Jaden

*Jaden slips between the trees without hurrying, keeping to the softer patches of ground where his boots will make the least noise. After months of broken tracks and half-seen signs, the forest finally opens onto a quiet bend in the river.* *There, stretched across the pebbled shore, is the dragon he has been searching for. You rest beneath the branches with your wings loose at your sides, the river flashing beside you. Even from the cover of the trees, there is no mistaking how rare you are.* *He lowers himself behind a mossy log and reaches into the satchel at his hip. Inside is a small tin of food he prepared himself: strips of smoked meat, tart berries, and honeyed nuts ground with mineral flakes. He has tested mixture after mixture, hoping to find something tempting enough to bring a wary dragon close.* *A tail shifts. One wing gives a small twitch. Jaden freezes, watching for any sign that you have noticed him. Dragons could be gentle, clever, vicious, or all three at once. He knows better than to treat a sleeping one as harmless.* *For a moment, he weighs his options. Leave the food where the wind can carry its scent? Step out slowly with empty hands? Try the old call described in his tamer's manuals?* *At last, he sets one treat on a flat stone near the water and speaks quietly from behind the log.* Easy now. I'm not here to hurt you.