Not going to hurt her?
Yi Longlong flicked her tongue. Who would fall for it? Bad guys would never expose themselves as the bad guys.
When that person turned around, Yi Longlong could see his appearance clearly. His face was half covered by bangs, but the chin and lips exposed were extremely exquisite. He would score a passing grade just by half the face alone.
After ascertaining the other person had already discovered her existence, and not just casually spooking the surroundings, Yi Longlong hesitated a bit then opened her mouth. “You…you…”
The language the man used did not belong to any languages she knew of, but the weird thing was, Yi Longlong could understand it, and her babyish voice also began to stutter out.
Seemed like this knowledge had already existed within her head, only that it was never unlocked all along without a suitable key. The presence of this man became that key.
Becoming encouraged after speaking a single word, Yi Longlong then gathered her strength as she continued with her request. A soft young voice carrying the sweet lilt of a child slowly emanated from the grass. “Let… me take a look… at your eyes.”
The eyes were the windows to the soul, or so Yi Longlong had always deeply believed. Although she had previously spent half her life in a hospital and didn’t interact much with others, there were many things she had witnessed in the hospital.
Young and old, sickness and death, this was the path that all people took. The presence of these four words accumulated everywhere in the hospital. She had seen pregnant women being transferred to the delivery wards, and old men quivering. She had witnessed the sick painfully groaning out on their sickbeds, and seen the people near her stop their breaths. From her sickness and pain, her senses were instead more sensitive. It could very easily tell from people’s eyes whether they harbored good will or ill intentions.
The blonde man’s voice was very kind but she was still a bit scared, so she gave out this ridiculous sounding request.
The blonde man was slightly surprised, then began to smile. His smile was very laid back and casual, just like the rays naturally shining down from the sun. Following that, he lifted his messy hair and stroked it aside, revealing the two eyes covered beneath.
That was a pair of… very gentle eyes. The beautiful blue eyes were like a sky free of clouds, wide and almost endless. His pupils were welcoming and gentle, and like the sharpest weapon, immediately crumbled her defense.
The blonde man looked around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and had a handsome appearance. His messy hair that lacked grooming gave him an air of exhaustion. As for his eyes, it was as if it was always carrying a gentle smile.
However, what really made Yi Longlong feel at ease was not the blonde man’s face, but his actions. He could have directly walked over and exposed her, but facing such an evidently weak voice, he instead chose to respect her wishes.
The blonde man waited again, and not seeing any movements within the grass, he patiently persuaded. “I have something really important I need to ask from you, please come out and meet me…”
His voice suddenly paused, because Yi Longlong came out.
Before meeting Yi Longlong, the blonde man thought that while there was a very weak and small creature prying in the grass, he never expected it to actually be a dragon, and even one dressed like this.
Yi Longlong wore clothes weaved from the silver edged grass, with lotus leaves for a collar. From within the short sleeves stretched out two snow white claws. The clothing was so long it almost dragged on the floor, and conveniently covered more than half the tail. As for the hems, silver and blue were stitched in delicate patterns, making the clothing made of plants even more fine and beautiful.
After a year, her handicraft became more refined. Trying out many materials, she found out that the silver edged grass was the most useful. It was soft and sturdy, and could even maintain its freshness for a long period of time even after being plucked.
The blonde man felt that the scene in front of his eyes greatly departed from his common knowledge. He knew there was a creature in the grass, but never imagined a dragon would be hiding there. A dragon was a dragon, that he knew of. Usually, even if it was a newborn dragon, its size would at least be as big as an adult human, but the one in front of his eyes didn’t even reach his knees. What really confounded him was that this dragon actually wore clothes.
Is this… really a dragon?
When the blonde man approached, Yi Longlong became depressed. There was originally still some hopefulness in her heart, wishing that the surrounding trees and grass were overly big and not because of her small stature, but now there was a reference for comparison. Her initial intuition was correct.
Looking at Yi Longlong, the blonde man looked as if he thought of something; a strange expression mixed with alarm appeared on his face. He slowly opened his mouth. “Little fella, were you born in this place?”
How did he know?
Yi Longlong warily stared at him, then slightly nodded her head.
The blonde man pondered, as if he was struggling to find the right words. After a while, he once again showed his smile. “First let me introduce myself. I’m Eric1, a friend of your mother.”
