"Grandpa, when I grow up, I'm going to be a great big dragon slayer, just like Daemon Lachrymose. Did you ever fight dragons when you were younger?"

"No, sweetheart, I didn't, I really had no desire to hurt one of them because I believed that all creatures, great and small, could feel what we feel; it just may take longer.  And the one that Daemon slew, I believe, was so tired of being used by everyone and everything that he maybe hoped for the chance to sleep the long sleep that Iilea gives us. "

"Sweetheart, I'm going to tell you a story about how even a dragon  can feel loss and maybe even a lesson about us humans."

Once upon a long time ago, a few thousand years ago, in a land where very few dragons and castles still stood, lived a young dragon, by the name of Laosyrm, and as dragons are known to do, he would venture out of his cave every so often for food and some plunder. And Laosyrm being a young one, most things that sparkled and shone; you know, gold, jewels, and pretty suits of armor would catch his fancy, and he started building up his lair and bed. Over the span of the dragon's long life, he came to realize that a lot of things glittered and glinted and caught his eye. But for some reason, something was missing, he just couldn't tell what.  As time passed, he had amassed himself a fairly large collection and enough gold and coin to build another dragon just like him in the same size. 

"WOW! That must have been huge! Do you think that Daemon took all of the dragon's loot when he slew his?"

"I doubt it, I don't think he really requires that much.. Now hush if you want to hear the rest of the story, we can talk about Daemon's tales another night."

One early afternoon, on a very bright day, Laosyrm was flying across his 'claim' and saw something sparkling in the distance below him.    With keen eyes and stealth of a cloud, he slowly came down to get a better look, flying careful not to cast any shadows over what he saw, so as not to scare it away. He saw that it was a young woman walking along a long since worn path, with a sparkling vest on and carrying a staff. From his lofty heights he could see this and he also knew that these little creatures rarely, if ever traveled alone, so he few carefully and cautiously but watching her. The woman lookup for some reason and saw him, he knew now that he would have no choice to swoop down on her, fast and carefully. She ran from the trail through the woods, her hair getting caught in the brambles and branches, his eyes had locked on to her so no matter how she turned and weaved he was still right over her, his wings now low enough to start slicing through the top branches, the draft from his wings flapping scattering the under brush, animals and birds scattering for any cover they could find. he girl still running for her life, knowing for sure this was the last daylight and the last visions of her favorite forest she would ever see.. her heart pounding in her chest, her lungs burned from all the running. he refused to give up hope that she just might be able to get away from the dragon

Laosyrm, looked ahead of where she was running and knew that his best chance to snatch up this pretty bauble was in the little clearing just ahead, so he started forcing her in to that direction, as soon as she got to the clearing, he lower his talons and swooped just a little lower and grabbed her up, her feet leaving the ground her basket and staff flying away in the draft and her screaming for her life drowned out by the deafening noise of his wings. Gently but firmly holding his prize, Laosyrm flew back to his cave in mountain home.. the girl by now slumped limp in his claw.

Grandpa, don't tell me that dragon is going to eat her?! 

Morlifius!, don't scare our granddaughter out of 10 years growth. 

I'm not, I'm just telling her the story as it was told to me. 

Now, do you want me to continue the story or do you want to end it here with our dragon having a quick snack of our princess.

Princess! You didn't tell me she was a princess.

You didn't ask, and you're not letting me tell the story, so what will it be?

*sigh* Okay, I'll be quiet. 

When he arrive at his home, he carefully laid her down on his bed of gold and jewels and precious stones, as soon as she was prone on the floor, she woke up with a start. The dragon actually thinking she was dead, blinked his burning coal red eyes rapidly in genuine surprise, Miabellz looked up at the monstrous beast, holding back a scream, stood up and awaited her fate with an iron resolve and in utter defiance of current situation. She looked up at him, her face twisted in anger, 

"Well, hurry up! get this over with, I will not be played or toyed with, you going to devour me, DO IT!"

For another moment, he blinked quickly; normally he would see this kind of attitude from those metal tasting creatures, carrying their sticks of metal, their long colored staves, and occasionally a stick thrower. 

