Previous | Table of Contents | Next
Leila raised her head and blinked at the dragons standing at the entrance to her room. “Mom? Why are you here?”
Kondra glanced around, admiring the stone palace before turning her attention onto Leila and Grimmy. “I’m here for Lulu.”
Leila glanced at Grimmy. The black dragon shrugged. Leila tilted her head at her mom. “You came awfully far for someone who isn’t here. Isn’t Lulu at home taking care of Alfonse?”
Kondra glared at Grimmy. “Your little helper took Lulu away.”
“Oh!” Grimmy’s eyes lit up, and he patted Leila’s shoulder. “I knew I was forgetting something when we left your place. Turns out it was Lindyss.”
“You forgot a person?” Grimmy’s mom asked.
“It’s not my fault,” Grimmy said and shrugged. “She’s just easily forgettable. Leila and the kids forgot about her too.”
Kondra snapped her jaws shut, her teeth clacking together. She took a step forward and pointed at Grimmy. “If something happens to my daughter—”
Grimmy let out an exaggerated yawn, cutting off Kondra’s sentence. He smacked his lips a few times, seemingly unbothered by the fire burning in Kondra’s eyes. “If something happens to Lulu, wouldn’t it be your fault for not keeping an eye on her? Why didn’t you stop my little helper from abducting her?”
Kondra slapped her tail against the ground. “You—”
“Hey!”
A voice cut Kondra off before she could say anything else. Two paws grabbed Kondra’s tail and lifted it off the ground. Gren’s head appeared in the entranceway. “Please don’t slam your tail in my house. It’s very rude. The children are sleeping.”
Kondra snarled and swiped at Gren with her paw while jerking her tail free. “Don’t touch my tail!”
Gren released Kondra’s tail and took a step back, raising her front paws up in front of herself. “So many years have passed, but you’re still as prickly as ever.” She sat on her haunches and stared at Kondra. “You realize you aren’t just disrupting my grandchildren’s sleep, right? They’re your grandchildren too.”
Kondra exhaled two jets of steam from her nostrils. “A healthy dragon free from worries wouldn’t wake up because of something like this. If my tail slamming against the ground does wake them up, then that means you’re not treating them right!”
“Grandma Kondra?”
Kondra and Gren turned their heads. Ramon was clinging to the walls of the palace, staring at his grandmothers with a wary expression. Kondra frowned. “What are you doing clinging to the walls like a lizard? Stop that; you’re a dragon.”
Ramon blinked and dropped down from the walls of the palace. His head slunk low, and he gazed at his grandmothers with upturned eyes looking much like a guilty puppy.
“Where’s Gloria?” Kondra asked upon seeing Ramon wasn’t going to answer her question.
“She’s still sleeping,” Ramon said.
Gren glanced at the claw marks on the wall. “Why were you crawling on the wall?”
“I heard a loud sound, so I came to see what happened,” Ramon said. “Clinging to the walls makes me less scared.”
Kondra snorted. “How can a dragon be scared?” she asked before glaring at Gren. “What’ve you done to traumatize my grandchild?”
“Me?” Gren asked, raising an eyebrow. “When I was taking care of him, there was nothing wrong. It’s only after you showed up that he began trembling.” She glanced at Ramon. “Be honest with Grandma. Did this mean old lady hit you?”
Kondra shoved Gren with her paw, knocking the cursed dragon a few meters to the side. “Who are you calling an old lady? You’re not so young yourself!”
“I never said I was young,” Gren said and snarled, baring her teeth. Her eyes flickered with a red light, and she pounced on Kondra. “How dare you attack me in my own home? You’ve become much more brazen, haven’t you? Even daring to hit my grandchild!”
Ramon backpedaled as fast as he could, scrambling to get away from his grandmothers. They had turned into a black and white tumbling ball of scales, claws, and wings. He glanced around before retreating into the other room. It was simply too dangerous for a young dragon like him! Laughter caught Ramon’s attention, and he saw his grandpas sitting on a stone bench. The two had a giant bowl of grapes resting between them, and they were occasionally picking a few up and munching on them. In front of them, there was a winged woman, the Recordkeeper, lying on the ground. Two beams of light protruded from her eyes and landed on the walls, projecting a giant moving image.
Ramon wandered over and stared at the moving picture. There was a scene of a few skeletons running away with a man. “What’s this?” Ramon asked.
“Eh?” Kondra’s mate raised an eyebrow and glanced down. “Oh, this is the Recordkeeper.” He poked the limp woman with a claw, and the scene on the wall changed, showing moving images of fairies planting flowers. “She’s witnessed all kinds of events happening throughout the ages, and your Grandpa Kal here has an ability that projects people’s memories. If you combine the two, you get great entertainment!”
Ramon scratched his head. “How come there isn’t any sound?”
Kal tapped on the Recordkeeper’s stomach, and ambient noises came out of her mouth. The sounds of fairies humming and trees rustling were so realistic that Ramon had the urge to look around and find them. Kal grinned. Then, he tapped on the Recordkeeper’s stomach, and she shut her mouth. “It’s better to not make noise when your grandmothers are fighting. They might notice you, and before you know it, you’ll be dragged into the fight too.”
Ramon glanced behind himself. The ball of black and white scales and claws was still rolling around, crashing repeatedly into the palace walls. He gulped. It was much better to not be noticed. He glanced at his two grandpas. “Will I learn to fight like that too?”
“Oh, no,” Kal said and tapped on the Recordkeeper, switching the image to a different one. “You’ll learn how to fight properly in the evil-sealing tower. Your grandmothers are just playfighting with each other.”
Blood splashed on Ramon’s tail, and he turned around. There were gaping wounds and torn scales on both colors of the moving ball. Ramon gulped again. That was just playfighting? Suddenly, despite being a dragon, he felt like he was a little too small.