The following afternoon, Gadalik found himself walking from his den to the boulder that he had met Gretel on, expecting to hear her sing while she awaited his arrival, as she often did. But there was silence aside from birdsong as he made it through the forest, and upon reaching the rocky area, his friend was still gone. The green dragon tightly shut his eyes in an attempt to block out how disappointed he felt. He climbed up their boulder and lay down on it, his hopes rising every time a new wind type passed overhead; despite knowing none of them was her, he couldn't help feeling crushed every time he confirmed it.
“Are you alright?” Guinevere asked, and Gadalik looked toward the sound of her voice to find the fairy dragoness safely beneath the trees on the outskirts of the forest. “It's hard to ignore how sad you are.”
He sighed heavily, resting his head on his large dark green paws. “This is the second day Gretel's been gone. Do you think she’ll ever come back…?”
“I cannot say one way or the other. When she left, she seemed honest when saying she’d visit the next day. I do not believe she intends to abandon you.”
“What if she hates me…?”
“What reason would you have given her to hate you?”
“Not me–her revealer friend… She outright told us she hated him. And before that, she had been saying how similar I am to him, too. Is it possible she hates me because she sees him in me?”
“Perhaps, but I highly doubt it. Gretel was conflicted when she said she hated him, as well–and she was apologetic toward you for drawing that negative parallel to him. She knows you haven't done anything to warrant her hating you.”
He let himself relax slightly with relief. “Thanks…!”
Gadalik watched the afternoon sky from his den a day later, unable to give up his expectation that Gretel would return. They had spent hours of every day dedicated to playing for months, so it was hard to get used to her absence, even though he knew it wasn't personal. I hope she's okay…
“I’m going to help Guinevere in her garden today,” Glacia told him. “You should come with me.”
His adoptive mother's voice snapped him out of it. “Huh?”
“Did you hear me? I said we should hang out with Guinevere.”
“Oh! You two have gotten close, lately, haven't you?” her son asked with a warm smile.
The water dragoness shrugged modestly. “She's been through a lot, just like all of us. I know I said I don't trust anyone… besides you, of course. But she’s proven herself trustworthy, multiple times now–even if I was in denial about it until recently. I wouldn't count on her for everything, mind you; I just think she's good company.”
Gadalik’s smile widened as he felt proud of her. “Alright–maybe I can help in her garden, too!”
She beamed. “I'm sure you can! Come on.”
They trotted about half a mile northwest of their den to Guinevere’s tree hollow. Now that he got a good look at it, her garden below had grown more sizable than he remembered. The pale-blue dragoness was snacking on some berries; her golden antennae perked up and she looked their way as they approached, and the pink glow of her four wings brightened. “Welcome. I was expecting Glacia, but I'm glad you accompanied her, Gadalik.”
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He smiled. “Thanks! Your garden seems to be flourishing; you're great with taking care of it.”
Now it was her turn to give them a smile. “That's because I have good help,” Guinevere replied, her yellow eyes looking to Glacia with gratitude.
“Aww,” the other adult laughed slightly. “Speaking of help, Gadalik says he's willing to.”
Her wings flashed yellow. “Is that so?”
“Yeah. I'm not sure what I'd be able to do, but I'm willing to learn,” the green hybrid answered, standing taller with determination.
“Earth dragons in particular would be great at digging. You could help rearrange my plants if you'd like.”
“Rearrange them?”
“Yes; the most recent additions of plants that require more water were placed wherever they could fit. I feel it would be better to move them all into a designated area, preferably one that would catch more rainwater.”
“Catch rainwater? I could probably make a groove in the ground for them to be planted in, so water would pool around them when it rains. Kind of like how we intended Glacia’s puddle to be before I had gone overboard with it,” he offered.
Guinevere's eyes shone along with her wings. “That would be wonderful.”
“Those look good,” Glacia remarked, her eyes drawn to the berries.
“Oh? You're welcome to have some.” She backed away to make room for the larger dragoness, who eagerly accepted the invitation.
The facultative bipedal female lifted her hand from the ground and plucked berry from the bush, popping it into her mouth. Immediately she cringed and spat it out. “Ugh! Tastes like dirty grass.”
Guinevere laughed, almost as if she expected that reaction and the whole thing was a prank. “That's not surprising. Water types are carnivorous predators, after all. I can't imagine berries or vegetation would have an appealing taste to any of them–and it may upset their stomach if one did try to eat them.”
“Really?” Gadalik asked. It was hard for him to think of his mother in the same vein as the predatory scarlet wind dragon from Guinevere's past, but the more he thought about it, the more realized his adoptive mother’s diet was only meat–mostly fish, but also prey animals. “Huh. What are earth dragons?”
“Omnivores, like fairy types. Unlike us, though, they can hunt, while we are scavengers. They also don't exactly need plants in their diet; they're merely able to eat plants with no issues. Fairy types are more dependent on plants as food, but we still require certain nutrients from meat to survive.”
Wow. I am kinda curious how those berries would taste to me, now. He opened his mouth to ask if he could try one as well, then hesitated. “What about seers?”
“Carnivores,” Glacia and Guinevere said simultaneously, and for a moment the latter’s wings dimmed to a frightened purple.
The seer-hybrid glanced between them and retreated a step; it was clear they were using a neutral tone to mask that the topic was making them uncomfortable. He frowned. “What makes seers any scarier than water dragons? They're both carnivores, right?”
“Seers… are big,” his mother explained vaguely. “At least, when they're fully grown.”
He remembered the killer from his vision, who had easily stood nine-feet-tall on all fours. From what he could see of Gale in that same vision and the more recent one of him and Guinevere, the poison type dragon was the same height, but on two legs. He gulped. “Bigger doesn't mean dangerous, though, right? Guinevere once showed me my seer mother through hypnotism, and she also mentioned that my mother lived in the forest for three seasons without causing any trouble.”
“Yes,” the fairy type assured him. “Everyone’s different. But just as it is nature that birds--particularly raptors, like some falcons--prey on other birds, large dragons may also prey on smaller dragon types.”
“Oh…”
“They don't have to, though,” Glacia added quickly. “Deer and other game are just as filling.”
“Then why eat other dragons at all?”
“It's more to do with opportunities and how scarce other prey is,” Guinevere explained. “And then… some just prefer the taste.” Her wings once again briefly shifted to purple.
Gadalik winced sympathetically. He didn't want to pursue the topic if it upset her. “How big do earth dragons get?”
“Not much bigger than me,” Glacia said. “Same with wind types. But since you're a hybrid, you might end up taller than both of them.”
I never thought about that. His striped blue eyes glanced back to the berries as Guinevere resumed eating them. “Can I try one, too?”
“Sure,” the small, furred dragoness permitted him.
Gadalik gave them a careful sniff, and–encouraged by their sweet scent–took one between his fangs. It did have an earthy taste like Glacia had described, but the underlying sweetness was there; if he focused on it enough, it was tolerable. He swallowed. “Not bad.”