Dragon in the Dishwater, Ch 11
Dragon in the Dishwater
Chapter 11
copyright 2013, comidacomida
The outside porch lights were on but the inside of the house was dark, which meant that Eric's mom was most likely in bed. Checking his watch, the young man confirmed that it was barely 10:30-- he was home well before eleven. Even with the many thoughts on his mind, not the least of which were Hiraeth's last words about being the one to take a princess' virginity, he held his tongue and unlocked the door.
The little dragon snaked in between his legs and nimbly scampered his way up the stairs, making barely a sound. Eric closed the door behind himself, locked it, and turned off the porch light; his mom was always in the habit of leaving the light on for him whenever she knew he was out, "Such a waste of money..." he spoke quietly to himself, but smiled just a little at the fact that she was thinking of him.
He glanced up the stairs and saw the amber glint of Hiraeth's eyes gazing down at him from the dark hallway above. Smirking to himself, Eric realized that the dragon was probably betting on him being unable to resist the temptation to hear whatever new tale he was planning on telling-- he had to admit that Hiraeth was good at setting up his curiosity, but he wasn't about to fall for the little dragon's mind games. He waved Hiraeth off down the hall and went to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Eric drank slowly on purpose, letting the relaxing night out sink into him before half of the glass was even gone. In the end, however, his own impatience beat him, and he dumped the rest of the water down the sink, rinsed out the cup, and set it in the drain board. He flipped off the light over the oven, and guided himself slowly to the stairs; the dragon's glowing eyes were nowhere to be seen.
The young man moved slowly down the hall by touch alone, not interested in turning on the hall light for risking his mom waking up. The teen felt a giddy little thrill about being able to sit down with Hiraeth and, hopefully, the dragon would discuss some taboo matters of a very unique nature. Eric found it strange that he was so intrigued by the thought of what Hiraeth had said. The dragon had apparently had sex with a young woman so that she would no longer be a virgin, and therefore useless to her power hungry brother. "And I thought MY family was fucked up." he mused to himself.
Finally arriving at his door, Eric felt around on it until he located the door knob, and then turned it. As the door opened, the young man was bathed in a faint amber light. It took a moment for him to locate the source, and was quite surprised when he found out that it was from a night light he had been given to him for one of his birthdays YEARS before; he hadn't even realized he still had it. The night light had been misplaced a long time ago, and it wasn't something he'd really missed... or, rather, didn't THINK he had.
The young man sat down on the corner of his bed, inspecting his old gift. The entire concept was creatively executed: the silhouette of a howling wolf was made of black plastic, and was lit up from behind by the light bulb which was situated between it and the backdrop. A large, ceramic moon was perched behind the wolf, allowing the light from the bulb to reflect off of it. Eric's father had given it to him; his dad used to say that when he was a baby he used to cry like a wolf howled.
The teen sighed, then swallowed the tightness in his throat as he leaned forward, switching the night light off. "Where in the hell was this thing?" he asked, glancing around the room. Presenting the rest of his senses and his focus to the darkness, Eric realized for the first time since coming into the room that he was alone. The young man was just about to get up when he heard the soft sound of talons scraping quietly along the hardwood floor of the hallway. "Hiraeth?"
"I am here, Eric." the dragon replied, waddling forward on two legs while holding a cup in his dexterous forepaws. He used his tail to nudge the door closed after he passed through.
Eric didn't bother wondering how Hiraeth had slipped past him to go downstairs; he had long since taken to the understanding that the dragon was capable of far more than--
"You did not turn the light on when you came upstairs." the dragon noted, setting the glass down on the floor so he could hop up onto the closed lid of Eric's toy box.
--capable of more than just reading his mind.
"I do not read minds, Eric." the dragon reminded him.
"I know... I know." the young man let out a huffing sigh. He gave Hiraeth a moment to get comfortable, leaned down to pick up the dragon's glass, then handed it to him.
"Thank you, Eric." Hiraeth offered amiably.
"You're welcome." the teen responded, contemplating the dragon's sudden decision to get a glass of water. Eric smirked, considering the thought that Hiraeth had run the extra errand just so he would have to wait for his return. On that note, the young man stood, and strolled over to the closet. "Sometimes I think you miss your spot on the book shelf." he started up some small talk as he unbuttoned his shirt.
