Violet stared at the now asleep Luna with a hint of confusion, why did she seem so surprised when I told her how old I was? Silly small sad one. She was only a few days older than Violet no? Or wait she said years, I wonder what a year is? Not knowing the answer to that question she gave up wondering and went back to thinking about her new bond.
It is a strange thing but I can feel that I now have a… connection? To Luna, yeah connection feels like the correct word. I can feel her general emotions and we can now communicate. Well I could when she was awake anyway. Silly Snow Leopard! Although now that she focused on the bond she can still feel a faint traces of emotion coming from the asleep girl.
It is nothing clear, more like a muffled sound that is distant but reassuring. Deciding that she quite liked the bond and the girl she made her way back over to Luna and curled back into a ball besides her not to sleep but just to rest and keep an eye out in case anything approaches them.
Some hours later Violet noticed Luna beginning to stir. "Your awake!" Violet announced whilst getting up and stretching.
"Umm yes I'm awake, I think. I'm not dreaming that we formed a bond and fought a small army of monkeys am I?" The silly Luna asked.
"Yep big fight! Killed lots of monkeys! You fought well too until the big ape came, then you fought less well." Violet happily responded before getting a sad look on her face. "But I never got a chance to eat them! I bet the ape would have tasted great!"
Luna seeing and feeling the obvious distress that little Violet felt at not being able to eat her foes couldn't help but let out a short laugh, which only stopped when her still broken ribs reminded her that they were still injured. "You are the most adorable little murder dragon aren't you?" She asked of Violet.
Finding being called adorable was somehow insulting she replies with a bit of heat in her childlike voice, "I am not adorable! I am a vicious predator!" She announces with an adorable slap of her tail against the ground.
Finding the indignant dragon to be too cute Luna plucks her up off the ground and pulls her into an embrace, whilst ignoring the complaint her side made at the sudden movement. Speaking out loud "ahh you are just too cute!" She squeals. Surprisingly enough Violet is able to understand her verbal communication whereas before her speech was just a confusing mix of sounds.
Quite surprised by this action of being hugged against her will she blurts out "let me go! silly small sad one!"
Remembering that Violet had called her that before now made her question some things, had she really been so obviously distressed that it became such a defining feature about her? well if she was honest with herself, the answer would have to be a resounding yes, it had been a taxing couple days after all. still thought she did reply after sorting out her thoughts and emotions. "How am I a silly small sad one? I'm like four times your size?" then she added in a quiet tone not quite intended to be heard, "also I trying not to be so sad."
Not quite understanding her mistake but understanding that Luna was sad because of something Violet approached the girl and bumped her head against her arm before saying. "Well you were small compared to the others like you. And you were sad a lot. But your happy when around me so you shall stay with me from now on!" With that declaration the definitely not adorable tiny dragon purred into Luna's arm causing her to let out a small giggle once again.
"Silly dragon you cant just decide stuff like that on your own!" She says with mirth whilst moving her other hand across to gently stroke the dragons head.
"I can't? Why not?" Violet asks with complete seriousness and a hint of confusion.
It was at that point that Luna once again realised that this little creature was only around a week old and based on the fact that her home was an empty cave that doesn't seem to have been inhabited in a long time before her guessed that she has only ever been alone since birth. That sobers her up slightly and wanting to change the subject anyway she asks. "Hey so you said you were around 7 days old right? Where are your parents do you know?"
Not expecting the question and still enjoying the skritches it takes Violet a while to respond. "Hmm yeah about that long, no parents woke up in egg by myself first thing I met was angry mouse that tried to eat me. I ate it instead. It tasted good!"
"Well as I said before I'm 12 years old, do you know how long a year is?" Luna asked.
"Hmm no no idea." Luna happily responded whilst shifting her head slightly for better skritches.
"Well a year is over 300 days so I'm… many times older than you!" Luna announced proudly, completely ignoring that she tried and failed to guess at how many days she had been alive.
"Wow! How are you so old but so weak!? Wouldn't you have been eaten by a monster super early?" Violet asked with a strange mix of surprise, awe and pride?
"Well we can't all be dragons that are able to fight on the day we are born. Beastkin aren't considered adults until we turn 16 years old or reach our first evolution at level 20. But Iv heard that some other races don't consider people adults until they are 20 years old! For most species their babies are reliant on their parents until they reach adulthood." Luna explains to the enraptured Violet. After all this was one of the first things she had learnt about other races and to say she was impressed would be a complete lie. In fact what she was feeling was..
"Wow other races are really weak!"
Luna stared at the unrepentant dragon before her before sighing as realistically she couldn't help but agree. Compared to a true Wild Dragon like Violet who seems to have been fighting for her life since she was born, other races like her really weren't all that impressive. "Well regardless I'm amazed at how fast you have grown in such a short time, and your very smart. Can I ask what level you are?" Luna instead asked.
"Yup I'm level 8!" She announced happily.
"Wait how are you only level 8 but still this strong? I would have thought that you must be over level 10?" Luna asks with incredulity.
"Hmm oh I have already reached level 10, I evolved into my current race, I'm a Infant Arcane Shadow Dragon now! I wonder what I will become once I hit level 10 again!"
Luna was amazed to think that Violet had already evolved, and to think that she unlocked such a rare sounding race that even reset her level! She had heard about that but knew it to be quite rare. In fact hadn't the ape we fought only been level 3? Or was it level 4? Either way! To unlock a race evolution that does reset levels it can be guaranteed that the creature in question is remarkable or has achieved something truly special!
"Wow that's really cool Violet!" Luna says warmly whilst continuing her skritches. "Umm say how do you feel about our bond? It was only offered to me because you apparently recognised me as your companion."
"Hmm I do like you, you are fun when not sad, a good fighter too! Make really good food!" Violet responds simply.
Luna paused as if waiting for something else before remembering that to Violet that is probably all that mattered to her to consider Luna a companion. Sighing she spoke up. "Hey so I'm not going to complain because I like you too and want to be your companion but you should be carful about trusting strangers too easily! You wouldn't want to form a bond with someone who will hurt you later!"
Confused at that Violet asked. "why bond with someone I don't like? Dragons have good instincts after all!" Once more her simple and straightforward attitude confused Luna so she just shook her head and moved on trusting that she would get used to her seemingly simplistic world view soon enough.
The rest of the day passed with Luna sharing stories of her life with Violet and Violet telling her about all the tasty things she has eaten along with about how her magic works, however it became clear that Violet is terrible at explaining magic to anyone so they swiftly moved on to different topics.
Violet learnt that she was located within a huge forest called the Endless Forest that spanned for thousands upon thousands of kilometres in every direction. Violet is unable to properly understand exactly how big that is but understands that it is massive! And apparently Lunas people are from the far North where the forest is covered in snow and ice.
Eventually the sun begins to set and they are thrust into darkness within their little tree hollow. As Luna begins to tire she lays down on her side and Violet happily moves to curl into a ball besides her and the two newly minted companions fall fast asleep.