Lou

 

Lou sat between Harper's legs and snuggled up to him. The dragon threw his arms around him and pressed a kiss to Lou's light brown hair now and then. He saw nothing but darkness, but Lou could hear the other dragons. Now that it had been about three weeks since the arrival of new dragons, they were celebrating the Feast of Shells. Harper had proudly told him about the tradition.

The dragons gathered in their sanctuary, they sang and paid tribute to their ancestors. Every dragon that had ever hatched. At the end of the feast, the new parents would lay their children's eggshells among all the others.

Since the cave was too small to accommodate all the dragons in dragon form, the many dragons sat in the cave in different shapes. Lou sat among lions, cats, dogs, mice, various birds...  A few had taken on a human form. And the fact that Lou was allowed to be there was very special. Never before had they allowed a human to attend this holy feast. Not even wizards like Remy. Lou heard the cubs squeal. Amber, Philip, Trixi, Bibi and Weiko. Rarely was the arrival of so many dragons celebrated. This, too, was considered special. But Lou couldn't see them.

The parents of the cubs sat at the very front in human form. "It’s more easy for them to lay down the eggshells like that!", Harper whispered to him.

"Hm."

"It should start at any moment! The first thing to do is to light torches! By the new parents. And then..."

A lion growled and nudged Harper with a large paw. Harper's father. Lou was startled when he felt the movement. But the young dragon was not impressed. "Yes, of course. Thanks, Dad! We'll be quiet then!"

Ernst strode forward and lit the first torch so that Lou could see its contours. The other parents followed by lighting torches as well. "Today is a special day!" Ernst's voice echoed sublimely through the cave. "We welcome new dragons! And for me, as the leader, it is just as special that my own brood is part of it! ... Yes, honey. Don't look so angry. We all know you've done most of the work! Sorry. So! Today... Oh..."

Harper chuckled softly, causing Lou to tug at his sleeve. "Huh?"

"Oh, the cubs in front are trying to play with the fire of the torches! Trixi stole one!", explained Harper. And sure enough, Lou saw a light flickering across the cave until it was stopped. By Ernst. "We welcome four dragons and a cheeky brat. My brat!", he announced, laughing. "Trixi? Sweetheart? What are you doing? Stay with your mother and be good!" Trixi protested with a growl, causing everyone who could laugh in their chosen form to giggle. Ernst returned the child and torch to his partner and then continued his speech.

He spoke of the first dragons descending from the sky to seek a home in the mountains. He spoke of the blessing of the gods that led them to these mountains. He spoke of past lives and feasts. Lou listened intently. The dragon's words touched him. A tear rolled gently down Lou's cheeks. There had never been such a celebration for him. No one celebrated him. His homeland wanted him dead.

Then the dragons began to sing.

Lou opened his eyes widely and looked around him in disbelief. The singing, as Harper had called the deafening sounds, was anything but singing. The dragons roared in whatever form they were in. It sounded terrible. Only Harper remained silent, otherwise he would have yelled at Lou. It was noisy. Very noisy. Way too noisy. Lou had to cover his ears. He had never heard of anything so horrible. The singing of cats sounded sweeter than that!

A new sound mingled with the unwholesome noise until the roars died away. Lou laughed. He laughed so loudly and unrestrainedly that he was now hanging in Harper's arms rather than sitting. He couldn't sit up straight for laughing. "What...", he stammered. What... Hahahaha... That's ... hahahaha... no singing!"

Lou's laughter was muffled by an angry growl. Harper growled. Startled, Lou fell silent and looked at him. "Oh! I wouldn't... I..." Trembling, Lou threw his arms around himself and tried to disappear into Harper's arms. Harper, on the other hand, pressed another kiss on his hair.

"No, it's not that. Not at all!", he said softly and kissed Lou again. "It's the others!" Then Harper looked up angrily. "Yes, he's cute! I know! Stop staring at Vivi! It's MY VIVI! You won't get him!" And just like that, Harper got caught by his father's paw again.

