Lou

  Lou snuggled up to the warm something in his arms. Soft, warm, and vibrant... Very lively.

  Confused, he opened his eyes. He saw pretty, long feathers gleaming in the light. In his sleep, Lou had clutched Harper's dragon's tail and rested his head on the feathers of the tip of his tail. "Oh."

  "Definitely! That you can sleep like this... I would never have fallen asleep because of fear!" growled a voice nearby. Nina. Lou could hardly see his sister, but he heard her displeasure all the more clearly. "He could crush you!" she added bitterly. "How heavy is he? If he rolls on you, it's the end of you! You realize that, right? That's a dragon! Not a dog."

  "Hm."

  "Hm?" Nina ughed softly. "That's all you can think of? Good, anyway. It's none of my business, right?"

  The dragon rumbled softly. Harper had woken up. Lou heard his sister's breath catch for a moment. But he had only just woken up. Her words hardly made sense to him. His thoughts were still half-hung in the dreams of the night. "Hm." Drunk with sleep, Lou rubbed his eyes.

  "But, Lou?" His little sister sighed. "Aren't his dragon scales cool and hard?"

  "No." Lou didn’t sit up. Tiredly, he stroked the shimmering scales. "No. Not... They only seem... hard." He yawned. "Soft and warm. Robust. A good bed!"

  But unfortunately, his bed decided to take on human form again. "So I'm your bed now?" grumbled Harper, stretching. Lou now sat on the hard stone floor without a soft pillow. Pouting, he looked at the dragon. "What?" Harper raised his eyebrows with a grin.

  "I'm cold now!" Lou moved close to Harper. Every morning was cool, but soon the sun would bring the heat of the day.

  "Mom and Dad must be worried..." Nina sighed. "I didn't tell them where I was going..."

  "You didn’t?" Harper asked. "Oh, oh. Good luck! Shall I dig a grave for you?"

  "NO!", Nina hissed indignantly. "That's not funny!" Lou just blinked and snuggled up to his friend's warm body.

  A dragon yawned loudly and stretched. Lou heard the dragon fpping its wings. Another dragon growled annoyed. Harper's family slowly woke up. And someone else too was already awake.

  "Good morning!" Nour rumbled into the cave. "Get out of bed! Lou! Come on! The stream is back! Oh..." Lou heard Nour stop suddenly. "Who are you?" she asked.

  "Who are you?" replied Nina. "And what kind of stream?"

  "I'm the prettiest girl in the world! And you?" Nour wrinkled her nose. "What are you doing here? Who are you? You look strange."

  "You're not the most beautiful girl!" Nina said offended. "That’s Louise. I'm Lou's sister. Nina!"

  Lou nodded zily. Silently, he wondered what Nour meant. Why did Nina look weird? He had no idea that Nour was talking about Nina's thin hair. A sore point.

  "Aha..." Nour now turned away from Nina, hurried to Lou, knelt on the floor, and threw herself into his arms. "The stream is back! It doesn't appear often!"

  "A stream?" Helplessly, Lou looked from Nour to Nina and then to Harper.

  "Children? What's the point of the drama?" Hallie's voice thundered through the cave. "Nour? Do you know how early it is? And where is your good morning?"

  Nour snorted. "Good morning, Hallie and the rest of the family. It's very early, but the sun will dry up the creek quickly!"

  "What kind of stream?" repeated Nina. Lou nodded.

  "Ah. About once a year, sometimes more often, water collects between a pair of rocks. The creek stays for a few hours before the water evaporates. Take Nina with you. You can bathe in the water. Harper? After that, please take Nina home. Before her parents get sick of worry! Don't think I didn't hear that! The least we can do is bring her back clean and well! The girl... Excuse me, child, but you probably smell unpleasant to human noses." Hallie snorted loudly. "Go and let us sleep! It's much too early! When did the sun rise? Just now?"

  "No idea?" Harper kissed Lou's hair, stood up, and held out his hand to Lou. "Come on, Vivi. Nour is right. You can't miss the stream."

  "Yes! We can have a water fight!" Nour jumped up enthusiastically. "This one is coming with us?"

  "Hey!", grumbled Nina.

  "Nour! You don't point at others!" hissed Harper. "And her name is Nina, not this one."

  Apparently, Nour had pointed to Lou's sister. Lou, however, only recognized the colors of the two girls. Dark and light. They were a contradiction. Maybe that's why they didn't like each other? Something stung in his heart. Did that make him sad?

  "We're going swimming?", Nina asked anxiously. "I can't swim. And Lou..."

  "It's just a stream!" interrupted Nour. "The water goes up to your knees at most! Or up to the waist. Come! Before the old dragons squat in the water with their huge buttocks and we have no more space!"

  "Nour!", Hallie warned quietly. Lou heard one of the other dragons snorting in amusement.

  And so Lou and Nina were led by the two dragons to a stream high up in the mountains. Harper said that the water gushed out of a small crevice. And not often, as Nour had said. The dragons didn't know how it came about. Maybe it was rainwater that collected underground and came out when it reached a certain amount?

