Lessons of My Own

I waited at the end of my driveway for the DDP agents to appear along with Mabel's family. Daisy sat on my shoulders with Meadow; whom was in a phanny pack filled with hand warmers. Daisy had refused to leave Meadow's side, so we had to make a compromise so she could go to dragon practice.

I could hear vehicles approaching. Cortelco and Switch were waiting on the tree line in hopes of something going array. First to pull up was the regular DDP agents who instantly thrust their arms holding badges out the windows, every single hand was trembling. I took Daisy off my shoulders and began my act as border patrol from Hell. I could feel Daisy watching me and I heard a giggle. The next thing I knew she was in the air. As the next van approached I could hear "Sissy I want to try, just distract the next guys." Daisy sounded excited.

The next van appeared and I simply stood in the road acting as human as I had been raised, but before I could get to the van I heard a thunk on the roof. I couldn't see Daisy, but I could smell her. Was something wrong with me? Then I could hear screaming coming from the van I ran towards the van and saw Daisy sitting in the back seat with her wings spread out slightly. Her hair was a mess from flying, which showed off her usually obscured horns, her eyes were slitted and an icy blue, she had an evil smile on her face aimed towards the four terrified men who were in the back of the van pressed against the walls. All of the present dragons, as well as Daisy and I were beside ourselves laughing. Without showing the utter shock that I was feeling, I continued laughing and wiping off tears, while I spoke to Daisy through my mind. I couldn't let the DDP agents know I was unaware of something that was happening on my territory.

"When the Hell did you learn to camouflage yourself?" I asked her mentally

"Me and Meadow have been practicing, she isn't very good at it though. Even my clothes change better than her." she responded.

Mabel walked timidly towards me in the driveway, preparing herself to see her parents. She had a sad look on her face like someone had kicked her puppy.

"Mouse I have already told you they are not coming here to ground you. only to give you more training. I made sure to tell them exactly what happened and why I wanted them here." I told her "Besides you haven't seen your mom in forever make it a happy reunion." I said trying to cheer her up, though my attempt was in vain. I turned around back towards the oncoming vehicles with my scary face. I wasn't going to sit around with a moping Mouse, trying to cheer her up; I was going to have fun scaring strangers. Though this time Daisy was doing most of the work, I was only really checking badges while looking scary. At the end of the vans and trucks, came driving through I could see Paul driving staring forward without any expression. In the passenger seat was... a second Mabel? The closer I looked the more I could see of the woman I assumed now was Mabel's mother. Mabel looked exactly the same as her mother only without the smile lines. Her mother also had a slightly curvier body, but even their scent was similar. Rather than driving through Paul stopped the car in front of us. The car had hardly stopped before Mabel's mom popped out of the car and ran to Mabel, enveloping her in a hug. Paul got out at a much slower pace and started walking towards me. Daisy ran to my side held my hand and clung to my thigh.

"What's wrong Daisy?" I asked her out loud.

"That woman wants to hug me and never let go, squeeze my face, and eat me." she said meekly.

I could only assume that Mabel's mother had told her that "she was so cute she could hug her and never let go" and "That she was so cute that she could eat her up" and she probably went right into the cheek squeezing. Although I hadn't even spoken to her yet she did give off that type of personality.

Daisy spoke again, "and I don't really like Mr. Paul."

I smiled and laughed a bit. Daisy gave me an angry look, but once she saw how close Paul was she turned invisible, still however clinging to my side.

"Hello Paul it is nice seeing you." I said politely.

"I highly doubt that." he said in an annoyed tired voice.

"You are right I am not a fan of the DDP's people. That response seemed rather impolite of you though." I responded once again.

He looked at his wife, whom was still talking with Mabel, then looked back at me.

"I have been driving in a car with a hyperactive ginger talking machine for ten hours." he stopped and sighed, "I love her dearly, more than life itself... but I like her better in shorter intervals, and bigger spaces.".

Both of us looked back at the two who now looked like they were getting ready for a business transaction. Paul, a now visible Daisy, and myself walked over to Mabel and her mother.

"Hello Ava, it is nice to meet you in person. I am Ivy." I said introducing myself to Mabel's mother. I looked down at Daisy, my expression alone was telling her she needed to introduce herself.

"Hi Mrs. Mabel's mom. I am Daisy." Daisy said.

Ava just smiled at Daisy this time trying not to scare her away. "It's great to meet you two fine dragons as well." she told us, then looked down at Daisy "You can just call me Ava or Auntie, okay? Can I call you Daisy?" she asked Daisy.

Daisy nodded her head and squeezed my thigh harder. This time she completely camouflaged herself.

"See what I mean?" Mabel said to her mom.

"Yes I see." Ava said without any elaboration.

"Daisy you should go back to the cabin and warm Meadow up." I said looking down at the void where I believed Daisy to be. Her figure slowly began to appear as the colors of her body lost their camouflage effect. She nodded and quickly took off into the sky with the hatchling, Meadow, still in her phanny pouch.

"Okay now that Daisy is gone what is it you two are talking about?" I asked looking at Ava and Mabel.

"Couldn't you hear us this whole time?" Ava asked.

"Yes I could have, but I was paying attention to Daisy, Paul, the sound of the DDP agents working and Meadow's heartbeat. These are things I consider to be important, I have to prioritize my attention. You two, no offense, pose no threat as long as myself and my dragons are here." I explained curtly.

Of course Ava gave a response that Mabel never would have. "We could be threatening, if we wanted to be. Your dragons aren't even here."

