Harper

  On the way to the cave, I asked my family to call me Veit. Not Harper. Lou was already scared enough. I didn't want to scare him more. He whimpered softly as I heard my siblings hissing in the cave.

  Their voices pierced my head. 'Why not Harper?', Max asked.

  'Maybe it's a new teenage phase?', Connie surmised.

  'It's not! We're here. Lou is scared. Please be nice,' I told them. I carefully dropped Lou down at the entrance of the cave and nudged him with my snout to get him to go in. Lou just whimpered and froze.

  "Go on", I whispered to him. "Nothing will happen to you."

  But Lou stopped, trembling. Maybe I'd better carry him in?

  My mother was already coming to meet us. Curious, she stuck her head out of the cave and looked at our guest. Lou looked nervously in her direction and stumbled back. As he did so, his scrawny back touched my muzzle. 'He's cute!' Mom snorted delightedly. 'So delicate. But also very thin... Do humans eat raw meat?'

  'I don't think so.' I had only seen him with fruit so far. Lou leaned against my muzzle in silence.

  Now Mom turned to him. "Hi, Lou. I'm Hallie. Veit's mother. Get into the cave quickly. Yes?"

  Lou flinched again when he heard her loud, rumbling voice. 'He's quite frightened!' Mom shook her head.

  'He was attacked by a bck dragon.' And he couldn't see well. That's probably why he didn't dare to go into the cave. Or was it because of us? "Come on, Lou. Hold on to me. We're going in!", I tried again.

  "Okay", he replied quietly. With my head bowed, as Lou touched my muzzle, I led him in. Immediately, all the eyes of the rest of my family nded on him. 'Oh! A snack!’, Ross joked, to which Sally growled. At the sound, Lou pressed himself closer to me again.

  'Look what you've done!' Sally scolded and snapped at Ross.

  Connie slowly approached and lowered her head to Lou. Close enough that he should be able to recognize her to some extent. "Hi Lou", she said as quietly as she could. She mumbled a bit as she opened her mouth as little as possible. "I'm Connie. Veit's sister. We are five siblings in total. Me, Veit, Max, Sally, and Ross. And our parents."

  Lou just stared at her with tears in his eyes, so Connie looked at me worriedly. 'Is he afraid of me?'

  'Apparently', I replied. 'He's been through a lot.'

  'Poor boy!' Our father had heard everything, as we addressed our voices to everyone. Except for Lou. Lou, meanwhile, buried his face on my head. To my right cheek, to be exact. Connie took a few steps back and looked at him. "My name is Bojan!", our father introduced himself cautiously. "So you're Veit's human friend." ‘Does the name change have any meaning?’, he asked me.

  'I'll expin ter', I murmured. "Come on, Lou. We'll find you a pce to sit." I turned to my human friend. Lou nodded, his face still close to my head. "Come!" I carefully pushed him to one of the cave walls and sat down there so that Lou could make himself comfortable on my dragon body again. He leaned against my side and ran his fingers restlessly over my scales. His hands were still shaking.

  Connie made herself comfortable next to me, whereupon Lou's breath hitched and he pressed himself against me. I stretched out a wing over him again, as he seemed to feel safest that way. Hopefully, this was the right thing to do. Helplessly, I looked at my parents. Mom was already snuggling up to my dad again. The two of them were watching me and Lou. Mom nodded in agreement when our eyes met.

  'He smells good. Sweet and a little floral!' Sally winked at me.

  'Certainly!', Max confirmed. 'Like a little dessert!'

  'Not you too!' Connie said immediately. 'He is afraid! And you're making such a joke!' She tried to see under my wings. I showed her my teeth threateningly. Connie rolled her eyes. 'I'm not doing anything!', she grumbled. 'Don’t be so dramatic. I can smell your friend's fear too. I'm just worried.'

  'And we'll just say how he smells!', snorted Sally. Max nodded.

  'Children, stop the nonsense!' Our father sounded more than just annoyed. 'We have a guest. And it looks like he's afraid enough of us already!'

  'Poor boy.' Mom sighed. 'So scared. But it's no wonder after something that horrible...'

  Sometime ter, when Lou had calmed down a bit under my wing, we heard another dragon nding in front of the cave. Shortly after, Basil poked his head into the cave. 'We've got food for the boy!', he told us. At the same time, Remy jumped off his back. He was carrying a pouch.

  "Hello!" Remy greeted the rest of my family and approached me and Lou. "Is he hiding again?"

  I nodded.

  The wizard sighed and knelt in front of my outstretched wings. I lifted it up a bit so he could see Lou. I didn't like the wizard, but he was Lou's friend. "Hey, Lou!" Immediately, Remy smiled. Wide and friendly. I rolled my eyes. "I've got some bread for you here! And melon. Are you hungry? Thirsty? The melon is juicy." He pushed the bag to Lou. But Lou didn't move.

  "Lou? Eat the bread, yes?" Remy tried again. "I have to go again now. Veit? Stay with him in the cave. Everyone else? If you can fight, please follow me. Our fears have come true. More bck dragons are on their way here. Scouts have confirmed this. They unch a second attack. For now, they are only nearby. Presumably, they are waiting for nightfall."

  'We're coming!', growled Ross.

  My siblings followed Remy and Basil out of the cave. My father was still injured and my mother stayed to watch over him and us. They sat a little closer to the entrance to keep watch. Lou was still silent. He stroked the feathers of my wing.

  It wasn't until te at night, when my siblings were back and asleep exhausted, that Lou carefully reached for the bag and opened it with trembling hands. Then he ate slowly.

  sasi