"I am too large for the book shelf now, Eric." the dragon noted, the glistening, clear membranes of Hiraeth's inner eyelids slid across his eyes, somehow visible even in the half-light coming in through the room's window blinds.
"Yea... I know." the young man shrugged in response, taking off his shirt and tossing it into his hamper of dirty clothes. "So the toy box is your new favorite perch?" he asked the question with a smile, wondering how long it would take for the dragon to realize that he willingly stalling Hiraeth.
"It is convenient." the dragon slid the tip of his tail across the wood grain on the side of the box, "But when I get larger I will find someplace else to sit." Hiraeth, who had looked down at the topic of discussion, returned his gaze to Eric, who had just added his jeans to the same pile of laundry, "I can return to the top of the book shelf if you believe it would help for the sake of tonight's story." he offered accomodatingly.
Eric smiled to himself; bingo-- he had finally managed to get Hiraeth to be the one to put the topic back on track, "Oh... nah... that's fine." he smiled more openly as he wriggled one leg then the next into a pair of sweat pants and then moved over to plop down on his bed. "You were gonna tell me about Dwy, and what she needed to do to escape her brother's interest in using her as a bargaining chip."
"Yes." the dragon nodded, "And how she asked me to be the one to take her virginity." Hiraeth added in a surprisingly direct manner.
Eric did his best to pass off his interest in the last part with a simple, "Yea... I guess that too." but the appraising look given to him by the dragon suggested that his feigned indifference was not all that believable. With a sigh, the young man dropped the pretense, "I mean... did you... like..."
"You should write your mother a thank you letter." the dragon suddenly interjected.
"What?" Eric sat up, completely blown for a loop at the addition to their conversation, "That kinda came out of left field."
"Your mother purchased you a car, Eric..." Hiraeth cocked his head to the side slightly; Eric found the gesture quite dog-like, "Would it not be wise and kind and proper to write her a letter in thanks?"
"I already said 'thank you'." the young man reminded the dragon.
"Yes... I know." Hiraeth acknowledged, "I saw and heard it." the end of his tail swung idly from the edge of the toy box, "But you will have the car for years and years... could you not take the time to provide her something she could keep for just as long?"
Eric frowned, and spoke plainly, "She'll treasure the memory forever, I'm sure."
"Eric..." the dragon lowered his head slightly and looked up at the young man, "You should be grateful for the gift your mother gave to you."
"I AM." the teen attested, working to keep his voice down, "I told her 'thank you'."
"Henri Frederic Amiel once said 'Thankfulness may consist merely of words; gratitude is shown in acts'..." the dragon raised his head again and blinked, "This means you should write a thank you letter." he added with finality, "I am sure of it."
"Who the hell is Henri Frederic Am... Ami... Am..."
"Amiel." Hiraeth finished for him, "Henri Frederic Amiel was a 19th century philosopher from Switzerland. He has many memorable quotes attributed to him, but I believe his quote on thankfulness and gratitude is most meaningful in this case."
"GOD... all-RIGHT." Eric rolled his eyes, "If it means so much to you, I'll write a god damn thank you letter." and he shuffled through the papers semi-organized on his nightstand until he found a pad and a pen.
"It does." the little dragon bobbed his head in acknowledgement, "And I know it will mean even more to your mother. She loves you, you know."
"I know... I know..." the teen grumbled, putting the pen to the paper as he began to compose the letter, "She says it often enough we've both heard it." he paused when Hiraeth opened his muzzle, "If that's another quote, PLEASE don't." the dragon's maw snapped shut audibly.
In the end, it took Eric twelve attempts to complete the letter. Although it started as an exercise to quiet the nagging dragon, once the young man had started in earnest it became more a labor of the heart. He thought on what his mom had said when she handed him the keys; the extra shifts she'd taken was to help pay for his car.
He fought against his initial thoughts which suggested that she was going to make him pay for it some way: trips to Dr Marlowe or more 'family time'... but the expression on her face... the way she told him how proud she was of him... he realized that there was no trade beyond her keeping her promise for him improving his grade in Leadership. Eric glanced to Hiraeth once the letter was finished; how many times was it possible for the little lizard to be right.
"Okay... I'm done." he noted, adding as much of a frustrated tone as he could manage to the words, even if he no longer felt it.
"May I see it?" the dragon asked, holding up a foreleg.
