The dragoness sensed the blood in the water and immediately knew the boy had become injured. Without thinking of the consequences of her actions, she followed her maternal instincts and caught the unconscious boy in her arms before the current injured him further or swept him into the open ocean.

Once she raised his head above the surface of the water, she hesitated. This counts as an emergency, right? She glanced at the boy as he continued to bleed and remained unconscious. Yes, she decided. With her choice made, the dragoness carried him into the safety of the grotto.

When she reached the shore and pulled the boy completely out of the water, she looked at him. The boy was unconscious but breathing and the only cut was on his arm. A single motherly lick with a touch of magic healed the wound enough to stop the bleeding.

Though cumbersome to do so, the dragoness cradled him in one forelimb as she climbed the stairs and traversed the castle hallways. She carefully carried him to the only room which still had a mostly intact human bed with blankets and pillows.

At the entrance of the room, the castle's guardian paused and looked into what had once been the princess's royal chambers. Despite her reservations, it was the best bed left in the castle and the child needed someplace warm. She would not treat her guest poorly, she worried the water might ruin the previously untouched bed.

After a pause, she placed the boy on the ground, then ran off into other parts of the castle. She found a pile of moth-eaten towels in the laundry room and grabbed all of them in her large jaws. She swiftly returned to the room and piled them on top of the bed to preserve it from the boy's wet clothes and hair. Then, she retrieved the boy and placed him onto the mound of ancient hole-covered towels.

The dragoness took a step back and studied the elven boy. His dull green shirt, brown shorts, and dark hair all wetly clung to his tan skin. The sight of him stirred something deep within Horizon.

Suddenly, she perceived a different face in the bed. Princess? Princess Rona? She blinked at the sickly young female half-elf and dispelled her spell of invisibility. As her form rippled into sight, she released a soft coo of worry as she hovered above the weakened form of the royal child.

"Horizon," the child managed to show the dragon a smile as strong as the sickness allowed, "Papa will be taking me to the city soon. Thank you—for your service to this—fortress." She wheezed, then broke into a coughing fit. "Hor—i—zon, I—dis—miss—." Her coughing worsened into convulsions.

Suddenly, the dragon was very aware of the actual sounds of coughing that reached her ears and the visions of memories vanished. The boy was coughing and waking up, and she was visible.

In a panic, she swiftly recast her invisibility spell and disappeared just as the boy opened his eyes. However, the water in her fur visibly splattered against the stone. She attempted to lay down to limit the dripping, but the movement created some noise.

The boy woke up as his body briefly erupted in choking coughs. "Wha–?" He raggedy breathed as he rolled off of the bed and onto his feet. He gazed around the room with wide eyes. "How did I get here?"

He looked to the trail of water on the floor. "Huh," he stepped to the door and looked to both trails of water that continued in both directions. After a pause, he began to follow the left trail. "Either this is ghost juice or seawater," he spoke nervously as he continued to walk, "but hopefully this will lead me to whoever saved me."

"Hello!?!?" His voice rang through the lifeless halls. "Thank you for saving me! I want to repay you by thanking you in person!" He shivered as his voice echoed. "Hello?"

When he was a safe distance away, the dragoness dried herself and the room with an air spell that briefly surrounded her with a column of wind. She glanced at the door as the spell faded. I can't allow him to wander unsupervised.

It was not hard for her to pinpoint his location with the amount of noise he made. The boy made no effort to conceal himself as she caught up to him and followed from a safe distance.

She decided that she would refrain from revealing herself but knew it would be immensely difficult and keep an eye on him. If she had to reveal herself, she planned to scare him. That way, when he told others about her, it would keep others away. However, she suspected the boy would befriend her. Her loneliness and her soft spot for children may be against her.

She paused as she noticed that he was heading towards the grotto. No, he shouldn't know about the grotto. She allowed her paws to make noise as she turned and walked away from the boy.

