In Adelyn’s village most people were poor and with the high taxes and cost of living, her mother – raising her by herself – had her purple flowers’ business as the only thing to put food on their table. School for Adelyn was not an option, as they had no money for that. Only the rich kids get to learn how to read, her mother always says. Adelyn tried to tell those things to her dragon. “Do you understand? You’re getting too big and I have no money to keep your belly full. You gotta hunt.”

The dragon – now towering over Adelyn with the size of a full-grown tree – stared at her for a couple of seconds before shaking her head and snorting in disagreement. It had been difficult to keep the dragon satisfied, as its only daily activity was to eat and disagree with Adelyn. It has been months since the first time, and Adelyn had to get closer and closer to the forest to keep her dragon from being seen. She had found out it was a female, but they could never agree on a name (like everything else).

That afternoon, Adelyn started training her dragon to be able to hunt. She disappeared over the trees, just to come trudging back to get her dragon who sat down on the leaves. She did not budge. “Come on! I’m trying to help you! You are so domesticated, you can’t even get food by yourself! You should be ashamed of yourself!” Adelyn argued, crossing her arms over her chest. The dragon hissed, standing only one of her back legs to use it as a kind of broom, sweeping the ground, leaves and dirty flew in Adelyn’s direction.

Couldn’t she get a dragon who wasn’t stubborn as hers? “Okay! I’m done with you for today! Hopefully, you will be able to find food, because I’m not giving you any!” With that said, Adelyn marched to her house, leaving her dragon behind.  

It wasn’t so bad, was it? Adelyn decided to observe her dragon from far away to see if she would be able to hunt by herself. Fortunately for Adelyn, the dragon was nowhere to see. Maybe she would come back with a huge prey to eat, Adelyn thought. However, she did not wait for her dragon to come back before going to the market to sell more flowers. She got a great number of gold coins when going back home and her mother was finally able to provide an incredible meal for both to eat that afternoon. Of course, they did not waste their time talking at the table, devouring all the food they could before going to bed. Days like these were rare enough. 

The next day, Adelyn was surprised to not find her dragon nowhere near the forest. Why would she take so long with her hunt? The girl clasped her hands together as she always did not call her dragon’s attention, but nothing happened. Then the worse happened. The sounds of people screaming were audible from miles away. Adelyn has always told her to not go to the central market, but what did she expect? Her dragon never listened to her anyway. Her mother’s head was sticking out of the house’s front door and her brows were raised. She knew about Adelyn’s dragon. But how? She did not ask any questions.

Adelyn stormed out.

“NO!” She shouted as people ran around with their arms in the air. What was up with them, anyway? In the center of the place were about five royal guards with their swords raised, pointing directly at Adelyn’s dragon, whose body was curled up to fit under one of the marketplaces. A line of fire was containing the guards from moving forward. “Stop that!” Adelyn’s dragon’s nostrils flared; her eyes full of rage. When she heard Adelyn’s voice, her ears lowered and she stared at the girl with pleading eyes. “What are you doing?”

The guards turned their weapons to Adelyn and two of them, listening to the order of one surrounded the girl, forcing her arms behind her back. Adelyn’s dragon’s eyes widened and the fire lowered until there was nothing in front of her. The guards marched towards the dragon and Adelyn was surprised to see she did not resist while metal chains rounded her body, pinning her down.

“Please! Don’t hurt her! She is anything but dangerous!” Adelyn cried out trying to free herself from the guards.

“It killed one of the king’s soldiers and therefore its faith has to be declared by the royal family.” One of the guards snarled at Adelyn, waving his hand so they would let her go. “Be thankful we are not pressing charges. Run along before we change our mind!” She had nothing to say, for a seventeen-year-old saying would never be heard.

Adelyn’s arms were aching from fighting off every hand trying to stop her. It had been hours since they had taken her dragon, yet tears wouldn’t stop going down making her vision even blurrier. She knew her mother had arrived at the central market and was saying something to calm her down, but Adelyn’s thoughts were louder than any sound entering her ears. She stomped her feet, probably making a scene, but she did not care. They had taken her and it was Adelyn’s fault. She should have never told her dragon to hunt. She had never left Adelyn’s side.

