The Griffonstone Keep’s throne room was deathly silent, with nobody moving a muscle. Gregory stood near the door with Gabby by his side. Ember was still kneeling towards Gregory as were the other two dragons. The five griffons who were sitting at the council table were slowly looking between Gregory and the blue dragon, all looking confused and a bit worried as well.

Gregory was completely flabbergasted. He’d gotten good treatment by the griffons here, to be sure, but nothing quite like this. Except being asked to be the Chancellor, of course, but other than that he’d just been treated in a pretty friendly manner. Friendly by griffon standards anyway. Good natured banter and insults, and plenty of bird flipping that had begun to be seen more and more often thanks to Gregory introducing them to it.

The human swallowed nervously and looked down at the female dragon. He had a good suspicion as to who she was, but he had to keep that on the down low for the time being. “Um…hello to you to, miss…?”

The female dragon stood and faced him, only this time there was a small smile on her face. “Please forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Ember, Dragon Lord of the Dragon Lands.”

Gregory had never even expected to meet her so soon, or even at all. He figured that he might have met her during the events of the episode where Spike accidentally invited her and Thorax to Ponyville. “Gregory Graystone,” he replied as he automatically held out his hand towards her. “Nice to meet you, Lord Ember.”

Ember looked at his hand, then back at him. Then she did something that made the poor human blush. She took his hand in his, leaned down, and kissed it.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?!” Gregory, feeling more than a little confused, asked as he pulled his hand away. “I was just trying to shake your claw!”

Ember’s own face lit up red in embarrassment and Gregory could have sworn that the temperature in the room went up. “Shit! I’m so sorry!” she said, eyes wide. “I just assumed that…damn it…”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Gregory said, holding out his hands to try and calm the Dragon Lord down. He hadn’t expected to meet Ember at all, and even if he had, he didn’t expect the meeting to be going quite like this. “It’s just a cultural misunderstanding. Let’s try again, huh?” He held out his hand to her. “Hello there, Dragon Lord Ember.”

A still flushed Ember quickly reached out and grasped his hand in her claw, shaking it properly. “Hello to you to, Lord Graystone,” Ember said.

“None of that Lord Graystone stuff, please,” Gregory said, feeling a bit weird with the addition of a title to his last name. “I’m just Gregory. A simple human just trying to live his best life in Griffonstone.”

“Are you sure about that, my lord?” one of the other dragons, a male judging from the voice, asked. He was a tall dark green scaled dragon with curved elbow spikes, yellow eyes and bright green fins and wings. “I mean, you are of the dragonrider race, after all.”

“I don’t know what that really means,” Gregory admitted. “I’ve only been in Griffonstone since the end of September.”

“The twenty seventh!” Gabby exclaimed with a grin.

“Right, the twenty seventh,” Gregory said.

“Oh? You’ve only been here for two months?” the third dragon, a taller purple scaled female with blue eyes, curved horns that resembled ram horns and a similar set of elbow spikes, asked curiously. Gregory also noticed she was wearing a pair of bright aquamarine glasses around her neck. “So you don’t know about the dragonriders?”

Gregory shook his head. “Unfortunately, no,” he said. “I haven’t really gotten much time to study anything about this place or any history books. Although, if I’m hearing you right, there’ve been humans here before?” He knew about Jason Wright, of course, but if he was from the same world as Gregory, then he wondered just how the dragons knew about humans. “How do you know about humans?”

The third dragon held up an ancient leather bound book and set it down on the table. Gregory raised an eyebrow. What little he knew about dragon culture didn’t mention them having books. She opened it up to one of the first pages, put on the glasses and looked down at the book. “‘From beyond the end of Gaia’s endless seas came the race of man,’” she began. “‘The far eastern shores of the Dragon Lands became their first home, and it was here that man and dragon met. Their first meeting might have been bloody, but the peace they established afterwards lasted for decades until their land sank suddenly, falling into the cavernous ground below. But it is said that there may come a day hence when man will return and join once more with dragons.’ There’s more about the history of dragons and the dragonriders, or man as they call it here.”

