Lou

  The sun set very slowly. Lou held on to Harper and followed him along the narrow paths. They wanted to visit Olive. Salih had invited the two a few hours earlier. He flew past the cave as Lou stood at the fence and looked at the colors of the mountains. "Lou! Come visit us again!" the dragon had called to him in a thunderous voice. "Olive said I should invite you. Urgently!" The dragon's voice startled Lou, causing him to cling to the fence. Salih did not notice any of this. He had long since flown on, carrying two dead cows in his cws. To Lou, they looked like light brown spots.

  And now he and Harper were on their way. Lou was curious. He wanted to know if the baby dragon had hatched in the meantime. "We'll be there soon. Salih is waiting for us at the cave entrance!" Harper whispered to him. "May I growl at him for scaring you?"

  "No." Lou chewed his lower lip. If Harper started a fight with the older dragon, then Lou wouldn't be able to see the egg or the cub. And he didn't like that.

  "What a pity!"

  Shortly afterwards they stood in front of a giant. Salih, in human form, was a good two meters tall. Maybe a little taller than two meters. Huge and muscur. Lou stared at him in shock. The dragon was only amused by this. "So tiny!" he said and reached out to Lou to stroke his head. But Harper immediately stood in front of Lou.

  "Vivi doesn't like that!" he hissed grumbling as Lou was already ducking.

  "Vivi?" Salih raised his eyebrows.

  "His name."

  "Isn't his name Lou?" Salih looked at Lou in surprise. "I'm confused."

  "Harper calls me Vivi", Lou whispered, peering out from behind Harper's back. "My name is Lou Vivien."

  "Ah." Salih nodded. "Well, then come in, Lou Vivien. Olive certainly will be happy. Bilge too. He's sulking at the moment."

  "Why is that?" Harper took Lou by the hand. Together they followed Salih into the dusky cave.

  "The egg started to wobble a few minutes ago. You two arrived just at the right time!" replied Salih. "Bilge prefers to remain an only child. He likes the prospect of a brother or sister less and less now that the egg is moving."

  "Oh. Shall we go back then...", Lou whispered, but Olive interrupted him. Her dragon voice echoed loudly through the cave, but unlike her husband before, she tried to speak as quietly as possible. "Don't go. Stay, please!"

  "Come on, Lou", Harper whispered to him. "You won't see something like this very often. Most dragons prefer to keep to themselves when a young one hatches. After all, it's something special."

  "Hm." With red cheeks and even redder ears, Lou followed Harper to Olive. Deep into the cave. It was dark here. Lou couldn't see anything. There was no fire to light up the room for him. Instead, a stormy dragon child tugged at Lou's trouser leg and frightened him terribly. Immediately, Lou clung to Harper. "Oh!"

  "Sorry, that was Bilge!" grumbled Salih. Lou felt the waist-high dragon being pulled away from him. "Behave!" hissed Salih. Bilge growled softly. "You can't py with Lou now. No... I said no! People are fragile... No, Bilge. And the boy looks like he's going to break right away." Again the kid growled softly. It sounded like a sad growl.

  Lou blinked. Break?

  "Lou! Come to me", he heard Olive say. Harper led him closer to her. He felt the warmth of her huge dragon body and heard her move slowly as he stood right in front of her. "Sorry. Bilge is in a bad mood. He just wanted to py", Olive tried to whisper. With little success. Her voice boomed in Lou's ears.

  "Hm." Lou squeezed close to Harper. Even though he couldn't see Olive's dragon formation, she appeared scary to him. He saw two blurred orange lights in the darkness. Nothing more. Just two lights, like little torches. Olive's glowing dragon eyes. The eyes of Salih, Bilge, and Harper, too, glowed steadily in the darkness. The soft light was all Lou could see.

  Glowing lights like fmes. Fire still worried him.

  "Lou? Come on, Harper will show you where the egg is, right?" Olive whispered to him, unaware of the reason for his discomfort. He felt the dragon's big head approaching him, but Olive didn't touch him. "You can touch it. It's wobbling a bit."

  "Okay?" whispered Lou. He had a strange feeling. As if something magical was happening. Harper ughed softly as he led Lou to the warm egg. Lou touched it gently. It wobbled and cracked. Something stirred in the egg. Lou stroked over the shell. He heard a soft whine that seemed to come from within.

  "The cub is fighting quite a bit!" commented Harper.

  "Yes, it didn't take Bilge that long", Saleh murmured.

  "Does it need help?" asked Lou. What if the cub didn't make it?

  "It has to do it on its own!" Harper answered. "We can't help. We would endanger it. It could be injured by the shell if we try to open the egg from the outside."