  The water shimmered peacefully in the sunlight until Nour jumped in. Thick drops spshed on Lou, Nina, and Harper. Nina scolded angrily, but Lou touched one of the drops on his nose with a slight smile. "Can we really get in there?" he asked shyly.

  "Yes. Do you want to take off your clothes? So they don't get wet?" Harper asked quietly. He leaned close to Lou's ear. His voice sounded mischievous. Lou immediately grimaced. Just like Nina.

  "Forget it! You just want to look!" shouted Lou's sister. "Hands off my brother! He's only sixteen!"

  "That's right. That's what he wants! Harper wants to look sooooooo badly! Because he likes Lou sooooo much! He wants to smooooouch Lou!", Nour confirmed with a ugh. More water spshed up on Lou and Nina. "Now finally get into the water!" urged the dragon girl.

  Nina wrinkled her nose, Lou blushed, Harper snorted, and Nour ughed even louder.

  "Come on! At least you take off your sandals! Maybe the pants too? Otherwise, they’ll get wet. I won't look, I promise." Laughing sheepishly, Harper stroked Lou's hair. Then he looked at Nina. "You too. Your sandals."

  Lou nodded and did as he was told. He chewed his lower lip restlessly and took off his light-colored linen pants so that they stayed dry. Just as Harper had advised him. Only the long, white tunic he kept on. This reached just above his buttocks. Nervously, Lou pulled on it, as if it would make it longer. "Hm."

  Nour giggled. "You're so cute, Lou! What is it? Come into the water! Come on! We're having a water fight!"

  Unlike Lou (and Nina), dragons cared little about whether he was clothed or not. In human form, they wore the illusion of clothing because they knew that this was important to humans.

  Harper grabbed Lou's hand, carefully loosened it from Lou's clothes, and then led him into the creek. Lou was startled when he felt the water on his feet. It was cold. "Oh!" He didn't see Nina shake her head. Nor did he hear her mutter something stunned. After all that had happened, she wanted to protect her big brother. Even if these two dragons posed no danger. Except, that one of the dragons wanted to 'look'. But as promised, Harper did not do this. Initial.

  "Come on." Harper ughed softly and pulled Lou deeper into the creek until Lou was up to his waist in water. Lou stared at the water, he could vaguely see how it glistened in the sunlight. Then he looked at Harper. His friend chose light green, fine clothing as an illusion that day. The color suited him well. Lou also realized that Harper's face was slightly reddened. The dragon's gaze hung on Lou's white clothes, which became slightly transparent in the water. Lou bit his lower lip again and pulled on his tunic.

  "Ah. Sorry!" Immediately, Harper looked away embarrassed. "It wasn't intentional. Really."

  Nour, on the other hand, stood in the water, all wrapped in bck and gold. She sprayed water at Lou again. He blinked. "Water fight!" the girl shouted, ending the embarrassing situation.

  "You'll get that back!" shouted Harper, spshing water on Nour. After a short time, a water fight broke out between the two dragons. Lou held his hands in front of his face. He didn't know how to react. Run away, perhaps?

  "The two of them have too much energy!" grumbled Nina. Slowly she went into the stream. "I'm just tired."

  "Hm." Lou nodded. He was also tired. And excited. Fearful.

  "Come on! Join in!" A load of water hit Nina, which came from Nour. "Don't be a bore, Lou's sister!"

  "Hey!" Nina wanted to scold at first, but Lou heard her voice break. In the end, his little sister remained silent. Is she afraid of Nour?

  "Bore!" the dragon girl repeated. "If you don't want to py with me, then py with Lou! He doesn't know how to do it!"

  "Huh? He doesn't know...?", Lou's sister replied taken by surprise. "Py? I'm too old for that! Why should I py with you? Why should Lou py?" Nour's reaction to Nina's questions was an annoyed snort.

  Harper ignored the two girls and ran back to Lou to hug him. "Come on. We both spsh Nour wet. She deserves it!" he whispered in Lou's ear. "Your sister is welcome to get a little wetter too!"

  "What?" Lou, on the other hand, shook his head.

  "Come on. Dare to do it. It's fun." Harper kissed his cheek. "It's funny. Just a game. Dip your hand into the water and hit it in Nour's direction. Like this!" Standing close to Lou, Harper showed him how to do it. Water spshed upwards. Nour squealed and answered with all the more water. Lou blinked when it hit him in the middle of the face. Then he dipped his hand into the water and aimed at Nour's colors.

  The water spshed. Then he heard Nour squeal. "Hey!" she protested and spshed back. Nina, on the other hand, avoided the water and washed her face and thin hair with the clear water a little away from them. "You're crazy!" she shouted. But her voice did not sound angry. She sounded amused. "Lou? Are your dragons always like this?"

  "Hm." Lou blinked as some water hit him again.

  sasi