FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Disclaimer - These flying lessons are not approved by the FAA, though you may find them enlightening in other ways. Please proceed at your own risk. (This is a chapter in a work of adult fiction. Do not read if it would be illegal for you to do so.)

The Surrogate: Flying Lessons

Eric had never really considered himself infatuated by flying. Of course, when he was a child, he had run down a hill with his arms spread wide before jumping as high and as far as he could. It had definitely been nice to soar for a few seconds with the wind blowing through his hair and his feet pedaling weightlessly below him. However, when he'd skidded and then tumbled to a turf destroying halt, tearing up the knees of his Sunday pants much to his mother's chagrin, he'd given up his dreams of flying.

He'd been on airplanes since, which weren't so bad. You could see the world fan out below you through insulated windows as you sipped on your one complementary soft drink . . . but it wasn't quite the same. It felt more like watching a simulation, the whole thing taking place through a high definition porthole.

Thinking about his past caused a strange sense of nostalgia to well up in his scaled chest as he dug his claws into the grassy hillside, watching a deer that seemed about the same size as a stuffed animal take notice and then bolt away back into the forest.

" This Location Is Suitable," proclaimed Grimflame with a roar, his grasping wings fanning out as he stretched, muscles creaking with tectonic strength.

"Yeah. It's nice." Eric clumsily unfolded his wings as well, the two sets of leafy appendages sizzling with the most delightful sensation in the bright sunlight streaking through the puffy clouds in the sky. "Are you sure there's no one else around here?" He was still getting used to the idea of being in public without any clothes . . . and just being a dragon in general.

" It Is Unlikely." Grimflame tapped a talon against his craggy chin, red eyes narrowing as he considered. He snuck a sideways glance at Eric's verdant wings before looking away.

Eric looked down sheepishly, feeling the larger dragon's gaze settle on him with a flush of heat.

"Well, maybe then we shouldn't try today. I mean, I wouldn't want to, you know, like crash into anyone or anything," Eric hazarded. He was surprised at how much he still sounded like himself despite the fact that his voice had shifted down an octave and yet also gained a breathy feminine quality.

The large black and red dragon nodded, considering a second before throwing back his head and releasing a torrent of smoky fire into the air, much to Eric's chagrin.

" Mortals! Know That This Land Is That Of Dragons. Flee Before Our Might!" The ground quaked with his proclamation.

Eric tried to hide himself behind his wings, only succeeding in tangling the two on the right side together. He turned back with his flexible neck, tensing and straining with his new muscles until they slid apart. He felt that he was very much not ready to fly, and yet Grimflame kept insisting that it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Isn't this a national forest?" The mossy dragon turned and asked Grimflame cautiously.

" I Am A Part Of This Nation. Sandy Has Secured Me A Spot On The Ruling Council!" Grimflame smiled, a tyrant's gleam in his crimson eyes. " I Have Cast a Vote For The Governor Of This Place! They Are Merely A Vassal To My Will."

"Wait . . . you mean the city elections?" Eric turned his head towards the dragon, his wooden antlers tilted at a questioning angle.

" Yes! The Rulership Of This Place Is Under My Talons!" Grimflame beamed, radiating somewhat misinformed dominance.

Eric didn't have the heart to tell him that everyone got to vote in the city elections. He also wondered who the massive dragon had voted for . . . Not that a governor really had anything to do with a dragon learning how to fly in a national forest. It would certainly be easier if Sandy was with them. She always seemed to be able to get Grimflame to understand things without talking down to him . . . or at least talking down to him in a nice way.

"So . . . Where do I start?" Eric looked down the hill and gave his wings an experimental flap, surprised to feel his front claws lift momentarily off the ground.

" The Process Is Simple. First You Must Brace Yourself And Then Cast Your Body Away From The Embrace Of The Earth." His massive body tensed like a spring before he threw himself down the hill, wings unfurling and catching the air with a solid woosh. He hovered as best a mountainous dragon could, multi-ton body rocking as his spread red wings caught at the air and whipped himself around.

He continued speaking in his telltale roar, but it was kind of hard to make out what he was saying over the squall he was kicking up with his wings. Eric squinted up at the dragon and nodded along as best he could. There was something about fighting the bonds of the earth, fueling one's ascent with flames, and claiming dominion over all those beneath you.

Par for the course.

