The Princess Dragon

Once upon a time, there lived a young princess named Evelina. She was beloved by those in her kingdom, and was seen as kind and thoughtful by those she encountered. She was around the age of fifteen when, quite unexpectedly, she was transformed into a dragon!

It all happened on a normal day for Princess Evelina. That morning she ate scrambled eggs with salt and pepper, buttered toast sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and special mango juice freshly squeezed from her mother’s garden. Over breakfast, she was deciding with her nanny, Bridgit, what she wanted to do that afternoon. She eventually decided that she wanted to go horseback riding and have a picnic out in the country. With the afternoon’s affairs settled, she endured a short day of lessons before it was two in the afternoon, and Evelina was off to enjoy her picnic.

Their picnic was short, both maidens being hungry from their ride from the castle to the picnic spot. They consumed everything hastily, then, being full of food, Evelina felt alert and energized. She started to do cartwheels and handstands, and other such antics to dispel her energy and amuse her nanny. When she became red-faced and out of breath, she said,

“Bridgit, I hear a small creek not far from here! Can we go and wade in it?” Bridgit, often uncertain when the princess wanted to do something spontaneous, replied cautiously,

“I’m not so sure we should wander far milady. What about the horses, and the fixings for the picnic?”

“I don’t think we’ll be terribly long! They can manage for a little bit. And none of this ‘milady’ stuff, for now. I’ll even race you there!” Evelina cajoled, her eyes gaining a glint of mischievousness. She always had this look about when she knew she was persuading someone. If she weren’t a princess, most people would find it less charming and much more annoying. But given her cheerful disposition, her less desirable ways tended to grow on people. Especially Bridgit.

“Oh alright, race you there!” Bridgit grinned, and with a holler they were both off. Evelina had an advantage, as she was wearing her riding outfit with the pantaloons, whereas Bridgit was wearing a riding skirt. It had slits in the side for better leg movement, but she still had to hold it up to keep from tripping, which slowed her down.

Evelina ended up getting to the creek well before Bridgit, and immediately began stripping off her riding boots and long socks. Evelina noticed that Bridgit had seriously slowed down; she couldn’t see her past the hilltop. Unconcerned, the princess set aside her shoes and socks, tugged her billowing pants up to her knees, and carefully stepped into the water.

Evelina closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment, enjoying the feeling of the cool water over her toes, and the smooth rocks beneath her feet. She felt instantly relaxed. Momentarily, she heard a mild splashing behind her, indicating to her the presence of Bridgit.

“Well, it took you long enough!” Evelina laughed, turning slightly to look behind her. However, when she did, she did not see Bridgit, like she had anticipated. Instead, she saw a giant, scaly, golden tail! She looked down, and saw that her entire bottom half had also turned gold and scaly, causing her pants to rip as her legs expanded. She shrieked as the transformation took hold, unable to move as the change crawled up from her waist to her arms, and even further up from there. Her clothes ripped to shreds, and her shrieks of fear turned into the cries of a humongous, reptilian dragon. 

Bridgit was halfway down the hill when she saw the dragon. It was making its way toward her, crying loudly, and holding what looked to be the shreds of the fair princess’ clothes! 

Bridgit screamed in terror and immediately headed back uphill, causing the dragon to roar even louder. The princess-dragon began to weep as she watched her beloved nanny run away in terror, large tears the size of a raincloud dripping down her reptilian face. She hated the thought of being despised. She had to find a way to change herself back. 

First, she tried covering herself entirely with the creek water, which was difficult given her new enormous size. Evelina disrupted many rocks as she tried rolling around in the creek, as she couldn’t cup water in her claws and wash herself that way. Distressed at the mess she was making, Evelina simply cried more as she tried to put the creek back the way it was, pushing displaced rocks and mud together and patting it down until it somewhat resembled the way it was before.

Distressed, Evelina said a quick prayer to the nature gods, begging them to forgive her and change her back into a human. Then, when no obvious help was coming, she sighed, and wiped away her tears as she satisfied herself with her recreation of the creek. Hopefully that would appease the nature gods. Having nowhere else to go, Evelina figured she should try to follow the creek to its source, in hopes that it might cure her current ailment.

