Alder's Grove

written to kelkyag's prompt here. Prequel to the Dragons Next Door stuff.



"Well, what do you think?" Cxaidin looped slowly above the neighborhood, taking care to stay very high up in the air - above the range of everything but surface-to-air missiles. "It's a bit crowded, yes, but I hear they're very nice."

"Humans being very nice is a bit like a volcano being very nice, isn't it?" Cxaidin's mate, Zizny, flew just above, peering down at the little neighborhood. "Is that a centaur herd I spy?"

"There are pixies and tinies as well." Cxaidin let the currents drift its body lower. "And goblins."

"There are tinies and goblins everywhere, dear. But pixies? Really?" Zizny moved closer to Cxaidin. "And I see harpies. Living that close to humans?"

"Smokey Knoll is special, so they tell me. And we've wanted the children to get used to humans."

"It's get used to them or get rid of them all." Zizny snorted smoke. "So I suppose, yes. We could hatch an egg there, live there for a while. And that castle down there, that looks perfect. Do we conquer it?"

"Close, dear. I've offered to buy out the family currently living there. Ogres, and they think the neighbors smell funny."

"Ogres think everything smells funny. Well, I suppose." With two mighty flaps, Zizny gained more air. "As long as nobody shoots at us. I really dislike it when they do that."