Tap.

The sudden sound snapped him from his stupor, its very suggestion making his heart race. He bent down and examined the egg, listening closely before hearing another, Tap.

It lay half buried on the edge of a dune, swaddled by sand on all sides. Bo figured that the storm must have unearthed it recently – otherwise, the egg would have long been eaten by one of the many desert critters.

Tap.

The egg - which was about the size of his head - started to rock gently. Back and forth it went, as the tapping grew louder. More violent.

Something inside was trying to escape, and Bo had noticed that the cries for help had ceased. Whether this was connected, he didn't know; frankly, he didn't know very much – or anything - about the current situation.

It was all he could do to watch as the egg started to crack.

Tap, crunch.

A claw burst through the tough shell and began pulling other pieces off. Fragments of the colourful egg dropped to the desert floor as the hole widened, and whatever was inside tried to break free.

"What the…?" Bo muttered absentmindedly. He had almost forgotten to breathe as he watched the hatching – spellbound by what he suspected to be inside.

At the sound of his voice, the tiny claw froze and retracted. After which, the creature stopped trying to free itself altogether.

"Huh?" Bo leaned closer to the egg. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you nervous," He said softly – trying to make his voice sound as calming as possible.

Like a mother speaking to her new-born, he cooed at the egg, "Please don't be afraid; I mean no harm,"

But the creature made no move to continue breaking out – instead, choosing to take shelter. In response, Bo put his eye close to the little hole in the shell, squinting as he tried to peer into the darkness.

As he drew level with the shell and peeked into the hole, a sudden flurry of movement exploded the egg into a thousand pieces. Brittle shrapnel rained down as a red blur shot out of the egg.

A scaly little creature burst from the shell and launched itself at Bo's face, latching onto one of his ears and biting down hard. Or as hard as it could manage, anyway.

"Ow!" Bo yelped and whirled around, feeling sharp pain as his sudden movement sent the creature flying. He could feel a trickle of blood running down the side of his neck and winced at the hot, sticky sensation.

Just in front of him, a small lizard was frozen in place. It stood statuesque on the golden sand, unmoving and unblinking. Blood dripped down the side of its mouth, staining the sand below a ruddy brown.

Bo's breath caught as he observed the creature – finally realising what it was.

A dragon.

It was much smaller than he'd imagined, but then again, dragons in stories were usually fully grown – this one clearly wasn't.

Most of its scales were a vibrant red, the same colour and intensity as a roaring bonfire. But there were also patches of white and grey – appearing as though white paint had been spilt on the dragon's flawless scales.

With four clawed feet and a pair of bat-like wings, it was the spitting image of a dragon – if a very small one.

Not knowing what came next, Bo watched the little dragon as it sat on its haunches. They let the stillness wash over them as his blood slowly ran down its mouth, reminding him he'd been bitten.

"Was it you calling for help?" He asked tentatively, unsure if it could even understand him. His heart was racing as he stared at the dragon. An actual, living dragon!

It slowly raised its head to face him, revealing gorgeous gemstone eyes that glowed like amber. It bared its teeth - teeth that - given enough time, would likely be bigger than Bo himself.

"Who else did you think it would be? And what took you so long?" She snapped.

"huh?"

"I'm asking why you made me wait forever in that stupid egg before bothering to come and get me!" She yelled.

Bo was sure he must have been imagining things. After all, the dragon was talking. He had always assumed that dragons were incredibly intelligent… but speech? That was another realm entirely. How could it even speak with a mouth like that?

"I'm sorry," Bo massaged his forehead and rubbed his tired eyes, "... Is this real?"

"Come on! You have to be joking! I just hatched after spending…" The dragon froze and sat back on its haunches, staring at the sky blankly, "Oh gods, how long has it been?"

At this point, Bo realised it wasn't actually talking. The creature's mouth didn't move - instead - the dragon's words were transmitted directly into his head, appearing fully formed, as thoughts did.

Its voice was sharp and feminine – although not grating on the ears. Or mind. Bo still wasn't sure how this whole thing worked.

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"Are you really a dragon?" He asked cautiously, still not entirely convinced he wasn't dreaming.

"No, I'm your mother."

"…" Maybe he was dreaming after all.

"Of course, I'm a dragon!" The dragon seemed to sigh – if such a thing was possible – and stalked towards Bo. "Humans are so slow on the uptake," It muttered to itself.

Bo frowned, "Can we just take a break for a second?" His head was swimming, and he needed to get a grip on the situation before it ran further away from him.

The dragon stopped walking and looked up at him blankly, "What's up?"

"No, No! Not 'what's up?', You're a dragon! That's crazy! That's insane! You... you shouldn't be so casual about this!" He cried.

Rising a little on its haunches and sticking its neck out proudly, the dragon nodded in a very humanoid manner, "Dragons are indeed the best. But why would that surprise me? I am one."

"…" Bo searched for the right words and failed to find them. Surely his dreams wouldn't be so strange. Only reality could make this little sense.

"Okay," He said begrudgingly, feeling as though his entire life might have been a lie. In his mind, when he met a dragon – it would be some great, wise beast that offered him wisdom and magical powers – not some smug little lizard.

"I'm glad we got that sorted. Now tell me your name, underling!" The dragon proclaimed proudly. She spoke like a regent addressing a crowd of commoners.

