The Heartwood the wolf and the lion

His burst of self-assurance elicited a cheeky smile from the young woman. Although he’d seemed angst-ridden about fires and dragons beforehand, he spoke with renewed confidence about battling one of the fierce creatures. “Even if you ended up like this crispy fellow – " she started, peering at the lion’s unfortunate-looking remains, “ – I’d make sure you still went down in history as a fierce trooper.”
 
Her gaze alighted upon his dark features, meeting his blithely while her tail swung in a jovial wave. “Do you have a name, dragon-warrior? Or do you prefer to be called that instead?”