"Harper? Don't be so dramatic!", growled Ernst from the front. Then Lou heard footsteps. He pushed himself closer to Harper. Lou feared the elder dragon's anger. He had disturbed their celebration. And he had laughed. And that shocked and frightened him deeply. I laughed... Lou dared to smile now but to laugh... No. Immediately, old fears returned. But there was no scolding. Instead, Ernst crouched down in front of him. "I've almost forgotten you!", said the dragon softly. "Today we welcome another new arrival. Come on, Lou. Sit in front. With the tiny ones."

"Huh?" Startled, Lou stared at the vague outlines in the darkness. “But?"

Hallie, who had been a raccoon until recently, took on human form. “One parent must also sit in the front. And this is MY CHILD. I don't accept anything else!"

Lou blinked. "But..."

"Just go!" Harper kissed him again and then pushed him to his mother. "Come on. Nothing will happen to you!"

"But!" Lou clung to Harper, which made the dragon laugh.

"I'm not allowed to go to the front. That would be contrary to tradition. But Mom goes with you. Go! That's something special! Come on. Go. I'm waiting for you here."

"Okay?" Reluctantly, Lou stood up and allowed Hallie to take him by the hand. Then the two followed Ernst to the front. "Sit here!" Hallie led him to a place between her and Olive. Lou sat down carefully and looked around shyly. Here in front, he could see better, because here the torches were the brightest. He saw the shimmering of the eggshells and also the contours of the tiny dragons tumbling around in front of Ernst's feet instead of being well-behaved.

And it wasn't long before two little white contours hopped towards Lou to curl up on his lap. "Oh! Amber and Trixi like you!" Hallie smirked. Just like Klara, Ernst’s partner, and Olive.

"Hm." Smiling, Lou stroked the soft dragon children. Their tiny wings fluttered excitedly. Lou stroked those too. The feather fluff felt delicate under his fingers.

Ernst now drove forward with his speech. He began with a joke about their singing, now that they knew how hideous they sounded to human ears. Again, those who could laugh chuckled. A few dragons in the shape of monkeys laughed especially loudly. Then the parents placed the eggshells next to the others, which ended the celebration. "Hm..." Hallie grumbled. “Humph... Well..."

"Certainly", Olive agreed.

"Huh?" Lou blinked, while Amber held one of his fingers between her claws to cuddle with. Trixi, on the other hand, tugged at his tunic with her teeth.

"Oh, excuse me. Olive and I communicated telepathically. Of course, you couldn't hear that. What can I put down for you?", said Hallie. "After all, I don't have eggshells for you... Ah! I know!" She stroked Lou's head and walked to the rock walls. Then Lou heard something crack.

"Ah! A very good idea!", grumbled Ernst.

"Huh?" Lou looked at Olive. "What is she doing?"

"Oh! She broke one of the diamonds out of the wall and now places it next to Harper's eggshells. For you. Now you're part of the dragon family for all eternity," she explained, while Amber yawned contentedly and Trixi somehow managed to wrap herself in Lou's tunic without being able to free herself. "Welcome to our big family", Olive added. "No dragon will ever forget you. This is where all the memories of each dragon rest. Even if we don't know all the names anymore."

"Family..." Lou helped Trixi. He freed her from his clothes. Soft tears rolled down his cheeks and he smiled softly.

Lou

 

After the big Celebration, Lou sat on Harper's back. The dragon flew him to the river since Lou wanted to go on a short walk there. He missed the water. The river was too far away from the dragon’s mountains to see its colors. All he saw every day were the colors of the mountains and the golden sand of the desert. His world was brown, golden, and blue. He missed the green. He missed the sound of the water. And with Harper around, he didn’t have to fear anything. His boyfriend would protect him.

Amber snuggled up close to Lou. The baby dragon had insisted on being taken along. Her parents let her. They trusted Lou to keep the tiny dragon safe and sound. He had put her inside a bag made of one of his scarves so that she wouldn’t fall. Another scarf protected Lou from the harsh sun. Amber squealed happily and bit into Lou’s clothes. He didn’t mind. She was a baby. A baby with very sharp teeth. Luckily, his clothes couldn’t feel pain.

Harper landed carefully next to the sparkly river. Lou saw blue and green. And he could smell the flowers that bloomed. Lou climbed from his back and looked around. The familiar colors made him feel at home. Amber curiously looked out from the bag and sniffed the air. Lou petted her soft little head. But when Harper turned human again, he pouted at the baby.

