The summer sun’s light filtered through the treetops of the forest, landing as speckles in the shade that Glacia rested in. The light blue water dragoness watched over the green four-month-old hatchling she had rescued as an egg near winter’s end, as he playfully chased a butterfly. The hybrid earth dragon sprung after the insect when it fluttered up out of his reach. His striped blue eyes tracked it for a moment, shining with hope before he spread his short wings and leapt, flapping them with all his might.

His big hind paws had launched him high, but his wings were much too small to carry him; he crash-landed, the tall grass cushioning his fall.

“Gadalik, are you okay?!” his adoptive mother fussed, rushing to his side.

The hatchling didn't seem injured–at least, not physically. He refused to meet her gaze.

“Gadalik?” she repeated his name, even more worried at that reaction.

“Why can't I do it?” he finally spoke, his voice quiet as if he didn't expect to be heard.

“Do what…?” she prompted gently, despite already knowing the answer.

“No matter how much I practice, I still can't fly…”

“You're still young,” she reminded him. “Give your wings time to develop first.”

Gadalik dragged himself to all fours and looked back at his wings. They had had this conversation before, when he was younger; it was clear to him now that his wings were already as developed as they would get. That didn't change his instincts to use them, however.

His eyes finally met hers, and Glacia’s heart sank to see that the spark of hope he'd had in them only moments ago was gone.

All she could do was embrace him, and she fought back tears when he didn't respond to her touch right away. After what seemed like an eternity, she felt him nuzzle into her chest, and a sense of relief washed over her. She relaxed her grip.

Gadalik stepped out of it. “Your scales feel dry,” he murmured. “I think it's time for our trip to the lake again.”

Glacia tensed, then nodded in agreement. While she could endure life on land, it took a physical toll on her body, and she had never spent the summer season away from her home before. The heat wasn’t so bad, but the dry air was unbearable, so their trips to the water had become more frequent. While she was grateful the young dragon cared for her, she was concerned about his mental state, because that spark in his eyes hadn't returned. Still, she followed Gadalik as he led the way out of the forest; his sense of direction was much better than hers.

It took maybe twenty minutes to cross the plains and reach the lake, and as Glacia submerged herself in the shallows, she turned her head back to face him; he was patiently waiting on the shoreline for her to recover, as he always did, but instead of watching her or occupying himself with making sand structures, his eyes simply stared with a concerning calm at nothing.

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“Gadalik, why don't you join me this time?” she suggested, remembering how joyously he had splashed in the water on his day of emergence. Ever since he'd nearly drowned right after that, Glacia had been adamant that he stay out of the water despite the fact that the experience hadn't fazed him. At this point she was willing to try anything to see him happy again.

Her adoptive son tilted his head slightly. “But I'm an earth dragon,” he said as a matter of fact. “Won't I sink?”

“I'm not asking you to swim, silly,” she chuckled reassuringly. “Just come stand in the shallows with me. I'm sure you'll love it.”

After a moment of consideration, Gadalik dipped his front paw in the water, eyeing the ripples in its wake with fascination. As they dissipated, he put his other paw in to repeat the process.

Glacia was watching him with an amused smile as he made a small wave with a sweep of his paw, but the corners of her mouth fell when he backed out of the water after that, the young dragon staring indecisively at the slow waves lapping the shore. She felt her own hopes begin to diminish, unable to cope with the knowledge that she had failed him.

That’s when he suddenly charged into the lake, laughing at his whole body’s impact on the waves as they'd been pushed out much farther than they had been by his paws. He looked excitedly at his adoptive mother, not even waiting to catch his breath before calling out, “Did you see that?!”

Glacia was shocked, but pride quickly overcame her, and she smiled like an idiot. Gadalik grinned back at her, and before she had a chance to praise him, he jumped and splashed with both front paws, his attention completely captivated by the water. An idea popped into her mind, and without second thought, she flicked the tip of her tail up, her teal fins on the end of it flinging water at him while he was distracted.

Somehow, he saw it coming and dodged. Then he let out a mock battle cry and charged at her.

The two played in the shallows for hours until he tired himself out, and she carried the green dragon across the plains, back to their thicket in the forest as he drifted off in her arms.

In the two following weeks, Gadalik seemed back to his usual self, although Glacia noticed he hadn’t attempted to fly anymore. She wasn't sure how to handle that. Water dragons–and earth dragons, for that matter–didn’t have wings, so she had no experience with flight or how it was learned, nor what to expect of the seer and earth dragon hybrid–if his biological mother was in fact a seer. Fear of her adoptive son becoming depressed again drove Glacia to drop the subject, though.

On their routine trips to the lake, Gadalik had begun to follow her farther out into the water, but he never went deeper than he could stand in. He seemed to study her movements as she swam in the depths, and even while they played.

“Can you teach me…?” he finally worked up the courage to ask.

The question caught Glacia by surprise. “To swim?”

He nodded. When she hesitated, the memory of him almost drowning haunting her, he continued, “Never mind… I think I understand.”

“Huh?” His mother came to, then panicked as the young earth dragon walked forward, letting himself be swallowed by the waves. “W-Wait! Stop!” She lunged for the spot he'd disappeared in, but she couldn't feel his body. Her heart raced and she dove, her red eyes darting until she spotted him kicking off the sand so that his head surfaced. His large paws paddled in the correct motions but they weren't in sync with each other, which wouldn't matter so much if his body didn't naturally sink.

Glacia pulled him back to shore, but he struggled against her hold. “I could have done it,” Gadalik cried. “Why did you stop me?”

She took a deep breath to compose herself, but she was still shaken by the thought of losing him. “We’ve talked about this before… Earth dragons can't swim.”

“But I'm only half earth dragon! Maybe it's different for me…! I won't know if you don't let me try…”

The two sat in silence for a little while as they both calmed down. Then Glacia finally stood up. “Alright,” she decided. “I'll teach you.”