"Underling?" Bo echoed, unsure if he had heard that right.

"Yes, underling! We're contracted now, so of course, I - the strongest - will be the leader!" The dragon held its head high, a feat that looked adorable rather than intimidating.

"Wow, wow, wow, slow down and tell me what's happening. In order." Bo demanded as his head span. He hadn't expected his first encounter with a dragon to turn out like this. There was supposed to be more blood and brimstone.

Also, he was definitely stronger than her.

After rolling its beautiful eyes, the dragon sighed, "Fine, where should I begin?"

"The contract," Bo said, a tinge of anticipation in his voice. If he could just get over the strangeness of this situation - it would quickly become fascinating. He - of all people - was more than eager to learn how dragons worked.

"Yeah, yeah. So, we've bonded because of your tattoo and…." She looked at Bo, who was already bursting to ask a question. "What is it?"

"Bonded? What does that mean?" He asked breathlessly.

"Do you not know anything? Let me guess; you don't know who Qui is either?"

"I know Qui," Bo said defensively. He wasn't used to being the least informed on something, "but even that information was incredibly hard to come by. There's not much in the way of... well, anything around these parts," As he said this, Bo gestured to the vast, arid expanse pointedly.

The dragon followed his gaze, pausing after seeing nothing but barren desert for miles in every direction. "What is this?" She asked, sounding unsettled for the first time.

"Guarda. There isn't much in the way of information out here,"

"No, Guarda was… It wasn't like this… or at least, I don't think it was," She mumbled, her voice shrinking as though lost in the vastness of it all.

"Never mind that now. Tell me how this whole bonding thing works," Bo demanded. He wasn't about to let a chance to learn more about dragons slip by.

The dragon shook its head to clear its thoughts and walked over to Bo, pausing at his feet. It then jumped onto his leg and climbed up to his arm, where it perched like a bird of prey.

"Let me see," It murmured, "So, basically, we dragons can bond with a human – sometimes known as a rider. This bond has a number of benefits for us – namely transformation - but I can't really remember the details of those." She scratched her snout with the tip of a wing, squinting in frustration, "As for humans, you also get a few benefits from this bond, since we dragons are the most charitable and humble of all races!" By the time she finished, the dragon seemed to have regained some of her bravado.

She stopped talking and moved her mouth, opening and closing it like a fish as nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" Bo asked.

"I was trying to breathe fire, but it didn't work…" the dragon admitted glumly. She shook her head and then scratched it with the tip of her wing. "Strange, I'm supposed to be able to do that already…." Her voice trailed off as a hint of panic began to infect it.

"Are you okay?" Bo asked. She seemed a bit... all over the place, to say the least.

"I think so… maybe I just spent too long in that damned egg," She turned to make eye contact with Bo again, "Forget that happened and remember that if all goes well, you'll be able to manipulate the same elements as me – obviously to a lesser degree than myself – but something is better than nothing, eh?"

Bo's eyes widened, and he started beaming uncontrollably. Maybe he would get magic powers from his first encounter with a dragon, after all.

"Anyway, our bond started the moment I got some of your blood," She licked her lips, wiping the rest of it away.

Bo touched the tip of his ear. It was still wet and raw where he had been bitten, and he was pretty sure a chunk was missing. "You could have just asked," He mumbled.

"And wait for you to get over yourself? No thanks."

"But I love dragons," Bo said indignantly, "You wouldn't have had to force me into anything,"

"Good, that's the right attitude to have!" The dragon bobbed her head smugly, "Now, as for the contract, that's simply an agreement – with Qui as the guarantor – that we will help and remain loyal to one another."

With a frown, Bo scratched his chin thoughtfully, "It sounds like we're partners in this – not that I'm your underling,"

The dragon rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Of course, there's a power dynamic, even in a partnership. Only the weak one would think otherwise," She gave him a sidelong glance, "One always has to be the leader – this is the natural order of things!"

Bo looked at the little dragon and laughed. It was hard to take her seriously when she was perched on his arm.

"What's so funny?" The dragon rose on her hackles, stretching her neck, so her snout neared Bo's face.

"I just don't think that this whole 'one of us is the leader' thing is a good idea for you," Bo confessed.

"Why not? It makes sense. In nature, the strongest always rules." She said, matter-of-factly

Bo nodded, "That's true, but in this case – the strongest would be me,"

"Huh?" She sounded genuinely offended at the very notion, "What are you talking about? I'm a dragon!"

"And I'm ten times your size," Bo pointed out. "Dragon or not, I'd crush you."

"… then we must duel to find out who is to be the leader!"

"Are you sure? I'm going to win,"

“… No… I will," She didn't sound convinced.

Bo sighed; he thought it better to play along and get this over with, "Have it your way, but don't complain when I start telling you what to do. As the future leader of our partnership, that will be my right," Even just saying it sounded stupid. How could an equal partnership have a leader?

"I won't complain about anything because I'm going to win!"

"Sure you are," Bo said casually, "By the way, what should I call you? You do have a name, right?"

The dragon bristled at his blasé attitude, "Yvet, but you shall address me as master!"

"Sure thing, Yvet," Bo said, pointedly.

"My name's Bo, but you can call me sir,"