A Little Miracle.

With Saphira now sleeping soundly, Nathan quietly left the room to finish cleaning the kitchen when the sound of the front door opening caught his attention. "What in the world happened in here?!" he heard. It was his father. He was finally home.

Nathan walked into the kitchen to greet him, knowing he would ask him about what had gone on. "Welcome back, dad." he said while his father was still looking over what was left of the mess with one hand up on top of his head. "Sorry about this. I'll finish cleaning it soon, but I have something you need to see!"

"What in the world are you talking about?" His father answered, not looking at his son who seemed all excited over what he assumed was nothing. Nathan motioned for him to follow, only to be met with a glare.

"Come on," Nathan urged him, using his neck to point down the hallway for emphasis. "I found a dragon's egg and it... hatched." He figured he wouldn't believe that, but that was why he wanted to show him Saphira, who was living proof.

"A... dragon? You mean to tell me that you happened upon a dragon nest of all things today and took an egg?"

"Well, no. It wasn't in a nest. It was by itself. She's sleeping in my room so come and see her for yourself."

"Alright," he responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "I guess I may as well humor you." he added, letting the mess slide for the moment. The two walked together back down the hallway to Nathan's room.

"Now don't be too loud. She's sleeping." Nathan warned him, turning the handle slowly and opening the door.

"Holy hell!!" His father shouted at the sight of the little baby dragon nestled in his son's blanket. "That's... that's a real dragon!" Nathan looked up at his dad with a squint.

"That's what I've been saying... and what did I say about being quiet?"
 
"Holy hell!"

Saphira jumped and squawked wobbled on the unsure footing of the bed, spread her wings and tail out for balance and dug her clawed feet in for stability. The tearing sound of the fabric sounded a lot like hissing to her and she returned in kind. Looking around at the two still talking she saw mama with a stranger dragon.

"...and what did I say about being quiet?" Mama said to the bigger dragon who looked startled.

The little dragon chirped happily to see mama again and she hopped down from the bed, started waddling over to meet him, or would have, her feet were tangled in the remains of the blanket and she fell face first onto the floor. Outraged, she squirmed and growled at the offending cloth, only making things worse. Saphira did something akin to a howling growl that would make hair stand up on the back of the neck as she struggled vainly for her freedom.
 
The thud of something falling to the floor caught the attention of Nathan and his father. Seeing Saphira scrambling around, tangled up in what used to be his blanket and making very irritated sounds would have made Nathan laugh if it weren't for her being a newborn and probably in great distress. He quickly knelt down beside her, heedless of her growling and scooped her into his arms, blanket and all.

"Calm down, Saphira. I'll get you out of there." he spoke calmly, trying to sooth the riled up baby. His father stood by, sensing his son had things under control. Nathan carefully removed the tatters from her claws and remembering how she liked to test bite things from before, he also did his best to keep shreds away from her mouth.

"Wow, that was some shriek." his father commented, rubbing the back of his neck. "She really destroyed that thing, too." His father still wasn't sure of what to make of everything he had just seen and in his confusion resorted to small talk. Today seemed so ordinary to him until two minutes ago!

Nathan nodded, quickly checking Saphira over for injuries. "Yeah. Too bad, I liked that blanket... but at least she doesn't seem hurt. I can always get another blanket." he said while only half paying attention to the conversation.
 
The little blue dragon watched both bigger dragons intently, mostly mama though as he removed the claw grabbing fabric. Nathan had been right to keep the tattered pieces away from her as she did try to snap up a bit here or there. In midst of it all she looked up at the bigger dragon that was not mama and chirped and then a mighty yawn took her by surprise. Now that the excitement was over her tiredness took over again and she began to droop on Nathan's shoulder.
 
Seeing Saphira grow weary again, Nathan took to gently patting her on the back. Now that she had settled down again, his father seemed much more comfortable with her existence in his house.

"Well, she's certainly cuter asleep than when she's wailing like a banshee." his father commented. "How long ago did you find her? Have you had any food today?"

Nathan rolled his eyes at the fatherly question, but couldn't stop the ensuing smile from forming. "It wasn't very long ago actually and yeah, I've had something to eat."

"Oh, good. Now son, I get that you'll want to keep her and while she's small that shouldn't be an issue... but she'll grow. We can't keep her indoors or away from the attention of the town forever."

Nathan didn't look up, but his smile faded. He gave a grim sort of nod. "I know. I was hoping to deal with that later. I mean, I found a dragon egg! I should be able to enjoy that just a little." he took to rocking Saphira in his arms, getting used to the way her weight balanced.
 