The boy immediately noticed and spun to look in the direction of the footsteps. "Hello?" He turned around and ran in her direction. As he sprinted, the defining sound of his heavy footsteps filled the hall. The dragoness dodged him as he blindly ran past her, then followed him with soft footsteps until he stopped in the center of one of the many hallway intersections.

His voice wheezed as he gasped for air like a fish out of water. "Hello? Ghost dragon? Someone?" He whimpered as tears appeared in his large eyes. "I don't wanna be alone," a hiccup escaped his throat as he crumbled to his knees.

A young princess suddenly replaced the elven boy. His tears darkened the grey stone beneath him. "Please help me! I'm lost!" She cried. "Daddy? Dwagon?" She hiccupped as tears filled her eyes.

The dragoness clenched her teeth. I don't want to be alone either. She sighed as the memory faded. With a moment of hesitation, she dismissed her invisibility spell and approached the child.

The boy swiftly looked to her and froze with a gasp. Until she was within his reach, he did not react to her intimidating form and remained frozen. "You're—you're real." He breathed with a small squeak. However, his expression soon changed from fear to curiosity. "Why did you save me?" He asked, "no one has gotten close to this island in years, why let me?"

Even if she could reply, the dragon did not have an answer to offer the boy. Instead, she simply snorted and motioned with a bob of her head for the boy to follow her. He obediently followed her through the castle, though he asked questions the whole way.

"Are you a ghost? Can I touch you? Are there more dragons like you here? Do you have magic? Is that how you were invisible? What else can you do?" The boy did not seem to breathe as he questioned the serpentine being.

"Woah," the boy jumped as he stepped outside into the warm light of the sun. "I can see so much from here!" He joyously laughed as the ocean breeze blew sea spray in his face. After a moment of looking around, he noticed the worn stone path that led around the island. "This is neat," he began to walk around the island, "Lukahaven looks so small from here!" He grinned and pointed to the port city.

The dragoness turned herself invisible before she nervously emerged into the exterior of the fortress. Usually, she avoided the exterior of the island during the day and instead patrolled the interior of the castle. It was against her routine to be on the path under the noontime sun. Her magic was strong enough that she would not be easily detected, but she still feared someone noticing the slight ripples in their air her spell made in harsh light.

The elven boy blinked as he noticed her absence, "dragon? Dragon where did you go? Please do not leave me alone. I do not want to be alone." His voice squeaked softly.

The dragoness approached, then snorted in his face. Though she was slightly annoyed, she understood the desire for companionship.

"Oh, you are invisible again," he said softly, "I guess you do not want to be seen by everyone. Don't worry, I will keep your secret" he beamed a grin, then looked out to the city and watched some of the boats. "Do you think anyone will come to find me?"

She released a soft snort to try and reassure the boy. If no one came, she could probably use her magic to fix one of the old boats, or perhaps deposit him onto a ship that sailed too close. She looked to the city and picked out the rough shapes of the boys that had come by a few hours ago with a taller adult. She would have to create a plan to get the boy off the island without anyone discovering the secret entrance.

She followed the kid the rest of the way around the island, then stopped when the boy stopped at the castle's main entrance. "Do you have any food?" The young elf looked guilty.

The dragoness paused as she remembered that unlike immortal dragons, mortals still needed sustenance. She contemplated her options, then decided if she was quick about it, she would catch a fish for him to eat. Wasting no time, the dragoness quickly dove into the ocean. After swimming around a bit, she grabbed a decently sized fish from a large school of bright silver fish near the island.

Once she secured the fish in her maw, the dragoness burst out of the water and silently flew up to the castle. Though the fish still annoyingly flopped around in her mouth, it did not affect her flight. She landed at the entrance and dried herself with a simple air spell, then looked to the doorway.

She blinked when she noticed the boy was not where she had left him. Her nostrils flared and her ears perked as she located the boy and mentally cursed her foolishness. I should not have left him alone to wander the castle. Luckily, he is loud.

"Dragon?!" The boy's panicked tone echoed down the hallway. "Dragon, where did you go? Dragon?"

