd unfamiliar scent of something she didn't recognize. It smelled of upturned dirt and moss… but not.

Intriguing…

"Does she normally do that?" The grey wizard asked, gesturing to the dragon hovering over his head.

"To be completely honest, I don't know." Radagast countered, making his way into his hut. "She's never met anyone else besides me before… Though that is partly why I asked you to come."

That wasn't entirely true. Several different people have visited Radagast's hut over the years that she has been here, but every time he has told her to hide in her burrow and thrown a makeshift door made of leaves and twigs over the entrance to hide it. Snorting a puff of smoke into the wizard's face in annoyance, she glances over to the circular forest floor emulator leaning against the wall next to her burrow once again.

I wonder why he didn't do that this time?

Gandalf gave her a strange look before making his way into the brown wizard's dwelling behind the brown wizard.

"Indeed… I must admit I am curious as to what is going on. I assume you have an explanation?"

"Yes, oh! But first!"

Her wizard turned around and gestured with his staff to the wilderness around them.

"Yúla, if you would go on your weekly hunt? I know you are hungry, and I wish to talk to Gandalf with a bit of privacy."

And with that, the door was shut in her face… again. She knew she couldn't fit inside anymore, but still!

Snorting, the dragon debated the pros and cons of stealth and subterfuge in her mind for a moment. She knew she was sneaky enough to be able to eavesdrop on the two wizards, years of hunting dark creatures and skittish wildlife made sure of that, but the grey one appeared to be a bit more attentive than hers was. She didn't know, and that frustrated the firedrake.

Sighing in defeat, she turned and began to make her way into the woods.

-OtWoF-

Sniffing the forest floor, she smelled the scent of something foul. The sticky and hairy scent of insects caused her mouth to begin to water.

I do so love roasted giant spiders.

She thought back to when she gained a taste for the creatures, a menacing smile coming across her face as she followed the trail. Even as she stealthily tracked the creatures through the woods, her mind began to wander.

After she hatched, she quickly began learning how to hunt. The thrill of the chase came easily to her as she was naturally an apex predator. At first, it was simple rats and mice around the hut. For the dragon, it was a simple task to track down the many creatures for a simple bite to eat.

Sadly for her, chasing and killing the small rodents around her caretaker's hut didn't sit well with the brown wizard. The wizard looked absolutely horrified by the time he realized what was going on, falling into a sad sort of depression when he spotted her with the tail of a rodent in her mouth.

After the incident, the wizard did his absolute best to try and feed her nuts and berries, but none of those sit well in her stomach and made her violently sick. This led to a week of her early life where she refused to eat. She didn't want to make her wizard sad, but she couldn't eat what he was trying to give her.

After Radagast began to notice the adverse effect his attempt to feed her an incorrect diet had on her, he finally relented and told her she could hunt nearby. Sadly for him, he was dealing with a dragon, and dragons were stubborn.

Little did he know how stubborn she could be.

Once she got something in her head, she wouldn't change her mind. She knew that hunting would make her wizard sad, so she refused to hunt under any circumstances. The onyx dragon lying in her burrow, refusing to even leave except to bask in the sunlight.

Another week passed and she began to feel weak. The lack of proper nutrition showing clearly on her growing body as her normally midnight black scales became grey and brittle. Her fire was more smoke than anything else, and her normally unending energy was gone.

That was when the spiders attacked.

They came from nowhere, attacking the hut from all sides. Radagast was fast asleep, unable to defend himself as they began to assault his flimsy dwelling.

Yúla wasn't having it.

Instincts overcoming weakness, she slaughtered each and every one of them. The spiders fled from the angry and protective baby dragon as it picked them off one by one. By the time Radagast woke from his slumber, nearly ten of the creatures were dead, and the rest were fleeing, burned and smouldering.

And they were all the more delicious, knowing she protected the one she cared about.

Even as she was gnawing on one of the spider's legs, she thought that maybe Radagast would disapprove. He didn't like killing after all, but before she could drop her food and flee back into her burrow, he scooped her up into a hug and began crying.

"I'm so glad you are eating again! You had me worried sick!"

Yúla was surprised at the show of affection, wriggling out of the hold to stare up at the wizard.

"B-but… I thought you didn't like me killing things… I don't want to make you sad…"

The brown wizard showed signs of understanding on his expressive face. Reaching over, he placed one of his hands on the side of her face.

