(2023-04-23) Here Be Lyra

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Author:	Saaron
Summary:	Sandy goes to his father's apartment with the baby Dragon Lyra, making an important decision.
Rating:	T for Teen

Sandy looks down at the backpack resting on his belly, listening to its soft snores. He reaches into the bag and gently pats the dragon’s scales, trying to find the courage to knock on the door. The young man takes a deep breath, readies his hand to finally make his presence known, and as he’s about to knock… the door swings open by itself.

He blinks.

Therald blinks.

“Hi…” Sandy says, not sure about how to call his dad. Given what happened last time they met, perhaps Therald doesn’t want to be called ‘dad’ anymore.

“Hello,” he answers, before looking at the backpack. “… What’s… that?”

“Um… that, that’s… for you, actually!” Sandy answers scratching the back of his head. “Can I come in? I promise I won’t bother you for long.”

Therald’s shoulders drop, saddened that his son even has to ask now, but he really can’t deal with a warlock in his family. Not again.

“Okay,” he concedes, not looking the young man in the eyes. “Be quick.”

Sandy nods and steps inside his father’s small room he rents in Ironforge. The dragon begins to stir inside the bag, as if on cue. “I know you said you didn’t want pets, but…” Sandy pulls her out of there. “That’s not just any pet!” The dragon coos softly.

Therald blinks again. Taking a long second, just staring at the creature.

“Is… is that a—”

“A dragon, yeah! Green one!” he specifies, as if he needed to.

“Where did you get that?” The dragon clearly objects to being called ‘that’.

“… From an egg,” Sandy says. It growls at him for not correcting the ‘that’ comment.

Therald shakes his head, baffled. “But, what do you—… you want me to take care of a dragon?!”

Sandy pauses. “… Yeah!”

The older man scoffs. He paces up and down the small room as Sandy sits on the bed to give him more space to do so. The dragon hovers over the bed, flapping its wings. It flies, now!

“I’m… I’m worried.” Sandy says, looking at his own hands resting on his knees. Therald turns around abruptly, looking at his son with concern. “I’m worried about how the Fel could affect this dragon. I don’t want her green scales to be about… my magic. Dragons are having too many problems already!” He pauses. “With corruption and stuff, I mean.”

“What do you mea—” Sandy interrupts him.

“I can’t keep a dragon, not with the magic I use! I don’t want her to be corrupted like me!” He stands up, both men stay quiet. “And I trust you. I know you’re good with animals, and you like nature. Green dragons like nature too!” Sandy grows silent again, and the two of them just stare at each other in silence once more. “You could do… you could go on walks, or… smell flowers together,” he adds. Sandy isn’t sure about what people who like nature do during their free time.

His father stays silent. Countless thoughts race inside both of their minds.

Therald, more specifically, has so many things to consider. Not only about the dragon and how to take care of it, but also about Sandy, and what he wants to say to him. Thanks to Nesselos, he’s learned a bit about warlocks and coming back from that corruption, but not enough that he could announce any sort of good news about it without having to say ‘But maybe we’re wrong, we’re not sure yet’.
So he doesn’t say anything.

He just stares at the dragon, crashing to the floor after a failed landing and rushing to Sandy for comfort.

And Sandy takes her in his arms, petting her softly.

“What’s her name?” Therald asks.

“She doesn’t have one.”

“She doesn’t?”

“I mean she has one! She has two, even! One she didn’t like very much and uh… a new one! Lyra. She likes that one.”

Another silence.

“Why me?”

Sandy rocks the reptile in his arm.

“Because…” he takes a deep breath, holding back tears. “Because you’re a great dad. I know she’ll be well taken care of.” Sandy hugs the dragon tight, then approaches his dad to hand him the flying reptile. The dragon’s wings drop sadly as he does, but when Therald carefully takes her in his own arms, she looks up at him and any apprehension seems to vanish from the dragon’s body language. She curls up into his arms, yawns, and begins blinking very, very slowly, as if about to fall asleep. Without a word, Therald nods, accepting his son’s request.

“Here,” Sandy says, “I’ve taken notes on how to train a dragon, how to feed them and everything! I’ve even included the stuff she likes eating the most! I’ll leave that paper here, on your bed,” his voice breaks at the end of his sentence. It continues doing so as he proceeds. “By the way, mom said no, but I think dragons actually like sleeping on the bed so…”

“Sandy…”

Sandy interrupts him, shaking his head, tears starting to roll down his face. “It’s okay! That’s for the best!” The dragon looks at him sadly again. He kisses her on her scaly forehead. “Okay, I said I wouldn’t bother you for long, I should get going!”

Sandy puts his backpack back on his back and backs away towards the door. Therald tries to speak again, he tries to tell his son about what he found on Fel corruption, to tell him that he regrets the way he left when Sandy told him about being a warlock, but the words just won’t come out of his mouth.

Sandy opens the front door, his eyes getting progressively overflowing with more tears. He hesitates, searching for the right words. “I—I’ll see you again…” he pauses. “Lyra!” He steps out, Therald still trying to say a word. Just any word. The dragon raises her head and watches Sandy leave, with her wings down. "You'll take care of her, right?"

Therald nods slowly. Sandy smiles, although his eyes stay teary. The door closes. It’s just the two of them, now. Therald falls onto his bed into a sitting position. He gently places the dragon next to him and preemptively begins to wipe his closed eyes with his sleeves. “I’m not, Sandy. I’m not a great dad.”

The dragon places her front paws on Therald’s knees to climb up onto his lap, sitting still against him, comforting him. Comforting herself.