The dragoness sprinted to the boy, then slowed to a walk as she turned herself and the fish visible. She snorted a bit and quickly gained his attention. As much as she loved the company, she almost felt like a babysitter.

"You're back!" The elven boy happily cheered and impulsively wrapped his arms around the female dragon's neck. "I was scared you were gone and I was all alone in the haunted castle." He buried his face into her fur.

The dragoness grimaced slightly. Though she thought his hands were a bit too close to the golden band and jewel of immortality around her neck, she knew that he could not harm it. She also did not remember how to react. The last person that hugged me was... she paused her train of thought, ...Princess Rona.

The dragoness looked down and saw a young Princess Rona in place of the elven boy and could not stop herself from releasing a gentle purr. "Thank you for rescuing me, Horizon, it was scary in the secret tunnels. I am so glad you found me! Thank you!" Tears welled up in the little girl's eyes.

The fish in her jaws squirmed and broke her trance as it slapped her in the face. After she blinked a few times and ceased her purring. A bit embarrassed, she looked down at the boy.

"You brought me a fish?" He smiled, "oh, thank you." He released her from the embrace and held out his hands in an offer to accept the fish. After he dropped the fish into his hands, the boy grimaced slightly as it moved. "Oh, it's raw and slimy."

The dragoness snorted at his ungratefulness. She had been careful not to pierce the fish's scales with her teeth, and the fish looked perfectly edible to her.

"Do you have anywhere I can cook this?" The boy looked up to her.

He needs to cook it, of course. Hominids do that because their stomachs are weak. Most intelligent creatures are not strong enough to stomach raw food like dragons. She motioned with her head for the boy to follow her. She knew there was not much left in the kitchen, but perhaps she could scour up enough rotting wood to create a fire for the boy.

The boy gripped the slimy fish in his hands as she followed. When they arrived at the kitchen, he looked around the large room, then spotted the giant fireplace and ran over to it. "If I can get this going, I can cook the fish!" He grinned and poked the old ashes and charcoals with a hand. Then, he speared the fish and placed it on the holder. "Now I just need to light the fire and feed it a bit more wood."

The dragoness approached and maneuvered her head to the charcoals. Though they were damp from water leaking down the chimney, she could light the old fuel with a bit of her magic.

After she forced the young elf to back away a safe distance, the dragoness blasted a bit of her lightning breath at the ashes. Immediately, the ashes burst into a decently sized flame.

"Whoa," the boy gasped as his eyes lit up, "that is so cool!"

The dragoness found a few large pieces of rotting cabinetry and added them to the flames. Eventually, the smell of the roasting fish drifted through the air and into her nostrils. She could not remember the last time she had cooked food. While the boy tended the fish, the dragoness laid down on the cold floor in front of the fire. She closed her eyes and absorbed the warmth as her mind wandered.

The bright sun warmed her back as she reclined on the warm sands of a desolate island. The young dragoness opened her eyes and gazed at the horizon. Yes, that was her name, Horizon, the place where sea and sky meet. However, neither the sea nor the sky desired her presence. Both species of dragons had cast her out, despite her parents' attempts to have her accepted.

She was not sad. She could carve her path and find something of her own. A territory to guard better than either the cloud or the sea kingdoms where she was the queen. Horizon, queen of a realm of her own.

When she finally opened her eyes, the fire was cold and the boy was asleep against her side, the half-eaten fish on the floor next to her. She sniffed the fish, then grabbed the warm morsel and ate it without hesitation.

After a brief hesitation, she gently curled her tail around his body and covered the humanoid with the plume of fur at the end of her tail like a blanket. She looked back to the embers that were a mere shadow of the fire's previous glory, just like her. Just like an ember is not called a fire, she no longer considered herself as Horizon.

Horizon had been a dragoness of ambition and voice, and she had lost both of those things a long time ago. Now, she thought of herself as a nameless lonely shadow compared to the glory the true Horizon had experienced.