"Hello, my name is Laosyrm, what is your name. I have no desire to consume you...yet.    You're an odd creature, no metal but yet you have the voice of one of them, do you not know what I am and what I can do? "

Mirabellz looked up at him, her heart about to leap out of her chest, her legs shaking her hands clenched in fists but her face stayed it's look of contained fury. Her mind screaming in fear, telling her to run..,run for all she was worth, don't look back.. but RUN!

"Yes, I know what you are", she said with a hiss in her voice, "and I know what you can do, you've been stealing from my father's farms, you've been stealing from his coffers and you've been devouring our best soldiers and knights. YES I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE!    
She screamed at him.    "Do you know who I am", she glared at him.

Under any other circumstances he would of crushed her under foot and eaten the remaining bits as a brief snack, but something about her made him pause in an odd curiosity. So he moved around her encircling her to where she was completely surrounded by his immense stout body, his armored scales reflecting sunshine all around the cave from the sunlight coming from the opening in the front.

She now knew that any chance she had of running out of the cave had just been completely negated by him. He laid his head facing her so she could see his full face and the long sword sized teeth, and just as sharp. His breath smelled of sulfur and burning embers, the heat blasting on her face every time he exhaled made her wonder if at some point would she burst into flames just from his breathing on her without his fire.

"So little one, who 'are' you, one who is so strong in voice but completely unprepared to face me in any kind of battle."

"My name is Mirabellz, I am the sole child of the Supreme Khagan of Bagak, my father will spare no expense, he will not spare any resource, and he will under no circumstances, yield to you in any way, to get me back, his entire army will come down on you just as you swooped down on me and he will mount your skull in his great hall. That is who I am, and unless you let me go, your life will be much shorter than you might know.

Laosyrm replied, "Impressive for one so small, that vest you have, very pretty, it flashes and glitters like my scales when you move around in the sun light. Please, walk around for me, let me see the whole vest, I would like to watch it glitter and shine for me. I promise I will not devour you when your back is turned to me."

The light danced and bounce and reflected off of everything, he watched intently, the whole time she was trying to find a way to get out of the cave, a way to escape her captor, but he was huge, even at the low point of his tail.    So for now she relented and walked around for his amusement.

As she walked around, he asked her, "Why would your father send other's that he must know that will die, horribly at best.    Why would he devote his kingdom to get you back?"

At first she, looked at him with disgust and then turned her head a bit to look at him directly and asked, why would a dragon care about such things, all you do is eat, sleep, steal, and kill.

The dragon thought for a moment before answering, he pondered on her words for a moment,  "Hmmm... I would have to say that we also do produce offspring and our fires have been know to give forests a new life, as well as the fact that with our long lives we amass a huge fortune for our beds.

Miabellz, put her hands on her hips and glared at Laosyrm, "That is no life, you simply exist to have pretty things but nothing else. If you were in trouble, if your life was to be snuffed out, would your father come to your rescue, would he do anything to help!?!    Well, would he, oh great beast of empty fire!"

This exchange of dialogue with her, intrigued him; she made some very good questions, and he know immediately that if his life was to be over, his father, whomever he was, would be nowhere to be found, much less if he were even alive, Why should he, it was Laosyrm's responsibility to stay alive not his father's duty..    This was indeed a very interesting human. As the sun went down the light started to dim in his cave, it grew darker, as this happened her sparking vest stopped reflecting,    So he launched his fire to the very rocks above them... they eventually heated up and started to glow, he had done this countless times not so he could see better for all dragons can see just as well in complete darkness as they can in full sunlight, but simply to enjoy the sparkling of their beds. They spoke late into the night, she told him of her father, her mother, the life she lived with them. She told him of times when she was scared how she was held by her mother, or when she was picked on or made fun of how her father showed her how to stand up for herself.    On and on the story of her life unfolded before him. He was enamored by her story, so much so he actually forgot about his evening foraging for food.