Eric's mind drifted in a different direction though. It still hadn't really set in just how _strange_his new position was. Here he was, pretending to be a creature of myth, so that he could help the dragons have a child . . . It's not where he imagined he was going to end up during his high school career fair so many years ago. As much as both Sandy and Grimflame seemed to have their lives in order, he still just felt like he was out of place, like he had somehow deceived his way into his current predicament and was now just coasting along on thin ice.

The ground shook as Grimflame landed heavily in front of him. " It Is Simple. The Sky Will Bow Down To Your Will." The craggy dragon shifted his shoulders as he folded his wings back behind him. " Do Any Of Your Questions Remain?"

"So, I just . . . jump, then flap, then kind of glide?" Eric swallowed heavily. "That doesn't seem too bad . . ." His mind snapped back to the situation at hand. He was going to fly. His heart hammered in his chest with the thought. But as a dragon, how hard could it be?

Grimflame pondered Eric's summary for a moment. " Yes. Keep Your Wings Spread. Don't Rise Too Far. Keep The Earth Beneath You." He looked towards Eric with his usual unflappable if somewhat despotic optimism.

"Right." Eric ran his tongue over his sharpened teeth. "I'm just going to . . ." He braced his legs and jumped, getting about a foot off the ground before falling back with a muffled thud.

Grimflame furrowed his scaly brow.

"Just practicing." Eric stammered, his breaths quickening as he spread out his wings and looked down the hill. His leaf-tipped tail whipped about behind him as he braced himself, looking back towards Grimflame, self-conscious of his own trepidation. He pulled down with his wings as hard as he could, legs tensing as he threw himself shakily down the hill.

His emerald eyes opened wide, looking down and seeing the rolling green hill rushing lower and lower below him. His heart lurched into his throat as he tried flapping his wings and fell down a few feet before he braced them against the air again. It wasn't that he was rising necessarily, but the hill continued to slip lower underneath him.

"How do I turn!?" He shouted back over his shoulder, pulse beating in the rounded openings of his ears, feeling his tail dragging through the air behind him.

Eric heard a booming from further back but couldn't pick out the words from the wind rushing past his face. It couldn't be that hard though. He tried to recall how Grimflame looked when he turned, just sort of leaning into an invisible curve. He understood that there had to be some magic involved, but it was hard to ignore the aerodynamics when he could literally feel the air tugging at his body.

He was running out of field, the landscape below turning into a sea of deep green pines which soon started rushing up to meet him as he crossed to the other side of the valley. Sucking in a deep breath, he leaned to the side slightly. His fan-like tail seemed to catch against the air, but he kept the image of Grimflame's calm gyres in his mind as he tilted himself. His insides tensed, bile rising up in his throat as he shouted, panic rising up inside of him. He flapped out with his two sets of wings as hard as he could, violently lurching to the side. Each of his wings felt like they were fighting against the others as his tail curled wildly to one side completely unbidden.

His panicked screeching echoed through the otherwise tranquil valley as he plummeted down, crashing into the thick foliage like a spastically flailing woodland missile. Branches shuffled around him, thwacking against his body, a stinging pain shooting through his shoulder before a massive thud made his vision go dark with glowing purple black splotches blooming in the void.

Panting, Eric was almost afraid to open his eyes, gritting his teeth and fighting the pulsing headache thrumming along deep inside his brain. He dared to take a peek, finding himself upside down, staring up past his hindquarters into the ripped and torn branches of the pine tree, his tail still tangled in some of the lower branches.

Another creaking thud shook the forest, making him stretch out his claws behind him, worrying that he was still somehow falling. A pair of familiar dark scaled legs rushed into his vision, followed by the wide muzzle of Grimflame, the source of the thrumming noise coalescing into words as Eric focused on it.

" . . . Intact? I Did Not Consider . . . This Is The Fault of Grimflame. I Have Failed. I Must . . ." He pawed at the earth as he looked down at Eric with something approaching horror in his wide red eyes.

Eric had never seen him so worried before, and he shook his head, one antler digging a trough through the needles of the forest floor. He coughed out, rolling his hindquarters down from against the tree, hissing at the strange pain as he found his way haphazardly to his feet. There just seemed like there was too much of his scaly body to deal with at the moment.

"I-I'm sorry." He stammered.

Grimflame didn't seem to have heard him, fiery eyes wide as he looked past Eric's head down towards his battered body. " I Should Use The Number To Call The Amber Lamps . . ."

"No . . . It's okay. I'm fine." Eric's deep voice creaked as he gathered his wits about him. "I shouldn't have . . ."

