Calmness was still washed over me when I felt a gentle hand running over me.
I had fallen asleep amongst the salt. And rather than move me, Mushroom had collected and taken his supplies from around me to leave me there.
It was kind of him though, but the fact he had returned to stroke me after it all made me feel like a child again.
"Mushroom" I smiled as I opened my eyes "what are y..."
The person who scuttled back wasn't Mushroom. This one had curled maroon hair like Little Chick, but piled in a very short afro on his head. His skin was dark but bleached white in random patterns across his face and hands. The rest of his was covered with a faded green hoodie and tan longs. He even had cute yellow socks on with bird patterns across them.
But his eyes. They were a shining pink that looked like the crystal pillers Mushroom had been working with last night. They even had cracks of white through them, just like the crystals.
Who was this? One of the children?
I nudged him to tumble him onto his back easily. He tried dragging himself back until I flipped him over and dragged him back towards me.
"HELP!" he screamed out instantly "HELP ME!"
"Don't be silly" I huffed at him as I worked up his hoodie then his white shirt underneath "I'm just checking."
He continued to wriggle and scream until I finally caught a glimpse of the brand on his back. It looked a lot fresher than any of the others I had seen so far, and was still crusting over.
The poor thing would be in so much pain.
I heard running footsteps and saw the doors burst open. The boy stopped wriggling at the sight of his rescue and reached out towards them, but they didn't move.
"It's just Scala" Mouse spoke to the carers flanking her "I think she's doing the remembering thingy again."
"Exactly!" I nodded to her and snapped up the hoodie in my teeth when the boy tried to scramble free again "he's a wriggly one."
I dumped him at the carers who unknowingly blocked his path. He clung to Mouse who just stood there and looked at him with unamusement.
He was much smaller than her, but not young enough to be the same age as Little Chick. He looked to be about eight or nine by his height and rounded features.
The boy cried out again when I ran my nose over his back and neck. He even started giggling when I worked at his hair that pulled from its neat ball.
It was amazing how different each scent was. While Mouse was like copper, this boy was buttery like biscuits. There was a more sharp edge to him that was like the layer of dirt on the pebbles outside.
Maybe he had fallen down on the way in here?
I moved further down to his legs to realise that he had been dragged. The scent went all the way down to his feet that kicked up when the giggles started again.
He was ticklish too.
"Are you done yet?" Mouse spoke up when I returned back to the hair to bury my nose into it.
I wanted to stay there forever but slowly pulled away and saw the boy cling tighter to Mouse.
He was trembling and fragile, unlike her. The way he squirmed away from me was like the changing of the seasons outside when the trees would drop thier twirling leaves that would be blown everywhere by the wind.
This kid was like that twirling leaf. Fragile and quick to scatter. He even had the same patterning as them when the green was yellowing and hadn't quite fully developed yet; leaving them with patchy patterns.
I knew I shouldn't have been letting myself get attached, but I was falling in love all over again with Leaf. It was a tortured path of repeating agonies.
But I was going to keep torturing myself as long as I could have a bit of time with these children.
They weren't my babies anymore; I always knew they hadn't been, but just children.
If I had some sort of disassociation from them, then it would be fine. I would have a chance to call something my baby one day. Something that truely understood me.
"You need to get your rest" one carer told Leaf "you shouldn't be up and about yet."
"I'll take him back" Mouse declared "I'm sure his brother is worried about him."
Brother? There was another Leaf?
Instantly, excitement filled me.
I wanted to see the other child too. To see if he had a delicious scent like Leaf and beautiful patterns over his skin.
I wanted more. Maybe I would find another wandering child on my way.
How many were there exactly? It changed so often that it could be many or just this small group.
I ran from the group before they could move. When the air filled my wings again, I guided them along the side of the mansion.
It was the first time I had actually taken the time to scan the architecture of its grand design. Other times, I had sailed by for the natural beauty surrounding it.
I had my own routine like the humans outside these walls.
The scale of the mansion itself was breathtaking. It was sprinkled with windows into each bedroom that had its own tiny balcony. Most were empty when I clung to the side of the wall and peered inside.
The balconies were way too small to perch on. They didn't even have supports on them since they barely fit one of my hands in it. It was just for the human to stand on and admire the scenary, nothing else.
It looked like there were hundreds of empty rooms. Each one eventually grew more leafy with the climbing foliage clinging to the side of the mansion and sprouting outwards. It looked like a lush green river with tiny white flowers budding along it.
There was another balcony around the back that I could land on. It was a little smaller than the other one, but still left enough room for me to safely stand on it. It was also supported by pillers that surrounded another set of doors that led to a perfectly groomed backyard that stretched for far too long.
I could see a single carer riding a machine that cut the grass into different coloured lines. When she went right, they were dark. When she went left, they were light. It was an odd, magical machine, but it wasn't what I was here for.
The balcony was where I needed to be. It led straight to another massive wall of windows that looked over a massive dining room.
In the centre of it was the biggest table I had seen. And around the long wood table was twelve seats. Whether or not they were all used was another question.
I knew of Little Chick, Mouse, Mushroom, and now Leaf. That was already four out of the possible twelve. I was doubtful the carers would be sitting with the children during meals; there was far too many of them to even fit around this table comfortably.
I left the dining room to search for occupied rooms. When I found them, I marked the concrete on each balcony with an x so I could find it later.
Mouse was the first I marked. She was listening to her headphones and drinking a dark liquid from a cup she balanced between her legs while she flicked through the pages of a book.
Little Chick was the next. She had a dollhouse in her room that she was playing with. The dolls though were missing heads or limbs that looked like they had been chewed off. The one she clutched was a headless one in denim overalls like the ones she was wearing.