"Sure... I guess." Eric shrugged and handed it over to Hiraeth, who carefully moved his body to the far corner of the toy box's lid so he could spread the paper out. The dragon pointed a single talon at a nearby candle, which sprang a flame, providing him more light. The first time Eric had seen that 'parlor trick' it had freaked him out. Though he still couldn't figure out how Hiraeth did it, there was no longer the same sense of surprise.
"Ahem..." Hiraeth noted, looking down at the paper, "Mom..." Eric's voice emerged from the dragon's muzzle, "Thank you for the new car... it's really cool. When you first told me that you'd get me a new car if I could do better at leadership I just thought that you were nagging me because I wasn't doing a very good job. I didn't think you'd really get me a car... and I'm sorry for not knowing you better than that."
Eric shifted on the bed, uncomfortable at hearing his own voice speak the words, "Do you HAVE to read it out loud?" Hiraeth looked up from the letter, "I do not HAVE TO, no." and gazed back down at it, continuing, still in Eric's voice, "I know I'm not always the perfect son, and I keep thinking that's okay because nobody's perfect. But that doesn't give me an excuse to stop trying. I don't say thank you very often, and that's not okay, so here goes. Thank you again for the car, and thank you for loving me, and thank you for being my mom." the dragon looked up from the paper, voice becoming his own again, "That is very sweet, Eric."
"Yea... yea..." the young man waved the compliment away, reddening at the Hiraeth's words, "Are you done now?" "Of course not." the dragon stated solemnly, "There is still more here." he cocked his head to the side, regarding Eric, "You wrote it... you should know it is not done."
"Yay..." Eric noted with obvious lack of enthusiasm, "I think you get the idea... it's done." and he held his hand out for the paper.
Hiraeth obediently refolded it and put it back into the young man's grasp, but continued talking in Eric's voice, speaking the letter from memory, "I know you might want to keep this letter or whatever because that's what mom's do, but please please PLEASE don't frame it and put it in the living room. And thanks again, Mom." the dragon grinned at him and returned to speaking in his own voice, "I like that last part."
"Oh shut up." Eric rolled his eyes, tossing a small pillow at the dragon.
Hiraeth ducked, and finished the recitation of the letter without using Eric's voice, "I love you... Eric." the dragon ruffled his wings and settled them back down across his back as he curled up on the toy box, "It is a very good letter, Eric... I KNOW she will love it." the dragon blinked with a relaxed sigh; the candle extinguished. In the darkness, Eric's voice drifted from the toy box, "PS: If you REALLY want I'll sit down with Dr Marlowe and I'll be okay with more family time."
"I did NOT write that, you little fucker!" the young man laughed, hurling many more pillows, one after another in the dragon's direction. It took the better part of twnety minutes for the 'battle' to end, plus time to clean up the spilled glass of water, at which point, Eric put the letter in an envelope and Hiraeth promised to stop suggesting additions to the note. They settled down to sleep with the dragon's story left untold.
* * * * * *
Eric awoke far-too-early due to weight settling next to him on the bed. The blankets pulled a little tighter against his side as Hiraeth laid down and the young man felt a stir of warm air tickle his hair. "What?" he opened his eyes and turned to the dragon, "It's like... three. Whadda ya want?" he strung the question out through a yawn.
"You asked about Dwy, and how she lost her virginity." Hiraeth spoke calmly, in a relaxed manner, and, to Eric's chagrin, without any trace of fatigue or weariness in his voice.
Letting out another yawn, the teen sat up, "Well... yea..." he stretched, "But I was thinking, about, BEFORE we went to bed... not at--" he checked the clock, "Three twenty three." He glance down at the dragon, who had sat up and was running a talon across the bedspread, dipping the nail into the lines of moonlight cast onto the blanket by the blinds.
"This is a better time for it." Hiraeth explained cryptically, "The moon is just right." he added another talon to his motions against the cloth. At first, Eric thought that it was just the sleepy bleariness of his eyes, but, as he watched the trail of Hiraeth's talons he was unable to deny that the horizontal bars of light wavered and flowed in response to the dragon's continued touch.
"What are--?"
"If I am telling you a story, Eric, then you should listen and I will speak." Hiraeth's eyes glimmered with reflected moonlight, though he was facing away from the window. Still gazing at the young man, the dragon continued his gestures, calling Eric's attention back to the pool of illumination spread out before him on his blankets. No longer the vertical stripes of moonlight cast by the blinds, the light seemed to takes cues for its form from the dragon's still-moving talons.