“O…kay…I need to sit down,” Gregory said. “This is a lot to process.” He walked over to the table and sat at his chair near the head of the table right in front of the walkway that led up to the throne behind him.

“We didn’t mean to upset you, sir,” the third dragon said apologetically.

“No, it’s not your fault, miss…?” Gregory gestured towards her.

“My apologies, I’m Scoria,” the female said. “I’m a chronicler in the Dragon Lands. This is my husband Rhyo, general of the army.”

Gregory’s eyes widened. He’d always assumed that the dragons were more or less a nomadic species. Hearing that they had an army and chronicles only meant that there was more to them than what he’d seen. He nodded politely at them. “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” he said sincerely. “At the risk of sounding insensitive, how can the Imperial Council help you?” He asked mostly because he knew none of them had contacted the Dragon Lands yet.

“We came mostly to meet you, Mr. Graystone,” Ember said as she approached and took a seat. Gabby came and sat on her haunches next to me while the other two dragons stood behind their Dragon Lord. “We’d heard about the mythical Idol of Boreas being returned and wanted to see if the rumors about one of the dragonrider race being responsible were true.”

“Wow, rumors spread fast,” Gregory said. “But I didn’t really play that big of a part. It was an accident that caused me to fall into the Abyss and chance that led me to the Idol. Gabby here was the kind griffon who saved my sorry ass.” He put a hand on her back and smiled over at her.

She smiled back, then turned to the dragons. “Gregory’s too modest,” she said to their dragon guests. “He not only brought back the idol but has been working during a lot of his free time to help rebuild this city.”

“We did see a bunch of griffons around rebuilding,” Scoria said.

“Yeah, they’ve really banded together,” Gregory said with a proud smile. He turned to the other members of the council. “Hey, do we have any rooms in the Keep here where our guests here can stay the night?” He turned back to them. “You three must have been flying for hours.”

“Actually, there were five of us who came here,” Ember said. “Rhyo and Scoria’s two hatchlings also came with us.”

“Really? Where are they now?” he asked.

“We let them go and explore Griffonstone, if that’s alright,” Ember said.

“I might have felt a bit more comfortable if they had an escort,” Gregory said.

“Oooh! Oooh! I can show them around!” Gabby said, raising her claw. “I just need their names!”

“Would you really be willing to show them around?” Rhyo asked, sounding surprised.

“Are you kidding? I love making new friends!” Gabby exclaimed with a wide smile on her face.

Gregory chuckled. “It’s true. She’s a real ray of sunshine. Trust me, she’ll show your kids a good time.”

“Well…if you’re sure,” Scoria said. “Their names are Garble and Smolder. Garble has red scales and Smolder has yellow scales.”

Not letting his surprise show, Gregory nodded. “Well, I haven’t heard of any dragons moving to Griffonstone yet, so I’m sure Gabby here can find them easily enough. How old are they?”

“Garble’s twenty one and Smolder’s nineteen,” Rhyo said.

“Ah, young adult age,” Gregory chuckled. “Well, I’d love to meet them sometime.”

“I’ll let them know you said so, Mr. Graystone,” Rhyo said.

“Just Gregory is fine with me, General,” he said. Turning to Gabby, he smiled and reached into his pocket, “Here, show them some of the amazing foods and festivities we have around here.” He gave her a handful of bits.

“Can do!” Gabby giggled with a salute before she rushed out of the room, an eager expression on her face.

Gregory chuckled, then turned to the dragon guests. “You know, as long as you’re here, I hope the council and I can speak to you about the relationship between our two nations.”

“I was hoping the same thing,” Gwendolyn said.

Ember nodded. “That’s one reason why I brought Rhyo and Scoria with me,” she said. “I’ve only been Dragon Lord for a short time.”

“You probably have more experience than I do,” Gregory said. “I’ve only been on this council for a couple of weeks, myself.”

Ember looked up at him and shared a knowing look with the human. “So, what were you wanting to discuss?” she asked.

