Snippet #2443170

Penka sat on the bunk in the bedroom of the house that had been provided for her. The small red dragon stared her down from across the room. She stared right back.

Legends had led her to believe that the dragon would be much bigger. Towering behemoths that wipe out a house with a sweep of their tail and all that. This one was no bigger than a stunted pony. Though, she supposed, he had just hatched. Rome wasn't built in a day and dragons didn't grow overnight. It wasn't just the creature's size that surprised her either, his overall appearance was far from what she'd expected. The brilliant red body and golden underbelly matched the descriptions she had heard from the story tellers, but that was here the similarities ended. In the creature, she saw none of the immovable muscle that one usually associated with red dragons, rather a lanky sleekness. He did not possess horns - yet - though Penka thought she could detect a few bumps which could eventually form into the legendary head-spikes. However, she couldn't be sure, he hadn't let her get close enough to check them out thoroughly. His feet and claws did not look as if they were built to crush and slash, instead she noted finely jointed digits that belied an astounding degree of dexterity. Out of his entire appearance however, his wings were what confused her most. The only time she had gotten a good look at them was the one time he had stretched them right after coming out of his egg, since then the dragon hatch-ling had kept them held tight to his body.

Still staring, evaluating her strange new charge, Penka was surprised when a large puff of hot air hit her full on in the face and brought her attention back to the task at hand. She glared down at the he-dragon, and he glared right back.

"Nidhug." She suggested, the dragon blinked.

"Vasuki." He shook his head.

"Apalala." The creature actually gave a disdainful snort at that one. Penka winced.

"You're right, that one was weak... What about-" She searched her mind for another name, "... Vasuman." At this, the dragon seemed to perk up, his ear flaps flexing attentively. She smiled at his reaction. "Vasuman it is then."

Penka and Vasuman had not had an instant bond. In fact, despite the days they had spent in each other's company the hatch-ling would not let her get within arm's reach. However, at the same time, he refused to be in a room separate from her for any more than a few minutes, which confused Penka to no end. They had, over the last few days, managed to come up with some kind of rough communication system - a development which caught Penka completely off guard. Red dragons were thought to be the most intelligent, but Vasuman seemed to understand her after just a few days out of the egg. Not only that, but when he decided to acknowledge her, he could communicate in his own way through facial expressions, shakes of the head, a few limited hand movements. It made things much easier to say the least.