Free Dragon Scales by Sasha L. Miller

knot."
    "No," Amantea said sharply. "I'm putting on my own clothing."
    "All right," Isaia said, raising his hands. "If you insist."
    Amantea huffed for the third time, annoyed at the small smile on Isaia's lips, like he was amused by Amantea. Ugh. This day was turning out terrible, and he'd been awake for less than half an hour. Storming across the room to where his clothes had been spread out to dry, Amantea wrinkled his nose at the lake water smell to them. Nothing to do for it, though, unless he wanted to keep wearing the wrap and braving the chance that it might fall free at any moment.
    He glanced over at Isaia, but he had his back to Amantea, doing something to the potatoes. Amantea removed the wrap and quickly dressed, stifling a sigh at the way his clothing smelled. He could trust it to stay in place, and that was more than the wrap had to go for it. It also covered more, and Amantea wanted that security, even if it was silly.
    "We'll go see Naldo after breakfast, if that's all right," Isaia said when Amantea reluctantly rejoined him. The potatoes were gone, potentially in the stove, and Isaia was chewing on a piece of jerky.
    "That's good," Amantea said. "Then I can go home." He wanted home. He wanted his nest, clothes that didn't smell, food that wasn't roasted potatoes or scavenged seeds and berries. He wanted to not be dealing with an infuriating, attractive dragon who thought he was barely better than a flit.
    "Yeah," Isaia said softly. "You can."
    Amantea tilted his head, confused at the tone of Isaia's voice. Was he imagining the sadness to Isaia's voice? Probably. Isaia pushed away from the counter he'd been leaning against. "I'm going to go see if Teria wants something to eat."
    He didn't wait for Amantea to reply, heading across the room in great, giant strides, leaving Amantea feeling lost and confused. Wasn't it a good thing for Amantea to be going home? He'd stop annoying Isaia, and Isaia would probably be heading to his actual home, too. He had his sister, and they were going to deal with Naldo shortly. Everything would be back to normal, for both of them.
    Amantea ignored the thought that he didn't want things to be normal again. Normal meant boring, meant dealing with his mother pressuring him to find some lovely faerie his age to nest with. Meant harvests and potentially moving the nest since it had been found, and dealing with all the arguments and bickering over where they should move, if they should move at all...
    It sounded tiresome just thinking about it. The little comforts—his nest, good food, clean clothing—paled in comparison. Maybe he could spend a few days and leave again? His mother was already going to have a fit that he'd run off. He was too young to be on his own, after all, never mind that he'd gotten further in stopping the destruction of the nest than anyone in the nest had. They were probably still fighting over how to proceed.
    Sighing, Amantea trudged over to the stove. As he'd suspected, Isaia had tucked the potatoes inside. He fished them out with a pair of tongs next to the oven, even though they likely weren't finished cooking. They were too hot to handle immediately, so Amantea set them on the counter and scowled at the empty house. He could hear raised voices from outside, but he refused to give into his curiosity.
    It was a few minutes later that Isaia returned, slamming the door behind him. He looked his usual angry self, and Amantea focused on nibbling on his half-cooked potato. He'd thought Isaia and Teria would have had a better relationship, given how upset Isaia had been that she'd been kidnapped.
    "Teria is coming with us," Isaia said, scowling. He returned to the counter, picking up his discarded jerky and taking a vicious bite of it.
    Amantea nodded. "Do you fight a lot?"
    Isaia grumbled something, shooting a glare at the front door, presumably at Teria. Out loud, he said, "She starts it, mostly."
    Amantea snorted, stuffing more potato into his mouth when Isaia