Raising Dragon

"Okay Daisy, we are going to do some new things today." I told the messy haired girl who had just woken up.

"Everyday is weird here." Daisy said followed by a yawn.

"Well that might be true, but it will seem more normal the more dragon you are." I said, as if that made sense. Though she seemed to understand.

"You need to learn to use those wings of yours. otherwise they will just get in your way. So Switch is going to be your teacher. She helps me train usually, so I know she is a good teacher." I said, trying my best to reassure her. Though it didn't seem to be working.

"What about Mabel... can she just teach me regular stuff today?" Daisy said as she looked down at her hands not wanting to see my face.

I smiled, I knew that feeling. I remember being nervous, but still not want to disappoint my parents. I smiled knowing what the day would hold for this little girl, even if she was hesitant.

"Well you see little one, I told Mouse last night that she had to go and get you surprises, because you would deserve it after your first dragon lesson. So if you work hard today we will give you all sorts of surprises."

Her eyes went wide with excitement. "Let's go! I wanna get presents!" she said hopping up instantly and running towards the rocky path.

"Hey kiddo, we might be working out, but you still have to clean up. Let's walk to Mouse's cabin and get you cleaned up, dressed, and ready for the day."

Daisy huffed in frustration. "Can't I just rinse off in the waterfall like you? It is faster." she said with an eye roll.

"Little miss, I have scales, am strong enough to stand underneath the falls, and I don't sweat; which means it is a lot easier for me to clean up. and I still wash, I don't just rinse off. You aren't as sturdy as me, or at least not yet, and you do get sweaty. So we are off to Mouse's cabin to get you cleaned up before flying practice."

I put the girl on my back and ran to Mabel's cabin. I discovered a path cleared through the woods, that smelt of Valorous and Will. I would have to thank them, because without it Daisy would be scraped by sticks and branches. Otherwise I would have to run the long way around the forest and even then I would have some forest to walk through. I ran quickly, but I soon learned that Daisy couldn't hold her wings tight, which acted like a parachute making me slow. When we finally got to Mabel's cabin, I set Daisy in front of the TV while I prepared a bath, and makeshift clothes.

I came back and watched for a moment how impossibly close Daisy was to the TV.

"Kiddo if you sit that close to the screen you will need glasses."

She let out an eep, as she hadn't noticed my presence.

"I think you need lessons on how to be more aware of your surroundings too. But for now you need a bath more than anything. I bet Bill can smell you all the way from here." I joked

She puckered her lips, as she was annoyed, "I'm not stinky, you just have a super nose. Bill is too far away to smell me, and plus he has a regular nose." she said in a grumpy voice.

"I don't know, you are pretty stinky. So because you are soooo stinky" I said exaggerated, "I made you a pink bubble bath, instead of a regular one." I said. Immediately redeeming myself.

Daisy's eyes went wide, and a look of pure joy spread across her face. "You made pink bubbles?!" but before I could respond she was running to the bathroom. I got in the bathroom just in time to see her jump into the tub laughing as she played with her pink bubbles.

"How did you make the bubbles pink?" she said happily.

"It's dragon magic." I told the girl in a whisper as if it were a secret. In reality I had just found one of Mabel's bath bombs and added soap to the water. I leaned over the tub with a soapy wash cloth and began scrubbing down the little girl's wings in the places she couldn't reach. The light yellow wings felt the same wet as they did dry. It was if they were waxed, and totally waterproof. Next I washed her hair with the detachable shower head. in between her tight blond curls there were always bits of moss from the cave floor. I left her in the tub to play with the last of the pink bubbles while I cut up one of my old shirts that I had left at Mabel's. I got Daisy out of the tub and she dried herself off. She put on some hand-me-down pants from Jasper, and I grabbed the shirt material and tide the top around her neck making a halter, then tied the bottom around her chest, leaving plenty of space for her wings. She went back to watching TV as I prepared breakfast. I couldn't just make pancakes forever, I have to act like a parent and give her healthy food, but today she would be doing a lot of exercize, so I gave in a bit. I made scrambled cheesy scrambled eggs, with bacon on the side. I poured her some milk and called to her.

