a lesson in hording (2/3)

In Adventures ・ By MilkRat, Zincwolf

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Hecate blinked at the improvement, half wondering if she talked more to this... well. Special nephew of hers perhaps she could make a normal dragon of him yet. Being around their parents, one only occasionally speaking in one word sentences and the other only talking when he had to talk about territory or fighting probably didn't encourage him to learn much.

Maybe this Hatchling would be her project for a time.

"You collect it," she stated carefully, and very eloquently, making sure to pronounce the sounds more than usual to make it easier for Egg to hear them, if he wanted to try and copy or learn again. "You find it yourself. Treasure can be anything you like. I personally prefer gold and jewels. Precious metals and gems are traditional, but. I suppose it could also be something that's special to you. Like wood, stones, shells, or even scales from your downed enemies or prey i suppose"

“Shell?” Shell was his brother...it took the giant dragon a minute to calculate that she meant shell as in shell and not shell as in brother. Drowned enemies? Why would he need to drown anyone? “Wha-at are enemies?” This was a word he had never learned yet, being as big as he is, you'd think he was old enough to know all this stuff already but in reality he was very much still a baby, a big confused baby.

Hecate tilted her head slightly at the fact he didn't know, but after a moment of consideration about how he was brought into the world and who his parents were settled her puzzlement pretty fast.

"Enemies are those who wish you great harm, or even death. Sometimes those whom you hate with all your heart can be enemies, even if they have done nothing to you. If you've not managed to acquire any yet, then you are living a good, kind life and you should not change it. Enemies are not good things to have"

Egg watched and then tilted his own head, almost as if he was perhaps mimicking Hecate's movements. "No...ene.mies...I have no enemiess...I...think..." His sentences were almost full if not a bit spread out. It was a struggle for Egg, making full sentences but Hecate seemed almost pleased when he tried the first time.

She smiled towards him lightly and nodded. "I didn't think so. You're a sweet boy. Come on - let's go find you something. Do you know what sort of things you like yet, or have you not thought about it?"

A smile…he got a smile! He seemingly perked up a little more, excited. What things did he like? He liked food and Bran and Levi and his brother, shell...shell…shells…Did he like shells? Were shells shiny? He liked shiny things, pretty things… “Shiny…I like shiny…things.”

Hecate paused to think for a few moments. Shiny things. Hm. She didn't want to overwhelm him, and she also didn't want to give him something Speedy would immediately take.

That last thought gave her pause. Speedy was one for just showing up at the worst times.

"Alright. Well, after giving it some thought, we should find you a den first. Mine is above ground because I don't have gills, and I spend almost all my time there. Some dragons have dens way up in the mountains because they're easier to protect and hide. Can you think of any good hiding spots?"

As Ocean as the giant dragon was, he as well, did not have gills. “I… know place…” Egg spoke and then stopped, furrowed his eyebrows and repeated his attempted sentence. “…I know… a… place.” It was a nice place, one above ground but the entrance could only be reached via sea. He had found it accidentally and no other dragon had seemed to be living there.

Hecate let out a pleased little puff of smoke before sliding fully into the water until just the sharp shapes that made up the top half of her head were visible.

"Show the way, little one. I'll see if it's good enough for a den to protect"

Egg didn’t question the fact that Hecate called him small, given the fact that he was at the very least twice as big as Hecate. He turned, leading the way to his potential hoard hideout. It was pretty far away from where all the other dragons stayed and perhaps where they kept their own hoards. So it minimized the chance of Speedy stealing his stuff. “This isss it…” When he spoke it was a lot better than all the other times, besides his S, which he held longer as he figured out what to say next without stuttering.

He easily pulled himself mostly out of the water and onto the shore of the underwater cave. It was big, big enough for a second dragon the size of Egg to fit comfortably next to him.

Hecate surfaced a moment after Egg, staying in the water for the moment and peering around. She snorted gently, causing a spray of water to flicker out and splash a few inches in front of her as she looked around, and slowly, she finally took her first step onto dry land. Fanning out her wings to dry them a little, water sloshing off her slowly writhing frame easily, she paused, her long tail still half in the sea. Contemplating for another long moment, she started walking around the area, tapping on the cave wall with her claws and listening for any echos, sniffing around in search of any tracks or scents or hidden passageways. When she didn't really find any, she looked up, wondering if it was a true cave or if it had an opening above.

Egg followed her gaze up, wondering what was up there but he saw nothing. He turned his gaze back to Hecate and made a questioning noise. There was nothing up there, only cave ceiling and the only entrance was thousands of feet below the surface, so far that if either of the dragons in the cave didn't have a way to move extremely fast through the water they would most likely suffocate before reaching his cave.

"Isss...thiss, good?"

Hecate pondered for a moment, her tail tip twitching side to side in deep thought, before she finally nodded.

"This is good" she stated, matter of factly.

"You can guard from people trying to steal things, its enclosed and spacious, and most importantly..."

She flickered her bright, piercing eyes in his direction. Despite their harsh appearance, her gaze held nothing but calm beneath.

Like most of Hecate, she was scary on the outside, but inside. She wasn't nearly as bad.

"... It's Speedy proof" she scoffed. "Never tell your mother - or your father, for that matter, because when it concerns your mother he's a selfish bullhorn - about your cave. Or at least where it's located or how to get into it, and certainly don't bring them here. This is our little secret. Okay?"

The large dragon nodded slowly and then a little quicker. This was their little secret. He could do that! He could keep it a secret and then no one can steal his treasures! That was the point of a hidden cave right? He tilted his head, staring at Hecate but not really seeing her. His eyes refocused on the green dragon and he let out what could be translated as a happy chuff of air. He could try to talk and seem intelligent but at the end of the day he was his mothers son and sometimes no words were much easier.