Everything else around Eric, already shrouded with the shadows of night time, seemed to fade even further into the background. All else lost meaning as every last one of the teen's senses attuned to the circular glow, and, only then did Eric realize that he was gazing at the moon. It was no longer slats of moonlight, and it was no longer a reflection from his bed. He sat on his unseen bed, surrounded by the unseen contents of his room, gazing down at a surreal vision of the moon as if he were gazing up at it in the sky... but it seemed so much bigger.
"Hundreds of years ago, the moon was larger in the sky." Hiraeth spoke, and only then did Eric realize that he could see the front of the dragon's body illuminated by the moon shining up from the non-existent bed, outlined as if from a tv set in a dark room, "Scientists say that the moon is slowly drawing away from the earth, hence it looks smaller centuries later."
Eric remembered hearing something of the sort, but he was so transfixed on the otherworldly events taking place in front of him the best he could acknowledged in response was a simple, plainly-put, "Oh."
"But this story only includes the moon in passing." the dragon continued, and Eric watched as a black silouette crossed in front of the moon. "The night she asked what she did of me we flew far away from the cottage where we had stayed for several months... the air was cool, but warming as the year aged... it was already late enough for the spotted rockrose to grow, and I could smell it on the breeze." Hiraeth let out a soft churling sigh, "They have a very faint scent... most humans could not tell, but I knew they would soon be in bloom."
The dragon looked up at him from across the eerie bedspread-become-sky, and slowly swirled his talon in the image, changing it and altering it until it reminded Eric of moonlight cast across a body of water. Once again, there were two silhouettes-- a young woman, and a dragon, easily the size of a small pony, "How large are you going to get?" Eric whispered, surprised at the difference between the pony-sized dragon and the small-dog-sized dragon sitting near him.
"Shh..." Hiraeth objected to his interjection, eyes still on the scene. Eric looked back down and saw the young woman rest her chin on the dragon's shoulder, and the dragon's head turned to lay acros the top of hers, "It was there, by the sea, that signaled an end to Dwy's virginity... and the start of a life where she knew she would no longer need to be afraid."
Eric waited for a moment to be sure that Hiraeth wasn't going to add anything to his story before he spoke up,"So..." he paused a moment, figuring out how best to phrase his question, "You... and she..."
"I severed her hymen with a talon." the dragon explained. He removed his talon from the pool of light, and it wavered, returning to the mundane lines of moonlight cast upon the bed by the blinds.
"I--" Eric paused at the admission, "What?"
"The healers of the time would examine a woman... if her hymen were intact she would be considered a virgin; if it were not intact then it would be assumed that she was not." the dragon offered the words simply, "She did not want to take a man to bed just so she would not have to fear her brother, and so she sought my help, and I willingly did so."
"Oh..." the young man paused, the teenage hormones pumping in his body suddenly held in check by the almost surgical explanation offered by the dragon.
"Once I had done as she asked, she held a cloth to the blood, planning to send it with a message to her brother, letting him know that she was no longer of use to him." Hiraeth continued.
Eric nodded, leaning back against the wall, but not before running his hand across the bedspread and the moonlight; it felt entirely normal. "Hopefully her brother wasn't the vengeful type."
"He was not." Hiraeth confirmed, "With so many plans for consolidating power and improving his station he did not have the time or energy to seek vengeance."
"Oh..." the teen nodded, "Well that makes sense, I guess... so she cleaned up with a cloth, and then you two returned back to the cottage?"
"Not entirely." Hiraeth noted, "And once she had bled on the cloth, I cleaned her with my tongue. We stayed on the coast for the night, and--"
"Wait!"
"Yes, Eric?"
"You just said you cleaned her with your tongue." Eric pointed out.
"Yes." the dragon confirmed.
"As in..."
"Yes." Hiraeth nodded, "Once she had the blood she needed to send as proof to her brother, she laid back and I cleaned her." his nicticating membranes blinked, "Dragon saliva was thought to be a powerful cure for injuries and sickness."
"Oh..." Eric paused, "So it was just healing... it wasn't about--"
"And she sought to share herself with me, and take of me in turn." the dragon gazed down at the bed spread as if an image were still there. "It was far easier for her to accomodate my tongue and grow comfortable before we made love."
"Made love?" the question came out in a surprised, hushed tone.
