Time for Breakfast

 

"I found my first rock dragon on a sunny day in May just like today," Flint said as a little red dragon, no bigger than a squirrel, scrambled over his hand, arm, and shoulder before hiding in his hair. Other rock dragons were sunning themselves on the warm rock wall or peeking out of crevices.

"They say half the Yunni keep them as pets and the other half keep them for breakfast." With a twinkle in his eye, he looked at a Yunni, one of the small forest folk, standing among the children making up Flint's "forest classroom." The children all looked at the Yunni who, even though full grown, was barely as tall as child.

"Mister Flint," the Yunni said with great solemnity. "I would never have one of these delightful creatures for breakfast. I might invite one to enjoy my breakfast, though." She tossed a morsel of bread onto a flat rock. Flint's little red peeked out of his curtain of hair, but a bigger blue dragon flashed out of a crevice, grabbed the bread, and retreated as fast as a bullfrog can tongue-grab a cricket.

The children giggled and started looking through their canvas haversacks for their own morsels.

Flint held up his hands. "Knock it off, kiddos. We're here to learn, not start a feeding frenzy." He cut his eyes at the Yunni troublemaker, and she stuck her tongue out. "Miss Bluebell was just being silly."

The children laughed as the successful blue dragon re-emerged and squeaked for more.

"When do they start flying?" one of the students asked.

"Their wings develop slowly over the first year. Until then, they like hiding in rocks so bigger animals won't...invite them to breakfast."

Flint fished around his hair and gently brought out the little red. "This one is Naru." The children all said "Naru" in unison, then they started giggling again. "Does anyone know why I named her Naru?"

A stout little orc, his bottom tusks barely emerging from his mouth, waved his green hand and said, "Bash knows. Bash knows."

"Good. Tell us."

"Naru means 'red' in Elvenari."

"Yep, good answer," Flint said. He pointed to the greedy blue dragon. "This one is called Bjar. Who knows why?"

Two Dwarven children yelled, "I know!" in unison. Then they both said, "I said it first." Then they started shoving and pulling each other's beards.

"Knock it off, kiddos," Flint said as the rock dragons dashed for cracks and hidey holes among the stones. "See?  Now they are scared."

The other children yelled at the two Dwarven miscreants for scaring the little dragons, and Bash started over to knock their skulls together.

Naru squeaked and crawled up Flint's sleeve, succeeding about halfway, leaving most of her back legs and all of her tail visible. Still her little claws dug into his tattooed skin as she fought in vain to get her rear half under cover.

Out of nowhere, Crow appeared behind the children and said, "What's all this racket, ya little shits?"

The children gasped in surprise. Bash froze just as he had grabbed the Dwarven squabblers by the collar. The Yunni observer whirled and pulled out a dagger the size of her arm. Even Flint was startled at the rogue's sudden appearance.

"Ya listen to your teacher, and ya might learn how to stay alive one day," Crow said. "Old Flint here knows more about birds and dragons and Wylderkin than anybody else at the outpost."

Crow walked through the crowd of suddenly subdued children, eyeing each of them with such a fake show of solemnity that Flint almost laughed. When he reached the rocks, Crow whistled gently, trilling almost like the greedy blue dragon. A green dragon popped out and jumped on his outstretched hand, hopped up his arm, and tried to crawl under his green forest hat.

Crow fed it a bit of jerkey and ran a calloused hand over its beaded skin. This immediately interested the hiding dragons, and they gingerly reappeared for a try at their own morsel.

"You," he pointed at the smaller of the Dwarven miscreants. "Why is this one called Bjar?" He pointed at the blue dragon.

"It means 'blue' in Dwarvish."

"Correct," Flint said. "Thank you for your lesson, Mister Crow. Children, tell Mister Crow 'thank you.'"

"Thank you," they said in the bored, sing-song way of all children in all places in all times.

Crow winked at Flint, placed "his" green dragon back on the rock, and vanished into the woods as swiftly as a shadow at midnight.

"Line up, kiddos," Flint said. Their faces beamed as he unwrapped a raw turkey leg. "Let's have some breakfast with our new friends."

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