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TheCapedMoose t1_jeg10dh wrote
"The journey was long and arduous," I eased back into my seat. As badly as I wanted to remain locked to my daughter's face, I couldn't help but stare off into space as memories rushed through my mind. "Ogres, Fairies, trolls; all manners of beasts, battles and trials hindered my path before I even reached the border. It was THERE where I met with your uncle Kinoq, and we fought for the first time..."
"Wait," She interjected. "You FOUGHT with Kinoq?!"
I grinned with some honest pride. "FOUGHT him...? I'm the one who scarred his eye!" I drew my finger over my right eye for emphasis.
Her look fo shock and disbelief melted after a moment into a look of sheer doubt. "No way, Humans are nowhere near strong enough to fight Dragons!"
I rolled my shoulders a bit in response. "You may not believe this, but your father really WAS pretty good with a sword, back in the day..." I nodded concedingly. "But yes, your Uncle beat me. Scarred my arm up something fierce in the process too!" I held out my left arm. Though the muscles and skin had all long since been healed, slashes and burn marks still covered my forearm. "Everything I knew, everything we humans had been taught told me I was as good as DEAD! For you see, pinned under his massive claws, my sword knocked out of reach, my shield sundered and scorched, I knew I was defenceless, and this dragon was going to eat me."
"Ewwww!" Kalinda gagged and retched in an overly dramatic display of disgust. "Dragons ATE people back then...?!"
I recoiled to match her horror. "No, they didn't. But we humans thought they did."
"Wha? Why?!" she sat up, as if to protest the past itself.
I gently eased her back into bed. "Hey, this is supposed to be a BEDTIME story, you're supposed to be drifting to sleep." I shook my head as I sat back down. "Honestly, I'm still not exactly sure. Perhaps it was to continue the lies that the dragons were evil, maybe to hide the truth of what happened to all the expeditions into the Dragonlands, who knows? But he didn't eat me..."
"Obviously." she remaked to echo my saying the word.
"My Heart, if you want me to ever finish this story, maybe you should stop interrupting...." She stuck out her forked tongue, but lay back and pulled up the covers silently. "So Then, Kinoq opens his mouth wide, but instead of eating me, or burning me with his flames, his voice boomed, 'WHY ARE YOU HERE, HUMAN?!'" I roared with grandeur.
Kalina giggled, and all the world seemed to vanish in that one perfect moment.
"Where was I...? Oh, so I told him 'I have been charged by His Majesty, King Dorian, to broker peace with your KIND' I spit in my anger. 'But I am bested, do with me what you will...!'
"Kinoq stared at me in silence, for what seemed like an eternity, before he kinda snapped his jaws to the side in uncertain disgust..."
"He was talking with mommy!" Kalinda's thoughts projected into my mind.
I shot her a sideways glance. "You KNOW I can't do that, Kalinda." Her gaze fell in shame, but I lifted her face. "...But yes, he, as one of the gaurds of the border, was reporting to his sister, and though he was visibly displeased, he did what he was told. He clutched me in his claw and flew off to here," I waved around the room. "The broodmother's lair...."
"Bleh, please don't call mommy that, its gross!"
"Sorry, sweetness."
She harrumphed but continuned listening.
"Kinoq's words roared through the sky. 'VERY WELL, HUMAN. OUR SPEAKER WILL HEAR YOU.'
"I was stunned. Not only did this dragon not kill me, but he was HELPING me on my quest?!"
"Yeah, it checks out that Kinoq never liked you..." the princess giggled.
"Hey, I told you to stop interrupting." I replied as I laughed with her. "Yeah, long as I've known him, Kinoq has been a grumpy old bastard.
"Anyway, I watched the land sail by under us as he flew farther and farther north. After something like an hour, We circled the Volcano and he set me down with surprising care. 'You'll have to forgive Kinoq,' a voice gently spoke behind me. I turned around, and there stood something I will always only be able to describe as a vision of pure beauty.
"Her long, auburn hair fluttered behind her, and her piercing blue eyes seemed so deep you could fall into them and never reach the bottom, yet they also seemed to drill straight into the depths of your soul. As Kinoq flew off to return to his patrols, her hair and pure white dress flared behind her, making her look almost ethereal in her beauty, though she remained still despite her thin frame, and I struggled to not fall to all fours from the displaced air.