Gregory looked at the other council members, who all nodded at him in approval. Turning back to Ember, he said, “Well, for one, we were hoping to establish some kind of trade between our countries…”

Gregory was standing on a recently rebuilt balcony near the top of the Keep overlooking the city. The rain had stopped, and the clouds were now fluffy and rain free. He saw some patches of blue poking through the low hanging clouds. The valley floor was hidden beneath some lower cloud layer that was presumably bringing rain to the land below the mountains. In the east, he saw some dark clouds approaching, meaning more rain for the evening. Below him, he could see the busy town streets as the sun went down. Lamps were being lit by the lamp lighter griffons and others were either going home or to the local watering holes for a nightcap. Griffons had incredible tolerance for alcohol, possibly even more than humans did.

He thought back to the past hour or so back in the council room. Gregory had more or less let the more experienced griffon diplomats deal with initial negotiations between Griffonia and the Dragon Lands, putting in his two cents here and there. For the most part, Griffonia wanted to obtain some of the red gems that were scattered everywhere in the Dragon Lands, which Gregory learned were actually called élanite. In short, it was the result of concentrated magic and if used properly could be useful in many different ways. The Bloodstone Scepter gem was actually made of élanite. Gregory wondered if griffons could advance technologically with said élanite and had asked for a small sample so it could be studied, something which Ember and her companions agreed to quickly enough.

In return, the council had offered the dragons a few things. First, they discussed collecting Houseoak tree acorns and showing the dragons how to plant them and grow them, but that idea was put aside since dragons did breathe fire and it would only take one sneeze during the night to burn down the tree.

The dragons were more receptive to the idea of receiving meat and some variety of food instead. Most of the Dragon Lands were barren wastelands except for the Phoenix Forests and the southern portion near the Peaks of Peril where the mysterious kirins were said to dwell. All the meat they ever had was fish, and even that was growing scarce. They could eat gems well enough, but it wasn’t quite the same for them. The griffons could spare some animals for consumption but not much at the moment. The dragons were surprisingly understanding about it, and Ember made a personal promise to ship a large amount of the élanite ore as soon as she and the other dragons went back. It was useless to the dragons as the taste to them was awful anyway.

As well as meat, the council also mentioned giving the dragons seeds to foodstuffs that could grow in volcanic lands, like potatoes, wheat, kidney beans and more along with detailed instructions from griffon farmers on how to care for them. Griffonville, despite being so close to the once dilapidated Griffonstone, was incredibly rich in farmland and foodstuffs ever since the return of the Idol and the farmers there knew their stuff. Ember and the others agreed to this deal and both sides had promised to send out official negotiators to finalize the details.

Gregory was so lost in thought he didn’t notice the blue scaled dragon leaning against the railing with him for a good few minutes. When he did, he jumped a bit in alarm. “Whoa! Miss Dragon Lord, you startled me,” he said, putting his hand on his chest to calm his suddenly racing heart.

Ember bowed to him. She had on a scarf, a dark purple cloak and had on a shoulder bag. “I’m sorry, Lord Graystone,” she said apologetically.

Gregory chuckled. “Just call me Gregory, please,” he said with a disarming smile.

She smiled back at him. “Only if you call me Ember. Us leaders need to stick together, don’t we?”

He raised his hand. “I’m not a leader of anything,” he said.

“Oh? I thought you were the Chancellor?” Ember said, sounding surprised.

“No, not yet at any rate,” he replied. “They asked me to do it, but I’m still not sure I’m the right person for the job.”

“Ah, I see,” she said, turning away and looking back down at the city below. There was silence between both of them as they looked down at the city. “You have a nice city here, Gregory.”

“The griffons really know how to clean up,” he said. “It’s really a shame I don’t have any wings or magic. Then again, humans have never really needed either. Would be nice, though.”

“Well, I don’t know about magic, but I might be able to give you some wings,” Ember said.

He turned to her, eyebrow raised. “Does this have anything to do with you calling me a dragonrider?” he asked.

Ember nodded. “Dad told me about them when I was growing up, and Scoria told me a lot more on our flight here.”

“Well, I’m interested to hear,” he said. “And we’ve got time. What happened?” So Ember told him, and this was what he learned.