Saphira slept soundly after that, not waking for dinner and most of the night, but around 1 am in the morning she finally stirred and yawned. Blinking awake she looked around the room. Mama was on the bed and she was on a mat on the floor and the other dragon was making loud breathing sounds in the other room.
The little dragon stood up and stretched her wings and started waddling around, looking into things. A boot fell over and she jumped back a bit and did a low growl at it till she realised it wasn't going to hurt her. It wasn't a large room, so her exploration of it didn't take very long. She walked out into the hall and carefully past the snoring big dragon's room and came to the kitchen. Remembering the cold box that held food before, she waddled over to it and scratched at it till its door swung open. Nosing around in the box till she found something that smelled good Saphira managed to make a mess and enough racket to wake the dead. Oblivious to her rudeness, the little blue dragon munched away on the roast that was supposed to be tomorrows dinner.
 
A pleasant dream of walking through town and spreading the word of what Nathan had found the previous day was abruptly cut short from the clatter of glass and plastic. With the realization that the sun wasn't even up yet, Nathan figured something had to be up. His first reaction was to look for Saphira, who happened to not be laying where she was sleeping. "Well, that solves that mystery." Nathan groaned, hearing more noise coming from the kitchen.

With a sigh he propped himself out of bed and checked to see if his father was still sleeping. Fortunately he was, his own snoring seemed to drown out outside noise. With that problem resolving itself, Nathan went down the hall and found that Saphira had gotten into the roast his father had been saving. "Of all the food in the fridge..." he struggled not to yell. She was less than a day old and until now, they never had a reason to keep meats on the top shelf. It wasn't entirely her fault. She was a baby, she was hungry and food was within reach. Besides, they wouldn't want to eat after her. She had already devoured over half of the roast so he decided to let her finish that at least. Maybe if she stuffed herself again she could actually sleep through the night and eat in the morning. He would deal with his dad and end up walking into town for a new roast... but he reckoned that having Saphira around, a living dragon, was worth it.
 
Mama walked into the kitchen and found the little blue dragon swallowing a chunk of meat, she looked up and chirped and choked on the bit at the same time.

'Mama!'

Saphira sent at Nathan in excitement, then quickly chomped and swallowed the rest of the meat. Waddling through the mess she had made as if it wasn't even there, she went to the boy and snuggled against his lower leg.
After recieving his pat she opened her eyes and blinked at a movement seen though the window. Curious as a cat, she waddled over to the pain of glass and bumped into it with her nose, not knowing it was there till too late. The window came crashing down in a cacophony of sound startling her into jumping back and knocking over a small table and vase, which shattered as it hit the floor. Screaming, she ran for Mama and hid behind his legs while he moaned and hid his head in his hands.
 
"Saphira, wait! Stop!" It was too late, before the baby knew what happened she was going face first into a pane of glass and knocking things over in confusion. The racket was finally enough to wake up his father, who Nathan could hear getting up and ready to see just what was going on.

"Are we being robbed?!" He shouted down the hall, making his way to the scene of destruction and seeing Saphira hiding behind Nathan's leg in fear. "Oh... did the baby get up in the middle of the night?" he asked, looking over towards the still open fridge. Nathan gave a nod for an answer. "What happened?"

Nathan looked over at the mess left at the bottom of the refrigerator door, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, she must have gotten hungry again. She... she ate our whole roast and then--"

"Our roast?" his father groaned, "I was going to cook that today for dinner."

"I know, dad. I'll go get a new one later. For now, I think it would be a good idea to keep the meat we buy on the top shelf... at least until she's bigger." His father didn't seem to notice the knocked over table or destroyed potted plant yet and Nathan wasn't in any hurry to point them out. At least not until the shock from being jostled awake wore off.
 
After a few moments Saphira calmed down enough to notice the bigger dragon was in the room. With a chirp she left Mama's safety and waddled over to greet him by ducking her head in a bobbing motion while cooing and chirping. It was obvious to the little dragon who the leader of the cave was, but Mama would always be her personal leader.
 
Nathan's father looked down at little Saphira while she made her way over to him. The simple act seemed to lighten his mood, even getting him to smile. "She's surprisingly good at walking for a hatchling." he observed, not taking his eyes off of her. "You know, when she isn't breaking something, anyway."

"Yeah," Nathan remarked, having been thinking the same thing herself earlier that day. "It's not like other animals can't do the same, but I'd have thought coming from a creature that has a nest, they wouldn't need to walk as soon as they're born."

"Remarkable." his father spoke quietly, now deep in thought on the matter. He reached down to touch her head, feeling her scales for himself for the first time since seeing her. "I suppose while you go to town for a new roast tomorrow, the least I could do is pick up a bowl for her so she won't have to raid the fridge every time she gets hungry." he was thinking aloud now, not exactly trying to engage in conversation on the matter. Nathan walked over to the still open refrigerator, reorganizing anything Saphira hadn't gotten into before he closed the door to it.

