"You don't understand," I cried out "If I leave, there is a high chance I will be forced to be someone's mate, forced into a harem, or even worse I would rather not dwell on," I cried, not realizing I started to scratch myself with the claws on my wing. Creating little scratch marks on my legs and body, "The wild isn't as easy as your think!" I cried out again "Us females have little to no ownership and are normally claimed the moment we come of age without a choice in our mates. There is no one there to stop the males from forcing themselves onto a female, no one to stop them from claiming her as a mate. Unlike you tame dragons, most wild males will have harems of females. I was lucky enough to escape the fate death tried to write for me! So when I say I would rather die than relocate for even a few days, I would!" Hugging myself as an attempt at comfort wasn't working. "Females in the wild are solely dependent on their mates for protection and a space to live. I don't have a mate to provide that for me, I was lucky to get my own territory. I don't go near the edges of my territory in fear a male will try and come claim me; not only stealing me away in the process but also my territory." I cried out

I still struggled to see I looked up and the male looked like he hadn’t moved, I couldn’t tell either way. I was mad, but also desperate and devastated. I didn’t want to lose what I had. I began to worry about what would happen to the humans that live in my territory. If a new dragon came through their homes would most likely be burnt down and they would be killed. “I have humans that live in my territory, farmers. What will happen to them if I was to be forced out, what would happen to them and their families.” I sounded more frustrated this time but tears still flowed out of my eyes.

Ah, so that's what the problem was... I still wanted her to leave, for her sake, but she made a good point and seemed to have some very strong emotions about it. I watched her as she spoke, noticing that she was unintentionally scratching herself with the claws on her wings. "Hey, careful now," I said, nodding toward the scratches. "Blood will just make you easier to track." After that I didn't say anything until she was done talking. A lot of this was new information for me, and I was a bit surprised by the revelation of male behavior patterns in the wild. Most tame dragons have their mates chosen for them by the humans, and even then, most dragons didn't end up with mates. I probably would, because I was so much larger and stronger than the others, but not for a few hundred years, at least. But tame dragons only had one mate, and those that had mates seemed happy with just the one, even if they weren't the one to choose the mate.

I thought quietly for several minutes, trying to decide what to do. If she stayed, she would die, but I knew now that she would prefer death over leaving her territory, so I was at a bit of an impasse. After a moment I let out a quiet sigh. "I would really prefer that the humans didn't find you," I said. "Do you have anywhere on this territory where humans with dragons wouldn't be able to find you? A hidden cave, maybe?"

“There are a few places to hide, but I don’t know If I will have enough air.” I was struggling to breathe. The places I was talking about were underwater cave systems, some of the opened to air pockets with long tunnels I had no idea where they went. I turned my head to the lake, looking at the water. My eyes still brimming with tears but I could see more clearly now.

I turned to look back at the dark male, “I guess thank you for trying to help me, but my options are limited so there isn’t much to do.” I said laying down on the sand just resting my muscles, “I’m Frosty by the way,” I said quietly.

A pack of wolves emerged from the trees but I paid them no attention. They saw me and immediately jumped to attention, they were cautious and some slowly got closer. Eventually one was right next to my tail, and when he nipped at the sail I flicked it and he jumped back. I let them get curious as the rest slowly started to get closer and smell me. None dared go near my head though, they knew that was where the fire came from.

I decided to slowly move my head closer to the wolves, one boldly stepped forward and sniffed my snout. It began licking the rim of my mouth, it must have been licking the dried blood off my scales. The rest became interested and started doing it too, a juvenile got even more curious and tried to pry my mouth open with his nose. I opened it slightly and the next thing I knew, crows started to gather along with them. They stole the meat stuck between my teeth, that I couldn’t get. The crows actually started to hop into my mouth to get my back teeth. I probably looked like a crocodile with my mouth open and other creatures cleaning my teeth.

I glanced at the male who was called Gehenna, he was curious but didn’t budge. I let him sit and think, I wanted to enjoy my little freedom while I could. I should probably visit the farmer and his children before I disappear for a bit.

I watched with growing amusement as the wolves grew more and more curious, approaching Frosty's head and even trying to get into her mouth for whatever scraps remained of her last meal. Crows began gathering as well, and I simply stood back and watched. However, after a few minutes, I decided I needed to get back before morning. A carefully backed away so that I wouldn't startle the animals, then spoke, keeping my voice soft. "I must return to the mountain," he said. "I hope I don't see you again, at least for a week, as that would mean another chase, and it would not end well. Goodbye, Frosty. I wish you luck and safety." I spread my wings and took off, quickly flying back toward Dragonroost

I arrived just past midnight. I swooped quietly into the entrance of my cave, carefully looking around for fear Ronan had decided to pay me a nighttime visit. That wasn't likely, but I could never be sure. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I slunk to the back of the cave and curled up on the ground, wrapping my wings around myself and trying to get to sleep. It took me a little while; my heart was racing from the crime I had just committed, flying without Ronan. If he found out, he would make me regret the day I was hatched. Fortunately I was too valuable for him to kill, but he could still cause me a lot of pain without ending my life. Even so... it had been exhilarating. No human, no saddle, just myself and my wings. With that pleasant thought in mind, I managed to drift into a light slumber.

Frosty's Pov - 1st person

The crows wouldn't leave me alone now and seemed to follow me everywhere. They even followed me to the farmer's house, he seemed to pick up on the fact I was in a bad mood and figured out that I was going to be gone for a bit with a guessing game. I then flew to my cave and hid all of my stuff, burying it in various places.

