I Abandoned My Beast Cubs for the Protagonist... Oops?-Chapter 107: Another Dragon Friend

"So," Yòu Lín said, tugging on Hóng Yè’s sleeve as they stumbled through the tunnel, "do you think Elder Emberglow would let us visit tomorrow? Or maybe later today? How many hours are in a dragon day? Is it the same as regular days? Ruì Xuě, do you know?"

"I don’t know," Ruì Xuě said.

"Okay, Hóng Yè, do you know?"

"I don’t know ANYTHING anymore," Hóng Yè muttered. "I don’t know where we are. I don’t know how to get back. I don’t know why I agreed to watch you. I don’t know—"

"That sounds like a lot of don’t knows," Yòu Lín observed. "You should work on that."

Hóng Yè made a sound like a dying teakettle.

The tunnel stretched ahead of them, dark and twisty and absolutely identical to every other tunnel they had passed. Which was fine. Great, even. Tunnels were fun. Tunnels were—

"Are we lost?" Ruì Xuě asked.

"No," Hóng Yè said.

"Are you sure?"

"...No."

"HA!" Yòu Lín pointed triumphantly. "You said don’t know again!"

"I’m going to strangle you."

"That means he loves us!"

~

Twenty minutes later (or possibly three hours, time was fake in dragon mountains), they emerged into a cavern that was DEFINITELY not the one they’d started in.

This one was full of stuff.

Not normal stuff. Dragon stuff. Piles of gold coins big enough to swim in. Jewels the size of Yòu Lín’s head. Shiny rocks in every color imaginable. And in the center of it all, on a massive stone platform—

Food.

Not normal food. Dragon food. Whole roasted animals bigger than Hóng Yè. Fruits that glowed faintly in the dark. Cakes stacked higher than Yòu Lín could reach. And a fountain, a literal FOUNTAIN, of something thick and golden and definitely drinkable.

"Oh," Yòu Lín breathed. "Oh no."

"What?" Ruì Xuě asked nervously.

"I’m hungry."

"Yòu Lín, no."

"Yòu Lín, YES."

"You can’t just—this is someone’s HOARD—"

"So? We’re guests! Guests get snacks!"

"We are NOT guests! We’re TRESPASSERS!"

"Trespassers who are very hungry and very cute." Yòu Lín was already moving toward the food mountain. "The dragons will understand."

"THEY WILL LITERALLY EAT US."

"Worth it."

Hóng Yè grabbed Yòu Lín’s tail. Yòu Lín kept walking. Hóng Yè dug in his heels. Yòu Lín dragged him forward.

"Why are you so STRONG?!"

"FOX POWER!"

Ruì Xuě, caught between the two of them, made a decision that would haunt him forever.

He grabbed a leg off the nearest roasted animal and took a bite.

It was the best thing he had ever tasted.

"Oh," he said, eyes wide. "Oh no."

"WHAT?"

"This is REALLY good."

Yòu Lín discovered the golden fountain and immediately stuck his face in it. He came up sputtering, golden liquid dripping from his fur, with an expression of pure bliss.

"IT’S HONEY. IT’S THE BEST HONEY. RUÌ XUĚ, COME HERE."

Ruì Xuě was already there, having abandoned all pretense of responsibility.

Hóng Yè stood at the edge of the food mountain, torn between fury, fear, and the undeniable fact that the glowing fruit smelled incredible.

"If we get caught—"

"We won’t!"

"—they’ll kill us—"

"They’re dragons! What’s a little stolen food between future meals?"

"That’s—that’s not—YOUR LOGIC IS TERRIBLE."

"TRY A FRUIT."

Hóng Yè tried a fruit.

It tasted like sunshine and happiness and everything good in the world.

"Oh no," he whispered.

"I KNOW RIGHT?!"

~

They were discovered about thirteen minutes later.

Not by a dragon.

By a baby dragon.

A tiny thing, barely bigger than Ruì Xuě, with scales the color of new leaves and eyes so big they took up half its face. It appeared at the edge of the food mountain, blinking sleepily at the three creatures currently ravaging its family’s snack supply.

Yòu Lín froze mid-bite.

Hóng Yè dropped his fruit.

Ruì Xuě slowly lowered the honey-covered leg he’d been gnawing on.

"...Hi?" Yòu Lín tried.

The baby dragon tilted its head.

Then it waddled forward, grabbed a piece of glowing fruit, and sat down next to them.

"Sharing is good," it said in a tiny, high-pitched voice. "Mama says sharing is good."

Hóng Yè’s brain broke.

Twenty minutes after that, they had a new friend.

