Zephyr let out a bit of a whimper from where she was lying down next to Nova, and Nova swallowed, pushing herself up and putting a hand on Zephyr’s shoulder. “It—it’s okay,” she said though her own voice was quieter and more shaky than she meant it to be. “I think he’s done.”
Zephyr didn’t respond, so after a moment Nova sighed and patted her back a little, shakily getting to her feet and looking around. Where were they? It was absolutely nothing like Florida. A vast green plain of bright, soft grass surrounded them, towering purple mountains and low rolling hills spread out along the horizon and a line of deep green trees in the distance, showing the makings of a huge forest. The midday sky was the brightest, clearest shade of blue she’d ever seen, and the sun seemed…brighter than usual, Nova having to shield her eyes with her arms at the golden glare of it. And a cool, gentle breeze was blowing through the grass, a sweet, fresh sort of smell carrying along the wind, faintly reminding Nova of early spring rain.
“What happened?” she asked Korgad. “What was that light? Where are we?”
“That light,” Korgad repeated, still panting a touch as he opened his eyes to look at her without raising his head, “as you call it, is a portal. Not the most stable one, either.” He sniffed a bit, closing his eyes again. “They’re not as easy to get through as they once were.”
“I don’t understand,” Nova told him, frowning and moving to sit back down in front of his face, crossing her arms and feeling suspiciously like a child compared to the sheer size of him. She shouldn’t have sat down, she realized. It made her realize she was smaller than his head. But she had more important things to worry about than how big the dragon’s snout was, or how his eyes were bigger than her fists. Despite her many questions (because, really: portals?), she refocused on what most mattered. “What about my mother?”
The dragon huffed again, lifting his head and sort of rolling a little, then turning his back to her and dropping his head once more, to where she wasn’t in his eyeline and couldn’t see his face.
“Hey!” she snapped, a surge of irritation going through her as she got back up, marching around to face him again and frown. “You can’t just take us to some…some other part of the world and then ignore me! Where are we?!”
“Ragond,” Korgad told her, opening one eye and glaring piercingly at her with it. “And it’s not another part of your world, girl. Ragond is its own world.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Ragond is not a part of your world,” the dragon said slowly, tilting his head a little as he opened his other eye and gave her a searching sort of look. “Do you understand? It’s a world of its own.”
“You don’t have to act like I’m stupid.” Nova gritted her teeth. “Excuse me for being surprised to have you tell me we’re on another world!”
“You’re excused,” Korgad told her, closing his eyes again.
“What about my mother?” Nova pressed, reaching out and tapping at the dragon’s head—then pulling her hand back with a gasp and falling back as the dragon snapped his head up, gnashing his teeth a little. She tripped over a root or rock or something, falling to the ground and tensing as she stared up at him, once again realizing that…he was a dragon. His mouth was big enough to bite her head off if he wanted to. Korgad narrowed his eyes at her again and then let out another huff, lowering his head back to the ground, ducking it a little and once more strangely reminding Nova of a cat. Or, more specifically, a cat that knew it had done something wrong.
“Never poke a sleeping dragon,” Korgad muttered. “I told you, the jump takes a lot out of me. I need rest before we can go on. I’ll answer your questions later.”
“Fine,” Nova said, standing back up and passing him, making sure to leave plenty of space between them as she did. “But you don’t have to snap.”
Korgad let out a little growl, once again rolling his shoulders to face away from her as she made her way back over to Zephyr, who was sitting up now and looking a bit exhausted and still generally stunned, but calmer now.
“Hey,” Nova said, sitting down next to her friend and looking her over carefully. “You alright?”
Zephyr blinked, turning to her in something of a daze and then nodding. “Y-yeah…” She swallowed. “Yeah, I’m okay…This is really happening. We’re on another…we’re on another world.”
Nova nodded, looking around. “It’s kind of…nicer than Florida, yeah?”
Zephyr let out a bit of a chuckle, rubbing at her eyes and nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”
Nova chuckled back, feeling better now that Zephyr felt better. “Anyway, I guess the dragon needs to rest before we keep going, so…we probably should try to get some sleep, too. It’s like…past eleven back home.”
Zephyr nodded, lying down in the grass and putting an arm over her eyes. Nova did the same, and after all the excitement and adrenaline from their first flight—albeit an interrupted one, with that stop at the beach—it didn’t take long for her to drift off herself.
Nova woke up slowly, forgetting for a moment what had happened and where she was before a breath of hot air hit her face. She blinked her eyes open, her heart jumping into her throat at the giant, scaly, snakelike face with burning amber eyes staring at her from only about a foot away. “GAH!” she yelled, shooting up and pushing away from Korgad as the memories flooded back to her. “Don’t do that!”
The dragon backed off a bit, letting out a low, rumbling sort of sound as his shoulders shook. He was laughing, Nova realized.
“What-what-what!” Zephyr was gasping, sitting up quickly herself, looking around blearily and seeming incredibly confused before letting out a groan, rubbing her forehead. “It wasn’t a dream?”
“Why were you staring at me?!” Nova demanded of Korgad, feeling her cheeks heat up as she got to her feet and shot him a glare.
“Come,” Korgad told them instead of answering, turning to the side and spreading out his wings, crouching low. “We have no portal to race towards now, but time is still of the essence. Climb onto my back and hold on tightly. We must go on.”
“Ngh, no more flying,” Zephyr groaned, rubbing at her eyes as she stood up.
“Would you rather stay here, little girl?” Korgad asked her, tilting his head a tad as he looked Zephyr over. “In the middle of the plains, with nowhere to go and no way back?”
Zephyr stared at him for a moment, her eyes widening, and then she let out another groan, her shoulders slumping a little.
“Hey, leave her alone.” Nova frowned at Korgad, moving over to Zephyr and putting her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “Zeph, it’ll be okay this time, trust me. It…if we’re on his back, it’s not gonna be the same, right? Don’t tell me you’ve never thought of it, of what it would be like to fly on the back of a dragon or giant eagle or something.” She offered a small smile. “I know you’re not big on adventures, but I’ll be right next to you, okay? It’ll be fine.”
“Fine,” Zephyr sighed, turning back to Korgad with a look of curiosity, biting her lip a little. “But I’d better not fall.”