In the hidden city of dragons, the youth are sent out into the world for their coming of age ceremony. This is to help their young see the world and not be closed minded. Vander was sent out rather late compared to those his age, largely due to the elders fearing that Vander would be taken advantage of; or more importantly, alert the rest of the world that the high dragon people still existed. As an event that happened centuries ago had drawn the world’s attention to the species. A very unwanted form of attention.

    The elders repeatedly drilled into Vander that he, under any circumstance, was not to reveal that he was a dragon. Especially not to humans.

    Vander took this warning to heart, perhaps too much so. As he completely avoided people during his journey. Primarily living off the wilds. Vander knew he was impulsive, and worried he would slip up somehow.

    He kept this up until he met Avi. A human who Vander “saved” from falling off the side of a castle.

    Vander had been flying for awhile that day, and it was getting dark. Although he noticed the city and intended to fly around it. He chose to rest for the night on the tall rocky outcrops rising up from the ocean. He awoke to the sound of a loud argument.

    He couldn’t make out what was being said, but Vander saw a group of people on the castle walls overlooking the sea. Vander hadn’t realized there was a castle so close last night, but he was confident he hadn’t been seen.

    However the argument on the wall escalated. Even with his strong senses, Vander could not make out exactly why or what these people were arguing about. All he processed was that the large group seemed to rush forward, and there was one person falling!

    Without thought, Vander transformed into a dragon, caught and carried that person away. In his panic, Vander immediately turned and fled, still holding a person in his mouth. By the time Vander processed what he had done, which was expose his dragon appearance in front of a group of humans, he was at a loss. Now he was over an open expanse of sea, completely lost. 

    And he still had the human he saved with him, who squirmed quite a bit when first caught. But had calmed down. They even attempted to talk to Vander, however Vander had to ignore him. He’d pretend he was just a regular draconic animal, set the person down and land, make sure they were okay, and leave.

    When they did make landfall, one of the first things the human asked was if Vander was a high dragon. The elders had told Vander that even the notion of high dragons would send humans into a frenzy. Yet this one seemed calm. Vander decided he must have encountered the one human who was an exception to the elders’ rules and reveled his identity to the human.

    having been alone for so long, Vander chattered endlessly with the human, who said his name was Avi, and checked to make sure the person was okay. When Vander inquired to why those people pushed Avi off the castle, Avi retorted that he chose to jump.

    Alarmed, Vander didn’t want to leave this person alone. Even after Avi clarified that he was skilled in magic, and would have easily survived and gotten away. Vander doubted this, as even the dragon sages would struggle with a spell like that much less a human.

    Avi mentioned that he was planning to leave the castle, his plans interrupted, he had wanted to get far away. So Vander’s acts weren’t completely unnecessary. Avi reluctantly thanked Vander and intended to go separate ways from the dragon.

    Vander however did not want to separate. One, he was genuinely worried about Avi’s well being and mental health. As he really didn’t think Avi could have performed the spell he’d explained earlier.

    And more importantly, if Avi just planned to travel. Why couldn’t he go with Vander? Vander already noticed that Avi had a sharp tongue. But he was so lonely he didn’t care. In Vander's opinion, any travel companion would be far better than traveling alone.

    After Vander’s continued insistence, Avi agrees that they can travel together until they reach a town. At that point, if Vander confirmed that Avi was indeed well off, and required no concern. the two would part ways.

    After they made it to the village. Vander never brought the matter up, expecting Avi to say something. As it was Avi who originally brought the matter up. But Avi was silent on the subject. So Vander took this as Avi’s acceptance of him.

((Avi was too proud, and expected Vander to bring the matter up at that time. And was too stubborn to do it himself. So he ended up stuck with a dragon))

    The two end up traveling the world, possibly getting pulled into a lot of other people’s antics.