"Five more minutes, the show is almost over!" she yelled from the living room.

That's when parent mode turned on. I walked in there and shut off the TV. "When I say it's time to eat you come to eat. No *just wait*s from you. She pouted and mumbled "fine".

She sat at the table and took a few bites of her food and soon forgot she was upset.

It's hard to believe this girl was living on the streets and wandering the forests trying to act as a regular human only a week ago. Now she is acting semi-spoiled, and somehow I began acting like a human mom, and not one of hatchlings. I was in a daze thinking to myself about all of the recent events, when Daisy grabbed my attention.

"Sissy. Sissy. Sissy." Daisy said repeatedly trying to get my attention.

"I am sorry, I was thinking; what were you saying?" I asked her.

"I am all done." she said proudly showing off her empty plate.

"Okay now go brush your teeth, then we can go."

"Uhhh." Daisy sighed, "Do I have to?" she asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes you have to, otherwise your teeth will turn brown and fall out. Then you can only eat soup for the rest of your life. Or you could just swallow live fish like Valorous." I said teasing.

She looked out the window at Valorous and he gave her a toothless smile.

"Okay fine." she said as she trudged to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She tried not to show it, but you could tell she was a bit worried.

After everything was cleaned up we walked hand in hand to an open field where Switch was waiting.

"Okay Daisy Switch is your new dragon teacher, since she has two legs and wings just like you. She will teach you how to fly." I said trying to comfort the nervous girl. You could tell she was still uncomfortable around big dragons. "If you want I can stay here and watch you practice today." she quickly nodded her head. She was obviously holding back tears. "Hey there is nothing to be afraid of honey. I raised Switch since she was teeny tiny. I am her mama, and I raised her to be a kind dragon." I said trying to comfort the girl.

Switch came up from behind Daisy and licked her entire back up to the top of her head. "I promise I am nice, if Mama likes you then I like you, and I will protect you." Switch said comfortingly.

"Hey that is my job!" Valorous said, pretending that he had actual competition with being nice to Daisy. These guys were more clever than I thought.

"No she will like me better soon. I will be the favorite." Switch mocked going along with Valorous' plan. Daisy giggled a bit.

"I am her favorite I go with her everywhere." Valorous said.

"You know what hatchling?" Switch said to daisy, "I will be your favorite soon. Then we can fly together and play games." Switch finished.

Valorous stopped the fake argument there.

Daisy ran up to Switch and showed off her wings. "It's okay guys. I got wings like Switch, she can protect me in the sky, and Valorous can protect me on the ground." she said proudly, happy with her solution.

I sat on a fallen log nearby and watched Daisy's first flying lesson. It wasn't as exciting as Daisy and I were expecting, but it made sense to start of simply. They mostly practice what different positions of their wings did, and Daisy did some exercises on folding her wings in and out to build muscle. After about an hour or so of doing this today's dragon practice was over. I held Daisy's hand as we walked back towards Mabels cabin so she could take a cold shower to cool down and get Switch's dragon drool off of her back. Dragon kisses are sweet, but they aren't known for their pleasant odor. While she was in the shower I started to make cookies. I could use these as snacks to give her when she got tired during practice. While Daisy was brushing her hair (as instructed) I made egg salad sandwiches for lunch, with fresh carrots on the side. Daisy came out of the bathroom with a robe that was much to big on her. I put the plate in front of her with a glass of OJ.

"I am going to wash your clothes, you need to eat everything on your plate. Wisp. Nymph. I said knowing the two dragons were in the girls shadow. Do not eat any of her food it is for her to eat, no cheating." I commanded. The two looked defeated, as if this trick had been used multiple times. Daisy sighed as well.

"But I don't like carrots." Daisy said while pouting.

