“My name is Varug. I live in a mountain not so distant from a big human settlement, so for all my life I’ve been pretty in contact with many humans and their culture. When I travel or even just hunt, I often have to fly just above their city, so for me it was unavoidable. Of course some of them have been quite hostile to me, but there are some I’ve been in decent relations with.
Recently I’ve become more famous than usual because I decided to volunteer in a human hospital.
It happened because I was attending , close to the town (and to my home because of that) a meeting of that association about humans and dragons being friends. They were saying important things, and had organized some events, so I found myself there that afternoon, after eating something in the forest behind my home. It was cool because everyone seemed to be friendly and all the humans there were interested in me, while usually they would barely get closer. They also offered some volunteering – sorry, is that how you say it in human language? I’m not sure.”
“Yes.”
“Ok, thanks. I was saying, they offered some volunteering activities that involved doing things with the opposite species for everyone. There was this one about spending time with human cubs...”
“We call them children, Varug.”
“Oh right, right. That’s why all those parents laughed then...anyway, the idea was that most of their – uh – children have never seen a dragon and would get excited to see one, so while they’re in a hospital getting treated for bad things, seeing a friendly one would make them feel better and would help them show how nice we can be. I thought, I have never seen a human c...h...ild, and that sounded like something important, so I accepted.
Human children really surprised me. Most adults would freak out at my sight, I’m not even sure why, but their children get enthusiastic! One someone told me something like ‘for them it’s a fantasy come true to see you, instead of a danger’. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I’m glad to hear that. Usually I will come, introduce myself and the child will talk a bit about himself. I like to hear details about human life, it’s all so exotic to me. I do the same talking about my life. By the way, can I ask you what’s a princess? Many of them keep asking me if I keep a princess in my home and I don’t know what it is.”
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“It’s a bit long to explain, I can do it later if it’s fine.”
“Guess it is. They also think I keep gold. I know what that is because I’ve seen human coins. Well, no I don’t. They were quite surprised. But they still love to hear me talking about when I fly and such.
Sometimes, it’s pretty chilling like I said. Sometimes instead it’s harder because they feel pain. Before my first time, they suggested me to get my head closer to them when I see they suffer so they can touch me, so I did. They hug my head tightly, usually. It feels weird, but also good because I know I’m comforting them. It’s nice to become friends with these little creatures. But sometimes I find myself inserted into very hard situations, with children that have very serious illnesses. I discovered that humans usually have only one child at a time, and that the death of a child for them is very rare. So a pair of time I found these terminal children...that...aaah, it hurts even to think about it. You are there, these children are fighting for their life and keep feeling pain, and I can do nothing but hug them. With their parents, it’s worse. They sob and sob and sob, and I am there not sure about what to say or what to do. Then, at a certain point, they thank me for staying close to their child. There, suddenly. I was told you have to say ‘you’re welcome’ in these cases, but sometimes I’m too embarassed to do that. Some of them were really doubtful about my presence, just like most of the adult humans that fear me, someone even mentioned I may carry viruses...I don’t, right?”
“We make you blood tests so often to check exactly that. You have nothing of that sort.”
“Oh...that explains a lot. Those parents, after seeing me there, have really changed their mind about me later. I’m in contact with some of them actually because I was there for their child when it was ill – or...well, when it died.
This kind of thing is something I’ve never seen, usually we dragons have a good amount of siblings, but these humans...they often have only one child for their whole life. I started understanding why for them it’s so devastating such an event. This kind of terrible things have still taught me that staying in contact with another species really gives you a new perspective on things. Most dragons I know, who barely have ever met any human, would call this kind of reaction a sign of weakness. The classic superiority feeling, you know. But they do not know many of the things I said. I would recommend to them one of the volunteering activities I had heard of, that day. I am happy to keep doing my volunteering in the hospital and befriend all these humans and their children. It really shows me how we can be perfectly fine all together, even though sometimes it’s emotionally harsh.”