Mushroom was after that. He was sitting cross-legged and naked with his back turned to the window. I could see his dragon mark glowing blue again while he remained unmoved from his salt circle.
Leaf was easy to find after Mushroom since his balcony was the one next to his. The boy was laying on the bottom of a bunk bed, facing the window when I peered in.
He kicked the top and said something to the other boy who hung down to look at him before flipping his head up to see me after.
He had the same curly afro hair as Leaf did, even down to the same short length.
His skin was the same too with its patterns of white across his face, down his arms, and to his outstretched fingertips trying to block the line of sight between us.
I moved so I could spot his identical pink eyes to his brother. I could see both of them were not only brothers but twins.
They didn't dress the same though. Leaf wore green while this copy was only in a grey singlet. Leaf had black longs while the other had patterned brown shorts. And where Leaf had cute yellow socks, he had none.
"Don't look into its eyes!" he slapped the top of Leaf's head "it'll steal your soul through them!"
Leaf looked to me instantly which made his twin cry out and try to cover his eyes frantically, resulting in him falling out of the top bunk.
"I'm calling you Pancake" I decided with a short laugh at his face pressed to the floor.
It was a fitting name for someone so determined on remaining on the floor rather than facing me.
"I feel fine" Leaf spoke down to his brother groaning "I looked it right in the eyes when it woke up and nothing happened."
"But... But..."
"It's an old superstition" Leaf patted his brother on the head "nothing is going to happen."
Pancake closed his eyes when he got up and kept them closed when he reached out a hand towards me.
I shoved my snout through the open door and pressed it to his hand that jerked back slightly at the touch.
His skin was like woody maple syrup mixed with a smokey scent like a distant fire. He too had the same dirty smell over him that I inhaled when I moved up to his hair then licked his face.
He opened his eyes to wipe the mess off, freezing when our gazes met.
"See? Nothing happened" I smiled at his shock, nudging him to get him to breathe again.
"She's really nice" Leaf reached out a hand to touch me when Pancake didn't "all the stories aren't true at all."
Stories? What were people saying about me that made this kid believe such nonsense as me stealing his soul through his eyes? Surely, it was something as absurd.
"We shouldn't take the risk" Pancake mumbled "there's a lot we don't know about dragons."
"And there's a lot we don't know about any of the others here" Leaf replied simply "this can just be another thing we find out. It'll be fun."
"It will be" I agreed heartily.
Pancake smiled weakly at me before climbing back up onto his bed and sitting there to face me. He still didn't look sold on the idea, hugging his pillow close as he tried to look at me for more than a few seconds.
I looked between Leaf and Pancake before realising I wasnt going to get any further with either of them.
It was time to move on.
The last room I found belonged to another girl.
She was the most unusual from all the others. The first thing that caught my eye was her dark red skin that looked like dried blood. Her leg dangled off the bed as she painted in a book before her. Beside her leg was a slender tail that curled at the end in concentration.
Her flowing black hair was plaited and thrown over one shoulder to keep it out of the way of her face and the curved black horns growing from the top of it. Her eyes were the same colour as her hair, with not even the whites visible.
She was an odd creature. She didn't even react when she noticed me staring at her from outside her balcony. She only gave me a small wave and returned to her work.
She looked like someone who wasn't troubled by anything. She had seen it all, so nothing caught her by surprise like I should have.
It was only her and her watery art.
I had the perfect name for her too. With her red skin, she looked like the sweet fruit in the orchards not far from here. And with her black hair, it had the same colour as the seeds inside.
"Apple."
She looked up at the noise, and for a moment I was stunned.
Had she actually understood me?
"Oh, you want to see it?" she spoke softly and flashed that small smile again before picking up the book to bring to me "it's still wet, OK?"
Of course she hadn't understood. That was a silly assumption...
But her art though. It was incredible. The bright colours she used all ran against each other and splattered on the paper to create an elaborate face of a person staring out into the distance.
For something made from coloured water, it was very detailed. I had to admire her persistance and patience.
"Very good" I smiled to make her return it "you should frame it."
What was I doing? Of course she wasn't going to understand me. Nothing had changed; nothing.
I was talking to myself. I always had been talking to myself. Nothing was going to change.
Before Apple could speak again, I dropped from the wall beside her balcony she rushed out onto. The sky became my escape again as I returned to what was familiar and safe.
The dolls and old photographs littered amongst them greeted me when I landed in my dark lair. It was cold from the air filtering through it and freezing the stone floor I walked over.
I flopped into my nest and stared at the dolls that peered back with thier mixture of beady and stitched eyes. They had been there for years, growing with each one I added to the pile from wherever I had snagged it from in the towns.
I had originally taken up hoarding dolls to tempt the children on the other side of my door. Even though I never met them, I would drop a doll during my flights so that it would land outside the front door fo the mansion.
Eventually, I gave up on the deliveries when I saw that they were no longer being collected and were just rotting outside on the ground.
Soft toys were an odd thing to horde for a dragon. People usually pictured mountains of gold or secret treasure when they thought of dragons. I could only think of how uncomfortable that would be.
My mother had hoarded gemstones and crystals to line her nest with, and my father loved mirrors. Together they created something so beautiful and seemingly infinite that attracted greedy humans to what they thought was mountains of the colourful jewels.
Surely, I didn't need this useless collection of toys if I had no-one to share it with? That had been my whole purpose, and now I was seeing how empty it had been.
I could start over with something new; something I wanted to be surrounded with. I would make this my place again that I could keep for myself. There was no harm in doing that.
With one last look at the collection that had stared at me for years, I called on the fire within my belly that flickered and licked at the transparent scales up towards my jaw. And with one sweeping breath, I burned it all down; watching as the threads sizzled and buttons bubbled into the delightful inferno warming my cold room.
ns 15.158.61.54da2