Both Paul and Mabel put there palms on their faces. My pupils restricted and my eyes turned yellow as I told my dragons to come out from where they were hiding in the woods. Cortelco was first to my side after he hopped out of a giant pine tree, gliding down with his wings outstretched. Switch just ran up the driveway from which she had already been guarding. Valorous came from behind the two women with a grumbley growl, doing his best to only startle them. Then Wisp and Nymph slowly crept out from behind my shadow showing their teeth and bright eyes.

"Ho...How. I couldn't hear or see any of them." Ava sputtered.

"We can speak to eachother, we are always prepared for trespassers, we have protocol of sorts. I am their Mama and master, and these were only the dragons that were nearby. Though you still wouldn't have of stood a chance even if it was just me." I said sternly with a serious face. Still this women didn't believe me.

"You might be stronger than a regular human, but you can't be that much stronger." Ava spouted. Once again Mabel and Paul put their palms to their faces. I ran up to Ava, now irritated, I grabbed her with one arm, and ran full speed to Mabel's cabin. Along the way I punched through a tree, not even slowing down, that should show her my strength. I jumped over branches of the newly fallen tree and continued to Mabel's cabin. All of this transpired within a space of about five minutes. I put her down at the front door of the cabin. Ava stood shaking on weak legs. Her hair a complete mess as it was windblown and filled with leaves and bugs.

"I know I shouldn't do these things to my elders, but my sparring match with Switch isn't until later this evening, and you were asking for this." I explained respectfully, though I was exuding arrogance.

Ava nodded still shocked. "Right I am not a threat. Got it." she said.

"When Mabel and Paul get here we can continue my previous inquiry." I tried my best to sound mature, strong, and wise to prove myself as intimidating. Though the tight atmosphere was quickly dissolved by a happy handicap dragon. Peculiar came running to Ava, pounced on her and started licking her face. "Mouse is back." I heard Peculiar say. Then she pulled back and noticed this wasn't Mabel. She took a few steps back and growled. "Master this is not Mouse she is fake!" I couldn't help but laugh. I began to speak out loud to Peculiar, so I wouldn't have to re-explain the conversation to Ava.

"Peculiar she is not a fake Mabel; this is Mabel's mother."

Peculiar still didn't look convinced.

"Ava this is Peculiar, she is Mabel's dragon. She came from the egg you gave Mabel prior to coming here."

Ava looked shocked "But that egg was pristine how did...?" Ava began saying while looking at Peculiar's deformities.

"Listen to me." I said with a growl. "Every dragon here is perfect. From that pristine egg, came a pristine dragon. Peculiar is kind, smart, and strong.". I changed my angry voice and demeanor, as not to totally scare her. "Even if she does like Mouse better." Peculiar looked upset, so Cortelco landed next to her and reassuringly licked the side of her face, covering her in drool.

"Now I would like to be friendly towards one another, so no more judging my dragons or questioning me. These are my dragons and my territory." With the last sentence my eyes turned yellow and my claws appeared. Ava stood up and smiled.

"No need to be aggressive." She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and began wiping the drool off of Peculiar's face. "I have been in the dragon game for a long time, and I know when to stop testing." she said with a smile.

I stood looking dumbfounded. What did she mean testing? She obviously could see the confusion on my face and began to explain.

"You are my daughter's best friend and role model, of course I did my research before coming here. Hell, even before that I have been snooping each time a DDP agent had come here for anything, I questioned them about you. They all noticed that you considered a total of five humans part of your hoard, and Mabel was the fifth. All other humans were bad, on the small exception of my husband's occasional presence. I even know why you call Mabel Mouse. I was glad hearing this, because that meant you could keep her safe, even from other dragons if necessary. Also Mabel never shuts up about you. Every phone call was about you; you are more like a story book character to me because of her. So when I met you I had to do some first hand testing of your powers." she finished explaining.

I pinched my brows. I couldn't believe I got played.

"You do need to learn better manners though. You didn't exactly make a good first impression." Ava commented.

"Lady I tried to be nice and proper, but you pushed every button I had. If you weren't related to Mabel; I would have kicked you out of my territory." I said with a low growl. Cortelco began laughing. "Ivy you invited her here first." I glared at him, but it didn't stop his laughing.

"Don't mind that guy too much. I don't hold much authority over him, we are equals, we are connected." I explained.

I could hear a vehicle approaching, and I knew it had to be Mabel and Paul. I could also smell Switch who seemed to be escorting them.

"What took you so long?" I asked Mabel and Paul.

Mabel rolled her eyes, "Well a certain idiot punched a tree and left it in the road, so we had to wait for a passing dragon to move it.". Mabel was obviously trying to show rank in front of her parents. Paul knew it was an act, but Ava seemed shocked. I decided to let it slide.

"Well someone's mother is bad at setting up tests." I said joking. Mabel then looked shocked and ran to her mother.

"Mom are you an idiot? This lady could have killed or mamed you easily. Do you know how many dragon's are on her side, if she decided she didn't want to bloody her hands with your murder? Hell even the kid she is raising could probably get the job done if she tried." Mabel said in a panic as she was pulling debris from her hair.

"Hey I have never hurt anyone." I chimed in.

"What about that hunter?" Mabel instantly had an example.

"Valorous did most of it... and he was dangerous. Even you are more dangerous than your mom. She might be a dragon lady, but you physically train with dragons regularly."

Both of Mabel's parents looked at her.

"Peculiar is my dragon and we learn and practice everything together." she replied to their shocked faces.

"Besides mom, I have more experience with adult dragons than you do." Mabel said in a now cocky voice. Her mother looked angry, but couldn't deny her words. I slapped the back of her head. She held it saying "Ow! What was that for?"

I rolled my eyes, "Even us dragons know how to respect our elders, especially our parents." I scolded her. Her parents smiled at me, and Mabel's mother stuck her tongue out at Mabel. I have a feeling their family reunion would be harder on me than anyone else.