" Fine? Fine!?" Grimflame roared as Eric shrank back. " You Are Impaled Because Of My Failure As An Instructor!" The great wyrm raised a clawed hand up to his face, dark talons squealing as they dragged against his scales.

"Impaled?" Eric blinked, looking down at his plated belly, which seemed scuffed, but certainly not run through. The action made a lance of pain run through his shoulder again, his scaly lips peeling back and showing his teeth as he curled his neck back and saw his wings. He winced as he fanned out three of them, and saw the jagged branch skewered through the leafy membrane of the other wobble almost threateningly.

"Oh, Jesus." He tried to reach back and touch it, but only succeeded in making it start shaking around again, making the hot pain seep through his wing. "Uhh . . . could you . . ." He grunted at the pain as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Grimflame swallowed heavily. " I Am Not A Doctor. I Will Seek Help."

"I can walk. I think." Eric tried to adjust his wings so that the stick wasn't dangling, but it just made it worse. It was like an itch that also hurt in a spot that he just couldn't reach. As he moved, there was a moment of tension, and then the creaking sound of tearing denim.

"Fuck!" He swore. Maybe he was in shock. It didn't hurt as much as it had before, but he could feel the stick tearing through the membrane on his wing as he tried to stop moving it. "Just get it out of me." He shifted his weight from foot to foot like someone had just told him there was a spider on his back.

" Try To Calm Yourself!" Grimflame roared in a voice that was anything but calm. He reached out, two claws held steady as smoke began to pour from his flared nostrils. He pinched the branch between his claws and pulled slowly, ebony pupils focusing into slits as he concentrated.

Eric's tail straightened out behind him as he tried to hold as still as possible, finding that having extra limbs made the process unbearable: like holding out four hands and trying not to let them shake. His wing felt oddly numb, the novocaine feeling of the sensations fading to an alarming absence of pain, setting his nerves on edge as Grimflame meticulously worked on removing the jagged branch.

There was a papery crinkle followed by a distressingly sharp hissing sound.

"Thanks." Eric sighed in relief, looking up towards Grimflame, but stopping when he saw the dragon's aghast expression, the large stick falling from his claws. Eric looked back towards his wing, and saw that although the stick was removed, it had torn its way out, the two edges of that section of his wing looking crumpled and lifeless. Eric tried flexing his wing experimentally. Although he felt a bit battered and bruised, the sharp pain had all but faded. This just made it more disconcerting as the rip in his wing crackled and spread all the way up to where the leafy part attached to his scales.

"Is this bad?" Eric asked, feeling even more out of his element than he normally did.

" Are You Dying?" Grimflame reached out and carefully touched the edge of the yellowing section of Eric's wing. " Have I Killed You?"

"I don't know!" Eric's tail lashed as he scratched a claw against the root of his antlers. "It doesn't really hurt anymore, but it doesn't feel . . . right? I mean, I'm not really bleeding or anything . . . I dunno, what do dragons do when they break a wing?"

" I Would Destroy The Person Who Did Such A Thing To Me." Grimflame's tone became suddenly somber as he nodded stoically. " I Completely Understand The Need For Retribution." He swallowed heavily, kneeling down before Eric and spreading one of his massive scaly wings out against the ground before him like some kind of ritual sacrifice.

"What? No . . . Stop that." Eric paused, his body shaking. It was hard to tell why for a moment until the huffing peal of laughter burst through his lips. It was unclear if he was laughing because of the absurdity of suddenly being a dragon and then failing at dragoning, or because Grimflame was so overdramatic about everything. Either way, it felt good to laugh, the adrenaline pumping through his veins making his scales tingle.

"I just should have listened better. And it's not like I've really lost anything. I was never able to fly before anyways, so it's not a big deal," Eric cracked a somewhat forced smile.

" But The Sky . . . I've Closed The Door On Your Freedom . . ." Grimflame looked up, his cheek still prostrated on the crisp needles of the forest floor. " How Will You Get Recompense?"

"Uhh . . . I dunno. Letting me sleep on your pennies was pretty nice." Eric stared back at his wing in morbid fascination. All of the other leafy membranes were still a bright verdant green, but the torn one was starting to brown around the ragged edges, orange and yellow seeping into the torn section. "So we're even. But I mean, I guess you could take me to a doctor? A dragon doctor? . . . Or a gardener or something. I really don't have any idea how this is supposed to work."

Grimflame paused. " To Contact Dr. Phillips, You Would Need A Human Device That Casts Sounds Over Great Distances." He looked down at the ground. " I Do Not Know How Such Devices Work . . ."