“My dear, please stop,” it was her mother’s voice echoing inside her head. Adelyn’s knees buckled and she sat down, wrapping her hands around her knees. She did not look at anyone nor did she care until one voice… “She saved my son.” Adelyn’s head popped up just to see an old woman standing in front of her. She was wearing a long brown dress and her white, thin hair was tied up into a ponytail. “Your dragon saved my son.”

“What?” Adelyn’s voice faltered.

“My youngest son has been drafted to join the military...” The old woman stopped herself. A boy stopped by her side, laying one of his hands over – Adelyn assumed – his mother’s shoulder. He was young, about the age of eighteen. His yellow short hair was dirty, his eyes were dark green like his mother’s and he was so tall Adelyn had to stand up to not feel so tiny. “I had four boys. All of the oldest three went to war and none of them came back! I argued Braylon should not go, but they started threatening me, saying they would take my home.”

“They assaulted my mother and your dragon suddenly shout out from the sky and landed in front of us.” The boy known as Braylon said. Adelyn was about to cry again, for the tenth time. It was her fault! And also, how could she stand in front of such a good-looking boy looking like this? This is so disgraceful, Adelyn!

“Well, I’m happy f-or yo-u,” it was all Adelyn could say as her voice cracked again. She needed to stop crying.

“Your dragon will not live for much time if she’s in the hands of the king. You know that, right?” Braylon said.

“I know,” that was the worst part. They would never let her live.

“That is why I will help you out,” he said.

Adelyn did not believe him at first, so she frowned without understanding. Braylon’s mother did not like the idea but did not argue with it. However, Adelyn’s mother freaked out. Hearing her mother’s speech was the worst thing that could happen, especially when she was so disgusted by the idea of the king killing her best friend. But that evening, Adelyn met Braylon by his mother market in the central market.

“Your mom might as well kill me,” it was Braylon who murmured as he swiftly moved across the central market trying not to be seen. It was funny how he was not worried about the fact he could be caught by any of the king’s soldiers. They had been close attention to their surroundings, not even knowing how nearby the castle was

The side of her mouth twisted up into a grin. “You shouldn’t be worried about her. She wouldn’t kill a handso–” Adelyn stammered. Braylon ceased walking, his green eyes gleaming in the moonlight. He raised one eyebrow and when her face flushed red a smile formed on his lips. Think about your dragon, she told herself. For a long time, she could not focus on anything else but his gaze at her. It had been ridiculous how she could not keep her mouth shut, but he kept staring, amused by her face flushing red once in a while. “I would really love it if you could repeat that.”

Adelyn opened her mouth, pretending to be easing some kind of pain in the back of her neck. “I did not say anything, and we should focus on getting into the castle.” She murmured rounding a corner where she got closer to the back walls of the castle.

“My bad. I really thought you said something interesting, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try later.” He gave her a mischievous smile, passing her a shining object. Adelyn only noticed it was a dagger when she felt the warm hilt of the weapon on her palm. She closed her fingers around it glancing at him with a questioning look. “You want to defend yourself. It is easy, I promise. You wave it and you–”

“I know how to use a dagger.” She cut him short, rolling her shoulders as if by doing that she could calm herself.

Braylon shrugged. “A sword would be better, but I guess we can use this. And by the way, I don’t think we should try to get inside the castle walls.”

“Why do you say that?”

“A lot of people try to penetrate the castle all the time. The castle security is terrible, so something so precious like a dragon wouldn’t be kept inside its walls.” Smart, Adelyn thought. It was late evening, and her dragon would be sleeping. It would be impossible not to hear her snores from where they were standing. Adelyn nodded, moving away from the castle. She had to be somewhere where there is no sound, so she surged to the trees. Braylon followed her at a quick pace and stopped behind her when he saw her hand raised in the air. Adelyn placed her finger over her mouth to silence him. 

