O Boy
O boy.
Ugalu's ability was truly useful and convenient.
An infinite bag that could hold everything for a picnic except the snacks.
Once snacks went in, they never came back out.
Whether something was eaten or stored seemed to depend entirely on Ugalu's mood.
"Everyone knows not to go too far, right?"
Before I even finished speaking, the forest erupted in a sudden commotion.
"Kkiyaaa!"
"Rrrung!"
"Kkyuru!"
All sorts of different cries burst out from every direction.
The baby dragons that had been clustered in front of me poured out onto the grass as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.
The blue-scaled one dashed first toward the shallow stream, while the one with yellow stripes down its back spotted a butterfly skimming past the trees and flapped its short wings with all its might.
Those whose wings still lacked proper strength bounced and hopped along the ground rather than taking flight, and the particularly large one sent grass and dirt flying in every direction with each heavy step.
"Aigoo..."
I raised a finger toward the blue one charging for the stream.
"Don't go into the deep parts."
The little one turned only its head to look at me while still running.
Its front paws kept moving, and its eyes were already fixed on the middle of the current.
The only sign it had heard me at all was the faintest twitch at the tip of its tail.
"You just pretended to listen, didn't you?"
"Kkyuu."
The reply was far too casual.
I narrowed my eyes at it, and only then did the blue one slow down, dipping just its front paws into the water's edge and beginning to splash about.
Its siblings arrived late and piled in beside it.
Splash.
Sploosh.
Whoosh.
Shallow stream water flew everywhere.
Wings flapping while soaked sent droplets over the nearby hatchlings as well, and a few cold drops even reached my cheek.
Honestly...
I wiped my face with the back of my hand and burst out laughing.
"We've barely started and you're already like this."
Today was the day for the picnic play that was supposed to happen once a week.
Officially, the number was clearly once a week.
There was plenty of room to run around inside the valley itself, with open clearings the dragons had widened, waterways, and sunny hillsides.
Bringing them out to the forest suddenly multiplied the things I had to watch for.
I had to keep track of where the children were racing off to, make sure no one got so excited they breathed fire, and stop any of them from treating young trees like toys to knock over.
For all those reasons I had declared that once a week was more than enough for picnics.
That declaration did not even last three days.
The morning after the first picnic, the baby dragons gathered in front of my cave.
All twelve of them sat in a neat row, staring only at me.
At first I thought they were hungry.
I brought them food, and they polished it off cleanly—yet still did not move.
I fetched water, stroked their heads, even hugged them one by one.
The children held their ground.
The most impatient among them started rolling back and forth on the floor, and the others soon flopped down after it.
One clung to my ankle; another drooped its wings and wore the world's most pitiful expression.
Ugalu rested its chin on the top of my foot and refused to budge an inch.
In that position it slowly moved only the tip of its tail while looking up at me.
I finally surrendered before lunch that day.
I promised to increase it to twice a week, and only then did the baby dragons leap up and start running around as if they had been waiting for those exact words.
Even that promise did not last long.
A few days later the children were gathered in front of the storage shed where I had hidden the picnic bag.
I had no idea who had told them.
Most likely they had seen me take the bag out once and remembered the scent.
They formed a circle around the shed door waiting for me, and when I approached they looked back and forth between the bag and the direction of the forest.
After that day, picnics started happening about three times a week.
There was no fixed schedule.
If the weather was good, if I was not busy, and if the children had not caused any accidents the day before, we headed out to the forest.
The baby dragons grasped those conditions surprisingly quickly.
On the day before a picnic the number of fights dropped noticeably, and they even tried hard to take turns at mealtime.
Some only pretended to be well-behaved when I was watching, but I had no intention of ignoring the fact that they were making an effort.
And so today, once again, we left the valley and entered the familiar forest.
This was a place the adult dragons rarely visited.
The trees grew too densely for their massive bodies to pass through easily, and it was close enough that they could fly over it in no time from the valley, so there was little reason to land.
For the baby dragons it made a perfect playground.
Low hills and soft meadows stretched out, with a stream that came only up to ankle height flowing through the middle.
There were plenty of fallen logs and large rocks for hiding or climbing.
A little farther in the trees grew thick, so I always kept the children playing around the same clearing.
"Only as far as you can still see those three trees."