"It is a suitable term for the event." Hiraeth cocked his head to the side as he regarded Eric, "We had known one another for many years. I had great fondness and adoration for her; she wished never to be without me. We completed in one another what we each lacked individually... is that not love?"
"I guess so..." the teen shrugged, "I guess... I dunno... do dragons really think of it as 'making love'?"
"What else would it be called?" Hiraeth asked, head still askew curiously, "Having sex?..." his ear sails raised, "...fucking?" the word dribbled from his muzzle in distaste and he lowered his ears, "No... we did not do that..."
"Yea... uh... I guess not." Eric fidgeted, the expressions on the dragon mirrored by his own stomach, "Maybe..." he shrugged, "I guess I woulda thought something like 'mating'..." and he added, "I guess."
"I did not mate with Dwy." Hiraeth sat up straight, "Dragons do not mate."
Eric raised an eyebrow at that, "Uh... well... isn't technically 'making love' and 'mating' the same thi--"
"It is not." the dragon countered, "Dragons do not reproduce, thus there is no act of 'mating'..." he flicked his wings, "If you are looking for a more scientific and less narrative term then I would propose 'mounted'... but that would not be wholly accurate either."
"Because there was more meaning to it than a biological act?" Eric asked.
"Yes." the dragon nodded, "but also because she would mount me before we take flight. I would be standing, and she would be on my back. Using the same word would be entirely confusing when one considered that I was on my back and she was astride my underside while we made love."
Eric had never thought it possible to have such a casual conversation about sex, especially not the act of it... and especially ESPECIALLY not with a dragon. "So..." he had a hard time trying to figure out what to say.
"I was worried that I would hurt her if I were to instigate." the dragon stated.
"I got it..." Eric acknowledged, "Thank you."
Hiraeth blinked his nicticating membranes again, "I believe the colloquial term would be 'cowgirl position'."
"Yea..." the teen nodded vigorously, "I figured."
Eric realized when the dragon opened his muzzle to continue that, by that point, he was continuing just to make the teen more uncomfortable, "THE END!" the young man interjected.
Hiraeth smiled, and Eric realized that he had nailed the dragon's plan exactly. "Alright, Eric... the end." he surrendered, "We returned to the cottage the next day, and Dwy was confident that her life could finally began."
"A life with you." Eric ventured.
"Yes." the dragon nodded, his smile becoming less good-humored and more wistful. "I loved Dwy greatly... rarely does a dragon grow as close to their human, and I will carry her memory with me for all my lives."
"Do you miss her?" the teen asked, leaning forward a little.
"Of course." Hiraeth nodded, blinking both sets of eyelids before continuing, "But I have memories, and, for a dragon, they can be as real as what stands before us." he said the words looking straight at Eric, saying nothing more, but there was a sense of something that the teen couldn't place... something lacking.
The young man nodded, and reached out to rest his hand on the bridge of the dragon's muzzle. Hiraeth raised his head, pushing it forward until Eric's fingers rested on either side of the ridge between his eyes. The teen felt a faint twinge of envy at the dragon's words-- to feel so strongly about someone that the emotion would last forever, "I'd say you were both really lucky then."
"And I would agree." the dragon spoke softly, "Good night, Eric." and slowly got to his feet.
"You don't have to sleep on the toy box, Hiraeth." Eric noted, and gently hooked a finger around the short horn at the end of the dragon's snout, applying gentle pressure with it to coax him closer.
The dragon smiled, his clear eyelids closing completely as he rested his belly back down onto the bed, and crawled his way up to lay down beside the teen. Hiraeth rolled over onto his side atop the blanket, close enough to Eric that the teen could feel the faint bumps of the dragon's back ridge against his chest.
"Thank you for telling me about Dwy." the young man spoke quietly, "she sounds like she was amazing."
"She was." Hiraeth spoke quietly, "Every human is amazing in their own way."
"Something tells me that she never would have realized it if you weren't there." Eric drew an arm out from beneath the blanket and gingerly slid it under one of the dragon's wings, hugging him a little closer.
A soft rumble, emerged from the dragon, somewhere a mix between a purr and a laugh, "Dragons often end up in the lives of those who need us the most." Hiraeth's top wing extended, and folded backward across the teen's exposed arm like a living blanket. It was the most comforting gesture Eric could ever remembered having experienced.
It took a moment before the teen realized that the wetness on his cheeks were tears... and his words came out at a whisper, "Amen to that."