Her name was Glimmer. She was forty-three years old (which was apparently "very small baby" in dragon years). She had eleven older siblings who never let her play. And she thought the "tiny fuzzy creatures" were the best thing she had ever seen.

"You’re so SOFT," she marveled, poking Yòu Lín’s tail. "Why are you so soft?"

"Fox," Yòu Lín said proudly.

"What’s a fox?"

"Uh..." Yòu Lín looked at Hóng Yè for help.

Hóng Yè was too busy trying to calculate how much trouble they’d be in when—not if, WHEN—they got caught.

"A small fuzzy thing that causes chaos," he muttered.

"That sounds WONDERFUL," Glimmer said. "Can I have one?"

"NO."

"Aww."

Ruì Xuě, who had somehow ended up with a tiny crown of flowers on his head (Glimmer’s contribution), was watching the baby dragon with something like wonder.

"You live here?" he asked.

"Here? No, this is just the snack cave. I live three caves over with my clutch. But the snack cave is the BEST cave."

"There’s a whole cave just for snacks?"

"Of course! Where do YOU keep your snacks?"

"In.....a basket? In Mama’s hut?"

Glimmer stared at him like he had just admitted to eating dirt.

"A basket."

"It’s a very nice basket!"

"A basket."

"Stop judging our basket!"

The reunion was interrupted by a distant roar.

Glimmer’s head snapped up. "Oh no. That’s Mama. I’m not supposed to be in the snack cave after dark."

"It’s not dark," Yòu Lín pointed out.

"It’s always dark in the mountain. That’s why we have light rocks." She pointed at the glowing crystals. "Duh."

Another roar. Closer.

"I have to go," Glimmer whispered. "But this was the BEST. Can you come back tomorrow? Please? I’ll show you the bouncy rocks!"

"The WHAT rocks?!"

But Glimmer was already gone, scrambling up the wall.

The three cubs stood alone in the snack cave, surrounded by evidence of their crimes.

"We should go," Ruì Xuě said.

"Yeah," Yòu Lín agreed. "But first—" He grabbed another piece of fruit. "For the road."

"YÒU LÍN."

~

They found the way back eventually.

Mostly because Hóng Yè had been paying attention to the tunnels despite his earlier claims, and also because the mountain seemed to have decided they were too stupid to lose permanently.

When they finally stumbled into the guest quarters, the first thing they saw was Bai Yue.

Standing in the doorway.

Arms crossed.

Eyes doing that thing where they looked calm but were actually volcano calm.

"Hi Mama," Yòu Lín tried. "We made friends?"

"Friends," Bai Yue repeated flatly.

"Two of them! First a big dragon! His name is Elder Emberglow and he’s very sad but also very nice and he has the softest furs and—"

"Four hours."

"—and then we found a baby dragon named Glimmer who showed us the snack cave and we didn’t eat THAT much honestly Hóng Yè ate the most—"

"TRAITOR."

"—and also the honey fountain is AMAZING and we brought you some fruit—" Yòu Lín held up a slightly mangled glowing apple, "—see? We thought of you!"

Bai Yue stared at the fruit.

At her three children, covered in honey and mysterious crumbs and what might have been dragon drool.

At Hóng Yè, who was trying to hide behind Ruì Xuě despite being twice his size.

"I don’t know whether to hug you or strangle you," she said.

"Both?" Yòu Lín offered. "Hug first? Then strangle gently?"

Bai Yue let out a groan

Later, much later, after baths and scoldings and a very long explanation that somehow involved more dragons than seemed possible, Bai Yue sat with Han Shān in their quarters.

Zhēn was asleep between them, having been reluctantly surrendered by Dà Jiāo Huǒ for "family time."

A knock at the door.

Cāng Jì stood there, looking slightly frazzled. "The council has reached a decision. About the Stormcrown situation."

Bai Yue sighed. "Let me guess. More meetings?"

"Worse." He winced. "Fēng Líng wants to meet you. Tomorrow. Personally."

"Meet me? Like... talk to me?"

"Like... she wants to have breakfast with you. And the cubs. And Zhēn."

Bai Yue stared at him.

"The dragon princess who wants to marry you wants to have BREAKFAST with my CHAOTIC CHILDREN?"

"Technically she doesn’t want to marry me anymore. But yes. Breakfast."

From the bed, Yòu Lín’s voice piped up. He was supposed to be asleep.

"BREAKFAST?! With a DRAGON?! Does she have a snack cave? Can we see it? Can we bring Glimmer? CAN WE—"

"GO TO SLEEP."

"But MAMA—"

"NOW."

Silence.

Then, very quietly: "This is the best day ever."

Bai Yue buried her face in her hands.