The next morning, Oum took me on her lap and looked at me.

"Are you a girl or a boy?

Doesn't matter, you look cool and nice."

Indeed, there weren't many ways to distinguish sex among dragons, dimorphism being less marked.

There were, however, signs, like on lizards, the more pronounced beard and crests, but on a baby, it was almost impossible except with a painful examination. The only clue was sometimes more pronounced femoral pores on males than on females.

I ate my tuna at the table and cuddled my skull like a happy dog.

Milo was at the helm, and then Oum asked me. "Do you want to play with me?"

I looked and nodded...

"Do you understand everything I'm saying?

I nodded and shook my tail.

"Come on, let's take a tour of the boat."

He even showed me the toilet and explained how it worked, but I showed that I knew how to use the board and flush.

He laughed.

Then he ran off and I started chasing him.

I skated on my talons and slipped, skidding uncontrollably.

Then, exhausted, I caught my breath.

I was panting, and then I started whistling and crying, not seeing my friend Oum.

He was obviously hiding.

Then all of a sudden "HOUH!" he appeared behind me in surprise.

"It's Hide and Seek" You have to find me, then we reverse.

Grat grat grat

Sniff sniff sniff.

I won by smell, but he managed to fool me with fish.

So I discovered every nook and cranny of the boat.

Milo watched us having the time of our lives.

Little by little, his confidence in me grew and, for him, I was far from the bloodthirsty monster people might think I was...

The sky was clear and the sea azure, calm, and a gentle breeze carried the spray from the yacht's hull and refreshed the air around us pleasantly.

Seagulls were resting on the aerial, another sign that we were close to the coast. We were gradually reaching our destination.

It wasn't a matter of choice but... actually, I didn't know where to go... Did I want to see my father again? Did I want to risk meeting me? Did I want to provoke our disappearance by creating a paradox? It was extremely dangerous.

What's more, I was in grave danger of running into Emilie, my aunt and exterminator. Would she take pity on me? Would she eradicate me?

Chances are she'd want to do away with Tiamat and her bloodline and the other things she'd done, from what little I'd heard on TV. Mother would make were-dragons on the fly.

I was afraid of that. What about the padre? Could he help me?

It was a risk I didn't want to take, especially now that I had Tiamat's blood in me, which technically made us arch-demons...Dukes of Hell.

Still, I had my faith and my paladin powers, reduced, of course, because I certainly had to prove myself again to the Almighty, or at least do some good deeds... And taking care of Mom wasn't a very good idea. But even a Demoness, even a Tiamat, a mom was a mom...

Maybe my human mommy was still alive? My dog? My cat?

I must have been some kind of doppelganger in their eyes. An abomination... yet I missed them all. I was dying to see them again, but they wouldn't recognize me. They couldn't. A deja-vu at best.

And that would be it.

Then, defeated, I began to cry... it was too hard...

These memories were like poison...

I ran to take refuge against Milo, who obviously didn't understand my grief...

I wanted so much to say, to tell, to share my regrets, but that was the way it was.

Milo "Little one... you've got your whole life ahead of you... look how beautiful the sea is... Don't cry... we're here.."

These words did me a world of good.

He took me in one of his big arms, holding the steering wheel, and described the objects on the boat to me.

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"Boat"

"Aiip" I said.

He pointed to himself "Milo . M I L O"

"IOU"

This made him laugh and I smiled too.

with my index finger I pointed to "IOU".

and I

"AAARRh"

"Hohoho... your name is AAAARH?"

I jumped up from my arms and poitched my finger towards me "AAARH"

Then I made incomprehensible cries to show the steering wheel, and Oum laughed as she heard absurd words, a mixture of French, Common, twisted in a baby dragon's mouth.

Then I took the hand of Oum, who was well over twice my size, and pulled him towards the eggs...

"A -a AAA" (Samantha) for the red-scaled egg

"IORRHH" (Diskor) for the black-scaled egg

"IA-AORR" (Excavator) for the egg with white scales.

and me

"AAARH" (Daathrr) showing my beautiful green scales.

With that, there was no doubt about our intelligence.

Then I joined Milo and stood up on my hind legs with my front legs resting on the back of the passenger seat, pointing to the black line on the horizon.

Milo: "Yes, that's the land, the Adamant Islands. Our tribe lives there and there's a marina. But they're family and you're safe. There are no strangers and no one will harm you".