Next second, at her quickest speed Yi Longlong turned and hopped back into the grass. Her newly developed trust was broken down by a single sentence. In the books and TV shows from her previous life, those weird uncles2 would generally always speak like this to trick little kids. “I’m a good friend of your mother (father).”
Even if this guy was very handsome, it was still a handsome weird uncle.
Seeing the snow white baby dragon immediately hide away as if it received a shock from his words, Eric was dumbfounded. Did he really look that scary?
He knelt down, leveling his eyes with the eyes appearing from within the grass. “What are you scared of? I’m really not going to hurt you.”
Yi Longlong pursed her lips. “Liar.”
Eric startled. “Where am I lying to you?”
Yi Longlong gave a look of disdain. “I don’t know who my mother is at all? How would I know if you’re her friend? Even then, I’ve lived here since my birth and have never met you at all. How would you know who I’m the child of?”
She spoke clearly with reason and evidence, it just so happened with the voice of an abnormally childish voice, it gave the impression of a child posing as an adult.
Eric nodded with understanding. “So you didn’t know.”
He turned around and looked at the lake again, his eyes clouded with a little yearning. “Your mother’s name was Tahinir3. In the language of dragons, Tahinir holds the meaning of eternal silver. Tahinir was a silver dragon. She was the perfect unity of elegance and power, the strongest among the dragons. When she lifted her head, the earth would tremble. When her wings opened, the silver brilliance would pierce the skies…”
Although this description sounded very strange, Eric’s gentle expression gave Yi Longlong a warm feeling. She did not interrupt, and continued to listen.
“Ten years ago, I was wandering the four corners of the world. I happened to meet Tahinir and became friends with her. There was a time where I lived with her for a whole year, so I’m very familiar with her air. And so when I got close by here, I felt an air and pressure belonging to her, and deduced your relation with her.”
His blue eyes dimmed. “This lake and the surrounding trees are too quite. There’s not even a single bird. That’s because there’s an extremely mighty pressure dispersing from the lake, letting other animals instinctively shy away. This level of pressure can only be the remnants of Tahinir after she had passed away.”
What he did not mention to Yi Longlong, was that the reason he separated from Tahinir that year was because they didn’t know who used some cruel methods to heavily injure Tahinir. When that happened, he had watched the eternal silver body stained with blood fly with pain and sorrow across the sky. With such horrendous injuries it would have been difficult to survive it, even for a dragon.
Eric gently gazed at the baby dragon hidden in the grass. “Tahinir once told me that she laid an egg and was preparing to find a place to hatch. Although she has already passed away, she’s fulfilled her words in the end.”
He could almost imagine the situation at that time. Tahinir, heavily injured all over, in order to escape that terrifying enemy and to protect her child from harm, she flew all the way to this forest and when she arrived, she finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell into the lake. Even if her life had come to an end, she still tried her best to protect her own child.
The other animals in the forest did not dare approach because of the mighty pressure, and the icy air unique to silver dragons, with the lake as its center, created a suitable environment for a dragon egg to hatch.
The reason this place didn’t have any disasters or scourges, and the place was a picturesque scenery with nice weather, was because a mother did not forget to protect her child, even after her death.
Eric pointed a finger at the lake, and said with a sorrowful expression, “Here lies Tahinir.”
Silence perpetuated for some time. Yi Longlong once again opened her mouth. “So you’re saying, my mother is actually at the bottom of the lake. She had already passed away?”
When she had dived into the lake, she always felt something familiar calling to her. Now she knew that it was probably the blood bonds between her mother and this body.
Every time she dived into the center of the lake, the water would thicken to a level where it was impossible to advance. She previously thought it was a unique trait of this lake, but now taking into account of what Eric said, it was probably because a mighty dragon rested at the center of the lake bed.
As for the changes in the water quality, it was probably something to do with that dragon called Tahinir.
After feeling depressed for a while, Eric stretched out a hand to Yi Longlong, comforting her. “No need to be sad. Although your mother had passed away, I will look after you.”
Meeting Eric’s gentle blue eyes, she remembered that her own eyes were blue, then took Eric’s words into consideration. Yi Longlong then came up with a terrifying possibility. She sheepishly looked at Eric. “If it’s like that… does that mean you’re my father?”
1. 艾瑞克– Ài ruì kè. Officially romanized as Eric.
3. 塔希妮雅 – Tǎ xī nī yǎ. I romanized it to Tahinir, with 希 interpreted as a ‘hi’, using Hillman 希尔曼 Xī ěr màn as precedent.