Cedar Sanderson is doing N'inktober, so I'm going to follow along and do what I've been trained to do by the Raconteur Press Postcard books: come up with a story to match her visual prompts. I can't guarantee that I'll have a complete story for every image, but I'm going to at least try to come up with a scene, a start, or an idea!
Moist Celosia
Nibble poked his scaly head out from under Trip’s cloak and gave a curious little growl.
“Shhh!” Trip looked around nervously as he pushed the dragonlet’s head back under the folds of cloth. “D’ya want the whole keep to ken we’re about? There’s great knights here that would sooner slay ya than look at ya, for sure!”
Nibble’s response was a muffled, but resigned yaaaars. He felt the light pinpricks of needle-sharp claws as the dragonlet shifted around under the folds of fabric.
Trip managed a few steps before his conscience got the better of him. Father Adam has said in the last mass that lying was a sin, and that exaggerations were just lies that got all puffed up. He stopped with a sigh and twitched his cloak back, turning to look at his scaly stowaway. Nibble blinked oversized eyes at him, then opened his mouth wide in a yawn.
“All right. There’s not knights, plural, so much as one knight.” Trip paused, considering, before going on. “And Sir Burt is a lot rounder than most knights, I suppose. Still great, but mebee in a different meaning o’ the word. Still, he’s here to oversee the rebuilding of keep, after the, uh. You know. The situation.”
Nibble closed his mouth and hung his head. He might not have been smart enough yet to know a lot of Human, but he knew certain words. He definitely knew what he’d done.
What they had done, rather. Trip chucked his companion under the chin, lifting his head. “Hey, now. If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. I knew you needed the cockscomb, but I din’ know about the other stuff. You was just hungry, and who can blame you for that?”
Everyone knew dragonlets loved to nibble on and roll in cockscomb. While most people knew that it made their tiny flames burn hotter, few knew that it also tended to give them hiccups. He’d found that out one night in the old stables, after feeding Nibble a handful of dried flowers as a treat. A burp, a hiccup, and a jet of white-hot flame later, they’d ended up fleeing the burning keep along with Father Adam and the handful of other workers at the keep.
Trip shook his head, dismissing the memory. “It burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp, it did. We’re just lucky that they were planning on tearing it down anyway. Cook managed to save his pots, and nobody else had anything in the main halls, so that was good. Father Adam has said it was a ‘blessing in the skies’, whatever that means. Cook agreed with him, so I s’pose it all worked out. Still.” He scratched Nibble under the chin. “No more, eh? Let’s see how the garden is going.”
The garden was off in the corner of the swampy area the keep inhabited. It looked like a sad little pond, stone slumping against one another, overgrown with weeds and thistle. Trip was fairly certain it had originally been intended as a fire ring. Moss and muck had filled in the gaps in the stone, turning it into an area of squishy and slimy - but fertile - soil.
Trip pushed aside the exterior weeds to reveal the prize at the center. A thick cluster of swamp cockscomb pushed up through the muck, trembling in the breeze. Nibble caught sight of them, let out a squeal of excitement, and tried to launch himself into the cluster of flowers.
Trip was ready for it, and caught him easily. “Ha! Greedy beast! Hold yourself!”
Nibble huffed, but relaxed in his hold. The dragonlet’s eyes remained glued to the flowers just in front of him, though. Trip reached out an plucked a single flower.
The dampness of the swamp had let it grow thick and juicy. He rolled it around in his fingers, feeling the weight of it. The dragonlet trembled and looked up at him for permission.
“Well, now. Let’s see if this works, eh? If it does, I c’n keep you, I think.” He didn’t want to consider the alternative.
Please, Lord. I could use one of those blessings from the skies, if it’s not too much trouble.
Trip held the flower out to Nibble and nodded.
Nibble moved so fast that he didn’t even see it. The flower was in his hand one moment, gone the next. Nibble let out a tiny growl of satisfaction as he chewed. Swallowed. Then his eyes crossed, his mouth opened wide, and the tiny lizard let out a resounding BURRRRRUPP that Sir Burt would have been proud of.
Instead of a white-hot jet of flame, there was a roiling ball of… well, Trip wasn’t quite sure what it was. It looked like fire, and it was warm, but it felt moist. More like fog when he waved his hand through it. Whatever it was, it hung in the air for a brief moment before vanishing away.
Nibble burped again, then looked up at Trip. “Moaaaaar?”
Trip laughed. “Greedy guts! Go on. Help yourself.”
Nibble gave a distinctly un-draconic squeak and left into the flower patch, rolling around with abandon. Trip chuckled. No more dried flowers for you. And hopefully, no more burning keeps.
I like it! Celosia is edible (it's in the amaranth family) so this resonates very well. And the dragonlet is cute.