More than a thousand years ago, there were two types of dragons. There were the type who could talk and reason, like the modern types, and then there were the types that had the intelligence of a dog or even a horse. The latter, called drakes, walked on all fours and some could even grow to massive heights. Back in those days, the dragons had more or less a medieval government with a Dragon Lord and several officials to deal with the various dragon tribes that lived in the lands below. The Dragon Lands were somewhat more advanced during that time, at least in terms of government.

One day, there was a bright light on the eastern horizon that lit up the night much sooner than the sunrise. The Dragon Lord at the time sent a small company dragon’s standing army at the time to investigate only to find a strange conglomeration of strange towns on the shores of one of the largest freshwater lakes on the dragon’s home continent. These towns were populated with strange bipedal fleshy creatures trying to figure out what had happened.

The first meeting between the dragons and the bipeds went very poorly. The bipeds had strange weapons that could pierce dragon scales and were long range. They rode on horseback and were some of the fiercest fighters the dragons had seen. Nearly all of the twenty five dragons who were dispatched died but so did a good number of the bipeds. The remaining dragons reported back, and the dragon lord nearly ordered his army to assemble so as to wipe out the strange beings, but a cooler head, ironically, the general of his army, prevailed. He said that it would be best to try and talk to them at the very least.

The gamble paid off. The Dragon Lord and his general met with ten of the bipeds, who called themselves humans. Five humans identified themselves as sheriffs of the five towns that had appeared on the edge of dragon territory and the other five identified themselves as mayors of the same towns. Everyone admitted that their first meeting went bad because of fear and suspicion on both sides.

Part of the tale, which Ember admitted was more than likely apocryphal, stated that near the end of the meeting, a young wild drakeling flew towards one of the humans and tackled him, only to start licking him affectionately. It was here that the legend of the dragonriders began, since most drakes grew to be large enough to be ridden by the humans.

For over fifty or sixty years or so, the humans spread out across the shores of the freshwater lake, taming and riding their beloved drakes. Despite the rocky first start, the dragons and humans became fast friends. They formed a small nation that they called Nova America, or Nova for short. The humans and dragons became so close that interspecies marriages began to grow more and more common near the end of the human’s time on Gaia.

However, all this ended abruptly over the course of a single day. While there were humans living in the heart of the Dragon Lands, the majority still lived in Nova America. In the early hours of the morning, a massive shield of pure magic shot out of the lake and surrounded the nearby fledgling human country. Nobody could get in or out. For eight hours, both sides tried to break through the barrier, but nothing worked. After eight hours, the magic barrier brightened, then when it dissipated, everything manmade and everyone inside the barrier had vanished, leaving nothing behind.

Slowly, the remaining humans, about a hundred or so in number, died out. They’d tried to repopulate, but nothing seemed to work. The last human, an old woman named Hope, died twenty three years after the human nation vanished. And thus, the humans passed into legend and myth, only remembered by the dragons.

“My dad told me once that one of his ancestors had a small hoard with a human woman in it,” Ember finished.

“A hoard?” Gregory asked.

“He was married to more than one female,” Ember clarified.

“Oh, gotcha.” And with that, the two fell into silence. He leaned against the now cold metal railing. A few wisps of snow had begun falling, or were trying to now. The wind had somewhat picked up, but not by much. He had a lot to think about. The way she’d described the humans sounded like they came from an era like the Old West, with the long range and loud weapons she described sounding like pistols and rifles and the towns sounding like frontier settlements. Of course, since there was apparently no evidence to support this, he couldn’t be sure. However, there was one burning question in his mind that he couldn’t hide no matter how hard he tried. And it came out. “Are there any drakes still around?”

Ember nodded. “There are, but we let them run wild for the most part. They live near where Nova America was. Legend goes they’re waiting for the humans to return.”

“Just like that one dog…” he said.

“That one dog?” Ember asked.

He nodded. “Back where I’m from, humans domesticated wolves and turned them into pets and companions, much like it sounds like the humans who came here did to the drakes. There’s a story from back in my old land about a dog whose owner died, but he always stood waiting for his owner to return until he, too, died. He’s an example of how loyal dogs are to their human companions. We don’t think of them as pets or slaves. They have incredible loyalty.”

