Harper

Vivi's hands were cold. Trembling, he stroked my muzzle, he stroked over the scales, and along my mouth. His arms didn't reach any further. I didn't dare to utter a sound, even though my heart was doing somersaults. I didn't want to frighten him any more.

Instead, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the tender touch.

"Soft", Lou finally said. His voice trembled, too. "You're soft, but your scales are so shiny. That's weird. I used to think dragon scales were hard, you know?"

No, I didn't know that. After all, he hadn't told me. 

We cuddled like this for quite a while, until, standing motionless in front of Lou, I heard Ross' voice in my head: 'The fence is ready! Come and see it. Everyone is very excited. If you don't come, they may steal your VIVI so they can see his reaction.'

'NEVER! We're coming’, I answered. However, I didn't want to break away from Lou. Ross sensed this, of course.

'Come on, you can cuddle later. But don't crush him, Harper. Humans are as fragile as thin branches!'

'I know!' Dimwit. So I opened my eyes and transformed back. Unfortunately, I caused Lou to withdraw his hands in fright and stare at me with pale cheeks.

"Oh", he said.

"Oh? You've seen it a thousand times, Vivi!" Smiling, I nudged his nose with my index finger. Lou grimaced, slightly indignant. "Come on, Ross says they're done with their construction for you", I explained.

"Oh." Lou nodded cautiously. Then he blinked, frowned, and took a step away from me as if he feared I would poke him again. "Good", he corrected. "Let's go."

"Shall we? Or would you rather keep cuddling?" I pretended to poke his nose again and got a short, angry glare in return. I pouted playfully.

"Yes", Vivi murmured. "Let's go."

I would have preferred a no. Cuddling sounded better to my ears. But Lou was already grabbing my hand and pulling me to the cave entrance. Astonished, I followed him. He had never done that before. Lou pulled me out of the cave and then stopped abruptly.

"Vivi?" I asked. Lou was silent. He just blinked and stared at the many dragons.

"Oh! Lou! Come on!" cried Connie. All the dragons who had helped were gathered here. In human form, in which they had also built the fence and everything. Connie was already coming towards us and reaching for Lou's other hand. "Come on, I'll show you the fence. Everyone wants to meet you."

She pulled the hesitant Lou, Lou pulled me, and so we arrived at the fence, surrounded by dragons. Lou looked around with wide eyes and squeezed my hand all the tighter. "Hello!" he said shyly.

"Hello, little person! This is truly a special day! A human being, here with us. This is indeed a great day. Especially, since our relationship with humans is currently... frosty", one of the dragons said in a serious voice. He stood in front of Lou, fluffing up like a magnificent rooster. As if he had prepared the speech beforehand. I rolled my eyes. Lou hadn't just been here since today. The old dragon, on the other hand, nodded contentedly, ignoring my displeasure. Ernst. Serious. A name to match his character. When he wasn't playing the busybody. One of our elders. I didn't know he was here too. But strictly speaking, it didn't surprise me either.

"Welcome to our community. I hope you will soon feel completely at home!", Ernst continued with his definitely prepared speech. "Don't worry, you're safe with us. We dragons protect ours."

"Thank you..." Lou nodded and looked at me. "Harper? Uh..."

"That's one of our elders", I explained. "Ernst. His partner recently laid four eggs! A real rarity!" There was nothing more interesting to tell about Ernst. I found him very boring in general. Boring and way too, well, serious! His partner, on the other hand, had more nonsense in her head than small cubs. And now they would have four of them. If they came after their mother, it didn't bode well.

Ernst nodded proudly. "The cubs hatched last night! Maybe you'd like to visit us?" He looked at Lou with his head tilted. "Narcisse and Basil hadn't exaggerated. You really are a sweet little one. Cute. Have you ever seen dragon hatchlings? Huh?"

Connie chewed her lower lip in amusement. However, she didn't say anything.

"Congratulations", Lou replied timidly, hiding slightly behind me. He was still clasping my hand and Connie's hands. His cheeks turned dark red. He looked cute. "I... Um...", he murmured.

"You want to see the fence!" Nour threw herself against Lou, almost pushing me aside, and hugged him. If Connie and I hadn't held him, they would have fallen. "Come on, Lou! I helped too! We all helped! For you!" She jumped a little as she spoke. "Everyone who is here. Well... Not all dragons. All of us don't fit in front of the cave."

"Nour!" growled Ernst reproachfully. "You're too stormy again."

Nour half turned to him, stuck her tongue out at the old man, and snuggled all the closer to Lou. Vivi, on the other hand, froze completely. "Your speeches are boring! And Lou didn't just come to us!" Nour grumbled, looking at Lou's hands as my Vivi clung to me and Connie. While Ernst continued to reprimand her, she untied Lou's hands from ours.

She briskly stole MY VIVI away and dragged him to the fence. Lou touched the wood while Nour cheerfully described the view to him. Connie, Ernst, and I watched with amusement. Well, maybe I was a little offended. Now and then, another dragon would speak up to tell Lou something. Mostly my siblings. Lou listened with red cheeks.

"A sweet human child!" whispered Ernst to me. "Initially, I was against taking in a human here on a long-term basis. I urged Remy to bring him back to town immediately. Remy had to promise me that he would take the boy back with him as soon as possible. Otherwise, we elders would not have agreed. Nevertheless... Now that things are as they are, I see that I should have insisted on leaving him here. I was a fool."

"Do you think there’s going to be another fight?" I asked, not taking my eyes off Lou.

Ernst frowned. He looked a lot like Narcisse. He was the grandfather of Narcisses' grandfather?  "Possibly. We're keeping an eye on the city and only letting those who have a covenant with us come here."

"Lou's family? Louise will want to visit him. I hope she's safe in town..." And his parents? And his little sister? What was her name again?

"We'll let Lou's family in as long as they're well-disposed towards us", Ernst assured me. “Do you know them?”

"Not all of them", I murmured.

Connie nodded in agreement. "We wouldn't recognize them."

"Then, it will be difficult. Hopefully, they smell like Lou." Ernst shook his head. "We have to be careful about humans."

"Come on, Lou! We're going for a walk!" I heard Nour call. I looked at the two of them. Early enough to see her pull him away from the fence. To the now secured paths.

"Sorry, but my boyfriend is being stolen", I said my goodbyes to the eldest and my sister and hurried after Nour and Lou. "Nour!! Hey!"

sasi

Yes. Harper said 'boyfriend'. And he poked Lou's nose.

Don't poke Lou's nose. Don't. ^^