The sky alit with colors as Artini dropped from the air and perched on the nearest branch, her wings spread wide as sunlight glanced off her technicolor wings. Leaves swayed all around her, caught up in her draconic power and whims. She was a small dragon, but, her tiny size never bothered her. She got further ahead thanks to her size and found the wind far easier to work with than her fellow dragons must. This was good news for her, for she loved to dart about in the breeze. Clouds were her favorite playthings. She could spend all day drawing them into shapes and designs.
Far below her branch, an old sekir peered out from her cave within the tangled roots of the tree.
“Little one, did you bring the berries back?”
“I did! I got so many of them!”
“Oh? I’m surprised to hear that. I don’t see a single berry in your claws.”
Artini fluffed up and peeped at the sekir.
“I didn’t carry them in my claws! Morna said that’s un-hy-gien-ic. He made me a special bag for them.” She puffed up further and shuffled around so her back faced the sekir. There, tied onto her back, was a small bag that bulged with hidden berries. “See?”
The old one stared at the bag and slowly nodded her head.
“I see it. But, why do you think that makes them unhygienic? We’re just going to eat them anyways.” Her tongue flicked out as she tsked at the tiny dragon. “You shouldn’t let Morna boss you around, child.”
“Morna doesn’t boss me around! He’s just really, really smart!”
Artini hopped off the branch and drifted to the forest floor. The wind billowed around her and slowed her descent. She didn’t need to draw her wings to keep herself safe, but the flicked out as a reflex. She wasn’t used to her better developed powers yet.
She landed on a half rotten stump without a sound, and leaned down to face the lizard. She held her face scales away from the other woman’s snout, eyes crossed in an attempt to stare her down. The sekir blew a puff of air in her face, unimpressed.
“Don’t call him smart just because he lets you sit on his shoulder, girl.”
“That’s not why at all, he has so many books and he’s teaching me what they are and how they work! It’s really, really interesting!”
The sekir reached up and patted the dragon on her head.
“Sometimes, you are impossible to understand.”