“That’s a sad story,” Ember said.

“I think it’s a nice story about how amazing dogs are,” Gregory replied. “And if drakes are anything like how dogs act, then perhaps they are waiting for humans to return. After all, they never got any closure.”

“Drakes are a lot smarter than dogs,” Ember replied.

“I don’t doubt it,” he said.

“Hey, here you are!” a happy sounding griffon voice said from behind them. Turning, Gregory saw a scarf wearing Gabby standing beside two very familiar looking dragon teens. Behind them, he saw Rhyo and Scoria. “We’ve been looking for you for a while!”

Gregory’s smile grew wider as he motioned for the three to approach. “I’ve just been getting some history lessons from the Dragon Lord here,” he said, pointing at Ember.

“Weeeell, I have two young dragons who wanted to meet you,” Gabby said, gesturing to Garble and Smolder.

Gregory chuckled and turned to said dragons. “Hello there, you two. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

The two stood there, gaping at him for a bit until finally Smolder stepped forward. “You’re really a human, right?” she asked.

“In the flesh,” he replied, pulling up his sleeve and holding out his arm. “Touch it if you don’t believe me.”

Smolder slowly approached, reached out, and touched his skin hesitantly. To him, her scales felt a bit rough, but not callous or anything like that. She wrapped her other claw around his arm. “Wow…humans really don’t have natural defenses! Oh, I know somedragon who would completely freak out if she met you!”

“Really? Who?” Gregory asked.

“This dragon named Silica,” Garble said. “She’s completely obsessed with humans. If she knew you were here, you’d be hounded with question after question.”

Gregory chuckled, as the dragon reminded him of the fandom’s depiction of Lyra Heartstrings. “I’m not opposed to meeting her,” he said.

“Your funeral…um, I think the word is…dud?” Smolder said questioningly.

“No, it’s dude,” Scoria corrected her.

“She’s right,” Gregory said, “dude is the appropriate way to say that. How’d you know that word?”

“Oh, that word came from the humans,” Ember said. “And speaking of, I almost forgot, but I brought you a couple of gifts from the Dragon Lands. I have the first one with me.” So saying, she reached into her bag and pulled out a small metal chest with a lock on it. She handed it to him along with the key.

Gregory took it, then went back into the hallway and placed the chest on a nearby stone table. Everyone else gathered around and watched as Gregory took the key, unlocked the chest, and opened it. His eyes widened as he found himself staring at a remarkably clean and well kept Colt Peacemaker pistol along with a large number of bullets for said pistol and a holster. This all but confirmed to him that the humans came from a few towns in the American frontier days. He opened the lid wide, picked up the old pistol and looked at it. It was in surprisingly remarkably good shape, looking polished and even well oiled. He knew a bit about this particular gun since his father owned about three replicas and had insisted that Gregory learn how to shoot and take care of them. He explored every inch of it. He opened the loading gate and saw that the rotating cylinder itself was empty of any bullets. Pulling the hammer back once, he spun the cylinder and saw no bullets in any of the chambers. The ejection rod even worked, to his surprise. Pulling the hammer back all the way, he heard the satisfying click of the inner workings, then slowly uncocked it.

He set it down back in the chest, then picked up one of the old bullets. Just like the gun itself, it was remarkably well kept. The holster was even made of genuine leather and looked like it had been freshly made. Setting the objects down and closing the chest, he locked it then turned back to the dragons. “How old is all of this?”

“Over one thousand years old,” Rhyo said.

“It’s in remarkable shape for a relic of that age,” he said.

“That’s because this chest is enchanted with ancient magic that keeps anything inside as fresh as the time it was put into it,” Scoria.

“Whoa, now that’s cool,” Smolder said.

“Wow…that’s a very convenient ability,” he said. Looking back up at Ember, he added, “Surely you want this back. The chest, I mean.”

“No, the chest is yours as well,” she said.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I mean, this has to be worth a lot with that ability.”

Ember smiled. “It is, but I made the decision to give this to you as well. I insist.”

