Simo

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The oppressing silence prevailed as the two ladies continued to size one another, my heart was instantly stuck in my throat as the mood was extremely heavy, It felt as If the two would suddenly start fighting against one another without any warning. 

Still, I was in no position to make any move nor speak as I remained rooted in place, waiting for this silent confrontation to end. The seconds trickled by before the tree Goddess Loen finally regained her gentle smile. The heavy mood and oppressing aura that enveloped her quietly disappeared before she spoke. 

"It seems like you are placing quite a lot of importance on your cute little youngling," She said causing a chill to run down my spine as she turned to gaze at me with a warm stare. 'Is she trying to threaten grandma?' I wondered. 

Grandmother didn't seem to be very concerned as she lightly chuckled while hiding her face. "Ah well, you know me and how I been trying to get my husband and child to accompany me for a visit so I can show them the sights, yet they always refused. Now that I have my cute little grandchild with me though, of course, I'll do my best to pamper him," She said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, as her gaze remained cold while glancing at Loen. 

The tree goddess nodded in understanding before answering, "I see, well It doesn't hurt to help a little dragon while he is still young, especially one that seems to be favored by you," She said, her expression turning calm, yet It was I who was unable to retain my composure as my pupils lightly contracted in shock and surprise. 

'She knows we are dragons!' my first instinct was to run or attempt an attack of sorts, I subconsciously turned my attention towards my grandmother ready for anything, yet to my surprise she remained peaceful as if everything was within her expectations. 

She slowly nodded before replying, "It doesn't hurt to have more friends Loen," She said, a strange gleam passing through her eyes. The tree goddess sighed gently and turned around slowly making her way to the abnormally large tree, the vines that made up her lower half swiftly morphed to form a pair of long green legs, making it easier for her to walk. 

"Don't start that with me again, we both know that if anyone needs friends then that would be you," She gave off a sweet laugh before speaking. Hearing what she said though made me halt in surprise as my eyes darted between the two ladies, an odd thought making its way to my mind. 

'Wait a minute, they seem to know each other rather well, and the Goddess doesn't seem to mind that we are dragons, are they perhaps...friends?'

The second I thought of that, both of them eerily turned to glance at me at the same time causing me to freeze. Grandmother was the first one to speak, "You just thought of something weird, didn't you?" She asked. I was just about to subconsciously shake my head when the tree Goddess added. 

"Just for your information, we are 'not' friends," She said emphasizing on the last part. This made my eyes widen in surprise as I tried to maintain a neutral expression yet still found it hard. 'Can they read my mind?' I unconsciously gulped. 

"And if you are thinking we can read your mind, then we can't," Grandmother added calmly causing my heart to beat wildly in my chest. 'Bullshit!' I wanted to scream out, yet I barely refrained from doing so as the Tree Goddess continued with a nod, "It's not the first someone mistook us as close friends dear, that's why we used to It," She explained with a gentle smile. 

I slowly nodded, choosing not to say anything, while lampooning inwardly, 'They are definitely friends, it's just that neither of them wants to admit It,' I mentally noted before following the two ladies as we closed in on the giant tree bark. 

The area surrounding it was surprisingly deserted, there were no flowers no vegetation growing around giving It a stark contrast to the previous ancient forest we just passed through. I slowly raised my head to admire the gigantic tree as It seemed to be holding the sky above in place, Its thick branches looked steady enough for an entire city to settle there. 

Just as I was thinking about such random matters, the Tree Goddess' figure suddenly disappeared, looking as If she had returned to the ground from where she came. Shooting a quick glance at grandmother, she was still unsurprised as expected. 

"What you just met right now is nothing but a small limb of Loen, her true body is the tree itself, still since It's rather inconvenient at times to communicate she would occasionally use an avatar to make things easier," Slowly explained grandmother. 

"I understand," And I hurriedly nodded in understanding. Just then, I hastily raised my head as I sensed movement. One of the relatively smaller tree branches was slowly moving as It descended towards us. Right on the edge of the said branch was an oversized golden fruit that looked like a pear. 

Without saying anything, the Tree Goddess silently dropped the giant pear in front of us with a loud thud steering dust to rise. Grandmother's eyes shone brightly as I could see her lick her lips in anticipation before she motioned towards the pear with her head and spoke, "That's probably the tastiest fruit you'll ever eat," She said. 

"Of course, it came from me after all!" Proudly proclaimed the Tree Goddess who at some point had silently appeared beside us in her humanoid form.

I slowly nodded, yet quickly found a small problem, "Um, grandma, how do I start eating this?" I asked. The fruit was about the same as my height, I had no problem just diving into it head-on, yet I wasn't in my dragon form, and so that felt a bit inappropriate for some reason. 

"That's easy just grab a small piece, It's very soft," she encouraged me. Since I didn't have much of a choice, I silently followed her instructions yet a part of me was half expecting the fruit to be as hard as a pear at least. It did steer up dust when It fell after all. 

To my immediate surprise, however, the second my hand touched the fruit was as If I had touched the clouds. A small piece instantly broke and fell into my hand without any resistance, It's inside was very bright, looking like melted gold. 

I slowly turned my gaze towards my grandmother who nodded at me encouragingly with her sweet smile before I threw the fruit piece in my mouth. 

'Well here goes nothing,' I thought.