An adventurous young dragon wyrmling, maybe a decade old, the young silver dragon loved to explore the nooks and crannies of their parent's mountain, and the surrounding lands!  Was it safe? Not always, but she knew which dangers to avoid, and which she could deal with at her age, hunting deer and squirrels down in the valley forests between the mountains.  Late one day she was too lazy to fly back to the mountain, and instead found a lovely little shadowed glade covered in moss, and found the softest spot there to settle down, which just happened to be in a little depression in the middle of a ring of mushrooms that she didn't pay any attention to.  This proved to be a Mistake. 


As far as mistakes went, this one did not start off all that horrible, the world she awoke in was not her own, the air was too clean, the sun too bright, the trees to vibrant, with little pixies buzzing here and there across a great flowery glade gathering nectar, strange bird calls and overlarge squirrels chittering at her as she woke, and stretched, and stared at the strange, beautiful world she found herself in, rubbing her eyes and wondering if she was dreaming, letting out a little bubbling laugh that caused a flock of dandelion fluff sized pixies to jump into the air around her, startled, before they settled back down to their flowers.


The young dragoness perks her ears up to the flock of tiny pixies, poking at one with her nose first and it bounces off of her nose, and she lets out another little laugh, and lightly bounces through the swarm of them and they bounce up off of her harmlessly, producing a swarm of tiny giggles and one big one, as she bounces back through again, with a little spread of her wings.  Within a few moments the fluff swarms her, all linking hands as she bounds around, and soon she has a billowing cape of pixie fluff fluttering in the air behind her as she bounces around the glade.


She froliced through the field until the cloak of fluff she bore stretched over half of it, the air alive with giggling before the pixies broke off and started to float back to their flowers, and she panted a bit with her laughter, waving to the pixies, and meandering out into the forest.  The forest was so brightly lit with beautiful flowers, and she even spotted a graceful deer grazing on some low green shoots beneath the great trees that  towered above.  She was growing hungry, the deer was too large, but some of the squirrels looked like they might be tasty, they were quite large and plump and fluffy looking after all!  Or a rabbit.  She spotted one a distance away and lowered herself to start stalking. creeping silently along.


closer. closer she crept, silent little huntress! getting ready to pounce when suddenly a pair of armored fairies, nearly a foot tall swooped up in front of her, leveling spears at her and making her yelp, hopping back.  They spoke to her rapidly! as she blinked and sat back on her haunches, brow furrowed, not understanding. "I was hungry, I was just going to hunt.  Am I not allowed to hunt here?" she asked.

Discussing it among themselves, they shook their heads at her after a minute, poking the spears at her to try and drive her away.  The young dragoness frowned, and tilted her head. "Can I fish somewhere?" Again there was more discussion between the two, and again they shook their heads.  The young silver huffed, her stomach growling at her for breakfast, her tail twitching as her crest laid back a moment, before perking up again, "Fruit? berries?"


The two armored fairies again discuss things between themselves for a moment, eyeing the silvery intruder, before nodding, and motioning her to follow, before flitting off.  The young silver dragon perks up and bounds along after them, following them out to a deer trail that broadens eventually into a path, winding and wending through the forest, passing beneath great tree roots, and underneath a stream that loops through the air over the path, making the little silver stare for a moment before she scampered to catch up to the two fairies.  Eventually they led her to what looked like a great orchard, with beautiful, flowering, fruiting trees, and holding their lances out like they were to present the orchard! as the young silver dragon's eyes went wide!


Looking a moment to the two fairies, she turns and scampers off into the glade! finding what looked like an orange tree, peering up at the fruit, before she moves to climb the tree, carefully, scaling up the trunk to the branches, she starts to reach out for one of the fruit, stretching a paw out and...! Just as she's about to grab it a hand grabs her tail and yanks her rudely out of the tree!

letting out a surprised yelp! the young silver dragon lands on the loamy grass with a thump, blinking and staring up in shock and surprise at a very lovely dryad there that starts yelling at her, and the silver dragon scrambles to her feet, backing off, fin flattened back against her head as the pair of armored fairies burst out in bright bubbly laughter, clearly amused with the trick they played.  The dryad, hearing the laughter turns her wrath on them and starts berating them, and the young silver takes the chance to scramble to her feet and dash away from the angry dryad and her tree, and a quick glance around the orchard showed her a fair number of dryads awakening to observe the commotion and the fleeing silver dragon.


The young silver fled from the orchard on swift paws, looking over her shoulder for signs of pursuit of angry dryads or grumpy ents or peevish fairies, still hungry! but running so fast and looking back so much that she didn't see the two young high fae right in her path carrying a pair of baskets of fruit they had just finished gathering, and bowls right into them with mutual cries of surprise as fruit baskets go flying and the three of them go tumbling on the ground, accompanied by the patter of ripe fruit thumping to the loamy forest path!