  "Hm." Lou continued to stroke the shell of the egg. He and Harper stood between Olive's legs, she had her dragon tail wrapped around them both and the egg. But Lou hardly paid any attention to it. "You can do it!" he whispered to the cub. He heard the whimpering again, then the eggshell cracked loudly. Lou felt a big crack under her fingers. "Oh!"

  "Oh!" said Olive happily.

  "Time to make room!" Harper said softly and led Lou away from the egg so that the family could see this special moment. Lou heard the egg break, then a loud squeak. Sahli hurried to his partner, Lou heard him mutter excitedly to himself. The cub had made it.

  Bilge, on the other hand, now hid behind Lou and Harper instead of being with his parents. A low growl told Lou that the young dragon was not enjoying this moment. Carefully, he turned to Bilge and felt for the dragon's head, as he couldn't see the child's eyes at that moment. Bilge kept his head down. Instead, Lou found small wings. He stroked the feathers. "I also have siblings. Two sisters. One of my sisters is younger. Now you're a big brother too. Just like me. I'm sure you're doing great!" he assured the disgruntled dragon child. Bilge turned a little and nudged Lou's hand with his muzzle.

  "A girl!" shouted Salih. "Bilge! You have a sister!" Bilge growled softly and snuggled up to Lou and Harper. "Come, look at them! She's perfect! That's my girl!!" Bilge didn't have much time to sulk, as his father quickly pulled him to his mother and sister. Olive grumbled that the little girl wasn't just Sahli's girl. Harper and Lou followed at a polite distance. Lou couldn't see the newborn, or rather the newly hatched. He only heard it squeaking softly.

  "She's so tiny!" murmured Haper. "Olive and Salih are licking her clean right now. She's still a bit slimy." Then he ughed suddenly.

  "What's wrong?" Lou asked, confused.

  "Bilge likes her now!" Harper put an arm around Lou. "One look was enough."

  "Good."

  "Do you already have a name? You have, don’t you?" Harper was too curious to let the family enjoy the moment quietly.

  "Amber!" said Olive. "Her name is Amber. Come on guys, say hello. Don't stand there! Bilge? Show Lou your sister, yes? Lou can't see well. But be careful! Humans are fragile! Careful!"

  Harper was still ughing as Bilge hopped over to them and gently nudged Lou back at Olive with his muzzle. Harper continued to hold Lou's hand and walked beside him. Lou's other hand finally got nudged by Bilge to something small, very soft, and fidgety. "Hm." Lou smiled briefly and knelt carefully on the floor. Harper made sure that he didn‘t sit on the precious eggshells. Just like Salih. Bilge, on the other hand, nudged either Lou or his sister with his muzzle.

  "Be careful with your sister!" Salih reprimanded quietly. Olive snorted contentedly. The newly hatched dragon cub stumbled along her mother's belly, whimpering whenever Bilge nudged her with his muzzle. Harper whispered softly to Lou what was happening around him. Then a tiny muzzle touched Lou's hand. Lou was startled for a moment, but then he smiled.

  "Hello, Amber!" Lou murmured. The cub squeaked again. "She already understands you!" Salih expined quietly. "Young cubs can understand the nguage of humans from the very beginning. Through magic. But it will still be a few years before she can form words in your nguage on her own, or learn to fly." Then Olive bent her head down and licked the tiny creature again. In the process, she accidentally caught Lou's hand. And for the first time, Lou ughed. The dragon's tongue tickled.

  Everyone fell silent. Except for Amber, who tried to climb onto Lou's p to escape her mother's tongue. Then Lou fell silent too. Shocked by what he had just done. Harper wrapped his arms around him, Bilge nudged Lou's shoulder, and Amber whimpered in confusion. Her mother gently pushed her off Lou's p and under her warm wing.

  "It's all good, Vivi!" Harper kissed his hair. "You can ugh. Please, keep ughing."

  Lou, on the other hand, froze until they heard loud roars that penetrated into the cave.

  "An intruder!" said Salih. "A girl."

  "Is it Louise?" Harper asked. "She smells almost like Lou." Lou heard Harper sniff. "Hm..."

  "No. This smells foreign. Or..." Salih sniffed again. "Hm... Or maybe it is. I don't know."

  "Neither do I. Different from Louise, but not too different either. Let's go and take a look", Harper suggested. "Vivi? Will you stay with Olive?"

  Immediately Lou woke up from his rigidity. "No. I'll come along. I want to know who it is. Perhaps... If it's a girl, but not Louise... Nina! My little sister!"

  sasi