I headed for one of the many lakes in my large territory, I took a flying dive down and entered an air pocket. The tunnel went on and I ventured, I discovered it opened up a lot and led to a more enormous more open cave. I breathed a sigh of relief and noticed that if fish lived in this underwater cave, I would have plenty of food. I had no way to keep track of time other than popping my head under the water and looking up. The cave went on but if there was another entrance I didn't want my smell to be picked up there.

I explored the cave, but it didn’t have an assortment of gems but it was very Luscious. I sauntered watching where I stepped, I didn't know if there were traps. I doubt if there would be any but you're never too cautious, for some Hidden Treasures down here from past humans. There were treasure chests and some sunken ships, so that meant there had to have been another entrance and it was once flooded so they could sail in here. After this whole ordeal was over I wanted to explore it more; I might even let the farmer ride my back and take him here if another entrance isn't blocked.

I decided to spend my time down here wisely by individually carefully looking through the ships. the ones that were already torn to shreds by monsters that lived here long before me. I wouldn't bother tearing them apart anymore to look through them. I left the untouched ones for the farmer to possibly go through. Each day I would probably go through a different ship and then after going through it I would count to treasure and sort them, hoping that would be enough to entertain me. if it wasn't enough to entertain me I could always try and look through the water pools that the fish lived in in the cave. Surprisingly it wasn't dark. There were a lot of bioluminescent plants that lit it up, so I wasn't worried about not seeing possible Intruders. I decided the first day I should probably look for a place to hide if someone was to find the cave, for now, I will just get settled in.

The next week was, unsurprisingly, eventful and very busy. Aside from regular patrols, Ronan and I were tasked with hunting down Frosty. We spend a couple hours each day thoroughly searching her territory, but, much to my relief, we were unable to find her, day after day. I, of course, was not looking very hard, but Ronan was, and he could be shockingly perceptive at times.

The searches I didn't go on were great causes of stress to me; I couldn't stop worrying about Frosty. Other dragons would actually try to find her, and very few things could hide from a dragon. As I result of my worry, I was often a bit distracted, and that got on Ronan's nerves. Punishments were administered in an attempt to get me to focus, but all they did was make me angrier at Ronan. He was my human, and as such had my loyalty, but I looked around at other human-dragon pairs and saw friendship, and I often wondered why I couldn't have that.

One day, Ronan and I were tasked with giving a few newer riders and their dragons a tour of the place as well as some basic training. Ronan decided he'd take them out to hunt for Frosty, which I thought was a bit stupid; a wild dragon like her would tear these amateurs apart. Fortunately she wasn't around, and I doubted that she actually would, but Ronan didn't know that. I spent most of the search tense and uneasy, knowing that even these young dragons would have senses strong enough to find faint traces of Frosty. And find them they did. Fortunately, the scent was stale, a couple days old at the least. We could find no fresh scents, much to my relief.

That was the last thing the humans needed to convince themselves that Frosty was gone. That, and they needed every dragon they could use for patrol. From what I understood, tensions were rising at the border to this country and the next one over, and the humans wanted to make sure we knew what was happening. But the important thing was that they called off the search, and that very night, I snuck out once more to see if I could find Frosty.

Frosty’s Pov - 1st Person

It had been a week, I considered moving down into this cave. The amount of treasure was unimaginable, and it would be a hoard to be proud of. Everything was custom, even the currencies down here were old and not used. Either way, it would be safer down here, but then I started to consider the animals and humans above.

I sighed raising my head from the ground to get up and stretch, I roared with my stretch and it echoed. I looked at the tunnel that led to the lake and lumbered over to it. I slinked into the water and surfaced, it was night. I breathed a sigh of relief and swam to the shore shaking off all the water. I finally noticed crystals started to grow on my horns, spines, ad scales. They shimmered in the moonlight more than my scales already did, and I admired my new look.

I looked back at the water. I would try to find another entrance and move everything, that way I still have my territory but I live underground instead. I would only appear at night, and I would sleep away and relax in the cave during the day. It would be smart to take some of my current crystals and put them in the cave allowing them to grow. I didn’t even really need pelts in the cave, the moss was soft and fluffy when dried. I smelt all the different dragons that had entered, mostly young ones.

Unfortunately for both me and them, it’s not the first time I have had to almost go completely off the map. Except I can’t leave as I did back then, I’m hiding in my territory.

I started to tear up, “I can’t even defend my territory, what kind of dragon am I,” I said looking down. I was ashamed of myself but every other female would feel sorrow for me. One thing the females always tell each other is, ‘don’t go off on your own unless you can defend yourself or have no choice. Either way is careful, and watch your every move, most males will go to great lengths to get a female that hasn’t been claimed.’

I spent the first hour of my search for Frosty flying above her territory to see if I could spot her. I wasn't certain if she would have emerged from hiding yet, as she had no way of knowing that the humans had called off the hunt, but I looked anyway, resolving that I would check every night until I saw her. I suspected that given enough time, I could locate her hiding place, but I didn't actually want to find it.

The next couple hours were spent on the ground, searching for any sign of her fresh scent. A thought struck me; what if she had left her territory? What if she wasn't here anymore? The thought made me feel bad; I would have been the one that planted the idea in her head. I told myself that she wouldn't have left, her clear distress at the suggestion was enough to convince me that she was still here, just hiding really well.

My fears about her leaving did turn out to be unfounded; through the trees near the lake I heard a voice. I couldn't make out what it said, but it was without a doubt a dragon. I quietly crept closer, and through the trees, I spotted the white form of a dragon. "Frosty?" I called out, my voice soft so that I wouldn't startle her. "Is that you?" I stepped out of the trees, revealing myself. As Frosty came fully into view, I blinked. She looked... different. More sparkly. "Whoa, Frosty, your scales..."