"Wait, do you mean a phone?"

" Yes."

Eric stared as the great looming volcanic dragon looked down at the forest floor like a child admitting that they didn't finish their homework.

"Well, we can just use mine and . . ." Eric held up a claw as if he was going to reach into his pocket for his phone before realizing that he didn't have either. This made him feel more naked than he had previously. "Err . . . Let's just walk back to the lair."

" Are You Sure You Can Walk?" Grimflame queried, still protective in an oddly charming way that made Eric's heart flutter.

"No? Err . . . Yes. At least as much as normal." Eric blushed, orange creeping into the scales on his cheeks. It was still kind of weird walking on four legs.

The two of them tromped through the forest back towards the base of the clearing. Most other creatures gave them a wide berth, except for the squirrels who all just climbed up to a higher branch and then chattered at them disapprovingly until Grimflame gave them a smoldering draconic stink-eye. Oddly though, Eric was surprised to see the giant stone-scaled dragon skirt around trees with nests in them, taking time to duck under a robin that stared defiantly out at him with black beady eyes.

If Grimflame was a tyrant, he was at least a relatively benign one.

Eric soldiered on, wondering how to tell if a dragon was bruised. He certainly felt bruised, but the thing that really weighed on his mind was the incessant itching from his wing. It crinkled up whenever he so much as twitched it. He wasn't about to admit that to Grimflame though. He already felt bad enough that the big guy blamed himself for Eric's failure to understand the basics of flight.

His cheeks burned as they continued walking the rest of the way back to the cave in relative silence. This was bound to make staying in the lair awkward, especially if Sandy wasn't lying when she was planning out their nightly activities for the coming weeks.

Eric's eyes pierced through the welcoming gloom as they both trudged into the cave like battle-weary veterans. It was strange how the place already seemed almost . . . homey. Having his own room here, well cave, was going to be kind of nice. He still needed to go and get all of his stuff though . . . and cancel his old lease.

"I'm just going to get my phone then." Eric began, looking back towards Grimflame. "Do you have this doctor's number?"

The huge reptile looked one way, and then the other, not quite meeting Eric's gaze. " The Number Of Her Residence?"

"Well, you know, her phone number?" Eric hazarded. He felt genuinely sorry for Grimflame, wondering what it was like to have modern technology just leave you behind.

" Yes. I Have Many Numbers For Phones. They Are Written In The Rolling Dex That Was Given To Me." His pride of ownership was only tempered by his obvious discomfort with the modern world.

A musical chuckle rang from deeper back in the cave as Sandy's whiskers slid into view from around the corner, followed by her sinuous white scales and ice blue fur. "Oh my, did you two have a good time flying?"

"Oh, you're back already? Well, uhh . . . You see . . ." Eric gulped, scraping his claws against the stone floor, folding his wings slightly tighter.

" No!" bellowed Grimflame.

Eric looked back at the guilty looking dragon like he had just broken some kind sacred covenant.

" I Have Destroyed The Human." Grimglame looked crestfallen, shoulders slumping as he admitted his crime to the shocked jury of his wife.

"What?" Sandy's piercing blue eyes widened as she sailed towards the two of them, talons lifting off the cave floor. "You don't look particularly destroyed . . ."

"Well, I'm mostly fine. It's just that . . ." Eric nervously shuffled as he started to spread his wings.

" My Lesson Was Inadequate. My Hubris Has Shorn Off The Wings Of The Carrier Of Our Egg." Grimflame bemoaned dramatically.

"No . . . I just wasn't listening and then I was so high up . . ." Eric fully unfolded his wing with an alarming crinkle, the now brown and inflexibly dry section of his leafy wing creaking precariously.

"Oh, dear . . ." Sandy, nosed forwards, fuzzy whiskers sliding up the base of the wing. "Does it hurt?" Her compassion rang in her voice as she tentatively brushed against the brown section, causing a bit to flake off and fall to the floor.

"N-no," Eric stammered out as he watched part of his body slough off and fall to the floor. "But shouldn't it?

Sandy considered for a moment, tail flicking against the ground. "Hold on. I'm going to get Dr. Pamela on the line." She headed back towards her room, calling back over her shoulder. "And don't be too hard on yourselves. I'm sure it's not the end of the world."

Eric and Grimflame watched her go, suddenly alone together in the silent glowing gloom of the cave.

"It really wasn't your fault," Eric hazarded. His wings tried to fold up automatically, but this just caused another irregular square of his wing to crumple up and drift down to the floor.