“Why did we take her along again?” the dragon asked.

“Because she is cute!” And Lou liked how soft she felt. And he especially loved her tiny, fuzzy wings. Baby wings were way softer. But suddenly, Harper looked up in alarm. “What’s up?” Lou frowned.

“I don’t know… There is something strange up there… OH!”

“Oh?”

“Something came through that… gap? It’s like a gap made of… I have no idea. Strange… Eh?... What’s that? A bird? WOW. It’s quite fast!”

“Where?” Lou looked up, but he only saw the colors of the sky.  Until a bright white spot grew closer and closer…

 “That’s no bird, right?” Amber looked up too and growled softly. Her wings trembled against Lou’s chest. He hugged her and looked at Harper. Harper's colors trembled a bit, and suddenly, white wings protectively surrounded him. At the same moment, the new white colors landed. And Harper growled.

“Who are you?”

“Me? Eh… Hello. Where am I?” someone with a pleasant voice asked. “I’m sorry, but…”

“The desert. We’re next to a river, as you can see. It’s a nice oasis between lots of sand and mountains.”, Harper answered skeptically. “You… What are you? You have light eyes like black dragons! Okay, golden, but still… And your wings are white! And…” He carefully pushed Lou behind him, hiding him with his wings. Then he started to slowly retreat. “Harper?”, Lou whispered.

“He has magic. Tons of it. It’s quite scary! A monstrous amount!” Harper hissed softly and showed his sharp teeth. “I never felt that much magic. And it smells strange. That person is dangerous!”, the dragon answered.

“Oh, no. No! I’m not here to harm you! I fought against … eh… a monster and ended up here! I fell through this rift. And… Oh.” The newcomer sounded worried. Lou wondered if someone sounding like him could really be dangerous. He never heard such a nice voice. Softspoken but with a lot of hidden authority, but not cruel. A bit panicked and kind of cute.

“Oh?” The person stumbled over his words. “Oh… Oh, oh, oh. No! The rift closed! I need to go back! My people… My husbands… My… NO!!!”

“My people?”, Harper asked.

“Husbands?” Lou blinked and escaped Harper’s protection. Does he have more than one husband? Is that possible? Huh? Rift… “What’s a rift?”

“Huh? What?” the person spoke a little high-pitched due to his panic. He frowned shortly and returned to his normal voice. Lou couldn’t see the frown, but he thought, that the person sounded a tiny little bit embarrassed, when he continued speaking. As if he had acted out of character. “A rift? Well, a door? Kind of… But… What do I do? This is a disaster! I need to get back! I can’t stay here! People count on me.…Eh… Is that a dragon? So small!” the foreigner explained.

Amber growled again. Lou petted her to calm her down. He nearly smiled at how fast this foreigner calmed down when he spotted Amber. But Amber wasn’t happy about it. She was as wary as Harper.  “She is a baby. Her name is Amber.” Haper hissed and tried to hide Lou again, but Lou shook his hand off. “He needs help!”, he told his boyfriend. “He isn’t dangerous, Harper.”

Instead of answering, Harper growled, which surprised the person.

“Oh. Harper is a dragon too!” Lou felt himself obliged to explain. “You are close to the dragon mountains. There is a human city nearby. But you aren’t human, right?”

“You?”, the person repeated.

“Yes, you!” Harper still growled a bit and tucked at Lou’s tunic. “Who else?”

“Oh. Sorry. I’m not used to being addressed this informally anymore… My name is Aefener.”

Lou never heard a name like that. He wanted to ask about it, but Harper was faster. And quite unpolite. “Informally? What are you? Some kind of king? Talking about your people? Huh? Lou? Let’s go… This is fishy. I don’t trust that bird person! He looks strange. Like… Some princess!”

“Harper!”, Lou scolded softly. “That’s mean! He sounds so nice. And … cute.” Lou bit inside his lower lip nervously. He was pretty sure, that the foreigner was older than him. Calling him cute might not be okay. But his voice did sound a bit cute. He just couldn’t fathom why.

“I’m NOT a bird. Or a PRINCESS!” Now, the person in front of them sounded more than just insulted. “I’m the Celestial Emperor! I AM NOT CUTE!!! And… I’m totally… lost.”

