The Hero and The Prisoner

Selfoss growled and swiveled to face out the window. The wood creaked under her feet as she did so, the old dilapidated building of dark oak looked like it used to be much nicer but now lay only a shell of its former self. The wood of the walls was rotted and the furniture scratched and broken, but it was the only safe place she could find.

She sat down and let her wings droop to the floor, feeling even more useless than ever. A small white dragon behind her tilted his head and sat down as well, being extra careful to droop his wings in exactly the same way she had. “What” She said quietly. “What did you do”. The little dragon stayed silent.

“Why are you copying me?” She asked, a bit louder. Still no response.

“At least tell me your name you stupid little ball of scales!” She roared at the floor.

“Promise” Came a blank voice from behind her. She turned around to stare in shock. The expression on its face hadn’t changed though.

“You’re.. Promise?” she questioned cautiously.

“You’re Promise?” They repeated in the same emotionless voice. Selfross twisted the rest of her body so she was facing him.

The first thing. The very first thing he's said. Why did it take three days for him to do something other than copy my movements?

“Ok, maybe you can talk then. That's good. I’m Selfoss. Your promise” she said pointing from herself to Promise as she spoke.

Promise opened his mouth, then closed it again and mimicked the motion Selfoss did with his talons. He tilted his head and said “I’m Selfoss, your Promise”.

“No. You are Promise” she said pointing harder at him. He lifted his claw and stopped for a moment. Then he pointed to himself and said “You are Promise”.

“That’s close enough I suppose. Can you tell me anything else? Where you came from? Do you have parents?” Selfoss asked. But promise stayed silent again. Selfoss sighed and looked down at the small white dragonet next to her. “I guess that's too much to hope for isn’t it, come on then. Let's go to bed.” She curled up on the cold wood floor and tucked her wings neatly around her body. Not long after she felt the warmth of scales against her back and peeked open her eyes to see Promise curled against her in the same position.

Huh, it’s the first night that's happened. She thought. Usually he lay in a very tight ball in the furthest corner he could find. He’d done something awful, she could see it. But she could also see he was just a dragonet, and a broken one at that. Whatever it was.. maybe he had a good reason.