" You Did Nothing Wrong." Grimflame turned his muzzle up. " I Should Have Realized . . . That Not Everything Is Easy For Others." He seemed to roll the idea around in his giant head for a moment before adding. " Or Myself."

"No . . . I'm really glad that you guys took me in, and actually, you know, care about me." Eric looked down at the stone floor as he spoke. "Thank you for taking me out and trying to teach me something. Like, seriously. It means a lot to me."

" You Should Not Thank Me For Breaking Your Wing," Grimflamed huffed.

"Look, teaching people stuff is hard. Maybe . . . I mean, I could teach you how to use a phone. Or maybe a tablet, I mean . . ." He looked down at his claws and remembered how long it had taken to even enter the WiFi password onto his phone.

" Sandy Has Tried." His guilty gaze turned dour. " I Do Not Fare Well With Human Trifles."

"Well, I didn't fare well with flying . . ."

Grimflame's jaw dropped as if he'd been struck a low blow.

"Not like that. I mean, I'm still alive, and I learned something . . . and I liked hanging out with you." His tail brushed against the floor as his cheeks burned.

" Will I Reach Forgiveness If I Learn From You The Ways Of Phone?"

"Well I mean, I forgave you alre . . ." Eric looked up into Grimflame's still serious and concerned face. "You know what, yes. Yes, I will forgive you if you let me teach you how to use the ancient mystic arts of the telephone." He laughed, walking up and rubbing his neck against Grimflame's foreleg cautiously.

" We Are In Accord Then." Grimflame leaned against Eric protectively, watching another bit of wing flutter to the ground. " But I Will Not Enjoy It."

Their tender moment was interrupted as Sandy sailed back in, a very cobbled together upscaled headset resting on her head with one padded earpiece pressed against the base of her pointed ear as she spoke.

"Yes. He's an arboreal of some kind. Maybe a few tons less than Grimflame." Her talons clacked against the floor as she walked up, as calm as ever. "Yes. Female. And he's grey and green with a few brown bits, quite pretty really, and very creative as well." She paused to give Eric a wink. "Just a flying accident. You know how it is with new bodies . . . I don't know. Hold on, I'll ask him." Sandy tilted up the foam microphone next to her cheek as she turned towards Eric to ask. " Does it hurt when someone touches the withered part of your wing, sweetie?"

"No. It stopped hurting really fast, but it's also . . . well." He shook his wing slightly, causing a little rain of fluttering leafy sections to fall to the floor.

"Right." Sandy flipped the mic back down, returning to her conversation with the doctor. "Oh, did you get that?" She laughed. "Right. It looks like a leaf in autumn. No, not orange, just brown."

Grimflame just watched in perplexed admiration as his wife continued to engage in the complex battle of phone-fu.

"Let me see." Sandy trotted over next to Eric, peering in at the damaged section of his wing. She looked back at him. "May I touch it?"

"Sure?" Eric shrugged. It was nice that she asked, despite having touched him pretty much everywhere at least once by this point.

She poked in gently with her whiskers. Grimflame gasped as she brushed away the crumbling membrane, causing a spiraling gale of crumpled torn leaf to fall to the floor.

"Oh, I see it!" She gave a happy little chirp of relief.

Eric's head poked up as he felt her brush against the inside of the main rib of his wing. It made him shiver, shoulders bracing as his wings fluttered.

Grimflame looked down. " Are You In Pain?" he roared, no doubt causing an earache for whoever was on the other side of the phone.

"Just sensitive." Eric whispered, raising a claw to his lips to hopefully quiet the massive dragon. Looking back, he saw Sandy's fluffy barbel rubbing over a thin lushly green edge just starting to press out from the base of his wing.

He had a lot to teach Grimflame about phone etiquette.

"Sorry, dear. Oh no, don't worry. Since he stopped sleeping on the gold the rash went right away. It even added a bit of luster to his scales." Her tail snaked back and brushed along Grimflame's flanks as she calmly continued. "I do see the edge starting to grow though. Does that mean that our houseguest is going to fly again? Wonderful," she tittered. "Well, sorry to bother you. Oh yes, we'll make sure to come in next week. Until then we're just going to keep at it the old-fashioned way. Thanks again."

Eric's cheeks burned at those last few words, understanding more specifically what they were talking about.

With that, Sandy tapped a claw against her strange cobbled together headset and then turned to Eric and Grimflame. "Well, the good news, you're not dying," she said cheerfully. "The bad news is that it's going to take a few weeks for that part of your wing to grow back fully, so no more flying lessons for the time being."

