zuko is pretty great isn't he? ;)

i really enjoyed writing this one, as i'm sure you'll find out *wink wink wiggle wiggle*

haha, anyway, enjoy~ :3

Chapter Three:

Dragons eat meat right?

Pale morning light filtered through the clouds, covering the land in a dim gray-blue light. Critters started shuffling around in the grass, and the winged hybrids started singing to each other; first one, then another, until the whole forest was very much awake.

Prince Zuko groaned, dragging a hand down his face as he squinted through his fingers, glaring at the slowly brightening sky. Why couldn't the sun wait just a little longer to wake him from his much needed sleep?

He sat up, looking over at the ostrich-horse who had it's head lowered, munching contentedly at the grass, the trees a whir of activity behind them.

They had traveled pretty far from the run-down town, stopping at the edge of a forest when the sky had grown too dark to travel safely any further.

Golden eyes turned towards the fields that stretched out in front of him for as far as his eyes could see, and from the lack of movement in the grasses, he concluded he was safe, for now.

He reached out a hand, pulling his pack towards him and taking out the package of food Ceila had given him not long ago. With a grimace, he placed it on the ground beside him, not longer hungry.

The light morning glow reflected on the egg in his bag, turning his attention on the new mystery in his life, and he picked it up gingerly in his hands. He gazed at it silently, wondering if he was going crazy. It certainly looked like some ancient shiny artifact, with its intricate grooves and ridges. But he did feel it jump...right?

He sighed, setting it down in his lap. He needed to sell it, or bury it or something, just to keep him from agonizing over it. If he sold it, maybe he could get some decent food and clothes.

There it was again, the ugly twisting feeling in his gut, and he knew deep down that he didn't want to sell the egg, but he didn't know why he wanted it near him so badly. It was almost as if his body was telling him to protect the thing. As weird as that was.

He blinked as the sun peeked out over the clouds, making the egg gleam as it captured the light. It jerked, and his eyes widened as it seemed to lean towards the sun's rays.

.

There it is!

She squirmed with glee as she felt the warm light soak through the walls of her egg, filling her with a sense of strength and longing.

The egg had shrunk even further, and she felt more cramped now than ever, not able to twist around as much as she had when she first awoke. Her face was pushed into the side of the egg, and her body coiled tightly in the small space, twitching and cramping with the urge to stretch out.

This both saddened and annoyed her.

She couldn't see the hands as well as before, but she knew they were there.

Even when the light was gone, she could feel their presence. They were warm and gentle and very much like the light, though on a much smaller scale.

The egg strained against her talons as she pushed towards the light. She stopped then, staring at the golden walls in shock.

...Could she?

She renewed her attack with vigor, pushing against the shell with her entire body, shaking violently with the effort it took. She gnashed her teeth, eyes narrowing in concentration as she forced herself to push her body past anything she had made it do in the past.

With a sudden, echoing crack, sunlight poured into the egg.

A tired, yet joyous cry escaped her as she lifted her head out of the gilded cage that had kept her from truly feeling the sun. The glorious light that now brushed against her scales and sent blood rushing through her veins in a wild, powerful sensation she had never experienced before.

Her eyes were blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the bright light, and once everything came into focus, her gaze landed on a pair of wide golden eyes that stared at her with unsuppressed shock and wonder.

.

The Prince had seen plenty of dragons in his lifetime.

Curling bodies clutching tightly to the handles of priceless vases, soaring across magnificent paintings with red and blue scales, and climbing over the walls of the palace, sculpted with such finesse that their fangs and talons had him terrified until Ursa had calmed him with her soft words.

But this…

This creature that leaned out of its egg with curious, cat-like golden eyes was no tapestry or fancy jar.

This was a real, live, breathing dragon. Right there in his lap, staring up at him with those big eyes.

The ostrich-horse was stamping the ground uneasily, its eyes suspicious and wary as it stared at the small thing in Zuko's lap, but the prince ignored the animal.

His eyes trailed over the creature, taking in the scales that glittered and shone golden in the sunlight, the line of creamy soft fur that trailed down its spine and ended with a small tuft at its tail-tip, the leathery wings that were too small for its body, the twin horns that curved back away from its head, and the tiny talons that gripped his pants, pricking into the skin of his leg as it tried to crawl the rest of the way out of the egg.

The breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding let out in a whoosh before getting sucked back in with a sharp gasp.

There was a dragon.

In his lap.

Oh spirits.

Sweat trickled down the side of his face as he stared warily down at the slender creature, who was still trying to escape the egg, but ended up tripping and falling over with the largest part of the egg tumbling on top of it.

He blinked as it let out an indignant growl before trying to wrestle it off without much success.

Cautiously, he reached forward and lifted the egg shard off of it, surprised at the sudden lightness of it. Well a dragon did just crawl out of the thing, of course it wasn't going to be heavy anymore.

He was distracted by a little squeal and glanced down to see the dragon happily scampering across his leg towards his hand to sniff at it.

He jerked his hand back in surprise, and it merely looked at him in confusion before padding over to it again. This time, though rather hesitantly and under watchful eyes, he let the dragon grip his fingers in its small talons, brushing its muzzle over his palm as it sniffed him again. The soft fur that lined its face tickled his skin and he felt his worry and fear of the creature start to slip away.

It was still a baby after all, it couldn't hurt him, not really.

A whine came from the little dragon and it looked up at him, then back down at his hand. Zuko's brow furrowed, not understanding what it wanted from him.

It flicked out its tongue, running it across his hand.

Oh!

...oh.

It was hungry.

It was hungry and he had no idea how he was going to feed it.

I could really use some of Uncle's advice right about now. He thought grumpily, gazing sightlessly down at his lap.

Dragons eat meat right?

A sharp pain shot through his hand and he let out a yelp, whipping his arm back and staring down at the little pinpricks of blood that started dripping down from tiny teeth marks in his flesh. Well, he thought sourly, sucking at the wound, at least that question is answered.

He sent a glare down at the baby dragon, who at least looked apologetic enough to warrant his forgiveness.

He sighed, before remembering the food parcel and reached over, opening it up to peer at its contents. Spotting a bit of chicken, he plucked it out and turned to the dragon. "Here. And try not to eat my hand along with it."

It sniffed at the meat, then glanced at him, then back at the meat, staring at it as though wondering if it really wanted to eat that pale looking slice of whatever it was, then with a quick jab of its neck, snatched it right out of his hand.

Zuko felt a small smile slip onto his lips as he watched the little dragon eat. It was clumsy, often dropping the meat, then searching wildly for it before snapping it back up and continued to stuff its face energetically once again.

For a reason unknown to him, he could already feel himself growing attached to the small golden creature. Not because of giant fire-breathing beasts he'd heard of in the stories, but perhaps from the innocent way it gazed at him, as though he were something special. As if it saw only Zuko, and not just the banished prince with the disfiguring scar. Or it could be the way its legs wobbled as it walked, and the way its wings flapped about, all disproportionate from its body, or how a single sneeze could end up toppling the poor thing over.

He watched as it gulped down the last piece of meat, eyelids dropping lazily before it let out a huge yawn, its jaws stretching wide and its forked tongue rolling backwards at the tip before it curled up right there on his knee in a warm patch of sunlight.

Its body trembled with a low rumbling sound, similar to a cats purr, as it promptly fell asleep.

Spirits, he swore again, staring down at the should-be-extinct creature that had just made itself comfortable on him, just what have I gotten myself into this time, Uncle?

now that she's finally out of the egg, what kind of trouble is our little dragon gonna get herself into now? hmm...

any guesses? ;)

thanks for reading~! ^-^