These Characters are not mine, but Patty van Delft's. Except Ella is my own character. Furthermore, this is my own story based on Dragan Duma

The band.

Chapter 1

POV Moradeth

There is a knock on the door and as always "the little one" enters. First she gives Rune my rider a hug and wishes him good night. Then she comes shuffling towards me. Wraps her arms around my big nose and says good night to me. I chuckle and nudge her gently with my nose so she knows she can lie with me. Since the first day here on Drägan Duma she sleeps with me every night instead of in her bed. She's a cutie. Sometimes it seems like she's my rider. Well, I have to say that I also consider her my second rider. I've seen her classmates get really jealous when I ask her again if she wants to fly a bit. To be honest, I love flying free with her. Unfortunately, we don't have much time for that now. The attacks of the Morbids are getting more and more intense and even the recently graduated Drägannymares have to fight a lot. Sometimes I worry about "the little girl", although according to our laws she is already an adult to me she would always be "the little girl". I've loved her since she was born. It was so special to experience that. Even Rune can't take his eyes off her and has always protected her. Even though she is the daughter of Keynard Drakema, Rune also considers her his own daughter. And I know Ella feels the same way. Most recently she honored me and Rune by incorporating the silver tree from Rune's weapon into her Drägannymares coat. She honored me by using one of my teeth to make a necklace and wear it. We were very emotional, which made us love her even more. Rune has no bloodline but because of this action she "adopted" us and Rune therefore has a bloodline. Because Ella gave us something of silver, we are now blood brothers and sister. Rune was already with Keynard Drakena and now also with his daughter. Ella played it in such a way that everyone on Dragon Stone saw this. She gave Rune a beautiful sword decorated with silver and white diamonds, and she had a beautiful head armor made of silver for me. We have never been rewarded for our service and loyalty to the leaders of Dragon Stone. And because she has been chosen as the successor to the current leader, she has asked Rune and I to be her advisor and right-hand man. We never thought she would ask us this. We were always loyal to her father and when he was killed by the Soulsnather we made sure Ella was safe in the outside world.

I'm glad she still sleeps with me. I have nothing against her dragon, but I do like it when she sleeps with me. As a small child she was always in my hand, close to me. Rune then sang her to sleep. What she doesn't know is that Rune has always drawn her when she sleeps. That was a little secret between him and me. He thought she was beautiful when she slept. So innocent. Rune will never forgive herself if anything happens to her. When she and Skyler were kidnapped, Rune was out of the question. I didn't expect such a strong reaction from him, but it was another confirmation of how much he loved the little girl. I'm sure Keynard is proud of her and very grateful to his good friend for taking on the father role. Rune would certainly have been a good father, it's a pity he never found a good wife. And I don't know if he'd ever find it again after Nadia broke his heart. I'm sure Rune doesn't need that at all either. After all, he has the little one. Sometimes it seems as if the little one is HIS world, its everything. And the little one is just herself. I know her reasons why she prefers to sleep with me and Rune. Now that everything is over and we have defeated the soulsnatcher, we can finally start rebuilding everything again. The repairs on Dragon Stone are in full swing. The old Drägannymares were now in charge of training new apprentices. Craftsmen came from far and wide to help us build cities like Dragon Stone. We are very grateful that so many people have supported our struggle and are now helping us rebuild it. Although there is a big party tomorrow to celebrate the end of the war, I don't know if the little one is going well. I notice she's been very down the last few days. Perhaps she is only now beginning to mourn the dead that have fallen. Hopefully she comes through okay. Me and Rune will assist her of course. I'm afraid she won't get out of the party because she's Fransisca's successor. And then she's pretty much obliged to go. The poor girl. I do feel sorry for her. Everyone pulls and wants something from her. You just see the exhaustion in her face. I have shared my concerns with Rune, who also thinks she deserves and needs rest. He discussed this with Jonno and Francinia. They agree that she has the next 7 days off and then she can actually do nothing but rest. Rune and I said we'd take care of that. I can very well imagine that she is up. She is only 16 years old and to carry such a big responsibility on you is very heavy, even an adult would have difficulty with this, let alone a 16-year-old girl. I'm glad she's sleeping with me again tonight. At least then I can keep an eye on things. But it is also very nice to know that she is with me. The little girl means so much to me. I think we should go flying tomorrow. We both deserved that. Rune watches her slowly drift off to sleep, then takes out his sketchbook. Wow it's been a long time since he was able to do this. I feel my rider is having a hard time. He also thinks of all the victims, but most of all of her father. His best friend, his brother, his commander. How he wished Keynard was still there and he could see his daughter like this. Rune loved being with us. We always made sure that she could be that little girl again with us. She is always so curious about her father. She constantly asks us to tell stories about him. What she doesn't know but what we often tell her is that she looks exactly like her father, only she is a girl. Her father would be proud of her what she has already achieved. But for now, let's just let her sleep.

The next day at 10:00 am

Rune smooths her hair out of her face and gently wakes the little one. She stretches lazily and wishes my rider good morning. He has to laugh at her reaction and informs her that he had breakfast for her. She asks what time it is and Rune informs her 10:00. She jumps up startled and Rune catches her. He assures her that it is not a problem and that she is on temporary leave. Hearing that, she threw herself into breakfast, which brought another smile to Rune. Rune and I knew these were going to be fun weeks. Of course she still had some obligations such as parties and gatherings that Francinia had told her to go to to represent Dragon Stone. Francinia had been badly injured and too weak to manage her official affairs, so the little one now had to take care of this. That's why I'm glad Francinia has agreed that the little one can have a break. When she had finished her breakfast I asked if she would fly with me for a bit. She was so excited that she forgot she was still wearing her pajamas. So I sent her to the shower so she could shower and dress. While laughing Rune put the saddle on my back, now he had a reason to laugh. It's been so long since I heard Rune laugh. I missed his smile. He used to laugh a lot more than now. And although the war was now over, we still couldn't slow down. Everything has to be rebuilt and since me and Rune are the oldest flight commanders we will train the young ones. This means that we also have to build a new training center. Johnno has already designed something together with Master Kay. So I'm curious how that will turn out. The little one comes back showered and dressed and well. She quickly jumps onto my back and I stretch. She urges me to finally take off and jokes that I'm getting old. Rune chuckles when he sees us like this. I tell him to keep his mouth shut because by human standards he is also old.

I take off and we enjoy something we haven't done for a long time. Long live peace, I say.

To be continued…