Grimflame let out a smoky sigh of relief, sitting back on his haunches with a thud.

"Oh. Good." Eric nodded. "Is that like . . . a normal dragon thing?" He peered back at his wing, which looked much like a child's grin missing a tooth.

"It's very hard to find a normal dragon thing." Sandy chuckled, voice like tinkling ice. "But it's not unheard of for the more verdantly inclined, according to Dr. Pam at least." She paused for a moment, considering. "You know, if you ever have any questions, you can feel completely free to ask. I know this must be a disorienting experience for you."

"That's . . ." Eric thought for a moment, looking back at his wing. "I mean, thank you. I think I might not be used to asking all the questions that I should, but I'm trying to get better at it. He shuffled about as if he was trying to somehow creep out of his new draconic body. "I'm sure I'm going to get in more trouble, so . . . thanks in advance for putting up with me."

"Oh, honey." Sandy nuzzled in against Eric's face, bright blue eyes beaming. "We'll be here for you as long as you stay with us." Her whiskers stroked back along his neck as Eric closed his eyes and his breathing slowed.

Sandy looked up towards Grimflame.

"So how far did he get?" she asked in a teasing tone.

" He Flew Across The Valley Completely." He swallowed heavily. " But I Did Not Explain Turning Adequately."

"Oh, I'm sure you tried, dearest. Just remember that this is all new to our special guest." She walked away from Eric and butted up against her husband's scaly bulk like an overly amorous cat. "Are you two alright?" It was clear that she wasn't talking about them physically any longer.

" No." Grimflame boomed flatly.

"Well . . ." Eric couldn't help but smirk at Grimflame's bluntness. "It was really my fault, but Grimflame's decided to make reparations by letting me teach him how to use a phone."

Sandy leaned back, staggering as if she'd just been crashed into by a tidal wave. "Oh really?" She rolled her eyes. "I've been trying to get him to use a phone for the last forty years . . ."

Grimflame shook his head and huffed a foul sulfurous cloud of inky smoke.

" It Is Only Just That I Be Tortured As Well." He declared.

Eric pulled his head back, feeling a bit out of place. "You don't need to if you don't want to. I was just . . ."

" I Will Pay My Due!" Grimflame shouted out, red eyes flashing as his tail lashed about behind him.

"I'm sure you will, dearest." Sandy chuckled. "Now then, are you still feeling pretty beat up?" She turned towards Eric.

"Uhh . . . A little stiff I suppose, but I guess that falling out of the sky isn't a big deal for a dragon." He shrugged.

"Great, because I know a wonderful way we can work out all of those kinks, but it's going to take the both of you." Her suggestive grin showed her white fangs as Eric flushed.

Grimflame nodded slowly, as if considering. " Yes," he decreed. " But We Must Eat First."

"Oh, that's not a problem." Sandy beamed. "Will the Macedonian place work for you?" She looked pointedly at Eric.

"Yeah, sure." Eric paused for a moment, thinking back on his commitment to ask more questions. "That's like Greek food, right?"

"A bit more Middle Eastern, but same basic idea." Sandy nodded.

"Cool." Eric smiled.

"I Will Sleep Until The Time Of The Feast." Grimflame's claws clacked against the stone floor as he trudged off towards his room with a conspicuous yawn.

"I guess I'm just going to have a soak then." Eric shrugged. "If you don't need the main bathroom for anything . . ."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Sandy patted his head with the cool fuzzy point of a whisker.

Eric turned to walk away before pausing. "Sandy?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks. You know, for like . . . being so cool. I just really appreciate that you two are giving me a chance, and . . . I honestly like staying here with the both of you." His cheeks burned, but it felt good to get his gratitude off his chest.

"Oh, you." Sandy walked up next to him. "You really are adorable, you know that?" she sighed. "I think you're a better person than you think you are." Smirking, she ran a whisker under his chin. "Or a better dragon at the very least."

Eric didn't reply, but for once he felt like he didn't need to as he watched her slowly glide off into the comfortably dim light.

He checked in with the ever-present thoughts that bubbled in the back of his mind.

Yes, this was still weird.

Yes, he still had no clue how being a dragon worked.

Yes, he felt like he was taking advantage of their hospitality.

And yet, a smile crept onto the corners of his scaly lips as he walked towards the beckoning promise of a long hot bath and the evening to come.

Things could certainly be worse.