Mister Butler has told us to be secretive.

That me and mister dragon has to sneak back to the city and hide the fact that mister dragon, is in fact, a dragon.

Why?

Well, he said that it would cause an uproar

People would panic, and panic would lead to disaster, and disaster would lead to mister dragon getting attacked.

Butler even said that he would have to stay silent in his phoenix form.

Saying that the common perception of phoenixes is that they are very rare beasts.

But just that, beasts

Which the dragon scuffed at, telling us how stupid that was.

Apparently, phoenix’es are very smart and capable. Way more than they let on

It’s just, that their immortality makes them very unwilling to talk to us mortals.

Or so I was told.

Personally

I don’t get it.

I really dont understand why we have to keep the dragon hidden.

Why not just show them how friendly he is and then let them decide?

Even mister dragon agreed with me.

But no, Butler was insistent that we would by no means, expose the fact that mister dragon

Was, in fact

A dragon.

And then, for the first time in my life

Mister butler told me to lie

Or, no. In his words

“It’s not a lie. Just, not telling the whole truth. No one is gonna ask if he’s a Dragon when he’s in the phoenix form.”

“Well, nooooo, but I mean. It feels bad to not tell them”

“Yeah, but consider this, would you feel better if Fauns started attacking him?”

“I guess not”

“Perfect! Then it is-“

“Faun. For one, you have not considered my opinion in the matter, and two. Why should I ever deign to follow your plan?”

The faun went silent

Still not capable of talking to the dragon, even after spending hours together.

“Hey, don’t be so mean on him. He’s doing it for you so you can follow us inside you know.”

“If I wanted to go inside, I would just go inside, human”

“And then have to kill a bunch of fauns? Not on my watch you big fat stupid dragon”

“Human, once our promise is over, I will burn you”

“Oooho, I would like to see you try you stupid dragon!”

“Hrmpf”

“ANYWAY DRAGON! You do as we say or you’ll have to stay outside and look stupid”

He stayed silent at that

Not looking impressed, or maybe angry?

“And, ehm... If you do come I’ll show you a bunch of new stuff, I’ll even make one of my friend draw an epic painting of you!”

“An Epic? You mean you have met a master painter and you will make him draw an epic portrait of me? Showing off my amazing splendor and beauty?”

Eeeer,

Oh yeah.

I forgot how narcissistic he can be.

“Uh, yeah, totally”

“Human, sometimes you speak wisdom. Even with a degenerate brain such as yours”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I take that as a compliment thank you very much, you fat lizard.”

“Dont call me liz... Calm down, do not let her get to you.”

“Hehe, we can hear you, you know?”

...

He turned around, letting his back do the talking

Haha dragon, you're such a fun tease

Anyway.

“Butler, are you sure we have to do it like this? I mean, it’s obvious that mister dragon won't go inside the city in his dragon form. But it feels bad to, you know, not tell anyone. He is the last known dragon you know”

Mister Butler took his eyes from the phoenix-dragon and looked at me.

“Yeah, it is necessary. To make a long story short, a long time ago we fauns used to fight dragons, and they kinda, almost killed us all.”

“I remember that time, it was a good training exercises for us Dragons. You fauns could barely scratch us”

“Shut up! If I remember correctly, we managed to slay some of you-“

“SILENCE FAUN, WE DO NOT SPEAK OF THOSE THAS HAST FALLEN”

The dragon shouted.

Making the faun fall on his butt

Eyes popping out of his eye-sockets.

Which looked very comical, if it were not for the situation

I stepped in the middle of them, hands pushing the dragon back.

“Hey hey hey, calm down. I see that you both got bad history, but mister butler is not the one who made your friends, eeer, disappear.”

Choosing my words perfectly, I tried to calm mister dragon down.

Then turning around, I pointed an angry finger at mister butler

“And you. The first word you choose to speak to mister dragon is accusatory? Dont you have any shame. I’m sure it’s not mister dragons fault about your peoples past.”

Mister Butler looked down on his feet, hands firmly placed on his legs

“Now, I want you to say sorry to mister dragon”

After saying that, I bent a little closer to his ear, whispering

“It’s a very touchy subject for mister dragon, so don’t ever bring it up unless he does it first.”

Then stood up again, arms placed on my hips.

A minute later, and after looking sideways for the entirety of the minute

Mister butler finally stood up, still looking down.

