The next day, Gadalik restlessly paced his den. His adoptive mother watched him with increasing concern. “Settle down; you're gonna make a groove in the ground at this rate,” she said. “What's eating you?”
“Gretel usually stops by at noon every day, but it's been almost two hours and she's still not here," he fretted.
“Give her a break. You told me her hypnotism session didn't end well. I can't imagine she'd suddenly be in the mood to play just one day after the fact,” Glacia soothed him. When he sat and stared out of their den, his striped blue eyes searching the skies for his friend, she sighed. “Why don't we both pay Guinevere a visit to get your mind off of everything?”
“I don't know… I love Guinevere, but I also feel like I shouldn't have dragged her into Gretel's problems…”
“Oh, come on. Nobody blames you for how things turned out with Gretel.”
The green hybrid looked away from her. Nobody but me, I guess… I ruined everything. Gretel might never come back, all because I stuck my nose into her business–
“If you're that worried about Guinevere, how about you spend the day with me instead?” the water dragoness suggested.
“What?”
“We can go visit the lake, like old times. I love the puddle you made me, but nothing compares to how spacious the lake is. And I'm sure you miss swimming after all this time, too, right? It'll be fun!”
He considered it. That does sound fun… “But what if Gretel comes while we're gone?”
“Psssh. You heard how great her sight is! And she knows that you and I hang out at the lake sometimes. She could find us there easily!”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“...True. Okay, let's go, then.”
They crossed the plains together and he couldn't help smiling with amusement when his mother broke into a run for the last stretch and slid far along the water’s surface. Sometimes she acts as excitable as a hatchling! It's hard not to get excited along with her. Without thinking, he leapt into the depths after her.
It took the young earth dragon a second to remember how to swim, and he regretted not practicing in so long; it was hard to find the surface once he was submerged. Thankfully he felt familiar webbed hands around his torso as Glacia lifted him just far enough to raise his head above water, where he gulped in air. Just as quickly, though, she let Gadalik go and swam backwards away from him.
His large paws found their rhythm while his tiny wings helped keep him afloat as he paddled after her. He paused with playful suspicion when she grinned; the world seemed to move in slow motion as his striped blue eyes caught sight of her tail-fin moving upward with too much force for just swimming. His suspicion was confirmed when it breached the surface at an angle that flung water directly at him.
Time resumed and he knew exactly when to duck out of its way. “Ha! Missed!”
“Oh? Well I'd love to see you dodge this!” She shot a bullet of water at him from her mouth.
The seer-hybrid once again perceived the attack, but it was much faster and more direct than the last one. Instinct to fly out of its way overcame him, but instead, his wings acted similarly to his mother’s aquatic back fins and worked in sync with his paws to boost his movement speed; Gadalik managed to narrowly avoid it.
“Woah, you've gotten faster!” Glacia praised him, genuinely impressed.
He felt his face warm with bashfulness, then got another idea. “My turn!” Without breaking the pace of his paws, he used his wings to fling water back at her.
Instead of dodging, the water dragoness moved right into the projectiles and let them splash against her face. “Hmm, refreshing!”
He burst out laughing. All of his troubles seemed to melt away as he got immersed in their games. Hours later, when he'd grown too tired to expend the energy needed not to sink, he rested on the shore while she hunted a few fish for them. Exhausted, but content, they headed back to their forest home. The juvenile found himself glancing toward the sky through the entrance of their den as he settled into the moss inside for a nap. He sighed when there was nothing there, but forced himself to let it go, closing his eyes and drifting off.