There was no sound. She had never thought something like this would happen unless a huge beast was in the middle of the trees. All animals would migrate somewhere else, where she wouldn’t eat them. Adelyn was the only one who knew her dragon well and did not take long to hear the snorting sound of her. Adelyn stormed through the trees, following the sound. Braylon paced behind her. It took more than a few minutes for her to finally be able to get closer to the sound. It turns out she is not a wolf, so it was hard for her to try to be one now.

Adelyn stopped short looking around. They spotted some leaves hovering in the air as if something had given them a head start. “She’s here.”

Adelyn was right indeed. The dragon was laying down on the ground. Almost all of the leaves around her soaring around non-stop. Her arms and legs were locked in chains, but other than that the dragon seemed unharmed. Braylon and Adelyn exchanged looks. They both moved into different directions trying to use their daggers to set her dragon free, but after three tries they had stepped back. It would be impossible to break chains like these.

Braylon sighed. “You are going to have to wake her up. She might be able to set herself free. The chains are not too thick… At least not for her.”

Adelyn had to agree with him. Her dragon had grown into a powerful and enormous dragon. She would be able to break herself free. “Hey, girl. Wake up.” Nothing happened. Adelyn hit her dragon’s nostrils twice before she was able to see the dragon’s golden eyes.

Adelyn had opened a big smile, but it only took a few seconds for the dragon to raise her head and lock eyes with Braylon. If the dragon had eyebrows, she would surely scowl at him. “Hey, this is Braylon. You saved his mother. Do you remember that?” Her eyes gleamed towards her and it instantly softened. Then, her dragon did something Adelyn would never think she would: she looked away from Adelyn. The girl could not understand what was going on and tried to get her dragon’s attention. “If you stay here, they are going to kill you! Do you hear me?” Adelyn had to brace herself to not start crying again. Do not be stubborn right now!

The dragon continued to ignore her and when Adelyn shot a glance at Braylon he only shrugged. Adelyn tried to quickly think of something else, but her mind was blank. “If you want a name, I can name you right now, but please! Let’s get out of here!” She pleaded to try to catch her dragon’s attention unsuccessfully. The dragon growled and the ground shook. Voices were being heard from the castle and she knew they would be coming for them soon enough.

“Please! I can’t just let you die! You’re my best friend!” Braylon moved closer placing a hand over Adelyn’s shoulders. “I’m not letting them have you! They are going to have to take me!” Adelyn said not taking her eyes off her dragon, whose head snapped at her. Adelyn took a deep breath, trying to understand what had called her attention and when she realized why the dragon was avoiding her, she stepped closer. “It is not your fault the guards held me back. They did not hurt me, I promise. You were just trying to defend Braylon’s mother. It wasn’t your fault.”

Those words were effective as the dragon’s eyes were glimmering. The stomps of the guards’ feet were audible now. “Seize them!” One of them shouted.

Adelyn smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”

The dragon stood on her feet, with her magnificent scaled skin and the chains resisted the urge surge of momentum. For a heartbeat, Adelyn thought she wouldn’t be able to free herself, but the chains clattered into each other. Her dragon was in the air, fluttering her wings. Adelyn turned her head towards Braylon. “I bet you never mounted a dragon.”

He tucked his dagger over his waist and smiled. “Just a horse.”

The dragon lowered herself enough for them to be able to mount her. Braylon slipped twice before being able to sit behind Adelyn. She found out he was not a fan of heights as they hovered in the air. The guards shouted louder, throwing arrows at the dragon, but the creature seemed to not even care about it. It bounced her skin harmlessly.

“You know, it would be fun to find some more like her. She’s special and loyal to you.” Braylon started while Adelyn’s dragon hovered in the sky.

“Hey, girl, do you think there are more like you out there?” Adelyn asked. The dragon growled, which probably meant, “for sure!”. Adelyn slumped her shoulders. “Then we are going to find more of them.”

Braylon looked ahead. “I just figured the perfect name for her.”

“And what is it?” Adelyn glanced at him waiting for an answer.

“Hope.” And for the first time in a million times, the dragon agreed to a name.

Adelyn and Braylon braced themselves as Hope dove into the sky like never before.