The aged dragon stared at Riyala with a gentle look on its face, and even though its mouth didn’t move, Riyala could hear its booming voice as it spoke.
"You are so young, my child. How unfortunate you should be burdened with so much responsibility at your age."
Riyala frowned at those words, but she didn’t have any time to respond as the dragon spoke up again.
"Tell me, child. Why have you come to the Forest of the Dragons?"
Riyala swallowed, and she was only a moment away from wringing her fingers together from nervousness, but she just managed to catch herself before she could do it, and she spoke up in a loud voice!
"I-I came to ask for help! A tyrant has taken over our world, and my people are trying to regain our freedom! We need the dragons to fight for us so we can defeat him!"
The aged dragon shifted slightly on its platform and Riyala watched as the entire cave seemed to shake from that one movement – the dragon was so large! The dragon turned its body so it was facing Riyala fully, and then it spoke wisely.
"You say your people are being tyrannized. But tell me, is this tyrant not also one of your people?"
Riyala’s face squeezed into a look of disbelief! She had once thought of the Sovereign as a military soldier that she could trust, but after everything that he had done, she couldn’t even imagine him as a fellow dragonborn! The aged dragon seemed to read exactly what was on Riyala’s mind and it let out a low, rumbling laugh.
"Hahaha. You dragonborn and your need for segregation. Your people have always known how best to create classes and differences between yourselves, but that has only led to more problems. The dragons have never come to you to ask for aid in solving an internal problem, so why do you burden us with this plea?"
"I-I know you’ve never asked us for anything, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have helped you! If you asked us for help, you would have received aid!"
"We do not come to ask for help because we do not need help. That is the way of a people. They create laws to govern themselves, and it is their responsibility to face whatever consequences arise from their laws and decisions. Your laws allowed this tyrant to rise into his current position, so you cannot beg for aid from a foreign people when things do not go your way."
Riyala felt despair taking root in her heart when she heard the dismissive tone of the aged dragon! It almost sounded like it was telling her it wouldn’t help her, and Riyala felt helpless as she said.
"Why are you so cruel? We have shared this world with you for so long. I had a partner who was one of you, and I loved him all my life! Why won’t you help us! You only stay with us when things are good, but once we are in trouble, you run away from us! Is that what partners do!?"
The aged dragon withstood the weight of Riyala’s anger with a calmness that only managed to make Riyala even more annoyed! It was obvious that the dragon was not interested in helping her, and she was terrified that she had come all this way for nothing! She thought that the dragons were their friend! All their lives, the dragonborn children had been taught that they were meant to take care of the dragon and care for them as their lifelong partners! And they believed that the dragons would do the same thing! Was all that really just a lie! Was it only the dragonborn that saw the dragons as their partner, and the dragons didn’t even care about them at all!? Riyala didn’t want to believe that! She knew that the dragons cared!
The aged dragon spoke up again.
"Child, you are mistaken. I do not say your people do not deserve to be saved, but rather, I say that your people ought to take care of their problems by themselves. Imagine we aid you in your problem this time, what happens when there is another inevitable conflict in your world. Would you ask us to put ourselves in danger and help you again?"
"YES, I WILL!"
Riyala suddenly shouted out in anger and the aged dragon was taken aback by the sheer emotion it heard in Riyala’s voice! Riyala glared up at the dragon with tears in her eyes and her hands were clenched so tight that they were almost leaking blood!
"If we’re in trouble again, then I’ll come and ask for your help! I’ll do it as many times as I need to because I know I wouldn’t abandon you in your time of need! If you ever need our help! If the dragons ever need the dragonborn to help them then we would all mobilize for you! You are our family, and we will defend you till the day we die! Just like we expect you to defend us till the day you die! That is what family is for!"
Riyala refused to believe that her mother was wrong! Riyala’s mother had taught her that the dragon and the dragonborn were from the same lineage, and they were both family! That meant that no matter what happened they were meant to be there for each other! Riyala knew that the dragons were meant to help her and she didn’t care what she had to do to make it happen!
The aged dragon stared at Riyala with a look of slight shock on its face. It hadn’t expected Riyala to suddenly express herself with such ferocity, and it was obviously taken aback by the shout! But it didn’t take long before the dragon threw its head back and began to laugh! It was a low, rumbling laugh that sent tremors through the entire cave, and Riyala could literally feel the ground under her feet vibrating from that intensity!
"HHAHAHAHAH! Yes, you are definitely the one! Child, you have moved the heart of this old woman. Never did I think I would meet a young dragonkin with so much love for both of our people."
Riyala was still confused by what the dragon was talking about, and she could only stare in wonder as the old dragon waved its tail to motion her over.
"Come here, child. Let me get a better look at you."
Riyala steeled herself and she began walking towards the dragon. The large platform that the dragon was lying on was more than three meters off the ground and Riyala had to jump to climb on it before she knelt at the edge of the platform. The dragon wrapped its tail around Riyala gently, like a mother holding a child in her arms and she looked down at Riyala with kindness in her eyes.
"Your presence here is not an accident my child. This meeting between us was ordained by the dragon gods years before either of us was conceived, and this is only the threads of fate finally intertwining. I have decided that your heart and mind are in the right place, and so I will tell you the truth about this war and the reason why the dragons have decided not to aid your people in it. Are you willing to listen?"
Riyala was sitting on her knees and looking up at the dragon like a child watching her mother and she nodded once to confirm that she was ready. The aged dragon hummed and shifted slightly before it finally began to speak.
"Your people and mine have been connected for a long time by the history we share, and we shall be connected for long into the future so long as nothing irreparable breaks us apart. But as of recent, there is one man who has been seeking a power far greater than what he can control, and in order to attain this power, he is willing to burn the bridge between our worlds and create a divide that can never be reversed."