She was young, she had been alive for barely a week, and most of her memories were of a quiet darkness, of sleep and growth.

After that had come light and fear, followed by more darkness and endless movement, but those memories were jumbled and confused, flashes of light in a never-ending storm.

It had been endless, at the time. A confusing mess of shouting and and bumping, being passed from hand to hand, unable to escape, until finally, it had ended after all.

She was… Somewhere, surrounded by something, and staring at somebody. Was that her mother? Was this being born?

There were thoughts in her head that she was aware weren't hers. Names for things that she shouldn't know the names of, memories of places she had never been.

She regarded the thing in front of her, the human, her mother?

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Maybe. Their shape was wrong, but what was shape other than a trick of the mind.

Their skin tasted of salt, and they barked out laughter at her, still panting and recovering from the rapid run which had placed them here, wherever they were.

She got the impression that this wasn't how being born normally went, but the shared memories were already fading, and had nothing useful to offer her. They had been there to get her through the first moments of life, and it was up to her to make her own now.

-

She had disliked the smell of stone on her scales, but she did like the way it settled between them, highlighting the river-blue with shadowed edges.

She had disliked whatever had happened in the water-tree earlier. There had been fear in the air and she had released her Self in fear. She didn't want to go into the darkness again. She didn't want to lose her mother.

She had wanted to fight, but she was just so small.

Still, they had escaped, and she had managed to withdraw the self. It was hurting them both, so she had to, although it left her tired and empty afterwards, on the verge of somewhere else.

If they tried to take her again, she would fight, but for now…

For now, the little dragon curled up on the lap of the person she loved most in the world, and she slept.