"That would be great, thanks."
 
Unlike the day before when she had raided the fridge, Saphira was not tired at all. After paying her homage to the older dragon and while they were discussing the next day, she waddled off to explore more of the house. Even though there wasn't much left for her to look at she made the best of it by sticking her nose into a large potted plant in the corner of the living room. She sneezed and pulled back, shaking her head and dirt flew everywhere. The little blue dragon blinked dirt from her eyes and noticed the front door. With a small squawk of curiosity she waddled over to investigate it.
 
The sneeze Saphira made after trying to sniff the potted plant had both Nathan and his father trying to hold back a laugh. "She's like a little puppy." Nathan observed. She was just as curious and destructive as any other baby creature. At least, after they were old enough to explore on their own while Saphira was able to do that very thing right away.

"Something all newborns have in common." his father answered with a small smile. It wore off when the small dragon started making her way to the front door. "Whoa now!" he exclaimed, pointing for his son to do something about her. Nathan stepped into her path, reached under her and picked her up into his arms. "She shouldn't be going outside at this hour, she might get lost or hurt. Now, I think we should get back to sleep... she can play outdoors tomorrow after you get back from the store." Nathan nodded in agreement, walking past his dad and bringing her back into his room.
 
It took the better part of an hour for the little dragon to settle down and go to sleep. After reaching his room Nathan had closed the door and put her on her mat, the intention was obvious, time to sleep. She nosed around under his bed for a few minutes until the boy had sat up and called her by name and told her to stop.
She then had explored the boot in the closet again. This time exploring its taste, finding it interesting, she chewed on the tip of the toe. Saphira tossed it in the air and chaised it down. Then wrestled with it until once again Nathan told her to stop, this time in a firmer tone. She took the hint, or maby the baby was finally tired enough, and laid her nose down on the boot and dosed off.
The morning came with the sound of birds chirping outside the window, loud enough to wake the dragon. She waddled over to the window and peered out at the bird on the tree branch singing its morning song.
 
The sun had risen and with it came songs from the birds. As usual, this got Nathan to stir enough to wake up, his eyes blinking open a few times to adjust to the light. He managed to catch the sight of Saphira looking out of the window at one of the birds in a nearby tree. He watched her in silence for a while, letting her check out the sights of the outside world. The curious look Saphira kept making left Nathan smiling, almost laughing at just how much like a puppy she really was.
 
It didn't take long for her to become board with watching birds. Turning away from the window she noticed Nathan was awake and with a happy chirp she waddled over to greet him. Half way there, she tripped over the boot and landed face first with an umph. Dazed, she blinked repeatedly then stood up, a little wobbly. Saphira straitened her wings then shook her head a bit, as if to say, 'I meant to do that'.
 
This time Nathan couldn't help but to laugh. Saphira managed to trip walking over the very boot she had been playing with during the night. "You okay?" he asked, reaching down over the side of his bed to hoist her up into his arms while still snickering a little over her reaction. "Come on, we've got a big day ahead of us!" he could hardly contain his excitement.

Standing and carrying her over to the door, Nathan again set her down once stepping out into the hallway and closing his bedroom door behind him. "You'll get to go out in the back yard and have your own place to eat! Sound good?" he asked looking down at her, hoping to get her excited. Yesterday had been work, feeding her and cleaning up after her, but today he was determined to spend time playing with the baby dragon. At least until it was time to head into town.
 
The little dragon fluttered her wings and squawked repeatedly. She knew from his mind he was talking about her and food and her excitement grew as they left the room, making it almost impossible for him to hold onto her. Once Nathan put her down she toddled along beside him, wings slightly spread for balance. She became confused when they didn't head for the cold box that she had eaten from the two times before. Saphira stopped walking and looked back towards the kitchen and the box then back at the boy walking to the back door, which she had been told was a 'no'. It just didn't make sense! She cocked her head to the side and keened out her confusion and frustration as she sat there in the middle of the room.
 
Nathan had to stop and look down at Saphira, who was making it obvious she didn't know what to do. "Come on! We're going to go outside." he tried to encourage her, wondering why she was behaving so strangely. Perhaps she wanted to eat first? She was young, she shouldn't put off getting food. "What is it, Saphira? Hungry again?" he asked, kneeling down next to the distressed infant. "We can grab some breakfast before we head outside." Nathan added with a smile.
 
Saphira blinked and chirped then turned and waddled towards the cold box. This time she sat beside it and waited for Nathan to get there and open it. With perfect manners she waited for him to fill her bowl and set it down. The little dragon gobbled down the food and burped with satisfaction after. She had seen the image of 'outside' in the boys mind and was off to the back door in a waddling baby dragon flash. She again sat and waited for Nathan to catch up to her after cleaning her bowl and the crumbs left on the floor.
 
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