As the first rays of sunlight started peaking over the horizon, the dragon was still listening the her, she had hoped to 'talk the dragon asleep', but she did not know that dragon's don't really sleep, and if they do it's with one eye open so it's impossible to sneak up on a dragon.    When a dragon does sleep, he sleeps for years on end buried far below the earth and far beneath the feet of mankind. As the day wore on, she grew more tired, finally towards the middle of the day, she finally gave into her exhaustion from the story of her life and her parents as well as being in fear of her life. When she finally succumbed to sleep, Laosrym, slow unravelled himself from around her, dug a deep hole in his treasure to where he gently placed her in the center of it,    Laosyrm knew that this way she would be able to stay there but would not be able to climb out as he had done this before with those metal tasting creatures, as they would keep sliding back down in the center it.

Just as expected, Miabellz had tried to escape from her hole in the treasure mound, but unsuccessfully escaped the simple trap.    Laosyrm, laughed, his voice rattled the entire mountain and it rattled the pit enough to have her feet buried up to her ankles in gold and jewels. He dropped a huge animal freshly killed, it was so mutilated that she could no longer tell what it was, as he wrapped him self around the pit, he picked her out of it, with the most gentlest of care. She was shocked to see a dragon go from complete destroying a beast easily four times her size and at the same time be able to pick her up with with such grace. In her most demanding voice, "Where is my food, you get to eat and I get to starve, is that how you're going to kill me?"

"No, I thought this would be enough for you, is there something wrong with it? " Just like she didn't know dragons so well, he didn't know humans very well other than how they tasted.

"That will not do, I'm not going to eat that raw, mutilated, what ever it is!" He looked at her puzzled, well what do you eat?

Her voice still with clenched teeth, "We eat dragons!"

Laosyrm, laughed a hearty laugh, and then came down to where his teeth were just as clenched, and you KNOW what I eat, right? " She felt the fear well back up in her chest and her heart slamming itself like it was trying to escape her chest.    She also realized that even the small teeth in the front of his mouth were taller than she was by a long ways. Then a strange thought occurred to him, he didn't want to eat her, or burn her, or even squash her, but he found himself wanting to know more about her, his mind ran over all the things that she had said to him about her mother and father. He backed his face away from her and then asked her again, "What do you eat, as you  I see you don't have what it takes to eat me, what would you have, Miabellz?" This caught her completely by surprise, this was the first time that he actually called her by name, very odd indeed. This realization spun through her mind, she didn't even think when she answered, "I would really like some apples." He immediately turned and left her in her pit of gold and jewels.  He returned several hours later with an entire tree full of apples. Also, his armor had some new scratches in it and his teeth were stained with fresh blood. Her look of surprise could not be hidden, not for the sight of blood from something he had freshly killed or eaten but for the fact that he actually brought back an entire tree of apples. Still trying to keep up her defiant posture, "So it also seems that the farmer wanted to keep his apple tree."

"I don't think it was the farmer, but some of those metal tasting creatures thought it was a good idea to try and stop me, they didn't fair so well. I will say that did fight a lot harder than they normally do."

Miabellz heart again sank for the loss of her father's men, but at the same it gave her a glimmer of hope, she might actually get rescued, but she didn't know how.

This kind of thing kept on for what seemed an eternity to her, the days out of the pit, back in the pit, the waiting for him to go to sleep; which never seemed to happen.    Him going to get her fruits, no matter how obscure a fruit she asked for to buy her time to try and get out, but to no avail, but he would always return with the fruit she asked for. She tried to think of more obscure fruit to get more and more time, but he always seemed to know where and how to find them. In the evenings she would talk to him more about her family, he found these stories fascinating , as time progressed, he started to tell her of his life, what he has seen, his battles for his territory, what he remembers of his mother and how her scales would shine all the colors of the sky when she flew returning to her cave with food for him. She would talk about waking up seeing sunrises, he would tell her about being so high up in the clouds where the sun would make the sky look like it was on fire the clouds so thick you could think about walking on them. All of these images that they traded back and forth, made her want to see them, see these wonders of the sky and the wonders of far off lands that she had never seen. At best, the most she had seen was the end the riding trail in her father's kingdom and even at those times her constant entourage of guards and maids and servants. During one night of their discussions, she actually caught herself calling him by name and for some reason she could not fathom, she found herself feeling sorry for him, as all his stories revolved around him being alone, or if it was with another of his kind, it was in conflict. As the days, weeks, and months progressed, her view of him actually started to soften and she started to see something beyond the teeth and smoldering eyes. Occasionally, when he would leave for getting her food, she actually found her self waiting for him to return and to see what he had brought for her.      At times, she would see that he had some new scratches on his scales, as well his teeth freshly stained, her heart would grieve for the loss of life.    Finally after several months of this, she finally asked him, "Laosyrm, you have had me captive for almost 3 months now, we have traded our life stories, albeit yours is much more colorful than mine, if for only the reason you've lived centuries over mine. Please allow me to return to my father and mother so they can stop wasting lives trying to save me from you."

