Kyoko

For months, Kyoko wandered the frozen north searching for somewhere to call her own. From peak to peak she searched for suitable dens to make her home in. Never quite satisfied, though, she ended up meandering a little further south than she had intended and stumbled upon a sight that delighted her to no end. A human village! Real humans, just like her dad had been!

For an afternoon she circled high in the air and watched them scurry around the village like little ants. She had only ever heard about humans from her mother, who’s first mate had been a human, so seeing them with her own two eyes was like a dream. After circling the valley about two dozen times, Kyoko finally spotted a cave overlooking the human settlement in the hills. It was occupied by a large bear, but she had never known a dragon to turn down a den that came with a free meal. By the time the sun set, Kyoko sat at the mouth of her new den with a full belly looking over the valley with a burgeoning fondness in her chest.

Unbeknownst to her, however, the residents of the village did not hold the same fondness for her that she felt for them. She had no way of knowing, of course, but humans were by and large terrified of dragons. For a mountain village like the one she spent her days perched above, one that survived largely thanks to their cattle and goat herds due to the short growing seasons, a single dragon spelled disaster. A herd of cattle could be wiped out in a week by a dragon, or the dragon could demand tribute which the poor residents had no way of paying to ensure their safety. Deciding to be proactive, the village pooled their resources and hired a famous dragon slayer.

On a cloudless afternoon shortly thereafter, Kyoko sat perched in her usual spot, a large boulder just outside her cave where she liked to sit in her human form and watch the town. She imagined what the people must be thinking and doing, and what their lives must be like. More than anything, she wanted to just glide down and land in the market square and introduce herself, but she was too nervous to actually do it.

Lost in thought, Kyoko almost missed the slight snap of a twig that signaled the arrival of another person into her clearing, but at the last minute, she looked to the left to see a human had approached her den. "Oh my, a human!" Kyoko squealed happily as they stepped towards her. She clapped her hands together and gestured for them to join her. "You’re the first human I’ve met so far. Please, come, tell me all about yourself. I want to know everything. I'm Kyoko, by the way."

A foul stench wafted in the air from the south, alerting Kyoko to the presence of a sizable tribe of nomadic goblins making their way to the village she had recently taken residence near and adopted as her own. She wasn't sure exactly how strong humans were since she had never seen them fight before, but she was still pretty sure that a tribe of goblins would at least be a bit of a challenge for a group of humans. They were just so soft and squishy compared to a dragon like her, who lived inside a suit of scaled armor, so she figured she would spare the humans the trouble and take care of them herself.

Shifting back to her dragon form, Kyoko stepped out of her den and leapt into the sky with a mighty beat of wings. She only had to fly a minute before she found what she was looking for, nearly 200 goblins dressed in hides with spears and clubs. For a brief moment she thought about taking them back to her cave as food storage, but they didn't exactly smell tasty so that idea was quickly discarded. With a slight adjustment to her wings and tail, she glided down towards them silently before folding in her wings and diving. With a mighty roar she strafed over them, breathing out a jet of blue flame and igniting a sizable portion of them before crashing into the snow with a loud thud.

The fight was quick and brutal, resulting in about half the tribe fleeing back south and away from her new home, while the other half of the tribe lay strewn about her. She surveyed the battlefield in her human form and crossed her arms smugly, satisfied with herself for defending her humans. "That’s right, you stinky green… whatever you all were. Leave my humans alone." She nodded to herself, and for the briefest moment thought about eating one just to try it, but ultimately decided against it. Deer and elk were probably tastier anyways.

Still in her human form, Kyoko flew at a leisurely pace back to her den in the hills overlooking the village. When she landed at the mouth of the cave, to her surprise there was a human inside her den, looking through her horde, which mostly consisted of books and other human trinkets she had inherited from her father. "Uh, excuse me, but what are you doing in my home?" She asked the unfamiliar human. "I… don’t really know much about human etiquette and culture since I haven’t met a human personally, but in dragon culture it’s pretty rude to go through a dragon’s horde without permission."

Several weeks had passed since Kyoko took up residence in the cave overlooking her precious human village, and each day she watched them live their lives, wishing she could join them. She had instead taken to being their silent protector. She’d killed wolves that stalked their flocks, and even repelled a sizable tribe of green things that were apparently called goblins.

This morning would be different, though. This day would be the day she would finally be brave and go meet her beloved humans in the village. Kyoko got a running start and jumped off the cliff, soaring on her wings while still in her mostly human form. She glided down towards the busy market square and landed with a thud in the snowy square.

For the slightest of moments every eye in the market was on her, but everyone was frozen in place. She was frozen in place by her shyness, still trying to think of something to say, but the humans were frozen in place by the abject terror of a dragon landing in their town, assuming their worst fears had come to pass. Just as suddenly as the moment of silence started, it ended. Humans screamed and ran for cover, children cried, and men shouted for the dragon slayer they had just hired.

"No! Wait! I don’t mean any harm to any of you! My name is Kyoko, I just want to be your friend. I’ve never met any humans before, please... can’t we just be friends?" Kyoko’s eyes shimmered with tears as her beloved humans scurried away from her in terror like roaches scattered at a sudden light. Only one human dared to approach her, raising their sword to her. "Please… I don’t know why you are all afraid, I… I just want to be friends, don’t you believe me?"