I raised my hand again and pointed around us.
"And don't go past that big rock either."
A few of the baby dragons lifted their heads.
Even the ones splashing in the water paused for a moment.
"If you go somewhere you can't hear my voice, come right back."
"Kkiu."
"Rrrung."
"Kkyu."
The answers varied.
Still, since they all looked at me while crying out, I decided to believe they had understood.
I started to set down the small bag at my waist, then lowered my head at the damp sensation on my fingertips.
"Ugalu."
My right hand was inside its mouth.
More precisely, it was chewing and sucking on my index and middle fingers.
Even while the other children had charged off into the forest, Ugalu had stayed by my side.
Its round, plump body was pressed right up against the top of my foot, and its unusually short four legs were busily marching in place.
Its tail whipped left and right with no attempt whatsoever to hide its mood.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Every time the tip of its tail swept across the grass blades, tiny dewdrops scattered.
"Does my hand taste good?"
"Kkyuu."
Ugalu answered while still holding my fingers in its mouth.
A small tongue licked between them.
Its teeth had not all grown in yet, so it did not hurt.
The sensation at my fingertips was warm and ticklish.
Sometimes when it got too excited it forgot to control its strength and bit a little harder; each time I called its name it immediately opened its mouth.
Today it seemed especially happy, repeatedly biting and releasing while its tail never stopped moving.
"You're excited too, huh?"
"Kkyu!"
Ugalu cried out loudly.
Letting go of my fingers, it lifted a front paw and tried to plant it on my calf.
Because of its short legs, only the tips of its toes barely reached.
Ugalu tried several more times to push itself up, and each time its belly hit the ground first.
Thump.
Splat.
Thump.
Splat.
Every time it landed, damp grass blades stuck to its belly.
I watched that for a while, then bent down and scooped Ugalu up.
When I supported it with both hands, its round body nestled snugly into my arms.
It was not especially small compared to its siblings.
Looking only at its torso it was fairly solid, and it never lost to its brothers and sisters when it came to how much it ate.
The short legs simply made it look even smaller and rounder as it waddled along the ground.
Both front and hind legs were short relative to its body, so that its belly brushed the tips of the grass with every step.
Its wings were still small too.
The two wings on its back were only about the size of my palm, and no matter how hard it flapped them they only lightened its body a little.
Ever since its siblings had started flying low, Ugalu often looked up at the sky.
It moved its wings following the flying children and even jumped several times with its front paws raised.
At best it rose only as high as my ankle before coming straight back down.
Even when it rolled once on the ground after landing, Ugalu always got back up.
I could not tell whether it found its short legs inconvenient.
It was always full of energy, and it moved its feet faster than anyone else trying to keep up with its siblings.
"Do you want to go to the others?"
Holding Ugalu, I looked toward the stream.
The baby dragons had already started playing.
When the blue one swung its tail in the water a long spray shot up, and the red-scaled one opened its mouth toward that spray.
A tiny spark of fire popped out with a soft pong.
Water and fire met and white steam rose.
The two of them seemed to find it so fun that they took turns splashing water and puffing out sparks.
"No using breath over there!"
When I raised my voice the red one's mouth snapped shut just like that.
Only faint smoke leaked from the corners of its lips.
The blue one turned its head as if the matter had nothing to do with it.
I pointed at both of them and narrowed my eyes.
"Both of you."
The two children hung their heads side by side.
A few steps away the yellow-striped one was still chasing the butterfly.
When the butterfly went up it spread its wings and jumped; when it came down it flattened itself against the ground.
When the butterfly finally rose to a high branch the little one hooked its front paws on the trunk and started climbing.
Claws scraped the bark, sending small chips falling.
"Don't climb all the way up the tree."
The yellow one's body stopped.
It looked back at me, then down at the tree it had already climbed halfway.
Its eyes went wide, as if it had only just noticed the height after being so focused on going up.
"Come down slowly."
"Kki..."
Worry colored the small cry.
Supporting Ugalu with one arm, I walked toward the yellow one.
As I drew near it carefully began to descend, moving its front paws one at a time.
When only about two steps remained its hind foot slipped.
Its body fell from the tree.
I stretched out my hand and caught it under the belly.
The yellow one lay sprawled across my arm, blinking several times.
"Got you."