For the first time in the 3 months she had been there, she saw his rage well up in him, his eyes went from the faint red smoldering to full on fire orange, he stood fully upright, his chest expanding the claws digging into the floor and he let out a roar that was heard so strongly that it rattled the castle walls and the king thought at that moment that his daughter was for sure dead and never to be seen again. The king's heart fell to the depths of his soul, his eyes welled with tears and his wife came sobbing to her husband, they held each other as close as they could, the love and light of their life to them had been extinguished never to be seen or heard again. The king at that moment, demanded that all his servants and the servants for Miabellz, the kings own guard, and their squires to come to the Great Hall, and on that moment, he decreed that if it cost him his kingdom and his own life he would confront the dragon face to face and either die in battle with it or kill it himself. The queen begged, pleaded, and wailed her disagreement, and did not want to have two of her loves taken from her.  The king would have no ear to it.  He demanded his servants get his battle armor, his great sword and his lance.  His heart hardened and his mind only saw the dragon dying at his hand. The queen resolved herself to knowing that nothing was going to stop her husband from exacting his revenge for the loss of their daughter. When the king had on all his armor, had his war horse ready and had his guard with him, he rode out of the castle and the city. Every since the deafening roar from the mountain, the landscape was quiet, nothing stirred. The queen looked out of the walls to see her husband riding off to the ragged cliffs to meet his doom.

Miabellz, truly feared for her life at this moment. she fell to her knees, expecting to be instantly incinerated, she could feel the heat, she could feel the flesh burning from her bones, she knew that it was coming, it was just a matter of moments.    

"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE!"  He roared.

He felt his rage well up in himself in an instant, he wanted to rend her a stain of ashes on his floor, but in that same instant something in his mind came to the forefront, the image of being held in an embrace by her mother when she was so angry for not being able to go out in the open country side by herself.  The words she told him about the anger melting away and the feeling of warmth that she had told him she felt from her mother stroking her hair. His rage subsided, but he felt something different, he didn't know what it was, something foreign, he didn't know what it was but it made him actually look at her with a look of confusion combined with curiosity. Miabellz, he said in a voice that was almost a whisper, I am not going to consume you, he moved slowly to encircle her again, and gently moved some apple branches towards her.    The flames in his eyes calmed back to their original low burning coal embers. she looked at him, took one of the apples sat down and promptly fainted.

She woke up the next day, exhausted and hungry, she realized that also she was not in the gold pit or surrounded by his enormous body..    Her heart lept, she  wanted to run for the opening her eyes squinting at seeing the sunlight full force for the first time in a very long time, she stopped short of the opening looked down and saw that she was way up in the mountain side, along the high cliffs that marked one of the edges of her father's kingdom. Far below here were the green fields of her father's land and the patchwork quilt colors of the different colors from the different crops. She now realized that it was impossible to escape on her own, as one misplaced step would be fatal, not to mention the fact she had not had any shoes for the entire time she had been in the cave. The warmth of the sun on her felt just like the warmth she felt when he would warm up the rocks of the cave and after a few more minutes the warmth reminded her of the stories and how she felt when they were talking about their lives. She went back in to the cave, grabbed a piece of fruit and started to eat, when Laosyrm returned, she greeted him by name and told him that she went to the cave mouth, he didn't so much as flinch at the sound of her exploring her surroundings. He then said something to her that she thought she'd never hear. "I have met your father and your father's army in the fields below the mountain range. Only a few soldiers died when they attacked me before I could get a word in edgewise, your father is still alive. We spoke about you."