Not knowing whether or not the dragons would be offended like griffons would be, Gregory decided to take the offering gracefully. He picked up the chest. “Dragon Lord Ember, I don’t know what to say other than thank you. You’ve given me a really amazing gift here. Proof that humans were once in these lands and one that looks like it could actually work. Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome, but that’s not the only gift I brought for you,” Ember said. “Unfortunately I don’t have on me because it was too big.”

“Really? Where is it?” Gregory asked curiously.

“It’s actually in the castle's courtyard,” Ember said. “It’s the only place large enough where we could keep the gift.”

“Really? Well, let’s go see it, then,” Gregory said, turning and beginning to walk down the halls towards the stairs.

“Why don’t we fly down?” Gabby asked, flying behind him and wrapping her arms around him, lifting him up slightly off the ground.

Looking up, Gregory tilted his head. “You sure?”

“Sure! It’s faster,” Gabby said with a grin.

He looked over at the dragons. “Well, let’s fly down then,” he said, pulling out his gloves and putting them on. He’d quickly learned that in the colder weather it was prudent to wear gloves whenever Gabby carried him around.

All five dragons walked back to the balcony, their wings furling as they did so. Gabby flew after them, surprising Gregory with how easily she seemed to be carrying him despite the extra weight in his hands. That no longer became a factor when Rhyo volunteered to carry the chest while they flew down, which Gregory graciously accepted. Gabby flew up a little higher after the handoff, and finally followed the dragons out into the cold and darkening late afternoon air.

It only took them a few seconds to get down to the courtyard. The Griffonstone Keep courtyard was still pretty bare, but there were signs that it had once had many different plants and gardens within, something Gregory hoped to one day fix. There were old and decaying statues within as well, all griffons. In the center of the courtyard was a wide open space which at one point had presumably been used for swordplay practice.

However, what it was being used for now instead was a place where the large eight foot high winged reptilian could sit. Or rather, lie down. There were four other dragons in armor surrounding it, guarding it along with four griffon guards. Gregory looked at the sleeping dragonlike creature in awe. Unlike the dragons he’d seen before, this one looked a lot like the ones he’d seen in live action shows and movies back on Earth. In the light of a few torches that each of the guards carried, Gregory saw that the dragon, or drake if he was correct in his assumption, had thick black scales and two pale cream colored horns which came directly from its head upwards with multiple spikes of the same color beside each of the horns, giving the illusion that the dragon had white hair. Its massive wings were just as black as its scales and had a leathery appearance. The tail, which was curled up and almost touched the dragon’s snout, had a variety of spikes on the end of it as well. He saw beside it a large brown leather saddle that looked like it could fit the large drake.

He turned back to Ember with his eyebrows raised in alarm. “You’re giving me a dragon??” he asked in a stunned whisper.

Ember walked up to his side and said, “She’s only about six to eight months old. The poor drake lost her entire family and has been wandering and flying aimlessly for days. She barely eats, as well. When we heard about a possible dragonrider, we brought her here in the hopes that you might be able to help her.”

Gregory turned to Ember. “I don’t know the first thing about drakes,” he said in a trembling voice. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

The whisperings between both of them were obviously heard by the young drake. She began to stir and opened her eyes. In the light of the sun and the torches, Gregory saw that the dragon had dark purple reptilian colored eyes which looked around slowly before finding him. Her eyes froze and locked onto him, drinking in the strange new creature before her.

Gabby, who was still on Gregory’s back, a position that he found her in more and more lately, clutched his shoulder tightly. “Say the word and I’ll fly us home,” she whispered.

Gregory, however, was mesmerized by the eyes. Not because of how beautiful they were, because they were, but because he could feel the sadness radiating from them. He silently put his hand on Gabby’s claws. “Let go,” he said. “Just keep an eye on me.”

“No way am I letting go,” she whispered. “And I’m not letting you go up to that big creature alone.”

Gregory knew that tone. It was her no nonsense tone and he knew better than to argue with her. “Just stay quiet, then,” he said as he took one step forward, not looking away from the drake.

With the first step, the drake lifted her head to look down at the human with those same sad looking eyes, but in those eyes was also a look of curiosity.