“See?” Lou pointed towards the colors. “He needs help!” He blinked again, staring at the light colors in front of him. What is a Celestial? Emperor? Can I ask him? No… I shouldn’t.  “I’m sorry?” He glanced at Harper slightly shivering. The dragon snorted.

“Whatever! Do what you want Vivi” Harper just shook his head and sat down on the high grass. “If he dares to hurt you, I will eat him!” Amber agreed with a tiny hiss.

“You can’t eat me, Kid!” the Emperor grumbled. “Who are you two? Sorry, but, I don’t know your names yet.”

“The grump is Harper, my boyfriend.” Calling him that still felt new to him. “I’m Lou and this little one is Amber.” Lou hugged the baby to stop her from hissing and growling. She obediently stopped and licked his hand. “She can understand you, but she can’t turn into a human form yet. Or speak to you aloud. Dragons talk telepathically.”

“I figured!”, the person, the Emperor, Aefener, answered him. Now, talking with Lou, he sounded nice again. “I heard her thoughts. And those of your grumpy boyfriend. Both think about how to eat me… I’d like to inform you, that I’m not an opponent for the two. I can feel their magic. It’s not enough to harm me. Besides I’m no threat to you. I need to go back. Do you know, if rifts appear here more often?”

“I don’t know”, Lou whispered. “I never knew something like that existed.”

“But you saw it, right?” Aefener sounded hopeful. “Did you see something like that another time too?”

“Vivi is mostly blind!”, Harper growled. “He barely can see you! And no, I never saw something like that. Welcome, I guess.”

“Vivi? You called him that before. Isn’t his name Lou?” Aefener, the Emperor of another world, repeated in confusion.

“Harper calls me like that, your Highness? No…. Eh… Your Majesty.” Lou thought, that he probably needed to address an Emperor like that, right? He never talked to real royalty before.

“Ah. It’s ‘Your Majesty’. Not Highness. I’m no prince… Or princess!” The Emperor said strictly. But his voice softened the next moment. “And you are blind? Maybe I can help you. And, well, Aefener is fine? Yes, it’s fine. It feels quite refreshing to be addressed like this again.” Lou could see the colors of Aefener flutter. He had wings, right? He wanted to take a look at the wings. And at the person’s face, but he would need to come very close to do that. He didn’t dare to. Lou tried to seem confident, but people he didn’t know still scared him a bit.

 “Help me? How?” he asked carefully instead.

“Aefener?” Harper asked at the same time. “That’s a silly name!”

“It’s your Majesty to you!” the Emperor told him strictly. Harper grunted and Lou sighed. Dragons can be way too dramatic! “How could you help me?”, Lou repeated his question.

“If you lost your sight through an accident, I can heal you”, the Emperor explained.

Lou simply shook his head. “I was born like that.”

“Oh?” Now, the pleasant voice sounded very sad. Aefener sighed. “I’m sorry. I won’t be able to help you then. How much can you see? How old are you? Sixteen? That’s quite tough, right?”

“Sixteen, yes. And it’s fine. I see colors. You are mostly silver and white. I would need to get close to see your face.”

“How close?”

“Close enough to kiss you!”, Harper growled. “I dare you. That one is mine!” Amber growled too. “No! MINE! You are what? Three weeks old?” And Amber growled again.

Lou rolled his eyes and smiled. “Sorry. Dragons are jealous by nature.” He decided to ignore the two dragons starting to fight about him. At least, they forgot to growl at Aefener now. He looked at the white colors that were wings. He really wanted to touch them. He wanted to know how they felt. Lou was curious.  “Can I touch your wings?”, he suddenly blurted out. “Or, just look at them?” The realization of what he just asked hit him hard. Lou shivered again… “I…”

“What?”, Aefener chuckled. “Don’t panic, please. It’s fine. The answer would be no, you wouldn’t be allowed to do that. But… Since you can’t see them, I can make an exception.”

The next moment, a beautiful fluffy wing was stretched towards Lou. Lou smiled and leaned forward, to look at the sparkly feathers. It felt like he could see the magic as a soft glow. But maybe that was just his imagination.

