Sunbeam Lair stroll the merry way

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He watched the trees around him while huffing up a storm and when his pulse began to decrease to a more manageable tempo, the boy figured that nobody had noticed his incursion.

Wrong, of course. In the next moment there came a voice — shrill and young but demanding all the same — and for a split-second Tryphon couldn't differentiate the tones of the child from an adult; he rose to his paws, fumbling and losing balance within seconds so that he fell sideways back upon his haunches, clearly spooked. But when he caught sight of the voice's owner, he almost smiled at his own stupidity.

It was, after all, only a child.

But the mother wasn't far behind. She came swooping in to herd the girl away, and then turned to regard Tryphon keenly. He expected a backlash. The stone-gray fur along his shoulders began to prickle with nerves. Yet when she spoke, she did so evenly — and Tryphon got a good look at her. He barely remembered their meeting, but her face and her voice sparked a vague memory.

I'm sorry, apologized the boy. I didn't mean to get so close, as he spoke he let out a held breath, slowly. And then he glanced from the adult to the child and back again, studying them. Tryphon ducked his head a little bit to show his submission, unsure if he needed it — and then he commented, Your daughter? She was a little doppelganger to the dragon woman.

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