I didn't have to wait long. Goliath came straight to the cave a few hours later. Which was probably how long it took to calm down the aggressive idiot. I stayed in my human form while I waited which caught Jax attention. Ethan, and Savannah both assumed I had my reasons, and waited to find out what they were.
Aurora rushed over to me with a toothy grin on her face. I was busy watching Goliath's heat signature come up the mountain path toward the cave so I got beaned in the face by an over energized, and very energetic drakeling. It didn't hurt, and she wasn't strong enough to even make me flinch. I flinched back against her jump anyway so that she wouldn't hurt herself when she collided with me. She curled her tail around my head, and hung off my neck with her head rested on top of my own.
I usually enjoyed her company, but she wasn't acting as playful as normal. Maybe it had something to do with me staying in my human form. I pulled her off my face, and let her curl up in my lap. She kept glancing up at me, and seemed to be curious about what was going on. Her intelligence was good, but she still hadn't spoken yet.
It was obvious that she could understand most of what we were saying, and that just confused me more. I didn't understand why she wasn't speaking yet. I ran my hand down her spines slowly. She looked up at me from my lap. Her wing nubs were slowly starting to form.
I avoided touching them since I could remember how frail mine had felt when they were still growing. The echo of footsteps coming down the tunnel made her perk up. Everyone that normally came here was already here. She bared her teeth, and growled quietly. I tried to sooth her by stroking her gently.
She stilled when she saw Goliath enter. The stone bench I sat on was closer to the entrance than the other two. The beds, and small rooms I'd made for Ethan, Savannah, and Jax just looked like doors in the cavern walls. Faintly lit by the light of the fire at the center of the cavernous room. Goliath's expression changed to shock when he saw the little smoky grey drakeling sitting in my lap.
Her silver eyes glowed slightly in the dark of the room. Just like my own glowed slightly in the dark. Her scales stood on end as she looked at Goliath. Her faint growl made me realize that she was in fact quite suspicious of strangers. I set her down on the bench next to me, and stroked her gently.
She calmed down enough that she stopped growling, and let me do my own thing for now. I got up, and created a bunch of small flames to light up the room a bit better.
"Is that?" Goliath looked at Aurora, and frowned.
I felt my own lip lift in response as my mind went on the defensive. My eyes became entirely draconic in appearance. I tried to calm my temper because he didn't actually do anything wrong.
"Her name is Aurora," I inhaled slowly.
Calming myself down enough for my eyes to go back to their human appearance.
"She is?" he looked at me funny.
"A dragon," I nodded confirmation, "A drakeling to be exact. "
"A baby dragon," Goliath actually smiled slightly, "She's not what I expected."
"I was already past this stage by the time you found out what I really was," I picked her up gently.
"She seems so harmless compared to you," Goliath smiled at me.
I almost flinched at his expression. Goliath almost never smiled. It almost felt wrong. Aurora had the opposite reaction. She leapt out of my arms, and landed on his left shoulder with all the lithe grace of cat.
Goliath flinched at the sudden added weight, and then she looked at me with a questioning gaze.
"He's helped me in the past," I smirked as I looked at her, "If you want to know more about him then ask him."
She looked at Goliath with a questioning gaze. Wrapping her tail around his neck slowly. Using it for purchase so she wouldn't lose her grip on him. She stared at him for a while before yawning, and using his broad shoulder like a bed. I wanted to pick her up, and relieve the big man in front of me of the little drakeling that decided to use him as a bed.
"No," Goliath held out his hand to stop me, "It's fine. She can't sleep forever."
"She's already eaten," I shrugged, and dropped my hands, "She'll probably sleep for at least half a day."
"She'll be fine for now," Goliath realized I wasn't joking by the look on my face, "I'm not that worried about it for now."
"You mind?" I gestured toward the open space that didn't have a bench.
I'd already moved the eggs into their own hidden spot. I knew he was going to ask, but I wouldn't answer even if he did ask. He didn't need to know where or how I came to hatch a dragon egg.
"Go ahead," Goliath looked like he wanted to shrug but refrained himself, "You didn't need to take human form for me."
I walked over to the clear area, and switched forms. The wind rushed outward from me because of how fast I switched forms. Goliath looked at me with a stunned expression. My shapeshifting skill was much stronger, and faster then my old physical camouflage skill. My body tensed as I stretched leisurely before laying down casually.
I'd grown quite a bit since the last time we'd chatted like this. Maybe not size wise, but the difference between now, and then was like night, and day. The color was driven from my scales so my body was pure black. The crown of horns on my head was the only place on my body that still had color. Even that was just the tips.