Alrighty here's another random scene from the story I'm working on. These scenes are also not in any specific order, just however I feel like writing them lol. Enjoy! Also a big thanks to the Guest that left a review on the other scene! It was much appreciated!
Midnight was once again walking down the familiar path to the entrance of the volcano. As she walked, she mindlessly fiddled with the strap of the small basket she was carrying, her thoughts somewhere else entirely. Just that morning, her father had left to go on a trapping expedition. Her father worked as a trapper, and so she was used to this kind of thing. What she wasn't used to, however, was how long this particular expedition was meant to be. She'd been told that this particular expedition was meant to be about a month-long. Seeing as she was only 11 years old, she obviously wasn't allowed to go on the expedition with her father, so she knew she'd have to stay home while he was gone and that worried her.
She'd never been on her own for that long before. She didn't really like the thought of being alone for so long, but she knew there was no point complaining; her dad had to do his job after all. She decided to go and visit Shade as a way to take her mind off of things. She planned to spend the rest of the day with the dragon seeing as Viggo had told her a few days prior that he wouldn't be able to make their training sessions that week. He hadn't specified why and she hadn't asked, having assumed he was just busy. He'd told her a while back that his grandfather had started giving him lessons to prepare him to take over the business, so it made sense to her that he'd be busier these days. This gave her quite a bit more free time than she was used to, not that she was too upset about it; she liked having a chance to spend more time with Shade.
It wasn't long before she found herself at the mouth of that oh-so-familiar cave. She headed in and quickly made her way through with practiced ease, hardly even needing the wall to guide her. In a matter of minutes, she had made it to the other side and stepped into the main cavern.
"Shade, I'm here!" She called as her eyes swept across the cavern. She knew that the dragon in question had probably heard her long before she'd actually made it to the main cavern. Her suspicions were confirmed when just moments after she'd called out, she was pounced on from above. The girl giggled a bit like the small dragon licked her face vigorously.
"Ok, ok, I'm happy to see you too!" She said as she tried to push the dragon off. After a few moments, Shade relented and allowed the girl to push him off. She sat up and wiped some of the dragon slobber off her face before reaching over to scratch the dragon's neck. Shade let out a rumbling purr at this, causing Midnight to smile at him fondly before retracting her hand and pushing herself to her feet and walking toward a lightly raised sizeable flat rock that sat adjacent to a small firepit.
"Alright, enough of that. I brought us a little snack." She added as she plopped down on the rock and sat the basket she'd been carrying beside her along with her ever-present satchel. She leaned forward a bit and tossed some firewood she kept stacked up beside the obviously well-used pit.
"Shade, if you wouldn't mind?" Midnight motioned toward the firepit. The dragon looked up from the basket he'd been sniffing at and shot a small, low-power blast, setting the wood on fire. Midnight gave the dragon a pat and unhooked the basket lid and dumping its contents, a mix of 15 or so trout and salmon, out on the rock a bit to her right. Shade stretched his body out behind her and began happily munching on the fish. She leaned back against the dragon, enjoying the comforting warmth coming from the dragon's scales, the small fire helping to chase away the chill in the early spring air. She pulled a small pouch of berries and started snacking. After some time, the girl's mind wandered back to her earlier worries. The dragon nuzzled her arm and cooed in concern, seeming to have sensed her distress. This brought a small smile to Midnight's face as she thought about how the dragon had grown over the past few years, both in size and intelligence, measuring to be nearly 8 feet long from nose to tail tip and always seeming to be able to pick up on her mood.
"Don't worry; it's nothing serious." She assured the dragon, scratching his neck absent-mindedly, causing him to let out a rumbling purr. She finished off the last of her berries and placed the empty pouch back into her bag before she began speaking again.
"Dads leaving for a while, longer than he normally does…" She said with a sigh, and Shade nudged her arm, prompting her to continue. "I guess I just don't like the thought of being on my own for so long, especially seeing as most of the villagers don't like me." The dragon huffed and nuzzled her comfortingly.
She smiled a bit at that and wrapped an arm around his neck, "and I know I won't be totally on my own, I'll have you and V, but with how busy V's been recently, I doubt I'll be seeing much of him, and I can only stay out here with you for so long before someone starts getting suspicious of all my 'training'. Which means I'm gonna be stuck spending a lot of time on my own." She sighed and nuzzled her face into his neck.
"I really envy you sometimes; you know that? You have a certain freedom us humans can't have; it sometimes makes me wish I could fly.." She mumbled quietly. Shade's ear flaps perked up at her comment, and he jumped up excitedly, causing her to fall forward slightly.
"Shade! What was that for?" She asked in a slightly whiny tone as she righted herself. Shade made an exciting warble, and he firmly nudged her onto her feet. She stumbled a bit as the impatient dragon forced her up.
"Hey! What's gotten into you?!" She nearly yelped as he circled around her and seemingly trying to crawl through her legs like he used to do when he was smaller, causing her to lose her balance and fall backward onto the dragon's back, a leg on either side of the dragon's neck.
She pushed herself back up into an upright position, "Why did you do that? You know you're too big for that…" She trailed off as Shade glanced back at her excitedly and started spreading his wings. That's when it hit her. What he was about to do, "No! Wait! Sha-" She was cut off when, with one powerful flap of his wings, he launched them into the air. Midnight let out a piercing scream as she tightly wrapped her arms around Shade's neck, holding on for dear life. With just a few flaps of his wings, they were speeding out the top of the dormant volcanos peek and racing toward the clouds. Midnight's eyes finally snapped back open when she felt something wet hit her exposed skin. She looked around, her hold on Shade's nack as she took in her surroundings. She was surrounded by a beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds beneath her for as far as the eye could see.
She looked around in amazement, completely speechless. She allowed herself to loosen her hold on the dragon enough that she could push herself into a sitting position and gingerly reached a hand out to touch a nearby cloud. She quickly pulled her hand away in surprise when her hand went right through, and she felt water droplets cling to her hand. She looked around in amazement, completely speechless.
She stared in confusion for a few moments. "They're not solid..?" She tilted her head a bit in confusion but soon shrugged it off as Shade angled them downward and a gentle decline. Once the broke through the bottom of the cloud bank again, Midnight once again found herself at a loss for words. She could see all of Trapper Island from up here. It was breathtaking.
They flew around the far side of the island and some nearby sea stacks for the next few hours until finally, the sun began to dip below the horizon. "Ok, Shade, let's head back. People will get suspicious if I miss dinner." She said quietly as she pointed back towards the island. Shade let out a warble and started back toward the familiar mountain.
When they finally touched down on the floor of the familiar cavern, Midnight twisted and slid off the dragon. She landed back on her unsteady feet with a quiet hiss. Her legs were quite sore after spending so long on Shades back. The dark-haired girl gave the dragon an affectionate scratch on the neck.
"Thank you, Shade. That was the most fun I think I've ever had." She said softly, kissing the dragon on the head before she let herself sink down to sit on the cavern's floor and started doing some stretches she'd learned during training to help relax and loosen her stiff muscles. She did this for a few minutes before standing back up and grabbing her previously forgotten bag.
"Time for me to head back to the village, I'll be back tomorrow if I can." She said petting the dragon once more. Shade purred happily at Midnight's show of affection and nuzzled her side lightly in return. After a minute or two of this Midnight took a step back and turned, heading for the tunnel that led out of the cavern.