It took the silver dragon a few moments to regain her senses, the two youths were quicker about it, scrambling to their feet and darting to duck behind a tree to peek out at the dragon, one rather fawn aspected, with tanned skin dappled with white, little nubs of antlers protruding from her hair, and wide, brown eyes, hiding behind her sister who was darker and more wolf aspected, sharp teeth bared defensively as the young silver rolled to her feet and backed off, shaking her head, a little dazed, sitting back on her haunches, and rubbing her head with a paw, "Ow..." she murmurs, tail flicking as she blinks around, tilting her head at the two children, not really any older than she was, "Sorry..." her fin laid back, and she looks at the mess made.  She picked herself to her feet and moved to pick up the baskets with her teeth to set them upright, before padding to start picking up fruit to put back in the baskets, handling it carefully in her teeth so she didn't break the skin. 


The two youths stared and watched for a minute as the young dragon started cleaning up the mess, silent at first before speaking in sylvan between themselves, before first the wolfish one slips out, a little cautiously, and bending down to start picking up some fruit as well.  The young silver dragon paused just a moment to look at the girl, before she resumed helping, and after a few moments more the doe girl crept out, and started helping, and it only took a few minutes before the three of them had the whole mess cleaned up and nicely packed back in the baskets, only a tiny bit worse for wear on their adventure.  And then the silver dragon's stomach growled. loudly. and she sat back on her haunches making a face, a paw moving to her hungry stomach.


The two girls looked at the dragoness, blinking a moment, before they burst out giggling, talking to each other a moment, before the wolfy girl took a large orange from her basket, and carefully held it out to the silver dragoness.  The little dragon perked her ears up, licking her lips as she leaned towards the orange, then paused, perking up to the girl who nodded encouragingly, so the dragoness leaned forwards and carefully took the orange from her, before settling back on her haunches, gripping the orange and quickly starting to shred its skin until she could dig into the fruit's meat within, bits of orange juice and pulp splattering and streaking her muzzle and paws quickly as she hungrily devoured the orange, tail swishing.


The little silver dragon sat licking her paws and muzzle clean for a minute, while the two girls giggles at her antics, seeming a little bolder since it looked like the dragon was fairly friendly.  They tried asking her questions, but she just tilted her head and looked confused.  Finally the wolf girl tapped her chest, "Orrylth." 

The doe girl tapped her chest next, and said, "Eirva."
Names were something that the little dragoness understood, crest perking up, and tapped her chest with her claws lightly, "Thunra." She introduced herself with a friendly if a bit toothy and slightly pulped grin, before she went back to cleaning her muzzle, oranges were so sticky!


The two girls, twins from the look giggled and talked to each other, before Orrylth stepped forwards, a hand starting to reach out to try and pet the dragon, before Eirva said something, making the darker girl pause, then offer her hand out palm up to the dragon.  Thunra paused in her cleaning, fin perked up, and stretched her muzzle out to sniff Orrylth's hand, before licking her fingers, drawing a giggle from the girl, who tried to stroke the dragon's muzzle.  Thunra giggled herself and gave a little purr, encouraging the petting, and a few moments later the more timid sister, Eirva stepped forward to offer her hand, which Thunra sniffed, then licked, and soon both girls were petting the little dragoness's head and neck, drawing a lot of purrs from her and giggles from all of them.


Eirva looked at the sky after a few minutes, and made a comment to Orrylth, finally stepping away, and after a few moments of discussion, they started down the path, but then motioned for Thunra to join them! The little silver dragoness perked up with a toothy grin and bounded along with them, and together, the three of them dashed off down the path, she didn't know where they were going, but she had made two friends, and they had given her food, and that was one of the true methods to a dragon's heart, food!


the path was winding, but not very far really, darting through the forest, catching glimpses of dire beasts and fae deeper in the forest, before eventually emerging from the trees into a great glade where a huge tree dominated, dwarfing even the great trees of the forest they had left, large enough it made Thunra pause and stare, awestruck for a few moments before Eirva called her name.  Shaking herself she scampered with a little flutter of her wings to catch up, and the tree was a lot further away across the waving fields of golden grass than it seemed, but after a few minutes they slipped into the trees shade, and after a few more they came to a great nook sheltered on three sides by massive roots from the tree... and within that nook seemed to be a home, soft moss covering the ground, a great table where dinner preparations seemed to be under way, and several houses, quaint of esoteric sights, too tall, too broad, too round, set back against the roots, each one different and strange in its own way, with children and fae of all sorts scampering around, playing, or preparing for a dinner feast.


staring around at all the creatures a bit wide eyed, many of them so strange and weird she wasn't sure what they were, Thunra tried to keep up with the twins, and had to shake her head and scamper to keep up while they delivered their fruit baskets to the bed, then scampered off towards a huge high fae, his form white, his feet cloven, his head that of a stag, and with antlers rising and twisting in a dizzying array above him.  The children bowed to him, and Thunra, catching up paused, and then awkwardly bowed in her dragon form, before the children popped up and closed to distance with hugs and chatter in that musical language that Thunra couldn't understand, while a tall, well build high fae woman of dark skin with a wolf's head and glowing golden eyes joined them, her form thick and lush, and the children hugged her as well, babbling away and pointing excitedly at the silver dragoness who stood there rather uncertainly, though while she couldn't understand the words, a lot of the discussion looked like 'can we keep her?! look what we found! she's so cute!'