“Amber, no!”, he shouted surprised. The baby dragon had tried to bite one of the beautiful feathers and the wing was gone. “Sorry! She is a baby! She doesn’t know better.”

“Oh. She does!” Aefener hissed. “She does not want you to touch my wing! Quite the little rascal.”

Harper snickered mischievously in the background. Of course, he didn’t like the idea of Lou touching the other man. But Lou didn’t notice.

“Oh.” Lou blinked. He wanted to touch the wing since he loved feathers. Lou wanted to know if they were as soft as Harper’s. “Amber! You can’t do that. That was bad.” Amber wined and hid inside the bag.

“It’s okay…” And the wing returned. “I can’t be angry at a baby. Thank you for protecting my precious feathers! You probably have no idea how much they mean to me… And, that little dragon is too cute to get angry at. She loves you. Like the rude one over there! I want to pet her too… But, not HIM! Eh…”

Harper snorted, while Lou nearly stumbled. He just was about to carefully touch one of the feathers. Pet Harper? He tickled the tiny dragon instead. “Amber? What do you think? May he hold you? He is nice. I like him. But you can’t bite him! He is a friend!” Amber purred softly and looked out of the bag, while Harper grunted. Lou carefully lifted the baby and held her to his new friend. “Here. You can hold her. She will be nice.” Amber purred again.

Aefener leaned forward and carefully took Amber in his arms. He got close enough that Lou got a glimpse of the face of the person. Aefener was…  Pretty was not enough to describe him. He looked otherworldly.

“You are beautiful!” Lou said a bit bewitched.

“Not as pretty as you!” Harper grumbled.

“Oh. Thank you!” Aefener chuckled, snuggled the tiny dragon, and hugged Lou with one of his wings. “But you are adorable! I never saw someone with hair like yours!”

“Hm…” Lou carefully petted the feathers. He couldn’t find words to describe them properly. He never touched anything like those wings. “People say that I’m cursed since I look different…”, he mumbled. “But… You have light hair too. Silver. It’s lovely.” And it made Lou feel better about his strands of white hair.

“Cursed?” Aefener grunted. “Because of… What?”

“It’s a long story…” Lou couldn’t get enough of petting the wonderful feathers. But Harper had enough of it. “I have wings too, Vivi. My feathers are prettier and softer than HIS!”

“Actually, no!”, Lou whispered. “Aefener’s are softer.”

“WHAT???” his boyfriend hissed again. “Never!”

“No, they are… Really. They feel strange. In a good way. Strange but nice…”, Lou explained. “Different. Magical!” He wanted to say more, but Aefener suddenly handed him Amber back.

“The rift appeared again! I can fly home!” the Emperor shouted and startled Amber and Lou with it. Lou hugged the baby and Amber hid her face inside his clothes.

“Oh! That’s good”, he muttered. “You better get going, before it closes again…”

“Yes!” Aefener flapped his wings joyfully. “It was nice to meet you. Bye!”

And Lou, maybe out of instinct, hugged the Emperor he just met. Carefully, since he also held Amber. “Goodbye!”

Aefener returned the hug and kissed Lou’s forehead, probably because Harper growled very loudly now, and he wanted to tease him. Lou couldn’t think of any other reason.

“Friends may call me Ryuu”, he whispered. Then he let go of Lou and flew away. Lou watched him until he couldn’t see his colors anymore.

“Goodbye, Ryuu. Take care.”

“Ryuu? Isn’t his name Aefener?” Harper grumbled and stood up, to hug Lou. “I hope he will never show up again! There is no way his wings were softer!”

“You are horrible!” Smiling, Lou leaned against his boyfriend. Amber purred again, still watching the sky. “Harper?”

“Hm?”

“What is a Celestial?”

Harper chuckled. “The person who could answer you that, just flew off! Can we please forget this ever happened? Doors in the sky with not-a-bird-Emperors falling through? Why were you this nice to him?” He kissed Lou’s cheek. “Normally, you are shy around new people. I was quite surprised. I didn’t know you could be this courageous. Or stubborn. And you smiled at him way too much!”

“I did?” Lou asked amused. What a jealous dragon. But smiling freely at someone is a strange feeling. I always was forbidden to smile. Because of that curse…