When I stroked its head it gave a short cry of relief.
"Climb once your wings have grown more."
"Kkyu."
"And butterflies aren't for catching."
It watched the departed butterfly with regretful eyes.
I returned to the middle of the clearing with a baby dragon in each arm.
From my right side Ugalu stretched its neck long, trying to bite the yellow one's tail.
The yellow one lifted its tail out of reach, and Ugalu waved its short front paws in empty air.
"If you fight, I'm putting both of you down."
Both of them froze at the same time.
Baby dragons understood that kind of warning remarkably quickly.
I sat on the grass and set the children down on either side of me.
The yellow one turned its head the moment its feet touched the ground, looking in the direction the butterfly had vanished, while Ugalu tried to climb onto my lap.
It planted its front paws and pulled its body up, but its short legs could not quite manage the height.
Its chin caught on the edge of my knee.
"Want to come up?"
"Kkyuu."
I slipped both hands under Ugalu's armpits and lifted it onto my lap.
The moment it settled it curled its body into a round ball.
Its tail wrapped around my thigh, and its round head rested against my stomach.
Seeing the child that had been so eager to run around just moments ago suddenly preparing to sleep made me smile softly.
"You came out to play just to sleep?"
Ugalu's ear twitched.
Its eyes stayed closed.
"The others have already gone that far."
Ugalu cracked one eye open a little.
It glanced for a moment at its siblings racing around the stream and the fallen log, then closed its eye again.
My lap seemed to suit it better.
I slowly stroked its back.
Warm scales met my palm.
Ugalu's scales had not yet hardened fully.
Unlike the cold, smooth scales of adult dragons, they were thin and soft, and around the neck and belly they gave slightly when pressed with a finger.
Every time I stroked down its back the small wings moved loosely.
"We're going to play all day today. If you rest already, won't you regret it later?"
"Kkyu..."
A sleepy cry came back.
I lightly scratched the top of Ugalu's head with my fingertips.
It stretched its neck out in pleasure and narrowed its eyes even more.
The tip of its tail moved slowly across my leg.
Whenever I brought the children to the forest it was always chaotic.
On one side they splashed water; on another they scraped trees; someone would climb a rock and then cry because they could not get down.
There was almost no time to sit quietly.
Even that racket was not unwelcome.
The cries filling the whole forest, the footsteps, even the sound of wings beating the air—all of it sounded like proof that they were alive.
On the day I first held Alduin in my arms I never imagined a scene like this.
Just feeding and putting to sleep the tiny lizard that barely fit in my arms had been enough to fill an entire day.
Even a small cough startled me, and if its breathing grew rough I stayed by its side all night.
Even after Alduin grew, after new dragons arrived, after the valley became a nation, caring for the young ones never became familiar.
Every child had a different personality.
They liked different foods, slept in different positions, and feared different things.
Some loved loud noises while others startled at the sound of a falling leaf.
Some flapped their wings the moment they hatched; others refused to leave my arms for months.
Ugalu was slow.
Walking, running, following its siblings—it was always a little late.
Only its eating speed was fast.
When mealtime came it moved its short legs with unbelievable speed, and after finishing its own share it would sneak glances at the bowls next to it.
Even after being caught many times it never gave up.
That same Ugalu loved picnics most of all.
On days we went to the forest it sat in front of my cave from dawn, and when I picked up the bag it followed while thumping its tail on the ground.
Even when it fell behind its siblings on the way to the valley entrance it never begged to be carried.
It busily worked its short legs and walked all the way to the end.
Today had been the same.
After arriving at the forest it had stuck close to me as if its stamina was spent, chewing on my hand, and now it was resting on my lap.
I looked down at Ugalu's round back and lightly pressed the tip of its nose with a finger.
"Rest a little, then let's play together."
Instead of answering, Ugalu took my finger into its mouth again.
Watching it chew with its eyes closed made me laugh.
"Hands aren't toys, you know."
"Kkyuu."
"You know that and you're still doing it, aren't you?"
Ugalu's tail gave one big wag.
It was clearly doing it on purpose.
Perhaps a little embarrassed at being caught, Ugalu slowly got up and disappeared toward the forest.
And then...
"Ugalu?"
Even long after the time we were supposed to return,
Ugalu was nowhere to be seen.