"Oh Yúla, I know now that I can't stop you from being what you are. I didn't know it at the time, but that would be like stopping an owl or a wolf from hunting. I'm sorry I have off such an impression, and do not let my feelings on the matter stop you from following your instincts."

The brown wizard looked around the clearing, seeing the spiders littering what counts for his front lawn. He could spot a few small forest creatures wrapped in silken web, clearly about to be dragged off to a horrible fate if it wasn't for his overprotective firedrake.

"And if your instincts tell you to rid the forest of more of these foul creatures, all the better."

Shaking her head back into reality, she continued following the trail.

She wished that she could just spread her wings and fly above the trees, but her caretaker set several rules for her to follow. The first and most clear was to not fly during the day. Her black scales would stick out far too much and she would be spotted.

By who? She knew not.

The sound of a voice in the woods ahead caught her attention, though she didn't understand the words at all. Her instincts quickly showed themselves in her actions as she slowed her pace to a crawl. Slowly and silently making her way over a small hill, she peeked her spiky horned head over a rock to take a look.

Sure enough, a company of skinny but tall people with bows were all standing in a circle, talking about something in a strange sing-song language. They appeared to be slightly worse for wear, but that was easily explained away with the nearly fifty giant spiders around them.

Hey! That is my food!

Suppressing the growl that threatened to bubble up from within her, she decided to sit and wait. Patience was yet another thing that came easily to her, after all. She was a dragon, she had the time to wait.

Eventually the company of odd two legged creatures all began to file out, following the trail of something else if the red headed leader reaching down to study the dirt was anything to go by.

Good thing I cover my tracks by gliding when I can. Can't follow a trail if it doesn't exist, after all.

Waiting several more minutes, she decided to make her way down to the dead spiders. Studying them for a moment, she spotted several holes leaking their life's blood out from different parts of their bodies.

Tilting her head, she examines the kills more closely. This form of hunting honestly confused her, and she thought about what exactly she was looking at as she nudged the spider with one of her forepaws.

What sort of predator leaves their prey behind?

Turning to her meal, she licks her chops in anticipation. While she was angry at the two legged creatures for ruining the best part of her hunt, she wasn't about to let good food go to spoil. Snaking her head down, she began to eat. Even though she needed to carefully control her inner fire in order to cook the meat within her mouth to prevent too much smoke drawing attention to her, she still ate enough to settle her hungry stomach.

Oh yes, I do so like roasted spiders.

Digging in, she only manages to get a few more bites in before something softly strikes her in the left flank with a soft clank.

Blinking, she turns her attention to the odd sensation only to find an odd stick lying on the ground next to her. Glancing up, she spotted one of the odd people holding another stick with a string on it. The strange person was slender and had golden hair that fell down past their shoulders. Her sharp eyes could pick up how there was another identical pointed stick held back by the string.

Ignoring the odd person for a moment, she turned around and extracted the pointy stick from the dirt. The dragon lifted it up and studied the object between two talons for a moment, amazed by the odd craftsmanship. Poking and prodding one of her talons with the pointy end, she idly noted that it would never be able to pierce her scales or hide. Nonetheless, she could tell when something was well crafted, and she set it aside for the moment as she returned her attention to the odd person.

Throwing pointed sticks? What a strange way to hunt!

Yúla supposed they would have to make due without fangs or claws or fire. Sadly, the dragon didn't have much time to think on the topic as the person let loose another stick which struck her firmly between the eyes with a loud thunk and a crack before falling to the ground harmlessly.

Though these people don't appear to be the smartest hunters. If it didn't work the first time, why would it work the second?

Knowing that her meal was ruined, she knew she would need to run. Radagast would be mad that she was spotted, but it couldn't be helped now.

Before she could leave however, she thought that maybe the intricate sticks might have a bit of value for her caretaker. Looking down, she went to pick the one up that she was most recently shot with only to see it splintered on her hide.

What a shame.

Still, the one that she was examining earlier looked intact enough to be salvageable. A closer look showed that they had some sort of odd sheen over the wood. A yellowish gold hue held an artificial gloss over the timber, along with what appeared to be snow white feathers on the end.

I wonder if Radagast would like this? He does like picking up strange things on the forest floor.

Thunk.

Spinning around to the creature, her nerves officially turning sour as another stick strikes her armored hide. She let out a fierce growl, intended to send the thing on its way. Thankfully, the action seemed to have the desired effect. The thing stumbled back, frantically reaching for something on its waist.

Only to pull out what looked to be a goat horn. Putting the strange item to its mouth, it released an extremely loud and annoying sound that made Yúla's scales shiver.

