Everyone else released their breath, having been holding it subconsciously. They then stared at the drafis, where it is lying down next to its mate, resting its head on her back.
"So, is it safe to move around?" Troy asked.
"I think so," I said as I sat down on the rock, "it seemed to remember me, or at least it knows me now."
They stood in silence as I sat, and after a while we heard a deep *mroah* as the male lifted its head up and looked over at us, which is when we noticed one of its young was walking towards us. In the short time, it had learned to walk properly without stumbling or tripping over rocks, and its skin now had spots of pale gold coloration compared to the pure white skin it was born with.
I remained seated as the little drafis walked over to me, the adults not breaking their gaze from me, watching for any sign of hostility or violence. It seems they trust me to be around them, but not their children.
When the little drafis, or drafeling, if you will, got right up next to me, it sniffed by shoes and pants, before deciding to take a bite from my pant leg. I tried to keep my laughter in as it spit it out very quickly, it obviously not being to its liking.
I was tempted to ask the others for some dried meat, but I didn't want the drafelings to see us as a way to get food, so I just let it sniff me and walk around and on my legs.
While the adults were quite large, the drafelings were the size of a small cat, so when it decided to sit in my lap it fit almost perfectly. It made some *mriap* noises as it curled into a ball, resting its head rear its tail.
Maddie slowly walked over and sat down next to me, looking at the drafeling. Conner and Troy also walked over and peered over my shoulders.
"Guys, look over there." I said, "The others are coming over too."
The remaining three drafelings had finished their meals and were now going to see where its sibling had gone. They came over and made the same *mriap* the one in my lap had made, and it perked up and said *mreip* and went back to resting. The three other drafelings began sniffing around Maddie and my legs, and two others decided to join its sibling in my lap while the other went and laid down in Maddie's.
I couldn't help but smile as the one in Maddie's lap released a light *mrr* as it rested its head on her leg. The three in my lap had shifted around and now were resting their heads on each other's backs.
I whispered to Maddie, "I can't believe they're this friendly."
"I know," she said, "it's so cute."
"And the parents don't seem to mind either."
We sat there until the drafelings decided to get up and head back to their parents, not having the heart to wake them or to try and move them. We were there for almost an hour, so we told Troy and Conner to go ahead and head out while we waited. When we stood up I almost fell over, and stretched my legs to get them out of the position they were in.
As we turned to leave, the two adult drafii said a loud *MMiiRiip* towards us. I didn't directly understand, but I knew they were welcoming us to come back later. Maddie and I chatted along the way back, choosing to take the rope all the way up rather than walk up the cavern path. Maddie also decided to show off and only use her arms the entire way up.
"You know," I said carrying her backpack, "you didn't need to show off like that."
"But I wanted to." she said, putting on a pouty face before returning her smile.
I sighed and sped up my pace, to which she matched and then exceeded.
We continued some banter back and forth until we got outside to find it was around mid-afternoon. The Smiths were talking to Troy and Conner as we came out of the cave.
"Fine, if that's what they told you then I guess its fine," Mr. Smith said, and looking around he saw up and continued, "See honey its no big deal, they came back."
"Just because it was all fine doesn't mean it will always be." Mrs. Smith countered, "They really should've stayed with them."
"What's this about?" I asked.
"Well," Mr. Smith was about to start, when the Mrs. cut him off, "Troy and Conner shouldn't've left you two in the caverns with two drakes!"
"But I told them too." I said, "We had baby drafii in our laps and weren't about to force them to get up."
"You had baby drafii in your laps?" Mr. and Mrs. said, "Were they cute?" "Did the parents know about this?"
"Yes, to both." I said, "They were very cute, and the parents were watching just in case."
Mrs. Smith sighed, "I guess as long as everything was okay then its all good."
Mr. Smith said as we all walked away, "You really need to stop worrying about them so much, they're all adults." To which Mrs. Smith shot back, "You worry more about them than I do. I only worry when its necessary."
The four of us went to make a snack, and Holly saw us and offered to help, so we ended up having a mid-afternoon meal before talking about the drafelings for a while before going our separate ways. Troy needed to help Diana with gathering stones for another building and it was Conner's turn to patrol the edges of the town.
Maddie didn't have much to do, but then Holly asked her to get something for dinner, so we set out to find a rabbit or two. I decided to try something big with the amber, and gathered some tree seeds for a while before dinner.
Maddie caught two rabbits, which Holly cooked in a stew with vegetables from the garden and we all sat around and talked about the next few days' plans.
"I'm gonna get another house set up." Diana said, "Holly and Jack will need a place to stay for their child when they come in a few decems."
"I'll help out with that as much as I can." Jack said, "Jake will you give me a hand?"
"Sure thing Sir." Jack responded. Jack had become a lot more involved over the least few decems, helping Jack with woodcutting and Diana with some stonework.
No one else had all that much planned, so I decided to tell them about my plans since they were related to Diana and Jack's. "I'm also planning to build a house."
Everyone turned to me, and Diana asked, "D'you need any help with that?"
"No, but thanks for the offer." I said, "I'm going to try something new. It won't be that big, but it would be easy to expand it if I wanted to in the future."
Diana and Jack both nodded, and I could tell they were confused about what I meant, but it didn't really matter. I liked to surprise everyone with things, and so I kept this a secret until I started working on it, as it'll be hard to hide once I do.
After dinner, I took the tree seeds I gathered earlier and planted them in a square shape in an empty area on the edge of town before heading to bed in the town hall, for possibly the last time.