Chapter Nine- Foraging And A Friend

When Lilliana concluded her short massage of the tense muscles in his shoulders in order to get the pack, still full of plants from the day before, Mark had to stop himself from letting out a groan of despair. That felt… really good, he thought. He hadn’t realized how much tension had built up in him until those strong fingers had pressed into the perfect points in his shoulders to release it. His voice might have been a little high-pitched when had responded to her, he thought, but he believed he had managed a decent response. Then she hauled the sack of assorted plants out from the bedroom and said, with a supremely excited grin on her face, “Let’s eat!” Mark felt the tips of his now slightly elongated ears flush, like they always did when she smiled like that. I’ve turned into a damned teenager, he lamented.

After cleaning the various tubers, nuts and berries they had gathered the day before, they set them on the desk, which was now cleared of the books Mark had been reading. The dust had been wiped clean, and they gathered around. He now stood, with Lilliana sitting in the chair next to him. He had read in the third volume left behind that the tubers, which were called ami roots, were best eaten raw. Now, they each held one of the strange root vegetables in their hands. The outer skin was quite dirty; It was brown, and flaky, and as such they decided it was probably no good to eat. Thus, they peeled them, and were left with something shaped quite similarly to a carrot, with flesh much like that of a kiwi. They locked eyes. Mark nodded. Then they each took a bite.

To say it was single handedly the most confusing thing he had ever eaten would not be an understatement, he decided in the midst of his third helping. The flesh was silky smooth, and lightly sweet, and it held a flavor similar to lemon jello. All this was not so different or unbelievable. The strange part was the familiar tingles it gave his mouth, which were very reminiscent of the feeling he got when using his new magic. Lilliana must have been thinking of the same thing, because she suddenly spoke. “It’s regenerating my mana! I was super low and now I’m back to half,” she declared energetically. “Not to mention it’s delicious!”

In the end, they made their way through all of the ami roots they had in their possession. Mark wasn’t too worried about finding more, as the bushes that grew above them were quite distinctive. Triangular blue leaves grew in concentric rings around a thick, woody trunk, and they were all over the island. They had realized the possibility of the bush having edible roots when they had seen a small, squirrel-like creature digging one up from afar. That said, the book he had read before said that they kept very well with the skin kept on, and so they decided they should venture south from the cabin to where they were sure there were a few. Thus far, they had collected some of the roots of three bushes, and now, he thought, we’ve come upon the jackpot.

Next to a small lake in the Ut’aina forest, they gazed upon three more trees, growing in a small grove. Mostly, everything remained the same with these trees, but one thing was noticeably different. Around them was a small moat, and was obviously not natural. “What do you think we should do?” Lilliana asked him, but Mark didn’t know. Anything could have dug that hole, he decided. Instead of answering, he stated what he saw as the possibilities. “Well, I think it’s obvious it’s not man-made. Its existence at all suggests to me the presence of some sort of relatively intelligent creature,” he said. “The three possibilities I see are that this is either some form of irrigation, simply just a sheltered place to live, or a trap utilizing food as bait.”

I’m not sure it’s worth investigating yet, based solely on our encounters with other creatures here…” he trailed off.

A small, scaly blue head now poked over the rim of the small moat, an ami root held tight in its mouth. It was looking straight at them. Then, two stubby little legs poked their way out from and pulled the creature up and out of the moat. It was… “Absolutely adorable!” whispered Lilliana, finishing his thought. Still looking at them, the little guy started clumsily waddling his way over to them. It was tiny. Mark reckoned the adorable creature was probably the size of a guinea pig, but it looked worryingly familiar. As it approached them, he used aquatic analysis.

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Aquatic Analysis Activated:

Infant Water Dragonlet:

Size: Tiny

Diet: Omnivorous (Scavenger)

Intelligence: High

Strengths Observed:

Maneuverable in water.

Observant.

Weaknesses:

Physically small.

Uncoordinated.

Chance Of Bond Success:

30%

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I suppose, he thought, looking at the diminutive creature, we all have to start somewhere. Mark watched on as the adorable baby dragon teetered to a halt before Lilliana, and dropped the veggie in front of her. Then it bounced around in circles, seemingly pleased with itself. It acted much like a puppy that Mark had as a child, bright-eyed and without worry that the two humans standing in front of it would want to hurt it. But, despite their earlier scare, Mark would never hurt the little guy.“A dragonlet,” he said aloud, awed that he was getting this chance. Lilliana stiffened. “What?” she said, stumbling back away from the baby she had been reaching down to pet a split second ago. “It’s a baby version of… that thing?” “Yes,” he said, watching it closely. “But I think it’s harmless. Look, its teeth haven’t even grown in!”

Reaching forward, he extended his hand towards the creature, and it took three long sniffs before it did something completely unexpected. It jumped up into his open palm, and curled up before promptly falling asleep. Its scales were like those of a snake, only blue, and definitely much tougher than those of any snake he had ever seen. Now that it was close, he could see the four tiny, knife sharp talons on each foot. If it held any animosity towards us, he realized, we might be in a world of hurt. But it seemed perfectly content to leave its little home and bring us food, and here it was now, sleeping in the palm of his hand. Lilliana walked up to him slowly, carefully. “It’s still cute, she said softly. Even if it is going to grow into a giant death lizard.” Then another grin came to her face. “When we talked about our abilities earlier, you said that you could bond with creatures that have a water affinity. So we should take him!”

Mark couldn’t deny the possible risk, but he also couldn’t deny the fact that it would be totally awesome to have a dragon friend, so he agreed. “Sure, but let’s harvest his roots for him first, ok? Oh and,” -he reached for her hand with his- “Feel.” he gently brought their hands to the baby dragon’s forehead. She gasped when she touched the smooth scales for the first time. “It's warm,” she said, and then she looked at him. Their eyes met. Heat seemed to flood into him from the places where their skin touched, scorching. Waves of… something poured over him, both internally, and through their bond. He knew she was feeling the same way he was, and he could feel her feelings washing through him, doubling his own, in turn creating a sort of positive feedback loop of … lust? Intrigue? Love? He wondered. But how could it be?

Before he could give an action to the emotions and feelings coursing through him, the dragon rolled over, disturbing the moment. They both looked away quickly, but in his peripheral vision he could see her beautiful face, flushed a deep red. The same red that he would bet anything filled his features now. A sort of awkward silence filled the air. They collected themselves quickly, and harvested the ami roots before heading back, with dragon in tow. But the tension between them was there, and they both knew it. That night, Mark didn’t sleep, couldn’t sleep. Sleeping in the same bed, having her warm body pressed against his, it felt… different, now. Eventually, he surrendered to sleep, drifting off into darkness.