Your father and I have come to an agreement, if I release you, he will not send soldiers and men or men from foreign lands that have been supposedly known to be able to kill dragons. And I promised that I would not destroy his kingdom, ONLY on the grounds that you spend 3 months with me, telling me about your life, your experiences. So all this depends on you, if you leave and decide not to come back, then your entire country side is scorched, if I do not let you go I have to contend with more metal tasting creatures; of which I don't mind but I've come to enjoy this area and would really detest having to move again. "Your father really does not pose much of a real threat to me, but I am willing to allow you this freedom, if and only if you return for the agreed upon time." Miabellz thought for some time, really thought about it, knowing that if she didn't return more people would die, and it would be because of her.

"I agree to your terms, but I want to leave now."

"I will let you leave, but you will be back before the end of the year."

Laosyrm took her down to her father, they embraces and hugged, they cried tears of joy, oddly again he felt something again he had never felt before, the king saluted him and told him that he would be be back with her before years end. true to their word every 9 months she would show up at the same place every year and they traded stories. this took place for many, many years. In the passing of time, Miabellz became queen of the land and even still she held to her vow of seeing Laosyrm. Their stories became more and more intricate, more colorful, more full of life. 

One day, Laosyrm was at the appointed place at the appointed time, but she did not show. He waited, and waited, and waited even longer. For over 50 years she was there every year at the same day at the same hour at the same place. He flew to the castle grounds, no soldier attacked him, no citizen ran in fear, only the animals ran an hid. A young man stepped out to meet him, wearing no armor, carrying no sword or staff, "I presume you are here to scotch these lands since Queen Miabellz did not show as promised." 

"That depends on your answer as to why she was not there, where is she?"

The man bowed his head and said, "I'm sorry, but she will never be able to see you again, she is gone."

"What do you mean gone?", Laosyrm's anger starting to rise, his eyes slowly growing in color to that of fire.

"She's no longer in this land or any land that you will ever be able to get to."

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!"    Now the people starting to show signs of fear and stopped and looked at the dragon now standing fully upright.

"My lord Laosyrm, she's dead.. she can never return to you."

"What do you mean dead?"

"What I mean is, that unlike you dragons we do not live forever or fall asleep and not wake up for centuries when we humans have one final sleep, we never wake up from it."

Something in Laosyrm caused him to come down to face the young man on the ground, he looked at him. "She spoke to me about her mother dying and in time her father dying, I never really understood, so she's never coming back to see me, she's never going to wake up again?"

Who are you he asked the young man, I'm her son, and the new king of this land. I know of you, heard about you but this is the first time I've seen you. My soldiers will not attack you as long as you leave us in peace, if you'll notice that large machine with the large arrow on it pointed at you, I can say for sure that will very likely penetrate your armor.    Laosmyr, didn't feel fear; as dragons don't fear anything, he felt confused and for some reason, lost. He flew back to his cave, he came back to the castle, loaded with as much gold and treasure he could carry, dumped it at the castle steps.. Calling out the new king almost every day telling him to wake up Miabellz, have her meet him at their appointed place. A month passed and more of his treasure went to the king, she still didn't arrive,    He started to sleep outside the castle grounds waiting for her. Eventually over the passing of time, the entire treasure had been given to the king in hopes of getting her back. years passed, and Laosyrm eventually would not leave his cave, it became cold and dark in the cave, he grew tired and fell asleep, his dreams were those of the days and nights he had spent with her talking into the wee hours of the morning watching sunsets and sun rises, the times she would actually ride on his back looking at the world from high above. As time passed Laosyrm, fell into a sleep he never woke from, and his last dream was of having her at his side talking about their lives. His last words according to the king were, "I'm ready to come home mother."