Urial giggled as Aimu explained Will’s first attempts at baking. “So where does he get the yeast?”

“That I actually don’t know. He always seemed to have that pile of goop he uses. Not sure where it came from I was a bit too young.”

“Weird.” Urial paused, “Do you hear that- Aimu? Aimu!”

Aimu was gone.

***

*Click. Click.* *Click. Click.*

Aimu’s talons clicked on the cobblestones. Occasionally angled to grip the cobblestone. She swung her tail to turn a corner and hit a crowd of people.

Humans when standing beside something. Don’t stand exactly against it. Between the stalls of the shops and the various walls there was a gap which Aimu exploited.

People yelled, but the average person only saw a red and black blur and didn’t know exactly what they were looking at. Aimu was usually pretty sluggish, but at the cry of help from her partner she moved like the gust of air in a fire. In a flash she had arrived.

Will pleaded, “Come on give him back.”

“He doesn’t want to come!” A female draconian voice hissed.

Sapo corrected, “Actually I wanted to talk to- Aimu!” Sapo’s tiny tail and claw waved at Aimuzjon.

Aimu focused on her scales. Humans have hairs, and when scared their skin prickled causing the hair to stand up. In a similar way Aimu’s scales could perk up and settle down. In this case she wanted to be big. Red, and mean.

Aimu’s voice growled, “Sapo. What are you doing?” Her tail smacked the cobblestones, scales rattling across the uneven stones.

“Okey. Hear me out. This dragon likes me too! I wanted to ask. Can I have two girlfriends?”

“No.” Aimu snarled. Her tail thrashed at the base sweeping the fog away with a puff of steam.

“Oh.” Sapo paused, “I am very sorry ma’am. I am going to stay with Aimu. It was nice to meet you. I’m certain you are a nice dragon and will find many lovers in the ocean.” Sapo dove below the water.

“Sapo!” William called out. Oblivious of what the tiny dragon was doing.

Sapo was swimming in circles, building speed until he leapt out of the water. Soaring through air in a perfect arc. A predictable arc which was easily exploited by his captor who snatched him out of the air with a snap of her jaws.

“Excuse me!” he called from inside her mouth “That is very rude, I wish to be with Aimu. Please let me go!” The mystery dragon placed Sapo in the center of her coils and tightened her grip.

“Fool. This is my tiny male.” She opened her mouth and in a manner similar to Sapo and launched water at Aimu. Several warning shots that hit the ground so hard they knocked the stones out of their place, or broke them outright.

“Was that supposed to scare me?” Aimu snarled again.

The dragon-napper snarled back. Launching the blasts with a glimmer of light.

Dragon magic was strange. It required a dragon obviously, and no one seemed to know how it worked. The only thing anyone agreed on was it required the dragon to do something.

In this dragons case, subtle motions of her small vestigial claws lead the brunt of her attacks.

Aimu ignored the attacks and started to walk closer. She closed her scales, the icy water was slowing her body down. Keeping her claws out she dragged herself through the torrent of water.

She couldn’t see the dragon lunge. Teeth caught her neck and bit hard. Missing her tender body and instead being smacked across the face with Aimu’s impressive tail.

“I am three, no five times bigger then you!” The dragon boasted, “Surrender!” Though true the aggressor seemed longer. Aimu was confident she was heavier and stronger.

“Make me.” Aimu slowly circled the fountain, as the dragon circled the inside of the fountain. Every step she took dried the slime to a dust and cleared the fog away. Revealing the fountain for the battlefield it was.

“Beat her up! Rescue your boyfriend! Aimu! Aimu! Aimu!” Urial had arrived and started to organize the crowd to cheer for the well known dragon.

The crowd grew around the fountain. Everyone loved a good fight. No one had seen a dragon fight before.

“Last chance. Give me my boyfriend back!” Aimu growled.

“As you said. Make me.”

The dragon lunged. Biting Aimu again at where her neck would be. Aimu turned her head as the dragon bit hard onto her horns. There was a loud crunching sound as the dragon pulled back. Broken teeth fell from water dragon’s mouth. It didn’t affect the toothy grin. She had a lot of teeth. Aimu’s horn was very strong and neither dragon seemed bothered.

Aimu reared up on her hind legs. Supported by her tail she swung her arms wide in a gesture of mocking. Exposing her belly as a taunt. The serpent launched another torrent of water.

Aimu sighed. The water boiled from the heat of her glowing belly.

The water dragon slithered in a motion like a figure eight. “You are weak. Tiny and helpless. I have taken your mate and I will take your life!” The wordy Dragon boasted

“You talk too much.”

“You talk too much.” Aimu lowered her body to the ground and charged the dragon directly. Leaping towards the fountain. The water dragon struck like a viper. Aiming to bite the soft scales on Aimu’s belly. Instead of leaping through the air as one would expect. Aimu slowly began to spin. She tucked her head into her body and curled her limbs. Her head rotated away from the dragon who realized her mistake too late.

Aimu cartwheeled with what appeared to be a gentle spin. At the last moment she arched her spine and her tail swung. Driving her tail into the aggressor dragon. Instead of biting Aimu’s neck, the dragon got a face full of tail. Aimu’s entire body flexed and her mighty tail smacked the dragon’s face into the edge of the fountain. Where the twin glowing eye’s briefly blinked out. With a little hop Aium fell into the water grabbing Sapo and pulling him free of the dragon.

“Mine!” Aimu roared triumphantly, as Sapo clung to her neck

The dragon threw her coils over Aimu and dragged her below the water.

Urial gasped, “Will? Can Aimu breath underwater!”

“No.”

All motion in the fountain stopped and the crowd waited in baited breath.