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I draw her face to face with me. Her hot breath billows against my nose. Setting her down on the ground, I watch as her attention jets over her shoulder, and she stills. She swings and launches at her own twitching tail, spinning circles, and grappling with outstretched claws. She eventually ends up on the ground.

A smile lifts my lips at the innocence of it. I can’t place why she might have slipped out until the scent of the forest lingers over me: sap, earth, and cedar. Flooding me with memories of home. I didn’t realize how much it reminds me of my father, my brother, and my mother.

How much I miss them.

What if keeping her at the camp is a mistake?

Perhaps shewassafest out here. In theory, she should be able to take care of herself, given the fact she’s a dragon: a flying, fire-breathing—

Wait—flying. If she could fly, she could at least get away if she were in trouble. If something kept me from being able to return her to the Dragon Lands myself, she could go on her own, at least.

Daeja jumps back up to her feet, her tail clutched between her teeth as I crouch down near her. I take a fingertip and start at the bridge of her nose and slowly drag it up between her eyes, over her head and down her neck between her shoulder blades. I stopat the joints of her wings and recall my father’s journal entry about hatchlings. Gently hooking a finger under her wing, I lift. Her wings flare to life. The newfound weight makes her topple over, and I catch her before she falls. Once I steady her, I stand.

“Ok, now fly!” I call out and point to the sky.

She tilts her head with a blink but doesn’t move. I raise both of my arms above my head and flap them. The muscles above her eyes raise in question. I jump into the air as I flap, and I’m sure if anyone else saw, they’d think I’ve lost my damn mind.

“You can do it! Just like this!” I pause to see if she’s catching on.

She jerks her chin up repeatedly, like a series of small nods, and pauses. Watching me.

I gesture again with a flap of my arms and jump.

She lifts her chin again.

Oh…she’s encouraging me.

I chuckle. “No, no. Not me.You. I don’t have wings.” I reach forward, delicately grabbing her wings and flapping them.

She looks at her wings and wiggles them slightly. Her eyes round in amazement and realization that these things are attached to her.

“Now flap them, and fly!” I hint at the motion again.

She grits her teeth at her first attempt. But she isn’t able to lift off the ground. She just slowly falls to the side. We try again and again, until I realize she might need a running start. My gaze travels over to the lake, my heart pounding in my ears.

It makes the most sense.

If she crashes, it’ll be into the water.

But what if she can’t swim? What if she drowns?

My thoughts spiral. Down and down. And now I’m stuck at the bottom, clawing my way back up as emotions swarm me.

I miss him.

I miss my brother.

Had I only listened to him when he told me to stop playing near the river, he might still be here today. I might not have accidentally knocked him into the current rushing with Dragon’s Back Ridge’s snow melt. I should have been strong enough to pull him out. I should have been able to save him. But I couldn’t.

And I didn’t.

I bite my tongue at the surge of sadness and guilt. The fact that I couldn’t save him or my mother.

What makes me think this will be any different—

Daeja touches my hand.

The warmth of her breath blows against my sweaty palm. I drag my gaze away from the water and toward her glowing white eyes, sparkling in the moonlight. I scratch underneath her chin, and she melts into a purr. A smile cracks at my lips.