| Walking back into the clearing where my grandfather's house stood, I smelled food cooking in the kitchen. "Vegetables," I muttered. "What I wouldn't give for a nice burger." Taka laughed. "Sleeping Panther has always been a vegetarian, except when he is in his morph." "Yeah, I wonder can panthers cook because right now, I want some meat!" I said, tongue licking my chops. The dragon shook her head and stopped when she saw Der and Will emerge from the other side of the forest, Will perched on the white reptile's head. "It seems they got along," I said softly and Taka smiled. "Der does have his soft side," she explained in a low voice and I smiled back. "You like him, don't you?" Taka blinked and looked somewhat flustered. "I...well," she started and then ducked her head. "I don't know." I patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, I know how you feel," I answered back and walked the rest of the way into the small field. "I trust things went well?" Der said and lowered his head, letting Will slide off onto the ground. "Quite," Taka said and regarded the two of them. "Looks like the same happened to you." Der and Will exchanged a glance before nodding, "Yes." Sleeping Panther emerged, folding his arms. "If all things went well, then you'd better come in here and eat," he said, giving us a small smile. "I don't think we can still handle you're cuisine even after all these years," Der smirked and spread his wings. Taka did the same and the two began to hover above our heads. "Don't worry, we'll be back before sunrise," Taka called out and the three of us on the ground waved goodbye as they took off into the night. Giving a smile to Will, I shook my head. "They're cute together," I mused out loud and my companion nodded, smiling back. "Cute in a dragon-I-could-smash-your-head-in kind of way, yep." Grandfather laughed and walked back into the house. "Come on inside you two, before you think too much," he said, voice fading back to us. De-morphing, we walked in and I jumped as Ketria landed on my shoulder. <Well, look who decided to come back,> she said, blinking slowly. "Yep and hungry," I said, sitting down, allowing the bird to remain where she landed. "Will you ever eat a hamburger, Grandfather?" "Not anytime soon," he said, putting out plates in front of us and we dug in. "Besides, I think you two ate a whole prairie full of cattle while on Earth." Will kept eating and swallowed. "Yeah, but I don't think they minded too much," he grinned and kept spooning food into his mouth. I shook my head and took small bites. "What else do we get to do tomorrow?" I asked placidly as Sleeping Panther sat with his own food, sprinkling what looked like herbs onto his plate. "Tomorrow, you get to learn the full extent of your powers," he answered arching an eyebrow. "But tonight is a night of rest; do not worry about tomorrow...just enjoy each other's company as you're supposed too." |