-Chapter XII- Bury The Hatchling
-Windhelm, Skyrim
-23 First Seed
-10:34 P.M.
-Nicholas
"That...would be a dragon, my dear." Ulfric told Saria.
She and I simultaneously turned to him, wide-eyed, surprised at this information. "What?" I asked in panic.
"A...a dragon." Saria repeated. "Well, um..."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Young Swiftsword, I have seen many dragons in my life time, and told of more by...well, that's not important. However, this here..." he said, walking toward the winged, scaled beast, "seems to be of no harm."
A dragon? Why would he... I thought.
"Nick?" I jumped. I turned quickly to Saria, who now was at Ulfric's side, stroking the long, thin body of the pitch-black dragon. "Are you all right?" she asked.
I wordlessly nodded, staring again back at the door, at the exact spot where he stood, clear as day. I drew a deep breath, turning to Saria, and looked at her in confusion. "What are you doing?"
She looked at me innocently, "What do you mean?"
"The dragon!"
She looked at it, then me. "What about him?"
"Why are you...petting it?"
"I don't know...he's cute, I suppose."
I gave her a look of confusion. "You seemed to be scared of it just moments ago."
"I didn't know what he was moments ago."
"So knowing it is a dragon helps?"
"It does when he seems harmless."
"Why do you keep referring to it as a 'he'?"
"He seems like a he. What do you keep referring to him as an 'it'?"
"Because that's what it is!"
We were both stopped by Ulfric's deep chuckling. At first it was so subtle it was practically unnoticeable, but after a few moments his laughter built up and he ended up having to give the dragon hatchling to Saria, who held it affectionately, as he was bent over from laughing so hard. His face was a dark red when he at last caught his breath. "Are..." he trailed off with an extra chuckle between words, then continued, "...are you sure you two aren't a couple?" Saria and I awkwardly looked at each other, and I felt myself blushing as much as she was.
"Pretty sure." I assured him. "Why, may I ask, would you think otherwise?"
He gave a wildly amused smile, showing his teeth, then spoke hardily, "you two bicker like a couple of ages elder to even me."
"We weren't bickering..." Saria said with an awkward laugh.
"We were just..." I continued.
We looked at each other again. "Conversing." we said simultaneously.
He quickly laughed again, nodding. "Okay, then. Whatever you call it."
"So back to this little guy..." Saria said quickly.
"Yes, it appears to be a dragon. However, I could be wrong. I've never seen an actually hatchling before." Ulfric explained.
"It doesn't look like any dragon I've ever seen." I argued.
"Well, it's possible you've only been educated in Akaviri dragons. This is obviously a dragon of a more foreign nature and origin."
"So...it's of Alagaesia?"
"Mmm..." he seemed doubtful.
"Rune?" I offered.
He nodded. "Perhaps, although, like I said before, I'm nowhere near positive. Especially with Rune dragons. I've hardly heard anything more of Dragonia than simply it's name."
"I take it what you have learnt was from Max?"
Ulfric looked at me, staring deep into my eyes, smiled, then nodded. "Come, perhaps my court-wizard can tell us something of this creature."
"Well, it's...certainly a dragon." Wuunferth the Unliving told us after he examined the dragon, confirming that it was, in fact, a male. "But I'm afraid I'm not really...acquainted with this particular breed." He said, stroking his long, gray beard that covered the lower half of his withered, wrinkled face.
"All right, we appreciate it anyway, Wuunferth." Ulfric thanked him.
"However..." he stopped us from leaving the room lined with shelves filled with alchemy ingredients and tools. "From what you tell me of your story, Nicholas, it seems you and this dragon share a mental bond."
I gave him a look of confusion. "What does this mean?"
"Well, first off, it could be relevant to the exact race of this dragon. Second, the shock that you described perfectly matches that of a dragonrider from Alagaesia, by the name of Eragon. In his writings, he told of a special bond that he and his dragon shared."
"So, it's Alagaesian?" I asked.
"That's the confusion. There's no mark displaying where you first had made physical contact with it, so obviously you've not met an Alagaesian dragon. Which also implies that you'd not be able to use magic of its nature, either, but that's currently irrelevant at the moment. This seems to be a breed of an unknown origin. There's a possibility it's from the Dragon Realms, but they don't have riders."
"So...I'm his...rider then?"
"In good time, when he has fully developed, you should be able to ride him, and quite possibly even talk to him through telepathy even."
I looked down at the dragon, asleep in my arms as it slowly breathed, causing its scales to glitter and sparkle in the candlelight of Wuunferth's room. Rider...perhaps there was a reason after all, then...
"Have you come up with a name for him?" Ulfric asked as we left the darkened room.
I shook my head, watching the creature as he happily continued to lightly snore, cradled in my arms. "Well..." Saria said quietly, "when you do, you should tell me first." I looked at her, and she smiled at me before going into her room.
"I'll sleep on it, how about that." I told him.
"Sounds good." he said. As I opened the door to my own room with my free hand, Ulfric called out, "may the Gods grace your sleep with dreams of gold." I could never understand that. Apparently, that's how people of higher wealth and position told others that they were close to "pleasant dreams", but I never actually believed it. It seemed silly to me, but I still appreciated Ulfric saying such a thing to me.
"And to you as well." I called back.
I entered the dark room, very much exhausted, and more than ready to fall asleep. I very gingerly, and very quietly set the small black creature on the foot of my bed, and crawled under the covers myself. I couldn't see a thing, so it took awhile to be able to find it after I shut the door, but eventually I at last got comfortable, and in a matter of seconds fell into the seemingly endless abyss of sleep.