A Fae-re Tale For Gem... (solo story this time, friends...)

(Authors note: this scene takes place about 8 months after Gem was born... Fae children developed at a much faster rate than humans, for all that Fae have such a long lifespan...)

Krystal smiled fondly as she patted her daughter's blanket into place.

Gem (Guinivere Elizabeth Murphy) looked up at her parents with eyes fighting to stay open.

"Story, Mommy!", she said firmly.

"What kind of story, sweetie?", asked Krystal.

"A real one... from Fae-re...", Gem said, mumbling slightly as she fought off sleep, blinking slowly.

"Well... this didn't happen to me, but Fairy Nyx swears it's true..."

Once upon a time, outside a little village north of Oz, there was a human woman, heavily pregnant, who took shelter in a cavern. She had been going to visit Glenda, and dark had fallen before she could arrive.

During the night, her baby arrived, and after she wrapped her warmly in her shawl, she lay down to recover. As she slept, a troop of trolls entered the cavern, and the woman hid the bundle containing the infant, and then tried to hide herself.

The trolls, smelling human, found and dragged out the woman.  They dragged her out to the fire before the cavern, and as they argued about what to do with her, the woman managed to use a crystal she recognized on the ground where lay to communicate with Glenda.

Glenda, not knowing that the baby had been born, conjured the woman to her castle.

The trolls, aggravated by the loss of their intended meal, argued so vehemently with each other that they did not realize that the sun had risen, and as the first rays struck, they were transformed into stone.

Now the cavern was home to a young female dragon.  She sensed that someone had entered her domain when she awakened, and searching, found the stoned trolls outside... she too smelled human, but no sign of an adult human did she find. She heard the cooing cry of an infant from within and quickly located the infant girl.

The dragon in question, far from being as is normal, indifferent to if not antagonistic to humans, and having no way to find her parents, decides to care for the child herself.

The dragon had always been fascinated by humans, and had learned much from observing them from the sky on her flights, so she was fairly well equipped with knowledge on the care and feeding of them.

She hunted down a nanny-goat to provide milk, and raided villages as needed to provide clothing, toys and other necessities so that she could educate the youngling.

By the time the human mother recovered enough to hunt down the location of the cavern, the dragon had become quite attached emotionally to the baby. Fearing to anger such a fearsome protector, the mother approached and herself befriended the dragon, vowing that they would remain near and that the dragon could visit with the girl whenever she chose.

Thus the girl grew up to have no fear of dragons, and was educated in both the human fashion and in dragon-lore..."

Krystal, looking down, noticed Gem begin to snore softly, her eyes fluttering behind the lids.

Krystal gently probed her daughter's mind, smiling that her daughter dreamed of dragons.

(To be continued on another night...)