“I’m sorry Dragon, I know that it’s all in the past and that you probably wasn’t a part of it. My emotions got the better of me, and I’m sorry”

Still looking down, fiddling with his hands as he said this.

“Apology. Not accepted”

Mister Butler looked up, eyes meeting the dragons.

“Wh-What the hell, you go-“

Cutting him off before something stupid happens

“Hey hey hey, calm down, an apology does not need to be accepted. You have said sorry so, move on.”

Meeting an angry look, but getting a slow nod in response

Then I turned around, taking up the view of the dragon.

“And you, stop being such a baby.”

“A what-“

“NOW! Let’s goooo, back to the city of fauns!”

I interrupted mister dragon, starting to walk towards the city

“Eeeer, it’s this way”

The butler awkwardly said, pointing the opposite way.

“Let’s GOOOOO!”

I said, turning back, walking confidently.

“Hrmpf, I see that your sense of direction is still backwards.”

“LET’S GOOOOOOOO!”

“She’s trying her best, don’t be so hard on her”

“If her best is this, then I really do not understand how she has survived this far”

“LET’S GOOO!”

“You know that she is an amazing archer? Even stronger than me”

“I know that humans would consider her strong. But to me, she is just an ant.”

“LET’S A GOOO”

“Maybe, but I bet that a fully powered arrow from her could at least make a dent in your scales”

“Pfff, Faun, you jest. I have survived volcanos blasting me, tornadoes flying over me, crushing depths and even gods.”

“I SAID, LET’S A GOO!”

“Human shut up, we are already going”

“Survived gods? What do you mean?”

“WE HAVE TO GO FASTER!”

As I said that, I started jogging.

Still feeling red around my cheeks

Why do I have to be so clumsy?

Looking over my shoulder, I could see mister dragon effortlessly flying above my shoulder.

And mister butler looking confused, but keeping pace

Good enough.

Now let’s just slow down

Let, erm, mister Butler lead the way.

Not because I don't know the way, no way

But, you know, someone else has to take the lead sometimes

Yeah, that’s totally the reason.

…

Why the heck won't you take the lead you stupid butler

I mean, hello?

Can’t you see that I’m trying to run behind you

Why do you have to slow down?

Aaaaaaaa!

...

Now we are walking again

“Human, why are you so stupid?”

Shut up!

I’m not stupid!

I don't wanna hear that from you, you stupid dragon

“Hmmf”

I angrily huffed, looking away from mister dragon

And down at mister butler

It’s your fault he’s calling me stupid, you know

He should call you stupid, stupid.

But he seemed to not notice

Still looking confused, maybe even thoughtful.

Heeeey

Heelllloooo

Anyone in there?

Look at me

Waving my arm before his face, I got his attention

Yes, finally.

Please, can you take the lead now?

But I only got another confused expression.

This time a question forming, asking

“What?”

What?

Is that really what you’re gonna say?

Holy moly, how stupid can you be

See, do you see mister dragon. He’s the stupid one.

Not me

I frowned.

“Hmmf”

I huffed at him, looking away from him.

Only to meet the dragons eyes

“Hmmf”

Still angry, I huffed again, deciding to look up

Up to the sky.

Now they’ll understand that I’m upset with them.

“Human, you are not only stupid, but you also look stupid”

Hmmf

As if, you're just trying to say that to make me upset

And you wont-

“Ehm, I don’t wanna be mean, but he’s kinda right, you look a little... Weird?”

...

I started running

Face beaming red like a tomato

Or, maybe it was just the burns that had not disappeared all the way.

Yeah, it was totally that

Not anything else…

“Wait up! If you run into town like that you’ll get many questioning eyes!”

Run into town like that?

Like what

Thinking that, I looked down

...

I’m naked

...

That’s not something new

I’ve been naked many times before

I even think mister Butler has seen me naked many times.

But

You know

After getting called stupid multiple times

Being stupid multiple times

And getting ignored.

You can only take so much shame before the shame overwhelms you.

And you know

It kinda did right now

And you should also know that

When your emotions get’s overwhelmed

You kinda act irrationally

And in my defense

Firing arrows at both mister dragon and butler

Was a very refreshing feeling.

I don't even think they minded it that much

That much…

And to make the matter even more shameful

The last words I heard before screaming “Lalalala” and slapping my hears

Was

“You are running the wrong direction again!”

...

This day is not my day