Blinking, she thought about all the tactics she has learned about hunting. Studying predators in the wild, she knew well by now how wolves hunted. The loud howls rallying the pack around them as they swarm larger prey.

Which, in this case, would be her.

After only a moment's thought debating on if she could take them in a fight or not, she decided against it. She didn't want to know if this one's pack had better, more sharp pointed sticks.

Not to mention, Radagast might not appreciate me burning the forest down in the fight if they don't get close enough for my teeth and claws.

She knew it was time to go.

Scooping down, she grabbed the least damaged stick in her mouth before spinning around and running. Her best bet right now was flight, and there was a clearing she passed close by. She knew that these hunters didn't have wings, and if she made it into the air, she could circle around until nightfall where her black scales would hide any approach she made.

Another loud noise from the horn caused her to speed up. This one was furthermore away from the original, but yet too close for comfort.

Thunk.

Yet another stick struck her between her shoulder and her wing, but yet again was deflected by her hide. These silly creatures didn't seem to have a better plan to fight her than this, causing her to snort a bit of smoke in amusement.

Sprinting along the forest floor, her talons began to kick up a significant amount of roughage and dirt. She didn't care in the slightest about not leaving a trail as speed was of the essence now. Her instincts were screaming at her to turn and deal with the pathetic excuse of hunters on her trail, but reason quickly overtook it.

Some odd gibberish could be heard behind her, more yells of that strange singsong language that she couldn't understand. She wished that they spoke normally like her wizard taught her, but alas they did not.

Despite the strange hunters surrounding her and using a decent enough strategy, she reached the clearing. Looking around, she saw no less than five of the strange two legged creatures aiming their stick throwers at her. A few of them began to communicate, but it mattered little to Yúla.

"Lechss schee if yew chan follow mechh now!" She yelled, stumbling over her words for a moment when she realized she still had a pointy stick in her mouth.

After a moment of adjusting the stick to where she wouldn't damage it, she spread her wings wide and left the ground behind. Sailing into the skies, she circled back around and spotted them all looking up to her from below. Feeling pure bliss fill her from the victory, she roars in triumph. After all, if they already knew where she was there was no point to remain quiet.

Feeling the wind passing under her wings, she let out a loud laugh. Adrenaline pumping through her molten hot veins at the thought of what just happened. The creatures of the forest actively avoided her. Even the spiders were terrified of her presence, and yet she was sure those people were fearless! Who would chase one such as her?

It was a fun game they played, but now it was over and she was victorious. All was as it should be.

Now though? Now she was flying, and the feeling of freedom that brought was a form of bliss she rarely felt. The freedom and happiness that the skies brought her would always be able to cheer her up and clear her mind.

Glancing up, she spotted a few large white fluffy clouds overhead. She has flown through them before at night, passing through the fluffy dampness without the sun's light on them, but now in the daylight they appeared so much more… more… fluffy!

She had to touch them.

It took her a moment to fly up to the cloud she spotted, but eventually she passed through the largest cloud and rose above it. Breathing in the cold crisp air, she looked around.

Peaceful serenity. The light from the sun reflected off the cloud below, leading her to believe she ascended to a different form of existence for a moment. The slowly shifting cloud of white around her calmed her nerves and allowed her to feel a bit of the peace that surrounded her.

This, right here, was her domain. Up here in the sky where none could reach but her was her kingdom. A queen of the skies!

Glancing over to a small protrusion that looked like a person in the cloud below, she pointed to the condensed moisture with an ebony talon.

"You there!" She roared towards the slowly shifting figure. "Who said you could intrude upon my kingdom!? Begone, or I shall have your head!"

The brave but foolish cloud didn't seem to care about her threats, continuing its blasphemous crime of existing.

Flying over, she flapped her wings a bit harder on the cloud, "killing" the intruder. Laughing hysterically, she began to search her domain for more intruders.

-OtWoF-

Panting, the dragoness lands near enough to the hut. She knew that all that exercise was tiring and she didn't quite get enough to eat today, but that could easily be solved tomorrow.

Returning to the hut nearby, the young fire drake stopped short of the clearing as she heard the two wizards outside, arguing loudly. Carefully lowering herself closer to the ground, she sneaked up behind a bush and positioned herself to where she could see clearly.

"You ask too much of me, my old friend. Where would we even go?"

Radagast gestures vaguely to the canopy around him.