After walking a good distance, Evelina finally came to a clearing, and the dead end of the creek. She watched as the creek ended, not in a magnificent waterfall, like she had imagined, but instead it bubbled up from the ground like a spring. Too disappointed to continue wallowing, the dragon princess found a dry patch of moss under an alcove of trees, and fell into a restless sleep.

***

The next morning, the new dragon Evelina woke to the beams of late morning sunlight streaming through the trees. She raised a hand to shield her eyes, and was dismayed to find that she was still a dragon.

“Well good morning.” Someone said to her right, pulling her from her clouding thoughts. She glanced over, and was startled to find another dragon, laying not too far, with his paws crossed in front of him like a cat.

“Oh. Hello.” She replied meekly, frozen with fear. She eyed the other dragon with caution. He was a deep shade of red, the light bouncing off his scales mimicking the color in the clearing around him. He was slender, and graceful, whereas she felt lumbering and immense. Further embarrassed by her realizations of her new body, she felt heat rise to her face.

“Careful! You’ll catch fire with that blush. The name’s Leon.” The other dragon teased, winking at her.

“I’m Evelina. Please, could you tell me how to return to being human?” Evelina blurted, desperate to fix her state. She was becoming overwhelmed again by her present situation. Leon seemed to pity her, his scaly expression shifting slightly.

“Oh dear. Another one.” He sighed. “My dear, as far as I know, no one returns to being human once their dragon form is revealed.”

“What?” Evelina gasped. She felt sobs welling up again, and though she tried to hold back her tears, a few couldn’t help escaping.

“Oh now now, don’t cry!” The other dragon yelped, becoming distressed by her state. He quickly flapped his way over to her side of the creek, causing her to flinch a little as she shuddered with more tears.

“I mean it’s alright, really. Cry it out. But you must understand, there are lots of perks to being a dragon! Like, for example, you are generally left to do whatever you want, so long as you don’t nest near the humans, you’re immune to generally any natural disaster, and, um - well - we can fly! That’s pretty interesting. And then there are the hordes! Oh the hordes! That might be my favorite part.” Evelina sniffled in response.

“The hordes?”

“Why yes! Collections, acquisitions, anthologies, whatever you want to call it. Collecting things according to a theme is maybe the best part, in my opinion.” The red dragon puffed with pride. 

“What do you collect?” The princess dragon asked.

“Oh me? Well, I used to be a swordsman in my human life. That was nearly 100 years ago. I collect swords because the style is always changing, and they’re easy to get since, well, my cave is very close to a newer kingdom that is trying to remove me from their land.” Evelina noticed with a growing smile that the red dragon gestured with his claws as he talked, as if acting things out. It was very amusing.

“What about you? Who were you?” Leon asked, sitting up attentively..

“Oh, well, I used to be a princess, and I lived in a kingdom. But I’m not sure if I would be able to go back and collect my favorite things. I scared my nanny half to death, and if I tried to go back to the kingdom, I’m sure I would only be chased out. My parents… my parents may even think I’m dead.” Leon sensed sadness welling up again in his very young dragon friend, and patted her shoulder blade with a claw.

“There there, it’s alright. Maybe we can figure something out. I know a dragon who has a scribe! We could write a letter to your parents, tell them you’re alright. And then we can maybe find a little dragon to sneak into your old home and retrieve some of your stuff for you. Of course there will be a fee…” He mused, going off into a tangent. Evelina’s spirits were lifted, but she still wasn’t so sure.

“Leon, is it hard being a dragon?” She said, a hint of moroseness still clinging to her voice. Leon considered her question for a moment, trying to remember his past transformation.

“I think it’s all about perspective and acceptance dear. It may take some time for you. But, I know an excellent group of dragons waiting to tell you their stories to make you feel better. We have tea every Wednesday to chat about it.” He chuckled, trying to keep the situation light. On a more serious note, he added,

“We will be your family, if you’ll have us. Considering we all used to be humans, you’ll find that not much has changed. Just the territory. And of course, a few characteristics that come with being a dragon.” Evelina laughed, and Leon stood up and unfurled his wings.

“Now come. First I’ll teach you how to fly, and then we will figure out where you should nest. I’m thinking somewhere close to me, but not too close so that no knights come and bother you, at least for a while. Come on! We don’t have all day. Well, yes we do.” Evelina smiled at his mindless chatter, her thoughts already clearing and her heart lifting at the prospect of this new, interesting life. Maybe being a dragon wouldn’t be so bad after all.