Dani never did get used to waking up alone.
Every time she woke up, she unconsciously reached to feel for the dragon, but it wasn't there.
She did enjoy meeting up with the dragon later. She had been at this routine for so long now that her parents questioned her less about her daily disappearance. She spent more and more time with the ever growing dragon (who was the size of a large dog now) making up and playing games. They played every day now like this, unless Dani couldn't get away from her mother.
She did all the talking of course, but the dragon was intelligent in it's own way... and she was able to understand it's many moods and intentions as they spent more and more time together.
Mr. Effert continued to interrupt from time to time, but Dani was never certain if he knew there was a dragon or not. Occasionally the dragon would mysteriously fly away when they were in the woods, and not come back. Dani decided after this continued to happen, that hunters or trappers were in the area, and the dragon clearly did not want to be seen by other people. She realized of course that she may be the only person the dragon has ever been with, with the exception of that animal thief the dragon revealed to her.
Dani explored a little bit, trying to figure out where the dragon was spending it's nights. She wanted to be sure it was safe. But whenever she asked the dragon, it just gave her a blank look, and she could never find the dragon's home.
One cloudy day Dani and the dragon were playing a spy and stalk game where Dani would pick an animal to look for, and she and the dragon would work together to find it, and try to watch it without being seen. They had just found a crow they were looking for, when suddenly the crow flew away, quickly followed by the dragon.
Dani sighed, and put on her innocent smile, assuming the footfalls she heard coming towards here Mr. Effert. However, instead of the familiar lean figure of Mr. Effert came through the trees, it was a shorter, medium build man walking towards her. She froze as her full dark lips lost their smile, and she braced herself for this encounter.
The unfamiliar man stepped forward and in a very casual way greeted her. "Hello little lady!"
She didn't answer at first, but regarded him closely. He wore dark clothes of green and brown that were slightly dirty, and worn. His face wasn't the cleanest, but he gave the look of intelligence and humor. His eyes were as quick as his words, and it was clear it was no accident he was here.
After a moment of her not saying anything, he paced around a few trees looking up and around. "I know you have a dragon around here... I would be interested in acquiring it."
Dani's dark eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Oh hey, I'll give you a fair price little lady... dragon's are dangerous creatures you know."
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