"Somewhere. Anywhere but here! Darkness dwells within these forests Gandalf… growing from the south, and I fear for her mind! Should that festering evil discover her, who knows what torment they would do to her to gain her allegiance!"

The grey wizard shakes his head.

"You have yet to answer my question Radagast. Where would we go? No lands will take kindly to a firedrake settling there. Wherever she goes, war will surely follow evil or not! How can we blame the men or elves or dwarves that will surely send an army after her just for existing! Let alone come to terms with the thousands that will die even if it was self defense!"

Yúla blinked in confusion, her mind whirling several leagues a minute.

Thousands? To fight me? What did I do?

"She isn't evil Gandalf, she's a child! You will see it, and so will many others if you just give her a chance! Please! She can not stay here!"

Hearing the raw emotion in her caretakers voice, a deep warm feeling blossoms up from within her. She knew it wasn't her fire, as it felt far different. While her fire was a raging torrent of pure power, this feeling was far different. It gave her hope and happiness, and yet caused her legs to become weak for a moment.

Looking down to the pointy stick, she gripped it tightly and headed into the clearing. Immediately, the two wizards turned to her, one of them still very much unable to hide the tensing of his muscles in preparation for a fight.

"Yúla! Where have you been? It's been hours!"

Deciding it would be easier to show them, she held out the pointy stick and gave it to her wizard. After a moment of examination, a soft word could be heard leaving his mouth as just a whisper.

"Elves…"

A small grumble could be heard from the grey garbed wizard as he takes the stick and examines it a bit more closely.

"Thranduil's bunch it seems. Can't say I particularly blame them for shooting at a dragon encroaching on their lands, all things considered. The king of Mirkwood doesn't exactly have the best history with dragonfire."

Radagast turned back to his grey companion, exasperation clear in his features.

"Gandalf please. You are the only one I can trust with this."

The grey wizard sighs, glancing over to Yúla.

He seems to become a bit more serious as he speaks to no one in particular.

"You say she's different? Let us be sure of it."

After a few moments of tense silence, he reaches into his pocket…

… And pulls out the shiniest gold coin that Yúla has ever seen.

All of Yúla's attention was firmly placed on the coin the moment the glimmering coin became visible, a soft nudging of her instincts in the back of her mind told her a few things about the object immediately.

That coin was soft, and would make good bedding. That coin was valuable, worth something though she knew not what it could be traded for. That coin was shiny, one of the most beautiful things she has ever seen in her life.

And that coin wasn't hers.

A whine came from her throat as she took a step closer, but before she could fully close the distance, the grey wizard flicked the coin towards her. Acting on instinct alone, she reared back on her hind legs, snatching the coin out of the air with surprising dexterity for her talon filled forepaws.

The coin seemed shinier up close in her claws. The glimmering yellow of the gold reflected off the sunlight, seemingly becoming brighter as she held it. It felt right being in her hand like that, and she wanted more.

"Ahem."

Looking up, she saw the grey wizard standing directly in front of her, his hand outstretched.

"May I have my coin back please?"

Looking back down to the coin, her immediate reflex was to say no. This was the most valuable thing she has ever held in her life, she was sure of it. Sure, she had some particularly beautiful and shiny rocks within her den, but nothing like this. This was valuable. This was precious. This was something else entirely…

… But it wasn't hers, and she didn't take things that weren't hers, because that was wrong. Radagast taught her that from the moment she hatched, and she wasn't about to abandon the lesson now just because she had something that was valuable.

I will find my own coins someday.

Slowly, she reached her claw out and gave the coin back.

Immediately when the wizard picked the coin from her outstretched claw, Radagast began clapping and cheering.

"See! See! I told you!"

The grey wizard grunted, seemingly satisfied. Putting the coin back into his pocket, he gave the dragon a small smile.

"Indeed…"

The grey wizard looked her up and down, seemingly deep in thought as he leaned against the wooden stick that wizards seem so fond of.

"So, Yúla was it?"

The firedrake nodded her head, planting her forepaws back down on the ground and settling in.

"How would you like to go on an adventure?"

—Author's Note—

Huzzah! Chapter 2 is done!

Needless to say, unlike the prologue, this story will mostly be in Yúla's POV. Writing the thought processes of dragons is unbelievably fun to do, and I had a blast doing it.

I wanted to keep going with this chapter, but after thinking about it, the next chapter will most likely be an extremely long one. Expect dragon wizard fluff while on the road.

Anyway, same deal as always. Read and review, and if you like it, consider giving me a follow and a favorite!