"If you don't behave and not eat your carrots I will tell Mabel to go and return your surprise." I said knowing that that would work. she sighed and bit into a carrot. I threw her outfit, along with some of Mabel's clothes in the washer. I think I am doing pretty good. Maybe I won't have to ask Mrs.Horn for advise. I came back to see Wisp with a carrot in her mouth Daisy and the dragon went wide eyed. Wisp flew out the window with the carrot, lie in Nymph behind.

"What did I say?" I said angrily as I walked up to Daisy.

"I didn't give it to her on purpose." Daisy said.

You are in time out right now. Go stand in the corner and think about what you have done." I said angrily. She started crying as she slowly walked to the corner.

"I... I didn't do it on p..p..purpose Wisp took the carrot by her...herself." she said between sobs.

"Young lady you stay quiet and think about what you have done." I said with a stern tone, though my opinion began to waver. This does sound like something Wisp might do. I called to Wisp and Nymph through my mind but neither answered. I was angry with the two Shadow Sights, and would have to lecture them as well. After five minutes I told Daisy she could come out of the corner. She just sat on the couch and stayed quiet. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, and I just let her sit there silently. Soon though I smelt Vainglorious coming closer. I could also smell both Wisp and Nymph. Vainglorious stuck his head through the window and plopped the two small dragons into the sink.

"Listen to these to furry idiots story." Vainglorious said obviously angry.

Both Wisp and Nymph tried to fly away but I caught them by their tails.

"What kind of story do you have to tell?" I asked them.

Nymph immediately responded with "I didn't do anything!"

Vainglorious scoffed.

I then looked at Wisp. "Now what is your story, I can hear your heart raising."

Wisp began; "Well I really wanted that carrot on Daisy's plate... so I told her that I asked you for it when you left the room. And that it was okay because I asked first, but.." Nymph cut in.

"She didn't want to!" I focused my glare on Nymph now. "Nymph bit into it before Daisy could respond and then..." then Wisp was the one to interrupt.

"Stop talking you idiot, you are my sister be on my side. So since you did tell Daisy not to feed us, and since I already bit into the carrot, I figured you would want to talk alone, so I took the carrot that was already in my mouth, and flew away. Nymph followed me because we always stay together. So you see it wasn't my fault." Wisp said trying to squirm out of this situation.

"So you are telling me you: Stole, lied to a hatchling blamed said hatchling, flew away from the scene, and made your sister an accomplice. All while disobeying Mama; is this correct. Wisp nodded. Nymph spoke though "I was only dragged into this."

"Nymph you still went along with Wisp. You didn't tell Daisy the truth, then you flew away, and both of you ignored me." I said letting my eyes turn yellow. "Now go apologize to your sister. Because of your actions I put her in time out, even though she didn't do anything wrong." I put both dragons on the floor and they slicked over to apologize.

"So Vainglorious how did you know about the Shadow Sights?" I asked Vainglorious who still had his head hanging through the window.

"Your little hatchling over there is a bit of a tattle tail." he said with a dragonish smile. "She said that she would help preen my feathers later if I helped her. She is quite good at sweet talking as well." He said all the while staring at Daisy. I stroked the feathers on the top of Vainglorious' head before I walked over to Daisy. As much as I hated it it was time for my apology. I kneeled in front of the small girl.

"Daisy I am sorry I didn't believe you, and sorry I put you in a time out without letting you explain. I just want to make sure that you know that telling the truth AND eating yucky vegetables are what is the best for you. I am new to raising False Humans, so there will be some bumps in the road, but we will get through it." I told the Daisy squeezing both of her hands before standing up. Earlier I thought I was doing everything right, but now I am questioning my parenting again. Maybe I could talk to Paul, he did raise a girl, or Mabel could let me talk to her mom, but I am raising a whole different species than she has ever seen. I sighed to myself and decided to think about other things. So Daisy and I walked around and chatted with the other dragons, practiced writing then finally I heard a truck pull into the driveway. I picked up Daisy and ran, I think I was more excited for Daisy's new things than she would be. She would be so happy.