With the second step, the drake rose its head, showing the underside which had pale cream color scales that matched the spikes on her head. She made a small rumbling noise from within her throat, making Gregory stop, but after a few seconds the rumbling noise stopped

With the third step, the drake moved her head closer, not once looking away from Gregory’s eyes. Gregory stopped on this step, waiting for the drake to make a move. All she did was sniff him, then Gabby as well. He put a protective hand over the griffon’s claws as the drake did this. Finally, seemingly satisfied, the drake moved back, but kept her head level with Gregory’s height.

With the remaining steps, the drake made no move. Slowly, Gregory removed the glove on his right hand and held it up towards the drake’s face. When she made no move or growl, he reached out and gingerly touched the side of the drake’s face. Her scales were smooth but hard. He ran his hand up the side of her large cheek, still looking at the drake’s purple eyes. He blinked slowly at the large predator, and to his delight the drake youngling blinked slowly back, then slowly closed her eyes. He heard a mournful sound emanating from the magnificent beast.

Compassion overwhelmed him and he moved closer, slowly leaning in and touching the side of her face with his cheek. “I’m so sorry, my friend,” he said in a soft and tender voice to her. “Nobody should ever lose their family at such a young age.” The drake emitted another and louder mournful groan from deep within. “It’s okay to feel sad and mourn,” he said. “It won’t make you weak.”

To the surprise of everyone there, the young drake threw back her head, raising it to the sky. Opening her large mouth, she released a roar that made Gregory and everyone else around cover their ears with how loud it was. Even with his ears covered, Gregory could hear the variety of emotions that this dragon was venting. Anger. Grief. Sadness. Even fear, which was presumably fear of the future going forward.

The roar lasted for a good half minute before she closed her mouth and slowly looked back down at Gregory. He noted that, while there was still grief and loss in those purple eyes, they had been greatly lessened. She slowly approached him, then he was surprised to feel a warm and wet object on the left side of his face.

Gregory couldn’t help himself. He smiled as he put his hand to the side of his face. The drake had just quickly licked him. Slowly walking back over to her, he put his hand back on the side of her face. Looking at her, he continued, “It’ll take a while, I’m sure, but I know you can get through this, my friend.”

The drake made a small rumbling noise, then moved closer to presumably nuzzle Gregory. Only the movement was too fast and he and Gabby both went tumbling on the ground. This didn’t stop the dragon from continuing to nuzzle the human.

Gregory’s smile turned into a laugh as he put both hands on the young drake, stroking her scales. Gabby got up and was watching the interaction between human and drake with astonishment. Ember slowly walked over to stand beside Gabby. “I think she likes you,” the Dragon Lord said as the young drake began licking Gregory affectionately.

“No shit,” he chuckled as the drake lay her head directly on his chest, continuing her affectionate assault on his face.

“Gregory, are you seriously going to keep a pet this big?” Gabby asked. “How are you going to feed it?”

“Her,” he corrected, “and what do they eat, Ember?” he asked, looking up at the young Dragon Lord.

“They actually can digest anything,” Ember said. “They are really big fans of gemstones, and they also eat meat. They’re pretty self sufficient and can be taught to avoid herds of farm animals.”

“How convenient,” he said as he slowly his hand over the young drake’s muzzle. “Okay, there, that’s enough for now. I need to get up.”

“Are you going to name it-I mean her?” Gabby, who still looked afraid, asked as she kept a wary eye on the drake.

“Hmm…yeah, and I think I have a good name for her,” Gregory said. Slowly standing, he looked at the drake and proclaimed, “I think I’m going to name you after a famous fictional character from a very popular set of fantasy books from back where I’m from. And I’m hoping that by naming you after this character, I won’t be jinxing you to follow her fate. From this day forward, your name shall be Daenerys.”

The newly named Daenerys slowly sat up, and Gregory thought that he saw a hint of pride in those deep purple eyes of hers. He smiled, realizing just then that he’d achieved every fantasy nerd’s dream.

He’d just become a dragonrider.

At some point, I'm going to go back and put in actual dates to the descriptions so you and I can both keep track of the time frames between the back and forth jumps. When I do, I'll announce it in one of the chapters.