As the wind died down from Kinoq's departure, I realized she had been talking. 'Uh,' I uttered in bewilderment, 'I'm sorry, what did you say there?'
She laughed, and I swear I could feel the reverberations of her laughter in my heart and soul so tangibly, I almost fell to my knees again. 'Sorry,' she continued after a moment. 'I'm not used to dealing with other humans lately.' She strode up to me and offered me her hand.
'I said that Kinoq is a tad...... rugged, but he's a fine and stalwart guardian, and he will not harm you, you have my word.'
"I took her hand and stood upright, forgetting myself a moment, before kneeling in reverence. 'Forgive me, my lady, I did not..... expect this speaker to be another human, I am Ser Parson. Thank you for granbting me this audience, madam....?'
"'Bethandra.' she replied with quite possibly the most awkward curtsey I have ever seen. 'And please rise, Ser Parson,
"'We have much to discuss....'"
​
-----End of Part one(?)-----
TentacleJihadHentai OP t1_jegfxio wrote
This is a nice coupling of basic history, and characterization. It sounds forced until you realized it's being embellished for the child.
TheCapedMoose t1_jeggcs1 wrote
Thank you. Yeah I was going fir the whole "Fred Savage in The Princess Bride" kinda deal, lol. Also just kicking off some rust, haven't really written in years.
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[deleted] t1_jegpv9f wrote
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TheCapedMoose t1_jeg0tj8 wrote
"Ugh....." She sighed and rolled her eyes at me. "Dad, I hate this story..."
I couldn't help but smile gently at her protests. "My dearest Kalinda," I whispered as Ibrushed a lock of her shimmering crimson hair from her face. "This isn't just the sappy story of your father falling in love with your mother..."
"But it IS that, isn't it?" she grumbled with a sneer.
I laughed, honestly more heartily and I meant to. "You are most definitely your mother's daughter!" I cradled her cheek in my palm, her scaly patches cold compared to the human skin covering most of her face. "Yes, that is part of it," She tossed her head back against the pillow in frustration. "BUT!" I hastily added, "It's more a story about how YOU made the world a better place."
She lay still in her bed a moment before tilting her face oh so slightly to barely meet my gaze. "....I'm listening..."
"Some many years ago, in the southern kingdoms, a valiant knight, Parson, was in the dueling finals of the Assesment Tourney." I adopted a battle stance to emphasize my point. "The King Regent nodded to Parson, a longtime friend and protector of his. They had known each other since they were but children. Parson had taught him much of swordmanship, and vailiantly defended him in his budding rule against many an assassin...."
"I KNOW, dad!" Kalinda kicked her sheets. "You were the world's greatest swordsman, countless battles, never lost a fight, blah blah blah..."
I chuckled. "Sorry Princess, you know your father tends to ramble..." She just sternly glared at me, but her attion was obviously rapt with how focused her gaze was. "...So, yes I won the last duel to win the Toruney. I kneeled as the King Reagent strode over to me and offered him my sword. He took it and charged me with the most difficult quest, for scoring the highest in the assesments." My grin couldn't help but fade as I thought of it. I wonder what He would say if he could see how that quest had all turned out. "Our kingdom had long been at war with the Dragons to the North, many skirmishes had resulted in countless casualties between the two civilizations," I grit my teeth, some bitterness that never left after all these years. "Including my father..."
Kalinda's yellow eyes widened, and her reptilian irises shone as she watched me. "....you never told me that..."
I drew a long breath to settle myself. "I know. But if you are really going to know the story, it is important that you know ALL of it..." I lightly gripped her hand and gave a loving squeeze. "I don't regret anything from this story, because in the end it all led to you and your mother. But part of growth is pain, and though I grew from my journey, it came from a place of hatred and anger."
Her tail swished slowly under her covers in wonder. "You used to HATE dragons...?"
I forced a smile to her, but her face told me she could call my bluff, yet she chose not to. "I did. Back then, we were conditioned through stories and propaganda that the dragons were at all out war with us, and only by a strong military front were the knights and soldiers of our kingdom, your grandfather included, able to hold the dragon horde back so the citizens could enjoy some semblance of peace."