Listening patiently, the great Forest Lord finally waved his hand, and addressed Thunra in common, "Welcome young Thunra of the Silver Dragons to our lands and our home as our guest.  Reports of your passage came to me not long before you yourself did, but speak of a kind and playful little one.  My daughters seem enthralled by you, and... want to keep you," he lets out a rumbling chuckle, ruffling the heads of his two daughters affectionately.  "Mortals sometimes lose their way and find themselves in the Faewilds, sometimes it is like a dream, sometimes they find a friendly soul to guide them out, sometimes something of darkness claims them, and sometimes they find a place among the faewilds.  Silver Dragons are highly regarded among the Seelie, as both kind, honorable, and valiant warriors.  So I will make you an offer, to take you as one of my vassals, and assign you as a companion to my daughters, to grow and learn besides, to face dangers together, to protect and comfort each other.  It is not an eternal commitment, one day should you wish to travel on, I will reward you for your service and assist as I may.  I do not need your answer immediately, so think on the offer, and join us for our feast!" he waves a hand magnanimously towards the feast as it was being assembled, everything seeming to come together right them on the great tables in a wonderful spread, all the way from a great roast boar, to giant fish, to fruits, vegetables, salads and more.


Little Thunra let out a low 'wow' at the speech and offer from the great stag, and nodded her head, and it never hurt to be polite! "Thank you m'lord for your hospitality and offer!  I will think on it and probably say yes after the feast!" it was so beautiful in this realm, she didn't want to move on, not yet at least.  The twins spoke with their father a moment more than giggled and danced over to Thunra to gather her up and lead her to the feast, there were so many strange creatures that the chairs took all sorts of shapes, and they found one that would suit her, and they sat at the table, and feasted on such wondrous food, the twins chatting brightly though Thunra couldn't understand them, not yet, it was going to take her a little time to learn, but it felt so wonderful there, so friendly, so much like family with so many different creatures of the Forest Lord's court feasting together.  And after the feast the twins led Thunra off with them to play with the other children, she didn't understand the rules, but she picked up how to play pretty quickly, laughter and joy spilling through the evening into the night.


The children played late into the night until everyone started to wear out, and the twins tugged on Thunra's paws, leading her back to the feast table where the adults had sat and talked and drank and feasted the night away.  The Forest Lord looked to the three, though focusing on Thunra, "Have you made your decision yet little one?"

Thunra nodded, a happy glow on her muzzle, the world was so bright and beautiful, and the fae so joyful, "Yes, I will be your Vassal."

The forest lord clapped his hands together, "Excellent! There are binding, but not permanent oaths, I would not ensnare one so young for the rest of your life.  Should you wish to be freed one day, we will discuss it.  Now, the oath is easy, so repeat after me.  I Thunra do swear under no duress to serve as the Vassal of the Lord of the Forest, to defend his land, carry out his commands, and protect his people, until such a time as we decide to part ways."

Thunra's fun was perked up as she listened, trying to remember all that, but did a good job of reciting it back.  As she spoke the last words she felt an intangible weight feel like it fell across her shoulders, a burden, a responsibility, an oath.

The Forest Lord nods, looking pleased, "I, the lord of these lands, swear to see to the care, education, and protection of my new vassal, Thunra, until she is released from service.  Welcome Thunra." he gestures grandly, "To your new home.  Your first charge, as we discussed, is to act as companions of my two daughters, they'll get you settled for the night, and will help you learn our language in the coming weeks."


The days that followed were magical, slowly over the next few weeks Thunra learned Sylvan, and then she started picking up other things from the twins, shapeshifting from Orrylth, some other magics and healing from Eirva, as well as the druid's tongue.  Together they spent most of their days roaming and exploring the summerlands, playing little harmless pranks of great elder beings that were too slow to catch them, but who usually joined in the laughter, spending afternoons stretched out in a warm sunny glade napping, swimming in springs and streams that sometimes flowed through the air, even eventually taking on some minor tasks for the Forest Lord, clearing out nests of wicked spiders, chasing some noxsome goblins off who were trying to poach, checking on distant vassals, nothing that put them in real harms way.  The days seemed endless and full of play and exploration, the nights full of laughter and music and food, and sleep was good and deep curled up together wherever they happened to be, it seemed like it would never end, as all three of them grew in size and power.  This was the happiest that Thunra ever was, and would ever be. 