I instinctively made my sign of the cross to thank providence for having stumbled upon good souls. Perhaps it was also their way of thanking me.

The islands grew in size as we sailed past smaller ones.

We could also see buoys serving as mini lighthouses, but also showing an absolute ban on docking.

The famous Sentinel tribe... a world still immersed in Neolithic times!

Oum arrived with an Ipad and showed images of the tribes and the famous "Sentinels".

"These are cousins of our tribe. We don't have much contact. Our ancestors used to trade, but now they reject us because we're corrupt to them."

We left the island to get closer to other, larger and more civilized islands.

The boat slowed down and we entered a sort of cove and a white wooden pontoon stood next to the yacht and other yachts of similar size were anchored alongside small inflatable boats and at the far end, a white wooden building and marina.

We sailed along at a leisurely pace, and a few yards from the pontoon, Milo honked. A woman in her early sixties, a little swarthy from the sun and wearing a white lab shirt, waved at us. She readjusted her glasses, and as the boat lurched against the protective tires, Oum jumped up and embraced her mom.

Milon hugged me like a child and stepped off the boat to kiss his wife.

She froze, then picked herself up and said

"Milo... what are you bringing me?"

I was afraid of the scientist and hid my head behind Milo's neck, a childlike reflex.

"They were adrift on a damaged inflatable and he or she was dehydrated and feverish. Oum loves him very much and would like to keep him."

She reached out and stroked the scales on my back...

"Who are you? Where did you come from?"

My eyes were closed in terror.

Then she looked at Milo.

Oum begged: "Mom... I'd like to have a little dragon brother!"

"Yes... to be a dragon... he is indeed a dragon..."

Then she turned to Oum and then Milo.

"You do realize that we could be in a lot of trouble..."

Then she looked at me.

"He seems nice... he's not a bloodthirsty monster like they say on the news."

Then she looked at Milo.

"You and I need to have a talk..."

I looked at her, but when she looked back at me, I turned my head to bury it between her arm and her chest, despite the strong smell of perspiration.

Then it was too much. I jumped down and hid behind him, behind his legs, then raised my head to see if he understood me.

Then Oum grabbed my front paw.

"Come on, AAARH, there's chocolate ice cream... you'll love it.."

Mom: "Hey, it could kill him."

Milo: "He's not a dog!"

Then we both ran to the marina cafeteria and Oum went straight for 2 ice cream cones.

"You'll see, it's delicious".

I obviously knew what she was talking about, but I followed Oum as if she were my only lifeline. Maybe I'd find a new family here?

Then... I saw a strange beast emerge from the water and rush towards Oum.

"TOK"

The animal jumped and knocked Oum over, who laughed as she was licked by a ...sea lion!

She reeked of fish.

"Yes... yes... you will too..."

The sea lion then looked at me fearfully and let out a hiss and moved away from me;

Oum arrived with a bucket of fish and went out to feed her pet.

Meanwhile, I took the 2 cornettos and put them back in the freezer, which, fortunately, wasn't too high.

The ice shouldn't melt.

Then he returned with a laugh

"Ah... the ice creams... you ate them??? with the wrapping paper???"

He went to the freezer and saw the 2 cornettos on the shelf.

"Did you put them back?"

I nodded.

Oum was surprised again.

He was looking at not just a dragonet, but a little person.

The couple entered to join them.

But the ice cream was being unwrapped and long-forgotten flavors exploded in my mouth... chocolate... What I wouldn't have done to be able to taste that flavor again...

The ice cream disappeared as if by magic... I hadn't realized I'd swallowed it all. And I looked at my paws in disbelief and then at the rest of the cone in Oum's mouth.

Milo and his wife saw me salivate and look at them, then turn to the freezer.

"Looks like he'd like another ice cream."

"Oum... it's expensive but we'll make our own. Homemade ice cream is even better. The next one will be for dessert!"

I was excited to discover all these other flavors, then Oum shouted at me to follow him.

"We're going to take Tok around the marina."

On the way, the sea lion took a balloon in its mouth and went ahead, putting Oum between it and me.

She was also a famous "watchdog".

In the meantime, the scientist took the 3 eggs and placed them gently in a sort of incubator, where they underwent an ultrasound scan".

"They'll be at most a week before they hatch.