25 A Wonderful Week

Over the next few months, many changes occurred.

Oscar dropped out of college that year. He couldn't handle the social media. Overnight, from a perfect lover, he became a cheat. His family said that he had left the country for a world tour.

Niall's parents couldn't deal with all the embarrassment. The seeds of shame were so deep rooted that they decided to leave the town. There was not a family in Valssaare that didn't talk about them. Niall withdrew her admission from the University. Although no one yet complained, the police came after her for interrogation on the scandal. They said that some citizens have threatened to file a case against her for misuse of private information and breach of confidence. Not only that, all this came under the circumstances of harassment, which may give rise to criminal liability. Since there were very strong laws against this kind of a thing in Northern England, it was possible that Niall would end up with two years imprisonment. As no one had filed a case when the police came to them, Niall and her family took the opportunity and without telling anyone they left Valssaare overnight. No one knew where they had gone. Even their friends and family had no clue.

Cire was already suspended and she lost all hope of ever getting back in it. She went underground for a long time and when she emerged, some people saw her working as a salesgirl in a shop. Her career was totally finished.

Mairin didn't come to the University for a month because of depression, but her father encouraged her to attend the classes. A month later she started attending the classes but stayed very low.

Dawn continued with her classes as usual and also stayed low. The drama caused that week was enough to last for the lifetime. So she really closed herself all the more and interacted with a small coterie of friends, who were mostly golf related. Elize became her only buddy in the town but then also Dawn didn't share any personal information with her. Elize respected that and never asked.

It had been two months since that incident occurred. Dawn became increasingly worried about her dragon as it hadn't come to life. The reason was that she never had any time alone. Cole used to be there at the cottage almost all the waking hours. She had thought of going to the Falshire Forests but it wasn't happening. At one point of time, she became restless upon thinking that her dragon had crystallized for life. She talked about her concerns to Arawn but he had no clue what to do. According to him he had never seen that kind of species amongst dragons. He sounded like an expert but the truth was that he had only seen one more in his lifetime.

It was the end of the third month that one day while sitting at the dinner table, Cole announced, "We have to go for a camping trip for a week. The school has arranged that for the students of our class."

"That's wonderful Cole," Dawn said. "But why are you so sad?" she asked, caressing his hair.

"They are asking us to deposit eighty pounds for that camping trip," he said puffing his cheeks.

"Where will you be going?" she asked, surprised at the amount as she stopped stroking his hair. That was a lot of it. All the kidnap ransom money that she had brought with her was safely deposited in the bank with Arawn's help. She was now earning interest on it and luckily the interest was enough to buy them food and other necessities of the household.

"Lourwin Hills. They will take us to the Ruins of Alagonie. Visiting them is apparently a part of our curriculum," said Cole resting his head on the table.

Ruins of Alagonie were popular. They were very well preserved by the government and a pretty common destination for school children.

"You should go Cole," Dawn encouraged. "And don't worry about the money, okay?"

Cole looked up at her with a glint of excitement. "Really?"

Dawn chuckled, nodding at him. She didn't want to deprive him of basic education. As such, living in a small town like Valssaare, on the outskirts of Yorkshire, restricted them of the luxuries they were used to. This was the least she could do for her brother.

Cole left for the camping trip on the next Saturday, and her dragon came to life immediately. Dawn was pleasantly surprised. She yelped when she felt its pointy scales pricking her skin. It uncoiled and fell on the floor looking weak. Worried, she picked it immediately and took it to the basket that she had prepared only for it from ages. It coughed some smoke and looked at her with dull blue eyes. Within a few seconds Dawn brought meat for it. Hungrily, the dragon snatched food from her like a bird. When it was full, it turned upside down with a bloated belly and closed its eyes. Her fears proved unwarranted that it had crystallized for life but the fact that she worried for it constantly, loomed upon her. She stroked its neck with affection, cherishing its presence.

It was already pretty late in the afternoon. After having her lunch, Dawn took the basket with the sleeping dragon to her room and placed it on her bedside table. Feeling tired, Dawn also slept. When she woke up in the evening, she noticed that the basket was empty. A flutter of wings diverted her attention and she turned sharply to find that it was perched on the computer, looking at her with its deep blue eyes.

The dragon launched off the computer and flew right next to her on the bed. It huddled in her lap and then tried to sneak in her shirt. Dawn laughed and held it before it could get in.

She really wanted to give it a name, but she didn't know its gender.

She shrugged her shoulders and went to the kitchen with it to prepare dinner. That night her dinner companion was her dragon.

While studying after dinner she researched on the Internet about how to find a dragon's gender, but nothing popped up. Instead she researched on how to find the gender of a dog, which she experimented on her dragon.

It was trying to cozy in her lap, when she picked it up and lifted it in the air to see its bottom. The dragon squealed its annoyance at her action. But she was determined to check it. So she narrowed her eyes and moved it above her head to focus on its bottom part. Once again it screeched its resentment. There was nothing that could make her understand its gender. She used a torch to check every part but nada. Finally she gave up because it flapped its leathery wings and threw its limbs everywhere in protest. When she placed it on her table, its blue eyes accused her and angrily it breathed smoke on her book making it soot black.

That week the dragon grew slightly bigger, about half a centimeter, which set Dawn's worries to a different level. This meant that all the while it delineated into crystals it didn't grow. So now she had to find a way for it to develop. In Cole's presence, it wouldn't.

Overall, it was a wonderful week. The two of them forged a stronger connection. Dawn wasn't surprised when it would do exactly as she expected.

She stepped out of the house leaving her pet free to roam around.

Cole returned by the end of the week and once again the dragon coiled itself around her ankle saddening her to the core.

Three months went by and she became desperate to be with her pet. There was only one way now—to leave it in the Falshire Forest so that at least its development wasn't hampered. But the thought of leaving it alone out there made her anxious.